Nicene Creed

=== Original Nicene Creed of 325 ===
The original Nicene Creed was first adopted at the [[First Council of Nicaea]], which opened on 19 June 325. The text ends with [[anathema]]s against Arian propositions, preceded by the words: "We believe in the [[Holy Spirit in Christianity|Holy Spirit]]" which terminates the statements of belief.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=njdGAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA275 |title=A History of the Christian Councils: From the Original Documents, to the Close of the Council of Nicaea, A.D. 325 |last=Hefele |first=Karl Joseph von |date=1894 |publisher=T. & T. Clark |pages=275 |via=[[Google Books]] |access-date=29 May 2019 |archive-date=14 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230114000830/https://books.google.com/books?id=njdGAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA275 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=John H. |last=Leith |title=Creeds of the Churches: A Reader in Christian Doctrine, from the Bible to the Present |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=saFgJRjaPwcC |date=1982 |publisher=Westminster John Knox Press |isbn=978-0-8042-0526-9 |pages=28–31 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=David M. |last=Gwynn |title=Christianity in the Later Roman Empire: A Sourcebook |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UaNOBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA68 |date=2014 |publisher=[[Bloomsbury Publishing]] |isbn=978-1-4411-3735-7 |page=68 |via=[[Google Books]] |access-date=7 June 2020 |archive-date=14 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230114000830/https://books.google.com/books?id=UaNOBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA68 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.papalencyclicals.net/councils/ecum01.htm |title=First Council of Nicaea – 325 AD |date=20 May 0325 |access-date=7 June 2020 |archive-date=10 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210210030831/https://www.papalencyclicals.net/councils/ecum01.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>Bindley, T. Herbert. ''The Oecumenical Documents of the Faith'' Methuen & Co 4th edn. 1950 revised by Green, F.W. pp.&nbsp;15, 26–27</ref>

[[Fenton John Anthony Hort|F. J. A. Hort]] and [[Adolf von Harnack]] argued that the Nicene Creed was the local creed of [[Caesarea Maritima|Caesarea]] ([[Early centers of Christianity#Caesarea|an important center of Early Christianity]])<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/creeds2.iii.i.x.html |title=Creeds of Christendom, with a History and Critical notes. Volume II. The History of Creeds |publisher=Christian Classics Ethereal Library |website=Ccel.org |access-date=10 January 2017 |archive-date=3 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803175900/https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/creeds2.iii.i.x.html |url-status=live }}</ref> recited in the council by [[Eusebius of Caesarea]]. Their case relied largely on a very specific interpretation of Eusebius' own account of the council's proceedings.<ref>Kelly J.N.D. ''Early Christian Creeds'' Longmans (1963) pp. 217–218</ref> More recent scholarship has not been convinced by their arguments.<ref>Williams, Rowan. ''Arius'' SCM (2nd Edn 2001) pp. 69–70</ref> The large number of secondary divergences from the text of the creed quoted by Eusebius make it unlikely that it was used as a starting point by those who drafted the conciliar creed.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kelly |first=J.N.D. |title=Early Christian Creeds |publisher=Longmans |date=1963 |pages=218ff}}</ref> Their initial text was probably a local creed from a Syro-Palestinian source into which they inserted phrases to define the Nicene theology.<ref>Kelly J.N.D. ''Early Christian Creeds'' Longmans (1963) pp. 22–30</ref> The Eusebian Creed may thus have been either a second or one of many nominations for the Nicene Creed.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Denzinger |first1=Henry |title=The Sources of Catholic Dogma |date=1957 |publisher=B. Herder Book Co |page=9 |edition=30th}}</ref>

The 1911 ''[[Catholic Encyclopedia]]'' says that, soon after the Council of Nicaea, the church composed new formulae of faith, most of them variations of the Nicene Symbol, to meet new phases of [[Arianism]], of which there were at least four before the [[Archbishopric of Sardica#Council of Sardica|Council of Sardica]] (341), at which a new form was presented and inserted in its acts, although the council did not accept it.<ref>{{Catholic |inline=1 |prescript= |first=Joseph |last=Wilhelm |wstitle=The Nicene Creed |volume=11}}</ref>