Understanding the

Term Sacrament: The

Initial Stage
Chapter Two
The Concept of the Sacrament
• Both in its linguistic and theological history, the Christian
Concept of sacrament developed out of the pre-Christian
mystery concept.
• The observation that in the first Christian centuries the
Latin word sacramentum was the most common
translation of the Greek term mysterion does not suffice
to explain the unusually rich religious conceptual complex
to which both words belong
Mysterion in Cult
and Philosophy
“Understanding Mysterion through Time”
 From the Point of View of the
Modern Man

Mysterious is referred to as “primarily to

something puzzling, hidden,
incomprehensible, strange—something that
can fascinate him for a time, but that does not
concern him at a deeper level.”
Mysterion from the Religious
Antiquity
“The people from the classical antiquity
tended to see in mystery something
existentially definitive which touched
the very foundation of being and raised
the sphere of human existence to that
of the divine.”
Alexander Ganoczy, An Introduction to Catholic Sacramental
Theology (New Jersey, USA: Paulist Press, 1984), 7.
 Mystery in Cult
The plural form mysteria
designates a group of secret cults
that had developed among the
Greeks (Eleusis. Dionysius,
Orpheus, Samothrace) and in the
Hellenistic Orient (Adonis, Attis,
Isis and Osiris, Mithras) in the 7 th
century BC. This is usually seen
in the periphery of the commonly
practiced religious.
These mysteries developed
almost exclusively from
ancient fertility cults.

Their Goal • <Insert caption here>

To increase or to restore
vitality.
They were celebrated in that the story
of a divinity or of a divine couple was
ritually re-enacted within the circle of
the already initiated.

These celebrations communicated

the experience of a divine drama in
order to enable an actual
participation in it.

Gnocsy, An introduction to… 8

 Characteristic for the Mystery Cult

This mystery cult is characterized by the

fact that “only the consecrated and initiated
were admitted to these celebrations.”

There were therefore rites of initiation by degrees into the

fellowship of “mystics” as well as selected masters of these cults,
the “hierophants” (a person, especially a priest in ancient
Greece, who interprets sacred mysteries or esoteric
principles)
and “mystagogues” (a teacher or propounder of mystical
doctrines.)
 Whoever had been initiated enjoyed a brotherly
solidarity with his co-mystics, was able to experience a
security in their fellowship, and was at the same time
strictly obliged to keep secret the particulars of the
ritual.

Whoever broke this obligation of secrecy, the so

called “arcanum,” (lit. means secrets or mysteries.
Singular of arcanus) was considered guilty of
sacrilege.
Gnocsy, An introduction to… 8
This became associated as well with
the concept of salvation.

Only for the loyal was salvation (as in

Christianity called soteria) promised to
secure.

They alone entered into the discipleship of the gods,

who were themselves “redeemed saviors” moving in
the polarity between life and death.

Ganoczy, An introduction to… 9

 Mystery in
Philosophy
• Probably it was the great
existential importance of the
mystery cults that caused the
classical Greek Philosophers
to liken their own efforts on
the path toward the
understanding of truth to the
steps of the mystics on their
path to initiation.

Ganoczy, An introduction to… 9

Plato used this as a figure of
speech in his book
Symposion. It was used to
refer to the ascension of the
philosopher to the “invisible
and unchanging world of
reality. To enter, one has to
undergo the form of a
“mystery initiation,” a
mystagogy.

Ganoczy, An introduction to… 9

 In the Platonic world-view,
everything tangible becomes a
symbol of the only truly real,
heavenly, and divine Reality.

The language of these symbols can be heard,

and their hidden reality can be comprehended
only by those who take leave of the sphere of
the profane and are initiated into the
philosophic mysteries.

Gnocsy, An introduction to… 9

In this view, the secret is no longer one of
the secret rituals of a salvific cult, but of
the secret teaching of a truth-bringing
Wisdom.

Gnocsy, An introduction to… 10

Mysterion as
Biblical Term
In the Old Testament
 For a right understanding of the Christian
concept of mystery, it is important to note that
already the Old Testament texts, which were
written in the Hellenistic period (Wisdom,
Daniel, Tobit, Sirach, 2 Maccabees) used the
term mysterion more however in its
philosophic or profane sense.

Ganoczy, An introduction to… 9

 Among these Hellenistically influenced OT
Books, only the Book of Wisdom and Daniel
have the theological undertone and has rich
theological content.

Ganoczy, An introduction to… 11

(1) Wisdom 2:22

“…and they did not know the secret

purposes (mysteria) of God, nor hope for
the wages of holiness, nor discern the
prize for blameless souls;”

This refers to the one, speaking God of Israel, Yahweh,

He is the subject of the mysteries which are to be
understood and which are completely hidden to the
wicked– e.g., to such as follow pagan secret cults
(14:15, 23). But is open to those who seek it.

Ganoczy, An introduction to… 11

 Wisdom reveals the divine secrets and is itself a
secret which must be revealed—as later the case
with the Logos in the Gospel of John.

The just person must know her if he desires to

know God. Therefore, he attends to the words of
the teacher of Wisdom—

“I will tell you what Wisdom is, and how

she came to be. I will not keep anything
secret. I will trace her history from the
beginning and make knowledge of her
open to all. I will not ignore any part of
the truth” (Wis.6:22).
Ganoczy, An introduction to… 11
 In the Book of Daniel, a completely new motif
appears, the “eschatological” mysterion.

It consists in “what is to happen in days to come”

(2:28), and that is to be revealed by God Himself.

For it is ultimately God alone who is able to unveil the

secrets of the future (2:47); for this purpose he uses,
by his own sovereign choice, such symbolic devices
of mediation as dreams and “visions” (2:18f).

Ganoczy, An introduction to… 12

“What the final future of the world will
bring is the subject of a “veiled
pronouncement”, the unveiling of
which only God Himself, or a prophet,
directed by His Spirit, is capable.”

Ganoczy, An introduction to… 11

Mysterion as
Biblical Term
In the New Testament
 Mark 4:11

Characteristically, Mark
4:11 combines mysterion
with the key concept of
Jesus’ eschatological
proclamation, basileia
(kingdom).

Ganoczy, An introduction to… 11

This biblical passage has an apocalyptic undertone—a
sudden coming of God, as the reality of grace which
brings salvation, as open only to those who have faith.

Ganoczy, An introduction to… 13

St. Paul
Mysterion is essentially the Christ-
event itself.
Paul wishes only to know and to proclaim no other
“wisdom” than the apparent contradiction of
wisdom in the Crucified.

In Jesus, the “mystery” of God is

comprehended (1 Cor. 2:1f; Col. 2:2).

Ganoczy, An introduction to… 13

The apparent connection with Jewish wisdom, and
perhaps with the Hellenistic philo-Sophia, receives
in this way a defiant, paradoxical, provocative
character—the shameful execution of the man
Jesus on the cross reveals itself as the only true
wisdom, which God planned “before all ages for our
glory” (1 Cor.2:7).

Ganoczy, An introduction to… 13

This is the “mystery” that is unveiled by the Spirit of God
(1Cor. 2:10-15) and is to be proclaimed by the apostles
as “administrators of the mysteries of God” (1Cor.4:1;
Eph 3:2f); Col 1:25f).

It must be proclaimed in the face of the philosophical,

religious, and political “rulers of this age” (1Cor 2:6,8),
who are themselves searching for ever more glorious
mysteries.

Ganoczy, An introduction to… 13

 Pauline theology makes a decisive break with all
tendencies toward an elitist isolation and a privatizing of the
search for salvation typical for the mystery cults.

His mysterion demands no “arcanic” secrecy.

On the contrary, it is to open, public,

and available for all.

It is a confession of faith, outwardly

directed and apostolic.

Ganoczy, An introduction to… 14

Mystery here, now, refers to the salvific plan of
God, realized in the “economy of the Christ-
mystery (i.e., the mystery of God which is Christ
—cf Col.27; 2:2).

Let it be clear that the term mysterion, at this moment

of the NT account does not refer to Baptism or the
Lord’s Supper.

It will be “determined” later in the evolution of the

understanding of the Sacramentum later in the growth of
the Church.
End of the Chapter
Customize this Template

Template Editing Instructi

ons and Feedback