Question #22
of An Orthodox Catechism
Question
What are those things which are necessary for a Christian man to believe?
Answer
All things which are promised us in the Gospel: the sum whereof is briefly comprised in the Articles of the Catholick and undoubted Faith of all true Christians, commonly called the Creed. I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of Heaven and Earth; and in Jesus Christ his only Son, our Lord, which was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead & buried, he descended into*Hell; the third day he arose again from the dead, and ascended into Heaven, fro whence he shall come to judge both the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Holy*Catholick Church, the Communion of Saints, the forgiveness of sins, the Resurrection of the Body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
* Not that he, (to wit, Christ) went into the place of the damned, but that he went absolutely into the state of the dead. See Dr. Usher of Christ, in his body of Divinity, pag. 174. and Mr. Perkins on the Creed.
* Not that we are to beleive in, but that there is a Catholick Church, and by Catholick, we mean no more then the universal Church, which is a company chosen out of whole mankind unto everlasting life, by the Word & Spirit of God.