The Orthodox Creed
THE ORTHODOX CREED (AS RECITED DURING SERVICES)
We believe in one God, God the Father, the Pantocrator, Creator of heaven and earth, and of all things seen and unseen. We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the Only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all ages; Light of Light: true God of true God; begotten, not created; 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 of the Virgin Mary, and became man; And He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, suffered and was buried, and on the third day He rose from the dead according to the Scriptures; Ascended into the heavens; He sits at the right hand of His Father, and He is coming again in His glory to judge the living and the dead, whose kingdom shall have no end. Yes, we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life, who proceeds from the Father, who with the Father and the Son, is worshipped and glorified, who spoke by the prophets.And in One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. We confess one baptism, for the remission of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the age to come. Amen.


THE CREED (EXPLAINED)
We begin the Creed with “We believe.” This is because the essence of our religious convictions depends not on external experiences but on our acceptance of God-given truths. Surely one cannot prove truths of the spiritual world by any laboratory experiments. These truths belong to the sphere of personal religious experience. The more a person grows in the spiritual life – the more one prays, thinks about God, does good – the more his inner spiritual experience develops, the clearer the religious truths become to him. In this fashion, faith becomes for him a subject of personal experience.