Whosoever will be saved , before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholic Faith. Which Faith
except everyone do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly.
And the Catholic 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
Son incomprehensible, and the Holy Ghost incomprehensible. The Father eternal, the Son eternal, and
the Holy Ghost eternal.
And yet they are not three eternals, but one eternal. As also there are not three incomprehensibles, nor
three uncreated, but one uncreated, and one incomprehensible.
So likewise the Father is Almighty, the Son Almighty, and the Holy Ghost Almighty. And yet they are
not three Almighties, but one Almighty.
So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God. 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 both
God and Lord, So are we forbidden by the Catholic 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; one Holy Ghost, not three Holy
Ghosts. And in this Trinity none is afore, or after other; none is greater, or less than another; But the
whole three Persons are co-eternal 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 is must think
thus 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, begotten before the worlds; and Man
of the substance of his Mother, born in the world; Perfect God and perfect Man, of a reasonable soul
and human flesh subsisting.
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 at the right hand of the Father, God Almighty, from whence he will
come to judge the quick and the dead. At whose coming all men will rise again with their bodies and
shall give account for their own works. And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting; and
they that have done evil into everlasting fire.
This is the Catholic Faith, which except a man believe faithfully, he cannot be saved.
Dire warnings are attached for anyone who fails to hold unswervingly to the whole of this creed. As jarring as these notes sound to modern ears, they remind us that rightly knowing God has always been a matter of utmost importance to the church.
The main emphasis of the first part of the Athanasian Creed is the unity, distinctness, and equality of the divine persons. These traits are set out in nearly a dozen triads of assertions about the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, sometimes in abstractions (they share the same “qualities”) and sometimes in particulars (each is almighty, each is Lord). The painstaking care shown in the setting out of these points makes for clarity of presentation with minimal technical language.
The second part of the creed proclaims Jesus Christ as God and man equally, insisting on both the unity and also the distinctness of Christ’s divinity and humanity. Without naming any particular heresy, the creed addresses those errors that supercharge Christ’s humanity and those that allege that at the incarnation Christ became some new hybrid creation that was neither properly human nor fully divine.
Also called “The Exposition of the Catholic Faith” or “Quicumque Vult” (from its opening Latin words), the Athanasian Creed was thought in the Middle Ages to have been penned by Athanasius of Alexandria. The text first appeared about a century after his death, and, since attempts to identify its true author have not been successful, many Christian communities have chosen to retain the name of Athanasius in connection to this creed.
