Holy Unction

Yesterday, Sunday morning, was a hierachical divine liturgy served by Bishop Benjamin of Berkeley. Again, lots of people were at church. There were many priests concelebrating with the Bishop. The secretary of the Metropolitan was one of the concelabrants. After the liturgy he, in the name of Metropolitan Herman, presented Fr. Victor with a new pectoral cross - sterling silver containing the relics of five saints whose prayers are being requested for Fr. Victor's healing. (I got two good pictures and will post them as soon as I lear how to upload them to my computer. It's my wife's Camera.)

After the service, Athanasia, the little boy, and I went to my wife's sisters house on Nob Hill for lunch and naps. It was very nice. Their hospitality is very grand.

Then back to church at 4 PM for the Holy Unction service. I suppose I could describe what happens in the service but it wouldn't mean much. You can read the words of the service and know what is said. But that would be inadequate to describe what happened last night.

When my wife and son and I arrived (5 minutes before the scheduled start time) the little cathedral was packed with about 250 people. There were some monks and nuns in attendance as well. The celabtants were Bishop Benjamin, Archpriest Basil from Sratoga, a Rev. professor from St. Vladimir's Seminary, the Metropolitans Secretary, and 3 other priests I had seen from the morning liturgy but did not know. As my wife and I made our way up to the south east corner of the building, opposite the choir (our usual place) I heard the Bishop saying something like"We are here, and we pray these prayers in anticipation of a healing".

The actual service is simple, in the center of the church, surrounded by the six priests and Fr. Victor, the bishop asked the Holy Spirit to make the oil into a healing oil. There was a reading from an epistle by a choir member. Then there was a hymn, lead by Deacon Kyrill. There was a reading from the Gospe by the bishop. Then we all prayed for Fr. Victor and the bishop annointed him with the oil. Then there were six more readings from the epistles, six more readings from the Gospels, six more hymns, six more prayers, and six more annointings -one annointing by each priest. During each annointing this prayer was said:

"Holy Father, Physician of souls and bodies, Who sent Thine Only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ Who healed every illness and delivered from death, heal Thy servant from the weakness that holds his body, of either body or soul, and enliven him by the grace of Thy Christ, by the prayers of the All-holy Lady Theotokos and all the Saints."

What, you ask were the readings?
1. James 5:10-16 & Luke: 10:25-37
2. Romans 15:1-7 & Luke 19:1-10
3. I Cor. 12:27-31;13:1-8 & Matthew 10:1,5-8
4. II Cor. 6:16-18, 7:1 & Matthew 8:14-23
5. II Cor. 1:8-11 & Matthew 25:1-13
6. Galatians 5:22-6:2 & Matthew 15:21-28
7. I Thessalonians 5:14-23 & Matthew 9:9-13

Oh, some of the saints to whom we prayed:
- St. James the Brother of the Lord, who gave the command that this service be performed for the sick
- The Great Martyr Demetrios, whose bones exude healing oil.
-St. Nicolas the Wonderworker of Myra in Lycia, again one who's relics heal.
-All of the unmercenary healers: Cosmas, Panteleimon, Samson, Cyrus, and the others.

Then the Gospel Book was opened and placed on Fr. Victors head and all the priests surrounded him and the final prayers for his healing were said.

At the end Fr. Victor stood on the ambo and Deacon Kyrill read a letter from Fr. Victor to us. Then Fr. Victor did something so shocking that the priest standing next to me gasped- he prostrated himself before us. Well, of course, we all immediately were on our knees with our foreheads touching the floor in a a heart beat. Even Bishop Benjamin.

(I have a couple of pictures of this service, too. I'll post them as soon as I learn how to get them from my camera to the computer.)

On a personal note, last night I was reunited with the first Orthodox I ever met. She was my freshman English teacher back in 1991. What joy! What joy!

Today I admitted that I can not do trig, stats, and advanced hematology. I dropped trig and signed up for anthropology, which is a pre-req for nursing. So it still works. New rule: No more than one math class per quarter.