www.byzcath.org Forums Mysteries: The Life of Worship Vespers, Matins & the Divine Liturgy Text of the Creed in the Armenian Apostolic Church

I always wondered why is the text of the Nicean Creed different in the Armenian Apostolic Church.

Here it follows:

We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, the maker of heaven and earth, of things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the begotten of God the Father, the Only-begotten, that is of the essence of the Father.
God of God, Light of Light, true God of true God, begotten and not made; of the very same nature of the Father, by Whom all things came into being, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible.
Who for us humanity and for our salvation came down from heaven, was incarnate, was made human, was born perfectly of the holy virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit.
By whom He took body, soul, and mind, and everything that is in man, truly and not in semblance.
He suffered, was crucified, was buried, rose again on the third day, ascended into heaven with the same body, [and] sat at the right hand of the Father.
He is to come with the same body and with the glory of the Father, to judge the living and the dead; of His kingdom there is no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, in the uncreated and the perfect; Who spoke through the Law, prophets, and Gospels; Who came down upon the Jordan, preached through the apostles, and lived in the saints.
We believe also in only One, Universal, Apostolic, and [Holy] Church; in one baptism in repentance, for the remission, and forgiveness of sins; and in the resurrection of the dead, in the everlasting judgement of souls and bodies, and the Kingdom of Heaven and in the everlasting life.

Any scholarly thoughts? Way different. Definately not the common received text we all know.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicene_Creed#Armenian_liturgical_text


Ray
www.theologyincolor.com [theologyincolor.com]

Ray:

Christ is in our midst!!

I don't have an opinion on the bulk of the text--why it is not like the common text we all know--but this line shows the recent influence of English, politically correct, feminist language. More likely than not just a recent alteration of the translation from Armenian.

Bob

Notice there is not even the article about the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father. The Armenian version says: "We believe in the Holy Spirit, in the uncreated and the perfect; Who spoke through the Law, prophets, and Gospels; Who came down upon the Jordan, preached through the apostles, and lived in the saints."

Interesting version, nothing un-orthodox about it, yet it appears to be not the common statement of belief of the undivided Church.

If I'm not mistaken, this creed predates the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed by several years. St Epiphanius gives a version of it in Ancoratus, ch. 119-120. I think it was used as a baptismal formula in the Church of Jerusalem, from which the Armenians have received much of their tradition.

Note that the wiki entry refers to this creed as a "liturgical form". The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed remains as a profession of faith, but the liturgical form is what most people hear and recite. Though it isn't uncommon to hear it referred to as "the Nicene Creed", it is technically incorrect.

As to the lack of a statement on the Procession of the Holy Spirit, it is just like our Armenian brothers and sisters to want to step back from a really controversial issue!

I love their Local Creed. The translation of "humanity" is interesting and Bob probably has the rights of it in his explanation.

The monk Eutyches, as we know, refused to agree that Christ took on our humanity. For him and others like him at the time, it appeared to be impious to have said so (he it was who was called "Monophysite" as a result, and the Oriental Churches have always condemned Eutychianism).

However, in the end, Eutyches had no problem accepting that Christ took His Humanity from the Theotokos and I believe there is a creed that makes such an affirmation to satisfy his ilk.

That creed is perfectly Orthodox as well.

Greetings and salutations to Mor Ephrem here! We haven't heard from the Catholicos for a very long time! (How have you been sir?)

And his epithet of "Catholicos" comes from a thread, long ago, when people here were discussing vagante orders and some began to consecrate bishops and patriarchs in like manner - among them, Mor Ephrem. This moniker, alone of all those "consecrations" then, has endured all these years.

Alex

I'm glad you mentioned that, Alex. I don't want people thinking I'm "one of those".

I'm doing well, friend. And you?