23 OCTOBER 2004, Page 39

Credo or credimus

From S. E. G. Hopkin Sir: The Revd John Fellows (Letters, 16 October) claims that the original version of the Nicene Creed read 'We believe' and that the modern Anglican version translates this, It is true that the very first version of the Nicene Creed read 'We believe'. However, this was a first draft, which modern congregations would find unrecognisable. It was subsequently much amended. The final version, agreed at the Council of Constantinople in AD 381 (incidentally, well before the rise of clericalism), was 'I believe', and this has always been used in the Eastern Church. It is depressing to find Anglican

clergy having recourse to such specious reasoning to justify their unilateral alterations to the faith.

S.E.G. Hopkin

London SE9