The Nicene Creed Part 2 - I Believe

Rom 10:9-10
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

James 2:26
For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

The Creed is traditionally broken into twelve parts for instructional purposes. For the sake of keeping my posts from getting too long and to better provide a general overview, I'm going to further divide some of those sections. This post will cover what it means to "believe" ("credo" in Latin, where we get the word "creed"). According to The Catechism of St Philaret of Moscow1...

76. What is it to believe in God?

To believe in God is to have a lively belief of his being, his attributes, and works; and to receive with all the heart his revealed Word respecting the salvation of men.

80. For what is the confession of the faith necessary?

The Apostle Paul witnesses that it is necessary for salvation. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Rom. x. 10.  

And also from The Confession of Peter Mohila2...

Q. 2. Should a Christian first believe and then do good works in life?

R. Since "without faith it is impossible to please God", as St. Paul teaches, "he that comes to God must believe that he is, and is a rewarder to them that seek him."[5] Therefore, so that a Christian may please God and his works may be accepted by him, first it is necessary that he have faith in God and then he must form his life according to this faith.

Q. 4. What is faith?

R. Faith is, according to St. Paul, "the substance of things to be hoped for, the evidence of things that appear not. For this the ancients obtained a testimony."[6] Or, as follows: the apostolic orthodox-catholic (faith) is to believe in one's heart and confess by one's mouth one God in the Holy Trinity, according to the teaching of the same St. Paul: "for with the heart we believe unto justice; but with the mouth confession is made unto salvation;"[7] and then also, Faith is to hold intact all the articles of the orthodox- catholic faith, handed down by Christ the Lord through the Apostles and pronounced and approved in the Ecumenical Councils (4) and to believe them without doubt as taught therein, just as the Apostle designates: "Brothers, stand fast and hold the traditions which you have learned, whether by word or by our epistle." [8] And in another place: "I praise (you, brothers), that you are mindful of me in all things; and keep my ordinances as I delivered them to you." [9] From these words it is clear that the articles of faith receive their commendation and authority partly from Sacred Scripture and partly from church tradition and the teaching of the Councils and the Holy Fathers. By way of explanation in this matter, St. Dionysius says: "For the substance of our hierarchy is the divinely given oracles; most truly we declare these oracles to be venerated, which were given to us by our holy founders, inspired by the Holy Spirit, in Sacred Scripture and theological books, as also that which comes from these same holy men in a more subtle way, not completely treated from on high, but by the penetration of one mind unto another, indeed by way of the corporeal word, but nevertheless at the same time immaterial, by which our holy founders were taught without writing in this certain sacred tradition." [10] I speak, he says, of certain dogmas given through the Scripture and contained in the theological books (that is, of St. Basil); (5) Truly these are dogmas which were orally given by the Apostles and the Holy Fathers. And on these two things the faith is based, not only to remain in the recesses of the heart, with all doubt and fear really removed, but to be proclaimed and professed orally, even as the Psalmist says: "I have believed, therefore have I spoken."[11] "We also believe, wherefore we also speak."[12]

According to the scriptures, "faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God", meaning that we recieve our faith by being taught. The manner in which this takes place in us is two fold. First, as Paul writes "God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith", our capacity to believe in God is a gift from Him, and as the parable of the sower and the seed shows, this gift is given freely to all. But having received the gift freely given, we have a responsibility to respond as Christ Himself said "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear" and "Take heed therefore how ye hear".

Belief is also closely tied to action in the scriptures. To truly believe is to act on that belief as we are told to "be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only" and that "faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone" because even "the devils also believe, and tremble". We find "for the LORD preserveth the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer" in the Psalms. We are also told that "whatsoever is not of faith is sin" and that with faith "ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked". We also find that faith must also be accomplanied by love where it is written "though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing". Faith also requires perseverence. Christ told us that "he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved" and Paul commanded us to "run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith".

Through the intercession of St Patrick, may God Almighty strengthen one's faith and grant the grace of faith to others.

1http://www.pravoslavieto.com/docs/eng/Orthodox_Catechism_of_Philaret.htm

2http://esoptron.umd.edu/ugc/ocf1a.html

The Nicene Creed Part 1 - Introduction

Jude 1:3
Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.

Gal 1:8-9
But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.

With this post, I am going to start a new series on what is commonly referred to as the Nicene Creed, also known as the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed. In my following posts I intend to cover the text of the Creed using scripture, and commentary and teaching (either on the Creed or subjects relating to what is stated in the Creed) found in writings and catechisms that have been produced throughout the centuries.

There are a number of creeds and confessions of faith. From the ealriest times various creeds were used as a statement of faith to be made at baptism and liturgically recited to maintain unity of faith among the members of a local church and between local churches. The Nicene Creed is the most common one found recited today with the Apostle's Creed being the second most common.

In the early fourth century, a priest from Alexandria by the name of Arius denied that the Son was of the same divinity as the Father and affirmed that the Son was a created being. This teaching gained popularity and spread throughout the Christian world with a number of people, inculding some bishops, adopting this new teaching. As it spread causing chaos throughout the Roman Empire, which had just recently legalized Christianity, the Emporer Constantine called a number of bishops together in 325 at Nicea to give an official statement of faith regarding the divinity of the Son. What they gave the emporer was a statement that the Son was coeternal with the Father and sharing the same divine nature as the Father. Later on, a similar teaching against the Holy Spirit was starting to spread and another council was held in Constantinople in 381. The bishops present at the council in 381 re-affirmed statement of 325 and then affirmed the divinity of the Holy Spirit. They put forth another statement of faith, the decree of 325 with some extra clarification concerning the Holy Spirit, and made this their official statement of faith. This statement made in 381 is what is called the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed (because it was originally made at Nicea and then further clarified at Constantinople), or more commonly known as simply the Nicene Creed. There was a small addition made to it at a council in Toledo, Spain during the fifth century concerning the procession of the Holy Spirit which was not officially adopted by Rome in the west until the ninth century and was never adopted into usage by any church in the east. I may cover that in a later post when I get to that part of the Creed, but I am not including it as part of the text of the Creed and am using what was originally proclaimed at Constantinople in 381 as the text that I plan to cover in this series. Here is the text of the Nicene Creed as given at Constantinople in 381.

I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth and of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only-begotten, begotten of the Father before all ages. Light of light; true God of true God; begotten, not made; of one essence with the Father, by Whom all things were made; Who for us men and for our salvation came down from Heaven, and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and became man. And He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered, and was buried. And the third day He arose again, according to the Scriptures, and ascended into Heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again with glory to judge the living and the dead; Whose Kingdom shall have no end.

And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life, Who proceeds from the Father; Who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified; Who spoke by the prophets.

In one Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins. I look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen.

The Jesus Prayer Part 19 - Contemplative Prayer

Col 4:2
Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving;

Eph 6:18
Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

In this post I am going to write a little about contemplative prayer. The goal of contemplative prayer is to be aware of, focus on, and interact with, and draw closer to God in prayer. To quote a catechism entitled On the Law of God, "Contemplation of God is the description of the spiritual mood in which man intentionally introduces into, maintains in his conscience, the thought of God, of His highest properties, the matter of our salvation and of our eternal future, etc." Prayer is traditionally described as being done on three levels, the physical, the mental, and the heart.

We begin by physically saying the words that we offer up to God. We can start with the words the Lord Himself gave us in the Lord's prayer, the Psalms, or other hymns and prayers of the Church. We offer these words up to God because we know it is right to offer them up to God and that they express how we should relate to God.

We take the words that we are saying and focus on them and make them our own. They cease to be external words that we read and become our own words as they penetrate our mind and become our thoughts. This requires attention and perseverance as outside thoughts try to distract us from prayer. Being told that "he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him" and "Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you", we know we can trust God to reward our struggles in prayer to draw closer to Him and become transformed by the renewing of our mind. In the words of Fr. Thomas Hopko...

When reading or chanting the psalms, the person does not try to think about each word and phrase. Rather he cuts off all reasoning, and opens his heart to the Lord, uniting “his mouth with his mind,” (St Benedict) and allowing the Word of God to be planted within him to blossom in his soul with the fruits of the Spirit. This also is the case with churchly hymnology. It is sung for the glory of God and the edification and expansion of the soul through the contemplation of the Lord in His words and works of salvation, much more than for any intellectual instruction.

The next level of prayer is to penetrate from the mind into the heart. In order to properly pray from the heart, we must have our heart right with God, as Christ said "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God". This means not just saying the words, but meaning them and following God in our daily lives as Christians. We are told that our treasure is where our heart is and that it is from the heart that our actions come, so part of having a positive relationship with God is to love Him with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength, and to love our neighbor as a reflection of our love for God based on the love that we have received from God. This has been expressed in writings like where On the Law of God says "Orthodoxy teaches us that the Christian faith is inseparably bound to love for God. And love always demands a living, personal relationship with the one we love. In our relationship with God, this love is first of all made manifest in prayer." and where These Truths We Hold - The Holy Orthodox Church: Her Life and Teachings, a book of teachings compiled by a monk at St Tikhon's Monastery, says that "Our prayers will gradually grow more perfect as we improve the manner of our lives and cleanse our hearts of sinful passion. This banishment of sinful ways from our lives brings as its reward our success in prayer. At the same time, we must say that prayer cannot achieve perfection in isolation, but must be accompanied by all the virtues, for as we grow in virtue, so does our prayer grow ever more perfect."

Repetition of the Jesus prayer, along with psalms, hymns, and other short prayers, has traditionally been used as an exercise in  focusing the mind and heart on God. We can reflect on the words themselves of the prayer, as I have done in some of my previous posts. We can take those words and make them our own, and we can put those words into action in our lives as we grow closer to God by keeping Him in constant remembrance in prayer. To quote Fr. Thomas Hopko again...

The use of the Jesus Prayer outside the hesychast method for unceasing prayer is to repeat the prayer constantly and continually, whatever one is doing, without the employment of any particular bodily postures or breathing techniques. This is the way taught by St. Gregory Palamas in his short discourse about how unceasing mental prayer is the duty of all Christians. (see p. 130) Anyone can do this, whatever his occupation or position in life. This also is shown in The Way of the Pilgrim.

The purpose and results of this method of prayer are those generally of all prayer: that men might be continually united with God by unceasing remembrance of His presence and perpetual invocation of His name, so that one might always serve Him and all men with the virtues of Christ and the fruits of the Spirit.

Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.

The Jesus Prayer Part 18 - The Use of Prayer Ropes and Beads

Repetitions of the Jesus Prayer are commonly counted on knots or beads. Other prayers have also been counted in a similar manner throughout the centuries in eastern and western Christian traditions. It is because of this ancient prayer tradition that the word "bead" receives its etymology from the old english word for "prayer" and shares a common root with the english word "bid" (to ask) and the german word "bitte" (please). I'm going to briefly discuss the historical development of tools for counting prayers in this post.

It starts with the ancient Jewish practice of having specific hours set aside during the day for prayers. Christianity as early as the apostles themselves and their immediate disciples continued  this schedule of prayer as they carried it over into their own worship and it can be found to this day within the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Anglican/Episcopalian, Lutheran, and some Reformed traditions. By the second century, rules of prayer were given as replacements for these prayer services for those who were unable to make it to church and were unable to pray the prayers on their own. These would normally be a number of repetitions of the Lord's Prayer. At the same time, Christian monasticism was forming and the monks would repeat and meditate on the Lord's Prayer, verses from the Psalms, other short prayers, or even just the name of Jesus as they would complete their daily tasks and during time set aside just for prayer.

It was within this early monastic tradition that tools were first used to keep track of the large numbers of prayers that the monks would commit themselves to. The earliest mention of this is of a monk named Paul of Thebes who would keep three hundred pebbles and drop them into a bag to keep count of his prayers. This practice developed into tieing knots in a piece of rope or carving notches into walking sticks that were easier to travel with. The use of ropes and beads grew in popularity and became the normal method for counting prayers.

In eastern Christian traditions, the Jesus Prayer became the normative prayer for contemplation. Ropes made of knotted wool are most common but strands of beads are also used. Prayer ropes can commonly be found with 33, 50, or 100 knots or beads. In the western Christian tradition, the Lord's Prayer and Hail Mary became normative for contemplative prayer. The most common devotion that can be found in western Christianity today is the Rosary, even though a number of other devotions and chaplets have grown in the west out of this prayer tradition.

MAKE HASTE, O GOD, TO DELIVER ME; MAKE HASTE TO HELP ME, O LORD.

The Jesus Prayer Part 17 - Repetition in the Scriptures

Luke 18:1
And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;

Eph 5:19-20
Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;

The Jesus prayer, whether it is recited while accomplishing another task or during time devoted solely to meditating on the name of Jesus, is often repeated multiple times. This post will look at a few places where repetition is mentioned in the scriptures.

In the Old Testament, the book of Leviticus calls for a cleansed leper to be sprinkled with water seven times and oil to be sprinkled seven times before the Lord. On the day of Atonement, a young bullock and a goat are sacrificed to the Lord. The blood of both were sprinkled seven times on the mercy seat and then again seven times on the altar. Joshua circled the city of Jericho once for six days straight and then seven times on the seventh day before the walls fell. Elisha advised Naaman to dip himself seven times in the river Jordan in order to be healed of his leprosy. When Solomon consecrated the Temple to the Lord, the children of Israel sang Psalm 136 with its frequent repetition of "for His mercy endureth forever", and then again after they saw the glory of the Lord fill the Temple. The hymn that the three youths in Daniel sang when they thrown in the furnace repeated the phrase "And sing a hymn to Him, And exult Him beyond measure unto the ages.".

In the New Testament, we find Jesus commanding a cleansed leper to "go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded" that I referenced above. During the agony in the garden, Matthew writes that Jesus prayed to the Father three times "saying the same words". It was through perseverence that the syrophenician woman was granted by Jesus that the devil be cast out of her daughter. In Revelation, we are given a vision of four beasts who, in their worship of the Lord, "rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy...". Jesus also tells a parable of a widow who wins the favor of a judge by repeatedly coming to the judge, and when giving the Lord's prayer in Luke tells a parable of a man who gives his neighbor a loaf of bread because of his persistence in asking. The Apostle Paul also commands us to pray "always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints" and to "Pray without ceasing".

Just as Christ taught the value of perseverence in prayer when teaching the Lord's prayer in Luke, He also gave a warning against "vain repetitions" when teaching the same prayer in Matthew. With the repetition that is commanded and used in both the Old and New Testaments, we can't understand this as an admonition against all repetition, so this must be understood as a warning against vanity in prayer. Prayer is not a magical formula where we simply mouth words and expect things to happen for us. Prayer is an encounter with the one to whom we are praying and must be done with faith in God and for His glory. This is why Christ condemned those who honored God with their lips and not their hearts.

Let thy mercy, O LORD, be upon us, according as we hope in thee. I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.