Catholics. I was taught my senior year of Highschool in Histroy class the the 7 sacraments?

No it is not true... on BOTH counts!

The seven sacraments (or "Holy Mysteries") were well known and documented by John Chrysostom (347-407.) The fourth century is WELL before the Middle Ages.

Generally, the Eastern Church recognizes and counts seven (though not only seven) mysteries:

Baptism

Chrismation

Eucharist

Confession

Holy Unction

Marriage

Ordination

There has never been a universal declaration within the Orthodox Church that there are only seven sacraments. Early Orthodox writers varied as to the number of sacraments: John of Damascus lists only two; Dionysius the Areopagite lists six; Joasaph, Metropolitan of Ephesus (fifteenth century), ten; and some Byzantine theologians who list seven sacraments differ on the items in their list.

The Biblical Canon which was officially approved in the Council of Carthage in AD 419 includes the Deuterocanonical books (aka the Apocrypha.) The first copies of The Bible were ordered by Constantine in AD 331.

The Deuterocanonical books formed the Septuagint, which is the Jewish scripture used in Jesus' time. Jesus makes many quotes from these books (especially Sirach and the Maccabees) in the gospels.

The Reformation EXCLUDED the Deuterocanonical books from the Protestant Bible. Luther's main reason for excluding some books was because the oldest accessible original documents were written in Greek rather than Hebrew.

It should be noted that although Luther excluded the Deuterocanonical books from his Bible, he used them to justify some of his theological positions. You can't have it both ways!

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This is incorrect.

Even the Orthodox Churches which separated from the Catholic Church during the Fifth Century, e.g., Syriac (Antiochian) Orthodox Church, seperated 451 A.D., believe in the same seven Sacraments :

"With regards to Sacraments, the Syriac Orthodox Church believes that the Holy Sacraments are tangible signs designated by the Lord Christ to proclaim divine grace, which He gave for our sanctification. The Sacraments of the Church are: Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Repentance, the Priesthood, Anointing of the Sick, and Marriage. Holy Sacraments are offered by the Bishops and the Priests. Only believers can receive the Sacraments. All but four of the Sacraments are essential for salvation: Baptism, Confirmation, Repentance and Eucharist. Of the sacraments, Baptism, Confirmation and the Priesthood may be received only once." confer http://www.soc-wus.org/ourchurch/ourfaith.htm

The Bible Canon was decreed by Pope St. Damasus I., Council of Rome 382 A.D., The 'Decretum Gelasianum De Libris Recipiendis Et Non Recipiendis http://www.tertullian.org/decretum_eng.htm

The Latin Vulgate (Biblia Sacra iuxta Vulgatam Clementinam) is the Official Bible of the Catholic Church, prior to that was St. Jerome's Vulgate which far pre-dates the Reformation as it dates back to the Early Fifth Century http://vulsearch.sourceforge.net/html/index.html .

The Greek Orthodox uses the LXX which has some inspired apocryphal books http://www.ellopos.net/elpenor/greek-texts/septuag... && http://codexsinaiticus.org/en/

Hope this helps.

Oremus pro invicem

The information you were given is incorrect.

1. The seven Sacraments were in place long before the Middle Ages. Christ instituted Baptism (Matt. 28:19-20, John 3:3,5), Confession (John 20:21-23, see also James 5:16), Holy Communion (John 6, Matt. 26; Mark 14; Luke 22) and Holy Orders (John 20:22). Confirmation was practiced by the early Church (Acts 8:14-17, 19:5-6) Matrimony existed from the time God made Eve to be Adam's mate, but Jesus made it holy (sacramental) by His personal blessing in John 2. Anointing of the Sick is also mentioned in Scripture (Mark 6:13, James 5:14 -15)

2. The "apocryphal" books were not ADDED to the Bible during the Reformation (16th Century). These were the books of the Old Testament that was included in the Septuagint, which all Jews used as Scripture during the time Jesus was here on earth. The books were removed from the Jewish canon in about 90-91 A.D. because the Jews were tired of Christians trying to use them to prove that Jesus is the Messiah. The Septuagint books became the official Old Testament of the Christian Bible in the fourth century, at the same time the New Testament was canonized. These books were REMOVED from the OT by Martin Luther and other reformers in the 16th Century and relabeled "apocryphal" because as long as they were part of the Canon, they pointed to Catholicism as the true Church, and obviously, reformers couldn't abide by that. They changed the Bible to suit their own theology.

Historian but not Catholic...

The concept of sacraments developed in pieces. Eucharist and Baptism were practiced from the very beginning (1st century CE), but they weren't specifically referred to as "sacraments." The concept of sacrament was expanded and defined through the Roman period, Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Today's seven sacraments as a specific group of rituals wasn't officially recognized until 1215, when marriage and reconciliation were added.

Personally, I don't quite get why people are surprised that Christianity has not remained stagnant for 2000 years. Religions evolve. That's the normal progression of religious thought. Jesus taught a small number of Jews whom he encouraged to find a personal spirituality. The Catholic Church ministered to millions of Christians, and one of the common ways you do that is through ritual (as a uniting factor, as well as a way for priests to work on behalf of an almost entirely illiterate population). You can't approach those two very different situations in the same way.

I love it when question AND answer uses the same typo. Canon, not cannon, folks.

Yes, the various sacraments were added into Catholic lore relatively early, but not all at once. Baptism, for example, has been part of the church since the beginning.

The so called biblical apocrypha we added during the Reformation, but are only present in some editions of the bible.

The first is at least partially wrong. The second is definitely wrong,

The Catholic sacraments are NOT in the biblical cannon. They are man made rules of how to attain grace by taking of the sacraments............>

Time to fire that cannon!