What We Believe
The Church of England is part of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, worshipping the one true God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It professes the faith uniquely revealed in the Holy Scriptures and set forth in the catholic creeds, which faith the Church is called upon to proclaim afresh in each generation. Led by the Holy Spirit, it has borne witness to Christian truth in its historic formularies, the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion, The Book of Common Prayer and the Ordering of Bishops, Priests and Deacons.
The opening sentences of the ‘Preface to the Declaration of Assent’.
©2007, The Archbishops’ Council of the Church of England
The three ‘Catholic’ or ‘Ecumenical’ creeds are the Nicene Creed, the Apostles’ Creed and the Athanasian Creed. They express the received faith of the universal church in the Holy Trinity, God revealed as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Apostles’ Creed
The ‘Apostles’ Creed’ was first written in Latin and is likely to have most likely originated in 5th-century but has much earlier origins in the baptismal rites of the early Greek-speaking church. The following version is closely based on the agreed international text used by most English-speaking churches, including the Church of England:
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting.
Amen.
Nicene Creed
The longer Nicene Creed (or Nicaean Creed, also known as the Creed of Constantinople and the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed) was composed in the Greek language and adopted in its first, shorter form, by the First Council of Nicaea in 325. It was amended in 381 at a second ecumenical Council, held in Constantinople. The form below, as used in the Church of England since 1999, is based on the ecumenical text published in 1988 by the English Language Liturgical Consultation (ELLC):
We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is,
seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father;
through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven,
was incarnate from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary
and was made man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit,
the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son,
who with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come.
Amen.
Creed of Saint Athanasius
Also known as the Quicunque vult, after its Latin opening words, the so called ‘Athanasian Creed’ is found in Book of Common Prayer, first published in the Tudor period and last substantially revised in 1662, under the reign of Charles II. This analytical statement of the relationship between the the Father, Son and Holy Spirit was composed in the sixth or late fifth century, some hundred years after the death (in May 373) of St Athanasius of Alexandria died.