Daily Reading for June 28 • Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons, c. 202
God the Father, uncreated,
beyond grasp, invisible,
one God the maker of all;
this is the first and foremost article of our faith.
But the second article is the Word of God,
the Son of God, Christ Jesus our Lord,
who was shown forth by the prophets
according to the design of their prophecy
and according to the manner in which the Father disposed;
and through Him were made all things whatsoever.
He also, in the end of times . . . became a man among men,
visible and tangible,
in order to abolish death and bring to light life,
and bring about the communion of God and man.
And the third article is the Holy Spirit,
through whom the prophets prophesied
and the patriarchs were taught about God. . .
and who in the end of times has been poured forth in a new manner
upon humanity over all the earth, renewing man to God.
From a creed of Irenaeus of Lyons, in Proof of the Apostolic Preaching; quoted in Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years by Diarmaid MacCulloch (New York: Viking, 2009).