Why don't Catholics use the Athanasian Creed?

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I know from church history classes that there are 3 main creeds: Nicene, Apostle’s and Athanasian. Why don’t Catholics ever use the Athanasian Creed? I have never seen it in ANY Catholic prayer book. I’ve only found it online.
 
lak611 said:
So we don’t use it because nobody is really sure who wrote it? If it is orthodox, which it is, why would the authorship matter?
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Most creeds come from a reliable source, such as the Nicene and the Apostles, which we both use. I would think that knowing who wrote it is important. Suppose you go and find a bike. It might be beneficial to the family and good looking, but you would want to know who rode or owned it before you did right? It would depend on the motive of the person who wrote it. The fact is that it was not St. Athanasius who wrote it. Athanasius was a Coptic Christian and the Creed has Western Elements in it. I would not worry to much about why it is not used. The Church does not object to it, but it just isn’t part of any liturgies.

It says in the document that some people in the Anglican Church have tried to get rid of it.

I would like to know why it isn’t either. I thought that it wasn’t simply because the Second Vatican Council took it out, but hardly any other Church uses it.
 
lak611 said:
So we don’t use it because nobody is really sure who wrote it? If it is orthodox, which it is, why would the authorship matter?
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I don’t think so, they seemed to be just giving information about the creed at that part not saying why we don’t use it. I don’t think it’s used because it’s a very wordy and complicated form when the other two are more succinct.

Think about it, can you imagine saying all this at mass (or even remembering the order)? It basically says the same thing for three paragraphs, that we believe in the Trinity, three Persons in One God.
Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholic Faith. Which Faith except everyone do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly. And the Catholic Faith is this, that we worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity. Neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the Substance. For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Ghost is all One, the Glory Equal, the Majesty Co-Eternal. Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Ghost. The Father Uncreate, the Son Uncreate, and the Holy Ghost Uncreate. The Father Incomprehensible, the Son Incomprehensible, and the Holy Ghost Incomprehensible. The Father Eternal, the Son Eternal, and the Holy Ghost Etneral and yet they are not Three Eternals but One Eternal. As also there are not Three Uncreated, nor Three Incomprehensibles, but One Uncreated, and One Uncomprehensible. So likewise the Father is Almighty, the Son Almighty, and the Holy Ghost Almighty. And yet they are not Three Almighties but One Almighty.
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So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God. And yet they are not Three Gods, but One God. So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son Lord, and the Holy Ghost Lord. And yet not Three Lords but One Lord. For, like as we are compelled by the Christian verity to acknowledge every Person by Himself to be God and Lord, so are we forbidden by the Catholic Religion to say, there be Three Gods or Three Lords. The Father is made of none, neither created, nor begotten. The Son is of the Father alone; not made, nor created, but begotten. The Holy Ghost is of the Father, and of the Son neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding.
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So there is One Father, not Three Fathers; one Son, not Three Sons; One Holy Ghost, not Three Holy Ghosts. And in this Trinity none is afore or after Other, None is greater or less than Another, but the whole Three Persons are Co-eternal together, and Co-equal. So that in all things, as is aforesaid, the Unity is Trinity, and the Trinity is Unity is to be worshipped. He therefore that will be saved, must thus think of the Trinity.
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Furthermore, it is necessary to everlasting Salvation, that he also believe rightly the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. For the right Faith is, that we believe and confess, that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man.
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God, of the substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds; and Man, of the substance of His mother, born into the world. Perfect God and Perfect Man, of a reasonable Soul and human Flesh subsisting. Equal to the Father as touching His Godhead, and inferior to the Father as touching His Manhood. Who, although He be God and Man, yet He is not two, but One Christ. One, not by conversion of the Godhead into Flesh, but by taking of the Manhood into God. One altogether, not by confusion of substance, but by Unity of Person. For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one Man, so God and Man is one Christ. Who suffered for our salvation, descended into Hell, rose again the third day from the dead. He ascended into Heaven, He sitteth on the right hand of the Father, God Almighty, from whence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. At whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies, and shall give account for their own works. And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting, and they that have done evil into everlasting fire. This is the Catholic Faith, which except a man believe faithfully and firmly, he cannot be saved.
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lak611 said:
I know from church history classes that there are 3 main creeds: Nicene, Apostle’s and Athanasian. Why don’t Catholics ever use the Athanasian Creed? I have never seen it in ANY Catholic prayer book. I’ve only found it online.
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If you read the Liturgy of the Mass, start to finish, you will see it is taken from the Athanasian Creed. We do not as the Lutherans do, recite the Athanasian in it’s entirety as we do the Apostles and the Nicene. Instead, each line is part of the Liturgy of the Mass. 👍
 
tequilamac said:
If you read the Liturgy of the Mass, start to finish, you will see it is taken from the Athanasian Creed. We do not as the Lutherans do, recite the Athanasian in it’s entirety as we do the Apostles and the Nicene. Instead, each line is part of the Liturgy of the Mass. 👍
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That makes sense to me. It would be a really long Mass if we said it in it’s entirety, but you are right that the Mass really does contain it.

Do the Lutherans use it frequently? I’ve been to a few Lutheran services (LCMS), and I never heard them say the Athanasian Creed, only the Apostle’s Creed.
 
lak611 said:
I know from church history classes that there are 3 main creeds: Nicene, Apostle’s and Athanasian. Why don’t Catholics ever use the Athanasian Creed? I have never seen it in ANY Catholic prayer book. I’ve only found it online.
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There are four accepted Creeds of the Catholic Church and it is one of them.
 
According to my 1962 Missal-

“In the Divine Office, the Athanasian Creed is currently said on the feast of the Most Holy Trinity after the psalms at Prime before the Antiphon is repeated.”
 
lak611 said:
What is the fourth Creed?
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I do not believe there is a fourth creed. We have the Nicene which used by all Catholic Churches, the Apostles and Athanasian. But then we have that which is usually referred to as a profession of faith which is not quite a creed. A creed can be a profession of faith but a profession of faith is not a creed. We have also the Tridentine Profession of Faith issued in approx 1545 in answer to Luther’s Augsberg Professions. The Tridentine is not a creed but some consider it to be so.
Depending on which Catholic Church is considered, Byzantine, Anglican, Coptic, Syrian etc, a different combination of the above creeds is used but always one of the three above.
 
I should correct myself above and state a misprint. A profession of Faith is a creed as opposed to a confession of faith which is similar to the augsburg confessions.
Bro. Riuch’s Credo of the People of God is a summary of faith profession, a creed, that joins the myriad of such creeds formulated for special and noteworthy occasions. There are many and in fact most litanies can even be considered in that class. While it is a valid creed as all special credos are, it does not find itself in the general and constant use as the Apostles, the Nicene and the Athanasian. These three are the constant, ordinary and regular creeds to be found, one, two or or all three in all Cahtolic Churchs. The Credo of the People of God is a Latin Rite creed and not necessarily used by any other group i.e. coptic, syrian, etc.
 
Here is a synopsis of the use of the three creeds:

BAPTISM

Roman: Apostles’ Creed in full, followed by a shortened creed in interrogative form.
Ambrosian, Gallican, and Mozarabic: nearly the same.
Celtic: either the Apostles’ creed in full or a shortened form, both as interrogatives.
Anglican, complete Apostles’ Creed in interrogative form.
Orthodox Eastern: Nicene Creed in full in the preliminary euchai eis to poiesai katechoumenon.
West Syrian (Jacobite, Syrian Uniat, and Maronite) and Armenian: Nicene Creed in full.
East Syrian: variant of Nicene Creed in a similar position to that which it holds in the Eucharist, on the model of which the baptismal service is constructed.
Coptic and Æthiopic: a short confession of faith in the Trinity, the Resurrection, and the Church.
EUCHARIST
All rites use the Nicene Creed, though in different positions, as part of the declaration of fellowship (of which the Kiss of Peace is another part) with which the Missa Fidelium begins. This aspect is removal of the Pax to another position. The positions are:

Immediately after the Gospel: Roman, Celtic, Anglican, Armenian.
After the Offertory, but quite unconnected with the Pax: Ambrosian. There is good reason to think that the Ambrosian Pax originally came, not as now in the Roman position, but at the beginning of the Offertory.
After dismissal of catechumens and Offertory, but before the Pax: Coptic, Greek St. James, West Syrian, East Syrian.
After dismissal, Offertory and Pax: Orthodox Eastern. (Byzantine), Greek St. Mark.
After the Consecration, during the Fraction: Mozarabic. This last seems to follow the use ordered by the Emperor Justin at Constantinople, that the Creed should be said before the Pater Noster at Mass, but it is probably of much later introduction.
THE DIVINE OFFICE

Roman: Apostles’ Creed at the beginning of Matins and Prime, ferially with preces in the course of Prime and Compline, and at the end of Compline. Athanasian on Sundays at Prime. The earliest mention of this is in the “Capitulare” of Hayto, Bishop of Basle, c. 820. Many Roman derivatives (e.g. the Sarum) said the Athanasian daily at Prime. The monastic rites and the French breviaries of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries mostly follow the Roman practice.
Ambrosian: the Apostles’ Creed in the course of Prime and Compline, the Athanasian daily at Prime.
Mozarabic: The Nicene Creed at Prime on Sundays and festivals. This was ordered by the Council of Toledo of 589.
Celtic: The Apostles’ Creed is given with the Pater Noster in the “Bangor Antiphoner”, and at the end of the sketch service in the “Book of Mulling”, but there is no evidence how it was used.
Anglican: The Apostles’ Creed is said with preces at morning and evening prayer, daily, except that on thirteen fast-days (roughly, once a month, and on Trinity Sunday) the Athanasian takes its place at morning prayer.
Byzantine: Nicene Creed at the Midnight Office (mesonyktikon) after the Psalms, except on Sundays, and at the Little Compline (apodeipnon mikron) after the Great Doxology.
East Syrian: Nicene Creed at the end of the morning and evening services.
Coptic: At the “Offering of the Morning Incense”, at Lauds, Compline, and the “Prayer of the Curtain”.

newadvent.org/cathen/04479a.htm
 
I have never seen it in ANY Catholic prayer book. I’ve only found it online.
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You can find the Athanasian Creed in the *Handbook of Prayers *from the Midwest Theological Forum. Page 345 in my copy.

Betsy
 
What about the professions of faith in other ecumenical councils, like the ones in Lateran IV, Trent, and Vatican I?
 
lak611 said:
Do the Lutherans use it frequently? I’ve been to a few Lutheran services (LCMS), and I never heard them say the Athanasian Creed, only the Apostle’s Creed.
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Typically once a year, on Trinity Sunday.
 
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