APPENDIX I:

Examples of the legend of apostolic origin

       “Our forefathers have handed down to us the tradition, that, after the Lord’s ascension, when, through the coming of the Holy Ghost, tongues of flame had settled upon each of the Apostles, that they might speak diverse languages, so that no race however foreign, no tongue however barbarous, might be inaccessible to them and beyond their reach, they were commanded by the Lord to go severally to the several nations to preach the word of God.  Being on the eve therefore of departing from one another, they first mutually agreed upon a standard of their future preaching, lest haply, when separated, they might in any instance vary in the statements which they should make to those whom they should invite to believe in Christ.  Being all therefore met together, and being filled with the Holy Ghost, they composed, as we have said, this brief formulary of their future preaching, each contributing his several sentence to one common summary:  and they ordained that the rule thus framed should be given to those who believe . . .
         The Apostles therefore, as we have said, being about to separate in order to preach the Gospel, settled upon this sign or token of their agreement in the faith; and, unlike the sons of Noah, who, when they were about to separate from one another, builded a tower of baked bricks and pitch, whose top might reach to heaven, they raised a monument to faith, which might withstand the enemy, composed of living stones and pearls of the Lord, such that neither winds might overthrow it, nor floods undermine it, nor the force of storms and tempests shake it.”

         Rufinus, Commentary on the Apostles’ Creed (cap. 2), p. 542, 543 

“For the short but complete confession of the catholic creed which contains the twelve sentences of the twelve apostles is so well furnished with the heavenly panoply, that all the opinions of heretics can receive their death-blow from that one weapon.”

                  Leo the Great, Letter XXXI, to Pulcheria Augusta, p. 46

         The legend of the apostolic origin of the creed often finds its way into church architecture.  It is a favorite subject for stained glass and for painting.  In the choir ceiling of the village church in Reckingen, Switzerland, for example, the twelve apostles are depicted, each one over the portion of the creed he is alleged to have contributed.  A similar depiction is found in the pillars of the Liebfrauenkirche in Trier, Germany, as well as in many other places.   

date modified:
5 July 2006