Liturgical Use of Creeds
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The public use of creeds began in connection withbaptism, in theTraditio andRedditio symboli, as a preparation for that sacrament, and in the preliminary interrogations. This use is found as early as the "Canons" ofHippolytus and the "Catecheses" ofSt. Cyril of Jerusalem, and is so universal as to be probably of still earlier date. (Cf.Acts 8:37) The recitation of the Nicaeo-Constantinopolitan Creed at the Eucharist seems to have begun, according to Theodore the Reader, at Antioch under Peter the Fuller in 471 (thoughJames of Edessa says that it was adopted as soon as it was composed), and to have been adopted at Constantinople by the Patriarch Timotheus in 511. Both intended to protest, asMonophysites, against Chalcedonian "innovations", but in spite of thisheretical origin the practice spread, thoughRome did not finally adopt it until the eleventh century. TheNicene Creed is the only one in use in theEastern Churches, whether Orthodox,Monophysite, orNestorian, or in the correspondingUniat bodies, though the East Syrians, bothNestorian andUniat have a variant of their own (seeEAST SYRIAN RITE) which may have been originally understood in aNestorian sense, and theCopts andAbyssinians have also a shortened form for use atbaptism. TheRoman Rite, besides theNicene Creed, which it recites only at Mass, uses also theApostles' Creed and the so-called Athanasian. These three creeds have been retained in theAnglican Rite. The following is the use of creeds in various rites:
Baptism
- Roman:Apostles' Creed in full, followed by a shortened creed in interrogative form.
- Ambrosian, Gallican, and Mozarabic: nearly the same.
- Celtic: either the Apostles' creed in full or a shortened form, both as interrogatives.
- Anglican, completeApostles' Creed in interrogative form.
- Orthodox Eastern:Nicene Creed in full in the preliminaryeuchai eis to poiesai katechoumenon.
- West Syrian (Jacobite, SyrianUniat, andMaronite) andArmenian:Nicene Creed in full.
- East Syrian: variant ofNicene Creed in a similar position to that which it holds in the Eucharist, on the model of which thebaptismal service is constructed.
- Coptic and Æthiopic: a short confession offaith in the Trinity, theResurrection, and theChurch.
Eucharist
All rites use theNicene Creed, though in different positions, as part of the declaration of fellowship (of which theKiss of Peace is another part) with which theMissa Fidelium begins. This aspect is removal of thePax to another position. The positions are:
- Immediately after the Gospel:Roman, Celtic,Anglican,Armenian.
- After theOffertory, but quite unconnected with thePax: Ambrosian. There is good reason to think that the AmbrosianPax originally came, not as now in the Roman position, but at the beginning of theOffertory.
- After dismissal ofcatechumens andOffertory, but before thePax:Coptic, Greek St. James, West Syrian, East Syrian.
- After dismissal,Offertory andPax: Orthodox Eastern. (Byzantine),Greek St. Mark.
- After the Consecration, during the Fraction:Mozarabic. This last seems to follow the use ordered by the Emperor Justin at Constantinople, that the Creed should be said before thePater Noster at Mass, but it is probably of much later introduction.
The divine office
- Roman:Apostles' Creed at the beginning ofMatins and Prime, ferially withpreces in the course of Prime andCompline, and at the end ofCompline. Athanasian onSundays at Prime. The earliest mention of this is in the "Capitulare" of Hayto,Bishop of Basle, c. 820. Many Roman derivatives (e.g. the Sarum) said the Athanasian daily at Prime. The monastic rites and the French breviaries of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries mostly follow the Roman practice.
- Ambrosian: theApostles' Creed in the course of Prime andCompline, the Athanasian daily at Prime.
- Mozarabic: TheNicene Creed at Prime onSundays and festivals. This was ordered by the Council of Toledo of 589.
- Celtic: TheApostles' Creed is given with thePater Noster in the "Bangor Antiphoner", and at the end of the sketch service in the "Book of Mulling", but there is no evidence how it was used.
- Anglican: TheApostles' Creed is said withpreces at morning and eveningprayer, daily, except that on thirteen fast-days (roughly, once a month, and onTrinity Sunday) the Athanasian takes its place at morningprayer.
- Byzantine:Nicene Creed at the Midnight Office (mesonyktikon) after the Psalms, except onSundays, and at the LittleCompline (apodeipnon mikron) after the Great Doxology.
- East Syrian:Nicene Creed at the end of the morning and evening services.
- Coptic: At the "Offering of the Morning Incense", atLauds,Compline, and the "Prayer of the Curtain".
Other uses
Other uses of creeds are:
- TheAmbrosian uses either the Apostles' orAthanasian Creed in the "Ordo Commendationis Animae".
- TheCeltic used either the fullApostles' Creed or a shortened confession offaith in the Trinity, eternal life, and theResurrection (both forms are found) before the unction of the sick.
- TheAnglican uses theApostles' Creed in an interrogative form (as atbaptism) the visitation of the sick.
- TheMozarabic introduces a three-fold repetition of a Spanish variant of theApostles' Creed into a "Sermo ad populum" before the Epistle at Mass onPalm Sunday, which is the ancientTraditio Symboli.
- TheByzantine has a recitation,megalophonos of theNicene Creed in answer to the question,kai ti pisteueis at theconsecration ofbishops. This is followed by two more elaborate confessions offaith, resembling the "Interrogatio" at the same service in the Roman Pontifical.
- In theRomanordination ofpriests theApostles' Creed is recited just before theAccipe Spiritum Sanctum.
- At the beginning of thecoronation of the Russian emperor he is required to recite theNicene Creed in token oforthodoxy.
About this page
APA citation.Jenner, H.(1908).Liturgical Use of Creeds. InThe Catholic Encyclopedia.New York: Robert Appleton Company.http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04479a.htm
MLA citation.Jenner, Henry."Liturgical Use of Creeds."The Catholic Encyclopedia.Vol. 4.New York: Robert Appleton Company,1908.<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04479a.htm>.
Transcription.This article was transcribed for New Advent by Joseph P. Thomas.
Ecclesiastical approbation.Nihil Obstat. Remy Lafort, Censor.Imprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York.
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