London - The Church of England yesterday avoided the embarrassment of finding itself without an authorised modern English translation of the Nicene Creed when the general synod accepted a slightly modified form of the version produced by the English Language Liturgical Commission, the international ecumenical body concerned with providing universally acceptable English liturgical texts, Robert Nowell reports.
The embarrassment would have arisen because a modern-language version of the creed is needed to be included in Common Worship, which is to be published to replace the Alternative Service Book, authorisation of which runs out at the end of the year.
The debate centred over the translation of the Greek preposition ek in one phrase in the creed. The translation accepted yesterday states that Christ "was incarnate of the Holy Spirit from the Virgin Mary".