ЧЛЕН III. О ТАИНСТВАХ ЦЕРКВИ, КАК СРЕДСТВАХ, ЧРЕЗ КОТОРЫЕ СООБЩАЕТСЯ НАМ БЛАГОДАТЬ БОЖИЯ

§ 200. The teaching of the Orthodox Church on the sacraments, a brief overview of false opinions about dogma, and the composition of the membership I. The main features of the Orthodox teaching on the sacraments are the following: 1) “A sacrament is a sacred action, which, in a visible way, communicates to the soul of the believer the invisible grace of God, having been established by our Lord, through whom each of the believers receives Divine grace” (Right. Confession, part 1, answer to question 99) 839. Next, - the essence of the sacraments, the Church believes that these are the essence of sacred rites, which truly communicate the grace of God to the believer, that they “are not only signs of the promises of God, but are the essence of instruments that necessarily act with grace on those who approach them” (Epistle of the Eastern Patriarch on the Right Faith, Part 15). And he considers the essential accessories of each of the sacraments: a) the Divine establishment of the sacrament, b) some visible or sensory image, and c) the communication of invisible grace to the soul of the believer by the sacrament. 2) “There are seven sacraments: baptism, confirmation, communion, repentance, priesthood, marriage, consecration of oil. In baptism a person is mysteriously born into spiritual life; in confirmation he receives grace that spiritually grows and strengthens him; in communion he is nourished spiritually; in repentance he is healed from spiritual illnesses, that is, from sins; in the priesthood he receives the grace to spiritually regenerate and educate others through teaching and sacraments; in marriage he receives grace that sanctifies marriage and the natural birth and upbringing of children; in the consecration of oil one is also cured of bodily illnesses, through healing of spiritual ones” (Exp. Chr. Catich. about ch. 10).” “We have neither less nor more than this number of sacraments in the Church” (Epistle of the Eastern Patriarch on the Right Faith, Part 15). 3) “To perform the sacrament, three things are required (πράγματα): a decent substance, such as: water for baptism, bread and wine for the Eucharist, oil and others in accordance with the sacrament; secondly, a legally ordained priest or bishop; thirdly, the calling of the Holy Spirit and a certain form of words through which the priest sanctifies the sacrament by the power of the Holy Spirit, expressing his intention to sanctify it” (Right. Confession, Part I, answer to question 100). “But we reject, as alien to Christian teaching, the opinion that the perfection of the sacrament takes place during the actual use (for example, consumption, etc.) of an earthly thing (i.e., sanctified in the sacrament): as if outside of use, the thing sanctified in the sacrament, and after consecration remains a simple thing... In the same way, we consider extremely false and impure the teaching that the integrity of faith is violated by the imperfection of faith and the perfection of the sacrament” (Episode of the Eastern Patr. on the Right Faith, Part 15). I. In contrast to this teaching of the Orthodox Church, some of the wrong-thinking, both in ancient times and especially in modern times, falsely taught and teach: 1) About the essence of the sacraments. According to Luther, these are simple signs of divine promises to arouse faith in Christ, who forgives sins 840. According to Calvin and Zwinglius, these are signs of Divine grace, by which the chosen one is certified in the faith and Divine promises he has received, or even more confirms the entire Church in his faith, rather than verifying himself 841. Socinians and Arminians see in the sacraments only external rites, which distinguish Christians from infidels 842. Anabaptists consider the sacraments to be allegorical signs of spiritual life 843. Swedenborgians are symbols of the mutual union between God and man 844. Quakers and our Doukhobors, rejecting the completely visible side of the sacraments, recognize them only for the internal, spiritual actions of heavenly light 845. All these and other similar concepts about the sacraments of different Protestant sects, with all their differences, are similar in that they equally reject the true concept of the sacraments as external sacred rites that truly communicate the grace of God to believers, and revive, renew and sanctify a person with it. 2) About the number of sacraments. As if not content with simply degrading the true concept of the essence and effectiveness of the sacraments, Protestantism stretched out its sacrilegious hand to reduce the number of sacraments, and although at first the Protestants showed a lot of disagreement in this matter 846, they finally agreed to recognize as sacraments, of course, each sect in its own sense, only two: Baptism and the Eucharist 847. Of our schismatics, the so-called non-priests, although they do not deny that there are seven sacraments, are content with only two, saying: “Two are enough according to need - Baptism and Repentance; You can do without the others” 848. 3) About the conditions for the performance and effectiveness of the sacraments. According to Luther's teaching, a legally appointed priest or bishop is not required to perform the sacraments; the sacraments can be performed by any clergyman or layman, man or woman, and retain their meaning and power, no matter how they are performed, even without any intention (intentione) to perform, even with mockery or mimicry 849. A whole half of our schismatics, who constitute the non-priesthood, also leave the sacraments to be performed by ordinary laymen; and the other half, under the name of clericalism, grant this even to priests, but to priests either banned, or even defrocked, and in any case, those who fled the Orthodox Church and rejected it to unite with a schismatic sect 850. On the other hand, the ancient Donatists, then in the 12th century the Waldenses and Albigenses, from the 14th century the followers of Wyclef went to the opposite extreme, arguing that for the performance and effectiveness of the sacraments, not only a legally appointed clergyman is required, but precisely a pious clergyman, and that the sacraments performed by the vicious servants of the altar have no significance 851. Finally, the Reformed and Lutherans came up with the doctrine that the reality and effectiveness of the sacraments depend not on the dignity and internal disposition of the performer of the sacraments, but on the disposition and on the faith of the persons receiving the sacraments, so that a sacrament is a sacrament and has its power only during its reception and use with faith, and outside of use, or in the case of acceptance without faith, it is not a sacrament and remains fruitless 852. I. In order to see, as clearly and completely as possible, all the justice of the Orthodox teaching about the sacraments and the injustice of the false opinions counted here, we will first reveal the teaching about each sacrament separately, paying attention, where necessary, to particular errors regarding this or that sacrament, not counted here; and then, based on these particulars, we will make general comments about the sacraments, in order to refute the general misconceptions regarding them indicated here. It is impossible not to recall here the remarks of St. John Chrysostom: “Christ did not give us anything sensual, but everything spiritual, only in sensual things. So in baptism, a gift is imparted through a sensory thing - water, and the spiritual action consists of birth and rebirth, or renewal. If you were incorporeal, then Christ would impart these gifts to you incorporeally; since your soul is united with the body, the spiritual communicates to you through the sensory” (on Matt. conversations LXXXII, paragraph 4, pp. 420–421, vol. III, according to Russian translation). Lutherus. Opp. T. III, fol. 266, ed. Jen.; Melanchton. Loc. Theolog. pag. 46.141. Calvin. Inst. lib. IV, c. 4, §§ 1. 17. 18; Zwingl. Confess. ad Carol. Imp. in Opp. T. II, p. 477.511. Socinian. Catech. Racow. VI, 3; Arminian. Confess. Remonstr. XXII, 3. See Moehler., Symbolique T. II, p. 185 et squ. Ibid. T.II, pag. 330 et squ. See about Quakers - ibid. pag. 235; about the Doukhobors - in Novitsky’s discussion about them. For example, Luther and Melanchthon sometimes received three sacraments; baptism, Eucharist and repentance, although the first two were considered the most important (Lutiler. de Capt. Babyl. fol. 276, Jen 1680; Melancht. Apol. V, 167; VII, 200); Zwinglius and Calvin also sometimes had three, only the former, instead of repentance, recognized marriage as the third sacrament, and the latter the priesthood (Calvin. Inst. lib. IV, 18). Moehler. Symbol. T. 1, p. 303 et squ. Rev. Ignatius on the sacraments. Churches, p. 89, St. Petersburg. 1849. Lib. de missa privata, apud Bellarmin. de Sacram. 1, c 24, n. 2. Rev. Ignatius on the sacraments. Churches, pp. 5. 266–270. Apud Natal. Alex. Hisfc. eccles. sec. XI et XII, cap. 4, art. 13, § 2; sec XIII et XIV, cap. 3. art. 1, §2; art. 22, § 4; sec. XV et XVI, cap. 2, art 1, § 2. Luther. de capt. Babyl. T. II, p. 286, ed. Jen.; Confess. August. Art. XIII; Apolog. Art. III, no. 155 et squ. You might be interested in: