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The sacraments are personal — they are the means whereby God’s grace is appropriated to each individual Christian. In most of the sacraments, the [[presbyter|priest]] mentions the Christian name of each person as he administers the sacrament.
==Etymology==
The term ''sacrament'' is derived from the Latin ''sacramentum'', meaning "a consecrated thing or act," i.e., "something holy," "to consecrate;" which itself was a Church Latin translation of the Greek ''mysterion'', meaning "mystery."
==Seven==
There has never been a universal declaration within the Orthodox Church that there are only seven sacraments. Early Orthodox writers varied as to the number of sacraments: [[John of Damascus]] lists only two; [[Dionysius the Areopagite]] lists six; Joasaph, Metropolitan of Ephesus (fifteenth century), ten; and some Byzantine theologians who list seven sacraments differ on the items in their list.
The 15th decree of The Confession of Dositheus from the Synod of Jerusalem (A.D. 1672) says, "We believe that there are in the Church Evangelical Mysteries [i.e., Sacraments of the Gospel Dispensation], and that they are seven. For a less or a greater number of the Mysteries we have not in the Church; since any number of the Mysteries other than seven is the product of heretical madness. And the seven of them were instituted in the Sacred Gospel, and are gathered from the same, like the other dogmas of the Catholic Faith."
==Traditional==
==Cycles==
In a broader sense, the whole life of a Christian must be seen as a single mystery or one great sacrament. The different aspects are expressed in a great variety of acts, some performed only once in a lifetime (Baptism, Marriage), others perhaps almost daily (Confession, Eucharist).
==Sources==
[[el:Ιερά Μυστήρια]]
[[fr:Saints Mystères]]
[[mk:Свети Тајни]]
[[ro:Sfintele Taine]]
