The Nicene Creed,[a] also called the Creed of Constantinople,[1] is the defining statement of belief of Nicene Christianity[2][3] 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."[4] However, many scholars comment on these ancient Councils, saying "there is a failure of evidence" for this position since no one between the years of 381–451 thought of it in this light.[5] Further, a creed "almost identical in form" was used as early as 374 by St. Epiphanius of Salamis.[6] Nonetheless, the amended form is presently referred to as the Nicene Creed or the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed.

J.N.D. Kelly, who stands among historians as an authority on creedal statements, disagrees with the assessment above. He argues 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.[6]

The Nicene Creed is part of the profession of faith required of those undertaking important functions within the Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Evangelical Lutheran, Anglican, Methodist, and other Protestant traditions including the Waldensian and Reformed (Continental Reformed, Presbyterian, Congregationalist and Reformed Baptist).[7][8][9][10] Nicene Christianity regards Jesus as divine and "begotten of the Father".[11] 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[12] by adherents of Nicene Christianity.

In the liturgical churches of Western Christianity, the Nicene Creed is in use alongside the less widespread Apostles' Creed[13][14][15] and Athanasian Creed.[16][8][17][18] An affirmation of faith, by default the Nicene Creed, is usually said immediately after the sermon or homily following the Gospel reading at the Eucharist, at least on Sundays and major festivals.

In musical settings, particularly when sung in Latin, this creed is usually referred to by its first word, Credo. On Sundays and solemnities, one of these two creeds is recited in the Roman Rite Mass after the homily. In the Byzantine Rite, the Nicene Creed is sung or recited at the Divine Liturgy, immediately preceding the Anaphora (eucharistic prayer) is also recited daily at compline.

We believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of God the Father, only-begotten, that is of the substance of the Father.

God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten and not made; of the same nature of the Father, by whom all things came into being in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible;

Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven, took body, became man, was born perfectly of the holy Virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit.

By whom he took body, soul and mind and everything that is in man, truly and not in semblance.

He suffered and was crucified and was buried and rose again on the third day and ascended into heaven with the same body and sat at the right hand of the Father.

He is to come with the same body and with the glory of the Father to judge the living and the dead; of His kingdom there is no end.

We believe also in the Holy Spirit, the uncreated and the perfect; who spoke through the Law and through the Prophets and through the Gospels;

Who came down upon the Jordan, preached through the apostles and dwelled in the saints.

We believe also in only one catholic and apostolic holy Church;

In one baptism with repentance for the remission and forgiveness of sins;

In the resurrection of the dead, in the everlasting judgment of souls and bodies, in the kingdom of heaven and in the life eternal.