Transcript of Profession and Celebration: The Creed and the Great Thanksgiving.
- Slide 1
- Profession and Celebration: The Creed and the Great
Thanksgiving
- Slide 2
- The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed Result of the 2 earliest
Ecumenical Councils of the Church: Nicaea I (325) and
Constantinople I (381)
- Slide 3
- The Council of Nicaea: Called after the legalization of
Christianity under Constantine (Roman Emperor 306-337) Purpose was
to settle theological controversies regarding the divinity of the
Son of God in order to bring unity to the Empire. Controversy
centered around the teaching of Arius (c.a. 256-336), a popular
preacher and parish priest from Alexandria, who denied the equality
of the Son to the Father. If the Father begat the Son, he that was
begotten had a beginning of existence: and from this it is evident,
that there was a time when the Son was not. It therefore
necessarily follows, that he had his substance from nothing
Athansius (c.a. 296-373), also from Alexandria, was the chief
defender of Trinitarianism against Arius, teaching the equality of
the Father to the Son well see this language in the Creed. "Jesus
that I know as my Redeemer cannot be less than God" ~at the Council
of Nica (c. 325). Also, famously: "The Son of God became man so
that man might become God."
- Slide 4
- Slide 5
- The Council of Constantinople: Convened in 381 by Emperor
Theodosius I Arian controversy continued. Constantinople also
clarified Trinitarian doctrine, most especially as regards the
divinity of the Holy Spirit The Cappadocian Fathers (St Gregory
Nazianzus (329-389), St Basil the Great (330-379), & St Gregory
of Nyssa (c.332-395)) were very influential in this Council A new,
expanded version of the Nicene Creed was formalized at this time.
It is the creed we know and recite today.
- Slide 6
- The Creed: We believe in one God... We: the creed is always
said corporately; as a member of a body, a community; Believe:
Greek does not so much mean intellectual assent but having trust in
something; in (into) one God: the remainder of the creed will
define this God, to the best of our ability, and speak of his
activity.
- Slide 7
- ... the Father, the almighty... the Father: does not mean God
is male, but denotes relationship. Creation, and so the human soul
(think of Mary), is feminine, Spirit is masculine. Also, Gods Son
receives all that the Father has, and so is heir, as was the custom
for the eldest son. We, being in Christ, become co-heirs to the
Father; the Almighty: Supreme Ruler, Head, First Cause,
etc....
- Slide 8
- ... maker (creator) of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen
and unseen (visible and invisible)... God is the creator God, that
through which all things have being; The presupposes a belief in
spiritual realities beyond what we can know with our senses; Hebrew
understanding of the interpenetration of the heavenly with the
earthly; Platonic forms: non-material abstract (but substantial)
forms (or ideas), and not the material world of change known to us
through sensation, possess the highest and most fundamental kind of
reality; think of a mathematical formula.
- Slide 9
- ... We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father; God from God, light from light,
true God from true God, begotten not made, of one being (substance)
with the Father; through him all things were made.... Here we see
the anti-Arian language as regards the divinity of the Son. What
New Testament passage does this section remind you of?
- Slide 10
- John 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God; 3
all things were made through him, and without him was not anything
made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light
of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has
not overcome it. 6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was
John. 7 He came for testimony, to bear witness to the light, that
all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to
bear witness to the light. 9 The true light that enlightens every
man was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the
world was made through him, yet the world knew him not. 11 He came
to his own home, and his own people received him not. 12 But to all
who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become
children of God; 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of
the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. 14 And the Word
became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have
beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.
- Slide 11
- ... For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven: by
the power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate from the Virgin
Mary, and was made man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius
Pilate; he suffered death and was buried. On the third day he rose
again in accordance with the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again
in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will
have no end.... Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ
Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality
with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing (or
emptied himself), taking the very nature of a servant, being made
in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he
humbled himself and became obedient to death even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the
name that is above every name... Philippians 2:6-9 He who descended
is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that
He might fill all things. Ephesians 4:10 Judge = Rule
- Slide 12
- ... We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of Life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the
Son he is worshipped and glorified. He has spoken through the
Prophets.... Filioque and Procession of the Spirit: In John
16:13-15 Jesus says of the Holy Spirit "he will take what is mine
and declare it to you", and it is argued that in the relations
between the Persons of the Trinity one Person cannot "take" or
"receive" anything from either of the others except by way of
procession. Texts such as John 20:22 ("He breathed on them and
said: Receive the Holy Spirit"), were seen by Fathers of the
Church, especially Athanasius, Cyril of Alexandria and Epiphanius
of Cyprus as grounds for saying that the Spirit "proceeds
substantially from both" the Father and the Son. Other texts that
have been used include Galatians 4:6, Romans 8:9, Philippians 1:19,
where the Holy Spirit is called "the Spirit of the Son", "the
Spirit of Christ", "the Spirit of Jesus Christ", and texts in the
Gospel of John on the sending of the Holy Spirit by Jesus (14:16,
15:26,16:7). Some prefer to say ... from the Father through the
Son.
- Slide 13
- Maximus the Confessor (c. 580 13 August 662) declared that it
was wrong to condemn the Roman use of "and the Son" because the
Romans "have produced the unanimous evidence of the Latin Fathers,
and also of Cyril of Alexandria... On the basis of these texts,
they have shown that they have not made the Son the cause of the
Spirit they know in fact that the Father is the only cause of the
Son and the Spirit, the one by begetting and the other by
procession..."
- Slide 14
- In 1978 the Anglican Communion's Lambeth Conference requested
"that all member Churches of the Anglican Communion should consider
omitting the Filioque from the Nicene Creed, and that the
Anglican-Orthodox Joint Doctrinal Commission through the Anglican
Consultative Council should assist them in presenting the
theological issues to their appropriate synodical bodies and should
be responsible for any necessary consultation with other Churches
of the Western tradition." In 1988 the conference "ask(ed) that
further thought be given to the Filioque clause, recognizing it to
be a major point of disagreement (with the Orthodox)...
recommending to the provinces of the Anglican Communion that in
future liturgical revisions the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed be
printed without the Filioque clause." At a subsequent joint meeting
of the Anglican Primates and Anglican Consultative Council in 1993,
a resolution was passed urging Anglican churches to comply with the
request that "in future liturgical revisions the Niceno-
Constantinopolitan Creed be printed without the Filioque clause."
The recommendation was not specifically renewed in the 1998 and
2008 Lambeth Conferences and has not been implemented. In 1985 the
General Convention of The Episcopal Church (USA) recommended that
the Filioque clause should be removed from the Nicene Creed, if
this were endorsed by the 1988 Lambeth Council. Accordingly, at its
1994 General Convention, the Episcopal Church reaffirmed its
intention to remove the words "and the son" from the Nicene Creed
in the next revision of its Book of Common Prayer. The Episcopal
Book of Common Prayer was last revised in 1979, and has not been
revised since the resolution.
- Slide 15
- ... We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church. We
acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for
the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.
Amen.
- Slide 16
- Eucharistic Prayer A The Lord be with you. People And also with
you. Celebrant Lift up your hearts. People We lift them to the
Lord. Celebrant Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. People It
is right to give him thanks and praise. Then, facing the Holy
Table, the Celebrant proceeds It is right, and a good and joyful
thing, always and everywhere to give thanks to you, Father
Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth. Here a Proper Preface is
sung or said on all Sundays, and on other occasions as appointed.
Therefore we praise you, joining our voices with Angels and
Archangels and with all the company of heaven, who for ever sing
this hymn to proclaim the glory of your Name: Celebrant and People
Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are
full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes
in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. The people stand
or kneel. Then the Celebrant continues Holy and gracious Father: In
your infinite love you made us for yourself; and, when we had
fallen into sin and become subject to evil and death, you, in your
mercy, sent Jesus Christ, your only and eternal Son, to share our
human nature, to live and die as one of us, to reconcile us to you,
the God and Father of all. He stretched out his arms upon the
cross, and offered himself, in obedience to your will, a perfect
sacrifice for the whole world.
- Slide 17
- Eucharistic Prayer B We give thanks to you, O God, for the
goodness and love which you have made known to us in creation; in
the calling of Israel to be your people; in your Word spoken
through the prophets; and above all in the Word made flesh, Jesus,
your Son. For in these last days you sent him to be incarnate from
the Virgin Mary, to be the Savior and Redeemer of the world. In
him, you have delivered us from evil, and made us worthy to stand
before you. In him, you have brought us out of error into truth,
out of sin into righteousness, out of death into life.
- Slide 18
- What similarities do you notice between the creed and the
Eucharistic Prayer? Proper Prefaces are appointed for each season
of the Church year and, like the Collect, connects us to the
Churchs reenactment of salvation history: creation, fall,
redemption. Sanctus: Therefore we praise you, joining our voices
with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven, who
forever sing this hymn to proclaim the glory of your Name: What
does this say about the Liturgy? About the heavenly life? About our
lives now as Christians? Benedictus: Blessed is he who comes...
This is the greeting for the approaching Messiah, Jesus, who we are
about to encounter in the Eucharist; who feeds us with his
substance and his life. Jesus riding into Jerusalem, Palm Sunday.
Narrative of Gods mighty and gracious acts. How do we understand
the statement when we had fallen into sin and become subject to
evil and death? What might it mean for our lives that God shared in
our nature and died on the cross for the atonement of our sins? Is
this believable? If not, why? If so, what might our response be;
how might this shape our lives?