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HISTORIC CREEDS, CONFESSIONS, AND SYMBOLS OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH

Ecumenical Creeds (these are shorts statements of Christianity that are universally accepted in all forms of orthodox Christianity, whether Protestant, Roman Catholic, or Eastern Orthodox, and have been confessed in worship for almost all of church history.  In these statements Christianity has solidarity over time and across denominational boundaries.

Ecumenical Councils (There were seven of these councils, which were meetings to make decisions where the whole Church, east and west, was represented and expressed their agreement on certain essential and core doctrines of the Christian faith. Some Protestants hold to all seven councils; most protestants hold to the first six councils; all Protestants generally would hold to the first four.

The First Seven Ecumenical Councils:

1. First Council of Nicaea, (325); repudiated Arianism and adopted the Nicene Creed.
2. First Council of Constantinople, (381); revised the Nicene Creed into present form used in the Eastern churches and prohibited any further alteration of the Creed without the assent of an Ecumenical Council.
3. First Council of Ephesus, (431); repudiated Nestorianism
4. Council of Chalcedon, (451); repudiated the Eutychian doctrine of monophysitism, described and delineated the two "separate" natures of Christ, human and divine; adopted the Chalcedonian Creed.
5. Second Council of Constantinople, (553); reaffirmed decisions and doctrines explicated by previous Councils, condemned new Arian, Nestorian, and Monophysite writings.
6. Third Council of Constantinople, (680–681); repudiated Monothelitism, affirmed that Christ had both human and divine wills.
Quinisext Council (= Fifth and Sixth) or Council in Trullo, (692); mostly an administrative council that raised some local canons to ecumenical status and established principles of clerical discipline. It is not considered to be a full-fledged council in its own right because it did not determine matters of doctrine.
7. Second Council of Nicaea, (787); restoration of the veneration of icons and end of the first iconoclasm.

The Westminster Standards (These are the summaries of the Christian faith that the OPC has adopted).

The Three Forms of Unity are the Belgic Confession, the Heidelberg Catechism, and the Canons of Dort.  These three together are generally the summaries of the Christian faith used in expression of Reformed Christianity with their roots on the continent of Europe

Other Useful Symbols and Historical Definitions of the Faith

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