THE HOLY SACRAMENTS

THE HOLY SACRAMENTS

Our Orthodox Church accepts that there are seven Sacraments: Baptism, Chrismation, Holy Confession, the Divine Eucharist (Holy Communion), Ordination, Marriage, and Holy Unction.

Through these Sacraments, our holy Church as an affectionate mother helps us be delivered from sin, to walk correctly in our spiritual life, to nourish our souls but to also strengthen our bodies, in order to walk firmly towards heaven. These God-given ceremonies speak fluently about the love of our Lord who, through the Church’s sacraments works out our salvation and our eternal happiness.

What are holy Sacraments and how were they consecrated? What is their importance? What is necessary in order to perform them? What are the fruits of each Sacrament? These are only some of the questions on the Holy Sacrament that are answered in this book.

(From the back cover of the book)

 

In Greek, the sacraments are called mysteria or mysteries. The word mystery implies that there is something beyond what is seen. Something exists but it is not sensed, it its something that we cannot see, that we cannot hear, that we cannot perceive and we cannot comprehend with our limited thinking. It is beyond and above our senses and our intellectual capacity. Despite this, however, we live and feel it, in a mystical, mysterious and extraordinary way forming an absolute conviction inside us that it exists.

(From the publisher’s presentation)

 

CONTENTS

THE HOLY SACRAMENTS

 

INTRODUCTION

• THE HOLY SACRAMENTS
• THE CHURCH AND THE SACRAMENTS

BAPTISM

• THE ESTABLISHMENT AND IMPORTANCE OF THE SACRAMENT
• EXORCISMS
• THE BAPTISM SERVICE
• AFTER THE BAPTISM SERVICE

CHRISMATION

• INTRODUCING THE SACRAMENT
• ITS TRANSMISSION AND SIGNIFICANCE

REPENTANCE AND CONFESSION

• INTRODUCING THE SACRAMENT
• ADMINISTERING THE SACRAMENT
• THE FRUIT OF THE SACRAMENT
• WHAT HAPPENS AFTER CONFESSION

HOLY EUCHARIST

• INTRODUCING THE SACRAMENT
• A GREAT AND INEXPLICABLE SACRAMENT
• A MYSTICAL SACRIFICE
• THE SACRAMENT’S FRUIT
• THE IMPORTANCE AND NECESSITY OF THIS SACRAMENT

PRIESTHOOD

• INTRODUCING THIS SACRAMENT
• THE RANKS OF ORDINATION
• THE PERFORMANCE OF THE SACRAMENT
• THE GRACE OF PRIESTHOOD

MARRIAGE

• AN INSTITUTION OF GOD
• THE PERFORMANCE OF THE SACRAMENT
• ITS HOLINESS AND IMPORTANCE

HOLY UNCTION

• ITS DIVINE INSTITUTION
• THE PERFORMANCE OF THE SACRAMENT
• THE RESULTS OF THE SACRAMENT

INSTEAD OF AN EPILOGUE

• SACRAMENTAL LIFE

SOURCES