November 30, 2025 

   As we approach the New Year, the year of the 250th Anniversary of the Founding of this God protected land of liberty, it may be hard to grasp the enormity of such a long time and all of the history that has unfolded in those two and one half centuries.  Contrast that long time with an epoch almost 7 times as long that we celebrate this year: one thousand and seven hundred years since the first ecumenical council was held in the city of Nicea, not too far from Constantinople, in 325 AD.  The council was called by St. Constantine, 12 years after his Edict of Milan legalized Christianity within the Roman Empire as we know, after his vision of the Cross at the Milvian Bridge one year earlier.   Constantine called a council of over 200  hierarchs of the church after he became the sole emperor and because of raging controversies in the early church, mainly over the theories of Arius an Alexandrian priest who taught that Jesus was not coeternal with God the Father.  Arianism was rejected by the Council, an august group that included St. Athanasius of Alexandria, St. Nicholas of Myra in Lycia, and St. Spiridon of Cyprus. These Fathers are so important that they as a group are  commemorated each year on the Seventh Sunday of Pascha.  Below is the icon for the Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council. At the bottom of the icon is shown the disgraced Arius. 

    Recently, the 1700th anniversary of the Council has received some publicity in the secular press and,  while the breadth of years is  important, one must say that the longevity of the unchangeable substance of what is called the Nicean Creed that was initially declared at that meeting is what is critically important. Some say that the Creed should be called the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed since it was drawn up at the first ecumenical council in Nicea (325) and then  finalized  at the second ecumenical council in Constantinople (381).

The word creed comes from the Latin credo which means “I believe.” In the Orthodox Church the creed is usually called The Symbol of Faith which means literally a confession  of the faith.

In the early Church there were many different creeds  used originally in relation to baptism. Before being baptized an adult person would confess his or her belief in Christ and then would be baptized as Our Lord directed  in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  One early creed was developed by the Saint Gregory the Wonderworker of whom we celebrate today about whom you will  hear more at the end of Liturgy. 

The council called by St.Constantine that met in the city of Nicea (now called Iznik in Turkey) in the year 325 wrote out this  Symbol of Faith.

We 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 rose 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.

Note well that the inclusion of the undisputable fact that Christ was crucified under a known historical figure Pontius Pilate put an aura of authenticity within the Creed.  But after the first council and the death of St. Constantine, another controversy erupted in the Church, this time about the Holy Spirit. A second council was called by the new Emperor Theodosius to be held in the Eastern capital Constantinople in 381, led by St. Gregory of Nazianzus, the Theologian,  and the council added this to the Nicene statement:

And [we believe] 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.

This whole Symbol of Faith was ultimately adopted throughout the entire Church; however, we know that that yet another controversy over the Holy Spirit came 600 years later when the Roman church added what is called the filioque (and the Son)  to the Constantinople addition.  The creed used by the  Roman church states that the Holy Spirit proceeds “from the Father and the Son” and that addition was one of the reasons for the split between the Eastern and Western churches known as the Great Schism in 1054 AD.  

We should focus on the fact that the Creed  was put into the first person form “I believe” and used for the formal and official confession of faith made by a person (or his sponsor-godparent) at his baptism. The Creed is used as the formal statement of faith by a non-Orthodox Christian entering the communion of the Orthodox Church in the service of conversion.  The Creed has  is an essential component of the Orthodox way of life just as it is  an essential element of the Divine Liturgy. Note well that the Creed and  the prayer before Communion (that is said before the Communions of both the clergy and the people and about which more is provided in an earlier sermon reproduced hereunder) are stated in  the first person. All other songs and prayers of the liturgy are plural, beginning with “we”. Only the Creed and the Prayer before Communion  begins with “I.”  We should understand well that the Creed and the Prayer before Communion are personal, what each of us believe, but they are personal prayers said within the context of the Liturgy, a corporate form of worship in which we all pray together, led by the priest, stated out loud in order to approach the Mystery of the Holy and Pure Body and Blood of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, without judgment or condemnation. 

A copy of the icon of the Creed that dates back to the late 1800s that was brought into our Church by our Subdeacon Michael  on this Sunday is provided as a graphic below: 

November 16, 2025 

I believe, O Lord, and I confess

So starts the prayer written by St. John Chrysotom that many of us know by heart.  While we know that this prayer is said before the communion of the people at each Divine Liturgy, many may not be aware that this prayer is also said by the celebrant, whether Hierarch or Priest, at the altar table before communion by the clergy in the altar. 

But when we know something by heart, sometimes it’s easy to be distracted by the devil and not pay proper attention to the words of the prayer. And the words of this prayer are not just  extremely meaningful, but critical to our salvation.  Let’s review those words: 

Thou art truly the Christ, the Son of

the living God, 

Brothers and Sisters, these words mirror those of  the Nicean Creed that the choir sings at every liturgy; 

 Who didst come into the

world to save sinners, of whom I am

first. 

This part of the prayer may be hard for many to understand because it may seem like an intentional overstatement.  Are each of us really the worst? In a certain sense some may see this statement as false pride, close perhaps to the Orthodox proscription against  prelest, or spiritual delusion, a false spiritual state.  But this confession is not delusion, far from it.  Paul Evdokimov, the renowned  Russian Orthodox theologian  who taught at the St. Sergius Institute in Paris with Bulgakov and Berdayev  after his expulsion by the Bolsheviks after the Revolution, has written this:  Every faithful member of the Orthodox Church in approaching the holy table confesses:  “I am the first among sinners” which means the greatest or more exactly with any possible measure of comparison, the unique sinner.”  Evdokimov quotes St. Isaac the Syrian who said: The one who sees his sin is greater than the one who raises the dead to life.”  When we think about ourselves as persons, as being unique, which of course we are, we realize that no one else has sinned in exactly the way we have and we have to categorize those sins in order to confess them and most importantly to repent. 

 Moreover, I believe that this is truly

Thy most pure Body, and that this is truly

Thine own precious Blood. 

The priest points to the chalice on these words---this is real and it’s right in front of you. 

Wherefore, I

pray Thee: Have mercy on me and

forgive me my transgressions, voluntary

and involuntary, whether in word or in

deed, in knowledge or in ignorance. And

vouchsafe me to partake without

condemnation of Thy most pure

Mysteries unto the remission of sins and

life everlasting. 

The very reason that we continually pray during the Liturgy: “Lord have mercy” based on Psalm 50  that is read in the Hours before the Liturgy begins: “Have mercy on me O God according to Thy great mercy and according to the multitude of Thy compassions blot out my transgression.”  

Of Thy mystical supper, O Son of God,

receive me today as a communicant; for I

will not speak of the Mystery to Thine

enemies, nor will I give Thee a kiss as did

Judas, but like the thief do I confess Thee:

Remember me, O Lord in Thy Kingdom.

Most of us of course recognize the confession of the Good Thief on the cross in this, but more than that this  verse  is substituted for the Cherubimic Hymn in the Vesperal Liturgy on Holy Thursday morning.  As well, you hear our choir sing this verse as a concert piece during the communion of the clergy.

Let not the communion of Thy Holy

Mysteries be unto me for judgment or

condemnation, O Lord, but for healing of

soul and body.

Finally, a stark warning, that without confession and repentance we run a risk.  A prayer before communion written by St. Basil the Great amplifies this: 

I know, O Lord, that I partake

unworthily of Thine immaculate Body

and Thy precious Blood, and that I am

guilty, and eat and drink damnation to

myself, not discerning the Body and

Blood of Thee, my Christ and God; but

taking courage from Thy compassion I

approach Thee Who hast said: He that

eateth My Flesh, and drinketh My

Blood, abideth in Me and I in him.

Show compassion, therefore, O Lord,

and do not accuse me, a sinner, but deal

with me according to Thy mercy; and let

these Holy Things be for me unto

healing, and purification, and

enlightenment, and preservation, and

salvation, and unto sanctification of soul

and body; unto the driving away of

every phantasy, and evil practice, and

activity of the devil working mentally in

my members; unto confidence and love

toward Thee, unto correction of life,

unto steadfastness, unto an increase of

virtue and perfection, unto fulfillment of

the commandments, unto communion

with the Holy Spirit, as a provision for

life eternal, as an acceptable defense at

Thy dread tribunal, not unto judgment

or condemnation.

Not unto judgment or condemnation.  A stark warning.