Holy Unction (Anointing of the Sick)

The anointing of the sick, for the healing of soul and body and the forgiveness of sins, as St James tells the elders of the Church to do. The full rite is served by seven priests, with seven readings from the Epistles and seven from the Gospels, seven prayers and seven anointings; in practice fewer priests often serve it. It is not only for the dying, as the West came to use it: in the Orthodox Church it is given to anyone who is sick, and on the evening of Holy Wednesday it is offered to the whole congregation as a preparation for Pascha, since all are sick. The prayers name the unmercenary physician saints, St Panteleimon among them.