The Athanasian Creed
- Whoever wants to be saved
- should above all cling
- to the catholic faith.
- Whoever does not guard it
- whole and inviolable
- will doubtless perish eternally.
- Now this is the catholic faith:
- We worship one God in trinity
- and the Trinity in unity,
- neither confusing the persons
- nor dividing the divine being.
- For the Father is one person,
- the Son is another,
- and the Spirit is still another.
- But the deity of the Father, Son,
- and Holy Spirit
- is one, equal in glory,
- coeternal in majesty.
- What the Father is,
- the Son is,
- and so is the Holy Spirit.
- Uncreated is the Father;
- uncreated is the Son;
- uncreated is the Spirit.
- The Father is infinite;
- the son is infinite;
- the Holy Spirit is infinite.
- Eternal is the Father;
- eternal is the Son;
- eternal is the Spirit:
- And yet there are not
- three eternal beings,
- but one who is eternal;
- as there are not
- three uncreated and unlimited beings,
- but one who is uncreated
- and unlimited.
- Almighty is the Father;
- almighty is the Son;
- almighty is the Spirit:
- And yet there are not
- three almighty beings,
- but one who is almighty.
- Thus the Father is God;
- the Son is God;
- the Holy Spirit is God:
- And yet there are not three gods,
- but one God.
- Thus the Father is Lord;
- the Son is Lord;
- the Holy Spirit is Lord:
- And yet there are not three lords,
- but one Lord.
- As Christian truth compels us
- to acknowledge each distinct person
- as God and Lord,
- so catholic religion forbids us
- to say that there are
- three gods or lords.
- The Father was neither made
- nor created nor begotten;
- the Son was neither made nor created,
- but was alone begotten of the Father;
- the Spirit was neither made nor created,
- but is proceeding
- from the Father and the Son.
- Thus there is one Father,
- not three fathers;
- one Son, not three sons;
- one Holy Spirit, not three spirits.
- And in this Trinity,
- no one is before or after,
- greater or less than the other;
- but all three persons are in themselves,
- coeternal and coequal;
- and so we must worship
- the Trinity in unity
- and the one God in three persons.
- Whoever wants to be saved should
- think thus about the Trinity.
- It is necessary for eternal salvation
- that one also faithfully believe that
- our Lord Jesus Christ became flesh.
- For this is the true faith
- that we believe and confess:
- That our Lord Jesus Christ,
- God's Son, is both God and man.
- He is God, begotten before all worlds
- from the being of the Father,
- and he is man, born in the world
- from the being of his mother -
- existing fully as God,
- and fully as man
- with a rational soul
- and a human body;
- equal to the Father in divinity,
- subordinate to the Father in humanity.
- Although he is God and man,
- he is not divided,
- but is one Christ.
- He is united because God has taken
- humanity into himself;
- he does not transform deity
- into humanity.
- He is completely one
- in the unity of his person,
- without confusing his natures.
- For as the rational soul and body
- are one person,
- so the one Christ is God and man.
- He suffered death for our salvation.
- He descended into hell
- and rose again from the dead.
- He ascended into heaven
- and is seated at the right hand
- of the Father.
- He will come again
- to judge the living and the dead.
- At his coming
- all people shall rise bodily
- to give an account of their own deeds.
- Those who have done good
- will enter eternal life,
- those who have done evil
- will enter eternal fire.
- This is the catholic faith.
- One cannot be saved
- without believing this
- firmly and faithfully.
-
- The Apostles'
Creed
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