Holy Orders in the context of "Old Catholic"

A sacrament is a Christian rite which is recognized as being particularly important and significant. There are various views on the existence, number and meaning of such rites. Many Christians consider the sacraments to be a visible symbol of the reality of God, as well as a channel for God's grace. Many denominations, including the Catholic, Lutheran, Moravian, Reformed (Continental Reformed, Presbyterian, and Congregationalist traditions), Anglican, Methodist and Baptist, hold to the definition of sacrament formulated by Augustine of Hippo: an outward sign of an inward grace, that has been instituted by Jesus Christ. Sacraments signify God's grace in a way that is outwardly observable to the participant.

The Catholic Church, Hussite Church and the Old Catholic Church recognize seven sacraments: Baptism, Penance (Reconciliation or Confession), Eucharist (or Holy Communion), Confirmation, Marriage (Matrimony), Holy Orders, and Anointing of the Sick (Extreme Unction). The Eastern Churches, such as the Eastern Orthodox Church and Oriental Orthodox Church as well as the Eastern Catholic Churches, recognize these as the seven major sacraments, but also apply the words sacred mysteries corresponding to Greek word, μυστήριον (mysterion), and also to rites that in the Western tradition are called sacramentals and to other realities, such as the Church itself. Many Protestant denominations, such as those within the Reformed tradition, preach just two sacraments instituted by Christ: the Eucharist (or Holy Communion) and Baptism. The Lutheran sacraments include these two, often adding Confession (and Absolution) as a third sacrament. Anglican and Methodist teaching is that "there are two Sacraments ordained of Christ our Lord in the Gospel, that is to say, Baptism and the Supper of the Lord", and that "those five commonly called Sacraments, that is to say, Confirmation, Penance, Orders, Matrimony, and Extreme Unction, are not to be counted for Sacraments of the Gospel."

An ordinal (Latin: ordinale), in a modern context, is a liturgical book that contains the rites and prayers for the ordination and consecration to the Holy Orders of deacons, priests, and bishops in multiple Christian denominations, especially the Edwardine Ordinals within Anglicanism, as well as Lutheranism. The term "ordinal" has been applied to the prayers and ceremonies for ordinations in the Catholic Church, where the pontificals of the Latin liturgical rites typically compile them along with other liturgies exclusive to bishops. In medieval liturgies, ordinals supplied instruction on how to use the various books necessary to celebrate a liturgy and added rubrical direction.

A pontifical (Latin: pontificale) is a Christian liturgical book containing the liturgies that only a bishop may perform. Among the liturgies are those of the ordinal for the ordination and consecration of deacons, priests, and bishops to Holy Orders. While the Roman Pontifical and closely related Ceremonial of Bishops of the Roman Rite are the most common, pontificals exist in other liturgical traditions.

The Litany of the Saints (Latin: Litaniae Sanctorum) is a formal prayer of the Roman Catholic Church as well as the Old Catholic Church, Lutheran congregations of Evangelical Catholic churchmanship, Anglican congregations of Anglo-Catholic churchmanship, and Western Rite Orthodox communities. It is a prayer to the Triune God, which also includes invocations for the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Angels and all the martyrs and saints upon whom Christianity was founded, and those recognised as saints through the subsequent history of the church. Following the invocation of the saints, the Litany concludes with a series of supplications to God to hear the prayers of the worshippers. It is most prominently sung during the Easter Vigil, All Saints' Day, and in the liturgy for conferring Holy Orders, the Consecration of a Virgin and reception of the perpetual vows of a religious or a diocesane hermit.