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His Holiness Pope Tawadros II · My Faith · 123

Faith Q&A › My Faith

Some say that the First Ecumenical Council, which set forth the Creed, did not speak of anything except the Divinity of the Father and the Son. It was only in a subsequent council that it was deemed that the Holy Spirit should be added to Them. Is this true?

The answer

The Council of Nicaea, in 325, stated, “Truly, we believe in One God: God the Father, the Pantocrator...We believe in One Lord: Jesus Christ...We believe in the Holy Spirit.”44

It spoke concerning the Three Persons, but not in great detail concerning the Person of the Holy Spirit, because the Council’s primary concern was to respond to the Arian heresy concerning the Person of the Son.

When the Council of Constantinople convened in 381, it elaborated on the article concerning the Holy Spirit in response to the heresy of a man named Macedonius, who appeared after Arius. By this, the formulation of the Creed in its present form was completed.

His Holiness Pope Tawadros II

Notes

44 Translator’s note: Cf. “The Nicene Creed.” The Seven Ecumenical Councils of the Undivided Church. Henry R. Percival, ed. Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 1995. NPNF, Ser. 2, Vol. 14. 3.

Pope Tawadros II, My Faith: A Series of Dialogues on the Creed (Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate, 2014), 128.

The page in the book (128)Page 128 of the book

His Holiness Pope Tawadros II, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark, My Faith: A Series of Dialogues on the Creed. Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate, Cairo; printed at Saint Mena Monastery Press, Maryut, Egypt. ISBN 978-977-344-149-7.