The Nicene Creed, composed in part and adopted at the First Council of Nicaea (325) and revised with additions by the First Council of Constantinople (381), is a creed that summarizes the orthodox faith of the Christian Church and is used in the liturgy of most Christian Churches. This article endeavors to give the text and context of English-language translations.
The International Consultation on English Texts published an English translation of the Nicene Creed, first in 1970 and then in successive revisions in 1971 and 1975. These texts were adopted by several churches. The Roman Catholic Church in the United States, which adopted the 1971 version in 1973, and the Catholic Church in other English-speaking countries, which in 1975 adopted the version published in that year, continued to use them until 2011. The 1975 version was included in the 1978 Lutheran Book of Worship, the 1979 Episcopal Church (United States) Book of Common Prayer, though in both cases with one variation: in the line "For us men and for our salvation", they omitted the word "men." The ICET text and the versions adapted by various denominations use the plural "we" form which corresponds to the original text from the Council of Nicea (325 CE) and the Council of Constantinople (381 CE) which begin the creed with Πιστεύομεν (Greek, pisteuomen, "we believe"). This is the ICET version currently used in The Episcopal Church (as of 1979).
The English Language Liturgical Consultation (ELLC), the successor body to ICET, published in 1988 the book Praying Together, which included a revision of the 1975 ICET text. Variations of this text are gaining acceptance among mainline Protestant churches: it is used by the Methodist Church with little if any change, and by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Other denominations use it with modifications that vary between the churches: see, for instance, the discussion within The ELLC Texts: A Survey of Use and Variation, which does not include recent use of the ELLC text by the ELCA in Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006).
The translation for use in Mass of the Roman Rite is found in the Order of Mass. It begins with "Credo" – "I believe" – and is a personal (not congregational) affirmation of faith. The Nicene Creed as found on the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops website is as follows:
Within the Latin Church, the Ordinariate Form of the Roman Rite uses the following translation, taken from the Book of Common Prayer:
An explanation of the Creed can be found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
The Ruthenian Catholic Church, a sui iuris Eastern Catholic Church, uses a text which was previously found on their website but has now been archived.
It is as follows:
I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible;
and in one Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, the only-begotten, born of the Father before all ages. Light from light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, one in essence with the Father; through Him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation, he came down from heaven and was incarnate from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and became man.
He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered and was buried. He rose on the third day according to the scriptures. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he is coming again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.
And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Creator of Life, who proceeds from the Father.
Together with the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified; he spoke through the prophets.
In one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.
I profess one baptism for the remission of sins. I expect the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen.
The Ukrainian Catholic Church, a sui iuris Eastern Catholic Church professes the Nicene Creed in the following way:
I believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen.
I believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father. Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, one in being with the Father. Through Him all things were made.
For us men and for our salvation He came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit He was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man.
For our sake He was crucified under Pontius Pilate; He suffered, died, and was buried. On the third day He rose again in fulfillment of the Scriptures; He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and His kingdom will have no end.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father [and the Son].
With the Father and the Son He is worshipped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets.
I believe in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.
I acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.
The Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church has an English translation of the Nicene Creed. It goes as follows:
We believe in one true God, the Father Almighty.
Maker of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible.
We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all the world. Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made: who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made man. He was crucified also for us in the days of Pontius Pilate. Suffered and died was buried. The third day He rose again by His Father’s holy will, ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father. He will come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead and of His kingdom, there will be no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, who proceeds from the Father, who with the Father and Son together is worshiped and glorified, who spoke by the prophets and apostles.
We believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic church; we acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins and look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the new life of the world to come. Amen.
The text used by the Orthodox Church in America may be found at their website.
The text used by the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America may be found at their website.
The text used by the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America may be found at their website.
The text used by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia is:
The 1979 Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America version has the 1975 ecumenical (ICET) version (see above). The version in the Church of England's Common Worship of 2000 is the 1988 ecumenical (ELLC) version, but amended at the Incarnatus to read: "was incarnate from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and was made man." The Anglican Church of Canada's Book of Alternative Services (1985) uses the 1975 ICET version, but unusually, it omits the Filioque ("and the Son") phrase in accordance with the 1978 Lambeth Conference Statement, and the Anglican-Orthodox Joint Doctrinal Commission. But in many churches of the Anglican Communion the version in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer is still the one in use:
The version above, except with modernized spelling of "Catholic" and "Apostolic", is found in the 1928 (American) Book of Common Prayer, and in the Anglo-Catholic devotional manual Saint Augustine's Prayer Book (1947 and 1967 editions). The 1979 American Book of Common Prayer, in the celebration of The Holy Eucharist: Rite One, provides for the use of either the 1975 ICET version or the traditional version, identical to that found in the 1928 Prayer Book.
The version in Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006) of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC) is the 1988 ecumenical (ELLC) version. But the Lutheran Service Book (2006) of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS) and the Lutheran Church–Canada (LCC) uses that of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer with slight changes, substituting the word "Christian" for "catholic" and modernizing the spelling of the word "apostolic", with changes in capitalization of this and other words, and with "Holy Spirit" in place of "Holy Ghost".
The Missouri Synod uses the following for the Nicene Creed:
The Trinity Hymnal of 1990, published by the Presbyterian Church in America and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, contains an updated language version of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer translation; this is used by those denominations and some others.
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) uses a slightly different version as subscribed in their Book of Confessions.
"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 worshipped 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."
While working towards the 1975 ecumenical text given above, the International Consultation on English Texts (ICET) published a version, which the Roman Catholic Church in the United States adopted in its English version of the Roman Missal, in use from 1973 to 2011.
"One in Being with the Father" (1973), which, when spoken, could be confused with "one, in being with the Father", was replaced in the 1975 version by "of one Being with the Father".
"He was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man" was altered in 1975 to "He became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and was made man": neither Greek "σαρκωθέντα" nor Latin "incarnatus" means "born", and the 1973 text linked hominization ("became man") with birth ("he was born").
"He suffered, died, and was buried" was replaced in 1975 by "he suffered death and was buried": "παθόντα" in Greek and "passus" in Latin are indicative of a suffering demise; but the 1973 text inserted an extra verb, "died", not present in the original Greek or Latin.
A translation of the 381 version may also be found in Kelly's Early Christian Creeds.
Note the linking of "under Pontius Pilate" with "suffered", not with "was crucified".
General info from Wikipedia.org