Anointing of the Sick

SERGEY TROSTYANSKIY

The use of oil for healing purposes was well known in Antiquity. Both Jewish and pagan practices of healing are marked by the use of oil, the element which was symbolically associated with joy, glad­ness, peace, and happiness. In Christian practice, when blessed or accompanied by prayer, oil became a symbol of the Holy Spirit, a mystery of the energy of divine grace, and thus a means of sanctification.

The perception of a person as a holistic unity and the assumption that physical sick­ness, suffering, and death were signs of spir­itual not only physical trouble were deeply rooted in the Old Testament tradition. Thus, Genesis described humanity as created to inhabit paradise, to be in perfect commu­nion with God, and to contemplate God. There are no signs of sickness or death asso­ciated with paradise. However, the original Fall, the sin committed by Adam and Eve, caused a temporary exile from paradise, a break in communion with God, and, as a consequence, the subjection of humanity to sickness, suffering, and death. For the fathers, the devil stood directly behind this catastrophe, and accordingly this triad of woes is the result of the works of the forces of evil. Moreover, sin, a spiritual disorder, is widely seen among the fathers as the root of physical disorders. Thus, the close, almost causal connection between sin and sickness is clearly affirmed both in the Scriptures themselves and throughout most of patristic commentary on the healings of Jesus. Healing narratives in the Scriptures are viewed and presented as a divine preroga­tive; the direct result of the work of divine power, and of the forgiveness of sin.

Jesus’ ministry adopted healing as an important aspect of his mission, and a symbol (in the form of exorcism) of the advent of the Kingdom of God. Moreover, the Scriptures present Jesus as the ultimate healer of the world, who removes the powers of evil, including sin and sickness, from the world. The apostles’ ministry was also associated with healing. “They expelled many demons, and anointed with oil many that were sick and healed them” (Mk. 6.13). The Epistle of James provided a theological basis for the sacramental power of anointing of the sick:

Is any among you suffering? Let him pray. Is any cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders 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 maybe healed. (James 5.13–16)

Here the presbyters of the church are commanded to serve those who are ill in terms of a sacramental ritual of anointing of the sick accompanied by prayer. Sin, sickness, and the forgiveness of sins are once again affirmed in conjuncture.

In the early church the traditional practice of the use of oil for healing purposes accom­panied by prayer became distinctively Christianized. The Orthodox Church defines the anointing of the sick as one of the major sacraments of the church, instituted by Jesus Christ himself. Its sacramental significance arises from the fact that its purpose is the removal of sins, the restoration of commu­nion between humanity and God, and (only last in that series) the restoration of health. Sacred oil in the church’s understanding con­veys the presence and operation of the healing power of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus himself, who is the sacrament, the visible presence of God and divine grace in the world, did not use oil for healing purposes in his ministry; but his apostles elevated sacred anointing as a major part of their healing ministry, and so it has been used in the Orthodox Church ever since. Holy oil is central to the sacrament of anointing of the sick, as well as being used in association with the exorcism and strengthening ritual of baptismal candidates in the early stages of the rite (Oil of Gladness).

The early church’s ritual for healing using blessed oil can be seen in the Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus, a work of the early 3rd century. It describes a procedure of blessing oil for the sick during the Eucharistic liturgy. Another early text, the Apostolic Constitution, dating to the late 4th century, mirrors this earlier description of the blessing of oil. The Prayer Book of Serapion, compiled in the 4th century by an Egyptian bishop and disciple of St. Athanasius, gives us a concrete example of the prayer over the oil. Aphrahat, a Syrian theologian of the 4th century, also provides a description of various sacramental uses of consecrated oil, among which we can find the anointing of the sick. Later, in the 11th century, a Byzantine manuscript (reflecting the background of the Letter of St. James) describes how the sacrament ought to be celebrated by seven presbyters on seven consecutive days. Even so, already by the 11th century the service of anointing the sick had been shortened for practical reasons, was performed in one day and gen­erally separated from its original liturgical context (although confession and reception of the Eucharist are still closely associated with the rite, albeit celebrated more often than not in the home of the sick person today). Finally, by the 14th century the sacrament of anointing of the sick acquired its final form, as still reflected in the Ortho­dox service books. Seven priests are still regarded as an ideal number to celebrate this sacrament (when the various prayers, gospel readings, and anointings are distrib­uted among them), but a lesser number can also proceed with the sacrament.

There is a large variety of elements involved in the celebration of the sacrament, but it is possible to mark two constant fac­tors: the prayer of blessing over the oil and the prayer of actual anointing. It should be noted that the sacrament of anointing has never become a part of a regular cycle of services in the church (even though a related service is celebrated on the Wednes­day evening of Great Week), but rather was accomplished according to particular needs and customs. Although today’s form of the service is much simpler and shorter than in the past, it still can take several hours. The sick person is not expected to be actively responsive, although he or she bears the gospel book, lying on it if necessary.

The rite of anointing includes beautiful physical as well as spiritual dimensions. Its ultimate goal is the forgiveness of sins and the restoration of communion with God for the sick person, and thus spiritual healing. However, the physical aspect of healing is also of great concern. Due to a holistic image of the human being as a psychosomatic unity, these two aspects of healing are always in a conjunction, in which the priority is, as usual in the church, given to the spiritual aspect of healing. The ritual always recognizes and calls upon the Lord of Mercies who gave us our close unity of body and soul, and whose word can cast out our sins as well as our diseases.

REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS

Cuschieri, A. (1993) Anointing of the Sick: A Theological and Canonical Study. Lanham: University Press of America.

Dudley, M. and Rowell, G. (eds.) (1993) The Oil of Gladness: Anointing in the Christian Tradition. London: SPCK; Collegeville: Liturgical Press. Empereur, J. L. (1982) Prophetic Anointing.

Wilmington: Michael Glazier.

McGuckin, J. A. (2008) The Orthodox Church: An Introduction to Its History, Doctrine and Spiritual Culture. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 306–8. Meyendorff, P. (2009) The Anointing of the Sick. Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press.