Monday, July 14, 2008

contra mundum

We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, light from light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father;
through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary
and became truly human.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son,
who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.

Nicene Creed

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Em,

Hope you are still having fun!
:-) I love the nicene creed; so much to ponder,pray,reflect on in so few words. I pray it everyday slowly, trying to mean/believe what I am praying. What do you think about it? Also, I'm curious as to why you put the 'and the Holy Spirit' in paratheses? As someone coming from an Eastern to Western Christian conversion, I have an interest in the Filioque controversy. Anyway, I know you are busy, thinking and praying for you. Prayers, Ally

Anonymous said...

Also, why does my latin-english translater show that contra mundum means "against clean"? There has to be a more eloquent translation of said phrase.

Emily said...

Ally! I miss you.

Actually, I just pasted the Creed in from the first place I found it on the internet, without paying attention to the brackets (which are gone now).

I love the Creed, and needed it as a reminder just now while I am in the middle of lots of conversations with Muslims and Jehovah's Witness.

"Contra mundum" I used because of the phrase "Athanasius contra mundum" that came out of Athanasius's stand against Arian for the divinity of Christ at the Council of Nicea. A few times in the last week I have felt a little bit contra mundum myself. :)

Emily said...

Oops. I forgot to say it's "against the world."