APOSTLES' CREED

The Apostles' Creed (sometimes known as the "Latin Symbol") probably has its origins among Roman Christians in the second century.  Its first use was likely as a baptismal confession.  The forms known to us today were developed between the second and ninth centuries.

Although the creed was never officially accepted by the Eastern (Orthodox) Churches, there is little within the creed with which the Orthodox traditions of the East would take issue.  Today, it remains the most popular creed in the worship of Western Christians.

Historically, the creed's central concern seems to the doctrines of the Trinity and the Creatorship of God (issues of particular concern in second through the fourth centuries).

Although the creed clearly has second century (but not apostolic origins), the earliest written version of the creed is perhaps the Interrogatory Creed of Hippolytus (ca. A.D. 215). The current form is first found in the writings of Caesarius of Arles (d 542).

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9/24/05