Nicene Creed

The Nicene Creed is the defining statement of belief of Nicene Christianity and in those Christian denominations that adhere to it. The original Nicene Creed was first adopted at the First Council of Nicaea in 325. According to the traditional view, forwarded by the Council of Chalcedon of 451, the Creed was amended in 381 by the First Council of Constantinople as "consonant to the holy and great Synod of Nice". Further, a creed "almost identical in form" was used as early as 374 by St. Epiphanius of Salamis. The amended form is presently referred to as the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed. Creedal scholar J.N.D. Kelly suggests that since the First Council of Constantinople was not considered ecumenical until the Council of Chalcedon in 451, the absence of documentation during this period does not logically necessitate rejecting the amended creed as an expansion of the original Nicene Creed of 325. The Nicene Creed is part of the profession of faith required of those undertaking important functions within the Assyrian Church of the East, Ancient Church of the East, Oriental Orthodox Churches, Eastern Orthodox Church, Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican, Methodist, and other Protestant traditions including the Waldensian and Reformed (Continental Reformed, Presbyterian), Congregationalist, and Baptist. Nicene Christianity regards Jesus as divine and "begotten of the Father". Various conflicting theological views existed before the fourth century, and these disagreements would eventually spur the ecumenical councils to develop the Nicene Creed. Various non-Nicene beliefs have emerged and re-emerged since the fourth century, all of which are considered heresies by adherents of Nicene Christianity. In the liturgical churches of Western Christianity, the Nicene Creed is in use alongside the less widespread Apostles' Creed and Athanasian Creed. An affirmation of faith, by default the Nicene Creed, is usually said immediately after the sermon or homily following the Gospel...