Statement of Faith
For For students comparing early creeds; a page-long statement, best read alongside On the Incarnation.
Length About 1,400 words, under an hour.
The Declaration of Faith represents one of several shorter credal statements attributed to Athanasius of Alexandria, the fourth-century bishop who served as the primary defender of Nicene orthodoxy against Arianism. Written during the decades-long theological controversy that threatened to fracture the early church, this declaration emerged from Athanasius's pastoral concern to provide clear, accessible statements of orthodox belief for clergy and educated laity who needed to distinguish true doctrine from heretical teaching.
The Declaration articulates the essential elements of Trinitarian faith with characteristic Athanasian precision and economy. It affirms the eternal generation of the Son from the Father, emphasizing that the Son is true God, not a created being as the Arians claimed. The work establishes the full divinity of Christ while maintaining the distinction of persons within the Trinity, employing the theological vocabulary that would become standard in orthodox Christianity. Rather than engaging in extended polemical argument, the Declaration functions as a positive statement of faith, setting forth what Christians must believe about God, Christ, and salvation in clear, memorable formulations.
This brief but substantive credal statement has endured as a window into Athanasius's theological method and his ability to distill complex doctrinal disputes into accessible confessional language. It demonstrates how the great theological controversies of the patristic period were not merely academic exercises but pastoral necessities, requiring church leaders to articulate the faith with both intellectual rigor and practical clarity.
Who should read this: Students of early Christian doctrine seeking to understand how Nicene orthodoxy was formulated and defended, and pastors or theologians interested in classical expressions of Trinitarian faith. This is not suitable for those unfamiliar with basic Christian theology or the historical context of the Arian controversy.
Editions
External off-site sources
Free downloads
- EPUB Declaration of Faith, in Latin and the Original Greek Greek and LatinSource: Project Gutenberg ↗The Greek text with a Latin version, as an ebook from Project Gutenberg; no English translation. For readers of the original.Much harder than the work: Greek and Latin only, no English translation; read alongside an English version unless you have the languages.
- OTHER Declaration of Faith, in Latin and the Original Greek (New Advent) PDTrans. Archibald Robertson · 1892Archibald Robertson's translation, as printed in the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, second series, volume 4 (1892), on New Advent, with the NPNF section headings and some of its notes. A clear Victorian rendering; for students comparing early creeds.
- OTHER Declaration of Faith, in Latin and the Original Greek (CCEL) PDTrans. Archibald Robertson · 1892Archibald Robertson's 1892 translation on the Christian Classics Ethereal Library's reading pages for volume 4 of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, with the text under their headings and the NPNF footnotes kept. The same text as New Advent's, free of its revisions; for students comparing early creeds.
- OTHER Declaration of Faith, in Latin and the Original Greek (Wikisource) PDTrans. Archibald Robertson · 1892Archibald Robertson's 1892 translation in Wikisource's transcription of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, second series, volume 4: one page per section, footnotes kept, plain text that reads well on a phone. For students comparing early creeds.
- PDF Declaration of Faith, in Latin and the Original Greek (Internet Archive (NPNF2-04 scan)) PDTrans. Archibald Robertson · 1892A scan of the 1892 volume of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers devoted to Athanasius (University of Toronto copy), with Robertson's translations, his long prolegomena and the notes as printed. Page images of the whole book; this work is in it, for readers who want the text as published.
- PDF Declaration of Faith, in Latin and the Original Greek (Internet Archive (Migne PG 25)) PD Greek and Latin1857The Greek text with Migne's Latin translation in parallel columns, in volume 25 of the Patrologia Graeca, volume 25 (1857), scanned whole on the Internet Archive; this work is in it. For readers of Greek or Latin.Much harder than the work: Greek and Latin only, no English translation