www.byzcath.org Forums Mysteries: The Life of Worship The Other Sacramental Mysteries The Signing of the Cross as a Sacramental

Another distinctive sacrament in the ACOE.

Source - ACOE, Archdiocese of Australia and New Zealand’s Website
Sacrament of the Sign of the Cross

http://assyrianchurch.org.au/about-us/the-sacraments/sign-of-the-cross

Source - Assyrian Church of the East Catechism
See Chapter 23 On the Holy Cross

http://www.acoeyouth.org/Learn/catechism/cat.html

Source - THE BOOK OF MARGANITHA (THE PEARL)
Written by Mar O'Dishoo, Metropolitan of Nisibis and Armenia, A.D. 1298
On the Number of the Church Sacraments

http://nestorian.org/book_of_marganitha_part_iv.html#partivchap1

Marriage is a sacrament. The sign of the cross is a sacramental. I am sorry, but to say that the sign of the cross serves as a substitute for marriage is, frankly, nonsense. I trust this is not the official position of the Assyrian Church of the East.

According to the sources I found - both Church of the East and outside - marriage is not an official sacrament in that Church. Father Adrian Fortescue, an early 20th century British Roman Catholic theologian, wrote "They [Church of the East] are (like most Easterns) rather vague as to the number of Holy Sacraments, inasmuch as they have not yet conceived a special class of rites distinct from the large number of what we call Sacramentals". [THE LESSER EASTERN CHURCHES. London: Catholic Truth Society, 1913, p. 138.] Christoph Baumer in his recent THE CHURCH OF THE EAST - AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF ASSYRIAN CHRISTIANITY [New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006, p. 121] says "In the Church of the East, neither extreme unction nor marriage is a sacrament...[marriage is called] 'a holy estate'". The Church of the East in the U.S. (where its Patriarch resides in the Chicago area) does not publish many official English language religious education materials. Instead, it reproduces historical works (in English translation) which do not include marriage as one of their seven sacraments.

Great post! The Church of the East should remain faithful to its own tradition.

LC:

Christ is in our midst!!

It's not the job of the Latin Church to define what other Apostolic Churches should or should not hold as official positions. If you read the catechism of the Church of the East, you find what their teaching is--their approach to the Mystery of God among us. Their approach is shaped by the way the Holy Spirit lead them in the particular environment they have lived in for the past two millenia.

If you step back and see what they are saying, you find that they have been persecuted for the entire period of their existence. They haven't had the peace of Constantine. They've lived in isolation in an empire other than that in which we and the Orthdoox developed. So if their understanding of things is a bit different, it is that--different.

Orthodox theologians are not unanimous in their numbering of the Mysteries of the Faith. Some Byzantine writers add the coronation of the sovereign and the burial service as sacraments. Some seem to speak of the fact that whatever the Church sanctifies is somehow linked to the whole Mystery of God walking and living among us.

So it's not our job to bring the understanding of the Council of Trent here to educate them. We are here to learn to see the world through the eyes of others so as to better understand them, to learn from them, and to find a way to walk together with them to the Kingdom.

In Christ,

Bob

Interestingly, no one has mentioned that in the Polish National Church which is probably the single non-Roman Catholic Church most like the RCC, there are seven sacraments but one of the is the recitation of the word of God. Obviously, this numbering of the sacraments is a tricky issue.

It has always seemed that on this forum the education about and understanding of others is the point and no one here has all of the answers.

You are correct, and thanks for mentioning one of my "favorite" non-Roman Catholic Churches, the PNCC.

At its 1909 Second Synod, that Church joined Baptism and Confirmation into one Sacrament and then added the Word of God as the seventh Sacrament - "Hearing the Word of God preached according to the teachings of Christ the Lord and the Apostles, has sacramental force, that is, it causes in us the same effects as does the receiving of the other sacraments".
THE POLISH NATIONAL CATHOLIC CHURCH: Minutes of the First Eleven General Synods 1904-1963. Scranton: PNCC, 2002, p. 50.

Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J., wrote on the PNCC:

The second sacrament is “The Word of God, read, expounded or listened to.” This is Hodur’s own invention, though the idea was clearly borrowed from Protestant sources. More than merely sacramental, the Word of God is called “a great Sacrament of the Christian National Church.” Accordingly, those who reverently teach and explain the word of God are “fulfilling the highest duty attainable by man,” because they are proclaiming the very will of God. This is the active administration of the Sacrament; on the passive side, they who worthily listen to the Word become united with Christ and in Him are born again.... By making the “Word of God” an eighth sacrament, Hodur elevated the factor of nationalism to the sphere of revelation. For a person to receive this “sacrament” he must understand in his native language the meaning of the “divine message” spoken to him by the preacher. In historical context, this meant that unless the immigrant heard the word of God preached in his mother tongue, he would be deprived of a sacrament instituted by Christ and necessary for salvation.

http://www.therealpresence.org/archives/Protestantism/Protestantism_051.htm#_ftn13

The Signing of the Cross was developed as an Eastern Christian Sacramental and was 'gifted' to the West.

http://www.catholica.com.au/andrewstake2/147_print.php

The Sign of the Cross as a sacrament makes sense to me. What is a sacrament? A sacrament is "an outward sign instituted by Christ to give grace" (Baltimore Catechism) In a link provided by the member who started this thread I find the words "It is through the Holy cross we see Christ, and worship Him as our Lord and Savior. It is through the Holy Cross that we see His greatness, confessing Him, for it is through the Holy Cross which provides salvation for humankind." (Assyrian Church of The East Catechism http://www.acoeyouth.org/Learn/catechism/cat.html) This is in response to the question "Why is the Holy Cross considered Sacrament in the Holy Church of Christ of our Lord?" The cross is a sacrament in the basic sense. Every cross is "an outward sign instituted by Christ to give grace," and performing The Sign of the Cross daily with prayer brings a person closer to Christ's grace.