Liturgically Speaking: The Creed

After the homily, we pray together the Nicene Creed, a pithy summary of what we believe as Catholics which was developed through the fourth century.  In the early fourth century, a priest named Arius (250-336) denied that Christ was truly divine.  Named after its founder, Arianism taught that while Christ was greater than a mere human, he was nonetheless a created being.  The motto of Arius was “there was a time when he was not.”  He denied that Christ was of the same substance as, or consubstantial with the Father.  For Arius, there was a sharp distinction between what the Father is: God; and what Christ is: a creature, even if the first and greatest creature.  Recognizing that unity of faith meant unity for the Roman Empire, the Emperor Constantine called a universal council of bishops.  The Council of Nicaea in 325 affirmed that Christ was consubstantial with the Father.  In other words, the Son is God as much as the Father is God.  The Council of Nicaea formulated the beginnings of the Creed we profess at Mass.

In the late fourth century another heretical sect arose which denied the divinity of the Holy Spirit.  The Council of Nicaea in 325 spent most of its effort on confessing the Son as consubstantial with the Father.  Regarding the Spirit, Nicaea simply said, “We believe in the Holy Spirit,” with no further clarification.  This opened the way for those who, while affirming the divinity of the Son, denied that the Spirit was also God in the same sense.  Great church theologians of the time, such as Gregory of Nazianzus and St. Basil, wrote in defense of the full divinity of the Spirit.  In 381, the Council of Constantinople defined the matter by professing:  “We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, who proceeds from the Father, who together with the Father and Son is worshipped and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets.” 

Hence, our Creed used at Mass is known by its full name as the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, since it was formulated at those two great councils in 325 and 381.  This Creed has been normative in the Church ever since.

The Creed was first used in the Eucharistic liturgy in Antioch and Constantinople.  It then spread to Spain where it was adopted in use right before the Lord’s Prayer as preparation for Communion.  From the earliest days of the Church, before one could participate in the Eucharist, that individual must first profess the shared faith of the Church.  For catechumens, those preparing for baptism, they were dismissed from the Church before the Creed for a period of instruction.  Only after professing the Creed at Baptism were they permitted to participate in the Eucharist for the first time.  The Creed was a way of discouraging heretics from participating in the sacred mysteries.  It passed on to the rest of Western Europe and was placed after the Gospel.  It was adopted in Rome in1014 AD.  So our profession of faith recalls our baptismal faith, and our unity in a shared belief.  And at the words “and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary and became man” we bow out of reverence for the mystery of the Incarnation of the Word.