Nicene Creed

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

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of His Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made; who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate.  He suffered and was buried.  And the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures and ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father.  And He will come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead, whose kingdom will have no end.

And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son*, who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified, who spoke by the prophets.  And we believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church, we acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins, and we look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.  Amen.

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* The phrase “and the Son” is called the filioque.  It is not part of the original Nicene Creed.  The Western Church in Spain added the filioque during the 3rd Council of Toledo in 589 to combat lingering remnants of Arianism, which contended that the Son was not fully divine.  Thus, by showing the Son’s role in the Holy Spirit’s procession, it more clearly confessed His divinity.

The filioque is in no way meant to be understood that the Son along with Father are the source of the Holy Spirit’s procession.  This would go against the Christian understanding that the Father alone is the origin of both the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Some contend that the ambiguity of the “and” in the filioque can lead to a form of Semi-Sabellianism

This is how the phrase “and the Son” is to be understood: the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father through the Son.  Because of the ambiguity of the original Latin for “and the Son” (Filioque procedit), this further clarification is needed.