Holy Unction

Holy Unction: Anointing for the Sick

The ministry of the Church is a wholistic healing ministry, for the benefit of body and soul. Sickness is not natural; God created the first man and woman in a state of perfection. However, their first act of disobedience had cosmic consequences, because the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). The universe and all that is contained in it became subject to death and decay. Spiritual turpitude, mental anguish and physical infirmities became commonplace around the world.

The Incarnation of Christ brings new hope to the world for reconciliation with God our Creator, yielding spiritual, emotional and physical healing. In the Jewish synagogue at Nazareth, Jesus read from the Book of Isaiah a prophecy concerning himself: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” (Luke 4:18-19). Through the pages of the gospels we read of Jesus’ profound compassion on men, women and children.

Today, the Holy Church follows the same ministry of grace and healing. We refer to the Church as a spiritual hospital where the Great Physician of our souls and bodies awaits those who walk through its doors with faith and reverence.

The Apostle James instructs: “Is any sick among you? 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 shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.” (James 5:14-15) The act of anointing with oil for spiritual and physical healing is sacramental, as in so doing, we beseech God’s divine grace. St. James continues: “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” (verse 16)

The New Testament scriptures and the Church’s history are replete with examples of great healing miracles, and also with examples of miracle-working saints who themselves were afflicted with a physical illness. The Apostle Paul was a great healer, yet he endured a physical ailment described by him as a “thorn in the flesh”, which God allowed to remain for the perfecting of his spirit (2 Corinthians 12:7). By faithfully submitting to God in our physical afflictions, we and others around us are either spiritually blessed by witnessing our physical afflictions removed, or we are spiritually perfected by having them remain. Our ultimate hope lies not in temporary physical healing, but in the healing of our souls, which leads us into God’s Kingdom where God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” (Revelation 21:4)