THE ATHANASIAN CREED.

It was the ancient usage of the Church of England (from the 7th century to the 16th) to sing the " Symbolum Athanasii” every day, rather as a kind of Christian Psalm than a Creed, immediately after the Psalms of the Office, that of Prime. In the reformed Breviary of Quignonez it was confined to Sunday use. In the first edition of the English Prayer Book (1549) the Athanasian Creed was directed to be said on six Festivals, those of Christmas, Epiphany, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost, and Trinity: and seven Saints' days were added in 1552, so as to make thirteen days altogether; its recitation thus becoming a monthly instead of a weekly one, as in the Roman, or a daily one as in the ancient English Church.

In the Durham Prayer Book, Bishop Cosin has substituted for the latter words of the Rubric, "one verse by the priest, and another by the people, or in Colleges, and where there is a Quire, by sides."

The English of our present version is substantially identical with that of Bishop Hilsey, as printed in the Prymer of 1539: and entitled "The Symbole of the great Doctour Athanasius, dayly red in the Church." The Creed does not appear in the earlier English Prymers; but vernacular translations of it are extant of as ancient a date as the ninth century, and many in later English.

Although this "Confession of our Christian Faith" is "commonly called the Creed of St. Athanasius," it cannot be traced back to that great champion of "the right Faith," and is not likely to have been written in Greek: no Greek copy of it being known which is much more than four centuries old: nor any spoken of by any writer earlier than A.D. 1200. It is found in Latin as early as A.D. 570, when a commentary was written upon it by Venantius Fortunatus, previously to his consecration as Bishop of Poictiers'. From such a commentary being written, it may be concluded that the subject of it was already in public use in Divine Service, as a Confession of Faith, in the Church of France; but it was not adopted by the Church of Rome until A.D. 930.

This Confession of Faith is attributed by Waterland to St. Hilary of Arles, who died A.D. 449, but by Harvey [History and Theology of the Three Creeds, p. 580] to Victricius, Bishop of Rouen, fifty years earlier, i. e. at the close of the fourth and the beginning of the fifth centuries. Some imputations had been cast on the orthodoxy of this Apostolic Bishop and Confessor :

1 This commentary may be found at the end of Waterland's History of the Athanasian Creed: p. 194 of the Christian Knowledge Society's edition.

Q

Symbolum Athanasii.

UICUNQUE vult salvus esse: Salisbury Use. ante omnia opus est ut teneat catholicam fidem.

and there are strong reasons for supposing that he composed it as an answer to these charges of false doctrine, and thus expounded his belief before Anastasius, who was Bishop of Rome until April, A.D. 402. From this circumstance Mr. Harvey considers the present name of the Creed to have arisen through the errors of scribes. In a Gallican MS. of the ninth century, it is attributed to "Anasthasius," the name of Victricius being expunged from the title; and a Commentator entitles it "Fides Anastasii Papæ." Mr. Harvey thinks that the title "Fides S. Athanasii," has been substituted by a writer who knew nothing of Anastasius, and thought that he was correcting an error rightly instead of wrongly and whose own error was so plausible that it has been followed very generally in subsequent ages. The name of Athanasius is not connected with it in the earliest MSS., nor in the Commentary of Venantius Fortunatus, but it is simply entitled "Fides Catholica:" yet, as early as the Council of Autun, A.D. 670, it is called "Fides Sancti Athanasii Præsulis," and almost always afterwards either by that title or some other, -as "Sermo Athanasii de Fide,”-in which that saint's name is included.

The opinion of Mr. Harvey that it was written by Victricius, A.D. 401, is supported by him with evidence of which the following is his own summary, quoted from page 583 of the History and Theology of the Three Creeds :-" For four several reasons, therefore, it is quite as probable that the authorship of the Creed may be assigned to Victricius, as to Hilary. 1. Its careful, wellconsidered terms, are more consistent with the mature age of the former, who had attained the honour of Confessor forty years before the date now assigned to the Creed in 401, than with the youth of the latter, who was only eight and twenty years of age, when he is supposed by Waterland to have composed this Creed, on his advancement to the episcopate. 2. Its style, though not that of an apology in vindication of the writer's faith, agrees well with the supposition, that he was accused of the errors that he anathematizes. 3. Its matter is exactly parallel with the subjects, upon which Victricius, if we may judge from the expressions of Paulinus, was called to defend himself. With respect to both of these last particulars, the supposition that Hilary should have been the author, is singularly unsatisfactory to the judgment. His exposition of faith, on entering upon his episcopal office, would scarcely have been pointed with anathemas, that the history of his time persuades us were not required. Indeed the Creed can only be assigned to Hilary upon the supposition, that Apollinarianism infested the Gallican Church at the date of his appointment to the See of Arles; a supposition wholly contrary to fact. But since we know, that Pelagian tenets had then taken a firm root in the south of France, we know also the direction that any G

Deut. iv. 2.

Rev. xxii. 18, 19. Acts xiii. 46.

2 John 9.

Mark xii. 32. Matt. xxviii. 19.

1 Pet. i. 2.

2 Cor. xiii. 14.

1 John v. 7.

Matt. iii. 16, 17.

John i. 1. 14.

x. 30. xvi. 1315.

Cf. Isa. vi. 1, 2, 3,

with John xii.

40, 41, and Acts

xxviii. 25, 26.

Acts xvii. 24. 28.
John i. 1. 3.
Job xxxiii. 4.
Job xi. 7-9.
1 Kings viii. 27.

Which Faith, except every one do keep whole and undefiled without doubt he shall perish everlastingly.

And the Catholick Faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity;

Neither confounding the Persons nor dividing the Substance.

For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son and another of the Holy Ghost.

But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is all one the Glory equal, the Majesty co-eternal.

Such as the Father is, such is the Son and such is the Holy Ghost.

The Father uncreate, the Son uncreate and the Holy Ghost uncreate. The Father incomprehensible, the

inaugural exposition by Hilary must have taken. 4. Again, if Hilary had been the author of the Creed, his name must have commanded respect, and he would scarcely have met with such hard words from Pope Leo I., as may be found in the Epistle to the French Bishops, A.D. 445. On the other hand, the highly probable communication between Victricius and Anastasius, and the preparation of a confession of faith by the Gallican Confessor, indicates the process, whereby the name of Athanasius, by assimilation, may have been placed at length at the head of the Creed. For these reasons, therefore, it is considered, that the authorship of the Creed may be referred to the Confessor Victricius, Bishop of Rouen; and that the date of the production may be assigned to the year 401."

The question is too large an one to be followed out further in these pages; and the reader is referred for more detailed information to Waterland's History of the Athanasian Creed, and to the work just quoted. But it may be stated as a result of the critical researches which have been brought to bear on the subject, that this Creed must be regarded as of Gallican origin, and that it was written as we now have it, not later than the middle of the fifth century.

§ Expository Notes on the Athanasian Creed. Whosoever will be saved, &c.] St. Augustine, in his Treatise on Faith and Works, says, "Not only is a good life inseparable from Faith, but Faith itself is a good life." This illustrates the assertion of the Creed that "before all things it is necessary to hold the Catholic Faith." For faith necessarily precedes practice: "without faith it is impossible to please God: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a Rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." [Heb. xi. 6.] Now the belief that "God is," includes far more than a mere assent to the fact of His existence. To a mind capable of logical reflection, many corollaries must necessarily hang on to this fundamental axiom; the statement of such corollaries forms a more or less developed Creed; and thus belief in a Creed as the logical extension of the most primary truth, becomes necessary to salvation, or "coming to God," here and hereafter.

whole and undefiled] The sin of not keeping the Catholic Faith whole and undefiled, can only be committed by those who know what it is in its integrity, and wilfully reject some portion of it: "every one" must therefore mean every one who has come to such a knowledge of the Faith, without asserting any thing respecting those who are ignorant of it. This is simply, there

Quam nisi quisque integram, invio- Salisbury Use. latamque servaverit: absque dubio in æternum peribit.

Fides autem catholica hæc est, ut unum Deum in Trinitate: et Trinitatem in Unitate veneremur.

Neque confundentes personas, neque substantiam separantes.

Alia est enim persona Patris, alia Filii: alia Spiritus Sancti.

Sed Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti, una est Divinitas: æqualis gloria, coæterna majestas.

Qualis Pater, talis Filius: talis Spiritus Sanctus.

Increatus Pater, increatus Filius, increatus Spiritus Sanctus.

Immensus Pater, immensus Filius:

fore, a declaration that heresy, or a wilful rejection of any part of the Catholic Faith, comes within the condemnation declared by our Lord, "He that believeth not shall be damned." [Mark xvi. 16.] Those are in danger of this condemnation who have learned that there is a Trinity in Unity, Three Persons in One God, and yet wilfully reject the doctrine: but many believe this faithfully who have not sufficient education to follow out the doctrine into its consequences and necessary corollaries, as afterwards stated. On the other hand, those who understand these corollaries and reject them run into practical heresy.

That we worship] The actual sense of this verse may be stated in other words as being, "The Catholic Faith is this, that the God whom we worship is One God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity." Yet it is also true that as the end of all right Belief is right Worship, so the worship which alone can be right is that which is founded on the Catholic Faith as here stated.

Persons-Substance] "Person" is a word which marks the individual Unity of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; Substance," a word which marks their collective Unity. The latter word, which is synonymous with “ Essence," or "Nature," comprehends all the essential qualities of Deity, or that which God is: Eternity, Uncreatedness, Omnipotence, Omnipresence, are some of these essential qualities belonging to Deity, and not belonging to any other kind of being. To "divide the Substance" is to assert that these essential qualities, or any of them, belong to either Person of the Godhead separately from, or in a different degree from, the other Persons.

Sabellius (A.D. 250) originated, in its most definite form, the heresy of "confounding the Persons," by declaring that Father, Son, and Holy Ghost were but three names, aspects, or manifestations of one God. Arius (A.D. 320) “divided the Substance" by alleging that the First Person existed before the other two Persons of the Blessed Trinity; thus attributing the essential quality of Eternity to One, and denying that it belonged to the others. These two errors lie at the root of all others; and the following twenty verses of the Creed are an elaboration of the true doctrine, in a strict form of language, as a fence against them.

incomprehensible] This word is represented in modern English by the word Omnipresent. In Bishop Hilsey's translation of the Creed, he uses the word "immeasurable," which better answers to the Latin immensus. The word "incomprehensible" has now the disadvantage of a metaphysical as well as a physical sense; but when the Prayer Book was translated, it

Immeasur

able," Hilsey's Ghost incomprehensible.

Primer, 1539.

Isa. lxiii. 16.

Heb. i. 8. ix. 14.

} s. xe. 2.

Jer. xxiii. 24. Isa. vi. 3. Exod. iii. 14.

Job xxxiii. 4. Rev. i. 8. xv. 3.

xix. 6. Matt. xii. 31, 32. Gen. xvii. 1.

Exod. xx. 2, 3. Eph. i. 3.

1 Tim. iii. 16. Acts v. 3, 4.

Matt. xi. 25.
Acts x. 36.
2 Cor. iii. 17.
Zech. xiv. 9.

Deut. vi. 4. Eph. iv. 5, 6.

John v. 26.

John v. 26. Heb. i. 5.

John xiv. 26. xv. 26.

:

And yet they are not three Gods but one God.

So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son Lord and the Holy Ghost Lord. And yet not three Lords but one Lord.

For like as we are compelled by the Christian verity to acknowledge every Person by himself to be God and Lord; So are we forbidden by the Catholick Religion to say, There be three Gods, or three Lords.

The Father is made of none neither created, nor begotten.

The Son is of the Father alone not made, nor created, but begotten.

The Holy Ghost is of the Father, and of the Son neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding.

So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons :

probably had only the latter meaning, expressing "that which cannot be grasped by, or contained within, any space." It is only a strict form of stating the primary notion that "God is every where." "If I climb up into Heaven, Thou art there: if I go down into hell, Thou art there also. If I take the wings of the morning and remain in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there also shall Thy hand lead me: and Thy right hand shall hold me." (Ps. cxxxix. 7-9.) Yet it is true that a meaning not intended in the Creed has developed itself through this change of language, for the Nature of God is as far beyond the grasp of the mind, as it is beyond the possibility of being contained within local bounds.

For like as we are compelled, &c.] The Creed here declares the Divinity of each several Person of the Blessed Trinity to be so clearly set forth in "the Christian Verity," that is in the Canon of Holy Scripture as received by the Church, that there is no escape for the reason from such a conclusion ;—we are compelled to believe, by the force of the evidence which God has vouchsafed us in the Holy Bible. It would be easy to show, at length, how literally true this is; but the marginal references appended to the text are intended to direct the reader to such

Æternus Pater, æternus Filius, æternus Spiritus Sanctus.

Et tamen non tres æterni sed unus æternus.

Sicut non tres increati, nec tres immensi: sed unus increatus, et unus immensus.

Similiter omnipotens Pater, omnipotens Filius: omnipotens Spiritus Sanctus.

Et tamen non tres omnipotentes : sed unus omnipotens.

Ita Deus Pater, Deus Filius: Deus Spiritus Sanctus.

Et tamen non tres Dii: sed unus est Deus.

Ita Dominus Pater, Dominus Filius: Dominus Spiritus Sanctus.

Et tamen non tres Domini: sed unus est Dominus.

Quia sicut singillatim unamquamque Personam Deum et Dominum confiteri Christiana veritate compellimur: Ita tres Deos aut Dominos dicere, catholica religione prohibemur.

Pater a nullo est factus: nec creatus, nec genitus.

Filius a Patre solo est: non factus, nec creatus, sed genitus.

Spiritus Sanctus a Patre et Filio: non factus, nec creatus, nec genitus, sed procedens.

Unus ergo Pater, non tres Patres ; unus Filius, non tres Filii; unus Spi

Salisbury Use.

evidence, and to supersede, by his private study, the necessity for occupying space here with the details of the Scriptural argu

ment.

So are we forbidden by the Catholick Religion, &c.] (1) The evidence of doctrine is contained in the Holy Scriptures; the consequences, deductions, and inferences, which may be made from the contents of Holy Scripture, must be under the control of the Church. The one teaching us clearly that each Person of the Blessed Trinity possesses in Himself the inherent essential qualities of the Divine Nature, the other forbids us to draw any false conclusions from the truth thus revealed. (2) The final interpretation of Holy Scripture rests not with the individual Christian, but with the collective Christian body; and where that collective Christian body has set forth an interpretation, the individual Christian will be, to say the least, unsafe in adopting, or wishing to adopt, any other. (3) The "Catholic Religion respecting the Unity of the Trinity, had been clearly decided and set forth at the General Councils held before this Creed was written.

The Holy Ghost is of the Father, and of the Son] The introduction of the words et Filio into this Creed, shows that the

1 Cor. xii. 6. 11. Col. iii. 11.

John viii. 58.

Matt. iv. 10. 2 Thess. iii. 5. Rev. iv. 8.

Mark ix. 24.

Heb. ii. 3. Rom. i. 2, 3, 4. 1 John iv. 3.

1 John ii. 23. v. 20.

1 Tim. iii. 16.

Gal. iv. 4.
Col. i. 17. ii. 9.

And in this Trinity none is afore, or after other none is greater, or less than another;

But the whole three Persons are coeternal together and co-equal.

So that in all things, as is aforesaid : the Unity in Trinity, and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped.

He therefore, that will be saved : must thus think of the Trinity.

Furthermore, it is necessary to everlasting salvation that he also believe rightly the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

For the right Faith is, that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man;

God, of the substance of the Father, Luke ii. 6, 7. 11. begotten before the worlds and Man, of the substance of his Mother, born in the world;

doctrine of the Double Procession of the Holy Ghost was received at a very early date, although “Filioque" was not inserted in the Nicene Creed until the sixth century. The statement of it in this place is of a more general character than in the Nicene Creed [q. v.], but it is rejected by the Eastern Church.

He therefore, that will be saved, must thus think of the Trinity] This practical or saving importance of a right Faith in the Holy Trinity, may be seen (1) from the manner in which the doctrine lies at the foundation of all other doctrine; (2) by the fact that our Lord made it the very fountain of spiritual life, when He connected the invocation of the Holy Trinity essentially with Holy Baptism; and (3) by the place which it occupies in moulding all the forms of Christian worship.

Nevertheless, this verse of the Creed must not be taken as meaning that no person can be saved except he has an intellectual apprehension of the doctrines here set forth about the Blessed Trinity. Intellectual apprehension of doctrine is confined to educated minds, which have the faculty of forming opinions about truth, as well as of believing it. In whatever degree, then, opinions accompany Faith, they must be consistent with the statements here made respecting God, in each several Person, and in one Indivisible Trinity. It is one of the responsibilities attached to the possession of intellect, and its development by education, that it be not suffered to go out of its province, professing to discover where it cannot even observe, or to reason where it has no premisses. The highest intellect cannot form any opinion about God that can possibly be true, if it is not consistent with what He Himself has told us; and the highest operation of intellect is to train itself into consistency with the Supreme Mind.

Furthermore, it is necessary to everlasting salvation] The latter part of the Athanasian Creed may be said to be a logical exposition of the second member of the Apostles' Creed, and especially with reference to the two Natures of our Blessed Lord, the union of which is called the "Incarnation."

Sancti.

Et in hac Trinitate nihil prius aut posterius: nihil majus aut minus.

Sed totæ tres persona: coæternæ sibi sunt et coæquales.

Ita ut per omnia, sicut jam supra dictum est, et Unitas in Trinitate: et Trinitas in Unitate veneranda sit.

Qui vult ergo salvus esse: ita de Trinitate sentiat.

Sed necessarium est ad æternam salutem: ut incarnationem quoque Domini nostri Jesu Christi fideliter credat.

Est ergo fides recta, ut credamus et confiteamur: quia Dominus noster Jesus Christus, Dei Filius, Deus et homo est.

Deus est ex substantia Patris ante sæcula genitus: et homo est ex substantia matris in sæculo natus.

Perfectus Deus, perfectus homo: ex anima rationali et humana carne subI sistens.

God, of the Substance of the Father] The many heresies respecting the Nature of our Blessed Lord entailed on the Church a necessity for the greatest strictness of expression; and whether God the Son was of the same Substance with the Father, eternally begotten, or whether He was of a similar Substance, and a created being, was the great question which had to be decided by the Church, time after time, as one form and another of the latter opinion arose, throughout the first ages. The voice of the Church never faltered, but always declared that the belief here expressed was the Faith once for all delivered to the Saints, and handed down from the Apostles to later times. It was this contest of heresy with the orthodox faith that originated the minute definition into which the Athanasian Creed runs; and however unnecessary it may seem to those who willingly receive the true doctrine, yet it must be remembered that heresy never dies; and that hence this minute accuracy is a necessary bulwark of the truth. Also, that we may be very thankful "the right Faith" has not now to be built up, but only to be defended.

Perfect God, and perfect Man] Our Lord Jesus, in both of His two Natures, has all the essential qualities which belong to each: Eternity, Uncreatedness, Omnipresence, Almightiness, Divine Will, and all other attributes of the Divine Nature; Body, Soul, Human Will, and all other attributes belonging to the Human Nature. These two Natures are as entirely united in the One Person Christ, as the body and the soul are united in the one person man. This Union was first effected when the Son of God began to be the Son of Man in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and it has never been broken since. When the Body of the Crucified Saviour was laid in the tomb, it was kept from corruption by the continuance of its Union with the Divine Nature; and when His Soul descended into hell, the Divine Nature was still united to it also, enabling it to triumph over Satan and Death; when the Soul and Body of Christ were united together again, and ascended into Heaven, it was in conjunction with the Divine Nature that they ascended, to sit as Per

Zech. xiii. 7.

John x. 30. xiv.

28.

Phil. ii. 5-7.

Matt. xvi. 16.

Phil. ii. 7. Heb. ii. 17.

1 Tim. ii. 5.

John xi. 27. Gal. iii. 16.

Isa. liii. 4. 8. 10. Luke xxiii. 42,

43.

1 Cor. xv. 3, 4.

Luke xxiv. 51.

1 Pet. iii. 21, 22.

1 Thess. iv. 16.

Equal to the Father, as touching his Godhead and inferior to the Father, as touching his Manhood.

Who although he be God and Man yet he is not two, but one Christ;

One; not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh but by taking of the Manhood into God;

One altogether; not by confusion of Substance but by unity of Person.

For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man so God and Man is one Christ;

Who suffered for our salvation : descended into hell, rose again the third day from the dead.

He ascended into heaven, he sitteth 2 Thess. i. 7-10. on the right hand of the Father, God Almighty from whence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

Equalis Patri secundum Divini- Salisbury Use. tatem: minor Patre secundum Humanitatem.

Qui licet Deus sit et Homo: non duo tamen, sed unus est Christus.

Unus autem, non conversione Divinitatis in carnem : sed assumptione humanitatis in Deum.

Unus omnino, non confusione substantiæ: sed unitate personæ.

Nam sicut anima rationalis et caro unus est homo: ita Deus et Homo unus est Christus,

Qui passus est pro salute nostra, descendit ad inferos: tertia die resurrexit a mortuis.

Ascendit ad cœlos, sedet ad dexteram Dei Patris omnipotentis: inde 41. ad dext. Paventurus est judicare vivos et mortuos.

Ad cujus adventum omnes homines resurgere habent cum corporibus suis : et reddituri sunt de factis propriis rationem.

Et qui bona egerunt ibunt in vitam æternam : qui vero mala in ignem æternum.

Hæc est fides catholica: quam nisi quisque fideliter firmiterque crediderit, salvus esse non poterit.

Gloria Patri, et Filio: et Spiritui Sancto.

Sicut erat in principio, et nunc et semper: et in sæcula sæculorum.

tris, inde....

fect God and Perfect Man at the right hand of the Father. And in the same two, but united Natures, Christ our Lord will come to judge the quick and the dead.

life everlasting everlasting fire] These words, awful as the latter part of them is, are the words of our Lord, "The King shall say unto them on His right hand, Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.......... also unto them on the left hand, Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels .... And these shall go away into everlasting punishment; but the righteous into life eternal." (Matt. xxv. 34. 41. 46.)

This is the Catholick Faith: which except a man believe faithfully, he cannot be saved] This verse also is founded on words of our Lord, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned." (Mark xvi. 16.) And these severe words of His are the more striking from the fact of their utterance immediately before His Ascension to Heaven, lifting up His hands, and blessing His disciples.

It will be observed that the word firmiter in this clause is not represented in our translation. Waterland says [Critic. Hist. V. x.] that our translators followed a Greek copy of the Creed, printed at Basle by Nicholas Bryling. As this was reprinted by

Stephens in 1565, it probably had some weight at the time. These words of the clause in this Greek copy are given as ПIOTŵs TOTEUσn. Other Greek copies follow the Latin.

It does not become the writer to say any thing that may in the least lessen the force of such awful words. In the Creed which has been under notice, they are applied in close consistency with our Lord's first use of them, and they must be taken for all that they fairly mean. A word of caution may, however, be expedient; reminding the reader of what has been before said about opinion and belief. A willing assent may be given to the more obvious statements of this Creed, by many who are quite unable to enter upon the collateral and inferential statements deduced from them; and "a man' may thus "believe faithfully" in the substantial truths of the Catholic Faith. With an expanded knowledge, an expanded faith is necessary: and all the statements of the Creed are so bound together, that they whose expanded knowledge of it is not thus accompanied, are in fact rejecting the fundamental Articles of the Faith, as well as those that seem subordinate only. It will be better in the next life for the ignorant, if they have believed according to the measure of their knowledge, than for those who have known much, but have believed little.