Friday, June 28, 2019

Sing the Nicene Creed in Greek




Nicaeno-Constantinopolitan Creed, A. D. 325/381 

(with Filioque) on the holy Trinity

(sung to the tune of “Of the Father’s Heart Begotten”)




Πιστεύομεν εἰς ἕνα Θεὸν
Πατέρα παντοκράτορα, ποιητὴν οὐρανοῦ
καὶ γῆς, ὁρατῶν τε πάντων καὶ ἀοράτων.        

Καὶ εἰς ἕνα κύριον Ιησοῦν Χριστόν,
τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ τὸν μονογενῆ,
τὸν ἐκ τοῦ Πατρὸς γεννηθέντα
πρὸ πάντων τῶν αἰώνων,

θεὸν ἐκ θεοῦ, φῶς ἐκ φωτός,
θεὸν ἀληθινὸν ἐκ θεοῦ ἀληθινοῦ,
γεννηθέντα, οὐ ποιηθέντα,
ὁμοούσιον τῷ Πατρί·

δι’ οὗ τὰ πάντα ἐγένετο·
τὸν δι’ ἡμᾶς τοὺς ἀνθρώπους
καὶ διὰ τὴν ἡμετέραν
σωτηρίαν κατελθόντα ἐκ τῶν οὐρανῶν
καὶ σαρκωθέντα

ἐκ Πνεύματος Ἅγίου καὶ Μαρίας τῆς παρθένου
καὶ ἐνανθρωπήσαντα, σταυρωθέντα
τε ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἐπὶ
Ποντίου Πιλάτου,
καὶ παθόντα

καὶ ταφέντα, καὶ ἀναστάντα
τῇ τρίτῃ ἡμέρᾳ κατὰ τὰς γραφάς,
καὶ ἀνελθόντα εἰς τοὺς οὐρανούς,
καὶ καθεζόμενον
ἐκ δεξιῶν τοῦ πατρός,

καὶ πάλιν ἐρχόμενον μετὰ δόξης
κρῖναι ζῶντας καὶ νεκρούς·
οὗ τῆς βασιλείας οὐκ ἔσται τέλος. 
[repeat] οὐκ ἔσται τέλος.

Καὶ εἰς τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ Ἅγιον,
τὸ κύριον, καὶ τὸ ζωοποιόν,
τὸ ἐκ τοῦ Πατρὸς καὶ τὸν Υἱὸν
ἐκπορευόμενον,

τὸ σὺν Πατρὶ καὶ Υἱῷ
προσκυνούμενον καὶ συνδοξαζόμενον
τὸ λαλῆσαν διὰ τῶν προφητῶν· . . . .
Ἀμήν.

I believe in one God
the Father Almighty; Maker of heaven
and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the only-begotten Son of God,
begotten of the Father before all worlds,

God of God, Light of Light,
true God of true God,
begotten, not made,
being of one substance with the Father;

by whom all things were made;
who, for us men
and for our
salvation, came down from heaven,
and was incarnate

by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary,
and was made man; and was crucified
also for us under
Pontius Pilate;
he suffered

and was buried; and he rose again
the third day according to the Scriptures,
and ascended into heaven,
and sits
on the right hand of the Father;         

and he shall come again, with glory,
to judge the living and the dead;
whose kingdom shall have no end,
[repeat] whose kingdom shall have no end.

And [I believe] in the Holy Ghost,
the Lord and Giver of Life;
who . . . from the Father and the Son
proceeds,

who with the Father and the Son
is worshipped and together glorified;
who spake by the Prophets. . . .
Amen.

The text above, while commonly called the Nicene Creed (A. D. 325), is actually the text of the Nicaeno-Constantinopolitan Creed of A. D. 381, where a more detailed statement about the Deity of the Holy Spirit was added to the original formulation. Furthermore, the song above only includes the portion of the Creed on the holy Trinity, not the portion of the Creed on ecclesiology and eschatology, which briefly followed.  Also, the Filioque is included in the text above, because the eternal procession of the Holy Spirit from both the Father and the Son as from one principle is the teaching of Scripture.

In addition to the verses of Scripture in Greek I posted about before that we are singing in my first year New Testament or Koine Greek class, we are also singing the glorious Biblical truth contained in this creed in Greek.  I would encourage you, if you are a student or a teacher of the Greek language, to praise the Triune God in the words of this great classic creed as well as praising the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit with the New Testament Greek Scripture-songs I posted earlier.  You should be able to see the class singing these verses and this creed in Greek at the beginning or the end of the class lectures on YouTube (as of the time this post was composed, there are still quite a few lectures left to post) or at the appropriate section of the college courses section on my website.

As I pointed out in my class on Trinitarianism, not only the early proto-Catholics but also the ancient Anabaptists held to the same Trinitarianism.  When the Catholics were in power, they used the power of the State to persecute the Arians because they were anti-Trinitarian and also persecuted the Anabaptists because they rejected Catholicism's many false doctrines.  When the Arians were in power, the used the sword of the Roman government against both the Catholics and Anabaptists because they both shared the same Trinitarianism.  Thus, the fact that Biblical ecclesiology is Baptist or Anabaptist, and the type of church Christ founded is Baptist and not Roman Catholic or Protestant is no reason for members of historic Baptist churches to fail to rejoice in the glorious Biblical truths about the Trinity taught in the creeds of the councils of Nicaea and Constantinople.

-TDR



[1]           The portion of the creed on ecclesiology and eschatology is omitted in this song.

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