This is a talk given at St. Herman Orthodox Youth Conference on 24 December 2011 in Ottawa, Canada
Introduction
We all know of the sacraments of the Church and recognize them as certain events or milestones in a Christian life: a person is baptized, prepares for confession and Communion, gets married, and some may get ordained to the holy priesthood. These important markers provide the time and place to be face-to-face with God, to unite with Him within His Holy Church, His Body. But what about the rest of our life? We pray for a few minutes in the morning and also in the evening. But what about the rest? All too often, our lives are fractured: there is the Christian part - Church sacraments and services, prayers and readings; and there is the secular part - school, work, a party at a friend’s house, a movie on Friday night; and the two parts seem to be as far apart as the east is from the west. Indeed, what is so spiritual about cooking breakfast? Or, how can one be (or not be) a Christian while brushing his teeth? The very mechanistic separation between Church and the rest of life seems to be as commonplace in modern Christianity as the separation of Church and state. But can there be another model? Is there a way to reconcile the broken pieces of the modern fractured life and to live one whole and simple Christian life? Here, we will discuss the meaning of the word sacrament, the role that sacraments play in our life, and also some ways in which we can guide and shape our everyday life toward a greater connection with God and His Church.
What is a Sacrament?
Before we begin the discussion of sacraments, let us first try to define what a sacrament actually is. This task is not entirely in keeping with the tradition of the Orthodox Church. In fact, the Orthodox Church as a whole never has formulated a precise definition. Nonetheless, some individual theologians have tried to define the word “sacrament.” Blessed Augustine of Hippo, for example, wrote that, “The Word comes to the element; and so there is a sacrament, that is, a sort of visible word,” or, in other words, “a sacrament is a visible sign of an invisible reality.” Another definition can be found in the Longer Catechism of the Orthodox, Catholic, Eastern Church by Saint Filaret (Drozdov): “A mystery or sacrament is a holy act, through which grace, or, in other words, the saving power of God, works mysteriously upon man.”
Are these acceptable definitions? In many ways, they are. However, these definitions leave us with some questions. For example, is a bagel you may have eaten for breakfast a visible sign of an invisible reality? Of course! - It is a very visible, tangible, and tasty sign of the blessings that God bestows upon the labors of farmers and bakers. And what about the prayer service before the beginning of a youth conference, is it a sacrament? According to the definition of Saint Filaret - yes, since it is an act through which God’s grace works mysteriously upon man.
“But wait,” you may say, “aren’t there only seven sacraments?” We will return to this question, but first, I will dare to offer yet another definition of what a sacrament is. We may define a sacrament as a place and time where the will and act of God intersect with the will and act of man in synergy or co-laboring. In other words, a sacrament is when God and man work together toward a common goal. What are they trying to accomplish? We know what God wants - “He will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim.2:4). When God and man co-labor in the process of salvation, this co-laboring is a sacrament. Why is this duality so important? Because, without the will and participation of God, there are only acts or works of men. And without the will and participation of man, there is only a miracle performed by God alone. It is only when the two act together that there is a sacrament.
How Many Sacraments Are There?
In the sixteenth century, the Roman Catholic Council of Trent decreed that there were seven sacraments,1 and they are the same sacraments that we find in the Orthodox Law of God books or the Catechism of Saint Filaret2: baptism, chrismation, confession, Communion (or Eucharist), unction, matrimony, and ordination. This list came into the Orthodox tradition from the Latin West, and became a convenient and neatly-packaged reference for Sunday-school textbooks and popular catechisms. Unlike the Roman Catholic Church, however, which excommunicates anyone who says that there are fewer or more than seven sacraments,3 Orthodox authors have named as few as two and as many as ten sacraments4 without any claims of exclusivity. Indeed, if a sacrament is a collaborative act of God and man in the process of salvation, then monastic vows, for example, are also a sacrament,5 and so is the blessing of water.
Unfortunately, after several generations of children learning the list of seven sacraments in their Sunday school lessons, many Orthodox people equate the sacraments with a list of seven rites or rituals of the Church, which are not only relatively rare (how often, for example, does one get baptized or married), but also may not be for everyone (for example, women and almost all men are never ordained into priesthood, and monastics do not get married). This is why it seems important to talk about the sacraments in ways that make them relevant for all of us throughout our lives.
Baptism
Many Orthodox lay people and even some clergy believe that once a person has been baptized as an infant, he remains Orthodox for the rest of his life. This should be the case, but often it is not. Baptism is the entrance into the Church - both as the mystical Body of Christ and as a human institution established by God. But neither one of these is a prison, and anyone is free to leave at any time. In fact, every one of us through sin leaves the Church and is no longer in the Body of Christ. Recall the words of a prayer you hear during confession: “Lord … reconcile and unite him with Thy holy Church…” It is because through sin, we become enemies of the Church, we are no longer in Christ’s Body, we break our baptismal vows and defile our baptismal garment. And we have to reconcile and unite again through repentance. Thus, baptism, while a singular event indeed, places obligations on our entire life; much like planting a seed is a singular event, but growing a tree requires effort and patience.
Confession
Many people understand confession also as a singular and sometimes rare event. Some only go to confession once a year. Others may confess more often and even more or less regularly. But let us replace the word confession with the word repentance. What is the difference? Imagine a thief who proudly tells his friends about all the things he has stolen, and then goes and steals some more. He has just confessed his sins - undoubtedly so. But has he repented? Now imagine a Christian who goes to confession, names all his sins - he is well aware of them - and then goes and continues to live in sin. Can this be considered a sacrament? Obviously not. While God is ready to erase the sins from this person’s life, the person does not want them erased, he wants to keep them. He confesses them without any resolve to change his life, that is to say, without repentance.
The word repentance has a Latin root which does not reflect the full meaning of the Orthodox concept. The Greek equivalent - μετάνοια, means the changing of the mind, not remaining the same.6 Therefore, to repent is to resolve to turn away from sin and to make an effort not to return to sin. And it is here - within the union of God’s will and act to erase our sins and our will and act to turn away from sin - it is in this union that the sacrament takes place. Thus, the sacrament of repentance is not limited to listing our sins before a priest and receiving an absolution, but must continue into the following minutes, hours, days, weeks and the rest of our changed and changing life.
Communion
Similar to repentance, Holy Communion is not only that moment in church when we actually receive the Body and Blood of Christ into our mouth and swallow it. The Latin word communio means “sharing in common”7 - that is, the sharing in the nature and life of Christ’s Body, becoming one with it; as Apostle Paul said, “it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me” (Gal. 2:20). Note that the Apostle used the word “lives” - not “visits on Sunday mornings” or “stops by from time to time,” but “lives.” There is a popular maxim: “You are what you eat.” We partake of the Body of Christ in order to become the Body of Christ. In a prayer during the Liturgy, a priest asks God to send down His Holy Spirit upon us (first and foremost!) and then upon the Holy Gifts which are set forth. And this - our becoming the Body of Christ - is to be not just for a minute or for a day, but quite literally for eternity. In this way, Communion is outside of time, and we are to be in Communion with Christ not only when we partake in church, but also the next day, and the next, and the next, and right now as we sit here listening to this talk.
Matrimony
This same principle of the sacraments not being limited by the constraints of the ecclesiastical rites and rituals associated with them, but instead permeating the entirety of a Christian life can be applied to the rest of the “official” list, although we will not discuss all of them here. But as the last example, let us take a look at the sacrament which is seemingly not for everyone - marriage. Indeed, some people get married, yet others do not.
Scripturally, marriage of man and woman is an icon of the great mystery of Christ and the Church (see Eph. 5:32). In fact, to speak about this mystery, Apostle Paul used the very words with which God established the sacrament of marriage: “…and the two will become one flesh” (Eph. 5:31 cf. Gen. 2:24). This should immediately remind us of the sacrament we discussed earlier - Holy Communion, but also of baptism and confession as they help us enter into and remain in the Body of Christ - the two will become one flesh. In fact, uniting with Christ is the central goal of Christian life, and by extension, the main purpose behind every sacrament of the Church. The sacrament of marriage is one icon of the mystery of Christ and the Church, but there are others. Monasticism, for example, is also a living icon of a union with Christ, and likewise is a life devoted to selfless and sacrificial service to others, which, by the way, is also the oft-forgotten essence of marriage.
All Christians are called to the wedding feast of the Lamb - not as guests or spectators, but as partakers, as members of the holy and unblemished Bride, which is the Church; to be united with the Divine Bridegroom into one flesh, the Body of Christ. Whether some marry or remain single, follow the path of monasticism or remain in the world - all are called to be partakers of the sacramental marriage of Christ and His Church. And our earthly participation in the icon of this divine sacrament is not limited to the few minutes that we wear our wedding crowns during a church ceremony, but is a life-long commitment which continues into eternity with Christ.
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The decree by the Council of Trent was an official formulation of an earlier Roman Catholic scholastic tradition which dated back to the twelfth century and had already been twice affirmed by two previous Councils of the Roman Catholic Church - the Second Council of Lyons (1274) and the Council of Florence (1439).
See also the same list in The Orthodox Confession by Met. Peter Mohila (17th cent.).
The Seventh Session of the Council of Trent, Decree on the Sacraments, “On the Sacrament in General,” Canon I.
St. John of Damascus mentioned two, St. Cyril of Jerusalem - 3, St. Dionysius the Areopagite - 6, Joasaph of Ephesus - 10, to name just a few.
In fact, Saint Theodore the Studite, among others, listed monastic vows as one of the sacraments.
The concept of Christian repentance can also be seen as a continuation and combination of the two Hebrew words representing the idea of repentance: שוב—to return, and נחם—to feel sorrow. In other words, to repent is not only to list one’s sins and not only to feel sorry about them, but also to turn away from what is bad and to return back to what is good - consider, for example, the Parable of the Prodigal Son.
The corresponding Greek word κοινωνία is translated as “fellowship” to refer to both the fellowship of God and man, and also the fellowship of people.
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