Profession and Celebration:
The Creed
and the
Great Thanksgiving
The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed
Result of the 2 earliest Ecumenical Councils of
the Church:
Nicaea I (325) and Constantinople I (381)
The Council of Nicaea:
 Called after the legalization of Christianity under Constantine (Roman
Emperor 306-337)
 Purpose was to settle theological controversies regarding the divinity of the
Son of God in order to bring unity to the Empire.
 Controversy centered around the teaching of Arius (c.a. 256-336), a popular
preacher and parish priest from Alexandria, who denied the equality of the
Son to the Father. “If the Father begat the Son, he that was begotten had a
beginning of existence: and from this it is evident, that there was a time
when the Son was not. It therefore necessarily follows, that he had his
substance from nothing”
 Athansius (c.a. 296-373), also from Alexandria, was the chief defender of
Trinitarianism against Arius, teaching the equality of the Father to the Son
– we’ll see this language in the Creed. "Jesus that I know as my Redeemer
cannot be less than God" ~at the Council of Nicæa (c. 325). Also,
famously: "The Son of God became man so that man might become God."
The Council of Constantinople:
 Convened in 381 by Emperor Theodosius I
 Arian controversy continued. Constantinople also clarified
Trinitarian doctrine, most especially as regards the divinity of
the Holy Spirit
 The Cappadocian Fathers (St Gregory Nazianzus (329-389), St
Basil the Great (330-379), & St Gregory of Nyssa (c.332-395))
were very influential in this Council
 A new, expanded version of the Nicene Creed was formalized
at this time. It is the creed we know and recite today.
The Creed:
“We believe in one God . . .
We: the creed is always said corporately; as a
member of a body, a community;
Believe: Greek ‘Πιστεύο’ does not so much
mean intellectual assent but having trust in
something;
in (into) one God: the remainder of the creed
will define this God, to the best of our ability,
and speak of his activity.
. . . the Father, the almighty . . .
the Father: does not mean God is ‘male’, but
denotes relationship. Creation, and so the
human soul (think of Mary), is feminine, Spirit
is masculine. Also, God’s Son receives all that
the Father has, and so is heir, as was the
custom for the eldest son. We, being in Christ,
become co-heirs to the Father;
the Almighty: Supreme Ruler, Head, First
Cause, etc. . . .
. . . maker (creator) of heaven and earth, of all
that is, seen and unseen (visible and invisible) . . .
 God is the creator God, that through which all things have
being;
 The presupposes a belief in spiritual realities beyond what we
can know with our senses;
 Hebrew understanding of the interpenetration of the heavenly
with the earthly;
 Platonic forms: non-material abstract (but substantial) forms
(or ideas), and not the material world of change known to us
through sensation, possess the highest and most fundamental
kind of reality; think of a mathematical formula.
. . . We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the
only Son of God, eternally begotten of the
Father; God from God, light from light, true God
from true God, begotten not made, of one being
(substance) with the Father; through him all things
were made. . . .
Here we see the anti-Arian language as regards the
divinity of the Son.
What New Testament passage does this section
remind you of?
John 1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God; 3 all things were
made through him, and without him was not anything made that was
made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light
shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. 6 There
was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came for
testimony, to bear witness to the light, that all might believe through
him. 8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness to the light. 9 The
true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world. 10 He
was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world
knew him not. 11 He came to his own home, and his own people
received him not. 12 But to all who received him, who believed in his
name, he gave power to become children of God; 13 who were born, not
of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and
truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the
Father.
. . . For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy
Spirit he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and was made man. For our sake he
was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried. On the third day
he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated
at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the
dead, and his kingdom will have no end. . . .
“Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing (or emptied himself),
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name . . .”
Philippians 2:6-9
“He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might
fill all things.”
Ephesians 4:10
 Judge = Rule
. . . We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of
Life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With
the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets. . . .
 Filioque and Procession of the Spirit: In John 16:13-15 Jesus says of
the Holy Spirit "he will take what is mine and declare it to you", and
it is argued that in the relations between the Persons of the Trinity
one Person cannot "take" or "receive" anything from either of the
others except by way of procession. Texts such as John 20:22 ("He
breathed on them and said: Receive the Holy Spirit"), were seen by
Fathers of the Church, especially Athanasius, Cyril of Alexandria
and Epiphanius of Cyprus as grounds for saying that the Spirit
"proceeds substantially from both" the Father and the Son. Other
texts that have been used include Galatians 4:6, Romans
8:9, Philippians 1:19, where the Holy Spirit is called "the Spirit of
the Son", "the Spirit of Christ", "the Spirit of Jesus Christ", and texts
in the Gospel of John on the sending of the Holy Spirit by Jesus
(14:16, 15:26,16:7). Some prefer to say “. . . from the Father
through the Son.”
Maximus the Confessor (c. 580 – 13 August 662)
declared that it was wrong to condemn the
Roman use of "and the Son" because the Romans
"have produced the unanimous evidence of the
Latin Fathers, and also of Cyril of Alexandria . . .
On the basis of these texts, they have shown that
they have not made the Son the cause of the
Spirit – they know in fact that the Father is the
only cause of the Son and the Spirit, the one by
begetting and the other by procession . . ."
 In 1978 the Anglican Communion's Lambeth Conference requested "that all
member Churches of the Anglican Communion should consider omitting the
Filioque from the Nicene Creed, and that the Anglican-Orthodox Joint Doctrinal
Commission through the Anglican Consultative Council should assist them in
presenting the theological issues to their appropriate synodical bodies and should
be responsible for any necessary consultation with other Churches of the Western
tradition."
 In 1988 the conference "ask(ed) that further thought be given to the Filioque
clause, recognizing it to be a major point of disagreement (with the Orthodox) ...
recommending to the provinces of the Anglican Communion that in future
liturgical revisions the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed be printed without the
Filioque clause." At a subsequent joint meeting of the Anglican Primates and
Anglican Consultative Council in 1993, a resolution was passed urging Anglican
churches to comply with the request that "in future liturgical revisions the NicenoConstantinopolitan Creed be printed without the Filioque clause."
 The recommendation was not specifically renewed in the 1998 and 2008 Lambeth
Conferences and has not been implemented.
 In 1985 the General Convention of The Episcopal Church (USA) recommended that
the Filioque clause should be removed from the Nicene Creed, if this were
endorsed by the 1988 Lambeth Council. Accordingly, at its 1994 General
Convention, the Episcopal Church reaffirmed its intention to remove the words
"and the son" from the Nicene Creed in the next revision of its Book of Common
Prayer. The Episcopal Book of Common Prayer was last revised in 1979, and has
not been revised since the resolution.
. . . We believe in one holy catholic and
apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism
for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the
resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world
to come. Amen.
Eucharistic Prayer A
The Lord be with you.
People And also with you.
Celebrant Lift up your hearts.
People We lift them to the Lord.
Celebrant Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
People It is right to give him thanks and praise.
Then, facing the Holy Table, the Celebrant proceeds
It is right, and a good and joyful thing, always and everywhere to give thanks to you, Father
Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth.
Here a Proper Preface is sung or said on all Sundays, and on other occasions as appointed.
Therefore we praise you, joining our voices with Angels and Archangels and with all the company
of heaven, who for ever sing this hymn to proclaim the glory of your Name:
Celebrant and People
Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna
in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.
The people stand or kneel.
Then the Celebrant continues
Holy and gracious Father: In your infinite love you made us for yourself; and, when we had fallen
into sin and become subject to evil and death, you, in your mercy, sent Jesus Christ, your only and
eternal Son, to share our human nature, to live and die as one of us, to reconcile us to you, the God
and Father of all. He stretched out his arms upon the cross, and offered himself, in obedience to
your will, a perfect sacrifice for the whole world.
Eucharistic Prayer B
We give thanks to you, O God, for the goodness and
love which you have made known to us in creation;
in the calling of Israel to be your people; in your
Word spoken through the prophets; and above all in
the Word made flesh, Jesus, your Son. For in these
last days you sent him to be incarnate from the
Virgin Mary, to be the Savior and Redeemer of the
world. In him, you have delivered us from evil, and
made us worthy to stand before you. In him, you
have brought us out of error into truth, out of sin
into righteousness, out of death into life.
 What similarities do you notice between the creed and the Eucharistic
Prayer?
 Proper Prefaces are appointed for each season of the Church year and, like
the Collect, connects us to the Church’s reenactment of salvation history:
creation, fall, redemption.
 Sanctus: “Therefore we praise you, joining our voices with angels and
archangels and all the company of heaven, who forever sing this hymn to
proclaim the glory of your Name:” What does this say about the Liturgy?
About the heavenly life? About our lives now as Christians?
 Benedictus: “Blessed is he who comes . . .” This is the greeting for the
approaching Messiah, Jesus, who we are about to encounter in the
Eucharist; who feeds us with his substance and his life. Jesus riding into
Jerusalem, Palm Sunday.
 Narrative of God’s mighty and gracious acts. How do we understand the
statement “when we had fallen into sin and become subject to evil and
death”?
 What might it mean for our lives that God shared in our nature and died on
the cross for the atonement of our sins? Is this believable? If not, why? If
so, what might our response be; how might this shape our lives?