Primary source · Koine Greek
The Creed of Nicaea (325)
The 318 Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council · AD 325 (Council of Nicaea)
What this text is
The confession drawn up at Nicaea to exclude Arianism, introducing the decisive word homoousios — ‘of one substance with the Father.’ Revised and expanded at Constantinople in 381 into the creed still recited today.
Profile of Alexander of Alexandria →
Interlinear passages
Word-for-word glosses of the original; the complete public-domain translation is linked below.
The homoousios clause
γεννηθένταbegotten,οὐnotποιηθέντα,made,ὁμοούσιονof one substanceτῷwith theΠατρίFather
Public-domain translations
NPNF (Percival, 1900)
…begotten, not made, being of one substance (homoousios) with the Father; by whom all things were made, both which are in heaven and on earth; who for us men and for our salvation came down and was incarnate and was made man.
Traditional English (from the 381 form)
…begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made; who for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven.
Manuscript witnesses
Eusebius's letter to his church (carrier)
AD 325 (via the historians)The creed's text as reported home by a signatory within weeks — preserved by Athanasius, Socrates, and Theodoret.
Conciliar collections (Greek, Latin, Syriac, Coptic)
5th c. onwardThe creed and canons in every ancient church's law books.
Provenance
Nicaea, June AD 325 — the faith of the 318 fathers
Editions & scholarship
Critical editions and standard translations behind the text above.
- Early Christian CreedsJ. N. D. Kelly, 3rd ed. 1972The standard history of the creed's text and theology.
- Nicaea and Its LegacyLewis Ayres, 2004The fourth-century doctrinal history around the creed.