APOSTLES' CREED. One of the principal creeds of the Christian Church. It does not belong to the apostolic age, but seems to have been called " The Apostles' Creed " because it was considered to embody apostolic teaching. It seems to have developed out of early baptismal formulas; and it is claimed that there are traces of a similar creed in the writings of Irenaens (c. A.D. 115 202), Tertullian (born about A.D. 150), and Cyprian (born about A.D. 200). But Rufinus (d. A.D. 410) is the first to give a form of it which approximates to that which is now known as " The Apostles' Creed." His form of the Roman creed or " symbolum " reads: "I believe in God the Father Almighty: and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was born of (de) the Holy Ghost of (ex) the Virgin Mary, was crucified under Pontius Pilate and was buried, rose again from the dead the third day, ascended into heaven, sitteth on the right hand of the Father, from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead: and in the Holy Ghost, the Holy Church.
the Forgiveness of Sins, the Resurrection of the Flesh " (C. A. Heurtley, De Fide et Symbols. English edition, 18S9). This is a shorter form than that in present use. The present Creed has in addition : " he descended into bell ": (I believe in) "the communion of saints "; "and the life everlasting." Marcellus, Bishop of Ancyra in Galatia (A.D. 336-341) gives in Greek a creed resembling that of Rufinus. The slightly longer form was no doubt in use in the Galilean and Italian Churches In the fifth or sixth century. Legend has it that the twelve articles of the Apostles' Creed were composed by the twelve Apostles, each of them contributing one article. The exact words of our Apostles' Creed are given (c. A.D. 730) by Pirmlnius, a Bishop in Gaul. See W. R. W.
Stephens, Book of Common Prayer, 1901; Prot. Diet.; Cath. Dist.