The Nicene Creed established in 436 AD is the Symbol of Faith of Orthodox Christians.
 

I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible:

 

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Only-begotten, Begotten of the Father before all ages, Light of Light, True God of True God, Begotten, not made; of one essence with the Father, by whom all things were made:

 

Who for us men and for our salvation came down from the heavens, and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and became man;

 

And was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered and was buried;

 

And rose again on the third day, according to the Scriptures;

 

And ascended into the heavens, and sitteth at the right hand of the Father;

 

And shall come again, with glory, to judge both the living and the dead, Whose kingdom shall have no end.

 

And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life, Who proceedeth from the Father, Who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified, Who spake by the Prophets;

 

In One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.

 

I Confess one Baptism for the remission of sins.

 

I look for the Resurrection of the dead,

 

And the life of the age to come, Amen.

What We Believe About the Nicene Creed
The word "creed" is derived from the Latin "credo" meaning, "I Believe."  What we believe and base our life on is our creed.  Everyone,  even the atheist, has a creed because everyone bases their life on something.

The Old Testament creed was the Shema:

Here, O Israel: The Lord our God is one ... (Deuteronomy 6:4)

Orthodox Christians also have a creed. Some of the earliest Christian creeds are Biblical. For example, John 3:16:

"God so loved the world He gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in HIm should not perish, but have life everlasting."

This is a creed.  Another very early Christian creed we find several times in the Bible (I Corinthians 12:3, Philippians 2:11) simply declares:

"Jesus Christ is Lord"

A Symbol or a Password
Our creed it also called a symbol, a term that meant a watchword or a password at a military camp. Thus for the early Christians the creed or symbol was a password which identified him as a true Christian.

The Creed has also been described in terms of a map, drawn by pioneers for the safe travel of those who follow.

Others have compared the Christian creed to the Pledge of Allegiance. It's sort of a summary of what we believe, and when we recite it, it's like making our pledge of allegiance to God.

A password, a map, a summary of our faith, a pledge of allegiance - all of these tell us something of what the creed is. Now we come to the question ...

How Did the Christian Creeds Originate
 First, there was a need for a short summary of the faith to which those who were being baptized could subscribe. Some of the earliest Christian Creeds were written for this purpose.

Secondly, the early creeds, as St Athanasius said, were written to be "Signposts against heresy." They were written to combat false teachings of those in the early Church who tried to distort the truths of Christ.

The early Church had many creeds, including:

The Apostles Creed dates from the middle of the 2'nd Century. According to tradition, each of the apostles contributed a clause to its compositions - hence its name. Though not apostolic in origin, this creed is apostolic in its teaching. The Athanasian Creed dates from the 5'th Century; it was influenced by the writings of St. Athanasius. Both these creeds were written by local churches as confessions of faith at Baptism.

In the 4'th Century, the Church decided to compose one uniform, official creed to the whole Church. The result was the Nicene Creed composed at the 1'st and 2'nd Ecumenical Councils. That the Creed was written by the Church assembled in Ecumenical Council demonstrates it is not one man's opinion. ("I'm entitled to my belief and you to yours.")  The Nicene Creed is the faith of the whole Church articulated under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Thus in reciting the Nicene Creed early Christians said not "I believe ...", but "We believe ..." They were saying, in other words, "This is not only my own personal faith; it is also the expression of faith of the entire Christian community."

No finite creed can every say everything about the infinite God. The Creed is a divinely inspired human statement to help us understand God. St. Paul calls Christ, God's "inexpressible gift" which underlines no creed can ever exhaust the full meaning of Christ. Nevertheless, acknowledging our finitude, we cannot remain silent about what God has done for us. We must communicate our faith however inadequately. This the Church has attempted to do thru the Creed. We need to know what we believe and in Whom we believe if we are to live as Christians.

Thus we have the Nicene Creed which has been describe as:

... a spellbinding summary of Christian faith accepted today by most of the major Christian bodies as a superlative expression of our faith."

Through it we hear echoing the voices of the Scriptures and of the early martyrs and saints. It is indeed a faith to live by.

Creeds and Deeds
Christianity is much more than a creed; it is a deed, a life to be lived. This is quite naive because Hitler was sincere - very sincere in what he believed but unfortunately he had the wrong creed. Most of the trouble caused in the world today is caused by people who have the wrong creed whether it be materialism, playboy-ism, secularism, or atheism. If we Christians believe we have the right creed then we have an obligation to become better acquainted with it and translate it into deeds - deeds that will bring glory to God. This is what creeds are made for: to be translated into life.

"Who Proceeds From the Father"
Originally, the Holy Fathers who composed the Nicene Creed states the Holy Spirit "proceeds from the Father."  Later the Western Church arbitrarily inserted "and from the Son," meaning the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. This is the famous "filioque" clause, which caused much friction between the Eastern and Western Churches. The Orthodox preserved the Nicene Creed in its original form without the filioque for the following reasons: