Fourth Creed of Sirmium or “The Dated Creed” (CPG 8581)
| Reference: | CPG 8581 |
| Incipit: | Πιστεύομεν εἰς ἕνα τὸν μόνον |
| Council: | Sirmium |
| Date: | 359 |
| Ancient Sources: | Athanasius, De Synodis, 8; Socrates, HE 2.37.18-24 |
| Modern Edition: | Hahn, Bibliothek der Symbole und Glaubensregeln der Alten Kirche (Breslau: E. Morgenstern, 1897), 204-5. |
| English Translation: | NPNF2 vol. 4, p. 454, adapted for FCC by SMT and LR |
The creed is titled “The Dated Creed” because of the elaborate dating attached to the beginning (Kelly, Early Christian Creeds, p. 290).
This derivative work is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
| Greek | English |
| Ἐξετέθη ἡ πίστις ἡ καθολικὴ ἐπὶ παρουσίᾳ τοῦ δεσπότου ἡμῶν τοῦ εὐσεβεστάτου καὶ καλλινίκου βασιλέως Κωνσταντίου Αὐγούστου τοῦ αἰωνίου Σεβαστοῦ ὑπατείᾳ Φλαυίων Εὐσεβίου καὶ Ὑπατίου τῶν λαμπροτάτων ἐν Σιρμίῳ τῇ πρὸ ια’ καλανδῶν Ἰουνίων. | The catholic faith was published in the presence of our master, the most religious and gloriously victorious Emperor Constantius Augustus, the eternal and revered, in the consulate of the most illustrious Flavii, Eusebius and Hypatius, in Sirmium on the eleventh of the Calends of June. |
| Πιστεύομεν εἰς ἕνα τὸν μόνον καὶ ἀληθινὸν θεὸν πατέρα παντοκράτορα καὶ κτίστην καὶ δημιουργὸν τῶν πάντων, | We believe in one only and true God, the Father Almighty, Creator and Framer of all things. |
| καὶ εἰς ἕνα μονογενῆ υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ, τὸν πρὸ πάντων τῶν αἰώνων καὶ πρὸ πάσης ἀρχῆς καὶ πρὸ παντὸς ἐπινοουμένου χρόνου καὶ πρὸ πάσης καταληπτῆς οὐσίας γεγεννημένον ἀπαθῶς ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ, δι’ οὗ οἵ τε αἰῶνες κατηρτίσθησαν καὶ τὰ πάντα ἐγένετο, γεγεννημένον δὲ μονογενῆ, μόνον ἐκ μόνου τοῦ πατρός, θεὸν ἐκ θεοῦ, ὅμοιον τῷ γεννήσαντι αὐτὸν πατρὶ κατὰ τὰς γραφάς, οὗ τὴν γένεσιν οὐδεὶς ἐπίσταται εἰ μὴ μόνος ὁ γεννήσας αὐτὸν πατήρ. τοῦτον ἴσμεν τοῦ θεοῦ μονογενῆ υἱόν, νεύματι πατρικῷ παραγενόμενον ἐκ τῶν οὐρανῶν εἰς ἀθέτησιν ἁμαρτίας καὶ γεννηθέντα ἐκ Μαρίας τῆς παρθένου καὶ ἀναστραφέντα μετὰ τῶν μαθητῶν καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν οἰκονομίαν πληρώσαντα κατὰ τὴν πατρικὴν βούλησιν, σταυρωθέντα καὶ ἀποθανόντα καὶ εἰς τὰ καταχθόνια κατελθόντα καὶ τὰ ἐκεῖσε οἰκονομήσαντα, ὃν πυλωροὶᾅδουἰδόντες ἔφριξαν καὶ ἀναστάντα ἐκ νεκρῶν τῇ τρίτῃ ἡμέρᾳ καὶ ἀναστραφέντα μετὰ τῶν μαθητῶν καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν οἰκονομίαν πληρώσαντα καὶ πεντήκοντα ἡμερῶν πληρουμένων ἀναληφθέντα εἰς τοὺς οὐρανοὺς καὶ καθεζόμενον ἐκ δεξιῶν τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ ἐλευσόμενον ἐν τῇ ἐσχάτῃ ἡμέρᾳ τῆς ἀναστάσεως τῇ δόξῃ τῇ πατρικῇ ἀποδιδόντα ἑκάστῳ κατὰ τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ. | And in one Only-Begotten Son of God, who, before all ages, and before all origin, and before all conceivable time, and before all comprehensible essence, was begotten impassibly from God; through whom the ages were prepared and all things were made; and him begotten as the Only-Begotten, only from the only Father, God from God, like to the Father who begat him, according to the scriptures; whose origin no one knows save the Father alone who begat him. We know that he, the Only-Begotten Son of God, at the Father’s bidding came from the heavens for the abolishment of sin, and was born of the Virgin Mary, and conversed with the disciples, and fulfilled the Economy according to the Father’s will, and was crucified, and died and descended into the parts beneath the earth, and regulated the things there, whom “the gate-keepers of hell saw” [Job 38:17] and shuddered; and he rose from the dead the third day, and conversed with the disciples, and fulfilled all the Economy, and when the forty days were full, ascended into the heavens, and sits on the right hand of the Father, and is coming in the last day of the resurrection in the glory of the Father, to repay to everyone according to his works. |
| καὶ εἰς τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα, ὃ αὐτὸς ὁ μονογενὴς ἐπηγγείλατο πέμψαι τῷ γένει τῶν ἀνθρώπων, τὸν παράκλητον, κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον· ἀπέρχομαι πρὸς τὸν πατέρα μου καὶ παρακαλέσω τὸν πατέρα καὶ ἄλλον παράκλητον πέμψει ὑμῖν τὸ πνεῦματῆς ἀληθείας, ἐκεῖνος ἐκ τοῦ ἐμοῦ λήψεται καὶ διδάξει καὶ ὑπο μνήσει ὑμᾶς πάντα. | And in the Holy Spirit, whom the Only-Begotten of God himself, Jesus Christ, had promised to send to the race of men, the Paraclete, as it is written, “I go to my Father, and I will ask the Father, and he will send unto you another Paraclete, even the Spirit of truth he will take of mine and will teach and bring to your remembrance all things” [John 14:16, 17, 26; 16:14]. |
| τὸ δὲ ὄνομα τῆς οὐσίας διὰ τὸ ἁπλούστερον παρὰ τῶν πατέρων τεθεῖσθαι, ἀγνοούμενον δὲ ὑπὸ τῶν λαῶν σκάνδαλον φέρειν, διὰ τὸ μήτε τὰς γραφὰς τοῦτο περιέχειν ἤρεσε τοῦτο περιαιρεθῆναι καὶ παντελῶς μηδεμίαν μνήμην οὐσίας ἐπὶ θεοῦ εἶναι τοῦ λοιποῦ διὰ τὸ τὰς θείας γραφὰς μηδαμοῦ περὶ πατρὸς καὶ υἱοῦ οὐσίας μεμνῆσθαι. ὅμοιον δὲ λέγομεν τὸν υἱὸν τῷ πατρὶ κατὰ πάντα ὡς καὶ αἱ ἅγιαι γραφαὶ λέγουσί τε καὶ διδάσκουσι. | But whereas the term “essence,” has been adopted by the fathers in simplicity, and gives offence as being misconceived by the people, and is not contained in the scriptures, it has seemed good to remove it, that it be never in any case used of God again, because the Divine Scriptures nowhere use it of Father and Son. But we say that the Son is like the Father in all things, as also the Holy Scriptures say and teach. |
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Last updated 10/31/2025 LR and JTS
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