The Nature and Faith of the Order

With the whole Christian Church the Order of Corpus Christi confesses its faith in one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the living God, the only God, ever to be praised.

We believe that the gospel is our daily call and guide to be part of the visible Body of Christ, We are made one in that same Body of Christ, the Church, through the Word, the Sacraments and our Christian life together. And so we acknowledge and answer that call, keeping the passion and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ foremost in thought and worship. Rooted in the theology of the Mercersburg Fathers, we believe that the Christian Church is sacramental, creedal and confessional. 

We express our faith in the Word read and preached, and the sacraments celebrated with due order and reverence, Baptism in the Triune Name, and the Mystical Presence of our Lord in the Holy Eucharist. We accept the witness to the apostolic faith expressed in the ecumenical creeds – the Apostles’, Nicene, and Athanasian Creeds, and acknowledge the declarations made in our Reformed, Lutheran and Evangelical traditions in which they stated the faith and sought to make its implications clear.

Faith alive and active; gift of an eternal source, renewed for every generation. Recognizing that oneness in Christ has many expressions and affirming our commitment to an evangelical, reformed, catholic, and apostolic Church, we continue to pray and work to be open to the true leading of the Holy Spirit. We commit ourselves to Christ’s call That they may all be one”. We pledge ourselves to work for the visible unity of all Christ’s Church in the way that he chooses that all people may be led to love and to serve God and praise him forever.

Philip Schaff
1819 - 1893

John Williamson Nevin
1805 - 1886

Our Crest
 

The escutcheon (insignia) is the crest that heralds the heritage and beliefs of the Order of Corpus Christi. The crest is divided by a cross into four quadrants. At the top of the crest are the words, "Corpus Christ" meaning Body of Christ. At the center of the cross, are a chalice and host, representing the Holy Eucharist. The other four symbols and their meanings are:
In the upper right quadrant is the Bible, representing the Church evangelical.
In the upper left quadrant is the Seal of John Calvin, representing the Church reformed.
In the lower left quadrant are the keys of St. Peter crossed over the sword of St. Paul representing the Church apostolic.
In the lower right quadrant is the Greek Patriarchal Cross in the Circle of Unity, representing the Church catholic.