The Apostles' Creed

The Apostles’ Creed, known in Latin as Symbolum Apostolicum, is historically believed to have been jointly created by the Apostles, with each of the twelve contributing one of twelve articles.  The earliest known formula is found within Testamentum in Galilaca D[ominus]. N[oster]. I[esu]. Christi written between 150 and 180. This formula states: “[I believe] in the Father almighty, – and in Jesus Christ, our Savior; – and in the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, in the holy Church, and in the remission of sins.”  The ecclesiastical use of Latin symbolum for “creed”—in the sense of “a distinctive mark of Christians”, from the sense of Greek σύμβολον, “a sign or token used for identification”—first occurs around the middle of the 3rd century, in the correspondence of St. Cyprian and St. Firmilian, the latter in particular speaking of the trinitarian formula as the “Symbol of the Trinity”, and recognizing it as an integral part of the rite of baptism.  The term Symbolum Apostolicum appears for the first time in a letter, probably written by Ambrose, from a Council in Milan to Pope Siricius in about AD 390 “Let them give credit to the Symbol of the Apostles, which the Roman Church has always kept and preserved undefiled” (Ambrose of Milan Letter 42:5).  Ambrose’s term is here referring to the Old Roman Creed, the immediate predecessor of what is now known as the Apostles’ Creed.  A creed that is virtually identical to the current one is recorded by Faustus of Riez circa 450 A.D.