Sacraments (Hastings' Dictionary)

The word sarramcntum (sacrare = 'to dedicate') originallj' meant 'something set apart as sacred, consecrated, dedicated.' As a technical legal term it was used of the sum which the two parties to a suit deposited in snrro, and of which the winner of the suit recovered his part, while the loser forfeited his to the (craritim. Hence it came to mean the suit itself, catisa contro- versia (Smith, Diet. o/Gr. and Horn. Ant. ii. p. 958).

Sacramentum was also used actively of the ' thine which sets apart and devotes.' As a technicEil military term it designated either the ' preliminary engagement' entered into by recruits, or (mucn more often) the ' military oath of obedience' to the commander. Under the Empire the xacramenttcm which soldiers were obliged to take to their imperator was often taken by subjects, whether citizens or provincials, to the emperor (Tac. Ann. i.

7, 8), in recognition of \\\s proconsvlare imperium thioughout the Empire. I'rom Horace (Od. II. xvii. 10) onwards it is sometimes used of any ' oath or solemn engagement.' The lirst ajipearance of the word sacrnmentmn in connexion with Christianity may be called acci- dental. It occurs in a familiar passage in the frequently quoted letter (Ep. 96) of the younger I'liny to the Em))eror Trajan. It was stated of the Bithynian Christians quod essent soliti .

stato die ante lucem convcnire carmettque Christo quasi dco diccre secnm inrircm, scque Sacramento non in scelu-'! aliquod obstringere. There is not much doubt that the witnesses whom Pliny quotes referred to the obligation under which every Christian lies to renounce the devil and all his works, and of whicli the public service of the Church reminds him. Possibly the service to which allusion is made contained an express re- newal of the baptismal pledge.

That Pliny uses the word sacramentum to express this obligation or pledge is no more than an interesting coinci- dence. It was a natural word to use ; and neither ju.ijurandum nor promiss^im would have expressed the meaning better.

Yet Lightfoot is inclined to think that it means 'sacrament ' in the Christian sense, and that Pliny has here 'confused the two sacraments,' the wording pointing to the baptismal pledge, while the context about the early hour and the stated day points to the eucharist (Epp. of S. Iqtiatius, vol. i. p. 52).

It may be doubted whether tlie word sacrami'ntum had as yet acquired amonjj Christians any specially Christian meaning; and it is improbable that the Bithynian Christians used the word in a technical sense, or that Pliny uses the word because they had done so. The word is his, not theirs ; and he employs it in the ordinary classical sense. As a Christian term, sacramentum makes its lirst api)eaiaiice in the Old Latin and in Tertullian. Both in Lat;Vet. and Vulg.

it is sometimes used to translate /luimjmoi'. Cod. Bob. (k) has it Mt 13" ; Cod. Palat. (e) Lk 8'" ; Cod. Clar. (h) Eph 1" 3»- » 5", 1 Ti 3»- '», Ro 16" ; Vulg. has it Eph 1» 3» (not ') » 5", Col 1" (not "), 1 Ti 3" (not »), Rev l*" 17' (not »). 328 SACKAMENTS SACRAMENTS But the more common rendering of /ivtrrripiov is mystermm ; and sometimes in consecutive verses first one word is used and then tlie otlier.

In OT sacrament um occurs Dn 2'- ""• ■" 4, To 12', \\is 2^^ 6-'', in all which places LXX has imffrripiov. But Mi/steHum is also found, sometimes siile by side with sacratnc7Umn (Dn 2"- '^' ^' "), even in the same verse ('). Tertullian uses sacramenttim as the rendering of ixvaTi^piov in passages where Vulg. has inysteriuin (1 Co 13'^, lies. 23; 1 Co 14^, adv. Marc. V. 15 ; Eph 6'», adv. Marc. v. 18). It is his usual word.

Three elements seem to have been at work in determining the Christian use of the word : (1) the original passive sense, ' a thing set apart as sacred ' ; (2) the active sense, ' that which sets apart, ' especially an oath or pledge of fidelity ; (3) the Greek term ixuariipiov, to which it was regarded as equivalent. It is obvious that all these ideas coalesce very well respecting those rites which have been called sacraments, especially baptism and the eucharist.

But in the first instance the use of the term was very much wider. It was used to designate not only religious rites, but doctrines and facts. Almost any external form, wliether of word or action, which conveyed or symbolized a religious meaning might be called a sacramentum. It will be worth while to examine some of the passages in which the word occurs in Tertullian and Cyprian.

Tertullian, after pointing out that even the heathen recognize avoidance of the public shows as the mark of a Christian, remarks that the man who puts aside the mark of the faith plainly denies the faith. Nemo in castra hostlum transit . . nisi dcstitutis signis et sacramentis principis sui {de Sjyect. xxiv.) Again, with regard to God 'a prohiliition of idolatry, he says : Huic Sacramento militrtns ab hostibns provocor. Par s^im illis, si illis maniis dedero.

Hoc defcndendo depugno in acie, ciUneror, concidor, occidor. Quis nunc militi suo exitum voluit, nisi qui tali Sacramento cum consiij- navit (Scorp. iv.) In both these passages we have little more than the Roman military oath used metaphorically of the Christian's allegiance to Gcd. In Apul. vii. we get a stage further, when he calls the horrible rite, of which Christians were often accused, in which a child was killed and eaten, sacramentum infantiridii.

It is in this treatise that the use of the word is specially frequent. In contending that Judaism, and therefore Christianity, is far more ancient than heathenism, he says : ipsa ternpla et oracula et snera unius interim priiphetw scrinium sceculis vincit, in quo videtur thesaurus collomtus totius Judaici sacrainenti et inde jam nustri (xix.) ; where sacramentum seems to mean ' revelation,' or 'religion,' or 'dispensation.'

It has a similarly indefinite meaning in the challenge respecting Christian abstention from heathen temples and nocturnal rites : omnem hinc sacramenti nostri ordincm hnurite, rejierrussis ante tamen opinioni- bus falsis (xv.) In tlie plural the word is used of the doctrines of the Christian faith. Whence, he asks, did pagan philosophy get its doctrine of future rewards and punishments? Nonnisi de nostri) sacramentis (xlvii.) OT types he calls fiqurarum sacramenta {adv. Marc. v. 1).

In the treatise de Baptismo we reach the more definite use of the term. It opens with the words, Felix sacramentum aquce nostrce, quia ablutis delictis pristincB cmcitotis in vitam ceternam liberamur. And so also of the eucharist : Proinde panis et calicis sarramento jam in evangelio probavimus corporis et sanguinis dominici veritatem adversus phantasma Marcionis (adv. Marc. v. 8). And again of both sacraments : ad sacramentum baptis- matis et euchnristite admittens (ib. iv. 34).

Cyprian seems to have learned from his ' master ' to use the word sometimes in its classi. cal sense, sometimes with a vagueness which was possibly deliberate, sometimes quite definitely of baptism and the eucliarist. Of Christian martyrdoms he says : 0 quale illud fuit spec- taculum Domini, qvam sublime, quam magnum, quam Dei oculis sacrainento ac aevotione militia ejus acceptum (Ep. x. 2).

So of a supposed be- trayal of the Christian faith, he says : divinie militiiE sacramenta solvantur, castrorum civlcs- tium signa dedantur (Ep. Ixxiv. 8). He calls the Passover a sacramentum (de C'ath. Ec.clcs. unit.) But it is not easy to define its meaning when he speaks of ccclesicB Veritas et evangclii ac sacra- menti unitas (Ep. liv. 1), or, again, of veritatis jura et sacramenta (Ep. Ixxiii. 2u). Couip. sacra- menta ccelestia (Ep. Ixxiv. 4), a phrase which he uses several times.

He saj's that totum Jidei sacra- mentum in confessione Christi nominis esse digestum (Ep. XXX. 3) ; and that the Lord's Prayer contains many and great sacramenta (de Dom. Oral. 9) ; where ' doctrine ' seems to be the meaning. In baptism, water and the Spirit are each of them called a sacramentum ; and, as distinct from here- tical baptism, those who receive the Church's baptism utroque sacramento nascuntur (Ep. Ixxiii. 21). Immediately afterwards he uses baptismi sacramentum of the whole rite.

So also of the eucharist he says : Item in sacerdote Melchisedech sacrifcii dominici sacramentum prcBJiguratum videmus (Ep. Ixiii. 3). He calls the consecrated wma sacramentum calicis * (deLapsis, xxv. ); and he appears to call the whole rite sacramentum crucis, wlien he says, de sacramento crucis et cibum sumis et potum (de Zelo et Livore, x vii. ). On Cyprian's use of sacramentum, see an important note by E. W. Watson in Studia Biblica, iv. p. 253.

Augustine says that the bread and wine idea dicuntur siicramenta, quia in eis aliud videtur, aliud intclligitur (Serm. 272). And again that Signa cum ad res divinas pertinent, sacramenta appelantur (Ep. cxxxviii.) But there must be re- semblance between the two : si cnim sacramenta guamdam similitudinem earum rerum quarum sacramenta s-unt non haberent, omnino sacra- menta non essent (Ep. xcviii.) Sacraments are verba visibilia, sacrosam-ta quidem, veruntamcn mutabilia et temporalia (con.

Faustum, xi.K. 16). Accedit verbuin ad elementum et Jit sacramentum, etiam ips^im tanquam visibile verbum (in Joh. Tract. 80). In one place he enumerates baptism, unction, the euchanst, and imposition of liands as sacraments t (de Bapt. con. Don. v. 28); in another he asks, Quii novit Dei omnia sacramenta f Quid ait Apostolus f Si sciero omnia sacramenta, si habeam omnem prophctiam (Serm. ad Ccesar. eccles. plebem, 3). This last passage is specially interesting, because in Vulg.

the word is not used [though Aug. testifies that Old Lat. read sacramenta] ; it has, si hahucro proplietiam et noverim mysteria outnia (1 Co 13'-). The general outcome is on the whole this, that the word sacramentum had two main uses, one veiy vague, and the other fairly definite. On the one hand, it might be used of anything, whether word, statement, or fact, which expressed • In harmony with this idea Rabanus Maunis (d* Cler. iniii- tutione, i. 24, 31 ; Jliifne, /'u(. Lai. cvii.

316) makes baptism, unction, the body, and the blood of the Lord to be four sacra- ments, exi>rcssly counting the body and the blood us two. Paschaaius Iladbertus is said to do tlie same ; but he speaks o( sacrajnentum (not -(a) corporis et eanguinia (de Corp. et Sang. Dom. iii. 2, 4 : Mijfne, cxx. 127.'>). t Similarly m a passage which was quoted almost vn-hatim at the be^nningr ot Art. 28 (=25) in the Articles of 1563: .Sacra- vientU numero paucisnmU, observatione /acUthnie.

gitjnifica- tiorif prtvstantusiinis, wcietatein nnvi popxdi coU'njavit [Cnris- tus], gimti e*rt baptismut Triniiatis nomine connecraixis. coin- municatio corporis et sanfjuinis ipsitu, et ei quid aliud in seripturis canonicis cmtvmendatur {Ep. 64 ; cf. de Doct. Chr. iii. 9). SACRAMEXTS SACRIFICE 329 or implied religious truth. On the other, it was apijlud to cerUiin Christian rites, not fixed in number, but understood to be few, of which the chief were baptism and the eucharist.

No rit« had a better claim to be called a sacrament than these two, which fully realized the ideas connoted by the term, and were instituted by the Lord Uini3elf.

Hut there were other rites, mentioned in Scripture and sanctioned by the Church, to which the term might rightly be given; and the lite which was commonly placed side by side with these two as being of almost equal rank was unction or chrism, which is generallj' ajiplicable to all Christians and has at least the authority of ajiostolic tradition.

The number three was no doubt attractive ; but still more so the number seven ; and it is remark- able that a list of seven sacraments does not seem to have been made earlier than the l'2th cent., when lirst Gregory of Bergamo {clc Euehar. 14), and then Peter Lombard (Sent. IV. ii. 1) fix on this limit. It was adopted by Thomas Aquinas and stereotyped by the Council of Trent. Hut it is neither scriptural nor logical. Our choice lies between two and an indelinite number.

* Scripture plainly marks out two. They were instituted by Christ, and He Himself ordained the outward visible signs for them. In whatever sense Christ may be supposed to have instituted any of the other five, — conlirmation, penance, unction, orders, and matriniony, — He ordered no special sign for them ; and it is rash to say more than that they are among the more important of the many rites to which the name of sacrament may be given.

t For a discussion of any one of the seven see the separate articles in the dictionaries. Hut with regard to matrimony it may be here pointed out that the Vulgate rendering of Eph 5'- s'lr.ramcn- tuin hoc mnr/num est, had considerable inlhience in causing marriage to be re";arded as a sacrament. There is a diflerence oetwecn the two great sacraments of the Gospel, in that baptism may be received once only, and the eucharist daily. The one confers an indelible character; the otner does not.

The same dillerunce divides the other five. Confirmation and orders resemble bajitism. Once baptized, always baptized ; once confirmed, always confirmed ; once a priest, always a priest. No one may have these rites repeated for hmiself ; nor is there any need of repetition. But penance and unction admit of repetition. Matrimony belongs partly to the one class and partly to the other.

No repetition of the rite is admissible between the same two parties ; but when death has removed one, the other is free to have the rite repeated. Augustine writes thus of baptism and orders: utruiiu/iie enim sacramentum est ; et quadam con- »et:mti(tne utrunique homini dcitur: illiid, cum brtjiliz'ttnr, isluil, cum ordinatur : idcoque in Ciitlwlica vtruiiique nun licet iterari {Con. en. Par- men, ii. 28).

A\ ith regard to matrimony he says that its benefits are threefold, fides, proles, sacra- mentum ; and he explains the last, ut conjugium twn scji'trc.tur, et dimiasus aut dimissa nee causa prolLi iiltcri conjungatur (de Gen. ix. 12 : cf. con. t'aust. xix. 2(1; ili; Supt. et Cvnciiji. i. U). See, fur- ther, llainack, IJist. of Dogma [Kng. tr.], vi. 201 If.

* Hugo de 6U Vtctore, following Ihe Au^^uatinian definition of a •acranienl oji r^i nacra signum, cnnnieraU-8 some twenty or thirty lemer Moranu>nt«, iw the ritiml use of holy water, of MtheH, of palm-branches, of the paochal candle, of bcllH, and of curtains; also certain actJi, on Dialling the si^ of the cross, bowinif the head or the knee ; and certain utterances, oif hoini- niM rohUcum, Alifluia, the recitation of the Z>epro/u7w/ij«, the JuMlal', the Creed, etc. (d« Sacrammtit, II. ll.

1-9; Migne, Pat. hat. clxxvl. <7I). t Tile anointing of a king, the washing of the salnta" feet, and the salt given in certain Latin rite's to catechumens, have all been called ' sacrament*,' r.i;. in the (}elai«ian Sacranientary is a prayer tU htec crtatura Muu in nomine Trinilatit t.Jjiciatur talMtare tacramentuin. The question, whether there were sacraments under the OT, is, like the question of the number of sacraments under the N 1", to a large extent a question of definition.

What is meant by a sacra- ment? Definitions which exclude all but baptism and the eucharist of course exclude all OT rites. Hut those who, with Augustine, regard sacra- ments as essential to the life of a religious com- mnnity must allow sacraments to the Jewish Church. Yet if, as he holds, the sacramental character of marriage consists in its indissolubility, thxn marriage, which is a sacrament under the Christian dispensation, was not a sacrament under the Jewish, which allowed divorce.

The sacrifices and other rites were sacraments to the Jews, necessary then, but superfluous now. The differ- ence is this : sacramenta Novi Testamcnti dant scdutem, ; sacraiiwnta Veteris Testamenti pro- miicrunt Salvatorem. . Mutata sunt sacra- menta; facta sunt ficiliora, pauciora, salubriora, fcliciora (in Ps. Lxxiii. 2). Both, however, tell of the passion and resurrection of Christ, the one by promising, the other by commemorating (con. tavst. xix. 16). LiTKRATtHR.

— Juenin (French Oratorian), Commentariut liuitnriciu et Dfxjniaticits de SaeraiiwntU, Lyons, 1717; Uhar- don, Uuituire (U^ ."iacret/ients, Paris, 1745 ; Uahii (Protestant), Ditctriiux Romaruf dc Suiiu-ro .Sacrajnentwuin geplt'iiario rationeji kistoricoi, Breslau, 1S59, and i>(> hrhre von den Sacra- menteii, 1864. Moi^t uomni. on the XX.\1.K Articles discuss the question and quote literature ; alao uio^it Theolo>;ical Dictiouariea. A. PLUMMER.