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Sacramentals
A sacramental in Christianity is a material object or action (in Latin ''sacramentalia'') ritually blessed by a priest to signal its association with the sacraments and so to incite reverence during acts of worship. They are recognised by the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, the Church of the East, the Lutheran churches, the Old Catholic Church, the Anglican churches, Independent Catholic churches, and Methodist churches. In the Bible, prayer cloths and holy oil are mentioned in reference to praying for healing. Holy water is a sacramental that believers use to recall their baptism; other common sacramentals include blessed candles (often given to churchgoers on Candlemas), blessed palms (given away at churches on Palm Sunday), blessed ashes (placed on believers' foreheads on Ash Wednesday services), a cross necklace (often taken to be blessed by a pastor before daily use), blessed salt, and holy cards, as well as Christian art, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blessed Salt
Blessed salt has been used in various forms throughout the history of Christianity. Among early Christians, the savoring of blessed salt often took place along with baptism. In the fourth century, Augustine of Hippo named these practices "visible forms of invisible grace". However, its modern use as a sacramental remains mostly limited to its use with holy water within the Anglican Communion and Roman Catholic Church. History In the Old Testament, in , "David struck down 18,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt." In addition, "tells the story of the prophet Elisha pouring salt onto Jericho's water springs." For centuries since the advent of Jesus, salt that had been cleansed and sanctified by special exorcisms and prayers was given to catechumens before entering the church for baptism. According to the fifth canon of the Third Council of Carthage in the third century, salt was administered to the catechumens several times a year, a process attested by Augustine of Hippo ( Confession ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday is a holy day of prayer and fasting in many Western Christian denominations. It is preceded by Shrove Tuesday and falls on the first day of Lent (the six weeks of penitence before Easter). It is observed by Catholics in the Roman Rite, Lutherans, Moravians, Anglicans, Methodists, Nazarenes, as well as by some churches in the Reformed tradition (including certain Congregationalist, Continental Reformed, and Presbyterian churches). As it is the first day of Lent, many Christians begin Ash Wednesday by marking a Lenten calendar, praying a Lenten daily devotional, and making a Lenten sacrifice that they will not partake of until the arrival of Eastertide. Many Christians attend special church services, at which churchgoers receive ash on their foreheads. Ash Wednesday derives its name from this practice, which is accompanied by the words, "Repent, and believe in the Gospel" or the dictum "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return." Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sacrament
A sacrament is a Christian rite that is recognized as being particularly important and significant. There are various views on the existence and meaning of such rites. Many Christians consider the sacraments to be a visible symbol of the reality of God, as well as a channel for God's grace. Many denominations, including the Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican, Methodist, and Reformed, hold to the definition of sacrament formulated by Augustine of Hippo: an outward sign of an inward grace, that has been instituted by Jesus Christ. Sacraments signify God's grace in a way that is outwardly observable to the participant. The Catholic Church, Hussite Church and the Old Catholic Church recognise seven sacraments: Baptism, Penance (Reconciliation or Confession), Eucharist (or Holy Communion), Confirmation, Marriage (Matrimony), Holy Orders, and Anointing of the Sick (Extreme Unction). The Eastern Churches, such as the Eastern Orthodox Church and Oriental Orthodox Church as well ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Baptism
Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost invariably with the use of water. It may be performed by sprinkling or pouring water on the head, or by immersing in water either partially or completely, traditionally three times, once for each person of the Trinity. The synoptic gospels recount that John the Baptist baptised Jesus. Baptism is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. Baptism according to the Trinitarian formula, which is done in most mainstream Christian denominations, is seen as being a basis for Christian ecumenism, the concept of unity amongst Christians. Baptism is also called christening, although some reserve the word "christening" for the baptism of infants. In certain Christian denominations, such as the Lutheran Churches, bapt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Holy Water
Holy water is water that has been blessed by a member of the clergy or a religious figure, or derived from a well or spring considered holy. The use for cleansing prior to a baptism and spiritual cleansing is common in several religions, from Christianity to Sikhism. The use of holy water as a sacramental for protection against evil is common among Lutherans, Anglicans, Roman Catholics, and Eastern Christians. In Christianity In Catholicism, Lutheranism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and some other churches, holy water is water that has been sanctified by a priest for the purpose of baptism, for the blessing of persons, places, and objects, or as a means of repelling evil. History The Apostolic Constitutions, whose texts date to about the year 400 AD, attribute the precept of using holy water to the Apostle Matthew. It is plausible that the earliest Christians may have used water for expiatory and purificatory purposes in a way analogo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prayer Cloth
A prayer cloth is a sacramental used by Christians, in continuation with the practice of the early Church, as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles: Prayer cloths are especially popular within the Pentecostal tradition of Christianity, although communicants of other Christian denominations use them as well. Among Lebanese Christians, prayer cloths are blessed and then placed on an afflicted area, while believers pray to God through the intercession of Saint Sharbel. Among Methodists and Pentecostals, if a Christian is suffering from an illness and is not present during a church service, a prayer cloth is consecrated through prayer and then taken to the sick individual. See also * Anointing of the Sick *Blessed salt *Christian headcovering *Cross necklace *Holy anointing oil *Holy water *Home altar *Tallit A tallit ''talit'' in Modern Hebrew; ''tālēt'' in Sephardic Hebrew and Ladino; ''tallis'' in Ashkenazic Hebrew and Yiddish. Mish. pl. טליות ''telayot''; Heb. p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Palm Sunday
Palm Sunday is a Christian moveable feast that falls on the Sunday before Easter. The feast commemorates Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem, an event mentioned in each of the four canonical Gospels. Palm Sunday marks the first day of Holy Week. For adherents of mainstream Christianity, it is the last week of the Christian solemn season of Lent that precedes the arrival of Eastertide. In most liturgical churches, Palm Sunday is celebrated by the blessing and distribution of palm branches (or the branches of other native trees), representing the palm branches which the crowd scattered in front of Christ as he rode into Jerusalem; these palms are sometimes woven into crosses. The difficulty of procuring palms in unfavorable climates led to their substitution with branches of native trees, including box, olive, willow, and yew. The Sunday was often named after these substitute trees, as in Yew Sunday, or by the general term Branch Sunday. In Syriac Christianity it is oft ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops via local synods. The church has no central doctrinal or governmental authority analogous to the head of the Roman Catholic Church—the Pope—but the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople is recognized by them as ''primus inter pares'' ("first among equals"), which may be explained as a representative of the church. As one of the oldest surviving religious institutions in the world, the Eastern Orthodox Church has played a prominent role in the history and culture of Eastern and Southeastern Europe. The Eastern Orthodox Church officially calls itself the Orthodox Catholic Church. Eastern Orthodox theology is based on holy tradition, which incorporates the dogmatic decrees of the seven ecumenical councils, the Scriptures, and the tea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Home Altar
A home altar or family altar is a shrine kept in the home of a Western Christian family used for Christian prayer and family worship. Home altars often contain a cross or crucifix, a copy of the Bible (especially a Family Bible), a breviary and/or other prayer book, a daily devotional, icons of Jesus Christ and prayer beads, among other religious articles specific to the individual's Christian denomination, for example, the images of the saints for Catholics, the Small Catechism for Lutherans, and the Anglican Rosary for Anglicans. History ''The Christian Treasury'' traces the origin of the family altar to the prophet Abraham erecting one in the Old Testament (). Since at least the 2nd century, believers such as Hipparchus, hung or painted a Christian cross, to which they prostrated in front of, on the eastern wall of their home in order to indicate the eastward direction of prayer during the seven fixed prayer times, as an "expression of their undying belie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Family Bible (book)
A family Bible is a Bible handed down through a Christian family, with each successive generation recording information about the family's history inside of it. Typically, this information consists of births, deaths, baptisms, confirmations and marriages; family Bibles contain a "family record" or "family registry" section to record this information. People sometimes may place other items, such as holy cards, certificates, letters, newspaper cuttings and photographs, inside a family Bible. In the United Kingdom, they are found today and were especially common in the Victorian period, and are also found in the United States, Australia and New Zealand. Family Bibles are often placed on a family's home altar, being regularly used for family prayer. They are often used as sources for genealogical research. Gallery File:The Wilson Family Bible (4379704462).jpg, Family bible of Woodrow Wilson File:Family-bible.jpg, A family Bible File:Bird family birth registry.jpg, Birth record Fil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Betrothal
An engagement or betrothal is the period of time between the declaration of acceptance of a marriage proposal and the marriage itself (which is typically but not always commenced with a wedding). During this period, a couple is said to be ''fiancés'' (from the French), ''betrothed,'' ''intended'', ''affianced'', ''engaged to be married,'' or simply ''engaged''. Future brides and grooms may be called ''fiancée'' (feminine) or ''fiancé'' (masculine), ''the betrothed'', a ''wife-to-be'' or ''husband-to-be'', respectively. The duration of the courtship varies vastly, and is largely dependent on cultural norms or upon the agreement of the parties involved. Long engagements were once common in formal arranged marriages, and it was not uncommon for parents betrothing children to arrange marriages many years before the engaged couple were old enough. This is still done in some countries. Many traditional Christian denominations have optional rites for Christian betrothal (also ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crucifix
A crucifix (from Latin ''cruci fixus'' meaning "(one) fixed to a cross") is a cross with an image of Jesus on it, as distinct from a bare cross. The representation of Jesus himself on the cross is referred to in English as the ''corpus'' (Latin for "body"). The crucifix is a principal symbol for many groups of Christians, and one of the most common forms of the Crucifixion in the arts. It is especially important in the Roman Rite of the Roman Catholic Church, but is also used in the Eastern Orthodox Church, most Oriental Orthodox Churches (except the Armenian & Syriac Church), and the Eastern Catholic Churches, as well as by the Lutheran, Moravian and Anglican Churches. The symbol is less common in churches of other Protestant denominations, and in the Assyrian Church of the East and Armenian Apostolic Church, which prefer to use a cross without the figure of Jesus (the ''corpus''). The crucifix emphasizes Jesus' sacrifice—his death by crucifixion, which Christians believ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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