A Comparison Of Eastern And Western Practice Of The Seven Sacraments

Many of the differences between Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Christians in sacramental practice stem from changes that developed in the West after the patristic period. Chrismation, originally part of baptism, became a separate rite of confirmation in the West. This led to a delay in one's first Communion, which originally took place at the time of baptism. Other differences surround the use of leavened and unleavened bread; plural and singular, first- and third-person language in baptism and reconciliation; attitudes toward remarriage after the death of a partner; and the marital status of clergy. In each case different theological assumptions underlie these variations in practice. The paragraphs that follow devote attention to Eastern practice and theology as a way of coming to understanding the differences in Roman and Eastern practice.

The doctrine of the seven sacraments, to the extent that it exists in the East, has been influenced more by the West than by Eastern theology. As is well known, the sevenfold listing of the sacraments emerged in the West during the twelfth century and became official only in the thirteenth. In the East it appears for the first time in the Profession of Faith which Pope Clement IV required of Byzantine Emperor Michael Paleologus in 1267. The East has never committed itself to any specific list of sacraments such as the Roman church did at the Council of Trent. For pedagogical reasons and to facilitate dialogue with the West, Eastern churches make use of the teaching that there are seven sacraments. At the same time, some consider other rituals as sacraments, such as monastic profession, anointing of monarchs, burial of Christians, consecration of church buildings, etc. Baptism/Chrismation Among Eastern Christians, infant baptism and chrismation are celebrated together and are seen, with the reception of eucharistic Communion (received from a golden spoon containing consecrated wine), as the sacrament or sacraments of initiation. Baptism and chrismation are deemed to belong together as the Resurrection and Pentecost. Important for the Eastern churches is the sequence of sacramental initiation: baptism, chrismation, Eucharist. Eastern Christians are puzzled, even shocked, at practices now common in Roman Catholicism: (a) of not observing the ancient sequence by allowing children to receive the Eucharist before chrismation, and (b) of depriving baptized infants of eucharistic Communion until the "?age of reason.?" All the parts of Christian initiation in the East are administered by a priest. The liturgy begins with the blessing of the water which symbolizes the whole realm of matter. The Byzantine formula of baptism is pronounced not in the name of the minister as in the West ("?I baptize you …?"), but rather by declaration on behalf of the baptized ("?The servant of God/handmaid of God is baptized …?"). The East retains triple immersion, although the infant is not usually totally submerged. In Greece, the infant is baptized between the ages of one and two years and remains unnamed until baptism. The role of the sponsors still has strong religious and social functions. Catechetical material explaining the Eastern liturgy of baptism does not stress a relationship between the sacramental baptism and the remission of original sin. The predominant emphasis is on entry into the body of Christ. The Orthodox do not accept baptism administered by an unbeliever who acts on behalf of the church. The minister of the sacrament must be a believer; there is even reluctance to consider a baptism as performed properly when done by a lay person. Chrismation is seen as sign of the seal of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38). Unlike the normal practice in the Roman church, chrismation is not reserved to the bishop although the myron (chrism) used to anoint the person has been blessed by the bishop who thereby maintains a link with the liturgy. The Eastern Orthodox do not use the terminology of Roman Catholic theology regarding an indelible character for confirmation or chrismation. They commonly confirm/reconfirm those entering the Orthodox church, even from Catholicism, as a sign that a baptism performed under irregular circumstances, outside the canonical boundaries of the church, is not regularized through this sealing. As have Roman Catholics, the Orthodox have sometimes practiced rebaptism of those previously baptized in another church. But by the principle of economy (oikonomia), an Orthodox bishop may declare as objectively administered something administered outside the boundaries of Orthodoxy. Eucharist or Synaxis This essay cannot give an account of all the eucharistic liturgies or families of eucharistic anaphoras within the Eastern churches, nor can it provide a summary of the specific theological explanations used to explain the structure and significance of eucharistic prayers. Both Catholics and Orthodox agree on the meaning of the eucharistic celebration. The eucharistic celebration is the memorial (anamnesis) of Christ's work as Savior. The eucharistic sacrifice is seen as involving the active presence of Christ, the High Priest, acting through the Christian community, presided over by the bishop or persons delegated by the bishop to celebrate the eucharistic mysteries. In the eucharistic celebration, believers not only commend themselves and one another to Christ but also accept the diaconal mandate of the gospel to mediate Christ's salvation to the world. God the Father is seen as sending the Holy Spirit to consecrate the elements of bread and wine so as to become the body and blood of Jesus Christ for the sanctification of the faithful. The Holy Spirit transforms the sacred gifts into the body and blood of Christ in order to bring about the growth of the body, which is the church. In this way the entire celebration is an epiklesis which at certain moments becomes more explicit. The church may be said to be continually in a state of epiklesis. In the Byzantine liturgy and in most Eastern liturgies, the bread used in the Eucharist is leavened bread (i.e., bread made with yeast). In the Roman rite, unleavened bread (azyme) is used. A specially prepared loaf of bread is cut into cubes in the preparatory rites of an Eastern liturgy. Communion under the double form of bread and wine is distributed from the chalice in which the eucharistic bread soaked in eucharistic wine is administered by the priest to the communicant from a golden spoon. Today there is a notable difference between the Eastern Orthodox and the Roman Catholics regarding the frequency of reception of the Eucharist. Orthodox believers out of reverence observe certain practices before approaching the Table of the Lord: receiving the sacrament of reconciliation, fasting for several days before reception, and neither eating nor drinking from midnight. Communicants are expected to abstain from conjugal relations prior to receiving Communion. Some pious Eastern Christians communicate only four times a year: Easter, Christmas, Dormition of the Virgin, and on their own feast day. They find the practice of weekly or daily Communion, as now practiced in the Roman church, fraught with the dangerous possibility of it becoming casual or irreverent. Intercommunion, that is, offering eucharistic hospitality to Christians who are not Orthodox, is strictly forbidden by the Orthodox and sedulously avoided. Whereas at the Second Vatican Council and in subsequent guidelines, the Roman Catholic church expressed its willingness to permit Orthodox who approach Catholic priests to receive Communion under specific circumstances, the Orthodox did not reciprocate. Orthodoxy requires that a communicant share in the entire range of essential Orthodox beliefs before being eligible for Communion. Thus the exceptional decision by the Moscow Patriarchate (December 16, 1969) to allow some measure of intercommunion for Roman Catholics who approach the sacrament was regarded as very unusual. The Orthodox church of Greece, for example, expressed its "?surprise, wonderment, and sorrow?" at this decision. Although lay participation in the Divine Liturgy is often regarded as active, even Orthodox observers are now complaining about the isolation and passivity of the laity at liturgies. The Eastern churches do not practice eucharistic devotions outside of the Divine Liturgy. Hence, Catholic devotions such as Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament are unknown. Sacramental Reconciliation Within the Church The Eastern churches practice private confession of postbaptismal sins to a priest. Such a confession takes place in front of the iconostasis. On a nearby stand have been placed a cross as well as an icon of the Savior or the book of the Gospels. After the penitent's confession of sins, the priest places his liturgical stole and his hands upon the penitent's head. Such a laying on of hands is seen as an important sign attesting to the power of the Holy Spirit to forgive sins. Originally in the East and West, confession of sin or exhomologesis was a public act consisting of enrollment on a list of sinners and public penance over a lengthy period of time for serious sins. By the fourth century, private confession was practiced and even associated with spiritual direction from monks or other holy persons. Sacramental confession or reconciliation in the East is not practiced as frequently as it is in modern Catholicism, especially up to the 1960s. The formulas of absolution in the Byzantine euchologia (collections of formal prayers) and penitentials use a prayer that is declaratory and avoids the first person, as in the case of baptism. The priest was rarely ever described as judge as in Western theological writings. Marriage In the teaching of the East, sacramental marriage requires the mutual consent of the believing Christian partners and God's blessing imparted through a priest of the church. The discipline of the Orthodox church accepts as sacramental only those marriages sanctified through a blessing by an Orthodox priest. The wedding service in the Byzantine tradition consists of two parts. The first part, the betrothal, takes place in the church's vestibule and includes the blessing of rings and their exchange. After a procession into the church, this is followed by the crowning, a term sometimes used for the marriage service. The bridal couple then follows the officiating priest in a circular procession to symbolize their spiritual journey to eternity. Basing their teaching on Ephesians 5, Eastern Christians regard marriage as a mysterion symbolizing the union between Christ and the church. As such there can only be one, eternal bond. Unlike the view of the West which sees marriage also as a legal contract that ceases with the death of one of the partners, for the East the bond perdures. Up to the tenth century, no second marriage, not even one performed after widowhood, was ever formally blessed liturgically in Eastern churches. A distinction was drawn between first and second marriages, and a special service was introduced for the latter, dissociated from the Eucharist and penitential in character. A second marriage was not the norm and hence somewhat deficient sacramentally. By the principle of synergy, that is humankind's cooperation with grace, marriage as a sacrament is seen as bestowing of God's grace but requiring human cooperation. The East combines a lofty ideal of indissolubility with realistic legislation that admits exceptions. Eastern teaching interprets the exception clause about divorce in Matthew 19:9 regarding porneia to apply to adultery. Adultery is seen as so incompatible with the nature of marriage that Jesus allowed a person to regard a matrimonial bond as non-existent after adultery. The church therefore simply testifies to a cessation when it grants a divorce. The church allows a decree of divorce and remarriage out of mercy in order to avoid greater evil and suffering. The Roman Catholic church prefers rather to declare if possible an annulment, stating that a marriage bond in fact never existed. To the Orthodox this seems a legal fiction contrary to the intuition of those many Christians in this situation who argue that a real marriage did in fact exist but has died. Eastern churches do not have marriage tribunals or ecclesiastical courts as such. The Orthodox are particularly concerned about the pastoral problems connected with mixed marriages in the diaspora, and how to provide religious education to the children of such marriages. Laying on of Hands: Sacrament of Order The sacramental life of the church also includes sharing in the ordained priesthood, which is conferred through the laying on of hands by a bishop. Ordination designates one permanently for service of the church's life and continued celebration of the Eucharistic liturgy. The Eastern Orthodox church allows the ordination of married men but does not allow them to remarry even after the death of a spouse once they have been ordained. Since the Synod of Trullo (a.d.691–692), only the unmarried are ordained or consecrated to the office of bishop. The liturgy of ordination to the priesthood contains four parts: the approval of the people asserting the person's worthiness (axios); the invocation or epiclesis of the Holy Spirit, praying for bestowal of grace; the laying on of hands by the bishop; and the clothing in liturgical vestments. Consecration to the episcopate is seen as entry into the fullness of priesthood. A bishop must be consecrated by at least three bishops concelebrating together. Official Eastern Orthodox teaching corresponds to Roman Catholic teaching in affirming the traditional exclusion of women from ordination to the priesthood based on the selection of men only as apostles by Jesus Christ and on what is seen as the necessity of the priest to serve as an iconic representation of Christ. Anointing with Oil for Healing In its teaching on the role of anointing of the sick with holy oil, the Eastern tradition preserves a double tradition, one which associates this anointing with the forgiveness of sins, and a second which draws upon James 5:14 ff. and stresses the healing of the sick. Hence there are really two separate liturgical anointings, one of which is the anointing for the forgiveness of sin even of the healthy at the liturgy of High Thursday, and another which is anointing of the sick. These anointings are both associated with the sacrament of reconciliation. The practice of anointing the sick, which is not frequently administered today in many Orthodox communities, has all the necessary elements of a mysterion: invocation of the Holy Spirit at the blessing of the oil, making it a material vehicle for the Spirit's power. The rite of Christian burial is also sometimes listed among the sacramental liturgies belonging to the Eastern church.