In the Sacrament of Chrismation, grace is communicated, which sets a person on the path of spiritual life. In this Sacrament, the Christian is given the "seal of the Gift of the Holy Spirit" through the anointing of parts of his body with Holy Chrism. In its mysterious composition, the Holy Myrrh is a special phenomenon in the life of the Church, for the fragrance of fragrant substances is most closely associated with the action of the Holy Spirit, the Source of "holiness, and unfading light, and Divine life." The Sacrament of Chrismation therefore offers its participant "the garment of incorruption, the seal of the sacrament, imprinting on him the Holy Name of the Most Holy Trinity" (prayer for the consecration of the Myrrh). Those who are sealed with holy myrrh are clothed in the garment of the fragrance of the Holy Spirit. "By the seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit" the Church accomplishes the initiation of man to be the temple of God, in which the Spirit of God dwells and lives (1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19). "The temple of God is holy, and this temple is you," says the Apostle Paul (1 Cor.

3, 17). Through Chrismation, a person is introduced into the liturgical life of the Church: hearing and assimilating the word of God, communing of the Body and Blood of Christ the Savior in the Sacrament of the Eucharist, and performing sacred rites.

In the Sacrament of the Eucharist, the gift of deification through union with Christ is communicated to man. In it, access is opened to man to the Divine Supper, that is, to that special life where Christ Himself, manifesting His sacrificial Love, under the guise of bread and wine, "comes to sacrifice Himself and is given food to the faithful" ("Let all human flesh be silent..." – a hymn sung instead of the Cherubic Hymn on Holy Saturday). The divine "brush" of the Eucharist, entering into the composition of man; it mysteriously transforms it: it cleanses the soul, sanctifies thoughts, enlightens the activity of human feelings, "nails the whole man to the fear of God," fertilizes and adorns him with the "dwelling place of the Spirit" (3rd Prayer of Thanksgiving after Holy Communion).

In the Sacrament of Repentance, a person is given grace that frees him from sins and gives the soul the ability to understand God's will for itself. In this Sacrament, the Christian is confronted with the reality of the Heavenly Kingdom, close to his soul, but lost through sins committed after Baptism. Christ's exhortation: "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand" (Matt. 4:17) – in this Sacrament sounds encouraging to man, who, like Adam, looks out of the outer world at the life he lost in the Fall. Therefore, the sinner sincerely asks the Lord to give him the strength to see his sins in the light of the Gospel truth, so that repentance for sins may awaken in the soul, so that he may experience a repentant feeling of guilt before God for the life he has lived in sin, and by a sincere confession of sins strengthen in himself the desire for correction.

Christ, seeing that a person asks Him for mercy, grants him through the priest not only remission of sins, but justification and sanctification. Sin is completely blotted out, disappears. The grace of God at the end of repentance opens the way to salvation and teaches a person to have a new attitude to life on earth in general and to himself, to his Christian duties in particular, to the best of his ability.

In the Sacrament of Unction, a person, through the prayers of the Church, is granted grace that heals spiritual and physical ailments for his fruitful participation in the life of the Church. This Sacrament reveals the Church's care for its weak and sick members. When a person commits sins and unsincerely repents of them, then certain types of sins can "grow old" in his soul, their harmful power can multiply, and their pernicious influence on the person and especially on his stay in the Church can increase. The presence of such sins, together with involuntary and forgotten sins, creates a morbid state in the human Soul. The illness of the soul develops, parasitizing on the life-giving ties of the soul with the Body of Christ – the Church. As sin increases, the access to the soul of the grace-filled influences of the life of the Kingdom of God decreases. In order to stop the destructive process of the Christian's estrangement from the Church, and then to renew the influx of the vital forces of the Gospel grace-filled life into the soul and life of man, the Holy Church offers its children the Sacrament of Unction. For this purpose, She summons "the elders of the Church" to pray over the sick and anoint "him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith shall heal the sick, and the Lord shall restore him" (James 5:14-15). To help themselves, the presbyters ask for the prayers of the celestials – the Most-Pure Mother of God and the holy saints of God. Thus, the illness of Christians is cured in the Sacrament by the prayers of the earthly and heavenly Church during the anointing of the sick person's body with holy oil. Through anointing, the Christian is grafted again, like a branch to a tree, to the grace-filled vine – the Lord Jesus Christ, so that the juices of this Vine may again flow into man's life and make him capable of living according to the commandments of God (John 15:4-5).

In the Sacrament of Marriage, future spouses are given grace that sanctifies their family union and procreation. In the Sacrament, the joint life of two people, through the blessing and prayers of the Holy Church, is united into a single conjugal union, so that the two may become "one flesh" (Gen. 2:24) and have "one heart and one soul" (Acts 4:32) with the Church. In this Sacrament, the mystery of Christ's presence among them is revealed to the newlyweds as realistically as He was present at the marriage in Cana of Galilee (John 2:1-11). It is He Himself who "crowns them with glory and honor" (the mysterious words of the Sacrament). "This mystery is great" (Eph. 5:32), for it sanctifies, spiritualizes the marital union of two persons, so that their life may be an image of the "house church" (Col. 4:15) according to the principle and content of life.

In the Sacrament of the Priesthood, the chosen ones from among the faithful are given spiritual authority and strength to perform the Sacraments and shepherd the flock of Christ. In it, the mystery of God is revealed to a worthy and prepared candidate for a hierarchical degree - how to save the people entrusted to him. For this purpose, the chosen person, through the "trial of the most God-loving bishops" (from the rite of episcopal consecration), through the laying on of their hands with prayer, receives from God the gift of the Holy Spirit to be a participant in God's service to people, to be "a co-worker with God" (1 Corinthians 3:9).

The visible form of the Sacrament, its "flesh," is the ritual rites. They play the role of an intermediary between God and man. Through rites, grace-filled sanctification comes to a person, which is achieved by the prayer of invoking the Holy Spirit.

Молитвы сообщают обрядовым формам Таинства их священное значение. Только через слово молитвы действие становится священнодействием, ряд внешних процессов

- обрядом, явственное - Таинством, ибо «повседневное словом сокрывается в тайну».10

В каждом Таинстве человек ищет «Царства Божия и правды Его» (Мф. 6, 33). Реальность этого поиска открывается по его вере в тайносовершительной формуле -«вершине» Таинства. В ней - кульминация взаимного проникновения благодатной сущности Царства Божия и устремления души человеческой к Богу, ибо «Благодать и свобода взаимовходны», как учит святитель Феофан Затворник. Чтобы человек дошел до этой вершины участия в Таинстве, вкусил благ Небесных и освященным, духовно обновленным вернулся к трудам повседневной жизни, Святая Церковь определяет совершать при богослужении Таинств священнодействия и обряды.

Обряды в этом случае представляют собой «лестницу», по которой человеческое разумение восходит от земного к горнему и нисходит от горнего к земному. По ней ум «снует» между Небом и землей.

Обряд, представляя собой часть земной действительности, своим строением возводит дух к созерцанию Таинства. Он организует область мира таким образом, чтобы своей организованностью направить наш ум к подвигу веры в соответственное этому обряду Таинство.