The Athanasian Creed

Whoever will be saved shall, above all else,
hold the catholic faith. Which faith, except
everyone keeps whole and undefiled, without
doubt he will perish eternally.

And the catholic faith is this:
that we worship one God in three persons
and three persons in one God, neither
confusing the persons nor dividing the
substance. For there is one person of
the Father, another of the Son, and
another of the Holy Spirit. But the
Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and
of the Holy Spirit is all one: the glory
equal, the majesty coeternal. Such as
the Father is, such is the Son, and such
is the Holy Spirit. The Father uncreated,
the Son uncreated, and the Holy Spirit
uncreated. The Father incomprehensible,
the Son incomprehensible, and the Holy
Spirit incomprehensible. The Father
eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy
Spirit eternal.

And yet they are not three eternals but
one eternal. As there are not three
uncreated nor three incomprehensibles but
one uncreated and one incomprehensible.
So likewise the Father is Almighty, the
Son is Almighty and the Holy Spirit
Almighty. And yet they are not three
Almighties but one Almighty. So the
Father is God, the Son is God, and the
Holy Spirit is God. And yet they are
not three Gods but one God. So likewise
the Father is Lord, the Son Lord, and
the Holy Spirit Lord. And yet they are
not three Lords but one Lord.

For as we are compelled by the Christian
truth to acknowledge every person by
himself to be both God and Lord, so we
cannot by the catholic faith say that
there are three Gods or three Lords.
The Father is made of none, neither
created or begotten. The Son is of the
Father alone, not made nor created but
begotten. The Holy Spirit is of the Father
and of the Son, neither made nor created
nor begotten but proceeding. So there is
one Father, not three Fathers, One Son,
not three Sons, One Holy Spirit, not three
Holy Spirits. And in this Trinity none is
before or after another, none is greater
or less than another. But the whole three
persons are coeternal together and coequal,
so that in all things aforesaid, the Unity
in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity is to
be worshipped. He, therefore, that will
be saved is compelled thus to think of the
Trinity.

Furthermore, it necessary to everlasting
salvation that he also believe faithfully
the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
For the right faith is that we believe and
confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son
of God, is God and man; God of the substance
of the Father, begotten before the worlds;
and man of the substance of his mother,
born in the world; Perfect God and perfect
man, of a reasonable soul and human flesh
subsisting. Equal to the Father as touching
his Godhead and inferior to the Father as
touching his manhood; Who, although he is
God and man, yet he is not two but one
Christ: One, not by conversion of the
Godhead into flesh but by taking the
manhood into God; One altogether, not by
confusion of substance but by unity of
person.

For as the reasonable soul and
flesh is one man, So God and man is one
Christ; Who suffered for our salvation,
descended into hell, rose again the third
day from the dead. He ascended into
heaven, he sits at the right hand of the
Father, God Almighty, from whence he will
come to judge the living and the dead. At
whose coming all men will rise again with
their bodies and will give an account of
their own works. And they that have done
good will go into life everlasting; and
they that have done evil, into everlasting
fire. This is the catholic faith which,
except a man believe faithfully and
firmly, he cannot be saved.
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