The Holy Sacraments Receive their Power from
Christ’s Sacrifice
It was necessary to present the Sacrifice
offered for us by the Lamb of God and then to receive the Gift of the Holy
Spirit. Before Christ was Crucified and Ascended into Heaven “the Holy Spirit
was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” (John 7:39) It was
to be poured forth from on high after the Cross because before then, we were
enemies, (Rom. 5:10) having sinned and consequently, were deprived of the Gift
of God. When the Sacrifice was offered for us, not only did we receive the Enlightenment
of the Holy Spirit as did the Prophets of the Old Testament, but He now dwells
and abides within us causing us to become temples of God contrary to the
Prophets, of whom none ever became a temple of God. (St. John Chrysostom, in
Migne, P.G., 59, 84. St Cyril of Alexandria, To John, in Migne, P.G.,
73, 757)
Consequently the Source from which the
Divine Sacraments of the New Testament receive their supernatural Power, which
is distributed to those who partake of them, is the Sacrifice on the Cross of
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Who reconciled us to God the Father (Rom.
5:10. 2 Corinth. 5:18-20) and Who became the reason for sending the Holy Spirit
into the world by Whom we were “anointed” and “sealed” giving “us
the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.” (2 Corinth. 1:21, 22)
This truth was proclaimed by St.
Irenaeus who observed that if Christ did not truly suffer, He would have no
Grace, due to that lack of suffering. (St Irenaeus, Heresies, book III,
ch. 18, § 6, in Migne, P.G. 7, 936)
St. John Chrysostom, interpreting the
supernatural Event of the piercing of the Lord’s “side with a spear, and
immediately blood and water came out,” (John 19:34) observed that “not
only these fountains accidentally came out, but because from these two the
Church was composed, and those who participate in the Mystagogia are healed being
Regenerated through water, and being fed through (His) Blood and Flesh. Hence the
Sacraments receive their beginning.” (St John Chrysostom, To John,
Homily 85, in Migne, P.G., 59, 463)
Earlier than this, the great Father of
the Orthodox Church, Methodius of Olympus referred to the Church as the Lord’s “Wife.”
He presents her as being created from His Side, just as Eve was once created
from the side of Adam, (Gen. 2:21-22) and receiving from His side some kind of
Power enabling the growth of all those who are formed in her. (Methodius, Symposium,
III, 8, in Migne, P.G., 18, 73)
St. Augustine speaking of Baptism, observed
that this is the Saving Water because it is Sanctified through the Name of
Christ Who shed His Blood for us from this and through His Cross, the Water is
Sealed. (St Augustine, Sermo 352, § 3, in Migne, P.L., 39, 1551)
St. Cyril of Jerusalem accepts that
the outpouring of the Blood and Water from the Side of Christ are symbols of
the Saving Baptism and from which the Church was born. “As Eve was made from
the side of Adam, likewise we are from the Side of Christ.” (St Cyril of
Jerusalem, Catechesis, XII, § 11, in Migne, P.G., 33, 788) (Panteleimon
P. Lampadarios, The Holy Sacraments of the Eastern Orthodox Church [London:
Akakia, 2022], 16-17)
