Essay on the history of the ritual side of the Sacrament of Anointing

The historical study of the liturgical side of the sacrament of anointing is one of the most difficult subjects in the entire liturgical field. The reasons for this difficulty lie not only in the usually indicated poverty of historical evidence about this sacrament, but also in the nature of the evidence itself. The insufficiency of historical data for the sacrament of anointing concerns mainly the first three centuries; in the following centuries, this lack was replaced by a relative abundance of evidence, if not about the composition of the “follow-up” of the sacrament of consecration of oil, then at least about the use of anointing with oil in illness; but here there are very great difficulties in using this evidence; These difficulties relate to proper assessment, correct understanding and interpretation of historical data. In view of the latter kind of difficulties, we preface the presentation of data related to the history of the “following” of the sacrament of consecration of oil by the presentation of historical evidence about the use of oil by ancient Christians - general and sacramental use. I. In ancient times, oil, as a remedy against various kinds of ailments, was widespread in both pagan and Christian societies. Among Christians, it had a variety of uses: at baptism, as an incantatory oil, during illness, as a remedy consecrated by prayer, and, finally, in the sacrament, as a visible sign of the special grace of God, healing mental and physical ailments. It is very easy to overlook these various ways of using oil by ancient Christians, as is mostly the case with researchers; but in this case, the result will be a confusion of heterogeneous historical data - a confusion that will lead not to clarification, but, on the contrary, to obscuring the historical fate of the use of oil in the sacrament. But even with careful differentiation of different types of use of oil, in many cases it is very difficult to determine which of these types of use should be attributed to a known historical fact or known historical evidence. Oil, like water, was chosen by God as a means of communicating the special grace of God to the sick, probably in consideration of the widespread use of it as a medicinal remedy not only in the Jewish but also in the pagan world 1 . That oil, as a medicinal remedy, was used by the Jews from ancient times, this is clear from St. Scriptures of the Old Testament. The Prophet Isaiah, depicting the state of the people of God in his time, said: from the sole of the foot to the crown of the head there is no healthy place for them: ulcers, spots, festering wounds, uncleansed and unbandaged and not softened with oil (Isaiah I, 6). Similar passages are found in the prophet Jeremiah. Is there no balm in Gilead, asks the prophet, is there no doctor there? Why is there no healing for the daughter of my people? (Jer. VIII, 22). Suddenly Babylon has fallen, weep for her, take balm for her wound, maybe she will heal (Jeremiah LI, 8). Western scholars prove in many places in the Talmud that anointing the sick with oil was in great use among the Jews and was even allowed on the Sabbath 2 . In the same way, they prove that the Greeks and Romans attached special importance to φαρμα x οῖς ἐγχριστοῖς (Theocrit. Idill. XI, 7), balsamo, oleo, oleis spirituosis and rubbing with these suits, as can be seen from Celsus, Galen and others 3 . The same common medical use of oil in ancient times is evidenced by the parable of the Savior about the one who fell into thieves. This parable speaks about the compassionate Samaritan: he came up and bandaged his wounds, pouring oil and wine (Luke X, 34). Expounding his divine teaching in parables, Christ the Savior always took a shell for it from the life around him; so it is in this case. Probably taking into account such a widespread use of oil among Jews as a medicinal remedy, the apostles - not without the permission, of course, of the Lord himself 4 - used oil in their miraculous healings of the sick, during their first appearance to preach repentance, even during the life of the Lord. On this occasion, it is said about the apostles: they cast out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them (Mark VI, 13). Such an action of the apostles was not yet a sacrament, but it was a foreshadowing of the future sacrament, just as the baptism of the disciples of Christ, along with the baptism of John (John IV, 1-2) was not yet a sacrament, but a preparatory action for the sacrament of the baptized. As a Christian sacrament, anointing of oil was established by the Savior after the resurrection, when He appeared to the apostles for forty days and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, that is, about the structure of his church (Acts I, 3). From what has been said, the following results are obtained, which are important for elucidating the subsequent history of the sacrament of anointing: 1) the sacramental use of oil was preceded by the very widespread use of oil as a medical remedy in Jewish and pagan antiquity, 2) taking into account this, by the way, circumstance, one can think that oil was chosen by Christ the Savior as a visible sign or organ of the special grace of God for healing the body and healing the mental illnesses of the sick. But if the use of oil as a medicinal remedy was so widespread in pre-Christian antiquity, then we can expect that this kind of use of oil continued to exist among Christian society together with its sacramental use, without mixing one with the other and without turning one into the other. Among the leading Christians we actually find a two-fold type of use of oil - ordinary and sacramental. Historical facts and evidence from antiquity give us every right to such a conclusion. The Roman Catholic archaeologist Binterim, rightly rebelling against the confusion of two kinds of historical facts relating to the dual use of oil, cites the following facts of the ordinary non-sacramental use of oil 5. Tertullian says that the Emperor Severus, the father of Antoninus, received healing from his illness by receiving anointing with oil from a certain Christian Proclus 6 . It is said about the martyr Archelaia, who suffered under Diocletian, that she healed all the sick who turned to her with oil 7 . St. Ephraim the Syrian, in his advice to a monk about spiritual life, notes: “if, fulfilling the duty of love, you anoint a sick person with oil, then guard your eye, hands and tongue” 8. Simeon the Stylite, as Theodoret tells us, at the request of the Persian queen, blessed her and sent her oil, which healed not only her illness, but also the illnesses of her loved ones 9 . According to the story of Gregory of Tours, one nun named Monegunda blessed oil and salt for the sick 10. The following passages in Chrysostom’s conversations should also be included here. Discussing the advantages of the churches of God over private houses, St. the father in one of his conversations says: “And this meal is incomparably more honorable and sweeter than your home meal and this lamp is your lamp: those who, with faith and anointing themselves with oil in good time, received healing know this. 11. The Holy Father says similar things about the anointing with oil from the tombs of martyrs. 12 There is no doubt that all these facts do not indicate sacramental, but about the ordinary use of oil: pagans, like the Emperor Severus and the Persian queen (testimonies of Tertullian and Theodoret about Simeon the Stylite), of course, could not be awarded the sacrament, and persons who did not and cannot have hierarchical degrees, like the martyr Archelaia and Monegunda, could not perform the sacrament over the sick whom they healed. in churches and from the tombs of martyrs, then it goes without saying that this kind of oil is not at all of a sacramental nature. It is not so obvious what kind of oil St. means. Ephraim the Syrian in his advice to a monk; but even here, based on the words: “fulfilling the duty of love,” it is more likely that ordinary medical use can be understood. However, by assigning this oil the name of ordinary medicinal oil, we by no means deny the religious nature of its use. The leading Christians, using this oil, no doubt looked at it not as an ordinary medical remedy, having the power to heal illnesses solely due to the healing ability inherent in the very nature of the oil, but as a remedy that has healing power not so much by nature, but by the power of consecrating it with prayer and accepting it by the sick with faith. In a word, this was not simple oil, but consecrated by prayer, although different from the oil in the sacrament - oil consecrated by the presbyters. Who blessed this ordinary oil? One answer can be given to this question: this kind of oil was not necessarily required by a hierarchical person for its consecration. A layman, and even a woman, could sanctify him by praying over him and blessing him, as we see from the above examples. Moreover, as can be seen from the words of Chrysostom, sanctification, according to the belief of the church, was imparted by oil and without any separate act, through one presence of oil in the church among prayer meetings, in lamps before images of saints or before the tombs of martyrs. The consecration of this kind of oil was understood, as it is understood by pious Christians today, obviously in a broad sense. There are, however, facts that show that this kind of oil was sometimes consecrated by hierarchical persons and even bishops. So in the biography of Caesarea of ​​Arelat it says: "every year on (known) days he visited the baptistery to bless the oil of those who wished. When he entered, he sat down to seal the children, boys and girls, sent by their parents, immediately ran up to him, giving him vessels with water, others with oil, so that he would bless them" 13. Very characteristic of this fact is the comparison of consecrated oil with consecrated or holy water: this indicates, on the one hand, the uniformity of the use of these two consecrated objects, on the other, it leads to the assumption: was this oil distributed by Caesarea the exorcism oil used in baptism, and likewise the water - consecrated water for baptism? The place of its distribution - the baptistery and the time - before the sealing of children - lead to this assumption. In our opinion, the closest relationship with this fact is what we read in the Apostolic Constitutions. It also talks about the “blessing of water and oil” by the bishop or, in his absence, by the presbyter in the presence of the deacon. The prayer that follows speaks of “water for drinking and for cleansing and oil to gladden the face with the joy of joy,” and contains a request for “the consecration of this water and oil in the name of the one who brought or brought it” 14. Without a doubt, here in the Apostolic Decrees, of course, the same use of oil as in the biography of Caesarea of ​​Arelates, that is, the use by the believers themselves with prayer and faith in various cases of their lives and in their various needs, similar to the use of holy water in our time. In all likelihood, the following fact also applies to the same use. The biography of Abbot Sigirain says that he received a thousand pounds of oil from the Bishop of Poitiers. In the West, however, according to Binterim, this kind of home use of oil, due to abuse, was prohibited by councils starting in the 8th century. But in the east, as far as we know, it never stopped. And to this day they serve as an eloquent monument to the ancient pious custom; the consecration of oil at all-night vigils on the occasion of great holidays and the anointing of all those present with oil, as well as the consecration of water on patronal feasts before the liturgy. It is hardly fair, Binterim believes, that this kind of oil, being consecrated by the bishop on Maundy Thursday, was received in ancient times not only by the laity for home use, but also by the elders for sacramental use or for anointing in the sacrament of anointing. In this case, the venerable scientist, without sufficient grounds, transfers into the ancient period the later practice of the Western Church, in which there now exists, although it did not always exist, the custom of consecrating not only the world, but also oil by the bishop once a year; as a result of which the priest there can use no other oil in the sacrament of “last anointing" as soon as it is consecrated by the bishop. There is no doubt, at least, that this custom did not exist in the West in the centuries from I to V. Everything we have said so far relates to the ordinary, home use of oil. Binterim’s remark is quite fair that the above facts and ancient evidence tend to be abused not only by Protestants, but also by Roman Catholics. Protestants try, based on the above, to prove that the blessed oil has always been used as an ordinary medicinal remedy against diseases; From which use, little by little, the church rite of anointing arose. Protestants, thus, deliberately identify two, in essence, completely different types of anointing - sacramental and general home - in order to refute the ancient church teaching about the consecration of oil as a sacrament. Roman Catholics also resort to a similar confusion, although for a completely opposite purpose, precisely for the purpose of strengthening or, better yet, increasing the amount of evidence in favor of this sacrament, also not distinguishing one type of anointing from another, identifying one with the other 15. A proper distinction between one and the other kind of anointing should only lead to a clarification of the truth and to its reinforcement, and at the same time it must necessarily deprive Protestants of their means of justifying their dogmatic error, which the Roman Catholics themselves unintentionally but unwisely put into their hands. Recognition of the existence of the ordinary use of oil - as it will soon be proven that in parallel with such use there was another kind of use, sacramental - cannot at all serve as a basis for Protestants to reject the use of oil in a sacrament or as a sacrament, just as the use of holy water in ancient times does not serve for the more conservative of them (for Lutherans) as a reason for rejecting baptism as a sacrament. Let alone how much such a distinction benefits the strength of the evidence of Roman Catholics against Protestants. As for us Orthodox, this circumstance can confuse us just as little as the existence at present at all-night vigils of the church rite of anointing with oil, which originates from the ordinary use of oil - the existence of this rite is parallel to the sacrament of anointing, which originates from the times of the apostles. Moving on to the sacramental use of oil, we do not consider it important to dwell on the most ancient evidence related to this; since these testimonies, although they are dogmatically significant, do not provide significant data for conclusions regarding the historical fate of the liturgical side of the sacrament or for judging exactly how this sacrament was performed. Such is the evidence: Origen and I. Chrysostom, who is similar to him, referring to the words of the ap. James when discussing repentance 16, the testimony of Cyril of Alexandria, reminding the sick of the grace-filled remedy indicated in the words of the apostle. James 17, testimony of St. Ambrose about laying hands on the sick and blessing 18, testimony of Bl. Augustine on the significance of anointing for the future life 19 and the biographer Augustine Possidio († 440) on the visits of Blessed. Augustine of the sick, about prayers for them and about laying hands on them 20. From all this evidence it only follows that the church fathers remembered the commandment of St. Jacob and reminded the sick of the grace-filled means of healing from mental and physical illnesses. Moreover, primary attention was paid to the healing of mental ailments, that is, to the forgiveness of sins, considering the commandment of the Apostle in close connection with the power given to the elders by Christ himself to bind and decide. Therefore, naturally, they focused special attention not on oil, as a visible sign of the healing of primarily bodily ailments, but on the laying on of hands, as a visible sign of the remission of sins. Liturgically, only this last result is important, i.e., that the laying on of hands was one of the actions that in ancient times was essentially included - together with anointing with oil - in the sacred rite of the sacrament of anointing. Compared to the above testimonies, the testimony of St. is somewhat more significant in liturgical terms. Irenaeus of Lyons on Gnostic atonements. Between the various ways of performing the so-called Gnostic “redemptions” of St. Irenaeus mentions the following. "Others still make atonement for the dying at the moment of their death, pouring oil and water or the above-mentioned ointment with water over their heads and using the above invocations so that they become inaccessible and invisible to the principles and authorities. And so that their inner man ascends to the invisible, while their body is left with the creatures in this world, and their soul passes to the Demiurge. And they teach them after death, when they come to the authorities, to speak the following words: “I am a son from the Father-Father, etc.” 21 There can be no doubt that the Gnostics’ admission of such a ritual was not the result of the independent creativity of the Gnostic mind: the well-known views of the Gnostics on matter could only counteract, and not in any way contribute to, the introduction of sensory elements such as oil, water and myrrh into use during Gnostic atonements. If we see that some of the Gnostics, nevertheless, use this rite of pouring oil on the body of someone who has already died, on a body that in itself had no value or meaning for the Gnostic, then this circumstance can only be explained as the influence on these heretics of the ingrained custom of another environment, brought up in other views on the body and on matter in general, i.e. the Orthodox Church, to the influence of which in this case a certain part of the less consistent Gnostics submitted, while the other part resolutely rejected, according to the remark of St. Irenaeus, “performing the sacrament of ineffable and invisible power and the incorporeal with the help of sensory and corporeal creatures.” Thus, in Gnostic atonements at death one cannot help but see an indirect indication of the fact of the existence of the sacrament of anointing in the Christian Church in the first centuries. We have the right to draw such a conclusion, especially since in other ways of performing Gnostic atonements, described by St. Irenaeus precedes the passage we cited; the imitation of the Gnostics in the celebration of the sacraments in the Orthodox Church is very noticeable: baptism, confirmation and marriage 22 . Among the Gnostics, the rite of pouring oil on the body of the deceased is a solemn secret act; he was no doubt the same in the Orthodox Church. However, the only conclusion that can be drawn from the above evidence, from Gnostic practice to Orthodox practice, is that during anointing in the Orthodox Church it was used, according to the commandment of St. James, anointing a dangerously sick person with oil and at the same time famous prayers were said. It is no longer possible to say anything affirmative, in view of what is known, attested and holy. Irenaeus strives for the Gnostics to pervert the teachings and traditions of the Orthodox Church 23. Incomparably more important than all the above evidence testimony of Innocent 1 24. This testimony is especially important for us in the sense that, as far as we can see, in the first half we are talking about the ordinary, and in the second about the sacramental use of oil, and the latter kind of use is characterized by such features that fully correspond to the concept of the highest public sacred rite, constituting the right and duty exclusively of hierarchical persons. In the letter of Innocent I to Bishop Decentius, in which we find the mentioned evidence, the discussion is generally de ordinibus et consecralionibus or otherwise de consecrandis mysteriis vel in caeteris agendis areanis 25, therefore, in the meaning of these words about liturgical orders and various types of church liturgical actions, namely: 1) about whether peace (kissing peace) should not be given before, and after the sacraments (the consecration of St. Gifts), 2) that the names of those who bring offerings for the Eucharist should not be pronounced before accepting their offerings and consecrating them with prayer, 3) that no one should be sealed in confirmation except the bishop, 4) that they should fast on Saturday, 5) that fermenlum (probably the body of Christ 26, on Easter day should be handed over only to those elders who are inside the city, 6) that the laying hands on those possessed by demons who have already received baptism are allowed, 7) that the remission of sins to those who repent must be performed before Easter, with the exception of a serious and dangerous illness. Immediately after all this we read the following discourse of the Roman bishop on anointing: “Since your love wanted to consult about this, as well as about other things, my son Deacon Celestine added in his letter that it was appropriate for your love to (ask) regarding what is written in the epistle of the Apostle James: is anyone hurting in you... There is no doubt that these words should be accepted and understood in relation to the sick believers who can be anointed with the holy oil of anointing (sancto oleo chrismatis), - oil, which, being prepared by the bishop, can be used not only by priests, but also by all Christians in case of need for themselves or their loved ones. But we find that it is unnecessary to add that in relation to the bishop it is doubtful that the permissibility of which is undoubted for presbyters. For it is said about presbyters (in the Epistle of Apostle James) because bishops, being. burdened with other activities, they cannot go to all the sick. However, if the bishop either can or considers it necessary to visit someone, bless and anoint with unction (tangere christmate), then without hesitation he can perform the anointing (clirisma conficere) of the one to whom it is appropriate. For it cannot be poured on those who repent, since it is a kind of sacrament (quia genus est sacramenti). How do they think that one kind of (sacraments) can be imparted to those who are denied the other sacraments?” In these words one can see an indication of the unmixed, parallel existence in ancient times of the two above-mentioned types of anointing: ordinary and sacramental. The oil consecrated by the bishop - for which, according to other testimonies, people came to the bishop's baptistery on certain days and which was kept in the homes of Christians in case of need - and in this testimony appears to be the kind of oil that can be used not only by hierarchical persons, but also by ordinary Christians in case of their own or theirs' needs. The doubt shared by some - as to whether a bishop, in accordance with the commandment of the Apostle ("will call the elders of the church"), can perform this "kind of sacrament" (as the anointing of the sick is called below) - shows that the ancient Christians, who with faith flocked to the bishop in order to take the oil consecrated by him for their needs, in their thoughts separated this episcopal consecration of the oil for ordinary use from that anointing, which, being a very important action, “a kind of sacrament,” could not be performed by a simple layman, but required hierarchical persons. The doubt in this last case consisted only in whether the circle of these hierarchical persons, as performers of the anointing, should also include the bishop who consecrated the oil for ordinary use by the laity, or whether it was necessary to limit this circle only to elders, strictly adhering to the letter of the apostolic commandments. The obvious truth does not require proof that, according to this testimony, anointing of oil, performed by hierarchical persons and, moreover, only on a person who is not deprived, as a repentant, of the right to receive gifts of grace from the church, appears to be: 1) a church sacrament, and not an act of ordinary healing, 2) a sacramental act, performed by hierarchical persons, and not ordinary believers or the sick themselves, and 3) a sacramental act, imparting a special gift of grace, to which not all sick Christians, not all believers in Christ, have the right, as to ordinary oil. In addition to all of the above, this rich and very remarkable testimony sheds light on the relationship in which this sacrament stood in ancient times to the sacrament of repentance. The turn of phrase of Innocent I in the place in which he touches on this subject shows that in his time some were not alien to the view of the consecration of oil as an action that in certain cases replaces repentance for the penitent, that is, as an action that frees those who have undergone public repentance from their sins in the event of a serious, dangerous illness of these persons. “How do they think,” he says, “that it is possible to impart one kind (of the sacraments) to those who are denied the other sacraments?” Consequently, there were people in the West who “thought” this way.” In the East, one might assume, such views were especially widespread, as we have the right to conclude from the above evidence, especially from the book “On the Priesthood” by St. John Chrysostom, as well as from the practice of some of the Eastern Christian societies, which in ancient times separated from the Orthodox Church, namely the Armenians and Jacobites; Among the former, everyone, even those who are healthy, uses oil instead of the sacrament of repentance, before communion with St. For the latter, the Mystery, although it does not replace repentance, is performed on everyone preparing for communion 27 . Apart from considering anointing with oil as a second repentance or type of repentance, Innocent, one might think, was not completely alien to the idea of ​​their close relationship, which can be concluded from the order of the flow of his thoughts in his message that we have analyzed. He writes about the consecration of oil immediately after he expressed his view on repentance; this circumstance apparently indicates the existence of his thoughts about the immediate and close connection between one and the other sacred rites. Without citing evidence from the 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th centuries. regarding the existence of consecration of oil - since the fact of this existence has been since the 5th century. is not rejected even by Protestants - let us turn to the history of the “following” of the sacrament of unction. II. Our current “following of holy oil” consists of the following three main parts: 1) from the canon with nine songs, 2) from the consecration of the oil, and 3) from the sevenfold anointing of the sick with consecrated oil - while reading the seven apostles and seven gospels, with seven prayers. The first part is preceded by the usual beginning (“blessed is our God,” the Trisagion, the Most Holy Trinity, Our Father, Lord have mercy), psalm 142, litany, hallelujah, troparia (“Lord have mercy on us, have mercy on us”) and psalm 50 (“God have mercy on me”); after the nine-song canon, this part ends with an exapostillary, stichera and troparion. The second part - the consecration of the oil - consists of the litany, the first prayer, troparions, the reading of the apostle and the gospel with the usual exclamations and refrains, the litany and the second prayer. The third part, consisting of the reading of the seven apostles and the seven gospels, is accompanied by seven different prayers; Moreover, at the conclusion of each of these seven prayers, when anointing the sick person with St. with oil, the same prayer is said, “Holy Father to the Physician of Souls and Bodies,” which has the meaning of a formula for anointing; This second part ends with the laying of the opened gospel on the head of the sick person, while reading the prayer - a short litany, stichera and the usual dismissal. How and when did the “following of holy oil” acquire such a form and character, and if it did not have such a form from the very first times of Christianity, then what was its original composition? Given the extreme paucity of direct historical data, it is very difficult to even approximately determine the original composition of the study of St. oil until the 9th century, that is, until the time when, according to the monuments that have come down to us, this succession acquires in its main features the character that it has at the present time. As for the future fate of St. oil after the 9th century, then for this period of time there is enough data to, at least in its main features, trace the history of the development of the liturgical side of this sacrament. Regarding the composition of the succession of St. oil in the first centuries in the Greek east in the period until approximately the 8th century. it is much easier to determine what existed in it at the present time was not there than what was then. There is no doubt that there was no nine-song canon then, which was subsequently compiled, it is believed, in the 9th century, by Arsenius, Archbishop of Corfu. It is also undoubtedly true that there was no reading of the seven apostles and seven gospels. With a very high degree of probability we must assume, finally, that it was not until the 7th century. and the seven prayers now said during the sevenfold anointing of the sick person. In this case, what did the following of the consecration of oil consist of in the East? To answer this question, due to the lack of direct historical evidence, there is nothing left to do but resort to analogies and indirect data. Based on both of them, we can come to the following assumptions regarding the composition of the sequence of anointing. At first it was very uncomplicated, consisting, in all likelihood, of several psalms and several prayers during the consecration of the oil and during the anointing of certain parts of the body: in addition, from the anointing formula: “the servant of God is anointed in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. This may also have been added: the reading of one apostle and one gospel and, in conclusion, a prayer while laying hands on the head of the one anointed with oil. - Psalms and prayers are not were the same in all places, and their number was not the same, just as freedom was allowed regarding other unimportant details (for example, the number of anointings and anointed members) in the performance of the sacrament. In the IV and V centuries. works of Vasily Vel. and John Chrysostom, in terms of the organization of the divine service, probably touched upon the sacrament of the Blessing of Anointing and consisted, one might think, in revising the existing prayers and readings used, selecting from them the best and most appropriate to the nature and goals of this sacred rite, and perhaps in composing new prayers. Towards the end of this period, the reading of the seven prayers appropriate to the sacrament or the singing of the seven repentant psalms begins to come into use. In any case, around the 7th century. The influence of the number seven on the arrangement of the consecration of oil becomes noticeable. All these assumptions are based on the following considerations and indirect historical data. Towards the idea of ​​the low complexity of the composition of Anointing and the freedom to use certain readings from St. Scripture, psalmody and sacred actions, as well as prayers during the performance of this sacrament - freedom, which extended both to the number and choice of readings and psalmody, as well as to the text of prayers - provide undoubted facts from the history of Eastern and Western liturgies. There is no doubt about the existence of all these phenomena in the history of the liturgy 28 ; and if such was the fate of the sacred rite, the most important of the entire liturgical circle, then there is every reason to assume that the fate of other sacred rites, including the sacrament of anointing, could not have been different. Exactly the same conclusion can be drawn from the following fact: in the liturgy in the 4th - 5th centuries, St. Vasily Vel. and St. I. Chrysostom carried out a revision of the prayers and the entire ritual in general; from here we have the right to conclude that the same persons who “composed”, according to the testimony of St. Sophronius, “prayers and offerings and full observance of the sacred services” 29, the observance of the sacrament of anointing was not left without attention. The participation of the named church fathers in the revision of the observance of this sacrament is indicated, by the way, by the existence, according to Gohar, in the most ancient manuscripts of the missal and in the ancient Venetian editions of inscriptions over two prayers (our fifth and sixth) of the names of I. Chrysostom and Basil the Great, as the compilers of these prayers 30. Whether they really composed or just selected these prayers from among those used in their time - in any case, the existence of the above inscriptions confirms the participation of these saints. fathers in the dispensation of the succession under consideration. Even if it were proven that the names of the above-mentioned saints. fathers adopted the well-known prayers completely unfoundedly, then even in this case the very existence of a legend about some kind of participation of these saints remains significant. fathers in arranging the consecration of oil; in this case it would only turn out that the legend found expression in the inscriptions above two prayers 31. To justify our assumptions regarding the particular composition of the continuation of the sacrament of anointing in the Greek east until the 9th century. We present several indirect data found in the ancient Western successions of the sacrament in question that have reached us. These ancient liturgical monuments belong (besides the Roman Church) to those Western national churches that were in constant communication with the Orthodox Greek East, whose liturgy and all liturgical books bear undoubted traces of the strong influence of the Eastern Church and which for a very long time fought for the independence of their worship with Rome, which sought to destroy the features of their worship and replace their liturgical books with purely Roman ones. Regarding this subject in particular, already from the above message of Pope Innocent 1 one can see both, i.e. both the existence in the West of churches that borrowed the rite of performing the sacrament of anointing not from the Roman Church, but from some other churches (obviously Eastern), and the desire of the Roman Church to subordinate to its liturgical practice the practice of other local Western churches. All this gives us the right, with a significant degree of probability, to draw a conclusion from what we find in the West - to the liturgical practice of the Eastern Church. In all these monuments, which, however, are not very ancient, not older than the 8th century, the following is noteworthy: 1) the sequence of the sacrament of anointing is distinguished by its brevity and uncomplicated composition, so that the order of one Western bishop, Ginkmar of Rheims (8th century), that the elders learn the sequence of anointing by heart becomes understandable; 2) it is usually placed in connection with the subsequent sacrament of repentance and the farewell of the sick with the sacrament of the Eucharist, so that anointing precedes the first and ends with the second; Having separated what belongs to the first two sacraments, we receive in the remainder a small sequence of the sacrament of anointing; finally 3) in the general composition of the Western successions of this sacrament that have come down to us, we find the following: the singing of a greater or lesser number of psalms, litanies or our litanies, a sevenfold number of penitential psalms (in some) and prayers (in others), anointing of various members of the sick person with the recitation of well-known formulas, and, finally, the prayer of laying on of hands. What kind of monuments are these? 1) Description of repentance, anointing and parting words for the sick St. Mysteries, belonging to Theodulf Archbishop of Orleans in the 8th century, 2) a follow-up in the Pontificale Tilianum of the 8th century, 3) a follow-up to the Mediolan Church, or the so-called Ambrosian, and 4) a follow-up to the sacramentary of Pope St. Gregory the Great. It is remarkable that the sequences of the sacrament of anointing are not found in the sacramentaries of either Leo B., or Pope Gelasius, or in the most ancient Gallican, the so-called Gothic 32 . The first of these monuments is the most remarkable, especially in relation to the history of our Eastern rite. Theodulf, a contemporary of Charles V., in a letter to the clergy of his district 33, after instructions on how to teach the resolution of sins in the sacrament of repentance to a sick person who has lost the use of language, first describes the preparatory rites for the sacrament, then the performance of the holy sacrament, and finally the communion of the Holy Mysteries with the sick person. "First, the sick person is given repentance. Then, if the illness allows, then after washing the body, they clothe the sick person in white clothes, carry him to the church and there he lies in cilicio superjecto cinere. There a cross and holy water are brought. When three priests come to him, then let them say: “Peace to this house and to those who live in it; peace to those who come in and go out in the name of the Lord." Then the priest pours the blessed oil into holy water and sprinkles it, saying the antiphon: “Lord bless this house and those who live in it, for you, Lord, have said: God bless these little ones with the elders. Blessed are you of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” And then the antiphon says: “Lord, sprinkle me with hyssop,” etc. “By the sweat of your brow you have taken away your bread, until you have returned to the earth, from which you were taken, just as you are earth and went back to earth” (Gen. III, 19). Then the seven penitential psalms begin. And the patient, if possible, stands with his knees bent and his head bowed, or with his whole body prostrated. After the litany has been pronounced, the (priest) begins the anointing with prayer while the others (priests) sing appropriate psalms and an antiphon, and makes twelve signs of the cross with oil.” Then, having listed which members are anointed, he notes that the number of anointings can be more or less and that in general “this number is not equal,” although “the apostles, anointing the sick with oil, made over them no more than three crosses with oil. Hence the Greeks, who imitate this apostolic tradition, make in the same way only three crosses, pouring oil from a glass vessel of the sick in the image of a cross on the head, clothes and whole body the patient, starting the cross from the head to the feet, from the right arm to the shoulder and from the chest to the left arm, saying once, for all three crosses: “I will anoint you in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, so that the prayer of faith will save you, and the Lord will raise you up, and if the sins you have committed, so that they may be forgiven you.” In conclusion, he gives instructions regarding the clothes in which the sick person was dressed during the anointing, regarding the persons on whom it should be performed, as well as the persons who have the right to perform it, and finally, regarding the communion of the sick person after he has said the Lord’s Prayer and the Creed 34 . In this description, special attention is drawn to: the presence of three priests, the apostolic tradition about only anointing the sick person three times with oil and the practice of the Greek Church of that time corresponding to this tradition, pronouncing the anointing formula only once for all three anointings and including in this formula, containing the invocation of the name of the Holy Trinity, the words of the apostle. Jacob. All these are features, in our opinion, vividly reminiscent of deep antiquity. The analogy with the sacrament of baptism and the harmony of all these particulars are very remarkable: the Three Persons of the Holy Trinity, three elders and three anointings, with a single pronouncement of the formula of confession of the Triune God. Also noteworthy is the addition of the words of St. Apostle to the anointing formula. Jacob. If we include here several psalmody and, first of all, the predominantly penitential Psalm 50, and also the prayer for the consecration of oil (omitted in all Western successions, since in the West from an early time, maybe from the 5th century, from the time of Innocent 35 oil was consecrated once a year by the bishop for use by the presbyters in the sacrament of anointing), then all this will approximately amount to the original volume or the apostolic scheme for following the sacrament of anointing. In comparison with these ancient, one might say, apostolic, features, Theodulf’s description also represents features of a relatively later time: this is the use of mixing St. water and blessed oil, as well as ashes (compare later on the monument to the use of salt). These rituals are purely Western; if we compare them with analogous and similar Western rites used at baptism, then by analogy we can come to the conclusion that they arose around the 4th or 5th century. But sprinkling a house and those living in it with water and oil is a rather ancient custom of the Eastern Church, one might think, approximately also of the 4th-5th centuries, as can be seen from the practice of the Copts and Jacobites 36 and from the practice even of the Greek Church of the 9th century. 37, with the only difference that among the Greeks and other Eastern Christians, the house and those living in it were anointed with oil, after anointing the sick, without uttering any words or sacramental formula. Finally, in this description, attention is drawn to the introduction into liturgical practice, during the celebration of this sacrament, of the number seven, which later had a significant influence on the adherence of not only the Eastern, but also the Western Church 38 . The sequence of anointing in the so-called liber pontificale Tilianum (8th century) 39 and in other monuments 40 is very similar to Theodulf’s description. In this monument, after confession and absolution of the patient from sins, the following is prescribed: “and then the priests first sprinkle salt and holy water and sprinkle it with the antiphon: “Lord, sprinkle me: God, have mercy on me.” (Prayer): Lord God, who spoke through the apostle. James... The sick man kneels and stands at the right hand of the priest and the following antiphons are sung: "Lord, heal this sick man, whose bones are broken. Lord, let not wrath..." Then follow 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 short prayers. This is followed by the anointing of certain parts of the body by each of the priests with the recitation of the prescribed prayer (7th) and, in addition, various formulas, depending on the part of the body being anointed; all anointings 15. In conclusion, a relatively lengthy prayer of laying on of hands. In the Mediolan succession of St. Ambrose 41, which differs from all of the above, although not alien to the insertions from the Roman missal, is the following: first, penitential psalms with litany are prescribed, if there is time; if not, then a rather lengthy prayer of laying on of hands is read, and all the presbyters present lay hands on the sick person. Then follows the anointing of the seven main members of the patient with a well-known formula. In conclusion, the prayer: “Lord God, who spoke through St. Apostle James,” with the addition of some other prayers, pronounced by all the elders with outstretched hands; three of these prayers are borrowed from the practice of the Roman Church. The sequence of anointing in the sacramentary of Gregory Vel is distinguished by its very remarkable brevity. In the oldest copies of this sacramentary 42 it consists of only six rather short prayers and no more than two psalms (6th and 50th); there are no rubrics, no litanies, no seven penitential psalms; There is no formula for anointing; There is no known prayer: Deus, qui per apostolum tuum Jacobum; neither is the laying on of hands prescribed. In all these ancient Western monuments, attention is drawn to the desire of following the sacrament of anointing to perceive the sevenfold number of prayers. While Theodulf’s description does not give the right to assume in the succession of the Gallican churches more than two or three prayers, in the considered sacramentaries: Sicilian, Roman and partly Mediolan, we find either directly 7 prayers (in Sicilian) or 6 (in Roman), or at least the anointing of seven members of the sick, from where the transition to seven prayers is already close (in Ambrosian). Here we also find a prayer for the laying on of hands and, moreover, at the conclusion of the sequence (in Sicilian). All this shows that the sacrament of anointing has been followed since the 7th or 8th century. begins to take on the form and type with which it appears in the Orthodox Eastern Church at the present time. If we turn from the west to the Greek east, we will find that, in addition to what is common to the east and west, the desire to arrange the continuation of the sacrament in question according to the sevenfold, so to speak, system, existed in the east in the 7th, 8th and 9th centuries. In addition, there were other aspirations, under the influence of which the Greek following acquired some features that were only characteristic of it. We mean the composition of church hymns and the enrichment of church services with canons, which received widespread development in the Greek east in these centuries. This desire owes its origin to the existence in our succession of the nine-song canon, which began in the 9th century. from a certain Arseny, as it still appears in our missals in the inscription before the canon: “the prayer of oil, the singing of Arseny.” According to Gohar, this Arseny is St. Archbishop Arseny Korfsky, a contemporary of Patr. Photius, therefore, lived in IX in 43. From the same 9th century, a very remarkable liturgical monument has come down to us, which gives us a complete opportunity to see what the consecration of oil consisted of and consisted of at that time in the Greek east. The oldest of the Barberine lists published by Goar contains the following rite 44 of how to perform St. oil for the sick, calling the seven elders in the evening 45. After a brief instruction on the preparation of the substance for the sacrament, the beginning follows (“Blessed is the kingdom of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit”), then directly 46 our small litany and prayer (our first prayer for the consecration of the oil 47, read with us after the canon and litany), hallelujah, troparia (“Lord have mercy on us, have mercy on us”), then it says: “and so begins the canon and on the third song another priest says the following (συναπτὴν – adjacent) Prayer, as prescribed, begins the prayer and seven priests say seven prayers in order 48.” This is followed by this second prayer, pronounced by the second priest (very short, unlike any of ours), after the sixth hymn - the third (about the consecration of the oil - in content, but not in expression, similar to our second prayer over the oil), in words, after the ninth hymn - the fourth (our third, read after the third Gospel, only with a change in the end). After this prayer it was noted: “and after the seven priests have spoken, the all-night vigil ends (παννυχίς); everyone says their prayer 49.” This remark is followed by three more prayers without any inscriptions: the fifth, sixth, seventh (in total); of these, the fifth and sixth are not ours and only the last seventh is ours: “Holy Father, physician of souls and bodies.” “At the liturgy, it is said further, antiphons are pronounced according to custom. At the entrance: Lord have mercy on us, have mercy on us. Prokeimenon: I said, Lord, have mercy on us. Verse: Blessed is he who beholds the poor and wretched.” James was assigned for readings from the apostle. Ch. V, from the Gospel - Luke. Ch. X. “And so another priest (pronounces) the litany and another (removes) the catechumens, and everything is said in order and the liturgy is performed (πληροῦτα ή λειτουργία). The sick man comes in and begins to sing the troparion: Lord, have mercy on us, have mercy on us. And each of them (priests) says the prayer written above (prayers) 50 and anoints the forehead, ears and hands of the sick person and each extinguishes the lamp, as said, and after that they anoint the whole house, making the sign of the cross, and sing: alive in the help of the Most High. And thus ends the service (λειτουργία)." This observance in its first part has the appearance of an all-night vigil, which is the name (παννυχίς) that is actually adopted from this ancient liturgical monument. The second part of the sequence consists of the liturgy (maybe the Presanctified Holy Gifts?). During the liturgy, the sick person was anointed with consecrated oil. Although it is not said here about the communion of the sick St. Mystery, but it is very likely that it was performed in connection with this sacred rite, namely, the patient received the sacrament of the Eucharist after the anointing of St. oil. We are authorized to make such an assumption: the customs of the Western Church 51 and the ever-present view of the Eastern Church, which considered the Eucharist a necessary seal, the completion of all sacraments 52 . How did the first part of the continuation of the sacrament of anointing acquire such a character in the east - the character of a kind of all-night vigil? It seems to us that this phenomenon can be explained from the following historical circumstances of the ancient church. Since the time of Constantine the Great, in the church, both eastern and western, both bishops and emperors and other noble and rich people have zealously taken care of the construction of special buildings for sick Christians. There were a lot of such hospitals, under the control of the closest presbyters, in ancient times, starting from the 4th century) 53 . They were built for the most part in connection with churches, making up one part of the buildings that were part of the buildings surrounding the then Christian church. Naturally, the existence of such houses, which were, moreover, under the direct and immediate management of the presbyters, was of great convenience for the leisurely performance of the sacrament of the Blessing of Unction and could contribute to the emergence of a desire to expand this sacred act, to give it as solemn an ​​appearance as possible. And the nature of this sacred rite, as a sacrament that precedes the communion of the sick and, as it were, prepares him to receive the Eucharist, could naturally predispose him to the idea of ​​turning the Blessing of Oil into an evening service, ending in the morning with a liturgy. In this case, the patient could appear after the all-night vigil, during the liturgy, as we see in the monument we are examining; after the canon and all seven prayers it was noticed: “a sick person enters.” It is also remarkable that the first part of the sequence, “the consecration of the oil,” from the time of its expansion into a nine-song canon with seven prayers, seemed so characteristic to the ancients that it even influenced the very name given since that time to this entire sacred rite: instead of the ancient various names, it began to bear the name εύχέλαιον - prayer over the oil, or, as we call it, consecration of oil, instead of anointing, as it should be called. – The succession under consideration presents the following larger features of similarity with the current succession: in both there is a canon and seven prayers, pronounced, however, according to the list in question, among the canon and at the end of it and again repeated when anointing the sick person with consecrated oil. Of all the prayers, only three are ours: our first prayer at the consecration of the oil (“Lord with mercy and bounty”), the third at the anointing (“Lord Almighty, holy King, punish”) and the prayer “Holy Father, physician of souls and bodies.” All other prayers are very short compared to ours and look more like formulas than prayers. From the following centuries X, XI, XII and XIII to the end of the XIV and beginning of the XV centuries. we do not have data for the history of the sacrament of anointing 54. In considerable proximity to the Barberine list - mainly due to the absence of the seven apostolic and gospel readings - there is a description of the sequence of the consecration of oil by Simeon of Thessalonica; but there are significant differences between both. Simeon of Thessalonica does not say anything about the fact that this sacred act is performed in the evening, just as there is no indication that the liturgy should be performed after the consecration of the oil; further - the canon is not interrupted, after cantos 3, 6 and 9, by prayers and prayers themselves, with a final five in total: two for the consecration of oil and both of those that are read today, and two petitions for the anointed; of them, the last is ours and is read secretly: “Holy Father to the physician of souls and bodies, the first is aloud (but it is not known which one). In the middle between the first two and the last there is the reading of the Apostle and the Gospel. In conclusion, the fifth prayer of permission with the laying on of hands. The formula for anointing: “Our help is in the name of the Lord.” In general, this sequence looks like this. The first part: the beginning (blessed be God), the canon, the litany, the dismissal, asking the sick for forgiveness and the priests saying forgiveness to him three times. Second part: beginning (blessed be God), litany, troparia, first final prayer for the consecration of oil (ours: “Lord's mercy and bounties”), second final prayer (also ours: “Beginningless, eternal”), apostle, hallelujah, incense, gospel. Third part: the first prayer over the patient, read aloud, the second secretly (ours: Holy Father to the physician of souls and bodies), cross-shaped anointing of the forehead, sensory organs on the face and hands by all seven priests with the utterance of the words: “our help is in the name of the Lord,” the great litany, destructive prayer with the laying on of hands and dismissal 55). This description of Simeon of Thessalonica is remarkable not only in comparison with the Barberine list, but also in comparison with the current succession of St. oil - In the first two parts, it is almost completely identical with the current succession, with the exception of everything that precedes the canon and the stichera that end our canon; Simeon of Thessalonica does not mention all this; If we add to this the rearrangement of the readings from the Apostle and the Gospel from the place they occupy with us to another place (after the second prayer over the oil), then all this will make the difference between Simeon of Thessaloniki and the current succession of St. oil - For this reason, the last part of Simeon of Thessalonica’s sequence is completely different from ours. It is in Simeon of Thessaloniki: instead of our seven prayers, accompanied each time by saying the prayer “Holy Father, physician of souls and bodies,” and the seven apostles, and the seven gospels, there are only two prayers and, moreover, one, namely, “The Holy Father is said in secret.” Instead of this last prayer, which for us has the meaning of a formula of repentance, other words are pronounced. Finally, although there is a final prayer, it is different from ours; when reading it, it is not the gospel that is placed on the head of the sick person (as with us), but the hand of the priest. How and when exactly it became the custom to read the seven apostles and the gospels with seven prayers when anointing a sick person - there is no solid historical data to resolve this issue 56 . We can only say one thing: at the end of the 14th and beginning of the 15th centuries. this custom already existed, although not everywhere (as the above description of the blessing of oil in the works of Simeon of Thessalonica shows). The Slavic handwritten missals of the Moscow Synodal Library No. 372 and No. 373 convince us of this; the first from the end of the 14th and early 15th centuries, and the second (Serbian Breviary) from the first half of the 15th century. The canon in both is the same as ours, and, like Simeon of Thessalonica, forms a separate part - the Consecration of the oil or prayer over the oil (according to No. 372) begins with the reading of the psalm (“Alive in the help of the Most High”), the symbol of faith and the seven stichera of the Theotokos; then follows a prayer (“Lord, who is in mercy and bounty”), troparia and kontakia numbering up to 40. Consequently, the difference from the current succession, as well as from Simeon of Thessalonica, consists (according to No. 372) in the absence of certain parts, namely: the litany before the first prayer, the reading of the Apostle and the Gospel, the second litany before the second prayer and this prayer itself (beginningless, eternal), further - in the existence of extra parts: a psalm, a creed, a large number of stichera and especially kontakions with troparia. – But the most important difference between both lists from Simeon of Thessalonica, which brings them closer to the current succession, is contained in the third part of the sacred rite, namely in the fact that according to these lists, the reading of the seven apostles and seven gospels with seven prayers is required, although the apostolic and gospel readings are not all the same with the current ones 57 and although the prayers are not all current ones and, moreover, do not follow in the same order as now 58 . The prayer “Holy Father, Physician of Souls and Bodies” according to one list (No. 373) is read once and, moreover, after all the prayers and even after the final prayer, combined with the laying of the gospel on the head of the sick person 59 . According to the same list (No. 373), during anointing, each priest says: “the blessing of the Lord God and our Savior I. Christ for the healing of the soul and body of the servant of God, always and now and ever.” So, in the period from the 9th to the 15th centuries. With the subsequent sacrament of anointing, the following happens: Followership of St. oil expands through the addition of a nine-song canon to it. The expansion, however, concerns, at first, only its first part - the consecration of the oil, while the last - the anointing with oil - remains, in essence, in its previous form. The canon (according to the Barberine list) merges with prayer over oil, and this entire part of the sequence represents a type of all-night vigil preceding the liturgy, during which the sick person is anointed with oil - while repeating the seven prayers already read. At a later time (XIV-XV centuries) the canon is separated from the consecration of the oil, and the anointing of the sick receives a wide scope, so that the entire sequence consists of three separate parts: the canon, the consecration of the oil and the anointing with oil. At this time, the last part - the anointing with oil - includes the reading of the seven apostles and seven gospels, although not according to all monuments (Simeon of Thessalonica does not require reading the seven apostles and gospels); This also includes the reading of the seven prayers of anointing, as separate and distinct prayers from the other prayers of succession. The seven prayers of anointing, although they are found at an earlier time (Barberine's list), but since before they consisted of a repetition of the seven prayers pronounced during the consecration of the oil, it must be assumed that as completely separate prayers they finally came into use only together with the sevenfold reading of the Apostle and the Gospel (Simeon of Thessalonica does not have the last readings, nor the first, i.e., the seven prayers of anointing). Of the prayers existing in the current succession of St. oil, the oldest turn out to be: our first prayer for the consecration of the oil (“Lord, by mercy and bounty,” the third prayer when anointing the sick (“Lord Almighty, holy to the king, punish”) and, finally, the prayer: “Holy Father, physician of souls and bodies.” The formulas for anointing according to various monuments (according to Theodulf, Simeon of Thessalonica and Slavic manuscripts) are different. The recitation of the prayer: “Holy Father, physician of souls and bodies” with all seven anointings became part of church practice in later times. When compiling this article, we were guided by the same goals and had in mind the same research tasks that we pointed out at the end of the article “On the history of the liturgical side of the sacrament of marriage,” placed in 1 book. (January – February) “Christian Reading.” for 1880 We allow ourselves to make such an assumption, imitating Tertullian, who in his work De baptismo, addressing the question of why water was chosen for baptism, referred, among other things, to the prevalence of its use in ancient pre-Christian religions See August – Denkwűrdigkeiten aus der christl. Arch col. (B. IX, p. 467. Leipz, 1828) - reference to Lightfoot (Hog. haebr. ad Marc. VI, p. 301) Wetsten (adh. 1.), Michaelis (Anmerk. uber das N. T., s. 323). In the Evangelist Luke, the Savior, sending the apostles to this sermon, says to them: and heal the sick who are in it and say to them: the kingdom of God has come near you [Luke. X, 9]. Although at the same time Christ the Savior does not say anything about the use of oil; but it is remarkable that in the same chapter we further expound the above-mentioned parable about the one who fell among the robbers, with an indication of the anointing with oil (X, 30-36). See Binterim – Die vorzugl. Denkwurdigkeiten, V. VI, Thl. 3, p. 239–297. Ad Scapul. C. 4. Ipse etiam Severus pater Antonini Christianorum memor erat. Nam et Proclum christianorum, qui Torpacion cognominabatur, Evodiae procuratorem, qui eum per oleum aliquando curaverat, requisivit. Tom. II Iannuar. Bolland. Ad diem 18, p. 191. De vita spirit. n. 76. In Russian lane Part 1, p. 469, M. 1848. Theodorit in Vita Simeonis, c. 11 Greg, in Vita Patr., p. 19. Homil. in Math. 32 (Russian translation M. 1846, part 2, p. 65). Vita s. Caesarii Areiat. I. II, n. 13, t. 1. Mabilionii Auct. s. BeneJict. See Bingerim, p. 289. Ap. Fast. Book VIII, ch. 29: “I decree concerning water and oil, Matthias. Let the bishop bless the water and oil, and if he is absent, let the presbyter bless it in the presence of the deacon. When the bishop is present, let the presbyter and the deacon be present, and let him say this: “Lord of hosts, God of hosts, creator of waters and giver of oil, generous and loving of mankind, who gives food for drinking and cleansing, and oil to gladden the face with the joy of joy. Even now, by Christ, consecrate this water and oil in the name of the one who brought or brought it, and give it the power of health to work, to drive away diseases, to drive away demons, to drive away all slander, through Christ, our hope, with Him be glory, honor and veneration to You and the Holy Spirit forever. Amen. In all this prayer there are only one or two expressions that can give reason to connect this prayer with the sacrament of consecration; These are expressions about the gift of oil “with the power to strengthen health and heal illnesses. But the totality of all the above-mentioned signs does not allow us to draw the conclusion, based on these expressions alone, that “the words of this prayer directly refer to the holy oil used in the sacrament of the Blessing of Oil and that “in this prayer there is an obvious indication of the grace-filled effect of the Blessing of Oil.” “Add. to the Creation of St. father, part XVII, M. 1858, p. 592, article: “On the sacrament of consecration of oil.” In contrast to the expressions about the power of oil “strengthening health and healing illness,” one can put the following directly behind them: “the power... driving away demons and delivering from all the slander of the enemy.” These last expressions could not be more appropriate in prayer not for oil in the sacrament of consecration of oil, but for incantatory oil, as well as for water consecrated for the home use of believers. “Thus, according to Binterim’s remark, the famous polemicist Bernardin Vetweis refers to the sacramental use of oil the above-quoted passage from Ephraim the Syrian, which does not speak of this use. Bellarmin and others rely on Jerome, who in the life of the monk Hilarion tells about him that he anointed many sick people with blessed oil and healed them. Vita Hilarion. With. 27 et 38. Baronius, Bellarmin and others refer to conversation 215 of Bl. Augustine, attributed by current critics to Caesarea of ​​Arles.... They do not notice that St. Caesarea exhorts believers to take the blessed oil in church and anoint themselves and theirs with it... Such dubious and ambiguous evidence only drags on the dispute and makes the decision more difficult. In conclusion of his assessment of this type of evidence, Binterim points to the following signs of the sacramental use of oil, in contrast to the ordinary, domestic one: 1) if the anointing is received from the bishop or elders and, moreover, solemnly, in church services, 2) if the anointing is combined with the parting words of a sick saint. Mysteries, 3) if the priest is called by the sick or his friends to perform anointing, 4) if in the story about a well-known fact there is an indication of the words of St. James, 5) if forgiveness of sins is imparted to the anointing. Origen Homil. II in Levit. n. 4, p. 418;, listing the ways mentioned in the Gospel to receive forgiveness of sins - namely: 1) baptism, 2) martyrdom, 3) almsgiving, 4) forgiveness of sins to our neighbors, 5) conversion of our neighbors from error, 6) abundance of love and 7) confession of sins before the priest - includes in this last method the forgiveness of sins, in anointing. “There is also a seventh kind of remission of sins through repentance, a difficult and difficult way, when a sinner washes his bed with tears and tears become bread for him day and night, and when he is not ashamed to reveal his sin to the priest of God and ask him for healing, following what was said: I said: I confess to the Lord my unrighteousness, and you have forgiven the wickedness of my heart (Ps. XXXI, 5). Moreover, what the apostle said is also being fulfilled. James: “Does anyone in you hurt?” The words of the Apostle James regarding anointing, and St. I. Chrysostom, in his work “On the Priesthood” (Book III, sec. 6), discussing the high rights of the God-given power of priests, after discussing the Eucharist and baptism, comparing priests with carnal parents, he notes: “Some give birth to earthly life, others to heavenly life. They cannot protect their children from bodily death, they cannot even always expel the invading illness from their body: these, on the contrary, often saved sick souls that were about to perish, either by subjecting them to gentle punishment, or by holding them back at the very beginning of their falling away, not only with teaching and instruction, but also with the help of prayers. Because they not only regenerate us, but have the power to absolve us from sins committed after this rebirth. For it is said: “Does anyone hurt you?” (Gal. V, 14–15). In both testimonies the ap. mentioned. James's calling of church elders to anoint the sick with oil and to pray over him 1) is provided with one category of repentance, 2) undoubtedly seems to be a sacred act performed by the elders and 3) as can be seen from the words of Chrysostom, is considered an action that takes place in the case of a dangerous illness that threatens death. One might think that in the first centuries of Christianity, for some of the sinners who carried repentance all their lives and were granted permission only at death, the sacrament of anointing replaced in some cases the permission from sins usually given in the sacrament of repentance. De adorat. in Spirit, et verit. 1.VI. Arming himself against those who resort to sorcery in illness, St. Cyril advises the sick to pronounce by faith and prayer the words: “Lord, hosts and others assimilated by the divine scriptures to God, as characteristic of His nature... At the same time, I will remind you,” adds St. father, more words from divine scripture: “Does anyone hurt you?” De poenit. I. I, p. 8. “Why do you lay hands and believe in the work of blessing, if any sick person recovers (cur ergo manus imponitis et benedictionis opus creaitis, si quis forte revalurit aegrotus)?” These words, however, do not mention either oil or elders, but they speak about the laying on of hands, which constituted an action that exclusively belonged to hierarchical persons from ancient times, and, moreover, about the laying on of hands and the blessing of the sick person; and therefore we have the right to attribute this place to the sacrament of anointing. Blazh. Augustine (Enarrat. 11 in Psalm, XXVI, n. 11) says: “This anointing (unctio ista) will perfect you spiritually in the life that is promised to you. For it is the voice of one who desires that life, there is a certain voice of one who desires the glory of God, which will ultimately be accomplished in us. For we are anointed in the sacrament, and by the very sacrament something is prefigured (ungimur in sacramento et sacramento ipso praefiguratur) of what we will be in the future.” Vita S. August, p. 27. “In his visits, he (Aug.) observed the method prescribed by the apostle (modum ab apostolo definitum) to visit orphans and widows who had fallen into misfortune; but he immediately went if the sick really asked him, so that he would pray for them in their presence to God and lay his hands on them.” Comp. words of St. Augustine's teacher Ambrose on laying hands on the sick. Adv. haeres. 1. I, p. 21, no. 5. This is how this passage is read in the Latin text; in Greek, borrowed from Epiphanius and printed by Min (in parallel with Latin), it is somewhat different; However, the difference between one and the other is small. See our op. “Dogme. uch. about seven churches. sacraments in creation father and uch. church" pp. 121–124). St. Irenaeus ends his story about the Gnostic redemptions with the following remark: “but since they disagree among themselves both in doctrine and in tradition (et doctrina et traditione) and those who are considered the newest among you try every day to invent something new and produce something that no one has ever thought of, it is difficult to retell the opinions of them all.” Migne, Patrol, curs, compl. t. XX, era. XXV Decentio episcopo Eugubino (p. 551 – 561). At the beginning of the letter (item 1) Innocent says that “there should be no difference or diversity in the orders and consecrations of the church (nulla diversitas, nulla varietas iu ipsis ordinibus et consecrationibus), if the priests of the Lord want to keep intact the church institutions handed down by the apostles. It becomes suspicious for the people... when everyone thinks that it is necessary to adhere not to what is committed, but to what seems to him (the best), from which it seems and happens that in different places or churches they adhere to different things and do different things (diversa in diversis locis, aut ecclesiis aut teneri, aut celebrari). Further (item 2), insisting on the idea that in all churches the customs of the Roman Church, devoted to it by the prince of the apostles, Peter, should be observed, Innocent expresses (item 3) the confidence that Decentius is both well acquainted with the practice of the Roman Church and obedient to it. Innocent knows that Decentius often came to Rome and often met with him in church and became acquainted with what custom (the Roman Church) contains regarding the consecration of the sacraments or the performance of other mysteries (quern morem vel in consecrandis mysteriis vel in caeteris agendis arcanis). All this, according to Innocent, would be enough to organize or transform the church of Decentius (if his predecessors did not completely or otherwise contain anything), but Decentius himself persistently calls him, Innocent, for advice regarding certain subjects. “To this we answer,” writes Innocent, not because we think that you do not know anything, but so that you can instruct your own with greater authority, convince those who are moving away from the decrees of the Roman Church, and do not hesitate to bring us to knowledge, so that we can know what those are who either introduce novelties or think that we should observe the custom of another church, and not the Roman one. All this shows that the liturgical practice of that time still represented a lot of diversity and that in the West the customs of the Roman Church did not prevail everywhere. By fermentum we must, in all likelihood, understand not simple blessed bread, which was often exchanged at that time as a sign of mutual unity, but the body of Christ, which was sent to those presbyters of Rome (this was a private custom of the Roman Church) who could not participate in the general worship on Easter. The author of Min's notes takes the side of this opinion, although he is aware that such an understanding favors the use of leavened bread in the Eucharist (fermentum - leaven). See also some interesting data regarding the name of Christ the Savior fermentum and the exchange of churches, sometimes very distant, with ordinary blessed bread (Migne, pp. 556 - 557). This is what Rev. writes. Zephaniah about the Jacobites (Modern life and liturgy of the Jacobites and Nestorians, St. Petersburg. 1876, pp. 36 – 37). “The sacrament of the consecration of oil is performed not only on the sick, but also on the healthy. All those preparing for communion must be blessed with oil, in the likeness of the Orthodox Patriarchate of Constantinople, and are blessed with oil on the very day of communion, before the liturgy. We also have the custom of consecrating the healthy with oil in Moscow and Odessa; but our consecration of oil differs in many ways from that mentioned, both in time and in purpose. However, the Jacobite blessing of oil before the communion of St. Mysteries in no case replace the sacrament of repentance, as among the Armenians, which by itself and in due time is performed on each communicant separately and quite strictly. Those who have fallen into mortal sins, especially carnal ones, are not resolved and are not awarded communion until they show the sure fruits of heartfelt repentance and contrition for their sins.” See a number of our articles in Chr. Thu." for I868, 1869 and 1870. under the title: “Essay on the history of the liturgy of our Orthodox Church” and “Essay on the history of the ancient national liturgies of the West.” See the Scriptures of St. Father and teaches. churches relating to the interpretation of rights. theologian (St. Petersburg 1855, vol. 1, p. 266). Goar (Euchol. edit. Paris 1647, p. 44O) writes in a note to the 5th prayer: “the most ancient Barberinian euchology, the third I have seen, recognizes I. Chrysostom as the author of this prayer; in the inscription above this prayer it reads: ἐπὶ άρρ ώ οτοις εὀχὴ το ῠ Χρισοστόμου. In the note to the 6th prayer from the same Gohar we read: “that this prayer was bequeathed to St. Basil, this is evidenced by ancient Venetian publications in which there is an inscription: x αὶ ίερεύς το ῠ μ _ γαλου Βασιλείο __. Christ. Read No. 7–8. I880 It is remarkable that in the oldest Barberine list (around the 9th century) and in the description of the blessing of oil by Simeon of Thessalonica, these prayers, as we will see later, are not found. In the Gallican sacramentary of Mabillon (Mus. ital., t. 1, p. 392) it is true that there is a Ritus benedicendi oleum, containing two prayers, one for the conjuration of the oil, and the other for the blessing of the oil (exorcismus olei, benedictio olei), but, as Binterim rightly notes (p. 266), these prayers relate to the episcopal consecration oil for home use. See the text from Binterim (pp. 267–272), which he borrowed from Balusius (Miscellan. 1. VI1) Regarding clothing: the deceased should not be buried in them; If the patient recovers, then after washing these clothes, he can wear them. Everyone can be anointed with oil: clergy, laymen, men, women, children, and even those possessed by demons. Communion of the dead (communio eucharistiae in os cadaveris) is not permitted. Presbyters can anoint sick bishops. Just as the Council of Carthage allows presbyters to anoint believers according to the custom of bishops (more episcoporum), if they see someone approaching death, and just as they are allowed to reconcile penitents to the church in the event of their death, since elders, although they do not have the highest pontifical degree (pontificatus apicem), are, however, second bishops (secundi episcopi sunt). In conclusion, he writes: “And the anointed sick person is commanded by the priest to read the Lord’s Prayer and surrender his symbol and spirit into the hands of God, protect himself with the sign of the cross and say goodbye to the living. Then the priest gives him peace and communes with him, saying: “May the body and blood of the Lord be for you for the remission of your sins and preserve you for eternal life. After prayer, the priest finally says: let us bless the Lord. And everyone answers: thanks be to God. And then it's over. See above in the message to Decentius. See Binterim, p. 287. See Gohar's list of barberines below. In the Roman Church, the reading of the seven penitential psalms is still maintained. See Binterim (pp. 273–280). Binterim dates the writing of the Pontifical Tilianum to the year 9, the reign of Charles V., and compares this list with the so-called Codex siculus, which he traces back to the 10th century. Daniel, who also printed cod. Tilian. in his Codex liturg. (t. 1, pp. 309 – 314), dates it to the 9th or 10th century. “The rite of the anointing of Theodulf, asserts Binterim (p. 272), has a close affinity with the rite that Baunoy cites from the missal Bibliotheca Tiliana, as well as with the rite of the Church of Tours cited by Martin in his Ordines under Nos. 3 and 4 and under No. 16 - the Church of Salisburg, - from which it can be concluded, continues Binterim, that many churches at this time had not yet accepted Gregorian rite,” that is, the rite of the Roman Church. See Binterim (p. 283). See ibid (pp. 281–282) - according to the lists published by Pamelius and Menard There is, however, another opinion, namely the opinion of Allation and Arsudius, who considered this Arsenius, the creator of the canon, to be Arsenius of Monemvasia, who lived in the 15th century. But this opinion was very thoroughly refuted by Gohar. Already the oldest Barberine list, he says, mentions the canon, but this could not have happened if the canon had been compiled in the 15th century. Therefore, Gohar believes that the creator of the canon was Arseny, who lived during the time of His Holiness Patr. Ignatius and Basil the Macedonian, to whom (Arsenius) Photius also wrote a letter published by Baronius in 870, No. 57 in Latin.” See Goara (p. 434). Gohar’s opinion is accepted by etc. Filaret of Chernig. (Historical review of hymns and hymns of the Greek Church. Ed. 2, Chern. 1861, p. 355). Goar-Euchol. r. 128–130. Gohar found this list, according to him, in vetustissimo emin. domini cardinal. Barbcrini Euchologio (p. 428). ῠ ντας παρα x αλο ῠ ντας πρεοβυτέρους έπτὰ ἑσπέρας . With the omission of ours: the Trisagion, the Lord's Prayer and Ps. 142. Lord, with mercy and bounty... the Master himself sanctified this oil, etc. Apparently, we need to understand these words - about the utterance of seven prayers by seven priests - so that each one says his own prayer, as noted below: λέγει ἔ x αστος έαυτος εὐχὴν ; but there is one difficulty encountered, about which see the next note. It speaks of seven priests saying a prayer, each with his own prayer, which is where the canon ends. Meanwhile, only four prayers have been given so far, not seven. True, three more prayers are then given, therefore, exactly as many as are needed to make up the full number of seven prayers. How to understand this circumstance? In all likelihood, the writer of these columns got ahead of himself in his instructions, as often happens. Καὶ δίδει ἔ x αστος αύτῶν εύχὴν, τὰς προγεγραμμένας; therefore, these seven prayers, listed above (προγεγραμμένας) were repeated again when anointing the sick person with oil. See above, for example, the description of Theodulf and other data. “The end of all sacred rites, says Simeon of Thessalonica, and the sealing of every divine sacrament is sacred communion (Writings of the Fathers and Teachers of the Church, related to the interpretation of legal theology, vol. 2, p. 359). There are quite a lot of facts proving both the existence of such hospitals during this period and the management of them by presbyters (under the main supervision of the bishop, of course). See eg. in Binterim (BH. VI, Thl. 3, p. 32 – 68). Gohar notes that after careful research he could hardly find one list of the sequence of consecration of oil among the Roman manuscripts. See Goar, p. 428. Here is the description of Simeon of Thessalonica: “Seven elders gather... and when the first of them... blesses, the canon begins for the one on whom the holy service is performed. oil. At the end of the canon there is a litany and dismissal, after which he (the patient) asks for forgiveness from everyone, making three prostrations to the ground in honor of the Trinity... to affirm the forgiveness received in repentance... and the priests say forgiveness to him three times. Then, when the first priest blesses again, the chant is read: “Let us pray to the Lord in peace,” which is proclaimed at every sacred ceremony... After the exclamation and praise of the Merciful, during the singing of some troparions containing propitiatory prayers to God, the first of the presbyters, and after him the others in order, offer a prayer for oil, and the oil is poured into a lamp or another some kind of vessel. Above him seven lamps are lit according to the number of priests and in the image of the gifts of the Spirit... The priest reads the following prayer: “Lord, by your mercy and compassion heal our wounds,” because (this sacrament) reminds us of the healing of that beaten man whom Jesus... taking from Samaria, he healed with wine and oil, mercy and generosity. Therefore, some people pour wine into the vessel before the oil, and a prayer is read... (the content of this prayer, according to Sim. Sol., is similar to the content of our prayer, printed after the second prayer). At the end of the troparia, and when all (the priests) have said a prayer, the first priest stands up again and adds a second final prayer... The first priest reads the second prayer in order to seal the oil, and together with him all the priests seal it. The prayer reads like this: “Beginless, eternal, holy of holies.”... Thus, the oil is already consecrated and has divine power.... After the prayer (for us first), the apostolic words of the brother of God are immediately read... Then Hallelujah is sung... incense is offered. Then the first priest reads the gospel... After the gospel, a prayer of forgiveness is read for the forgiveness of his sins and for the healing of body and soul; This is the first prayer and is said out loud; at this time other priests also pray; and after it, according to the model explained above, another prayer is secretly read... In it, “St. Father, physician of souls and bodies”... to heal his servant... through the intercession of the Mother of God and “all his saints (following without listing the names of some saints; compare Gohar r. 862-863 and see below note, to the analysis of the Slavic manuscript). He pronounces this prayer, placing his hand on the head of the repentant... At the end of the prayer, he anoints the patient’s forehead with oil in a cross shape... the sensory organs located on the face, and finally, the hands... with each imprint he adds the words: “our help is in the name of the Lord”... Having marked the anointed one with his hand, the priest leaves... Then the other priests in order do the same. So, the first two prayers are for the commission and consecration of the oil, and the last two are prayers of supplication for the one being anointed... And after everyone has completed the ritual, during the great litany, again the first priest reads the final prayer of permission over the head of the recipient, and all the others touch him with their hands. Therefore, in prayer he also mentions them as co-servants and co-presbyters. Then, having loudly shouted about the God of those who repent and repent of our evils and having given due praise, he performs the prayer of dismissal.” In conclusion, Simeon of Thessalonica speaks about the teaching and blessing of the sick by all the priests. Didn’t the custom of reading the Apostle and Gospel seven times in the sequence of the blessing of oil pass over from the sequence of burial? In the handwritten breviary of the Moscow Synod, bib. (No. 374) we find: “the rite for the consecration of oil to dead monks and Belians.” This rite requires seven readings from the apostle and the gospel with seven prayers, although the prayers and readings are different from those in the consecration of oil - funeral ones. Comp. with this words Sim. Thessalonica (p. 369): “some perform the sacred rite of oil over those who have fallen asleep in Christ, which some of the bishops forbid... and others do not... For my part... I found that performing it is commendable and those who wish to do it should not be hindered. However, this is not the oil that was betrayed by the Savior and the Apostles... For St. there is one oil, and not many, and its sacred rite is one and one of the seven sacraments. But oil is offered for the dead... just as in the church and in their tombs wax candles, incense, etc. are offered for them.” - However, this closeness of both sequences in essence does not prove anything, since it can be explained by the influence of the sequence of burial on the sequence of consecration of oil as much as vice versa - the latter on the former. According to N 372, the apostolic readings are 57, 116, 182, 97,203, 258 and 292; Gospel readings – John conceived. 14 and 94, Matt. 34, Luke. 60, Matt. 62, Luke. 33 and Matt. 17. – As for No. 373, it differs from the previous one (372) in the apostolic readings in the following way: the third is the current one, the fourth is the beginning. 97 (i.e., the third according to the previous number), the seventh is 283; in the Gospel readings as follows: fourth - Mark. 23, fifth – Matt. 17 (that is, the seventh before the previous number, the sixth - Matthew 34 (that is, the third according to the previous number), the seventh - the same as now. See Description of the Slavic manuscripts of Moscow, Synod. Libraries (Department, third; books of theology, part I. Moscow 1869). In 372 the first (“Holy Father”) and the last prayers are not the same as today; all the other prayers are current, but rearranged, exactly in the place of the 2nd prayer. there is a third, in place of the 3rd is the fourth, 4th is the fifth, 5th is the sixth, 6th is the seventh. Moreover, the current prayer of the sacrament of repentance, “God our Savior, like the prophet Nathan, is added to the seventh prayer. – Differences between No. 373 and the previous one (No. 372): the first prayer is the current one, in the place of the second is the first according to the previous No., in the place of the 3rd is the second, the 4th is the third, the 5th is the fourth, the 6th is the fifth, the 7th is the sixth. See also there. According to another list (372), this prayer is said during the anointing of the sick, just like ours; in volume it is somewhat more spacious than the current one. – We have already pointed out the absence in some of the ancient monuments (in Sim. Sol. and Gohar - Euchol. pp. 862–863) of listing saints by name at the end of this prayer. In Breviary No. 371 (late 14th or early 15th century, signed by Patriarch Nikon) we find this prayer without listing the saints by name. In the oldest service book of the 12th century. No. 343 – also with a shortened end; It is remarkable that in this service book there are three prayers “over the sick”; in addition to the prayer: “Holy Father”, two more, of which one: “Good and philanthropic, merciful, most merciful Lord,” and the other: “God, have the power to cleanse from sin, to save souls.” Finally, in the 14th century service book No. 315 there is a “service for the sick”; but in this service, in addition to the troparia, the apostle and The gospel does not mean anything, there are no prayers. You might be interested in: