RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Apostles' Creeft Apostolic Brethren
to have been, in the strictest sense, composed by the apostles. This accounts for the different modifications in those provinces (whereas at Rome it was designated as apostolic in the strict sense of the word sometime between 250 and 350). Among these modifications, those became historically the most important which were derived from the primitive confessional formulas or mathema (i.e., substance of instruction) of the East; namely, " creator of heaven and earth," " suffered," " died," " descended into hell," " life everlasting," besides the catholicam — these are just the modifications traceable in the Gallican symbols which issue in our Apostolicum — in addition, the conceptus, which is obscure in its origin and otherwise of little importance, and, most perplexing of all, the communionem sanctorum . In this connection may rightly be borne in mind the particularly close relations existing between southern Gaul and the East.
That the Roman Church after the beginning of
the sixth century gradually allowed itself to be
separated from and finally robbed of
ii. The Old the symbol which it had previously
Roman guarded so faithfully, is a phenomenon Symbol Dis- not yet fully explained, although Cas-
placed. pari (ii. 114 sqq.; iii. 201 sqq., 230 sqq.) has made some very important .contributions toward a solution of the problem. What is most decisive is the fact that it was not the longer (Gallican) daughter recension which displaced the mother, but that at Rome from the beginning of the sixth century the Nicseno-Constantinopolitan symbol took the place of the shorter symbol in the traditio and redditio symboli, whereas in the baptismal questions the old Roman symbol still remained in use. The displacement of the old Roman symbol by the Constantinopolitan becomes very intelligible, when one considers the conditions of the time. The rule of the Ostrogoths in Italy brought the Church of Rome in dangerous proximity to Arianism, and, in order to emphasize its attitude with respect to this heresy, the Church felt compelled to adopt a more explicit, so to speak polemically formed, symbol. Then, again, when this necessity ceased to press on the Church, and a return to a simpler creed became possible, the old symbol had grown dim in>, memory; while the new Roman, which was in fact the Gallican, the Symbolum Apostolicum, recommended itself by its more complete form. The differences were overlooked, or else not regarded as considerable; and the legend which had invested the old symbol with a halo of glory awoke again around the new one, and again and for a long time became a power in the Church, till it was exploded in the age of the Renaissance and the Reformation.
In interpreting the apostolic symbol historically,
it must be remembered that those portions of the
same which belonged to the old Ro-
12- Inter- man confession must be explained
pretation of from the theology of the later apos-
the Symbol, tolic and postapostolic ages (not
simply, as some claim, "according to
the New Testament "). This explanation must
take into consideration that the symbol is an
elaborated baptismal formula and that in its primitive form it must therefore not be regarded as an expression of intrachurch polemics, but rather as a Christian confession, composed for the purpose of instructing in Christianity as distinguished from Judaism and heathenism. In the course of history the theological explanation of the symbol on the whole keeps pace with the general development of dogmatics and theology. But the distinction between theological rules of faith and a confession serving for Christian instruction remains in the consciousness of the West, and is characteristically reflected in the Explanationes symboli.
As concerns the expressions of the apostolic symbol which are not in the old Roman, it is necessary to ascertain when, where, and 13. Clauses under what conditions they first not Found appear. Of most of them it may be in the Old said that they are a natural expli- Roman cation of the ancient symbol, that Symbol, they do not alter its character, that they contain only the common faith of the Church — even of the Church of the second century — and that at the end of the second century they were known in the West, though they had not yet found a stable place in any of the provincial symbols. Two only of the additions can not be so regarded, namely the phrases descendit ad inferos, in the second article, and sanctorum communionem in the third. But both additions, on account of their dubious meaning, must be allowed to be failures. Even in modern times they are explained quite differently by different parties in the Church (cf. Kattenbusch, i. 1 sqq.). (A. Harnack.)
Bibliography: The general works, A. Hahn, Bibliothek der Symbole, 3d ed. by G. L. Hahn, Breslau, 1897; C. P. Caspari, Ungedruckte, unbeachtete, und wenig beachtete Quelhn zur Geschichte des Taufsymbols und der Glaubensregel, 3 vols., Christiania, 1866-75; J. R. Lumby, History of the Creeds, London, 1880; Schaff, Creeds, i. 14-23, ii. 45-55. Particularly on the Apostles' Creed are: J. Pearson, Exposition of the Creed, London, 1659, and constantly reprinted (the English classic on the subject); M. Nicolas, Le Symbole des Apotres, Paris, 1867; J. Baron, The Greek Origin of the Apostles' Creed, London, 1885; L. de Grenade, Le Symbole des Apotres, Paris, 1890; A. Harnack, Das apostolische Glaubensbekenntnis, Berlin, 1896; idem, The Apostles' Creed, transl. of Apostolisches Symbolum in the Protestantische Realencyklopadie, Leipsic, 1896, by 8. Means, ed. T. B. Saunders, London, 1901; S. Baumer, Das apostolische Glaubensbekenntnis, Mainz, 1893; C. Blume, Das apostolische Glaubensbekenntnis, Freiburg, 1893; J. Haussleiter, Zur V orgeschichte des apostolischen Glaubensbekenntnises, Munich, 1893; T. Zahn, Das apostolische Symbolum, Leipsic, 1893; F. Kattenbusch, Das apostolische Symbolum, 2 vols., ib. 1894-1900; H. B: Swete, The Apostles' Creed and Primitive Christianity, Cambridge. 1894; C. M. Schneider, Das apostolische Glaubensbekenntnis, Ratisbon, 1901; A. C. McGiffert, The Apostles' Creed, its Origin, its Purpose, and its Historical Interpretation, New York, 1902; W. R. Richards, Apostles' Creed in Modern Worship, ib. 1906; H. C. Beeching, Apostles' Creed, London, 1906; and see under Symbolics. APOSTLES, TEACHING OF THE TWELVE. See Did ache.
APOSTLESHIP OF PRAYER. See Confraternities, Religious; Sacred Heart of Jesus, Devotion to.
APOSTOLIC BRETHREN: A sect founded in northern Italy in the latter half of the thirteenth century by Gherardo Segarelli, a native of Alzano in the territory of Parma. He was of low birtti
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