We 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 only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father by whom all things were made; who for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made man, and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried, and the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father. And he shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead, whose kingdom shall have no end.
And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life, who proceedeth from the Father [and the Son*], who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified, who spoke by the prophets. And we believe one holy catholic and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins. And we look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.
* and the Son (Lat. filioque) was added later. The Orthodox Church does not recognize this addition.
Contrary to its name, the creed now called the Nicene Creed was adopted not by the Council of Nicea (325), first of the seven ecumenical councils, but by the second council, that of Constantinople (381). This Constantinopolitan Creed was probably based upon an earlier baptismal creed from Jerusalem or Antioch, which in turn was an expression of the original Nicene Creed, that adopted by the Council of Nicea in 315. During the Middle Ages the Constantinopolitan Creed became known as the Nicene Creed, the name by which it is still known today.
Later the Western Church unilaterally added a single word filioque (and the son") to the creed, so as to read "the Spirit...proceeds from the Father and the Son." The Eastern Church rejected this addition, in 867 declaring the Western Church heretical for it. To this day the Western Church (Catholic and Protestant) accepts the filioque clause, while the Eastern Church (Orthodox) does not. With the exception of this clause, the Nicene Creed remains one of the eceumenical creeds, a creed recognized by all the Church. Any departure from the Nicene Creed is deemed heretical.