Holy Sacraments
In the Orthodox Church, a Sacrament is a Holy Mystery, and the Church recognize the seven Holy Mysteries:
Baptism, Chrismation, Eucharist, Healing with Oil, Marriage, Reconciliation, and Ordination.
The Holy Mysteries are way we participate in the divine grace and worship of God as in every Divine Mystery there is an outward sign and an inner-indelible mark on the soul.
Saint Dymphna's does not discriminate in the conferring of Holy Sacraments, all are welcome to receive the Holy Mysteries of the Church. If you are in need of a Sacrament, please contact us below:
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Baptism
Baptism is the sacrament of admission to the life of Christianity. It is performed by triple immersion in a body of water and with the invocation, “The servant of God Xx, is baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit" as a sign of the death and Resurrection of Christ. Newly baptized adults and children are admitted immediately after their baptism to both Chrismation and Holy Eucharist; the Eastern Christian tradition maintains the meaning of baptism as the beginning of a new life nourished by the Eucharist.
Chrismation
Chrismation is the Eastern equivalent of confirmation in the West. A priest anoints the forehead, eyes, nostrils, mouth, ears, breast, hands, and feet of the newly baptized with chrism (myrrh), a mixture of olive oil and balsam that is confected by the primates of the local churches, and says at each anointing, “The seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit.” The sacrament may also be administered to certain non-Orthodox Christians whose baptisms are recognized as valid when they are admitted into Orthodoxy and to lapsed Orthodox when they are readmitted to the church.
Communion
Eastern theology has taught that the invocation of the Holy Spirit upon the elements (Greek epiklÄ“sis) is part of the essential form of the Eucharist. One other major difference is the Eastern use of leavened rather than unleavened bread for the host, the bread that becomes Christ’s body. In the East the culminating point of the prayer is not in the remembrance of Christ’s act but in the invocation of the Holy Spirit, which immediately follows: "Send down Thy Holy Spirit upon us and upon the Gifts here spread forth, and make this bread to be the precious Body of Thy Christ."
Marriage
Marriage is celebrated through a rite of crowning, performed with great solemnity and signifying an eternal union, sacramentally “projected” into the kingdom of God. Orthodox theology of marriage insists on its sacramental eternity rather than its legal indissolubility.
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Informational source: Here
Confession
In general Orthodox practice confession is generally viewed as a form of spiritual healing rather than as a tribunal. The relative lack of legalism reflects the Eastern patristic understanding of sin as an internal passion and as an enslavement. The external sinful acts—which alone can be legally tried—are only manifestations of humanity’s internal disease.
Anointing the Sick
The ritual anointing of the ill is administered to give strength and comfort to the ill and to mystically unite their suffering with that of Christ during his Passion and death. It can be given to those who are afflicted with serious illness or injury, those who are awaiting surgery, the weakened elderly, or to ill children who are old enough to understand its significance.