Two Traditions of the Sacraments of Initiation: East and West

When it comes to the Sacraments of Initiation, that is Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist, the Eastern Church and the Western Church have taken different paths in regards to when the Sacraments of Initiation are administered. To understand the development of these two distinct traditions we have to look at the history that surrounds the Churches and the Sacraments of Initiation themselves. It is easy for one to assume that it was the Great Schism in 1054 that led to the differences in administering the Sacraments of Initiation but the differences actually started much farther back than that.

During the early centuries of the Church, Confirmation was almost always celebrated in conjunction with Baptism, forming what St. Cyprian describes as a “double sacrament”. This was administered by the bishop. But as the Church grew and the dioceses spread and infant baptisms happened more frequently throughout the year the bishops were less and less able to be present at all baptismal celebrations. In the West the desire to reserve the completion of baptism to the bishop caused the temporal separation of the two sacramants1. In the East the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation remained untied and the priest would celebrate both sacraments if the bishop were unavailable using oil (known as “myron” in the Eastern Tradition) that had been consecrated by a bishop.

During this time it was a custom in some of the Western Churches that at baptism the neophyte being baptized would receive a double anointing of sacred chrism. The first anointing would be administered by the priest as the neophyte came out of the baptismal bath. This anointing signified the participation of the baptized in the prophetic, priestly and kingly offices of Christ and ...

... middle of paper ...

...standing meant that infants no longer received under either form and their “First Holy Communion” was delayed until after a time of catechetical formation usually lasting until age 14 or so. It should be noted that during this time of catechesis the child typically received the Sacrament of Confirmation by the bishop thus keeping the original order of the Sacraments of Initiation intact.

It wasn’t until 1906 that Pope Pius X encouraged children who reached the age of discretion (that is age 7) to receive the Holy Eucharist. While this lowering of the age of reception of Holy Communion had many positive effects it did cause most children to receive the Sacrament of Eucharist before Confirmation. Since 1906 the Western Church has maintained the order of Baptism for infants, Eucharist at the age of discretion and Confirmation coming somewhere between age 7 and age 16.