Practice

Seven Sacraments

Devotional Practices

Origin 1150 to 1547

In Catholic teaching seven rites are held to have been instituted by Christ and to convey the grace they signify rather than merely to represent it. Baptism admits, confirmation seals with the Spirit, the Eucharist is the central act of worship, penance restores after sin, anointing of the sick strengthens the seriously ill and the dying, holy orders ordains deacons, priests and bishops, and matrimony makes a marriage a sign of Christ and the church. Three of them, baptism, confirmation and orders, are held to mark the recipient permanently and cannot be repeated. Ordinary Catholic life is structured around the two that recur, the Eucharist weekly or daily and confession periodically. The Orthodox churches perform the same rites but have never treated the number as fixed.

Facts

Practice

Category of Practice

The Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions recognise seven sacraments, baptism, confirmation or chrismation, the eucharist, penance, anointing of the sick, holy orders and marriage, understood as outward signs instituted by Christ conferring inward grace. 2

Who Performs Itthe subject's own account

All adherents of the tradition 1

Obligation

Obligatory 3

the subject's own accountCatholic teaching holds the sacraments of the New Covenant necessary for salvation, though not every sacrament is necessary for every individual; Mass attendance is obligatory each Sunday and holy day of obligation, and a person conscious of grave sin must receive the sacrament of Reconciliation before receiving communion.

Frequencythe subject's own account

Once, or at a turning point in a life 1

Solitary or Communalthe subject's own account

Performed by a gathered group 1

Status

Status Within the Traditionthe subject's own account

The Council of Trent (1545-1563) made the count of exactly seven sacraments binding Catholic doctrine, declaring anyone who denies there are seven to be anathema. 3

Current Statusthe subject's own account

During the second half of the 2010s some United States dioceses of the Latin Church returned to the original ordering of the three sacraments of Christian initiation, baptism, confirmation and then first Communion, reversing a twentieth century practice that followed Pope Pius X's 1910 decree moving first Communion earlier. 3

Standing as a Comparative Category

A standard analytic category in the study of religion 4

Observance

Observance Notethe subject's own account

Ordinary Catholic life is structured around the two that recur, the Eucharist weekly or daily and confession periodically. 1

Origins

Origin Periodthe subject's own account

1150 to 1547 1

Place of Origin

Paris, France 1

the subject's own accountPeter Lombard systematised the seven sacraments as a fixed number in Paris around 1150; the Council of Trent (1547, matching origin-period-end-year) confirmed the number at its own seat, Trent, in northern Italy.

Controversy

Point in Dispute

The Orthodox churches perform the same seven rites in substance but have never treated the number itself as a fixed article of doctrine the way Catholic teaching does, a difference in how binding the count is rather than in which rites are practiced. 2

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How the Rites Are Held to Work

The Catholic account is that a sacrament effects what it signifies, and a technical vocabulary exists to make that precise.

Each rite has matter and form: the physical element or action, and the words that accompany it. Baptism is water with the trinitarian formula; the Eucharist is bread and wine with the words of institution; confirmation is chrism with the words of sealing. Get either wrong and the rite may not have occurred, which is not a hypothetical concern. Rulings from Rome in 2020 and 2022 held that baptisms performed with the words we baptise you, rather than I baptise you, were invalid, and thousands of people in the United States and Australia were baptised again, along with everything that had been built on it, confirmations, marriages, in a few cases ordinations.

The rites are held to work by the working of the work, meaning that their effect does not depend on the holiness of the minister. That was settled in the fourth and fifth centuries against the Donatists, who held that sacraments administered by clergy who had lapsed under persecution were void. The settlement has been load-bearing ever since, because it means a corrupt or unbelieving priest still baptises validly, and the alternative would make every sacrament permanently uncertain.

Three rites, baptism, confirmation and holy orders, are held to impress a permanent character and cannot be repeated. A priest who is laicised remains a priest, and can still absolve a dying person. Marriage is the one in which the ministers are the couple themselves and the priest is a witness, which is a detail with considerable canonical consequences.

Where the Disagreement Is

Nearly every intra-Christian argument since the Reformation runs through the sacraments, and the questions are specific rather than atmospheric.

How many. The Reformers reduced them to two, baptism and the Lord's Supper, on the ground that only those were instituted by Christ in scripture. Trent defined seven in 1547 with an anathema attached. The Orthodox perform the same seven and more besides, but have never fixed a number by any council they recognise, and Orthodox theologians themselves describe the count of seven as a borrowing from Latin scholasticism that entered their usage through seventeenth-century confessions.

What the Eucharist is. Catholic teaching holds that the substance of bread and wine becomes the body and blood of Christ while the appearances remain, a formulation using Aristotelian categories and defined at the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215. Lutherans affirm a real presence without that explanation. Reformed theology in Calvin's line holds a spiritual presence received by faith. Zwingli and most traditions downstream of him hold it to be a memorial. These positions are not compatible with one another, the differences produced executions in the sixteenth century, and they still prevent shared communion in the twenty-first.

Who may receive, and when. Infant baptism is standard in Catholic, Orthodox and most Protestant practice, and is rejected by Baptists, Anabaptists and Pentecostals in favour of baptism on profession of faith, which is why they baptise again adults who were baptised as infants, and why the word Anabaptist means re-baptiser and was originally an insult. Orthodox churches give communion to infants immediately after baptism; the Latin church waits until around the age of seven.

Each of these is a live disagreement between existing churches, held by people who can state the opposing case accurately, which is not true of every religious dispute.

Connections

Belongs to Tradition

Armenian Apostolic Church

Kept in the Armenian Apostolic Church. The Coptic, Armenian, Syriac and Ethiopian churches keep the same seven mysteries, likewise baptising, chrismating and communicating infants in one service, each with its own rites and its own reckoning of the details.

Church of Cyprus

Kept in the Church of Cyprus, autocephalous since the Council of Ephesus in 431. The Orthodox perform the same rites but have never treated seven as a fixed count, calling them mysteries; chrismation follows infant baptism at once and communion is given to infants from then on, where the West defers both.

Church of Greece

Kept in the Church of Greece. The Orthodox perform the same rites but have never treated seven as a fixed count, calling them mysteries; chrismation follows infant baptism at once and communion is given to infants from then on, where the West defers both.

Coptic Orthodoxy

Kept in the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria. The Coptic, Armenian, Syriac and Ethiopian churches keep the same seven mysteries, likewise baptising, chrismating and communicating infants in one service, each with its own rites and its own reckoning of the details.

Eastern Orthodoxy

Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)

Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople

Kept in the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, the see of first honour among the Orthodox churches. The Orthodox perform the same rites but have never treated seven as a fixed count, calling them mysteries; chrismation follows infant baptism at once and communion is given to infants from then on, where the West defers both.

Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church

Kept in the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church. The Coptic, Armenian, Syriac and Ethiopian churches keep the same seven mysteries, likewise baptising, chrismating and communicating infants in one service, each with its own rites and its own reckoning of the details.

Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church

Kept in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. The Coptic, Armenian, Syriac and Ethiopian churches keep the same seven mysteries, likewise baptising, chrismating and communicating infants in one service, each with its own rites and its own reckoning of the details.

Georgian Orthodox Church

Kept in the Georgian Orthodox Church, which has used its own language and script in worship since the fifth century. The Orthodox perform the same rites but have never treated seven as a fixed count, calling them mysteries; chrismation follows infant baptism at once and communion is given to infants from then on, where the West defers both.

Greek Orthodox Church

Kept in the Greek Orthodox churches. The Orthodox perform the same rites but have never treated seven as a fixed count, calling them mysteries; chrismation follows infant baptism at once and communion is given to infants from then on, where the West defers both.

Maronite Church

The seven mysteries are held, in communion with Rome.

Oriental Orthodoxy

Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)

Roman Catholicism

Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)

Romanian Orthodox Church

Kept in the Romanian Orthodox Church, the one Orthodox church of the Byzantine tradition whose language is Romance. The Orthodox perform the same rites but have never treated seven as a fixed count, calling them mysteries; chrismation follows infant baptism at once and communion is given to infants from then on, where the West defers both.

Russian Orthodox Church

Kept in the Russian Orthodox Church, in the Slavonic recension of the Byzantine books. The Orthodox perform the same rites but have never treated seven as a fixed count, calling them mysteries; chrismation follows infant baptism at once and communion is given to infants from then on, where the West defers both.

Serbian Orthodox Church

Kept in the Serbian Orthodox Church. The Orthodox perform the same rites but have never treated seven as a fixed count, calling them mysteries; chrismation follows infant baptism at once and communion is given to infants from then on, where the West defers both.

Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church

The seven mysteries are held with Rome, and administered in the Byzantine manner.

Ukrainian Orthodox Church

Kept in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The Orthodox perform the same rites but have never treated seven as a fixed count, calling them mysteries; chrismation follows infant baptism at once and communion is given to infants from then on, where the West defers both.

Critiqued By

African Methodist Episcopal Church

Kept in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the first denomination in the United States founded by Black people. The Articles of Religion hold that there are two sacraments ordained of Christ, and that the other five are not to be counted for sacraments of the Gospel.

African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church

Kept in the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. The Articles of Religion hold that there are two sacraments ordained of Christ, and that the other five are not to be counted for sacraments of the Gospel.

Anglican Communion

Kept across the provinces of the Anglican Communion. Article XXV holds that there are two sacraments ordained of Christ in the Gospel, and that the other five are not to be counted for sacraments of the Gospel.

Anglicanism

Article XXV holds that there are two sacraments ordained of Christ in the Gospel, and that the other five are not to be counted for sacraments of the Gospel.

Source The Thirty-Nine Articles of ReligionChurch of Englandthe holders' own account

Baptist

Baptism and the Lord's Supper are two ordinances, not seven sacraments, and neither conveys grace.

Source The Baptist Faith and MessageSouthern Baptist Convention

Calvinism (Reformed)

The Confession holds that there are two sacraments only, baptism and the Lord's Supper, and that neither may be dispensed by any but a lawfully ordained minister.

Source The Westminster Confession of FaithWestminster Assemblythe holders' own account

Christian Methodist Episcopal Church

Kept in the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church. The Articles of Religion hold that there are two sacraments ordained of Christ, and that the other five are not to be counted for sacraments of the Gospel.

Church of England

Kept in the Church of England, the province from which the Prayer Book tradition comes. Article XXV holds that there are two sacraments ordained of Christ in the Gospel, and that the other five are not to be counted for sacraments of the Gospel.

Church of Ireland

Kept in the Church of Ireland. Article XXV holds that there are two sacraments ordained of Christ in the Gospel, and that the other five are not to be counted for sacraments of the Gospel.

Church of Scotland

Kept in the Church of Scotland, the established Presbyterian church of that country. The Confession holds that there are two sacraments only, baptism and the Lord's Supper, and that neither may be dispensed by any but a lawfully ordained minister.

Church of Sweden

Kept in the Church of Sweden, which retained the historic episcopate through the Reformation as few Lutheran churches did. Lutherans count the sacraments by the presence of a command of Christ and a promise attached to an outward sign, which yields two, or three when absolution is counted.

Church of the Nazarene

Kept in the Church of the Nazarene, which stands in the Wesleyan holiness line. The Articles of Religion hold that there are two sacraments ordained of Christ, and that the other five are not to be counted for sacraments of the Gospel.

Dutch Reformed Church

Kept in the Dutch Reformed tradition, which holds the Heidelberg Catechism among its confessional standards. The Confession holds that there are two sacraments only, baptism and the Lord's Supper, and that neither may be dispensed by any but a lawfully ordained minister.

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Kept in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Lutherans count the sacraments by the presence of a command of Christ and a promise attached to an outward sign, which yields two, or three when absolution is counted.

Free Methodist Church

Kept in the Free Methodist Church. The Articles of Religion hold that there are two sacraments ordained of Christ, and that the other five are not to be counted for sacraments of the Gospel.

Global Methodist Church

Kept in the Global Methodist Church, formed in 2022. The Articles of Religion hold that there are two sacraments ordained of Christ, and that the other five are not to be counted for sacraments of the Gospel.

Lutheranism

Lutherans count the sacraments by the presence of a command of Christ and a promise attached to an outward sign, which yields two, or three when absolution is counted.

Source The Augsburg ConfessionPhilipp Melanchthon

Methodism

The Articles of Religion hold that there are two sacraments ordained of Christ, and that the other five are not to be counted for sacraments of the Gospel.

Source The Book of Discipline of the United Methodist ChurchUnited Methodist Churchthe holders' own account

National Baptist Convention of America

Kept in the National Baptist Convention of America International. Baptism and the Lord's Supper are two ordinances, not seven sacraments, and neither conveys grace.

Presbyterianism

Two sacraments, baptism and the Lord's Supper, and the government of the church by presbyters rather than by bishops follow from the same principle: what is not warranted is not required.

Source The Westminster Confession of FaithWestminster Assemblythe holders' own account

Progressive National Baptist Convention

Kept in the Progressive National Baptist Convention. Baptism and the Lord's Supper are two ordinances, not seven sacraments, and neither conveys grace.

Quakerism (Religious Society of Friends)

The sacramental scheme itself is refused, not merely its number.

Source Quaker Faith and Practice: The Book of Christian Discipline of the Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends in BritainBritain Yearly Meetingthe holders' own account

The Episcopal Church

Kept in the Episcopal Church, whose own Prayer Book descends from the Scottish rather than the English line. Article XXV holds that there are two sacraments ordained of Christ in the Gospel, and that the other five are not to be counted for sacraments of the Gospel.

The United Methodist Church

Kept in the United Methodist Church. The Articles of Religion hold that there are two sacraments ordained of Christ, and that the other five are not to be counted for sacraments of the Gospel.

Wesleyan Church

Kept in the Wesleyan Church. The Articles of Religion hold that there are two sacraments ordained of Christ, and that the other five are not to be counted for sacraments of the Gospel.

Sources

1. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd edition

Holy See, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1997the holders' own accountView the Source

2. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 3rd revised edition

F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone (eds.), Oxford University Press, 2005View the Source

3. Sacraments of the Catholic Church (Wikipedia)

Wikipedia contributors, Wikipedia, 2026on the Council of Trent's binding seven-sacrament count, the 2010s reordering of the sacraments of initiation, and the obligation attached to receiving themView the Source

4. Encyclopedia of Religion

Mircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.), Macmillan Reference, 2005View the Source

The Westminster Confession of Faith

Westminster Assembly, 1646the holders' own accountView the Source

The Augsburg Confession

Philipp Melanchthon, 1530View the Source

The Baptist Faith and Message

Southern Baptist Convention, 2000View the Source

The Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church

United Methodist Church, The United Methodist Publishing Housethe holders' own accountView the Source

Quaker Faith and Practice: The Book of Christian Discipline of the Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends in Britain

Britain Yearly Meeting, Britain Yearly Meetingthe holders' own accountView the Source

The Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion

Church of England, 1571the holders' own accountView the Source

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