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As Eugene Victor Debs is believed to have said, no prisoner is ever truly free until he frees himself!

I'm also fond of that long-standing favorite "Give Me That Old-Time Religion"!

Fr. Serge

The following is the introduction from the service book I assembled for private use in 1988. It is merely a slight adaptation from Hapgood, which was my main source for the text (all I did was to update the language a bit). Perhaps it will be useful to this discussion.

I have had the privilege of chanting and/or attending this Service of Holy Anointing for many years. It is incredibly powerful. My experience is only at a parish level, with several priests praying the prayers and anointing. Consider how powerful this Mystery would be if celebrated in a cathedral, with all the local parishes bringing their priests and the faithful into one large assembly. I find it rather sad that the administration of this Mystery is abbreviated to just a short prayer and the anointing itself incorporated into a Presanctified Divine Liturgy.


Great and Holy Wednesday
the Service of Holy Anointing

It is the tradition of the Byzantine Church to celebrate the service of holy anointing on Wednesday of Great and Holy Week. Anointing with holy oil is a mystery (sacrament) in which, through the anointing, the grace of God is invoked upon the sick. It is that grace which heals all ills, both those of the soul and of the body. From the contents of the prayers of this sacrament, one can readily understand the reason that this service is celebrated on Great and Holy Wednesday for all the faithful. The justification for all the faithful partaking of the sacrament on this day is taken from the epistle of St. James, (5:14-15) taken in its broadest sense to include those who suffer from spiritual ills - grief, depression, and the like - and as well as from those of the body. It is also an added preparation for receiving Holy Communion on Great Thursday, the day commemorating the institution of the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist.

The mystery of Holy Anointing is given for spiritual and physical healing "unto souls and bodies". The sacrament of reconciliation is presupposed and most necessary for proper receiving of Holy Eucharist, and in this instance is more closely allied to the sacrament of Holy Anointing.

Seven priests (if possible) are appointed to perform this service. There are seven lessons from the epistles, seven from the Gospels and seven prayers; the number being chosen as symbolic of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. This is also in conformity with the number seven connected with the Shunammite woman's child and Prophet Elisha (2 Kings 4:35); of the reopening of the skies by the Prophet Elijah, after they had been shut up for three and one-half years (1 Kings 18:43); of Naaman's dipping himself into the waters of the Jordan, after which he was cleansed. Seven tapers are lighted (one after the reading of each gospel) around the vessel containing the wine and oil, as images of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. It is customary for all those who are present to hold tapers not only during the reading of the Gospels, but also during the remainder of the service, in token of their fervent prayers for the salvation of all present being anointed.

The wheat serves as the emblem of the embryo of a new life - of healing and of life after the death of the body - of resurrection (John 12:24; 1 Cor. 15:36-38). The oil (which must be pure olive oil) is the visible symbol of the grace of healing (Mark 16:18) and of God's mercy. The wine is used as a symbol of the blood of Christ shed upon the Cross for the salvation of all humanity. The union of the oil and wine is made after the example of the remedy used by the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:34).

Adapted from the Service Book of the Holy Orthodox-Catholic Apostolic Church. edited by Isabel Hapgood (1922/1975) reprinted by the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese. Edited by JJV 2/1988.

Attendance at the full unction service on Holy Wednesday is very powerful.

There are those who attempt to insist that the Bishop should not himself serve the Holy Oil - on the ground that Saint James specifies calling upon the presbyters of the Church for this purpose!

I grasp the fine point but I can't say I agree with it - Among other considerations, the Bishop is the First of the presbyters in his diocese or quasi-diocese.

In a city such as Pittsburgh, or Toronto, or L'viv, where we have many parishes, assembling the Bishop and seven presbyters, as well as a good group of chanters, two good Deacons, and a church full of the faithful, would be a marvelous celebration.

Fr. Serge

Without really expecting any final resolution of this point, I would note, for the record, that there seem to be a variety of quite irreconcilable views as to the nature, effect and "discipline" of the Mystery of Holy Anointing. Perhaps it is for the best that no single viewpoint prevails over the others (Catholic or Orthodox) and that there is room for different perceptions of what is going on among hierarchs, clergy-celebrants and faithful.

Having read these posts again, I am prompted to add that, at the practical level (where layperson meets cleric, anointer meets anointee, penitent meets confessor), there may be obstacles to adopting this Eastern Christian version of the Chairman's maxim. However comfortable folk at parish level may be with the blooming of a "thousand flowers" in the field of sacramental theology, it seems likely that there will be those at hierarchical levels (East and West), and within certain dicasteries in a city state in southern Europe, who will be distinctly uncomfortable, experiencing, perhaps, a form of 'ecclesiastical hayfever'.