Sacrament (Lat. saeramentum, mysterium, Gr. mystêrion), the name given by theological writers to certain religious rites, the number as well as effects of which are the subject of much controversy between various bodies of Christians. The word saeramentum, in primitive classical usage, meant either the oath taken by soldiers on their first enrolment, or the sum of money deposited by suitors on entering upon a cause, and forfeited 'to sacred uses' by the unsuccessful party; and the corresponding classical Greek word mystêrion meant not merely the secret religious ceremonies practised in the worship of certain gods, but also any revealed secret. It is certain, nevertheless, that at a very early period of the Christian church both the Latin word and its Greek equivalent came to be applied specially to certain rites of the Christian ceremonial, and chiefly (or as is commonly held by Protestants, exclusively) to those of Baptism and the Eucharist. Of the catechetical lectures of St Cyril of Jerusalem the lectures devoted to the subject of Baptism and the Eucharist are called 'mystagogic lectures.' Here it will be enough to state concisely what are the views of the several religious communities on this much controverted subject, which formed one of the main grounds of division between the Roman Church and the Reformers of the 16th century.
In the Roman Church it is held that there are seven sacraments—viz. Baptism, Confirmation, the Eucharist, Penance, Extreme Unction, Holy Orders, and Matrimony. The special teaching of Catholics on each of these rites will be found under the several heads; but there are certain general principles regarding them all on which the Roman Catholic doctrine differs widely from that of the Reformed communities. Catholics define a sacrament to be a visible or sensible sign permanently instituted by God, and conveying real interior grace to the recipient, and they teach that all sacraments contain within themselves, as instruments, and, when they are received with proper dispositions, produce, such grace by the virtue imparted to them by God, and not merely through the faith of the recipient; although they hold that proper dispositions on the part of the recipient, as sorrow for sin, love of God, pious resolves, &c., are conditions indispensable for the efficacy of the sacramental rite (see OPUS OPERATUM). They divide the sacraments into two classes, 'sacraments of the living' and 'sacraments of the dead.' The first class comprises the Eucharist, Confirmation, Holy Orders, and Matrimony—all which sacraments can only be received fruitfully by persons in a state of grace or justification. The second includes Baptism, Penance, and Extreme Unction, the special purpose of which is to remit sin, and which therefore can be received by persons in a state of sin, but penitent for that sin, and resolved to amend their lives. Of three of the sacraments—viz. Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Orders—it is held that they imprint a 'character,' and therefore that they can only be received once. The others may be repeatedly received, but under conditions which will be learned under each separate head. Two things are held to enter into the constitution of the sacrament—viz. the 'matter' and the 'form.' By the former is meant the material element or the physical action whereby that element is applied to the recipient of the sacrament; as water in baptism, oil in extreme unction, and in both the act of washing or of anointing. By the latter is understood the form of words employed by the minister in communicating to the recipient the external rite in which the sacramental act consists. The minister of a sacrament is the person who is supposed to be divinely authorised to impart it. The Council of Trent anathematizes those who teach that there are more or less than seven sacraments. The Greek Church also recognises the seven sacraments.
The Reformed Churches have for the most part rejected these views. By the majority of them the sacraments are held to be merely ceremonial observances, partly designed as a solemn act, by which each individual is admitted to membership, or desires to make solemn profession thereof; partly intended to stimulate the faith and excite the fervour and the pious dispositions of the recipient, to which dispositions alone all the interior effects are to be ascribed. As to the number of rites called by the name, almost all Protestants agree in restricting it to two—viz. Baptism and the Lord's Supper; although some of the rites which Catholics regard as sacramental are retained by some of the Protestant communities as religious observances. Calvin defends the ceremony of ordination by imposition of hands, once even calling it a sacrament, though evidently not in the strictest sense of the word. In the English Church, however, there has always been a school in which opinion tending towards the Catholic view has prevailed. Not only have English Churchmen ascribed to the two rites of Baptism and the Eucharist or Lord's Supper (q.v.) the power of producing an interior grace (which in the former is called Regeneration, q.v.), but since the Tractarian movement many of them have been willing to call the other rites, especially Confirmation, Penance, and Holy Orders, by the name of sacrament, although of a secondary character, and not 'generally necessary to salvation.'
See the separate articles on the sacraments, especially BAPTISM, and LORD'S SUPPER, and works there cited; also ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH; and for the sacraments as recognised by the Orthodox Eastern Communion, see GREEK CHURCH, Vol. V. p. 396.