| 1. | a formal statement of the chief tenets of Christian belief, adopted by the first Nicene Council. |
| 2. | a later creed of closely similar form (Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed or Constantinopolitan Creed) referred, perhaps erroneously, to the Council of Constantinople (a.d. 381), received universally in the Eastern Church and, with an addition introduced in the 6th century a.d., accepted generally throughout western Christendom. |
Ni·cene Creed  (nī'sēn', nī-sēn')  n. Christianity A formal statement of doctrine of the Christian faith adopted at the Council of Nicaea in A.D. 325 to defend orthodoxy from Arianism and expanded in later councils. |