Publikacja w numerze Rok XXII (2016) nr 48
Autor Mateusz Potoczny
Streszczenie:
The Anointing of the Sick in the Liturgy of the Byzantine and Syriac Churches
The Sacrament of the Sick is a clear expression of the Church’s care for the weakest members of its community. Even if the prayer for the sick is present in the whole liturgical Christian heritage, a special place in this field has the celebration of the sacrament of healing with its characteristic rite, i.e. the anointing of the body of the sick with a blessed “oil of grace”. In the liturgy of the Church the symbolic of the oil is abundant and refers mainly to the peculiar power and to the overflow of the divine graces. In the Sacrament of the Sick, through the prayer of the priests, the placing of the hands and the anointing with the blessed oil the sick person receives a special strength and healing which can have both spiritual and physical effects. The spiritual healing seems to be more important therefore almost every oriental liturgical tradition underlines the penitential character of the rite. Every sickness, also the spiritual one, make us able to receive the healing strength of the sacrament. This study shows the general outline of the development of the rite and its actual practice in two great tradition of Christian East: Byzantine and Syriac.
Key words: Anointing of the Sick, sacrament of healing, Byzantine Liturgy, Syriac Liturgy.