A History of the Origin and Development of the Creeds

A History of the Origin and Development of the Creeds Book Description

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER II. THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN EASTERN AND WESTERN CREEDS. As it will be necessary for the sake of distinction to employ somewhat frequently the terms ' Eastern ' and ' Western' as applied to Creeds, it is proposed to give a short explanatory chapter here, in order that the student may be able from the first to understand the differences between the Creeds of the East and those of the West. The first difference to be noted is the initial word of the Creed. In the East all Creeds began in the plural? Ht.rTevo/j.ev, We believe. Western Creeds, on the contrary, began with the singular?Credo = Tlia-Tevto, I believe. The Creeds of Tertullian are exceptions to this rule, for they have many points in common with Eastern forms, and this is one of the points that, in the only two cases in which he quotes the beginning of the Creed, he commences with the plural, 'We believe' (cf. Tertull., 'De Prescript. Hseret.,' cap. xiii., and Tertull., ' Adv. Praxeam,' ii.). The same remarks apply to Irenseus, who was much more Eastern than Western by birth and education, and in modes of thought. The next point to note is the much greater length of Eastern as compared with Western forms. Orientals have a love of marking emphasis by a redundancy of language. We have an excellent example of the extension of an article in the so-called Nicene Creed. In the Western form?the so-called Apostles' Creed?the article is short: ' I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.' The Nicene form has, in addition, the word 'one' in the first clause, and another clause?' And of all things visibleand invisible'?is added after ' Maker of heaven and earth.' In the East the habits of thought were of an extremely subtle nature; and in discussing these mysterious questions and endeavouring ...

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