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Sacred mysteries are the areas of supernatural phenomena associated with a divinity or a religious belief and praxis. Sacred mysteries may be either:
On the other hand, most Christian traditions hold that many of the basic aspects of Christian theology are more than just secrets - they cannot be explained or apprehended by mundane reason, including the nature of the Trinity, the virgin birth of Jesus, and the resurrection of Jesus.
In the Catholic church, the Latin term is mysterium fidei, "mystery of faith", defined in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1997) to mean a mystery hidden in God, which can never be known unless revealed by God.
In the Roman Catholic Church the First Vatican Council re-affirmed the existence of mysteries as a doctrine of Catholic faith as follows: "If any one say that in Divine Revelation there are contained no mysteries properly so called ( vera et proprie dicta mysteria), but that through reason rightly developed ( per rationem rite excultam) all the dogmas of faith can be understood and demonstrated from natural principles: let him be anathema" (Sess. III, De fide et ratione, can. i). The position, if not the terminology, of other Christian churches is essentially the same.
In parts of the Early Church, many aspects of Christian theology, including some sacraments and sacramentals, the so-called disciplina arcani, were kept hidden from paganism lest they become objects of ridicule, and were also introduced gradually to or new converts. As the Age of Persecution ended, secrecy was gradually relaxed. Discipline of the Secret article in Catholic Encyclopedia But the term continued to be used, and the same word is used in the Eastern Orthodox churches to mean both "mysteries" and "sacraments". This is not usually so in the West, although theologically many aspects of sacraments are recognized as mysteries in the main sense described above, especially (for those churches accepting it) the doctrine of transubstantiation in the Eucharist. Hence Pope Paul VI's papal encyclical of 3 September 1965 on the Eucharist was titled, from its opening words, Mysterium fidei. In the Roman Rite Catholic Mass within or immediately after the formula of consecration of the wine, the celebrant says "The mystery of faith". Originally the term "Mystery" was used for the sacraments generally in both the East and the West, as shown from the "Mystagogue Homilies" of St. Cyril of Jerusalem and the work, On the Mysteries by St. Ambrose of Milan. On the Mysteries by St. Ambrose of Milan, Mystagogical Lectures St. Cyril of Jerusalem
Although all the official doctrines of Christian churches have long been fully public, the loosely defined area of Christian thought called Christian mysticism often concerns the contemplation of sacred mysteries and may include the development of personal theories about them, undertaken in the knowledge that they can never be fully apprehended by man.
Orthodox instructional materials may list seven sacred mysteries, the same as the Western seven sacraments (Western names in parentheses): Baptism, Chrismation (Confirmation), Confession (Penance, Reconciliation), Holy Communion (Eucharist), Marriage (Holy Matrimony), Ordination (Holy Orders), and Unction (Anointing of the Sick, formerly Extreme Unction). However, in Orthodox theology the term is not limited to these seven. As in the West, all faithful men are expected to receive six of the seven listed above, and may or may not receive either marriage or ordination, or both; women may not be received into the priesthood, but may be given monastic orders.
Christian life is centered in the mystery of the incarnation of Christ, the union of God and man. However, the redemption of man is not considered to have taken place only in the past, but continues to this day through theosis. The Sacramental Life: An Orthodox Christian Perspective, (St. John of Kronstadt Press, Liberty, TN, 1986), p. 6. The Sacraments, or Sacred Mysteries are the most important means by which the faithful may obtain union with God, provided they are received with faith after appropriate preparation. Christians believe that God is present everywhere and fills all things by his divine grace, and that all of creation is, in some sense, a "sacrament". However, they believe that "He is more specifically and intensively present in those particular and reliable manners which He Himself has established," The Sacramental Life (1986), p. 7. i.e., in the Sacred Mysteries.
Kallistos Ware stated in The Orthodox Way:
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