Apostles' Creed

==History==
The ecclesiastical use of Latin ''symbolum'' for "creed"&mdash;in the sense of "a distinctive mark of Christians", from the sense of Greek [[:wikt:σύμβολον|σύμβολον]], "a sign or token used for identification"&mdash;first occurs around the middle of the 3rd century, in the correspondence of [[Cyprian and Justina|St. Cyprian]] and [[Firmilian|St. Firmilian]], the latter in particular speaking of the [[trinitarian formula]] as the "Symbol of the [[Trinity]]", and recognizing it as an integral part of the rite of [[baptism]].<ref name="CE">{{cite book|url= http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01629a.htm|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180717061750/http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01629a.htm|url-status= dead|archive-date= 2018-07-17|website= [[s:en:Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Apostles' Creed|Catholic Encyclopedia (year 1913), Vol.1]]|title= The Apostles' Creed in the Catholic Encyclopedia, editions of 1907|language= en|author1= Thurston, Herbert|place= New York|publisher= Robert Appleton Company}}.</ref>
The term ''Symbolum Apostolicum'' appears for the first time in a letter, probably written by [[Ambrose]], from a Council in [[Early centers of Christianity#Milan|Milan]] to [[Pope Siricius]] in about AD&nbsp;390 "Let them give credit to the Symbol of the Apostles, which the Roman Church has always kept and preserved undefiled".<ref>{{cite web|author= Ambrose of Milan |url= http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/ambrose_letters_05_letters41_50.htm#Letter42 | title= Letter 42:5 |publisher= Tertullian.org | access-date = May 19, 2011 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110605180149/http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/ambrose_letters_05_letters41_50.htm | archive-date = June 5, 2011 | url-status = live}}</ref><ref name = ODCC:AC>{{Citation | contribution = Apostles' Creed | title = Dictionary of the Christian Church | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 2005 | isbn = 978-0192802903 | page = 90}}.</ref> 
Ambrose's term is here referring to the [[Old Roman Creed]], the immediate<ref>{{cite book |last1=Denzinger |first1=Henry |title=The Sources of Catholic Dogma |date=1957 |publisher=B. Herder Book Co |page=4 |edition=30th}}</ref> predecessor of what is now known as the Apostles' Creed.<ref>{{Citation | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=C4I9AAAAYAAJ | first = Gardiner Mumford | last = Day | title = The Apostles' Creed: an interpretation for today | publisher = Scribner | year = 1963 | page = 33}}.</ref><ref>{{Citation | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=woD7QYAjV3QC | first = Arthur Cushman | last = McGiffert | title = The Apostles' Creed: Its Origin, Its Purpose, and Its Historical Interpretation | year = 2008 | isbn = 978-0559851995 | page = 42| publisher = BiblioBazaar }}.</ref> 
The narrative of this creed having been jointly created by the Apostles, with each of the twelve contributing one of twelve articles, was already current at that time.<ref name = ODCC:AC />

[[File:Somme le Roy f.10v (cropped).png|thumb|This illumination from a 13th-century manuscript shows the apostles writing the Creed, receiving inspiration from the Holy Spirit.]]
The [[Old Roman Creed]] had evolved from simpler texts based on Matthew 28:19,<ref name= ODCC:AC /> part of the [[Great Commission]], and it has been argued that this earlier text was already in written form by the late [[Christianity in the 2nd century|2nd century]] (c. 180).<ref name= ODCC:AC/><ref>{{Citation | title = Documents of the Christian Church | edition = 2nd | editor-first = Henry | editor-last = Bettenson | publisher = London | year = 1963 | page = 23}}.</ref><ref>{{Citation | first = Joseph | last = Lynch | title = The Medieval Church | publisher = Longman | place = London and New York | year = 1992 | page = 7}}.</ref>

The earliest known formula is found within ''Testamentum in Galilaca D[ominus]. N[oster]. I[esu]. Christi'' written between 150 and 180. This formula states: "[I believe] in the Father almighty, - and in Jesus Christ, our Savior; - and in the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, in the holy Church, and in the remission of sins." As can be seen, it lacks the Christological part of the Old Roman Creed.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Denzinger |first1=Henry |title=The Sources of Catholic Dogma |date=1957 |publisher=B. Herder Book Co |page=3 |edition=30th}}</ref>

While the individual statements of belief that are included in the Apostles' Creed – even those not found in the [[Old Roman Symbol]] – are found in various writings by [[Irenaeus]], [[Tertullian]], [[Novatian]], [[Marcellus of Ancyra|Marcellus]], [[Tyrannius Rufinus|Rufinus]], [[Ambrose]], [[Augustine of Hippo|Augustine]], [[Nicetas of Remesiana|Nicetas]], and [[Eusebius Gallus]],<ref>{{Citation |url= http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/creeds2.iv.i.i.v.html |title= Creeds of Christendom, with a History and Critical notes | volume = II. The History of Creeds | publisher = Christian Classics Ethereal Library | date= July 13, 2005 | access-date = May 19, 2011}}</ref> the earliest appearance of what we know as the Apostles' Creed was in the ''De singulis libris canonicis scarapsus'' (''Excerpt from Individual Canonical Books'') of [[Saint Pirmin|St. Pirminius]] ([[Jacques Paul Migne|Migne]], ''[[Patrologia Latina]]'' 89, 1029 ff.), written between 710 and 714.<ref>{{Citation | first = JND | last = Kelly | title = Early Christian Creeds | edition = third | place = London | publisher = Longman, Green & Co | year = 1972 | pages = 398–434}}.</ref> Bettenson and Maunder state that it is first from ''Dicta Abbatis Pirminii de singulis libris canonicis scarapsus'' (''idem quod excarpsus'', excerpt), c. 750.<ref>{{Citation | last1 = Bettenson | first1 = Henry | first2 = Chris | last2 = Maunder | title = Documents of the Christian Church | edition = 3 | place = New York | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 1999 | page = 26}}.</ref>

The text of what is now known as the Apostles' Creed was most likely developed in southern Gaul around the midpoint of the 5th century.<ref name = "Newadvent">{{Citation | title = Catholic Encyclopedia | contribution = Origin of the Creed | publisher = New advent | contribution-url = http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01629a.htm}}.</ref> A creed that is virtually identical to the current one is recorded by [[Faustus of Riez]]. It is possible that Faustus had the identical text, as the original text written by Faustus cannot be reconstructed with certainty. A version that is identical to the current one with the single exception of ''infera'' in place of ''inferos'' is recorded in the late 5th century. However, the Old Roman Creed remained the standard liturgical text of the Roman Church throughout the 4th to 7th centuries. It was replaced by the "Gallic" version of the Apostles' Creed only in the later 8th century, under [[Charlemagne]], who imposed it throughout his dominions.<ref>Clemens Blume, ''Das Apostolische Glaubensbekenntniß'' (1893), 186f.</ref><ref name =ODCC:AC/>

The phrase {{lang|la|descendit ad inferos}} ([[Harrowing of Hell|"he descended into hell"]]) is not found in the Nicene Creed. It echoes Ephesians 4:9,<ref>{{bibleverse ||Ephesians|4:9|NIV}}</ref> "κατέβη εἰς τὰ κατώτερα μέρη τῆς γῆς" ("he descended into the lower earthly regions").<ref>{{Citation | first = Wolfgang | last = Trillhaas | contribution = Creeds, Lutheran Attitude Toward | title = The Encyclopedia of the Lutheran Church | editor-first = Julius | editor-last = Bodensieck | place = Minneapolis | publisher = Augsburg | volume = A–E | page = 629}}.</ref> This phrase first appeared in one of the two versions of Rufinus (d. 411), the [[Old Roman Symbol|Creed of Aquileia]], and then did not appear again in any version of the creed until AD&nbsp;650.<ref>{{Citation | first = Wayne A | last = Grudem | title = Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine | place = Leicester, [[England]]; Grand Rapids, Michigan | publisher = Inter-Varsity Press; Zondervan | year = 2004 | page = 586}}.
Cf. {{cite web |url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/2711.htm |last=Rufinus |author-link=Tyrannius Rufinus |title=Commentary on the Apostles' Creed |website=newadvent.org |access-date=October 1, 2016|mode=cs2}}</ref>
Similarly, the references to the [[communion of saints]] is found neither in the Old Roman Symbol nor in the Nicene Creed.
The reference to God as "creator of heaven and earth" likewise is not in the Nicene Creed of 325, but it is present in the extended version of the Nicene Creed (the [[Nicene Creed|Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed]]) of 381.

The [[Eastern Orthodox Church]] does not use the Apostles' Creed, not because of an objection to any of its articles, but because of its omissions necessary for the definition of [[Nicene Creed|Nicene Christianity]]. The Orthodox delegates at the [[Council of Florence]] (1431&ndash;1449) explicitly challenged the western tradition that attributed the Apostles' Creed to the Twelve Apostles. This tradition was also shown to be historically untenable by [[Lorenzo Valla]].<ref>Dorothea Sattler. "Apostolisches Glaubensbekenntnis. I. Dogmen- und Theologiegeschichte". In: Walter Kasper (ed.). ''Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche''. 3rd ed., vol. 1, Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 1993, c. 878f.</ref> The Roman Church does not state that text dates back to the Apostles themselves, the Roman catechism instead explaining that "the Apostles' Creed is so called because it is rightly considered to be a faithful summary of the apostles' faith."<ref>Patristic Bible Commentary, [https://sites.google.com/site/aquinasstudybible/apostle-s-creed/catechism-of-the-catholic-church-on-the-apostles-creed Catechism of the Catholic Church on the Apostles' Creed], citing St. Ambrose, Expl. symb. 7: [[Patrologia Latina|PL]] 17, 1196.</ref>