The Time Draws Near

Today marks the beginning of the last week of my catachuminate. On Holy Saturday I am to be received into the Orthodox Church following Holy Vespers. Needless to say this is going to be a very intense period for me. The prayers of all who may read this are requested and deeply appreciated. As a lead up to this momentous day, I thought I might post some essays on the Holy Mysteries (Sacraments) of the Church. I will do this at a rate of one a day between now and Great and Holy Friday, beginning with the sacraments of initiation. Although I intend to cover only the seven principal or major sacraments of the Church, I should make a quick note for some of our non-Orthodox readers.

Unlike in the Catholic tradition of the west, Orthodoxy has not capped the number of sacraments at seven. We do acknowledge the same seven sacraments (sometimes called by other names and with occasionally slight differences of understanding) that are used in the Roman Catholic Church. But we believe that there are many rites by which God confers His grace upon His people, beyond those seven. The exact number of sacraments or mysteries as we tend to call them, has never been fixed. And depending on whom one asks you will get varying opinions on how many there are. Some of them are rarely used today. But among those which have in the past been accounted by many as Holy Mysteries are The Churching of Women after childbirth, the Consecration of Monastics, the Consecration of Secular Rulers (traditionally a part of Orthodox coronation ceremonies, now rare with the demise of monarchy as a form of government), and the Orthodox Funeral Service.