The Creed lem. that favourable interpretation, which in justice ought to be allowed to all ancient Catholic writers. We may further observe, that though this Creed be the same in substance with the Roman Creed, which is commonly called the Apostles' Creed, yet it differs from it very much in phrase and expression, and comes nearer the Creeds of the Eastern Church; and though it be as perfect as any of that age, yet it has neither the article of the descent into hell,' nor 'the communion of saints' expressly mentioned in it; which shows, that these articles were not totidem verbis inserted into the first Creeds of the Church. 8. Thus far I have collected the scattered remains of the of Jerusa- ancient Creeds, which were composed, before the Nicene Creed, for the use of several Churches; as they are still upon record in private writers. But we have some more perfect forms also remaining, as those of Jerusalem, Caesarea, Antioch, Alexandria, and Rome, by comparing which together, the reader may easily perceive, how the unity of faith was exactly agreed upon, and preserved with some variety of expression. The Creed of the Church of Jerusalem we have imperfectly in St. James's Liturgy, and more perfectly in the Catechetical Discourses of Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem, which are an exposition upon it. In St. James's Liturgy 52 we have only the beginning of the Creed; I believe in one God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God.' But the remaining articles are not inserted, as being vulgarly known without reciting. However, in Cyril's Catechisms 53 the articles are rehearsed 52 Ap. Bibl. Patr. Gr. Lat. (t. 2. p. 7.) Πιστεύω εἰς ἕνα Θεὸν, Πατέρα παντοκράτορα, ποιητὴν οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς· καὶ εἰς ἕνα Κύριον Ἰησοῦν Χρι στὸν τὸν Υἱὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ. 53 Catech. 6. (p. 84.) Πιστεύω εἰς ἕνα Θεὸν, Πατέρα παντοκράτορα, ποιητὴν οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς, ὁρατῶν τε πάντων καὶ ἀοράτων ποιητήν. Καὶ εἰς ἕνα Κύριον Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν, τὸν Υἱὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ τὸν μονογενῆ, τὸν ἐκ τοῦ Πατρὸς γεννηθέντα πρὸ πάντων τῶν αἰώνων, Θεὸν ἀληθινὸν, δι οὗ τὰ πάντα ἐγένετο· σαρκωθέντα καὶ ἐνανθρωπήσαντα, σταυρωθέντα, καὶ ταφέντα, καὶ ἀναστάντα ἐκ νεκρῶν τῇ τρίτῃ ἡμέρᾳ, καὶ ἀνελθόντα εἰς τοὺς οὐρανοὺς, καὶ καθίσαντα ἐκ δεξιῶν τοῦ Πατρός· καὶ ἐρχόμενον κρῖναι ζῶντας καὶ νεκρούς οὗ τῆς βασιλείας οὐκ ἔσται τέλος. Καὶ εἰς ἐν ἅγιον Πνεῦμα, τὸ παράκλητον, τὸ λαλῆσαν διὰ τῶν προφητῶν. Εἰς ν βάπτισμα μετανοίας εἰς ἄφεσιν ἁμαρτιῶν· εἰς μίαν ἁγίαν καθολικὴν ἐκκλησίαν· καὶ εἰς σαρκὸς ἀνάστασιν καὶ εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον. [The Benedictine edition of this Creed commences Πιστεύομεν, and slightly varies in some other readings which do not affect the sense. ED.] to be at full length, and when collected together they run in this form: 'I 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 the Father before all ages, the true God, by whom all things were made, who was incarnate and made man, who was crucified and buried, and the third day he rose again from the dead, and ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father, and shall come to judge the quick and dead, of whose kingdom there shall be no end. And in the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, who spake by the prophets. In one baptism of repentance, in the remission of sins, in one Catholic Church, in the resurrection of the flesh, and in life everlasting.' That this Creed was neither the Nicene Creed nor the Constantinopolitan, is evident, because it wants the word consubstantial and other titles, which are given to the Son in the Nicene Creed; nor has it the full explication of the character of the Holy Ghost, which was afterward made in the Constantinopolitan Creed; which is not to be wondered at, because Cyril's Catechisms were written some years before the Council of Constantinople was held. Therefore it must be the ancient Creed of Jerusalem, as learned men 54 have rightly concluded, and hence also observed, that the Oriental Creeds had originally the articles that follow the Holy Ghost, viz., the Catholic Church, the remission of sins, the resurrection of the flesh, and 54 Bull, Judic. Eccles. Cathol. &c. c. 6. n. 5. (p. 48.) Hoc symbolum non ipsum esse Nicænum, et Constantinopolitani quoque symboli additionibus de Spiritu Sancto carere, palam est. Quod posterius nemini mirum videri potest, qui meminerit, Catecheses Cyrilli, in quibus symbolum illud recitatur, multis annis ante habitam synodum Constantinopolitanam, quæ demum anno Christi 381. celebrata est, conscriptas fuisse. Restat igitur, ut sit revera vetus symbolum ecclesiæ Hierosolymitanæ. Ibid. n. 6. sub fin. (p. 49.) Quæ in symbolo Hierosolymitano subjiciuntur post ista, in Spiritum BINGHAM, VOL. III. Sanctum, ex symbolo Constantinopolitano minime desumpta, sed in antiquissimis Orientis symbolis, diu ante synodum Constantinopolitanam, adeoque Nicænam, posita fuisse, validissimis argumentis confirmabo. Certum est symbola, quæ ante Concilium Constantinopolitanum, adeoque Nicænum, ecclesiæ Occidentis usurparunt, minime desiisse in verba illa Et in Spiritum Sanctum; sed et alia in ipsis fidei capita subjecta fuisse. Quis vero, qui ea, quæ supra observavimus de origine omnium fere hæresium in Oriente, expenderit, facile credat, symbola Occidentalia Orientalibus fuisse auctiora? M m The Creed of Cæsarea in Pales tine. eternal life.' Only the communion of saints,' and the 'descent into hell,' are wanting in it. 9. And so we find in the Creed of Cæsarea in Palestine, in the profession of which Eusebius says he was baptized and catechized; the descent into hell' is not mentioned in it. But it differs in expression from the Jerusalem Creed, and comes up the nearest to the Nicene Creed of any other. The form, as it was proposed by Eusebius himself to the Council of Nice 55, is in these words: 'We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of all things visible and invisible; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Word of God, God of God, Light of Light, Life of Life, his only-begotten Son, the first-born of every creature, begotten of the Father before all ages; by whom all things were made; who for our salvation was incarnate, and conversed among men, and suffered, and rose again the third day, and ascended unto the Father, and shall come again to judge the quick and the dead. We believe also in one Holy Spirit. Every one of these we believe to be and exist. We confess the Father to be truly a Father, the Son truly a Son, the Holy Ghost truly a Holy Ghost, according to what our Lord, when he sent his disciples to preach, said, "Go teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."' The articles that follow the Holy Ghost' are here omitted only for the same reason for which, as I shall show hereafter, they were omitted in the Nicene Creed, because then no dispute was made about them, and only so much of the Creed was now produced, as was necessary to be mentioned in opposition to the Arian heresy. 55 Ep. ad Eccles. Casar. ap. So- τρίτῃ ἡμέρᾳ· καὶ ἀνελθόντα πρὸς τὸν crat. l. 1. c. 8. (v. 2. Ρ. 23. 15.) Πι- Πατέρα, καὶ ἥξοντα πάλιν ἐν δόξῃ στεύομεν εἰς ἕνα Θεόν, Πατέρα παντο- κρῖναι ζῶντας καὶ νεκρούς. Πιστεύοκράτορα, τὸν τῶν ἁπάντων ὁρατῶν τε μεν καὶ εἰς ἐν Πνεῦμα ἅγιον. Τούτων καὶ ἀοράτων ποιητήν. Καὶ εἰς ἕνα Κύ- ἕκαστον εἶναι καὶ ὑπάρχειν πιστεύονριον Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν, τὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ τες, Πατέρα ἀληθῶς Πατέρα, καὶ Υἱὸν Λόγον, Θεὸν ἐκ Θεοῦ, Φῶς ἐκ Φωτός, ἀληθῶς Υἱὸν, καὶ Πνεῦμα ἅγιον ἀληΖωὴν ἐκ Ζωῆς, Υἱὸν μονογενῆ, πρωτό-θῶς ἅγιον Πνεῦμα· καθὼς καὶ ὁ Κύριος τοκον πάσης κτίσεως, πρὸ πάντων τῶν αἰώνων ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ Πατρὸς γεγεννη· μένον· δι ̓ οὗ καὶ ἐγένετο τὰ πάντα· τὸν διὰ τὴν ἡμετέραν σωτηρίαν σαρκω-ζοντες αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ Πατρὸς, θέντα, καὶ ἐν ἀνθρώποις πολιτευσάμε- καὶ τοῦ Υἱοῦ, καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος. νον· καὶ παθόντα, καὶ ἀναστάντα τῇ ἡμῶν, ἀποστέλλων εἰς τὸ κήρυγμα τοὺς ἑαυτοῦ μαθητὰς, εἶπε, Πορευθέντες μαθητεύσατε πάντα τὰ ἔθνη, βαπτί dria. 10. The Creed of Alexandria was somewhat shorter than The Creed this, and is supposed by learned men to be that which Arius of Alexanand Euzoius delivered in to Constantine, when they made a sort of feigned recantation before him. The form is recorded. in Socrates 56 in these words: 'We believe in one God, the Father Almighty. And in Jesus Christ, his Son, our Lord, God the Word, begotten of him before all ages; by whom all things were made, that are in heaven and in earth; who came down from heaven, and was incarnate, and suffered, and rose again, and ascended into heaven, and shall come again to judge the quick and the dead. And in the Holy Ghost, and in the resurrection of the flesh, and in the life of the world to come, and in the kingdom of heaven, and in one Catholic Church of God extended from one end of the earth to the other.' 11. The Creed of the Church of Antioch seems to be that The Creed of Antioch. which is recorded in Cassian, who delivers it as it was probably received in that Church from the time of the Apostles, only with the addition of the word consubstantial, inserted from the time of the Council of Nice. The text and faith of the Creed of Antioch,' says he, 57, 'is this: I believe in one only true God, the Father, Almighty, Maker of all creatures visible and invisible: and in Jesus Christ our Lord, his only begotten Son, the first-born of every creature; born of him before all ages, and not made; very God of very God, consubstantial with the Father; by whom the world was framed and all things made; who for our sakes came, and was born of the Virgin 56 L. 1. c. 26. (v. 2. p. 61. 26.) Πιστεύομεν εἰς ἕνα Θεὸν, Πατέρα παντοκράτορα. Καὶ εἰς Κύριον Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν τὸν Υἱὸν αὐτοῦ, τὸν ἐξ αὐτοῦ πρὸ πάντων τῶν αἰώνων γεγεννημένον, Θεὸν Λόγον δι ̓ οὗ τὰ πάντα ἐγένετο, τά τε ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς, καὶ τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς τὸν κατελθόντα, καὶ σαρκωθέντα, καὶ παθόντα, καὶ ἀναστάντα, καὶ ἀνελθόντα εἰς τοὺς οὐρανοὺς, καὶ πάλιν ἐρχόμενον κρῖναι ζῶντας καὶ νεκρούς. Καὶ εἰς τὸ ἅγιον Πνεῦμα, καὶ εἰς σαρκὸς ἀνάστασιν, καὶ εἰς ζωὴν τοῦ μέλ. λοντος αἰῶνος, καὶ εἰς βασιλείαν οὐρανῶν, καὶ εἰς μίαν καθολικὴν ἐκκλησίαν τοῦ Θεοῦ, τὴν ἀπὸ περάτων ἕως περάτων. 57 De Incarnat. 1.6. [c.3.] p.1272. (p. 743) Textus ergo ac fides An tiocheni symboli hæc est. Credo in The Roman Creed, commonly called the Apostles' Creed. Mary, and was crucified under Pontius Pilate, and buried, and the third day rose according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and shall come again to judge the quick and the dead.' Cassian here repeats not the whole Creed, but only those articles that were proper to be urged against Nestorius, who had been baptized into this faith, and by this Creed, at Antioch; from which he shews his prevarications, and how he had started from the profession which he himself had made in the words of this Creed, both at his baptism and ordination, leaving the remaining articles unrecited. 12. The reader may easily perceive, by comparing the forementioned Creeds, that the articles of the communion of saints,' and the descent into hell,' are not expressly mentioned in any of them. Nor were they originally in the Roman Creed, which is commonly called the Apostles' Creed, as appears not only from the testimony of Ruffin, but from some ancient copies of this Creed still remaining. Bishop Usher 58 met with two copies here in England, which wanted these additions, and also that of 'life everlasting.' The one was in Greek, though written in Saxon characters, at the end of King Athelstan's Psalter, about the year 703; and the other in Latin, but both exactly in the same form of words: I believe in God, the Father, Almighty. And in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, our Lord, who was born of the Holy Ghost and the Virgin Mary, and was crucified under Pontius Pilate, and was buried, and the third day rose again from the dead, ascended into heaven, sitteth on the right hand of the Father, whence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. And in the Holy Ghost, the holy Church, the remission of sins, and the resurrection of the flesh.' The variations of these ancient forms from the present form of the Apostles' Creed in the want of several words that have 58 De Symbol. p. 6. (Works, v. 7. p. 304.) In brevioris vero illius symboli duo incidi exemplaria, quorum alterum Græce, &c. . . . . Πιστεύω εἰς Θεὸν Πατέρα παντοκράτορα. Καὶ εἰς τὸν Χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν Υἱὸν αὐτοῦ τὸν μονογέννητον, τὸν Κύριον ἡμῶν· τὸν γεννηθέντα ἐκ Πνεύματος ἁγίου, καὶ Mapías Tns Taplévov тòv éπì Пovτίου Πιλάτου σταυρωθέντα, ταφέντα, Tŷ Tρitη ημépa ȧvαotávta èk verpŵv, αναβάντα εἰς τοὺς οὐρανοὺς, καθήμενον ἐν δεξιᾷ τοῦ Πατρὸς, ὅθεν ἔρχεται κρῖναι ζῶντας καὶ νεκρούς. Καὶ εἰς Πνεῦμα ἅγιον, ἁγίαν ἐκκλησίαν, ἄφε σιν ἁμαρτιῶν, σαρκὸς ἀνάστασιν. 'Αμήν. [This passage abounds with typographical errors in the Dublin Edition 1847, which I have at hand. See Ed. Οxon. 166o. 4to. ED.] |