What are the main highlights of the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed?

Faith: Truly, I believe. God the Father: In one God, God the Father, the Almighty. Creation: Creator of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible. Jesus Christ: And in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten not made, of one essence with the Father, by whom all things were made; who, for us humans and for our salvation, came down from heaven. Incarnation: He was incarnate by the Holy Spirit and of the Virgin Mary and became man. Redemption: He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, suffered, was buried, and rose from the dead on the third day according to the Scriptures. He ascended into the heavens and sits at the right hand of the Father. Judgment: He will come again in His glory to judge the living and the dead, whose kingdom shall have no end. The Holy Spirit: Yes, I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of life, who proceeds from the Father before all ages. The Holy Trinity: We worship and glorify Him with the Father and the Son, who spoke through the prophets. The Church: And in one holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. Baptism: I confess one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. Resurrection: And I await the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. This Creed (law) of faith was developed in stages as heresies emerged, and the Church was compelled to defend its faith. It is called the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed because a portion of it was established in the First Ecumenical Council, held in 325 AD in Nicaea, and was completed in the Second Ecumenical Council, held in 381 AD in Constantinople. Since the apostolic age, Christian worship included the public confession of faith, particularly as part of the Divine Liturgy in the fourth century, where the core statements were emphasized. The Creed begins with “I believe” rather than “We believe” to show the Christian people the value of each individual’s personal commitment to the Church. Therefore, we should not recite the Creed casually or delegate it to anyone else without our active participation. Every believer, before partaking of the Holy Sacraments, is expected to adopt and personally commit to the Church’s faith. “I believe” means that I, the individual present in this church, believe—embracing not merely with my lips but with my whole being these words formulated by the Church Fathers, who poured into them the revealed truth, making it accessible to every mind enlightened by faith in Jesus. Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow in the past century said: “As long as your faith is preserved in the Holy Bible and the Creed, it belongs to God, His prophets, His apostles, and the Church Fathers. It is not yours, and you will only begin to own it when it takes possession of your thoughts and memory…” To reach such a state, we must strive to understand the truths expressed in the Creed and allow them to permeate us, so that the words we recite and hear in the Divine Liturgy deeply affect us, transforming us into mature and conscious members of the Church of Christ. This is the goal of the book in your hands. However, before delving into the book’s content, it is essential to provide a few observations that we consider crucial for a proper understanding of Christian doctrines and the Creed. First: Reciting the Creed as an Integral Part of the Divine Liturgy Reciting the Creed is an integral part of the Divine Liturgy. It expresses the community’s acceptance of the Divine Word and the declaration of their faith in this word, which they have heard through the Epistle and Gospel in the first part of the Liturgy (Liturgy of the Catechumens). It is also a reaffirmation of the community’s will to become one body by partaking of the Divine Word in the Eucharistic mystery. Thus, the recitation of the Creed is a liturgical act, a hymn of praise within the life of worship. Praise and theology are bound together with unbreakable ties. The Fathers said long ago: “He who prays is a theologian, and the theologian is the one who prays.” Therefore, we cannot comprehend the truth hidden within a doctrine by pure rational analysis, for the intellect cannot encompass divinity and its mysteries. However, we can do so through praise and contemplation, with complete hope in God’s mercy, who reveals Himself to us and helps us understand the mystery of His love. One of the Fathers said, “It is not essential to speak about God or the truth of God; what is more essential is to allow ourselves to be purified by God, to be filled with Him and His truth.” In the Eastern understanding, the true theologian is the saint, for the saint has achieved communion with God. The pursuit of God is the foundation of Christian religion. Studying the Creed is not a metaphysical study, but a quiet, loving, and diligent pursuit filled with praise—a pursuit of the truth revealed by God and expressed through Jesus Christ, His Son, and made alive in us in the Church by His Holy Spirit. Second: The Creed Affirms the Unity of the Church The Creed affirms that the unity of the Church is, at its core, a unity in faith. The community, united by one faith, expresses it collectively, preserving and proclaiming its unity to all. It is worth noting that believers in the first three centuries did not feel the need to express their faith through creeds. This only became necessary with the emergence of heresies. Hilary of Poitiers in the fourth century said: “The evil of heretics and blasphemers compels us to speak of the unspeakable, to climb unattainable heights, and to describe the indescribable. We are now forced to interpret what was once beyond discussion. Unfortunately, the sin of others forces us into this sin: to expose mysteries to the limitations of human language, while they were intended to be honored in the quiet of our hearts.” This means that the distortion of the truth handed down to the apostles by heretics compelled the Church to express its beliefs in human terms, fully aware that words are utterly incapable of containing and expressing the full truth. This situation made Christian doctrines appear to contain countless apparent contradictions. For example, we say that God is one, and at the same time, He is a Trinity of Persons. We acknowledge that God is inaccessible and, at the same time, call for communion with Him. We confess that Christ is both God and man. We describe the Church as both visible and invisible, and so on. All these apparent contradictions collectively express the truth. However, reconciling them does not occur on an intellectual level but rather on a level of spiritual experience, which is the essence of mystery in Christianity. A mystery is not a difficult theory to understand; it is a life that we are called to experience within the community of believers, the Church. As we delve deeper into the life of the Church, we discover its greater and deeper dimensions. Third: Our Unity in Faith is Bound to Love Our unity in faith is inseparably tied to love. This unity qualifies us to attain the true unity of life through our communion with Christ in the Eucharist. This is evident in the Divine Liturgy, as the Creed follows directly after the priest’s invitation to all believers to practice love, saying, “Let us love one another, that with one heart we may confess, acknowledging the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, a Trinity consubstantial and undivided.” This signifies that the Christian community united in love, in the image of the Holy Trinity, is the only one qualified and invited to proclaim the one faith. True love and truth are inseparable twins. There is no lived truth without love, nor true love outside of truth. Fourth: The Personal Commitment of “I Believe” Finally, the personal commitment emphasized in the word “I believe” reminds us that the Creed invites us to adhere to this divine order it recounts, to transform ourselves so that we become ambassadors for Christ and witnesses to Him in this world. Thus, the universal Church becomes a servant to the present world, as its Lord was. This is clear in the sequence of the Divine Liturgy: our unity in love qualifies us to express our one faith. Our expression of our one faith qualifies us to partake in the one cup. Our partaking of the one cup and Christ dwelling in our hearts qualify us to seek Christ and serve Him wherever He is, including in others and in the world, affirming that the Eucharistic mystery only fulfills its purpose in us when it leads us to communion in the “mystery of the neighbor,” as St. John Chrysostom said.