The Church Fathers Library

Library › Anonymous works

Creed of Constantinople (381)

Symbolum Nicaeno-Constantinopolitanum

Written in 381, probably in Constantinopolis (now Istanbul, Turkey). The date is the usual view of scholars; some doubt it.

The creed said in churches today as the Nicene Creed.

Creed · first written in Greek · a major work

Translated by Henry R. Percival (1900). Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 14 (1900) Public domain. Source and rights

About this text (1 note)

The file was taken from the New Advent copy.

How we know the date and place
Date written probable
The Council of Chalcedon (451) is the first to quote it, as the creed of the 150 fathers of 381 (Kelly, Early Christian Creeds, 1972)
Some scholars doubt that the council of 381 wrote it.
Place written probable
The council met at Constantinople from May to July 381 (Tanner 1990)

221 words. 1 section.

Creed

Creed of Constantinople (381)

§ 1

We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of his Father before all worlds, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made. Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost and the Virgin Mary, and was made man, and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried, and the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sits at the Right Hand of the Father. And he shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead. Whose kingdom shall have no end. (I)

And [we believe] in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver-of-Life, who proceeds from the Father, who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified, who spoke by the prophets. And [we believe] in one, holy, (II) Catholic and Apostolic Church. We acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins, [and] we look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen.