But that is my point. Many of our churches have the thank-God-for-the ninety-nine-sheep-in-the-fold mentality. Even when the number shrinks to 9.9, they feel they have done their duty to preserve their fill-in-the-blank-ness.
Also it is otiose to include 'sacramentally'. In the Orthodox tradition is there any other way that is not intertwined with the life of the Mysteries?
I'm also bemused by your reference to 'that most holy of mysteries'! What does this mean? All of the Mysteries are holy and, though numbered eventually at seven, they are ONE: Our Lord and God and Savior, Jesus Christ! I fear that you are very much mired in a Western Catholic/Protestant dialectic.
The best encapsulation of the Eastern mindset comes from Georeges Bernanos' Diary of a Country Priest; in fact the last words of the elegiac novel: Tout est grace! All is grace!
