Nicene Creed in Holy Communion (1928 BCP)

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Nicene Creed in Holy Communion (1928 BCP) is an AnglicanWiki reference article on the confession of the Nicene Creed in the Order for Holy Communion in the 1928 American Book of Common Prayer. In the 1928 rite it follows the Epistle and Gospel and precedes notices, intercessions, sermon, offertory, and the sacramental action. Its position makes the Creed a congregational confession of the Trinitarian and incarnational faith before the Church proceeds to prayer, preaching, offering, consecration, and Communion.

Prayer Book Text and Rubric

The 1928 Holy Communion office appoints the Creed immediately after the Gospel. The rubric allows the Apostles' Creed in ordinary circumstances and permits omission when the Creed has just been said at Morning Prayer, but it reserves the Nicene Creed for five chief feasts.

Then shall be said the Creed commonly called the Nicene, or else the Apostles' Creed; but the Creed may be omitted, if it hath been said immediately before in Morning Prayer; Provided, That the Nicene creed shall be said on Christmas-day, Easter-day, Ascension-day, Whitsunday, and Trinity-Sunday.

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The Creed text itself is a full confession of God the Father as creator, the Son as true God and true man, the Spirit as Lord and giver of life, and the Church's baptismal and eschatological hope.

I believe in one God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, And of all things visible and invisible:

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God; Begotten of his Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, Very God of very God; Begotten, not made; Being of one substance with the Father; By whom all things were made: Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven, And was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, And was made man: And was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried: And the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures: And ascended into heaven, And sitteth on the right hand of the Father: And he shall come again, with glory, to judge both the quick and the dead; Whose kingdom shall have no end.

And I believe in the Holy Ghost, The Lord, and Giver of Life, Who proceedeth from the Father and the Son; Who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified; Who spake by the Prophets: And I believe one Catholic and Apostolic Church: I acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins: And I look for the Resurrection of the dead: And the Life of the world to come. Amen.

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Confession After the Gospel

The Creed is not an isolated doctrinal appendix. It is said after the appointed Gospel because the Church answers the proclamation of Christ with faith in the Father, the incarnate Son, and the Holy Ghost. The phrase "according to the Scriptures" in the Creed gathers the apostolic preaching that Christ's death, burial, and resurrection are not later speculation but the substance of the Gospel.

For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.

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The Creed therefore functions liturgically as an act of faith before Communion. It is spoken by the minister and people standing, not as a private opinion, but as the common faith into which the Church hears Scripture, prays, and receives the sacrament.

Anglican Doctrinal Reception

The 1928 American Articles of Religion receive the Nicene and Apostles' Creeds because they are demonstrable from Scripture. This is important for classical Anglican theology: the Creed has authority as a faithful summary of biblical doctrine, not as a second revelation alongside Scripture.

The Nicene Creed, and that which is commonly called the Apostles' Creed, ought thoroughly to be received and believed: for they may be proved by most certain warrants of Holy Scripture.

[4]

Within Anglican eucharistic worship this makes the Creed both catholic and Reformed in character. It confesses the faith of the undivided Church while binding that confession to the scriptural warrant named in Article VIII. For that reason the 1928 Holy Communion office places the Creed after the biblical lessons rather than treating it as a replacement for them.

Nicene Faith and the Communion of the Church

The Anglican Communion Office describes the Nicene Creed as conciliar, trinitarian, and eucharistic in use. Its summary is useful because it explains why the 1928 rite treats the Creed as the normal and especially festal confession at Holy Communion.

The Nicene Creed was formulated at the great Church Councils of Nicaea (325 AD) and Constantinople (381 AD). It was written to articulate the Church's definitive, orthodox understanding of the full divinity of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit in response to early theological debates.

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The same official resource connects this doctrine directly to Holy Communion. In the 1928 rite, that connection is visible: the congregation confesses the incarnate, crucified, risen, ascended, and returning Lord before approaching his Table.

It is the primary creed recited by the congregation during the Holy Communion (Eucharist). This act unites the entire community in a common profession of faith before approaching the Lord's Table.

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Historical Development in American Prayer Book Use

The American Prayer Book tradition had to settle the place of the Nicene Creed early in its independent history. Procter and Frere record that the Proposed Book of 1785 omitted the Nicene and Athanasian Creeds and altered the Apostles' Creed, and that this became one of the major points pressed by English bishops during the American episcopal succession negotiations.

They wrote that they were grieved to observe some of the changes which had been made in the forms of worship, and particularly that two of the Creeds had been omitted altogether, while the third had been mutilated by the excision of an important clause.

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Procter and Frere then note the immediate American response: the Nicene Creed was restored as an allowed alternative. This historical point helps explain why the 1928 book keeps the Creed in the Communion office even while allowing omission when it has just been said in Morning Prayer.

The letter was laid before a Convention of the southern Dioceses which met at Wilmington, in Delaware, October 1786; which thereupon voted unanimously to allow the use of the Nicene Creed, placing it as an alternative for the Apostles' Creed.

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Their account of the American revision completed in 1892 confirms the immediate predecessor of the 1928 arrangement: the Creed follows the Gospel and must be used on Christmas Day, Easter Day, Ascension Day, Whitsunday, and Trinity Sunday. The same structure is retained in the 1928 Holy Communion source quoted above.

The Nicene Creed is printed in its place after the rubric as to the reading of the Gospel, and it is required that it be used on the five great festivals of the year.

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Scripture, Doctrine, and Eucharistic Preparation

The 1928 placement of the Creed teaches by sequence. First the Church hears the Gospel; then it confesses the Creed; then it proceeds to prayer, sermon, offering, consecration, and Communion. The Creed's clauses therefore gather the biblical witness into a rule of worship: creation is from the Father, salvation is through the incarnate Son, sanctification is by the Spirit, and the communicant belongs to one Catholic and Apostolic Church.

The Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral gives this creedal role an ecumenical Anglican expression. Its second article names the Apostles' Creed as baptismal and the Nicene Creed as sufficient for the Christian faith.

The Apostles' Creed, as the Baptismal Symbol; and the Nicene Creed, as the sufficient statement of the Christian faith.

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For 1928 BCP worship, this means the Nicene Creed is not merely a test of individual opinion. It is the Church's corporate confession that the one who gives himself in the sacrament is the same Lord Jesus Christ who is "God of God, Light of Light, Very God of very God," who was incarnate "for us men and for our salvation," and whose kingdom shall have no end.

Use in Worship and Catechesis

In parish practice the Creed should be understood as an audible act of ecclesial faith. Its appointed posture is standing in the Daily Offices, and its Holy Communion placement after the Gospel preserves the same character: the people confess before God and one another the faith they have heard from Scripture. The five mandatory feast days are not arbitrary. Christmas Day, Easter Day, Ascension Day, Whitsunday, and Trinity Sunday each correspond to major clauses of the Creed: incarnation, resurrection, ascension and session, the gift and lordship of the Spirit, and the worship of the Holy Trinity.

The Nicene Creed also guards eucharistic devotion from becoming detached from Christology. The Communion rite is not centered on a vague sacred meal, but on the crucified and risen Son who is of one substance with the Father, became man for salvation, and will come again in glory. That is why its recitation before the sermon, offertory, and consecration is both doctrinal and devotional.

See Also

References

  1. ↑ Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer, Standard Book accepted in 1928, Order for Holy Communion, rubric after the Gospel, p. 70, transcribed by the Society of Archbishop Justus, "The Order for the Administration of the Lord's Supper or Holy Communion".
  2. ↑ Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer, Standard Book accepted in 1928, Order for Holy Communion, the Creed commonly called the Nicene, p. 70, transcribed by the Society of Archbishop Justus, "The Order for the Administration of the Lord's Supper or Holy Communion". The wording was compared with the local source file sources/justus1928/HC.htm; HTML entities and typographical capitalization were normalized without changing the Prayer Book wording.
  3. ↑ The Holy Bible, Authorized Version, 1 Corinthians 15:3-4. This biblical citation supports the article's explanation of the Creed's phrase "according to the Scriptures" and is not counted as a traceable non-BCP interpretive source.
  4. ↑ Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer, Standard Book accepted in 1928, Articles of Religion, Article VIII, "Of the Creeds," transcribed by the Society of Archbishop Justus, "The U. S. Book of Common Prayer: Articles of Religion".
  5. ↑ Anglican Communion Office, "The Creeds: Our Statement of Faith", section "The Nicene Creed," official Anglican Communion Office teaching resource, accessed 15 July 2026.
  6. ↑ Anglican Communion Office, "The Creeds: Our Statement of Faith", section "The Nicene Creed," official Anglican Communion Office teaching resource, accessed 15 July 2026.
  7. ↑ Francis Procter and Walter Howard Frere, A New History of the Book of Common Prayer, with a Rationale of Its Offices, third impression with corrections and alterations, London: Macmillan and Co., 1910, chapter VIII, additional note "The American Prayer Book," Project Canterbury transcription, "Additional notes: The Nonjurors' Service; The Scottish Communion Office; The Irish Prayer Book; The American Prayer Book".
  8. ↑ Francis Procter and Walter Howard Frere, A New History of the Book of Common Prayer, with a Rationale of Its Offices, third impression with corrections and alterations, London: Macmillan and Co., 1910, chapter VIII, additional note "The American Prayer Book," Project Canterbury transcription, "Additional notes: The American Prayer Book".
  9. ↑ Francis Procter and Walter Howard Frere, A New History of the Book of Common Prayer, with a Rationale of Its Offices, third impression with corrections and alterations, London: Macmillan and Co., 1910, chapter VIII, additional note "The American Prayer Book," subsection on the revision completed in 1892, Project Canterbury transcription, "Additional notes: The American Prayer Book".
  10. ↑ Lambeth Conference of 1888, Resolution 11, quoted in Anglican Communion Office, "The Creeds: Our Statement of Faith", section "The Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral," official Anglican Communion Office teaching resource, accessed 15 July 2026.

External Links

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