# Do you know the Apostle's Creed from memory? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 6, 2018, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649 "2018-12-06T02:35:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649/61 "2018-12-06T15:55:41Z")
> [@EscAlaMike](#): > > The rosary begins with the Apostles’ Creed. Praying the rosary regularly is a good way to memorize it quickly. > > The AC is really just a simplified version of the NC. If you know the NC, the AC is a piece of cake. I didn’t really do the rosary, so maybe that’s part of it. Or if I did do the rosary, it was with a cheat sheet (I seem to recall maybe having to do it for Lent at some point at Catholic school. But the Apostle’s Creed was not repeated enough to become second-nature. Mass was always Nicene Creed, though I do remember a note in our missalettes saying you could say the Apostles’ Creed in lieu.) ---
**Author:** ![EscAlaMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/escalamike/32/4177_2.png) [@EscAlaMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EscAlaMike)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649/62 "2018-12-06T15:55:55Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > The one I grew up with begins: “We believe in one God, the Father and Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen. We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father; God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God; begotten not made, one in being with the Father.” (Current version is slightly different.) This is not the Apostle’s Creed, which starts: “I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried;” > > They have similar verbiage, but they are different. Yeah, that’s the previous version of the Nicene Creed. The translation has since been updated. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649/63 "2018-12-06T16:00:54Z")
> [@EscAlaMike](#): > > Yeah, that’s the previous version of the Nicene Creed. The translation has since been updated. Yeah, my wife goes to mass so I join here every so often. I’ve got most of the changes down, but the Creed messes me up. “All things visible and invisible” is one change I remember, and – oh, what’s the other one – “consubstantial with the father” instead of “one in being with the father.” And “was incarnate of the Virgin Mary” instead of “born of the Virgin Mary.” ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649/64 "2018-12-06T16:05:30Z")
> [@EscAlaMike](#): > > The rosary begins with the Apostles’ Creed. Praying the rosary regularly is a good way to memorize it quickly. > > The AC is really just a simplified version of the NC. If you know the NC, the AC is a piece of cake. But that’s precisely the problem - that one is a simplified version of the other. It has never happened that I have intended to say the “Our Father” and accidentally slipped into saying a “Hail Mary” but I absolutely have intended to say the AC as part of a Rosary and slipped into the NC unless there is something printed to read from. In my book the slippage means I can’t recite the AC from memory. ---
**Author:** ![EscAlaMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/escalamike/32/4177_2.png) [@EscAlaMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EscAlaMike)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649/65 "2018-12-06T16:07:02Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > …but I absolutely have intended to say the AC as part of a Rosary and slipped into the NC unless there is something printed to read from. :smack: Oh yeah, I’ve done that too **#CatholicProblems** ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649/66 "2018-12-06T16:08:19Z")
Never heard it… unless there’s a Hebrew version. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649/67 "2018-12-06T16:13:12Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > That’s what I thought. Episcopalians recite the Apostle’s Creed. My church seems to prefer the Nicene creed. I could probably remember most of it if I had to, although I haven’t been going to church consistently enough to have it permanently committed to memory. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649/68 "2018-12-06T16:14:25Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Yes. But on the plus side, I can still recite “Jabberwocky” from memory. I’ll call and raise you “Stopping By Woods On a Snowy Evening” and “The Highwayman”. The latter I memorized while I was doing chemo a couple of years ago because I was worried my memory was getting fuzzy. ---
**Author:** ![AngelSoft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/angelsoft/32/440_2.png) [@AngelSoft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelSoft)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649/69 "2018-12-06T16:16:00Z")
No option for “I don’t even know what that is”? Lol cause…I’ve never even HEARD the term before. FWIW I was raised Southern Baptist but only till I was like 12 and then not at all religious. I just googled it, just so my brain would stop defaulting to thinking about Victorian era assassins lol And even after reading it I still have no clue. It doesn’t even sound vaguely familiar. ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649/70 "2018-12-06T16:32:04Z")
Nominally raised Church of Christ, but an atheist since I was about 11 years old. I’ve never heard of this thing until this morning. ---
**Author:** ![Corry\_El](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@Corry\_El](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corry_El)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649/71 "2018-12-06T17:10:22Z")
> [@EscAlaMike](#): > > Yeah, that’s the previous version of the Nicene Creed. The translation has since been updated. Translation (to English) was ‘updated’ long ago to from for example ‘all that is seen and unseen’ to ‘all that is visible and invisible’. But just a few years ago it was changed again (in the Catholic Church), back to ‘seen and unseen’ along with other changes. That’s one thing making me wonder about people saying they could recite either of these wholly from memory. At least in Catholicism we keep editing them. 🙂 As others mentioned, in Catholic Mass it’s the NC except particular situations and it’s many times more often recited than AC, nor is the latter a subset of the former if you’re talking about reciting them exactly rather than the general idea. I’ve gone to mass weekly almost all my life and I know the NC _largely_ from memory, but recite it perfectly by myself purely from memory? I don’t think so. My absolutely from memory prayer repertoire is pretty much limited to the Lord’s Prayer and the Hail Mary. I’m a native English speaker but I can do either one in Korean too if that helps. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649/72 "2018-12-06T17:29:19Z")
> [@Corry\_El](#): > > Translation (to English) was ‘updated’ long ago to from for example ‘all that is seen and unseen’ to ‘all that is visible and invisible’. But just a few years ago it was changed again (in the Catholic Church), back to ‘seen and unseen’ along with other changes. Are you sure about that? The English Catholic mass changes happened in 2010, and “seen and unseen” (which I grew up with through the 80s and 90s) was changed to “visible and invisible.” You’re saying that since then it’s been changed back? [Cite](https://www.ncronline.org/news/new-missal-overview-changes). If it has, the various churches I’ve been to in the last year haven’t heard of it. ---
**Author:** ![Corry\_El](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@Corry\_El](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corry_El)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649/73 "2018-12-06T17:34:13Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Are you sure about that? The English Catholic mass changes happened in 2010, and “seen and unseen” (which I grew up with through the 80s and 90s) was changed to “visible and invisible.” You’re saying that since then it’s been changed back? > > [Cite](https://www.ncronline.org/news/new-missal-overview-changes). > > If it has, the various churches I’ve been to in the last year haven’t heard of it. You’re right my mistake. I think rather it was ‘visible/invisible’ (like when I was little), changed to ‘seen/unseen’, now again ‘visible/invisible’. But anyway I told you I probably couldn’t get it entirely right by memory. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649/74 "2018-12-06T17:44:50Z")
I grew up Catholic, though I haven’t considered myself to be Catholic for about 35 years now. When I was growing up, I absolutely had it memorized. I was then a Lutheran (ELCA) for about 15 years, and as they also recited the Creed during services, it remained current in my memory. I stopped attending our Lutheran church about a decade or so ago, and eventually became a Methodist. Although the Wikipedia entry on the Creed indicates that the Methodist church uses it, it’s not recited at the services I attend (though that may well be because I go to the “contemporary” service). So, it’s been at least a decade since I had to recite the Creed. The Apostles’ Creed is still lodged in my memory – though I couldn’t recite it verbatim without prompting anymore, if given a few prompts, it comes back to me. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![senoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@senoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/senoy)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649/75 "2018-12-06T20:15:15Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > I stopped attending our Lutheran church about a decade or so ago, and eventually became a Methodist. Although the Wikipedia entry on the Creed indicates that the Methodist church uses it, it’s not recited at the services I attend (though that may well be because I go to the “contemporary” service). So, it’s been at least a decade since I had to recite the Creed. United Methodists do use the Apostle’s Creed (It’s page 881 in the hymnal.) We’ll typically learn it in Confirmation Class which you take around Middle School age. As for individual services, the important thing to remember about United Methodists is ‘Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors.’ 🙂 We pretty much let churches and individuals do what they want. (I saw that earlier this year, the UMC Minnesota Conference actually changed it in their service from “I believe in God the Father” to “I believe in God the Creator” since Father implies that God has a male gender. The main church just shrugged although some individuals got in a huff about it, but that’s pretty typical for United Methodists. Put three of us in a room and you get four opinions, a committee and a casserole. 🙂 ) Some churches use it more often, others don’t. The only place in liturgy that I think it’s ‘required’ is one of the Baptismal rites. Our particular church probably inserts it into a service outside of baptisms a couple of times a year, but no reason a particular pastor or church couldn’t use it more or never use it in a service. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649/76 "2018-12-06T20:23:34Z")
I didn’t know what to answer. I’m an ex-Catholic of many, many years. I had it drilled into me when young and probably could have recited it in my sleep. I may retain some scraps of it now, I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649/77 "2018-12-06T20:26:14Z")
Lapsed Christian here. I’d completely forgotten the Apostle’s Creed even existed until I saw this thread, though I recall that I did learn/memorize it as a teenager for Confirmation (U.C.C.). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649/78 "2018-12-06T20:26:56Z")
**aceplace57** , it’s not so much that people are expected to memorize it, as that we say it often enough that it just ends up getting incidentally memorized. But when it comes to that point in the service, they’ll still say to look it up on page 9 in your book, or whatever. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649/79 "2018-12-06T20:31:21Z")
Jewish agnostic here, albeit a giant choir geek. I can recite the Nicene Creed, but only in Latin and I would probably have to hum it in my head to remember it all, because I have only ever sung it as part of a larger choral piece. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649/80 "2018-12-06T20:33:26Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > I wasn’t sure how to vote. I was raised Catholic, and I could probably recite it… if someone started it for me. I have absolutely no recollection of how it starts. That’s exactly me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649.md?page=5)