Athanasian Creed

Posted under Uncategorized on October 30th, 2009 by with one response 

The Athanasian Creed
(QUICUNQUE VULT)

[Alternate readings in brackets]

   1. Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholic Faith.
   2. Which Faith except everyone do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly.
   3. And the Catholic Faith is this:
      That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity,
   4. Neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the Substance [Essence].
   5. For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost.
   6. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is all one, the Glory equal, the Majesty co-eternal.
   7. Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Ghost.
   8. The Father uncreate [uncreated], the Son uncreate [uncreated], and the Holy Ghost uncreate [uncreated].
   9. The Father incomprehensible [unlimited], the Son incomprehensible [unlimited], and the Holy Ghost incomprehensible [unlimited].
  10. The Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Ghost eternal.
  11. And yet they are not three eternals, but one eternal.
  12. As also there are not three incomprehensibles [infinites], nor three uncreated, but one uncreated, and one incomprehensible [infinite].
  13. So likewise the Father is Almighty, the Son Almighty, and the Holy Ghost Almighty.
  14. And yet they are not three Almighties, but one Almighty.
  15. So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God.
  16. And yet they are not three Gods, but one God.
  17. So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son Lord, and the Holy Ghost Lord.
  18. And yet not three Lords, but one Lord.
  19. For like as we are compelled by the Christian verity: to acknowledge every Person by himself to be both God and Lord,
  20. So are we forbidden by the Catholic Religion, to say, There be [are] three Gods, or three Lords.
  21. The Father is made of none, neither created, nor begotten.
  22. The Son is of the Father alone, not made, nor created, but begotten.
  23. The Holy Ghost is of the Father and of the Son, neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding.
  24. So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Ghost, not three Holy Ghosts.
  25. And in this Trinity none is afore, or after other; none is greater, or less than another [there is nothing before, or after: nothing greater or less];
  26. But the whole three Persons are co-eternal together and co-equal.
  27. So that in all things, as is aforesaid, the Unity in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped.
  28. He therefore that will be saved must [let him] thus think of the Trinity.

  29. Furthermore, it is necessary to everlasting salvation that he also believe rightly the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
  30. For the right Faith is, that we believe and confess, that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man;
  31. God, of the Substance [Essence] of the Father, begotten before the worlds; and Man, of the Substance [Essence] of his Mother, born in the world;
  32. Perfect God and perfect Man, of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting;
  33. Equal to the Father, as touching his Godhead; and inferior to the Father, as touching his Manhood.
  34. Who although he be [is] God and Man, yet he is not two, but one Christ;
  35. One, not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh, but by taking assumption of the Manhood into God;
  36. One altogether, not by confusion of Substance [Essence], but by unity of Person.
  37. For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man, so God and Man is one Christ;
  38. Who suffered for our salvation, descended into hell [Hades, spirit-world], rose again the third day from the dead.
  39. He ascended into heaven, he sitteth on the right hand of the Father, God [God the Father] Almighty,
  40. From whence [thence] he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
  41. At whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies
  42. And shall give account for their own works.
  43. And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting, and they that have done evil into everlasting fire.
  44. This is the Catholic Faith, which except a man believe faithfully [truly and firmly], he cannot be saved.

Athanasius of Alexandria was traditionally thought to be the author of the Athanasian Creed, and gives his name to its common title.

The Athanasian Creed (Quicumque vult) is a Christian statement of belief, focusing on Trinitarian doctrine and Christology. The Latin name of the creed, Quicumque vult, is taken from the opening words "Whosoever wishes." The Athanasian Creed has been used by Christian churches since the sixth century of the common era. It is the first creed in which the equality of the three persons of the Trinity is explicitly stated, and differs from the Nicene-Constantinopolitan and Apostles’ Creeds in the inclusion of anathemas, or condemnations of those who disagree with the Creed.

Widely accepted among Western Christians, including the Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion, and most liturgical Protestant denominations, the Athanasian Creed has been used in public worship less and less frequently in recent years. The creed has never gained much acceptance among Eastern Christians.

Contents

    * 1 Origin
    * 2 Content
    * 3 Uses
    * 4 References
    * 5 External links

Origin
The Shield of the Trinity, a visual representation of the doctrine of the Trinity, derived from the Athanasian Creed. The Latin reads: "The Father is God, The Son is God, The Holy Spirit is God; God is the Father, God is the Son, God is the Holy Spirit; The Father is not the Son, The Son is not the Father, The Father is not the Holy Spirit, The Holy Spirit is not the Father, The Son is not the Holy Spirit, The Holy Spirit is not the Son."

A medieval account credited Athanasius of Alexandria, the famous defender of Nicene theology, as the author of the Creed. According to this account, Athanasius composed it during his exile in Rome, and presented it to Pope Julius as a witness to his orthodoxy.[1] This traditional attribution of the Creed to Athanasius was first called into question in 1642 by Dutch theologian G.J. Voss,[2] and it has since been widely accepted by modern scholars that the creed was not authored by Athanasius.[3] Athanasius’ name seems to have become attached to the creed as a sign of its strong declaration of Trinitarian faith. The reasoning for rejecting Athanasius as the author usually relies on a combination of the following:

   1. The creed originally was most likely written in Latin, while Athanasius composed in Greek.
   2. Neither Athanasius nor his contemporaries ever mention the Creed.
   3. It is not mentioned in any records of the ecumenical councils.
   4. It appears to address theological concerns that developed after Athanasius died (including the filioque).
   5. It was most widely circulated among Western Christians.[2][4]

The use of the Creed in a sermon by Caesarius of Arles, as well as a theological resemblance to works by Vincent of L?©rins, point to Southern Gaul as its origin.[5] The most likely time frame is in the late fifth or early sixth century of the common era – at least 100 years after Athanasius. The theology of the creed is firmly rooted in the Augustinian tradition, using exact terminology of Augustine’s On the Trinity (published 415 c.e.).[6] In the late 19th century, there was a great deal of speculation about who might have authored the creed, with suggestions including Ambrose of Milan, Venantius Fortunatus, and Hilary of Poitiers, among others. [7] The 1940 discovery of a lost work by Vincent of L?©rins, which bears a striking similarity to much of the language of the Athanasian Creed, have led many to conclude that the creed originated either with Vincent or with his students.[8] For example, in the authoritative modern monograph about the creed, J.N.D. Kelly asserts that Vincent of L?©rin was not its author, but that it may have come from the same milieu, namely the area of L?©rins in southern Gaul.[9] The oldest surviving manuscripts of the Athanasian Creed date from the late 8th century.[10]
Content

The Athanasian Creed is usually divided into two sections: lines 1-28 addressing the doctrine of the Trinity, and lines 29-44 addressing the doctrine of Christology.[11] Enumerating the three persons of the Trinity (i.e., Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit), the first section of the creed ascribes the divine attributes to each individually. Thus, each person of the Trinity is described as uncreated (increatus), limitless (Immensus), eternal (?¦ternus), and omnipotent (omnipotens).[12]. While ascribing the divine attributes and divinity to each person of the Trinity, thus avoiding subordinationism, the first half of the Athanasian Creed also stresses the unity of the three persons in the one Godhead, thus avoiding a theology of tritheism. Furthermore, although one God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are distinct from each other. For the Father is neither made nor begotten; the Son is not made but is begotten from the Father; the Holy Spirit is neither made nor begotten but proceeds from the Father and the Son (filioque).

Didactic as its content appears to contemporary readers, its opening sets out the essential principle that the Catholic faith does not consist in the first place in assent to propositions, but ‘that we worship One God in Trinity, and the Trinity in Unity’. All else flows from that orientation.

Its teaching about Jesus Christ is more detailed than in the Nicene Creed, and reflects the teaching of the First Council of Ephesus (431) and the definition of the Council of Chalcedon (451). The ‘Athanasian’ Creed boldly uses the key Nicene term homoousios (‘one substance’, ‘one in Being’) not only with respect to the relation of the Son to the Father according to his divine nature, but that the Son is homoousios with his mother Mary, according to his human nature.

The Creed’s wording thus excludes not only Sabellianism and Arianism, but the Christological heresies of Nestorianism and Eutychianism. A need for a clear confession against Arianism arose in western Europe when the Ostrogoths and Visigoths, who had Arian beliefs, invaded at the beginning of the 5th century.

The final section of this Creed also moved beyond the Nicene (and Apostles’) Creeds in making negative statements about the people’s fate: "They that have done good shall go into life everlasting: and they that have done evil into everlasting fire." This caused considerable debate in England in the mid-nineteenth century, centred around the teaching of Frederic Denison Maurice.
Uses
Detail of a manuscript illustration depicting a knight carrying the "Shield of the Trinity."

Composed of 44 rhythmic lines, the Athanasian Creed appears to have been intended as a liturgical document – that is, the original purpose of the creed was to be spoken or sung as a part of worship.[1] The creed itself uses the language of public worship, speaking of the worship of God rather than the language of belief ("Now this is the catholic faith: We worship one God"). Among medieval European Christian churches, this creed was recited following the Sunday sermon or at the Sunday Office of Prime.[13] The creed was often set to music and used in the place of a Psalm.

Early Protestants inherited the late medieval devotion to the Athanasian Creed, and it was considered to be authoritative in many Protestant churches. The statements of Protestant belief (confessional documents) of various Reformers commend the Athanasian Creed to their followers, including the Augsburg Confession, the Formula of Concord, the Second Helvetic Confession, the Belgic Confession, the Bohemian Confession and the Thirty-nine Articles. [14] Among modern Lutheran and Reformed churches adherence to the Athanasian Creed is prescribed by the earlier confessional documents, but the creed does not receive much attention outside of occasional use – especially on Trinity Sunday.[13][15]

In Reformed circles, it is included (for example) in the Christian Reformed Churches of Australia’s Book of Forms (publ. 1991). That said, it is rarely recited in public worship.

In the successive Books of Common Prayer of the reformed Church of England from 1549 to 1662, its recitation was provided for on 19 occasions each year, a practice which continued until the nineteenth century, when vigorous controversy regarding its statement about ‘eternal damnation’ saw its use gradually decline. It remains one of the three Creeds approved in the Thirty-Nine Articles, and is printed in several current Anglican prayer books (eg A Prayer Book for Australia (1995)). As with Roman Catholic practice, its use is now generally only on Trinity Sunday or its octave.

In Roman Catholic churches, it was traditionally said at Prime on Sundays after Epiphany and Pentecost, except when a Double feast or day within an octave occurred, and on Trinity Sunday. In the 1960 reforms, it was reduced to once a year on Trinity Sunday. It has been effectively dropped from the Catholic liturgy since Vatican II, although it is retained in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer. It is however maintained in the Forma Extraordinaria, per the decree Summorum Pontificum, and also in the rite of exorcism, both in the Forma Ordinaria and the Forma Extraordinaria of the Roman Rite.

In Lutheranism, the Athanasian Creed is- along with the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds- one of the three ecumenical creeds placed at the beginning of the 1580 Book of Concord, the historic collection of authoritative doctrinal statements (confessions) of the Lutheran church. It is still used in the liturgy on Trinity Sunday.

A common visualisation of the first half of the Creed is the Shield of the Trinity.

On this day...

Leave a Comment

www.PurposeDriven.ca // Personal Ministry of Steve Kellar
Request a FREE ESV Bible