Athanasian Creed
Used by Christian churches since the early sixth century, it was the first creed to explicitly state the equality of the three hypostases of the Trinity.
[1] However, part of it can be found as an "Authorized Affirmation of Faith" in the main volume of the Common Worship liturgy of the Church of England published in 2000.
[2][3] Despite falling out of liturgical use, the creed's influence on current Protestant understanding of trinitarian doctrine is clear.
Designed to distinguish Nicene Christianity from Arianism, the Athanasian Creed traditionally was recited at the Sunday Office of Prime in the Western Church.
There is a possible allusion to the Creed in Gregory Nazianzen's Oration in praise of Athanasius: "For, when all the rest who sympathised with us were divided into three parties, and many were faltering in their conception of the Son, and still more in that of the Holy Ghost, (a point on which to be only slightly in error was to be orthodox) and few indeed were sound upon both points, he was the first and only one, or with the concurrence of but a few, to venture to confess in writing, with entire clearness and distinctness, the Unity of Godhead and Essence of the Three Persons, and thus to attain in later days, under the influence of inspiration, to the same faith in regard to the Holy Ghost, as had been bestowed at an earlier time on most of the Fathers in regard to the Son.
(Oration 21, p. 33)[4] A medieval account credited Athanasius of Alexandria, the famous defender of Nicene theology, as the author of the Creed.
According to that account, Athanasius composed it during his exile in Rome and presented it to Pope Julius I as a witness to his orthodoxy.
The traditional attribution of the Creed to Athanasius was first called into question in 1642 by the Dutch Protestant theologian Gerhard Johann Vossius.
The reasoning for rejecting Athanasius as the author usually relies on a combination of the following: The use of the creed in a sermon by Caesarius of Arles, as well as a theological resemblance to works by Vincent of Lérins, point to Southern Gaul as its origin.
[6] The most likely time frame is in the late fifth or early sixth century AD, at least 100 years after Athanasius lived.
The Christian theology of the creed is firmly rooted in the Augustinian tradition and uses the exact terminology of Augustine's On the Trinity, published 415 AD.
[10][incomplete short citation] In the late 19th century, there was a great deal of speculation about who might have authored the creed, with suggestions including Ambrose of Milan, Venantius Fortunatus and Hilary of Poitiers.
[15] Enumerating the three persons of the Trinity (Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit), the first section of the creed ascribes the divine attributes to each individually.
Thus, each person of the Trinity is described as uncreated (increatus), limitless (Immensus), eternal (æternus), and omnipotent (omnipotens).
[citation needed] The text of the Athanasian Creed is as follows: Quicumque vult salvus esse, ante omnia opus est, ut teneat Catholicam fidem: Quam nisi quisque integram inviolatamque servaverit, absque dubio in aeternum peribit.
Fides autem Catholica haec est: ut unum Deum in Trinitate, et Trinitatem in unitate veneremur.
Filius a Patre solo est: non factus, nec creatus, sed genitus.
Ita, ut per omnia, sicut iam supra dictum est, et unitas in Trinitate, et Trinitas in unitate veneranda sit.
Qui vult ergo salvus esse, ita de Trinitate sentiat.
Sed necessarium est ad aeternam salutem, ut incarnationem quoque Domini nostri Iesu Christi fideliter credat.
Qui licet Deus sit et homo, non duo tamen, sed unus est Christus.
Qui passus est pro salute nostra: descendit ad inferos: tertia die resurrexit a mortuis.
Ad cujus adventum omnes homines resurgere habent cum corporibus suis; Et reddituri sunt de factis propriis rationem.
Haec est fides Catholica, quam nisi quisque fideliter firmiterque crediderit, salvus esse non poterit.
He ascended into heaven, he sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty, from whence he will come to judge the living and the dead.
[citation needed] The Creed's wording thus excludes Sabellianism and Arianism and the Christological heresies of Nestorianism and Eutychianism.
That caused considerable debate in England in the mid-19th century, centred on the teaching of Frederick Denison Maurice.
[19] A metric version, "Quicumque vult", with a musical setting, was published in The Whole Booke of Psalmes printed by John Day in 1562.
[20]In the successive Books of Common Prayer of the reformed Church of England, from 1549 to 1662, its recitation was provided for on 19 occasions each year, a practice that continued until the 19th century, when vigorous controversy regarding its statement about 'eternal damnation' saw its use gradually decline.
An Anglican devotional manual published by The Church Union, A Manual of Catholic Devotion: For Members of the Church of England, includes the Athanasian Creed with the prayers for Mattins, with the note: "Said on certain feasts at Mattins instead of the Apostles' Creed".
