The Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed

First Council of Constantinople

The First Council of Constantinople, summoned by the Emperor Theodosius I in A.D. 381, was the second ecumenical council. It reaffirmed the faith of Nicaea and completed it, chiefly by confessing the full divinity of the Holy Spirit against the Pneumatomachi. The Creed it set forth — the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed — is the Symbol recited in the Church’s worship to this day.

1. 1. The Symbol of Faith

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.

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, 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.