What is the Creed?
In general, a creed (from the Latin credo, “I believe”) is a statement of belief, usually recited as part of a religious service. The Orthodox Church calls her creed the Symbol of Faith, a “symbol” in the ancient sense of a token or badge by which the faithful recognize one another and are recognized as belonging to Christ.
For Orthodox Christians, the Creed is an exposition, in a few but precise words, of that doctrine which all Christians must confess. This public confession belongs to salvation itself: “If you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Rom 10:9; see Q080, Q484); and it is “the good confession” which Timothy made “in the sight of many witnesses” (1Ti 6:12).
Its first part (through “And in the Holy Spirit”) was proclaimed by the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea in AD 325; it was completed at the Second Ecumenical Council of Constantinople in AD 381.
The Creed was originally the confession of faith made at baptism, solemnly “handed over” to the catechumens and “given back” by them before the font, where each candidate professes it to this day. In current practice, it is also recited at every Divine Liturgy before the Anaphora, and in the daily prayers of the faithful: the Symbol of Faith thus accompanies the Orthodox Christian from the font to the very gates of heaven.
