The Nicene Creed is the defining statement of belief of Nicene Christianity and in those Christian denominations that adhere to it.
Icon depicting Constantine the Great, accompanied by the bishops of the First Council of Nicaea (325), holding the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed of 381. First line of main text in Greek: Πιστεύω εἰς ἕνα Θ[εό]ν, πατέρα παντοκράτορα, ποιητὴν οὐρανοῦ κ[αὶ] γῆς. Translation: "I believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth."
The oldest extant manuscript of the Nicene Creed, dated to the 6th century
17th-century Russian icon illustrating the articles of the creed
The Catholic Church, also called the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with an estimated 1.28 to 1.41 billion baptized members worldwide as of 2026. It consists of 24 autonomous
Nicene Creed
…undertaking important functions within the Assyrian Church of the East, Ancient Church of the East, Oriental Orthodox Churches, Eastern Orthodox Church, Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican, Methodist, and other Protestant traditions including the Waldensian and Reformed (Continental Reformed, Presbyterian), Congregationalist…
St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, the largest Catholic church building in the world
The first use of the term "Catholic Church", meaning "universal church", was by the Church Father Saint Ignatius of Antioch in his Letter to the Smyrnaeans in c. 110 AD. Ignatius of Antioch also is credited with the first recorded use of the term Christianity ten years earlier, in c. 100 AD. He died in Rome, with his relics located in San Clemente al Laterano.
A c. 1481–1482 fresco by Pietro Perugino in the Sistine Chapel showing Jesus giving the keys of heaven to Saint Peter
The Last Supper in the Santa Maria delle Grazie Church in Milan, Italy, a late 1490s mural painting by Leonardo da Vinci, depicting the Last Supper of Jesus and his twelve apostles, depicts the final meal of Jesus before his crucifixion and death.