While rereading J.N.D.
Kelly's Early Christian Creeds, something 'caught my eye' which did not
make much of an impact during my earlier readings. On page 194, Kelly
penned:
It has become, for example,
common place to say that Eastern creeds differ from Western in being "more
theological".
He then reflects on a few
of those differences; but on the next page, he gets to the real 'meat' of the
issue, writing:
But the differences
between Western and Eastern formularies can be catalogued more precisely. So
far as the first article is concerned [i.e. God the Father], R [the Old Roman
Creed] stands apart from later creeds because of its failure to emphasize the
oneness of God the Father...Almost without exception the Eastern practice is to
assert belief in ONE GOD THE FATHER ALMIGHTY, and to describe Him as MAKER OF
ALL THINGS VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE or something of the kind. (Page 195)
Moving on, the later,
so-called Apostles Creed (which most patristic scholars believe to be an
expansion/revision of the Old Roman Creed) also fails "to emphasize the
oneness of God the Father".
Continuing this
'tradition', Pope Damasus I (366-384), in what has been termed the Tome of
Damasus (a collection of 24 canons composed at a council held at Rome in
382 A.D.), anathematized those who, believed in the Father as the "one
God".*
Now, it sure seems to me
that this contradicts the Nicene Creed (both 325 and 381) which clearly states
that, "We believe in one God, the Father Almighty".
Perhaps I have missed
something; if I have, I sincerely hope that our Catholic brothers in Christ
(and anyone who thinks I have misread the data at hand) will offer their
thoughts on this issue.
*Online resources
concerning the Tome of Damasus:
English
translation from Theodoret's, Ecclesiatical History, in - The
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers,
Second Series - volume III (pages 139-141)
Greek and Latin texts from Theodoret's, Ecclesiatical
History, in - Migne's
Patrologia Graeca, volume 82
(pages 1221-1226)
Denzinger's
English translation, in - The
Sources of Catholic Dogma (pages 30-32)
Denzinger's
Latin text, in - Enchiridion
Symbolorum Definitionum Et De Rebus Fidei Et Morum (pages 32-34)
Turner's
critical Greek and Latin edition, in - Ecclesiae
Occidentalis Monumenta Iuris Antiquissima, volume I (pages
281-294)
Grace
and peace,
David
