THE SACRAMENTAL LIFE

FR. TADROS Y. MALATY

 

 

 

 

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SACRAMENTS AND CHURCH LIFE

I am delighted to write here about church sacraments, for
in fact practising church sacraments gives us enjoyment
through the exceeding love of God and the free divine grace.
Such are the practical gospels in the actual church life, that
through them believers discover the mystery of the Gospel.

In brief I can say that the sacraments grant us the following blessings:

 

1. Practical divine grace: If teaching the divine grace is
the   heart and centre of the Gospel, we attain this grace
through the sacraments, as it is written in the Holy Bible:

 

In the sacrament of Baptism, we attain the rebirth, not of
our own merit nor by a human hand but by the Holy Spirit
(John 3:3-5; Tit. 3:5). We also receive God’s adoption (Gal.
3:26, 27), attain the remission of sins (Acts 2:38) and

sanctification (Eph. 5:25-26).

 

Through "Chrism" (Mayroun) we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit who teaches us, guides us and sanctifies us, so that we may attain the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Acts 8:17; 19:5,6).

Through   penance and confession, the Holy Spirit grants us the remission of sins (Matt. 16:19).

 

 

 

 

 

In the Eucharist, the church is lifted up as if to heaven so that
she  meets  her  heavenly  Saviour,  participates  with  the
heavenly host in their hymns, and partakes of the Body and
the Blood of the Lord to be united with Him, established in
Him and to live forever with Him (John 2:35,55; Matt.
26:27,28; 1 Cor. 10:17).

Through the Sacrament of holy unction the sick who accepts to be united with Christ in His sufferings attains the remission of sins (by repentance) and the healing of his body (James 4:14; Mark 6:13).

Through the Sacrament of marriage the couple are united together, and the Holy spirit sets their home as the holy church of God...

Through the Sacrament of priesthood, Jesus Christ, the Unique Chief-Priest acts in those whom the Holy Spirit grants the grace of priesthood (Matt. 28:19-20; Eph. 4:11; Acts 20:28; 1 Tim. 4:14; 2 Tim. 1:16).

 

These exceeding divine acts are the free grace of God offered to believers through His Church.

 

2. The free divine actions for human sanctification:

These actions are called "Sacraments," for they are divine
and  they  surpass  the  human  mind.  The  believer
acknowledges the Holy Trinity acting to his advantage, so
that he may become son of God sanctified by the precious
Blood. He participates with the heavenly creatures in their
supreme  life, and enjoy God's action in his conjugal life, and
the divine providence in his sickness etc. These sacraments

 

 

 

 

have an evangelic spirit, I mean they do not ignore the human side.

 

In more details, I say that God  grants man special honor
because of His love to him. Thus God acts by him and
through him and does not ignore him. For example, no
heavenly or earthy creatures has the power to grant a human
being to be a child of God. This is the work of the Holy
Spirit in baptism, according to the merits of the Cross, but it
is performed by the priest. God appreciates giving man this
honour, but the Sacrament is effectively God’s work and not
the priest’s.

Someone may ask: Why does not God grant His gifts to the believer directly and not through the priest? we reply that when God the Son became man, He honoured all mankind by acting through them, calling them, sanctifying them and granting them the grace of priesthood.

When God the Son was incarnate for our salvation, He took a true Body from Virgin Mary who had a positive role...  We  considered  this  as  an  honour  to  mankind. Likewise, God asks men to have a positive role,  so that He may reveal Himself through men.

3. Proclaiming the nature of the church: Someone may
misuse the sacraments, as sources of authority and not for
serving others. This in turn may cause anger and protest
against  church authority. The Coptic Church however deals
with  the  believers  in  a  motherly  way  through  these
sacraments. The Holy Trinity grants gifts to the believer
through His Church that has the image of Christ, and carry
His likeness.

 

 

 

 

For example, the believer who receives rebirth in baptism,
looks to the church as his mother who begot him by the Holy
Spirit as a son of God. This gift of adoption unites him
spiritually with other members so that he will not feel
isolation nor live in individualism. In his conjugal life, a
husband meets his wife as one with him through the loving
church, looking at his relation with her as an image of the
relation of Christ and the Church.

 

Practising the sacraments in spirit and truth without misusing authority proclaims the motherhood of the church, her unity, her spiritual existence and her message concerning the salvation of every soul, far away from the spirit of administration and human organisation.

 

4. Proclaiming our concept to the whole creation: God
the Word who surpassed all materials; became a true Man;
who ate, drank, worked and sanctified our view, not only on
the body that He took, but even on our daily life and the
materials we use. We find no defilement in food, or look at
the creation in enmity or as an element of darkness.

Using materials in sacraments, like water in Baptism, oil
in the Holy Unction, bread and wine in the Eucharist, metal
crown in baptism and marriage celebration, priests' vestments
etc. grant us an honourable view on materials, for we see
God's hand that sanctifies everything for our salvation.

 

OUR CONCEPT OF CHURCH SACRAMENTS

Sacraments are vital and essential to the believers; they are the means of practising the evangelic thoughts, besides receiving the grace of God and the action of the Holy Spirit in the Church of Christ, so that all believers might be lifted up to the bosom of the Father.

 

 

 

 

Here, I wish to explain in brief our concepts of every sacrament:

1. In the Coptic rite of Baptism there are two essential
lines; denying Satan and the acceptance of God's work. In
other words, in baptism the believer is transferred from being
belonged to Satan through subjection to his works, to
receiving God’s adoption, and being His. He denies the
kingdom of the devil to receive within himself that of Christ,
turning towards the east, where the sun of Righteousness
shines,  instead of the west, which is a symbol of darkness.

In this rite, the church deposits the newly baptized into the hands of a godparent giving him firm commandments, to be responsible of, and do his best to present the evangelic church life to the newly baptized.

 

The Coptic church insists that baptism is performed by immersion, except in necessary cases such as illness; whereas the baptized person is buried with Christ and also risen with Him to enjoy the new risen life (Rom. 6:4-6).

 

2. In the rite of Chrism, the body is anointed with holy oil
thirty-six times, as a symbol of the sanctification of the soul
and body together, so that man in his wholeness, becomes a
temple of the Holy Spirit. All members of the body-even
those which are inferior-are anointed with the holy Chrism,
for there is no defiled or shameful member of the body.

 

Putting on new white clothes         (and also a crown in

ancient), refers to enjoying the pledge of  the crowned,  pure and heavenly life.

3. In the rite of penance and confession, the priest and the
confessor feel that they are together under the guidance of

 

 

 

 

the Holy Spirit, which convicts men of sins, and forgives sins in order to obtain a communion with the Holy Trinity.

 

The believer does not feel ashamed of discovering his own weakness, in the presence of his spiritual father who takes care of his salvation, and who feels as if he was partaker with his sons of their weaknesses.

4. In the Eucharist, the church is lifted up to heaven, through the One unrepeated Sacrifice, the life giving and ever present One.

In this sacrament, the church prays for her children, for the whole world, for the salvation of mankind, and for their life on earth etc. For she appeals to God's heart that is tender with love, and His ears that hear her petitions.

5. In the Holy Unction, the petition for spiritual blessings
are correlated to the temporal ones, so that the sick person
may obtain remission of sins and healing of the soul and
body.

 

6. In the sacrament of marriage, the rite is concentrated on revealing the heavenly crown, that the hearts of all who are present may be lifted up to the heavenly marriage, and that the couple acknowledge that their conjugal life is a shadow of the church in heaven.

 

7. In the sacrament of priesthood, the person obtains this
grace to wash the feet of God's people, not by himself, for he
is unworthy of this ministry, but by Christ the Servant of
mankind on behalf of their salvation. The priest receives
"fatherhood" not by his own merit, but by the act of God's
Fatherhood in him. He says with St. John: "My children" 1