1. I believe in one God, the Father, Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, visible to all and invisible.
2. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, who was born of the Father before all ages: Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, uncreated, consubstantial with the Father, to whom all things were.
3. For our sake, man and our salvation came down from heaven, and became incarnate from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and became human.
4. She was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered and was buried.
5. And he rose again on the third day, according to the Scriptures.
6. And ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father.
7. And again He will come with glory, to judge the living and the dead, His kingdom will have no end.
8. And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the life-giving One, who proceeds from the Father, who is with the Father and the Son, is worshiped and glorified, who spoke the prophets.
9. Into one holy, catholic and apostolic Church.
10. I confess one baptism for the remission of sins.
11. I hope for the resurrection of the dead,
12. And the life of the next century. Amen.
What our hope should be is set out in the Lord’s Prayer (“Our Father…”, see above) and in the Beatitudes (see below: “Liturgy”).
What love should consist of is set out in the decalogue, or ten commandments of God.
To the question of one lawyer, what is the greatest commandment in the law, Jesus Christ answered: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. The second is similar to it: love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:36-40). So, the commandment of love commands us to love God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, and to love our neighbor as ourselves.
The Holy Apostle Paul, speaking about the three main virtues - faith, hope and love, adds: “but love is the greatest of these.” Why did the holy Apostle make this increase? In order for the Christian to know that the New Testament commandment about love, especially love for one’s neighbors, is much higher than the same commandment in the Old Testament, as the Old Testament scribes understood this commandment; to the commandment of God “thou shalt love thy neighbor,” they, that is, the Old Testament scribes, added their own addition: “and thou shalt hate thy enemy.” Our Lord Jesus Christ taught the opposite: “You have heard,” He says to the disciples and the people, “what was said (to the ancients): love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who despitefully use you and persecute you” (Matthew 5:43-44). In his last farewell conversation with the Apostles, Jesus Christ said: “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).