Fr. Ron Millican
Church History 16: Beginnings of a Sacramental Life
Sacrament: An efficacious sign of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us through the work of the Holy Spirit.
The sacraments have their origin and foundation in Christ. Through the sacraments Christians are immersed into the life of Christ. In Christ, Christians experience God. Guaranteed. The Catholic Church recognizes seven sacraments that touch some of the important stages and moments of Christian life. They have a fundamental role in our life of faith. Each of the sacraments celebrates, in some way, the Paschal mystery of Jesus’ dying and rising to new life. The sacraments are also said to be efficacious, meaning that their effectiveness results not from anything wonderful that the people receiving them do, but from God’s love and power that is made manifest through Christ and the works of the Holy Spirit in the Church. In other words, through the grace of the sacraments, God’s life is celebrated by the person fortunate enough to experience it.
Did the first-century Christians know that there were seven sacraments? In those exact terms they did not—not even Peter himself! Instead we need to look at what the early Christians did that today we would consider sacramental. What were the first stages in understanding of the seven sacraments that have become so essential to the Catholic Church?
To begin with, the word sacrament has pre-Christian origins. It first meant the initiation rite by which someone became a member of the great Roman army. Latin-speaking Christians decided upon the term sacramentum to translate the visible aspect of the Greek term mysterion (see #774, Catechism of the Catholic Church). The word sacrament, then, refers to the ways that Christians enter into and celebrate the mystery of their life in Christ. There is evidence that early Christians performed a number of rituals or ceremonies that they believed initiated them into this mystery. Over time these rituals became increasingly more formal and spiritual.
How does a sacrament become more formal and spiritual? Here are a few examples. Evidence indicates that in the beginning, the Eucharist (Mass) took place at a real meal with real food and drink. St. Paul even criticizes one of the Christian communities for overeating and excessive drinking rather than making sure that everyone at the meal is fed adequately (see 1 Corinthians 11). Over time, one group celebrated Eucharist in a way that other groups found particularly inspiring and so that particular formula for the ceremony spread—the Eucharist became more formalized, that is, took on a specific form. At the same time, partially because of abuses such as St. Paul mentions, the Eucharist became a more formalized ritualistic meal. That is, the only thing people attending actually ate was a small piece of the consecrated Bread and they drank a sip of consecrated Wine (the Body and Blood of Christ). In this way the Eucharist, which originally happened during the celebration of a meal, became a separate Eucharistic ritual with deep spiritual meaning. St. Paul’s complaint that people were leaving the Eucharist physically stuffed and drunk would not be made against Christians from the second century onward.
Similarly, Baptism began as a real bath (Baptism comes from the Greek word that means to dip, plunge, immerse). The earliest Christians baptized by immersion into a river or other body of water. Later, Christians built separate buildings for their baptisms—modeled after the Roman baths—where new members would be stripped naked and totally immersed in water. In time, new members to the community had water poured only over their heads to celebrate Baptism.
Changes in the form used to celebrate these rituals did not diminish their essential significance. We find that early Christian communities were filled with a sense of the mystery of Christi’s life-giving presence among them. They engaged in many activities in making that mystery real for them. In the Greek-speaking churches, mysterion referred to a person’s entire life with Christ as well as to specific ways he or she lived out that mystery. Latin-speaking churches adopted the terms mysterion and sacramentum for these Christians mysteries. While certain actions, in particular the Eucharist and Baptism, clearly fall into the category of mystery and sacrament, there was no set number of sacraments in the beginning. These Christians found Christ in all aspects of their lives. As time went by, certain actions were recognized as having special significance, and today Catholics celebrate them as the seven sacraments: Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Penance or Reconciliation (confession), Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders (deacon, priest, bishop), and Matrimony.
Church History 16: Beginnings of a Sacramental Life
Sacrament: An efficacious sign of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us through the work of the Holy Spirit.
The sacraments have their origin and foundation in Christ. Through the sacraments Christians are immersed into the life of Christ. In Christ, Christians experience God. Guaranteed. The Catholic Church recognizes seven sacraments that touch some of the important stages and moments of Christian life. They have a fundamental role in our life of faith. Each of the sacraments celebrates, in some way, the Paschal mystery of Jesus’ dying and rising to new life. The sacraments are also said to be efficacious, meaning that their effectiveness results not from anything wonderful that the people receiving them do, but from God’s love and power that is made manifest through Christ and the works of the Holy Spirit in the Church. In other words, through the grace of the sacraments, God’s life is celebrated by the person fortunate enough to experience it.
Did the first-century Christians know that there were seven sacraments? In those exact terms they did not—not even Peter himself! Instead we need to look at what the early Christians did that today we would consider sacramental. What were the first stages in understanding of the seven sacraments that have become so essential to the Catholic Church?
To begin with, the word sacrament has pre-Christian origins. It first meant the initiation rite by which someone became a member of the great Roman army. Latin-speaking Christians decided upon the term sacramentum to translate the visible aspect of the Greek term mysterion (see #774, Catechism of the Catholic Church). The word sacrament, then, refers to the ways that Christians enter into and celebrate the mystery of their life in Christ. There is evidence that early Christians performed a number of rituals or ceremonies that they believed initiated them into this mystery. Over time these rituals became increasingly more formal and spiritual.
How does a sacrament become more formal and spiritual? Here are a few examples. Evidence indicates that in the beginning, the Eucharist (Mass) took place at a real meal with real food and drink. St. Paul even criticizes one of the Christian communities for overeating and excessive drinking rather than making sure that everyone at the meal is fed adequately (see 1 Corinthians 11). Over time, one group celebrated Eucharist in a way that other groups found particularly inspiring and so that particular formula for the ceremony spread—the Eucharist became more formalized, that is, took on a specific form. At the same time, partially because of abuses such as St. Paul mentions, the Eucharist became a more formalized ritualistic meal. That is, the only thing people attending actually ate was a small piece of the consecrated Bread and they drank a sip of consecrated Wine (the Body and Blood of Christ). In this way the Eucharist, which originally happened during the celebration of a meal, became a separate Eucharistic ritual with deep spiritual meaning. St. Paul’s complaint that people were leaving the Eucharist physically stuffed and drunk would not be made against Christians from the second century onward.
Similarly, Baptism began as a real bath (Baptism comes from the Greek word that means to dip, plunge, immerse). The earliest Christians baptized by immersion into a river or other body of water. Later, Christians built separate buildings for their baptisms—modeled after the Roman baths—where new members would be stripped naked and totally immersed in water. In time, new members to the community had water poured only over their heads to celebrate Baptism.
Changes in the form used to celebrate these rituals did not diminish their essential significance. We find that early Christian communities were filled with a sense of the mystery of Christi’s life-giving presence among them. They engaged in many activities in making that mystery real for them. In the Greek-speaking churches, mysterion referred to a person’s entire life with Christ as well as to specific ways he or she lived out that mystery. Latin-speaking churches adopted the terms mysterion and sacramentum for these Christians mysteries. While certain actions, in particular the Eucharist and Baptism, clearly fall into the category of mystery and sacrament, there was no set number of sacraments in the beginning. These Christians found Christ in all aspects of their lives. As time went by, certain actions were recognized as having special significance, and today Catholics celebrate them as the seven sacraments: Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Penance or Reconciliation (confession), Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders (deacon, priest, bishop), and Matrimony.
