The Creed
The Creed
The Creed
COPf'IC ORTHODOX
PATRIARCHATE
ISee oj St. Mark .,
THE CREED
By
("I""
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Some people have their minds developed, and they lose the
simplicity of faith !
St. John the apostle says, "For there are three who bear
witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit;
and these three are one" (1 In. 5: 7). -
And St. James the apostle says, "You believe that there is
one God, You do well. Even the demons believe - and tremble!"
(las. 2: 19). The apostle means by this the intellectual faith not
the inner actual faith. One who does not believe in One God is
lower in faith than the devils!
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And the Lord Jesus Christ said "baptizing them in the
name o/the Father, and o/the Son and o/the Holy Spirit' (Mt.
28: 19). He said in the name, not in the names.
power over all other beings except the other two gods having
the same power. In this way none of them will be God since
none of them is omnipotent.
In the Old Testament God was Lord and Father, and in the
New Testament was also so. His relationship with mankind
never changes.
And in the story of the Legion, the devils begged the Lord
to send them to the swine that they may enter them and the
Lord permitted them (Mk. 5: 12, 13). This shows that the devil
had no power even to enter the swine without God's
permission.
In the Revelation God sent His angel and bound Satan for a
thousand years, after which Satan will be released from his
prison (Rev. 20: 2, 7).
The Lord gave His disciples power over the unclean spirits
to cast them out (Mt. 10: 1). And the seventy disciples were
joyful and said, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in
Your name" (Lk. 10: 17). We also are given by the Lord the
authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the
power of the enemy (Lk. 10: 19) (By the enemy here is meant
Satan).
And God interfered many times to save His saints from the
counsel of the wicked. Therefore David sang admitting this, "If
it had not been the Lord who was on our side when men rose
against us, then they would have swallowed us alive ... Our
soul has escaped as a bird from the snare of the fowlers. The
snare is broken, and we have escaped. Our help is in the name
of the Lord, who made heaven and earth" CPs. 124: 2).
God controls everything, not only the acts, but also the
thoughts and intents.
If you know all this, you will feel ashamed for every sinful
act you do or every thought within you which God knows.
You will feel ashamed from God the Almighty, the Creator of
heaven and earth.
'. Ood created Heaven and earth in the beginning (Gen. 1: 1).
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The first verse of the Holy Bible says, "In the beginning
God created the heavens and the earth" (Gen. 1: 1). This
shows that there are various heavens, as we pray also in the
Lord's Prayer (in the Arabic version), "Our Father who is in
the heavens" (Mt. 6: 9).
The second heaven is the solar system where the sun, the
moon, the stars, the galaxies, and all planets exist. No plane can
approach the sun, or it will be burnt. It is true that space ships
could reach the moon, but many parts in the solar system
cannot be approached by man. The talk about the stars, the
meteors and the galaxies is amazing and strange although a
very little is yet known in this field.
The invisible:
By this is meant that which we cannot see by our human
senses which see only substances, and what is not substance
cannot be seen.
The spirits include the angels (Ps. 104: 4), and many of
them surround us but we do not see them. When the angel takes
a form we see him, but as a spirit we cannot see him. The same
applies to the devils because they also are spirits, either evil or
unclean spirits (Mt. 10: 1, 8). This fight us, but we do not see
.them. Only when the devil takes a certain fonn he becomes
visible in that form, but not in his original nature as spirit.
"""
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We believe in One Lord, Jesus Christ
The title "Lord" is also used in the context of the talk about
His divinity; for the apostle said, ..... and one Lord Jesus
Christ, "through whom are all things, and through whom we
live" (l Cor. 8: 6).
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He is called also "Lord of the Sabbath" (Mt. 12: 8), "the
Lord of glory" (1 Cor. 2: 8). The title "Lord" is used also for
the Lord Christ in the context of the miracles.
[See our book: The Divinity of Christ. pp. 51-59].
But lest anyone think that the use of the word "Lord"
instead of the word "God" means that the Lord Christ is
lesser in rank than the Father, we say:
I." The two titles are given to the Lord Christ in the Creed:
"We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ ... true God out of true
God". This reminds us of the words of st. Thomas to Him after
the Resurrection, "My Lord and my Goff' (John 20: 28).
The kings also were anointed with the holy oil as Samuel
anointed Saul king and the Spirit of God came upon him (1
Sam. 10: 1, 10), and as he anointed David king and the Spirit of
the Lord came upon him also (1 Sam. 16: 13).
It is noticed that the Lord Christ did not call Himself Jesus
Christ except on Maundy Thursday in His long speech with the
Father before going to Gethsemane Garden (In. ]7: 3). But the
father apostles repeated this name many times when talking
about Him. They used to call Him as in (Rom. 1: 3) "Jesus
Christ our Lord"; "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. and the
love of God. and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you
air' (2 Cor. 13: ]4); "To God ... be glory through Jesus Christ
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forever. Amen" (Rom. 16: 27); "Paul, an apostle of Jesus
Christ" (2 Cor. 1: 1), and many many other innumerable
examples.
So, let us not use the word "Jesus" alone for the sake of the
Lord's glory.
(I In. 4: 9), "In this the love of God was manifested toward us,
that God has sent His only begotten Son into the
world, that we might live through Him"
(In. I: 14), "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,
and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only
begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth"
The Lord asked His disciples who they say He was, and
when Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of
the living God", the Lord blessed Him, saying, "Blessed are
you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed
this to you, but My father who is in heaven. And I also say to
you that you are Peter, and on this rock J will build My church,
and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against if' (Mt. 16:
13-18). The Lord meant the rock of faith in His being the Son
of God.
Even the devil knew the meamng of the term "The Son
of God".
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The devil knew well that this term does not refer to an
ordinary believer called Son of God but a special Son having
the power to work miracles ,so he said to Him, " I/You are
the Son of God , command that these stones become bread"
(Mt. 4: 3).
The Father is greater than the image the Son took in His
incarnation with the passions, the cross and the insults. But the
godhead united with the human nature remained unchanged,
not affected by the humbleness of the flesh.
That made Him able to speak and act in the flesh what
suited His divinity which is equal to the Father.
He said, "/ and My Father are one" (In. 10: 30); "He who
has seen Me has seen the Father" (In. 14: 9); "/ am in the
Father, and the Father in Me" (In. 14: 10); "that all should
honor the Sonjust as they honor the Father" (In. 5: 23); and to
the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven you" (Mk. 2: 5, 10),
and He said the same to the sinful woman who washed His feet
with her tears (Lk. 7: 48).
In His carnation, the Lord walked on the sea (Mt. 14: 25),
rebuked the wind and the waves and calmed them (Mk. 4: 39).
In His incarnation, He created a new substance in the miracle of
the five loaves and two fish (Mt. 14: 17), and in the miracle of
transforming the water into wine in the wedding at Cana of
GaliJee (In. 2), and also in giving sight to the man born blind
(In. 9), in addition to many works He did which manifested His
divinity. His resurrection while the tomb was closed, and
entering the high room while the doors were closed (In. 20:
19), and His ascension into heaven, are all examples of His
divinity.
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Here the Creed speaks about the Son as Creator, who made
everything as stated in the gospel of st. John, "All things were
made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that
was made" (In. 1: 3), and in the Epistle to the Colossians, "All
things were created through :lim and for Him" (Col. 1: 16).
Thus He said, "[ came forth from the Father and have
come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the
Father' (In. 16: 28), and also, "What then if you should see the
Son of Man ascend where He was before" (In. 6: 62). So, He
was first in heaven and He descended from there, hence He
says to Nicodemus, "No one has ascended to heaven but He
who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in
heaven" (In. 3: 13).
We say this because there was a heresy which said that the
Lord Christ was not in need of a human spirit to live witf:1 as He
lived with the human nature united with Him, and with the
Holy Spirit -hypostatically united with Him. Therefore the
second ecumenical council held in Constantinople in 381 A.D.
excommunicated Apollinarios who spread this heresy as it
limits the humanity of Christ to a mere body not a complete
human nature!
Those offerings that bore the sins were burnt outside the
camp (Heb. 13: 11), "therefore Jesus also, that He might
sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the
gate". He was crucified outside the gate because we -being
sinners- were considered outside the camp.
He was crucified for us, He died for us, that we may have
life through His death. They challenged Him, saying, "If You
are the Son of God, come downjrom the cross" (Mt. 27: 40),
"If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come downfrom the
cross, and we will believe Him" (Mt. 27: 42) (Mk. 15: 32). But
He did not do that because He wanted to die for us that we may
be saved through His death.
If this had. been true, the crucifixion would have been mere
formality, and Christ would have not paid the wages of death to
the Divine Justice. God forbid!
His body was laid in the tomb after being bound in strips
of linen with the spice by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus,
"They took the body of Jesus and bound it in strips of linen
with the spices, as the custom of the Jews is to bury. Now in the
place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the
garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. So there,
they laid Jesus ... " (In. 19: 40-42); "And the women who had
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come with Him from Galilee followed after, and they observed
the tomb and how His body was laiel' (Lk. 23: 55).
The tomb where the Lord was buried had been hewn out of
the rock, and when Joseph laid Him in it, he rolled a stone
against the door of the tomb (Mk. 15: 46); "And Mary
Magdalene and Mary the mother of loses observed where He
was laid" (Mk. 15: 47).
This tomb was made secure and the stone sealed and a
guard was set by the priests and Pharisees who went to Pilate
and asked to do that because they feared that His disciples
come by night and steal Him away and say to the people that
He has risen from the dead (Mt. 27: 62-66).
And three people were raised by the Lord Christ: The son
of the widow of Nain (Lk. 7: 15); the daughter ofJairus (Lk. 8:
55); and Lazarus (In. 1]: 43, 44).
St. Paul also raised the young man Eutychus (Acts 20: 10),
and st. Peter raised Tabitha (Acts 9: 40). All of those were
raised by others, but the Lord Christ is the only One who arose
by the power of His divinity. He arose, but they were raised.
3. The Lord Christ is the only One who arose and did
not die again.
All those who were raised died again to wait for the
general resurrection. whether those raised in the Old
Testament. or those raised by the apostles. But the Lord Christ
arose and continued alive and is still alive unto the end of ages.
So it is not strange to see some people swear by the living
. Christ or pray to the living Christ.
He is the first who arose from the dead and did not die
again. That is what He Himself said to st. John in the
Revelation. "/ am the First and the Last. 1 am He who lives.
and was dead, and behold 1 am alive forevermore. Amen"
(Rev. 1: 17, 18).
This made the jews call the apostles and say to them, "Did
we not strictly command you not to teach in this name? And
look, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend
to bring this Man's blood on us!" (Acts 5: 27,28). But the
apostles reprimanded the jews, saying, "you denied the Holy
One and the Just, and askedfor a murderer to be granted to
you, and killed the Prince of life" (Acts 3: 14, 15).
Had the Lord Christ not risen, He would have been like
any ordinary person, whose enemies overcame and death
prevailed upon Him!!
But He arose because "in Him was life" (In. 1: 4), and
because He is "the Prince of life" (Acts 3: 15), and the
resurrection and life (In. 11: 25) as He said to Martha the sister
of Lazarus before raising him.
When the Jews asked Him for a sign after He had done
many signs, He reprimanded them, saying, "An evil and
adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be
given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah
was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so
will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart
of the earth" (Mt. 12: 39,40). He referred by this to His death
and resurrection the third day.
* (Mk. 16: 19): "So then, after the Lord had spoken to
them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the
right hand of God".
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* (Reb. 8: 1): "Now this is the main point of the things we
are saying: we have such a High Priest, who is seated at the
right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens".
* (Heb.
1: 3): "oo. when He had by Himself purged our sins,
sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having
become so much better than the angels".
* (Heb. 12: 2): "Jesus oo. who for the joy that was set
before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat
down at the right hand of the throne ofGot/'.
* (Mt. 26: 64): "hereafter you will see the Son ofMan
sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the
clouds of heaven". This was said by the Lord before the
council.
How amazing and great are these words, "He comes in His
own glory", and they are repeated, "For the Son of Man will
come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He
will reward each according to His works" (Mt. 16: 27) ! The
glory of His Father is His own glory and the opposite because
He and His Father are one with regard to the glory of the
divinity.
"... all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come
forth- those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and
those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation"
(In. 5: 28, 29).
He will judge both the quick and the dead, that is, those
who will be still alive when He comes, and those who will be
dead and rise, who have done good, or evil. And the apostle
says about His judgment, "For we must all appear before the
judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things
done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good
or bat/' (2 Cor. 5: 10).
St. Paul the apostle also said to the bishops of the church in
Ephesus, "Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the
flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers ... "
(Acts 20: 28) , and to the Jews in Rome , he said, "The
1J0ly Spirit spoke rightly through Isaiah the prophet to our
fathers ... " (Acts 28: 25).
St. Paul the apostle says, "God has sent forth the Spirit of
His Son into your hearts" (Gal. 4: 6). And st. Peter the apostle
says, "searching what, or what manner of time; the Spirit of
Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified
beforehand the sufferings of Christ' (1 Pet. 1: 11).
The fact that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Father
and the Spirit of the Son undoubtedly demonstrates the
unity of the Holy Trinity.
St. Paul says, "Or do you not know that your body is the
temple of the Holy Spirit who is in your (1 Cor. 6: 19); "Do
you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit
of God dwells in you?" (l Cor. 3: 16). In these verses, st. Paul
once said "the temple of the Holy Spirit", and the other time
"the temple of Got/', which signifies that it is the same.
The Holy Bible says, "How much more shall the blood of
Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without
spot to God ... " (Heb. 9: 14). The Holy Spirit is thus the Spirit
of the Lord Christ, and eternity is an attribute of God alone.
This verse then is a proof of the divinity of Christ and of the
Holy Spirit.
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* Being the Life-giving is also a proof of the divinity of
the Holy Spirit.
It is true that the Lord Christ said, ..... the Helper comes,
whom I shall send to youfrom the Father" (In. 15: 26), "If I do
not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I
will send Him to you" (In. 16: 7), but we should know the
following:
The Lord Christ sent the Holy Spirit to the apostles on the
Day of Pentecost, but the Holy Spirit has been existing before
because He is the Spirit of God. In the story of creation, it is
said, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the
face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the
face of the waters" (Gen. 1: 1,2).
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The Holy Bible tells us also about the work of the Holy
Spirit in the Old Testament and how He descended on the
prophets and some other persons.
And the angel said to the holy Virgin when announcing her
of the birth of the Lord Christ, "The Holy Spirit will come upon
you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you" (Lk. 1:
35). To Joseph the carpenter the angel said about the holy
Virgin, "that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit'
(Mt. 1: 20). It is also said about Simeon the elder, "this man
was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel. and
the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him
by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had
seen the Lord Christ' (Ue. 2: 25. 26).
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Therefore the sending of the Holy Spirit by the Lord Christ
upon the disciples on the Day of PenteCost has nothing to do at
all with the procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father since
eternity.
Now, lest some would think that the Holy Spirit is lower in
rank than the Father and the Son, being the third Person, or
being sent forth from the Father, therefore the Creed adds the
words [We worship and glorify Him with the Father and the
Son].
And st. John the apostle says in his first epistle, "For there
are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word,
and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one" (In. 5: 7).
,
The Lord Christ said to His disciples, "it is not you who
speak, but the Holy Spirit" (Mk. 13: 11). Thus st. Paul the
apostle said, "These things we also speak, not in words which
man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches ... " (1
Cor. 2: 13). This reminds us of the words of the Lord Christ to
His holy apostles, " But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom
the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things,
and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you"
(In. 14: 26).
And st. Peter the apostle said about Judas Iscariot "this
Scripture had to be fUlfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke before
by the mouth of David concerning Judas ... " (Acts 1: 16)
By this the third part of the Creed on the Holy Trinity ends,
and we come to the part concerning the church, the baptism, the
second coming, and the life of the age to come.
WE BELIEVE IN ONE HOLY
UNIVERSAL & APOSTOLIC CHURCH
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11& She is One church as she is One Body and the. Head
St. Iohn Baptist said, "I am not the Christ, but I have been
sent before Him. He who has the bride is the bridegroom, but
the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him,
rejoices greatly ..." (In. 3: 28, 29). The same meaning is stated
in (Eph. 5: 31,32,25).
It is clear that the Lord Christ has one bride, that is the
church, as the apostle said, "I have betrothed you to one
husband, that I may pre-sent you as a chaste virgin to Christ" (2
Cor. 11: 2).
She comprises the holy angels and the spirits of the holy
humans who departed and will depart till the end of the ages.
All of them -angels and humans- are God's people, God's
children, and citizens and members of the household of God
(Eph. 2: 19).
Of this holy church st. Peter the apostle said, "you also, as
living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy
priesthood. to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God
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through Jesus Christ" (1 Pet. 2: 5); "but you are a chosen
generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special
people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called
you out of darkness into His marvelous light" (1 Pet. 2: 9).
In baptism, the old man dies and a new man rises who is
holy and in the image of Christ, as the apostle says, "For as
many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ"
(Gal. 3: 27), that is, you have put on the righteousness, holiness
and cleanliness of the Lord Christ. The apostle says also, ''just
as Christ also loved the church and gave Himselffor her, that
He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by
. the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious
church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that
she should be holy and without blemish" (Eph. 5: 25-27).
Hence, those who have victory in God sing, " Great and
marvelous are Your works, Lord God Almighty! . .. 0 King
of the saints! "(Rev. 15: 3). And in the Second Coming,
the Lord will come" with ten thousands of His saints" (Jud.
14) . Therefore the apostle says, " so that He may establish
your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and
Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His
saints" (l Thess. 3: 13).
The priest today has been laid the hands on and received
the holy breath (In. 20: 22) from his bishop. And the bishop
had the same from the archbishop, the patriarch, or the pope,
who in turn had this from his predecessor up to the father
apostles who received the same power from the Lord Christ.
This proves the seniority and authenticity of the apostolic
churches.
This great man, who became Paul the apostle -in spite of
the great call- was in need for baptism to wash away his sins!
His sins were not washed away neither by the divine call, nor
by his accepting faith!
l One Baptism:
The apostle says , " one Lord, one faith, one baptism"
(Eph.4: 5).
Those who have fallen asleep, the Lord will bring with
Him in His Second coming as the apostle says (1 Thess.4: 14),
because the Lord will come "with ten thousands of His saints"
(Jud. 14); "For the Lord Himself will descendfrom heaven with
a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of
God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are
alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the
clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always he
with the Lor{/' (1 Thess. 4: 16, 17).
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As the apostle says, "we shall not all sleep, but we shall all
be changed -in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last
trumpet. For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised
incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible
must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on
immortality" (1 Cor. 15: 51-53). It means that we shall put on
the spiritual heavenly bodies which are not subject to
corruption or death.
The Lord Christ said that heaven and earth will pass
away (Mt. 5: 18).
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Then as st. John the visionary says, "Now I saw a new
heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth
had passed away. Also there was no more sea" (Rev. 21: 1);
"Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from
whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was
found no placefor them" (Rev. 20: 11).
About ~he enn«ll of the )preselllt earth, slt. Peter the a)postle
says:
"But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night,
in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the
elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the
works that are in it will be burned up" (2 Pet. 3: 10).
*' Trinitarianism
.. BaplIsm