Sacraments of the Orthodox Church
A person consists of a soul and a body, and everything that happens to him spiritually has a physical dimension. God has promised to always send us his saving grace, and it is manifested physically in the special rites of the Church. In such rites, that is, divine services, the believer mysteriously unites with God, therefore the Church uses the term “Sacraments” to refer to them. In the Sacraments of the Church, people are bestowed with divine grace, necessary for communication with their Creator.
In the sacrament of Baptism, the believer is immersed in water and rises to the fullness of new life in Jesus Christ. Having been baptized, a person restores his connection with God, which was lost by people after the Fall.
In the second sacrament, Confirmation, the newly baptized Christian receives “the seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit” for growth and strengthening in a new life in Christ.
However, a person continues to sin even after his entry into the holy Church. Therefore, God established the sacrament of Confession so that whenever a Christian falls into sin, he could, by repentance and repentance, receive forgiveness.
In the main sacrament of the Christian Church, the Eucharist, a person achieves inner unity with God through Jesus Christ. Taking the true Body and Blood of Christ under the guise of bread and wine, a person receives spiritual food and sanctifies his body.
When a Christian is seized by bodily ailments, he receives the grace of healing through the sacrament of Blessing of Oil (Unction), and thanks to this he restores both bodily and spiritual health.
Christians wishing to start a family, the Church grants the sacrament of Marriage (Wedding), sanctifying their married life and blessing for the birth of children.
For those who feel called to preach the Word of God and be His servant, there is the ordinance of the Priesthood.
All these Sacraments are divinely established and allow the Christian to partake of the saving grace of God. All of them are performed in the Church through special ceremonies in which the entire community of believers participates.
About rituals
In the Orthodox Church, there are also special prayers and ceremonies for various occasions, which, although not strictly considered sacraments, nevertheless allow us to partake of divine grace.
On the feast of the Epiphany, the great consecration of water is performed, with which Christians then sprinkle their homes, thereby annually sanctifying and dedicating them to God. Holy water is also blessed throughout the year at water-blessing prayers, where the priest asks the Lord to bless the water “for the health of the soul and body” of those who drink it.
There are also ceremonies for blessing crops, fruits, cars and dwellings, and many other objects of daily life.
The Church makes special prayers for those who are going on a trip or starting to study.
During special funeral services, requiem and litiya, the Orthodox Church prays for the soul of the deceased and entrusts it to God.
All these rituals, prayers and blessings are important for the Orthodox understanding of our created world. The world was created by God so that through the knowledge of the world man would come to knowledge and communion with God. Church ceremonies reveal to us this connection between creation and its Creator.
