THE HISTORY OF THE- CREEDS THE HISTORY OF THE CREEDS by F. J. BADCOCK, D.D. Fellow of St Augustine's College, Canterbury Author of R.eviews and Studies, Biblical and Doctrinal The Pauline Epistles and the Epistle to the Hebrews in their Historical Setting SECOND EDITION Published far the Church Historical Society LONDON SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN CO. First Edition 1930 Second Edition, largely rewritten 1938 PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN CONTENTS PART I THE APOSTLES' CREED Chap. I. INTRODUCTORY page 1 I. A Fictitious Pedigree I II. Outstanding Problems . 12 Chap. II. CREEDS AND THEIR CLASSIFICATION 14 I. Types of Creeds . 14 II. The Simple Formula 15 III. The Triple Formula 17 IV. The Rule of Faith 21 Chap. III. EARLY EASTERN CREEDS 24 I. The Epistola Apostolorum 25 II. The Old Creed of Alexandria 25 III. The Shorter Creed of the Egyptian Church Order 27 IV. The Marcosian Creed . 28 V. The Early Creed of Africa 30 VI. The Profession of the "Presbyters" at Smyrna 34 NOTES A. Texts of the Dair Balaizah Papyrus, the Marcosian Creed, the Profession of the "Presbyters" at Smyrna 35 B. The Early Creeds of Africa and of Rome 36 Chap. IV. EASTERN BAPTISMAL CREEDS OF THE FouRTH CENTURY . 38 I. Introduction 38 II. Alexandria: Arius and Euzoius, Macarius 38 III. Palestine: Eusebius of Caesarea, Cyril of Jerusalem 41 vi CONTENTS IV. Antiochene Creeds: Introduction, (a) Antioch; (b) Cappadocia; (c) Philadelphia; (d) The Creed of the Didascalia. Note; (e) Marcellus of Ancyra; (f) The Psalter of Aethelstan and the Codex Laudianus page 43 Chap. V. THE· CREEDS OF NICETA OF REMESIANA AND JEROME. 72 I. The Creed of Niceta and Mai's Arian Fragments. 72 II. The Creed of Jerome . 75 Chap. VI. WESTERN EUROPEAN CREEDS. 78 I. Introduction: (a) Eastern Liturgical Influences; (b) the Church of Rome . 78 II. Spain: Priscillian, Gregory of Elvira, Syagrius, Bachiarius . 89 III. Gaul: Irenaeus, Phoebadius of Agen, Victricius of Rauen, Leporius of Treves, Faustus of Riez, Caesarius of Aries, Cyprian of Toulon, Gregory of Tours, Venantius Fortunatus, Eligius of Noyon 93 IV. Northern Italy: Ravenna; Turin; Aquileia. Note: The Disciplina Arcani and the Creed. Milan; Text of the Explanatio ad Initiandos; Summary . 100 V. The Creed of Rome. Note: Extracts from Lea's Sermons 114 Chap. VII. How CREEDS GROW . 117 I. The Interrogatory Creed of Rome 117 II. The Roman Declaratory Creed of the Fourth Century, R, and the Textus Receptus, T 118 III. The Creed of Antioch and the Nestorian Creed . 118 IV. The Creed of the Council of Nicaea, N, and the Creeds of Jerome, Epiphanius and Constantinople, C . • . 119 CONTENTS vii Chap. VIII. THE EARLY BAPTISMAL CREED OF RoME page 122 I. Elimination and the Maximum Limit . 122 II. Synthesis: (a) The Earliest Apostolic Preaching. (b) The Triple Formula-the order "Jesus Christ". (c) The Enlargement of the Formula­ the first two and last three clauses-the third and fourth clauses. (d) The Sevenfold Formula of the Gelasian Sacramentary-this formula not an abbreviation . 123 Chap. IX. THE ENLARGEMENT OF THE ROMAN CREED . 136 I. The Creeds of Spain, Gaul, and Northern Italy; their resemblance to (a) each other; (b) Eastern Creeds; (c) the Creed of Rome 136 II. The Conservatism of Rome. 137 III. A Probable Motive and Date for the Enlargement 140 Chap. X. THE TExTus REcEPTus, T 144 Not known at Rome in the time of Gregory the Great; his profession of faith 146 Alternative theories of composition: (a) Southern Gaul, first half of the sixth century; (b) Northern Gaul, Switzerland or North Italy, seventh century 148 Appendix: The Longer Creed of the Egyptian Church Order . 158 Chap. XI. THE TITLE SYMBOLUM APoSTOLORUM. THE HISTORY OF A LEGEND . 165 PART II THE NICENE CREED Chap. XII. ITS ORIGINAL COMPOSITION 180 The Profession of Faith of the Council of Antioch, 324,325 185 Chap. XIII. ITS ENLARGEMENT 186 I. Dr Hort's Theory 186 viii CONTENTS II. The Shorter Creed of Epiphanius page 186 III. The Similarity of the Creeds of Constantinople, C, and of Jerusalem . l 91 IV. The Alternative View . 193 (1) Testimonies: (a) before Nestorius; (b) Nes­ torius; (c) Flavian; (tl) the Council of Chalce- don; (e) Nicephoru~. Callistus. 194 (2) The Baptism of Nectarius 199 (3) The Letter of the Council of 382 200 (4) The Non-recognition of C 202 (5) The Tome of Leo . 204 (6) Summary 206 NOTES A. The Statements of N estorius 209 B. Analysis of the Longer Creed of Epiphanius 209 C. Analysis of the Constantinopolitan Creed, C 211 D. The Statements of Gregory Nazianzen. 213 Chap. XIV . 215 I. The Later History 215 II. The English Version, its Text and that of C 218 PART III THE !fl._UICUM!fl._UE J7ULT Chap. XV 222 I. Text and Translation . 222 II. Its Composition . 226 ( 1) Quotations and References: (a) the Council of Toledo; (b) the Council of Autun; (c) Colum­ ban; (d) Caesarius of Arles; (e) Avitus of Vienne; (f) Vincent of Lerins; (g) Phoebadius of Agen; (h) Augustine . 227 (2) The Letter of the Council of 382, the Roman Synod of 380, Gregory Nazianzen . 231 CONTENTS ix (3) Theodosius and Ambrose page 233 (4) Parallels in Ambrose: (a) phrases; (b) points of style 233 (5) Faustinus, Philaster, Honorius of Autun, Sicardus of Cremona, Rufinus 235 (6) The ~etter of Ambrose to Valentinian . 237 III. Its Name and Use 239 IV. The English Translation, Proposed Rubric, Con- vocation of Canterbury 241 PART IV THE "COMMUNION OF SAINTS" AS AN ARTICLE OF THE CREED Chap. XVI . 243 I. Introduction 243 II. Theological Considerations 244 III. Sanctorum Communio not equivalent to "The Church" 248 IV. Date and Language 250 V. Grammatical Construction 252 VI. The Early Interpretation: (I) Council of Nimes; (2) Simbolum graeca lingua est; (3) Basil and <:;hrysostom; (4) Augustine; (5) Niceta of Reme- siana . 257 VII. Later Interpretations: Faustus of Riez and others 264 VIII. Conclusion. 267 INDEX • 273 MAP. The Spread of Christianity c. A.D. 325 PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION No student of the history of liturgies can afford to neglect the evidence furnished by baptismal Creeds. These were an in­ trinsic, though only an occasional, part of the liturgy, and in the absence of direct evidence to the contrary, evidence which is not forthcoming until the seventh century, it is a fair presumption that the type of Creed would be an index of the type of liturgy in use; and thanks to many sermons and instructions on the Creed we possess a far rriore detailed knowledge of the local baptismal Creed than we do of the remainder of the rite during the first five hundred years of the Christian religion. In consequence of this I have felt myself at liberty to introduce a far larger bulk of liturgical matter and thereby to defend my­ self against the criticisms of the reviewer for The Times Literary Supplement, who thought that I had exaggerated the liturgical influence of the patriarchate of Antioch. In this regard and for many other helpful suggestions, I am much indebted to Dr Cuthbert Atchley, to whose judgment all the new liturgical matter has been submitted. In the former edition there were four or five major blunders besides numerous minor slips. ·I owe the correction of some of these to the late Dr Armitage Robinson, and, in order to keep faith with my public, as soon as I became aware of them, I wrote articles in the Journal of Theological Studies, the Church Quarterly Review, and the Revue Benedictine, giving the results of my further research. I am under obligations to the respective editors of these journals and to the Delegates of the Clarendon Press for permission to reprint the substance of these articles. I have altered the spelling of Der Balyzeh to Dair Balaizah, in accordance with the reports of the Egypt Exploration Fund, and of Sardica to Serdica and Petovio to Poetovio, in deference to the judgment of Professor Souter and the late Professor C. H. Turner, but I find that in the spelling Priminius instead of Pirminius I had unconsciously followed Dom Germain xii PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION Morin. Since the former edition only two new publications of manuscripts have appeared which have a bearing on the Creeds, a volume of sermons of St Augustine and the first two volumes of the works of Caesarius of Arlea, both edited by Dom Morin. The former supports the Explanatio Symboli ad lnitiandos in reading in with the clauses beginning in sanctam ecclesiam in the Creed of Milan, while as regards the latter Dom Morin has now returned to his earlier view in 'attributing to Caesarius a sermon falsely ascribed to St Augustine containing quotations both from the baptismal Creed of Aries and from the Quicumque V ult. In accordance with the wish of certain critics I have printed more Creed forms and particularly that of the Council of Antioch in the winter of 324-325, which is not easily accessible, but as I still think it advisable to have the text before the eyes while reading the comments, I have retained the references ,to Lietzmann and Heurtley. To make room for the additional matter I have omitted nearly the whole of Chapter VI, the gist of which can be learnt from any ordinary book of ecclesiastical history. Finally my thanks are due to the Rev. E. Evans, formerly Subwarden of this College, who has revised the proofs, and to my indefatigable typist Mrs Hordern. THE AUTHOR TO · THE THEOLOGICAL STUDENT ON HOW TO READ HIS BOOK St Augustine's College, Canterbury.