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The Nicene Creed
325; expanded at Constantinople 381· Council, creed or writing· Books & writings
Historical recordConfirmed by archaeology, outside sources or contemporary records.
The statement of faith from Nicaea (325), expanded at Constantinople (381), recited weekly in Catholic, Orthodox and many Protestant churches.
See it on the Bible & Christianity map →What it is
The version used today is the 381 text. It confesses 'one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth'; one Lord Jesus Christ, 'God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one being with the Father', born, crucified 'under Pontius Pilate', and risen; the Holy Spirit, 'the Lord, the giver of life'; and 'one holy catholic and apostolic Church'. The 325 original ended at the Holy Spirit.
Why it matters
It is the one creed shared by Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, Lutheran and most other churches, the closest thing to a common Christian statement.
Sources and history
The 325 text survives in letters of Eusebius and Athanasius. The 381 text is first recorded in the minutes of Chalcedon (451); the 381 council's own records are lost.
Questions and debates
Whether the 381 council wrote the expanded creed or adopted an existing local one is debated. The West's added 'and the Son' (filioque) still divides Catholics and Orthodox.
Connections (6)
▸Pontius Pilate is named in The Nicene CreedHistorical record
The connection
The 381 creed says Christ 'was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, suffered and was buried'. Apart from Jesus and Mary, Pilate is the only person it names. Naming a known Roman governor (AD 26–36) anchors the faith in datable history rather than myth. The phrase came from older baptismal creeds; the 325 version lacked it.
When and where
In Christian creeds from the 2nd century (Ignatius names Pilate around 110), in the Apostles' Creed, and in the Nicene Creed of 381.
Historical evidence
The creed's text. Pilate himself is confirmed by the 'Pilate Stone' found at Caesarea in 1961 and by the Roman historian Tacitus (c. 116).
Questions and debates
Why creeds singled out Pilate is debated: to date Jesus's death in real history, to answer claims he never truly died, or simply because early confessions named him (1 Timothy 6:13).
▸The Nicene Creed confesses the full divinity of Jesus of NazarethHistorical record
The connection
The creed answers the question 'Who was Jesus?' It calls him 'the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made', who 'came down from heaven' and 'became man'. The words rule out Arius's view that the Son was created.
When and where
Nicaea, 325, expanded at Constantinople, 381; now recited weekly in Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican and Lutheran services.
Historical evidence
A textual link. Historians can document the creed and its debates; its claim about who Jesus is rests on faith.
Questions and debates
Scholars debate whether its Greek philosophical terms faithfully develop the Jewish Jesus of the Gospels or shift the picture; Unitarians and Jehovah's Witnesses reject it.
▸Council of Nicaea produced The Nicene CreedHistorical record
The connection
The bishops adopted a creed, possibly based on an existing local one, and inserted words aimed squarely at Arius: 'begotten, not made', 'of one being (homoousios) with the Father'. They added curses on anyone saying 'there was when he was not'. All but two bishops signed.
When and where
Nicaea, summer 325; the creed's adoption is traditionally dated June 19, 325.
Historical evidence
The creed's text survives in Eusebius's letter to his church at Caesarea, in Athanasius's writings and in the minutes of Chalcedon (451).
Questions and debates
Which existing creed served as the base, and who first proposed homoousios (perhaps Constantine, perhaps Hosius), are debated.
▸The Nicene Creed confesses The Trinity: Father, Son and Holy SpiritHistorical record
The connection
The 325 creed declared the Son 'of one being' with the Father. The 381 version added a paragraph on the Holy Spirit, 'the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father, who with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified'. Together they set the standard wording of the Trinity.
When and where
Nicaea (325) and Constantinople (381); the Western addition 'and the Son' (filioque) appeared at Toledo, Spain, in 589 and was adopted at Rome by 1014.
Historical evidence
The creed's texts survive; the 381 wording is first attested in the minutes of Chalcedon (451).
Questions and debates
The filioque still divides Catholics and Orthodox; Catholics sometimes recite the creed without it in ecumenical settings, and some Anglicans have recommended dropping it.
▸The Nicene Creed gained a Western 'filioque' that helped cause Great Schism: East and West splitHistorical record
The connection
The creed of 381 says the Holy Spirit 'proceeds from the Father'. Western churches added 'and the Son' (filioque), first in Spain in 589; Rome adopted it around 1014. The East saw a one-sided change to a shared creed and a theological error, and it figured in the 1054 excommunications.
When and where
Third Council of Toledo, Spain, 589; condemned by Patriarch Photius of Constantinople in 867; sung at papal Mass in Rome from about 1014.
Historical evidence
The texts are clear: the Greek creed lacks the word, the Latin has it. Humbert's 1054 bull even accused the Greeks of deleting it.
Questions and debates
How much the filioque mattered compared with papal power is debated. Some theologians now see the dispute as partly verbal; Catholics omit it when reciting the creed in Greek.
▸Christianity becomes Rome's official religion enforced The Nicene CreedHistorical record
The connection
Theodosius's 380 edict ordered everyone to follow the faith of the bishops of Rome and Alexandria, the Nicene faith, and branded others heretics. Entering Constantinople that November, he expelled its Arian bishop and installed Gregory of Nazianzus; in 381 he convened the council that expanded the creed. Later laws barred non-Nicene churches from meeting in cities.
When and where
Thessalonica, February 27, 380; Constantinople, 381.
Historical evidence
The edict and anti-heresy laws survive in the Theodosian Code (438), book 16; Gregory of Nazianzus left his own account in poems and speeches.
Questions and debates
How strictly the laws were enforced, and whether Theodosius, baptized in 380 during an illness, acted mainly from faith or for political unity, are debated.