What is the extent of the connection between the Creed, preparation for baptism, and preservation of the Orthodox faith?

Many of the Fathers of the Church concerned themselves with explaining the Creed or parts thereof, especially those who were responsible for preparing people for baptism, but also those who responded to various heresies, such as St. Cyril the Great , St. Cyril the Bishop of Jerusalem , and St. Augustine .

According to the Constitutions (Laws) of the Holy Apostles , “Let him, therefore, who is to be taught the truth in regard to piety be instructed before his baptism in the knowledge of the unbegotten God, in the understanding of His only begotten Son, in the assured acknowledgment of the Holy Spirit. Let him learn the order of the several parts of the creation, the series of providence, the different dispensations of Your laws. Let him be instructed why the world was made, and why man was appointed to be a citizen therein; let him also know his own nature, of what sort it is; let him be taught how God punished the wicked … and did glorify the saints in every generation—I mean Seth, and Enos, and Enoch, and Noah, and Abraham and his posterity, and Melchizedek [etc.] … let him instruct him in the doctrines concerning our Lord’s incarnation, and in those concerning His passion, and resurrection from the dead, and ascension … let him learn what concerns the renunciation of the devil, and the joining himself with Christ.”²⁸⁵

The importance of the Church’s responsibility to transmit the Creed is evident in that bishops undertook to deliver this teaching themselves, personally. Thus, Bishop Ambrose wrote to his sister Marcellina: “The day after, which was Sunday, after the lessons and the sermon, when the Catechumens were dismissed, I was teaching the creed to certain candidates in the baptistery of the basilica.”²⁸⁶

Similarly, Augustine the bishop begins his homily on “The Creed” saying, “Receive my sons, the rule of faith which is called the Creed. When you have received it, write it on your hearts; recite it daily to yourselves. Before you go to sleep, before you go forth, fortify yourselves with your Creed. No one writes the Creed so that it can be read; let your memory be your codex that you may be able to review it if it should happen that forgetfulness effaces what diligence has given you.”²⁸⁷

St. Cyril of Jerusalem says, “But in learning the Faith and in professing it, acquire and keep that only, which is now delivered to you by the Church, and which has been built up

285 Constitutions of the Holy Apostles 7.3.39–40 (ANF 7:475–476), amended.

286 St. Ambrose of Milan, Letter 20.4 (NPNF II/10:423).

287 St. Augustine of Hippo, The Creed 1.1 (FOTC 27:289).

strongly out of all the Scriptures … not writing it out on paper, but engraving it by the memory upon your heart … I wish you also to keep this as a provision through the whole course of your life.”²⁸⁸

St. Jerome says, “Our custom is, for the space of forty days, to deliver public lectures to those who are to be baptized.”²⁸⁹

To confess the faith is to enter into a divine pact or to seal a covenant with God, recorded in the book of heaven. Theodore of Mopsuestia says, “They confess and they renounce – the two in one, without doubting – [making] a renunciation of the Evil One, and a confession of the heart in the name of the Divinity. By the hand of the priesthood they make a covenant with the Divinity, that they will not again return to Satan by their doings. They give to the priest a promise by the words of their minds; and he brings in, reads [it] before the good pleasure of God. The chart which is the door of the royal house he holds in his hands; and from the palace he has [received] authority to inscribe [the names of] men.”²⁹⁰ He also says, “By confessing the faith, you attach your soul to God through the Bishop and establish a covenant, pledging to persist in loving the Divine nature.”²⁹¹