Christ came to the
world to "bear the infirmities" of men.
One
of the signs of his divine messiahship was
to heal the sick. The power of healing
remains in the Church since Christ himself
remains in the Church through the Holy
Spirit.
The sacrament of the unction of the sick is
the Church's specific prayer for healing. If
the faith of the believers is strong enough,
and if it is the will of God, there is every
reason to believe that the Lord can heal
those who are diseased.
Is any among you
sick, let him call for the presbyters of
the church, and let them pray over him,
anointing him with oil in the name of
the Lord; and the prayer of faith will
save the sick man, and the Lord will
raise him up; and if he has committed
sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore,
confess your sins to one another and
pray for one another, that you may be
healed (James 05:14-16; Mark 06:13).
The sacrament of
anointing is a "sobornal" sacrament in the
traditional Orthodox practice. This means
that as many of the faithful as possible are
gathered to participate in the prayers. The
rite itself calls for seven priests, seven
readings from the epistles and gospels,
seven prayers and seven anointings with oil
specifically blessed for the service.
Although it is not always possible to
perform the sacrament in this way, the
normal procedure is still to gather together
as many priests and people as possible.
The express purpose of the sacrament of holy
unction is healing and forgiveness. Since it
is not always the will of God that there
should be physical healing, the prayer of
Christ that God's will be done always
remains as the proper context of the
sacrament. In addition, it is the clear
intention of the sacrament that through the
anointing of the sick body the sufferings of
the person should be sanctified and united
to the sufferings of Christ. In this way,
the wounds of the flesh are consecrated, and
strength is given that the suffering of the
diseased person may not be unto the death of
his soul, but for eternal salvation in the
resurrection and life of the Kingdom of God.
It is indeed the case that death inevitably
comes to man. All must die, even those who
in this life are given a reprieve through
healing in order to have more time on the
earth. Thus, the healing of the sick is not
itself a final goal, but is merely
"instrumental" in that it is given by God as
a sign of his mercy and as a grace for the
further opportunity of man to live for him
and for others in the life of this world.
In the case where a person is obviously in
the final moments of his earthly life, the
Church has special prayers for the
"separation of soul and body." Thus, it is
clear that the sacrament of holy unction is
for the sick-both the physically and
mentally sick-and is not reserved for the
moment of death. The sacrament of unction is
not the "last rites" as is sometimes
thought; the ritual of the anointing itself
in no way indicates that it should be
administered merely in "extreme" cases. Holy
unction is the sacrament of the spiritual,
physical, and mental healing of a sick
person whatever the nature or the gravity of
the illness may be.
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Jesus Christ,
Our Lord and Savior
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