The word Creed means the entire essence of the confession of faith, or those most important foundations on which it is built and strengthened. This is not actually a prayer, but only a statement of the doctrine of what, of course, every Orthodox Christian should believe. This is his sacred oath before God and the Church, and a solemn oath before himself: not to change until the end of his life what is set out in this Creed. And just as the cross is the Symbol of our salvation, so all the points (or members) of this teaching, which came from the Apostles and with precise definition, set forth by the Ecumenical Councils, are the Symbol of our Holy Orthodox Faith.
The time and circumstances of the composition of this Symbol were as follows: The Apostles, upon receiving the Holy Spirit, did not immediately leave Jerusalem, but remained in it for a long time (as can be seen from the book of their deeds). Enlightened by the mind of the Spirit of God, they saw that the hopes of the ascended Savior were now placed on them, and that having received birth from the Spirit, they, as the firstborn of Christ, must first shed the light of His truths in Jerusalem, and then carry the words of the eternal life to the whole earth, even to the end of the universe! And therefore, after the murder of Archdeacon Stephen, when the outbreak of persecution of Christians forced many of the believers to flee from Jerusalem, the Apostles, as faithful guardians of the house of the Lord, fearlessly remained here, working to save the tribes of Israel.
But when this persecution, which lasted for several years, finally reached the point of frenzy, in the heat of which King Herod beheaded James, the brother of God, imprisoned Peter, and wanted to put him to death as well, then the Apostles, with the blessing of the Mother of God, decided to leave Jerusalem for a while and decided to cast lots among themselves as to who should go in which direction to preach the Gospel. Before this was accomplished, they, guided by the Holy Spirit, composed a Creed, as if a condition among themselves, so that they could preach the same thing to everyone and everyone everywhere, and through this they would harmoniously instill the faith of Christ.
After this Apostolic Council, where this Holy Dogma had its origin, it was subsequently, according to the Apostolic teaching, solemnly expounded and supplemented at the first two Ecumenical Councils, which the Christian Church, from the very first times of its existence, gathered on special occasions, both to expose false teachers and to resolve doubts and affirm piety. They were called Ecumenical because the gathering of Christian Pastors and teachers of the Church at them was, if possible, from the entire universe, and that their definitions, as sealed for believers by the All-edifying Spirit of God, are customarily observed sacredly and unchangeably in the Christian Church throughout the universe.
The Creed is divided into 12 members, which - to know firmly by heart, to fully understand their meaning, and to pronounce them with sense and attention, morning and evening - is the duty of every Orthodox Christian. This is instilled in us by the Holy Church, according to whose regulations the Symbol of Faith is read in daily services: both at the Midnight Office, that is, immediately upon awakening from sleep, and at Compline, that is, going to sleep. By this she, as it were, commands Christians that each of them must begin and end his day by strictly checking himself: have he preserved, in all purity and completeness, these Holy foundations of his Holy Faith?
Here is the presentation and meaning of this great Symbol:
1st member. I believe in One God, Father, Almighty. Creator of heaven and earth, visible to all and invisible.
The meaning of this is that remembering the words of the Savior who said Ap. Thomas: Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe! (John 20:29), every Orthodox Christian seems to say in his soul: I immutably believe and confess, although I have not seen God with my bodily eyes, that He exists, and that this Supreme Being, being inseparably One, contains three persons; God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit! That He controls everything in the world, contains everything in His will and power, and that everything that is visible to me, that is, everything living on earth and above the earth, and everything invisible that is in the earth, in the water and in the air - everything was created by Him.
2nd member. And in the One Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Only Begotten, Who was born of the Father before all ages, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, uncreated, Consubstantial with the Father, and by Him all things were.
The meaning here is the following: remembering the words of the Savior spoken to the disciples, I and the Father are one! (John 8:29), as well as the reproach addressed by Him to Ap. To Philip: He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how do you say, show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in Me? (John 14:9-10), - every Orthodox Christian should say in his soul this: I believe that this Son of God, the Image and glory of God the Father, the indivisible Hypostasis of the Holy Trinity and the One Lord, is Jesus Christ! He alone in the whole world was born, that is, He came from the Being of God, and He was born by Him (that is, He existed) before all ages, in beginningless eternity, when there was no reckoning of time and nothing in the world - visible and invisible, which He Himself attests to, telling His disciples: that the Father loved Him before the foundation of the world (John 18:24). Just as Light comes from Light, so He, as the True God, came from the Father, the True God! And that He, although He was born of God the Father and God the Holy Spirit, but constituting with Them one unmerged and indivisible Person of the Divine Trinity, was born in an incomprehensible way according to the will of the Eternal Wisdom - but was not created like other people!
Therefore, being God the Son and containing within Himself God the Father and God the Holy. Spirit (which the Savior Himself also confirms when speaking to the disciples about the Holy Spirit. He will glorify Me, because He will take from Mine, and will proclaim to you John 16:14) - He, as Consubstantial with the Father, is God, by Whom all things were created and by Him all things exist!
3rd member. For our sake, man and our salvation, who came down from Heaven, and became incarnate from the Holy Spirit, and the Virgin Mary, and became human.
The meaning of this is this: remembering the promises of God to the fallen ancestors and the Old Testament Righteous Ones; remembering the prophetic tales that for many hundreds of years announced to the universe about the descent of the Son of God onto earth; finally, remembering the words of the Savior Himself, who said: I am the living bread that came down from Heaven: whoever eats this bread will live forever; The bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world! (John 6:51) - every Orthodox Christian must say this: I believe and acknowledge with all my heart that the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, in order to save us from eternal condemnation and death for the sins of our forefathers and our own, came down from heaven; and in order to become visible to people, as the invisible God, He became incarnate, receiving a body from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, from Whom He was born a true man, without ceasing at the same time to be the True God Almighty, which He Himself confirmed in a conversation with Nicodemus, saying: No one ascended into Heaven except the Son of man who came down from Heaven, who is in Heaven! (John 3:13).
4th member. She was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered and was buried.
The meaning of this is this: remembering the following words, the same conversation of the Savior with Nicodemus, where He said: And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life... For God did not send His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him (John 3:14, 15 17), every Orthodox Christian must repeat in his soul: I believe and confess that the Lord Jesus Christ, who did not have a single sin on Himself, voluntarily offered Himself as a propitiatory sacrifice to the Justice of God for our sins; was crucified under Pontic Pilate (the governor of the Roman Emperor in Judea); He suffered doubly, both in body and spirit, for the blindness and hardness of human hearts, and finally, having fallen asleep in human flesh, he was buried.
5th member. And he rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures.