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Sacred Mysteries
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The term Sacred Mysteries generally denotes the area of supernatural phenomena associated with a divinity or an religious ideology.
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Religious mysteries formed an important part of the worship of a number of pre-Christian religions, including the Eleusinian Mysteries, Mithraism, the Cult of Isis, and the Cult of Sol Invictus. Dedicated devotees of the religion would be inducted into the mysteries by receiving special instruction. Due to the secrecy surrounding this special instruction, very little is now known about what was included in the mysteries.
Mystery traditions were popular in ancient Greece and during the height of the Roman Empire, and may have influenced the introduction of sacred mysteries in Christianity.
The term is used in the Eastern Christian Churches to refer to what the Western Christian Church calls Sacraments and Sacramentals. In the Early Church they were kept hidden from the pagans, lest they become objects of ridicule. As the Age of Persecution ended, the secrecy was gradually relaxed. But the term continued to be used.
The terms Sacrament and Sacramental are terms, which the Western Church has carefully defined in Canon Law. Thus, for instance, the Council of Trent declared there to be exactly seven sacraments. The Eastern Churches, in contrast, have never defined the Mysteries in such precise terms. And, though the Western Church teaches that the consecrated bread and wine of the Eucharist are one Sacrament, the Divine Liturgy refers to the Eucharist as Mysteries in the plural.