Church sacraments are understood to mean certain sacraments during which a special divine grace comes upon a person. There are seven sacraments in the Orthodox Church, these include: baptism, anointing, repentance (confession), the Eucharist (communion), unification (bare blessing), wedding and priesthood (ordination to the priesthood).
For a person who wants to become a member of the Christian church, holy baptism is necessary. During this sacrament, a person is adopted by God, enters into the community of people who believe in the Holy Trinity, united by a single hierarchy. In the sacrament of baptism, all sins are forgiven (the original sin is “erased” from infants), therefore, the baptized person becomes a saint for a time until the moment of the next commission of sin.
In modern times in Russia, along with the sacrament of baptism, anointing is performed. During this ritual, a person is given a special divine grace that helps the baptized to grow in a spiritual sense. This grace gives a person strength for spiritual perfection and a personal feat of faith.
After baptism, a person gradually loses holiness, since there is not one of the people who are left without sin. That is why for the Orthodox the sacrament of repentance (confession) is so necessary, during which a person repents of his sins before God, and the priest reads a permissive prayer over the repentant. In the sacrament of repentance, the Christian again purifies his soul.
The sacrament of the Eucharist consists in the Christian tasting the true Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ under the guise of bread and wine. In this sacrament, a man in a mystical, but real and effective way connects with God. Jesus Christ spoke of the need for the sacrament of communion, announcing to people that without the sacrament a person "has no life in himself."
Unction is another mystery of the Orthodox Church. In it, man is given divine grace, capable of healing various illnesses and ailments of the soul and body. Also, according to the teachings of the Orthodox Church, in the sacrament of unification, the forgotten sins are forgiven to the Christian.
Married couples resort to the sacrament of marriage in order to receive the blessing of God for living together, giving birth and raising children in the Orthodox faith. In this sacrament, the couple become one. From now on, they have everything in common.
The last Orthodox sacrament is the priesthood (ordination to the priesthood). This sacrament is performed by the bishop of the church. During the ordination, the bishop puts his hands on the head of the candidate for clergy and reads a specific prayer. During the sacrament of ordination, a special divine grace is served, elevating a person to the holy church rank.
