The Creed
All the basic questions of the teaching of the Orthodox Church are set out in the Creed. It has 12 articles (members), which every Christian should know. This text was established by the holy fathers at the first Ecumenical Councils, already in the 4th century, and since then it has been kept inviolate in the Orthodox Church.
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 Son of God, the Only-begotten, begotten of the Father before all ages.
Light of Light, true God of true God, begotten, not made, of one essence with the Father, by Whom all things were made.
Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven, and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and became man.
And was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered, and was buried.
And rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures.
And ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of the Father.
And shall come again with glory to judge the living and the dead, Whose kingdom shall have no end.
And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life, Who proceedeth from the Father, Who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified, Who spake by the prophets.
In one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church. I confess one baptism for the remission of sins.
I look for the resurrection of the dead.
And the life of the age to come, amen.
The mrtsamsi, or symbol of faith, is a short exposition of those basic articles of faith which every Christian must confess and fulfil. The importance of the Creed is seen also from the fact that in our daily prayers we say the Creed along with the other prayers. Strictly speaking, among these prayers the Creed is the only one that is not a prayer in the strict sense of the word. It is an exposition of the articles of the faith. Why does the Church advise us to repeat every morning the basic articles of the faith, that is, the symbol of faith? Because this is the foundation on which the whole Orthodox faith stands. Nor is it by chance that the Creed is sung at the Liturgy too; that is, at every Liturgy the Church reminds the faithful of that to which every Christian must without fail be faithful and which every Christian must follow.
The history of the Creed is bound up with the Ecumenical Councils. The articles of the Creed were adopted at the first (325) and the second (381) Ecumenical Councils. At the first Council several articles were adopted, and at the second the remaining part of them was established. In the decrees of the Third Ecumenical Council it was noted too that nothing should be added to the text of the Creed and nothing taken away from it. This is very important. Later, centuries afterwards, the Catholics changed one of the articles in the Creed, and because of this change they were cut off from the Church, since to make a change in the Creed is heresy, false teaching.
And now let us return to the Ecumenical Councils and to their significance. Seven Councils in all were held. It should be noted that this was an age when it was quite difficult to gather people together, since the means of travel were not well developed. Despite this, bishops came together at the Ecumenical Councils from different corners of the Orthodox world of that time. Despite the danger that attended their journey, they still came to these Councils. If we take all this into account, we shall see what great spiritual importance the hierarchs gave to attending these Councils.
At an Ecumenical Council the fathers of the Church gathered together and decided church questions. Church Councils were, as a rule, held against some heresy. This was not simply a gathering to converse on theological questions. The holding of the Councils was a necessary need of the Church, and they were moved by the desire to protect the Church from wrong teachings, which in one age or another threatened the Church in various forms. It was in fact a response to this or that heresy. For example, the aim of the first Ecumenical Council, which was held at Nicaea in 325, was to protect the Church from Arianism. In that period the heresiarch Arius, the father of the heresy, was preaching a wrong teaching about the Son of God. This is exactly how dogmatic questions took shape. This was the Church's self-defence, its guarding of itself from foreign, outside teachings.
Naturally, if we understand the question in this way, the significance of the church Councils and of their decrees becomes clear. First among them was the Creed.
The Georgian name mrtsamsi comes from the first word: “Mrtsams erti ghmerti..” — “I believe in one God..”. This first word was taken as the general title of this short text. It is also called by another name, the symbol of faith. In other languages it is rendered in just this way.
As was noted above, the Creed is said not only in the morning prayers but at the Liturgy too, by which the Church reminds us of its importance. The Creed is said at the celebration of the mystery of Baptism as well. At baptism the catechumen is bound to say the Creed. This means that he agrees with and confesses every article set out in the Creed, and that he is baptised into those truths of the faith which are set out in the Creed. This is one more confirmation of how great is the importance of the Creed, the knowledge of which — and not only the knowledge, but the confession — is necessary for every Christian. A person must confirm that he believes in God in just this way and in no other. It is true that a person may have this faith in his heart, but it is necessary also that he should not be ashamed of his faith before people. When a person is ashamed of the faith, it means that he is ashamed of the Lord. In such a case, of course, we should not expect mercy from the Lord: whoever denies the Lord before men will be denied before God in the world to come, at the judgement. The confirming of the faith is one of the marks of a Christian and of Christianity.
