By the way, I have an idea on how to effect ecumenical reconciliation between Protestants and the Eastern churches on the number of sacraments. So, firstly, it is not absolutely established in the Eastern Orthodox church that there are seven sacraments, in that this was not put into effect by a church council, so I have encountered Orthodox Christians who consider additional things to be of a sacramental character, just as there are a minority of Orthodox Christians who believe there are eight, nine or even ten ecumenical councils (they are including the Council of Trullo, which was held in between the fifth and sixth ecumenical councils and served only to adopt canon law, but it was not accepted by the Western church, and the Photian Synod, which rejected the filioque, and the Palamist synod, which upheld the theological explanation of St. Gregory Palamist concerning Hesychasm and mystical theology which we see documented, for example, in the writings of St. Symeon the New Theologian, against St. Gregory’s detractor, Barlaam, who upon loosing the argument at that council, left the Orthodox church and converted to Roman Catholicism, which is now quite ironic, because over the course of the 20th century, with the aid of the Eastern Catholic churches, the Roman Catholic Church began to get into Hesychasm).
Furthermore, the Assyrian Church of the East counts seven sacraments, but they are different from those enumerated by the Roman Catholics, and theoretically, the Orthodox, namely, from an Assyrian source, but with my annotations in parentheses:
1. The Priesthood, which is the ministry of all the other Sacraments.
2. Holy Baptism.
3. The Oil of Unction.
4. The Oblation of the Body and Blood of CHRIST. (By which is meant the Eucharist)
5. Absolution. (By which is meant the absolution granted by clergy for the forgiveness of sin, which historically would have involved auricular confession, although at present, general confession is prevalent and some Assyrians are unaware that their denomination even has confession).
6. The Holy Leaven, namely, the king. (What they mean here is the baking of the bread to be consecrated in the Eucharist).
7. The sign of the life giving Cross.
Now, the interesting thing in all of this is the Eastern Orthodox and the Oriental Orthodox use the term “Sacred Mysteries” rather than “sacraments” except in some English texts. And the Orthodox consensus, at least, is that Baptism and especially the Eucharist are the most important mysteries, and like in Lutheranism, a great stress is put on confession.
So I would propose that, as a means of reconciliation, Baptism and the Eucharist, and, potentially, Chrismation and/or Confession, be called Sacraments, and the other items called Mysteries. So the two “Dominical Sacraments” or “Ordinances” that all Protestants agree on, and potentially Confession, which appears to be sacramental in Lutheranism, although I am not sure if to that extent, would be called sacraments, and the Sacraments would be a subset of the Mysteries, so all Sacraments would be Mysteries, but not vice versa. Then, to cover additional things, for example, the Assyrian instance of the baking of the Eucharistic bread, or the Sign of the Cross, these could also be considered Mysteries, possibly. Beyond that, services such as the Blessing of Water, Funerals and Memorial Services (Pannikhidas in Orthodox terminology), the consecration of Church Buildings, and other things, would be regarded as sacramentals, to use the term Roman Catholics presently use to refer to them.
