Also termed the sacred mysteries is a broad theological category including the seven sacraments defined in the Western Church that differs slightly from that prevalent in the West, stressing their ineffable character and not marked by the advent of intense theological definition of the centuries after the Reformation. Although all modern Orthodox churches customarily observe the same seven sacraments as in Catholicism, the number has no dogmatic significance, and up to the 17th century individual authors varied greatly in the number of rites considered "mysteries". Despite the historical differences, modern Orthodox and Catholic faithful of both rites are generally united in handling the seven sacraments and the looser number of sacred mysteries, seven only by convention, as effectively equivalent. Greek Catholicism regards the two as identical.