One of the areas in which the changes in
the creed’s Sitz im Leben is most obvious to see is late antique and
early medieval magic. The creed always had tended to assume a function comparable
to the baptismal formula itself, through its use in the context of the
baptismal liturgy (especially where it was combined in some way with the rite
of Apótaxis) and in the act of baptism itself. As a result, it also
easily mutated into a kind of sacrament of the word: it might be understood as conveying
the baptismal grace simply by means of being recited. Such an understanding of
the creed was strengthened by the fact that, as we saw in previous chapters, Christians
were always told not to write it down and—especially with regard to [the Nicene
creed]—not to alter it in any way, lest one would risk being anathematized. The
miraculous character of the creed later took on a life of its own: the creed
virtually morphed into a magical formula with an apotropaic character.
The view that the credal formula
possessed such miraculous powers is well documented in our sources. For Ambrose
revisiting the creed helped against ‘stupefactions of the soul and body’, ‘the temptation
of the adversary who is never silent’, and even ‘some trembling of the body,
[or] weakness of the stomach’—an admonition which was later alluded to by Bede.
(Ambrose, Explanatio symboli 9 [FaFo § 656b]; Bede, Epistula ad
Egbertum 5 [§ 584]) Caesarius of Arles told his flock to use the creed as
substitute for the vulgar love songs that were popular among the peasant
population. Instead of these songs, Christians were supposed to recite the
creed, the Lord’s Prayer, some antiphons, and Psalm 50 or 90 (51 and 91 in the
Hebrew Bible) in order to protect one’s soul from the devil. (Cf. Caesarius, Sermo
6, 3 [FaFo § 656b]) The confession this protected against evil of various
kinds, especially the machinations of the devil. (Wolfram Kinzig, A History
of Early Christian Creeds [De Gruyter Textbook; Berlin: Walter De Gruyter,
2024], 540-41)