After last week’s Sunday worship with Instructed Eucharist, there two questions.
One was about the history of the Nicene Creed; the second about the Filioque controversy between the Roman and Orthodox churches. See the answers
below.
The Nicene Creed
The Nicene was first issued by the Council of Nicaea in 325, but in the form used today it is frequently thought to have been perfected at the Council of
Constantinople in 381. There is no doubt that it was passed on to the church through the Council of Chalcedon in 451. It is commonly held to be based on the
baptismal creed of Jerusalem, and it is often referred to as the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed. It states the full divinity of the Son, the second Person
of the Trinity. It also states the full divinity of the Holy Spirit. The use of the Nicene Creed in the eucharist (right after the gospel), in contrast to the use of the Apostles’ Creed in baptism, began in the fifth century in Antioch and became the universal practice in the church. The Nicene Creed is expressed in its original form of “We believe” in the Rite 2 eucharistic liturgy of the 1979 BCP, and this communal expression of faith is also presented as the first option in the Rite 1
eucharistic liturgy. The Rite 1 eucharistic liturgy also offers the “I believe” form as a second option (see BCP, pp. 326-327, 358). (Source – www.Episcopalchurch.org)
The Filioque (meaning, “and the son”)
This relates to the doctrine of the Holy Trinity and who the Holy Spirit proceeds from. The doctrine was debated between the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church. It centers around the procession of the Holy Spirit, specifically whether the Holy Spirit proceeds from just the “Father”, both the “Father and the Son”. The Roman Church added “the Father and the Son” to the Nicene Creed, while the Eastern Orthodox Church did not. This caused a split (schism) between the two churches in 1054 AD and is still a point of contention today. (source opus.bibliothek.uni-augsburg.de)
