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A sacrament is a Christian practice that signifies or effectuates the [[grace]] of [[God]]. These practices are generally understood to have been instituted (or commanded) by Jesus Christ. In some churches the term is referred to as an ordinance. In the [[Roman Catholic Church]], [[Eastern Orthodoxy]], [[Lutheranism]] and some forms of [[Anglicanism]] it is taught that sacraments are not only symbolic but also a means by which God communicates his grace. Most other [[Protestant]] churches hold that sacraments are purely symbolic signs of an inward change. == Origin of the word == The [[Latin]] word ''sacramentum'' (holy sign) was used in secular [[Latin]] for military oaths of allegiance. Its religious use was introduced by [[Augustine of Hippo|Augustine]]. In [[Jerome]]'s [[Latin ]] translation of the Bible, the [[Vulgata]], Jerome translated the Greek word [[mysterion]] as [[sacramentum]] in some cases, and as [[mysterium]] in other cases.