I can’t think of a source off the top of my head. Eastern Orthodox writers began using sacrament as an equivalent when they wrote in Western languages (but, then, the Russians actually studied in Latin in the seminaries for several centuries, so it’d be interesting to see what they have to say about the terms). The Greeks used the term mysterion, but never adopted a loan word of sacramenton as far as I know. There is a definite difference between the implications of sacramentum and mysterion in Latin and Greek, respectively. I just checked perseus and noticed that mysterium was used in late antiquity in the same sense as mysterion (i.e., it was literally just a loan-word), but it did note Ecclesiastical Latin with two definitions (which reflected the Greek definition, but also linked it to sacramental worship).

 

A good person to ask about sources, actually, would be Warren Farha at Eighth Day Books (http://www.eighthdaybooks.com/ ; 800-841-2541; it’s the best book store in the world and I’m not just saying that because I happen to live 2 blocks away). He may not know much about the shades of meaning of the terms in Latin and Greek, but he would almost certainly know which books would lead you to the answer (the dude is AMAZING as something of a matchmaker between people and books). He’s out of town doing a book table in Grand Rapids at Calvin College, but he’s worth contacting.

 

 

medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Could anyone direct me to bibliography exploring the liturgical/theological terms "mysterium" and "sacramentum" in the late antique and medieval periods, and to what extent they differ and overlap in meaning? I have not been able to find much and would be most grateful for any help. -- Paul

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Paul Chandler, O.Carm.
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