Creeds & Confessions
The texts the Church has used to say what she believes — Apostles', Nicene, Athanasian, the Chalcedonian Definition, the Reformation confessions, the great catechisms. Full text and context, in each tradition's own wording.
Ancient Creeds
3The Nicene Creed
The most widely shared creed in Christian history — confessed across the Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant traditions. Framed at Nicaea in 325 and completed at Constantinople in 381, it is the Church's fullest brief confession of the Trinity and of Christ.
The Athanasian Creed
A Western creed, also called the Quicunque vult from its opening words. Despite its name it was not written by Athanasius; it is a precise, almost legal statement of the Trinity and the Incarnation, composed in Latin in the West.
The Apostles' Creed
The ancient baptismal creed of the Western Church — a brief summary of the apostolic faith. Not written by the apostles themselves, but received as a faithful summary of their teaching; it reached its present form by roughly the eighth century.