Theo

Sacrament

Sacrament, religious sign or symbol, especially associated with Christian churches, in which a sacred or spiritual power is believed to be transmitted through material elements viewed as channels of divine grace.

The Latin word sacramentum, which etymologically is an ambiguous theological term, was used in Roman law to describe a legal sanction in which a man placed his life or property in the hands of the supernatural powers that upheld justice and honoured solemn contracts. It later became an oath of allegiance taken by soldiers to their commander when embarking on a new campaign, sworn in a sacred place and using a formula having a religious connotation.

Nature and Significance

When sacramentum was adopted as an ordinance by the early Christian Church in the 3rd century, the Latin word sacer (“holy”) was brought into conjunction with the Greek word mystērion (“secret rite”).Sacramentum was thus given a sacred mysterious significance that indicated a spiritual potency. The power was transmitted through material instruments and vehicles viewed as channels of divine graceand as benefits in ritual observances instituted by Christ. St. Augustine defined sacrament as “the visible form of an invisible grace” or “a sign of a sacred thing.” Similarly, St. Thomas Aquinas wrote that anything that is called sacred may be called sacramentum. It is made efficacious by virtue of its divine institution by Christ in order to establish a bond of union between God and man. In the Lutheran and Anglican catechisms it is defined as “an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace.”

The term sacrament has become a convenient expression for a sign or symbol of a sacred thing, occasion, or event imparting spiritual benefits to participants; and such signs or symbols have been associated with eating, drinking, lustration (ceremonial purification), nuptial intercourse, or ritual techniques regarded as “means of grace” and pledges of a covenant relationship with the...