The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1880-07-21
For the Central Presbyterian.
The Athanasian Creed.

tOOO,
title "What is the Athanasian Creed?"
in which, after stating that this question
is often asked by laymen, the learned
writer adds that perhaps better service
ecannot be rendered to his readers than
by printing that Greed in its entirety /;
and accordingly, gives it from the Eng
lish copy in the last edition of the "hym
nal of the Reformed Church"
Now, though it is true that, in GER
tain, sense, the English text of this Creed
furnishes an answer to the question asked,
yet to the enquiring mind of the layman
of our age, it furnishes very inadequate
and unsatisfying answer. For, it leaves
entirely unanswered such questions as
these; Q Who is the real author of this
Greed? (2) When was it written2 81
What authority has been attached to it
by the Church? (4) Are all its parts of
equal authenticity and authority (5).
Does it throw any light on the great
question so sharply and learnedly con-
tested in our age as to the real value Of
the dogma in religious science2 An at
tempt to give brief answers to these ques-
tons will, we think, afford welcome light
to enquiring laymen in addition to the
simple presentation of the text of the
Creed given as above stated 4g a[yr7 -
l. 1t is historically certain that not one
line, or one word of this Greed was writ
ten by the great defender of orthodoxy
Athanasius himself. 1t is nowhere found
either in his own acknowledged writings,
or in those of his contemporaries and eulo-
gists, If he had written it, or even die
tated or adopted it, or any part of it, such
omission would be unaccountable, and
morally impossible. Moreover, though.
Athanasius died A. D. .373, this Greed,
in its present form, was never even at
tri6uted to him until the ninth century.
By this time, Christendom was dark
enough for any amount of falsehood and
superstition. The name of Athanasius
was attached to it, not because he ever
wrote it or even saw it, but simply be-
cause he was powerful advocate Of the
doctrine of the Trinity and of the true
divinity of Christ and Of the Holy Spirit.
The question who was the author Of this
creed has never been definitely answered
and probably never will be- 1t has been
ascribed by scholars of varied learning to
no less than ten different writers running,
in antiquity, from Anastasius AID. 1913,
to Paulinus of Aquileia, who was the
favorite theologian of Oharlemagne, and
died A. D. 804 1t is a curious fact that
Eos. Ffoulkes, who seeded from the An
gEcan Church to Rome, and afterwards
came back--a better Protestant than ever
to the Church of England, contended
with great learning and ingenuity that
this Athanasian Greed arose in France
simultaneously with the forgery of GER
tain pseudo-Isidorean decretals), for con-
troversial purposes against the Greek
Church, which has never adopted the
Athanasian Greed or permitted its intro
duction into her symbols. And, in this
opinion, Dean Stanley concurs with
Ffoulkes. The tradition that this pseu-
do-Athanasian Greed was the work of the
great Bishop Of Alexandria, was unan-
swerably refuted by Gerhard Vossius in
1912, and finally overthrown by Arch
bishop Usher in 1647. Since that time
no respectable scholar, either Papal or
Protestant, has favored this tradition. So
much for the authorship of the "Symbo-
lum Quicunque" as this Greed is some
times called It's source is utterly I'M
known.
2. The time when it was first written
and promulgated is equally unknown
All we know is that it gradually made
its appearance in various parts and forms,
but never existed in its completed form
and with its three cursj1ag clauses, until
the ninth century. About the same time,
the Apostles Greed, as used in its present
form in some Protestant churches (but
not in the Roman Catholic or Greek
Churches) was also completed This fact
is deeply suggestive and significant. The
Nic@an Greed preceded the completion
Of both by nearly five hundred years.
3. We have seen that the Athanasian
Greed never had any authority in the
Greek Church, which is older, in organi-
zation, than the Roman Catholic Church,
and which now influences some ninety
millions of the human family. Neither
did this Greed acquire much immediate
influence in the Latin Church. For,
after the adoption of the admirable Nj
Gene Greed by the Council of Mecca about
A. D. 325, two successive Hcumenical
Councils, viz, that of Ephesus, A. D.
431, and that of Chalcedon, A. D. 451,
solemnly forbade any and all persons to
undertake the composition Of any other
Greed than the Nicene. And, so far as
human ken can 90, it would have been