The meaning of this is this: that, in addition to the ancient prophecies, so faithfully justified by Christ throughout His entire life, and so clearly depicting His suffering, death and resurrection, we also remember His own words spoken to the Apostles at their last entry into Jerusalem: Behold, We are ascending into Jerusalem, and everything written by the Prophets about the Son of Man will be accomplished. For they will hand Him over to the pagans, and they will mock Him, and spit on Him, and they will beat Him, and they will kill Him; and on the third day he will rise again (Luke 18:31-34), - every Orthodox Christian must say in the depths of his soul: I believe and confess with all my heart that the Lord Jesus Christ, being buried in the bowels of the earth, in a cave closed with a huge stone, sealed with the seals of the High Priests and guarded by their guards, - on the third day he rose from the dead, by the power of His Divinity, and thereby again justified that, what was said about Him in the prophetic writings and predicted by Himself.
6th member. And ascended into Heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father.
The meaning of this is this: that, remembering the words of the Savior spoken by Him in the Capernaum synagogue to the disciples who grumbled against Him: Is this tempting you? What if you see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? (John 6:62), and then, those words with which He answered the High Priests who judged Him, to the question: “Is He the Son of the Blessed One?” I; and you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power of God, and coming on the clouds of heaven! (Mark 14:62) - every Orthodox Christian should exclaim with all his soul along with the Ap. Paul: I believe and confess that the Lord Jesus Christ, being the Radiance of glory and the Image of the being of God, upholding everything with His powerful word, having cleansed our sins with the sacrifice of the cross, ascended in the flesh into heaven and sat down as an equal with God the Father, at the right hand of His Majesty (Heb. 1:3), without leaving the earth at the same time, like the Omnipresent God!
7th member. And again the future will be judged with glory by the living and the dead. His Kingdom will have no end.
The meaning here is this: remembering the prophecy of the Prophet Enoch about the Last Judgment: Behold, the Lord comes with thousands of His Saints (Angels) to execute judgment on everyone! (Jude 1:14–15); and then the message of the Apostle Peter, who said that: The present heavens and earth are contained by the same word and are reserved for fire for the day of judgment and destruction of wicked men! (2 Peter 3:7) and, finally, the words of the Savior Himself, who spoke to the Disciples about the day of Judgment: When the Son of man comes in His glory, and all the Holy Angels with Him: then He will sit on the throne of His glory; and all nations will be gathered before Him; and he will separate them from each other as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right hand, and the goats on His left (Matthew 25:31-34); as well as the sayings of Him, the Divine King and Teacher, about His Kingdom: and they will come from the East, and the West, and the North, and the South; and they will recline in the Kingdom of God (Luke 13:29), and His answer to Pilate: My kingdom is not of this world! (John 17:36), - every Orthodox Christian, crying out like the psalmist David: You, Lord, founded the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands.
They will perish, but You remain; and they will all wear out like a robe, and like a garment, You will roll them up and change: but You are the same, and Your years will not end (Ps. 101:26, 27, 28) - I must say with reverent fear and undoubted hope: I believe and confess that the Lord Jesus Christ, who ascended in the flesh into heaven, will come again to earth, with glory and the greatness of God, in order to judge the living and the dead, and, having rewarded each of them according to his deeds, he will reign with those who have pleased Him endlessly!
8th member. And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Life-Giving One, who proceeds from the Father, who is worshiped and glorified with the Father and the Son, who spoke the Prophets.
The meaning here is this: that, recalling the Jordanian statement of the Forerunner about Christ: I did not know Him; but he who sent me to baptize in water said to me: On whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining on Him, He is the one who is baptized with the Holy Spirit! (John 1:33); remembering the words of the Savior Himself about the Holy Spirit to Nicodemus: The Spirit gives life!.. And unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God (John 6:63; 3:5), and, finally, remembering His comforting promises spoken to the disciples: the Comforter, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father: then He will testify of Me (John 15:26)… And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him, but you know Him: for He abides with you and will abide in you. I will not leave you orphans; I'll come to you. The Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you everything. (John 14:16-18, 26) When He, the Spirit of Truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth: for He will not speak from Himself, but He will speak whatever He hears, and He will tell you the future!
(John 16:13) - every Orthodox Christian must exclaim with all his soul: I believe and confess in God the Holy Spirit as the true Lord, who gives life to the whole world; emanating from God the Father and abiding eternally and inseparably with Him and God the Son; and therefore equally revered, glorified and worshiped with Them! I believe that He is the all-edifying Spirit of truth, Who inspired the Holy Prophets with great mysteries of insight into the future and through their lips glorified God’s wondrous economy for us!
9th member. Into One Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.
The meaning here is this: reverence for the words of the Savior spoken by Ap. Peter: I will create My Church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it! (Matthew 16:18), just as before those instructions to the disciples, in which He presented His Church, that is, the community of believers, as the highest and impartial earthly court, saying: and if he does not listen to the Church (your brother who has sinned), then let him be to you like a pagan and a tax collector (i.e., excommunicated and cast out from the society of believers. Matthew 18:15-18); remembering the authority that He, as God, granted to the priests in this Church, saying: Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven (Matthew 18:18-19); remembering His fatherly love for this Church and pastoral care for it, which He showed in appeals to the Heavenly Father: Holy Father! Keep them in Your Name, those whom You have given Me, so that they may be one, as We are (John 17:11). Just as You sent Me into the world, so I sent them into the world. And for them I consecrate Myself, so that they too may be sanctified by the truth.
I pray not only for them, but also for all who believe in Me according to their word: that they may be one: just as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, so that they also may be one in Us (John 17:18-20); and then, remembering those sweet and immutable promises of Him about the great future of this Church, when He, as the Divine Shepherd, will finally gather the scattered sheep under the canopy of His gracious Gospel and they will hear His voice, and there will be one flock and one Shepherd! (John 10:17): remembering all this and exclaiming along with the Psalmist: You are a Priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek! (Ps. 109:4), and with Ap. Paul: The Father of glory put everything under the feet of His Christ and placed Him above all else, the head of the Church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills everything with everything! (Eph. 1:22) - every Orthodox Christian must say from the depths of his soul: I believe with all my heart and confess that the Church of God, the head and cornerstone of which is Christ, is the true Church and the only true one, just as there is one true faith in Jesus Christ! That this Church is Holy, just as Holy is the teaching about Christ and Holy are the Sacraments performed by it following the example and in memory of Christ!
That this Church is a Catholic Church, under the shadow of which all the sheep of Christ’s flock from the entire universe must finally gather, and that it is Apostolic, that is, it has not lost the grace of the Holy Spirit and those divine truths that were laid at its foundation by Christ Himself and His Holy Apostles.
10th member. I confess one Baptism for the remission of sins.