The sacramental life of the Assyrian Church of the East.

Baptism is taught as washing with water, but the tradition distinguishes Christian baptism from ordinary washing, from the ritual washings of the law, from the customs of the elders, and from John's baptism of repentance.

The baptism instituted by Christ is received through the Holy Spirit for adoption as children of God, for resurrection from death, and for everlasting life. As circumcision once marked the household of Israel, baptism marks spiritual kinship with the new Israel and entrance among those called as God's children.

The matter of Baptism is pure water, and its form is the invocation of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The teaching also names the baptism of blood and the baptism of tears, joining them to Christ's baptism as signs bound to death and resurrection.

Absolution is presented as medicine for the soul because humanity is inclined toward sin and spiritual sickness. The priesthood is therefore given as a healing ministry, carrying Christ's promise of forgiveness and his call to repentance.

The teaching points to the parables of the Prodigal Son, the lost sheep, and the two debtors as signs of hope for sinners. It also recalls Peter after his denial, Paul after his persecution of the Church, the sinful woman, the publican, and the thief on the cross as examples of restoration.

Believers who fall through human weakness are urged to seek the Church as a spiritual dispensary, opening their wounds to the priests so that absolution and penance may bring healing and prepare them to receive the Lord's Feast in purity. The sacrament must be approached in faith and not treated as a worldly transaction.

Holy Leaven, or Malka, is received as an apostolic tradition entrusted to the Churches of the East by Thomas and Bartholomew of the Twelve, together with Addai and Mari of the Seventy. It is preserved for the completion of the sacrament of the Lord's Body until his return.

The teaching answers objections about why this tradition is especially associated with the East. It argues that the Eastern churches guarded their faith and apostolic canons through persecution, foreign rule, and the absence of political protection, and that such endurance testifies to the weight of the tradition they preserved.

It further maintains that differences in Western practice grew from later corruption of faith and canons, while the East kept the received apostolic way. The contrast between different forms of Eucharistic bread is used to support the claim that the apostles did not hand down conflicting practices.

Oblation is described as a service offered from earth to heaven through material elements, with hope for forgiveness and the answering of prayer. The old oblations involved animals and blood, but Christ offered his own body to the Father for the life of the world.

Because Christ's sacrifice on the cross could not be repeated in the same historical way in every place and age, he gave the Church the Eucharistic mystery on the night of his betrayal. Bread and wine were appointed by his command to be received in remembrance of him.

Through the Lord's command, the bread is received as his holy Body and the wine as his precious Blood. Those who approach in faith receive forgiveness, purification, enlightenment, pardon, resurrection hope, the inheritance of heaven, and new life.

In this sacrament the faithful meet Christ himself and are united with him. The matter of the sacrament is wheat and wine, and its form is given through Christ's life-giving word and the descent of the Holy Spirit.

The Oil of Unction is taught as an apostolic tradition that began with oil consecrated by the apostles and handed down in succession within the Church. Its purpose is understood through Scripture and through the natural qualities of oil.

In the law, those set apart for priesthood or earthly rule were anointed. In the Church, those set apart for the kingdom of heaven and the true priesthood are anointed so that they may belong to Christ, who is both the divine anointer and the anointed one in his humanity.

The teaching compares anointing to the way oil protects a completed painting from damage. Those formed in the likeness of the heavenly King are anointed for protection against the world and the opposition of the devil. The matter is pure olive oil, and the form is the apostolic blessing.

Priesthood is described as the ministry of mediation between God and humanity in matters of forgiveness, blessing, and the turning away of wrath. The teaching distinguishes the imperfect priesthood of the law from the perfected priesthood of the Church.

Its foundation is traced to Christ's promise of the keys of the kingdom, its pastoral charge to Christ's command to feed his flock, and its completion to the giving of the Holy Spirit with authority to forgive or withhold sins.

The old priesthood was received by lineage, but the new priesthood is given through apostolic succession and the laying on of hands after examination of life and faith. The teaching notes that birth alone does not prove righteousness, while the Church's priesthood depends on discernment and spiritual fitness.

The former priesthood was conferred with material oil, while the priesthood of the Church is conferred through the immaterial unction of the Spirit by the laying on of hands.

The Sign of the Cross is identified as a special sacrament of the Assyrian Church of the East and is counted where other traditions often count marriage. The source teaching acknowledges the question of how the sign of the cross is a sacrament and appeals to Mar Abdisho's explanation that the cross keeps Christians and seals and perfects the other sacraments.

The teaching notes that the apostles worked miracles by this sign and that the laying on of hands for priesthood and the other sacraments are brought to completion through it. It also presents the preaching of the cross as the power of God and describes the cross as the foundation through which renewal and universal salvation were obtained.

It further teaches that the sign of the cross will appear at the Lord's second coming and that the cross is venerated in the Church. This veneration is directed not to the material object itself, but to Christ and to God who gave his Son for the life of the world.

The cross is described as the Church of the East's singular object of veneration: the tradition does not use crucifixes or images, but the cross is kissed in churches and homes.