SACRAMENTS OF ARMENIAN HOLY APOSTOLIC ORTHODOX CHURCH
The word sacrament comes from the Latin SACRARE which means "to dedicate." Thus a sacrament is a rite which not only signifies some specific grace, but which produces that grace in the souls of the person to whom it is administered.
What is grace?
It is that which makes us fulfill our mission as children of God. It is not a state of being. It is a power that comes from God and regenerates and nourishes. It is the energy that feeds the growth of the believing spirit of people.
The Armenian word for sacrament is KHORHOORT or "mystery." This implies that the fruits of the sacraments (such as being born to a spiritual life in baptism) are received mysteriously. Each sacrament has an inward and outward expression. The outward, for example, in baptism, is the water. This symbolizes the rebirth and cleansing of the soul of the child, which is inward. Although everything which is in and of the Church is sacramental, there are seven formal sacraments of the Armenian Church which correspond to the different states and situations of a person's life.
THE ANALYSIS OF THE DIVINE LITURGY OF THE ARMENIAN APOSTOLIC ORTHODOX CHURCH