Dearly beloved in Christ,
We believe in one God, the Father almighty,
maker of all things visible and invisible;
And in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
begotten from the Father, only-begotten,
that is, from the substance of the Father,
God from God, light from light,
true God from true God, begotten not made,
of one substance with the Father,
through Whom all things came into being,
things in heaven and things on earth,
Who because of us men and because of our salvation came down, and became incarnate and became man,
and suffered, and rose again on the third day, and ascended to the heavens, and will come to judge the living and dead,
And in the Holy Spirit.
But as for those who say, There was when He was not,
and, Before being born He was not,
and that He came into existence out of nothing,
or who assert that the Son of God is of a different hypostasis or substance, or created, or is subject to alteration or change
– these the Catholic and Apostolic Church anathematises.
With these words, the original version of our Creed (nicknamed ‘N’) from the First Ecumenical Council of Nicea I, which Council was held from 20th May 325 to early July 325, we celebrate in
this new year of grace and salvation the 1700th anniversary of the First General Council of the Holy Catholic Church. We encourage all parishes and missions of the Anglican Province of America to observe a special day or Sunday this year in commemoration of God’s gift to us of our statement of Orthodox and Apostolic Faith in the Most Blessed Trinity and the true Deity and Incarnation of Our Lord, God, and Saviour Jesus Christ. If one waxes bold, one may use this original version of the Nicene Creed at a special liturgy, a Creed which both clearly affirms the Eternal Son of God as homoousios, being of One Substance or Essence with the Father, and condemns with equal clarity all the pernicious errors of the heresiarch Arius. It is a remarkable year in which to be a Catholic Christian! 2025 is a momentous year in the history of Christ’s earthly Kingdom, Holy Mother Church.
