St. Pishoy Coptic Orthodox Church

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Our Creed
What you believe and base your life on is your creed. Some of the earliest Christian creeds are found in the Bible.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

Creating the Creed

There was a need for a short summary of the faith to which those who were baptized could subscribe. Some of the earliest Christian creeds were written for this reason. The great heresies in early church history prompted the writing of the Creed. The “Nicene Creed” is the one formulated by St. Athanasius (the 20th Pope of Alexandria), the Hero of the first Ecumenical Council of Nicaea in the 4th century (324AD). This Council of 318 Bishops approved this Creed under the guidance of the Holy Spirit to refute the false teaching of Arius and his followers, who denied the divinity of Christ. This Creed was completed in the second Ecumenical Council of Constantinople (381AD) convened by 150 Bishops against Macedonious’ heresy against the divinity of the Holy Spirit. The third Ecumenical Council at Ephesus (431AD), convened by 200 Bishops against Nestor’s heresy, added the introduction to the Creed. This Creed is shared by all the churches the world over.

The Nicene Creed is expressing the faith of the Universal Church. It is the summary of our beliefs, based on the Biblical facts without any contradiction with the Holy Scripture.

We need to know, what we believe, and in whom we believe, if we want to be Christians. We cannot remain silent about what God had done for us. We must communicate our faith expressed through this Creed. This is why we have the Nicene Creed as a summary of our Christian faith to live by.