Blessing Rituals

JEFFREY B. PETTIS

In the Scriptures the concept “to bless” means to give favor. For example, in Genesis 27.11 Isaac receives the favor or blessing (Hebrew, brch) of his father Jacob. In Numbers 24.1 Balaam prayed and “saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel.” With both of these examples blessings occur as an automatic action apart from moral conditions or expectation. There also occurs the liturgical blessing of persons (Num. 6.22ff.) and of food (1Sam. 9.13; cf. Matt. 14.19). The Greek Septuagint and the New Testament translates this concept of blessing as eulogeo (“to speak well of”). In Luke 1.64 the mouth of the dumb Zachariah was opened and he “spoke praises” (elalei eulogon) to God (also Acts 3.26). Eulogeo may also mean to ask for the bestowal of special favor, especially by the act of calling down God’s gracious power. In Hebrews 7.1 the high priest Melchizedek, the King of Salem, meets Abraham returning from battle and blesses him (see also Luke 24.50f.; cf. Gen. 14.19; 1 Clem. 15.3).

Rooted in the biblical tradition, the Orthodox Church continues the tradition of offering blessings on persons and objects associated with the life in Christ (icons, worship-related objects such as holy water or crosses, or objects related to the believer’s lifestyle), and reserves the “sacramental” character of the blessing by seeing it as appropriately given by a bishop or a priest. A believer approaches for a blessing with a gesture of the hands in cupped shape. The bishop or priest signs the believer’s head with the sign of the cross and invokes the name of God over them. Ritual objects are blessed with special priestly prayers and the making of the sign of the cross over the article three times with the sprinkling of holy water. Many times during the liturgy the celebrant blesses the people with the cross or with the hand held in the shape of the name of Jesus: again delineating that the blessing is “In the Name” of the Lord. The Orthodox Service Book contains many priestly blessings; for guarding someone from evil influence, to secure a home and a family’s godly endeavors, for the blessing of houses, farms, schools, wells, and so forth. The blessing ceremony of a foundation of a new church is of an especially solemn character, its ritual prescribed in the bishops’ service book. In many cultures of Eastern Orthodoxy parents also bless the young, laying their hands on their heads and using the simple declarative: “God bless you.” In daily prayers the believer can often call upon God’s blessing, as for example in this commonly used nighttime prayer: “Into thy hands, O Lord,

I commend my soul and my body. Do thou thyself bless me, have mercy upon me, and grant me life eternal. Amen.”