Christian Bioethics

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Sin, Sickness, and Salvation

Archpriest Chad Hatfield

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Bioethics, 12:2, 199-211, DOI: 10.1080/13803600600805583

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Christian Bioethics, 12:199–211, 2006
Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
ISSN: 1380-3603 print / 1744-4195 online
DOI: 10.1080/13803600600805583

Sin, Sickness, and Salvation

1744-4195Bioethics,
1380-3603
NCHB
Christian Bioethics Vol. 12, No. 2, June 2006: pp. 1–20

ARCHPRIEST CHAD HATFIELD

Sin, Sickness,
Archpriest ChadandHatfield
Salvation

St. Herman Theological Seminary, Kodiak, Alaska, USA

This article seeks to provide commentary and rationale for Ortho-

dox Christian rites and prayers for the sick as found in the
Euchologion, or Book of Needs. The reader needs to understand
that the prayers of the Orthodox Church prayed at times of sickness
and suffering will often strike the non-Orthodox as harsh and even
unjust. References to God willing suffering do not sit well with most
Western Christians. However, this is the Orthodox Christian belief,
and it is expressed in the prayers of the Orthodox Church. Sickness
and suffering are understood to be avenues of salvation and a
participation in the glory and joys of the resurrection of Christ and
life in the Kingdom of God. This is why the Orthodox Church
teaches her faithful to accept suffering as something that has the
potential to bring them further along in the process of theosis.
Keywords: sin, sickness, salvation, Orthodoxy

I. BLESSING: RECLAIMING HUMANS FROM SIN AND SICKNESS

The church is that Mystery of Christ’s presence in the world that reclaims
humans from the bondage of sin and sickness resulting from Adam’s sin.
Unlike the Western churches, which developed from the ninth century
onwards, Orthodox Christianity draws no sharp distinction between what
the West came to term sacraments versus sacramentals. Rather, the church
understands herself as the presence of God in the world. She is that myste-
rion into which all humans are invited to enter so as to be transformed by
the uncreated energies of God. The church’s responses to sin and sickness
are diverse. One finds a good overview of them when one examines the
Euchologion or Book of Needs. This book is most commonly used by Ortho-
dox priests when they administer what are often called the “pastoral offices”

Address correspondence to Archpriest Chad Hatfield, D.Min., St. Herman Theological

Seminary, 414 Mission Rd., Kodiak, AK 99615, USA. E-mail: frchad@hatfield.net

199
200 Archpriest Chad Hatfield

of the church, the ways in which the church turns to persons sick and sin-
ful. As a result, one finds that those Orthodox, who reflect on theology,
articulate the importance of “healing” or “wholeness” for the church: The
church is the Body of Christ in the world, and Christ is the ultimate source
of healing and wholeness. The popular book Orthodox Psychotherapy, by
Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos, has been quite rightly recognized as an
important corrective to traditional Western juridical misconceptions of sin,
which therefore, whether in their traditional affirmation or in their embar-
rassed contemporary revisions, also distort a proper ecclesial recognition of
suffering and its connection to sin. It is for this reason that this book has
been widely acclaimed as offering in English an opportunity to reorient
Christians from Western pastoral theology and practice back to an under-
standing embedded within the mind of the Fathers.1
This orientation offered by the work of Metropolitan Hierotheos has
supported the growing movement within American Orthodoxy to free itself
from its “Western Captivity.” There is an increasing appreciation among
American Orthodox that early Western theological understandings of sin in
overly juridical terms, just as contemporary such understandings which
altogether deny the reality of a Divine punishment, fail to recognize grace
as the transforming, uncreated energies of God Himself. These understand-
ings therefore fail to appreciate the central healing role of the church.
There is a need to recapture the mind of the undivided church of the first
seven Councils. For many Western Christians, hunger after a more com-
plete and whole perspective, when absent in their churches, brings them to
seek this wholeness in new-age or other sources. Martin Marty, the Luthe-
ran theologian, underscores this point in his foreword to the book Health
and Medicine in the Eastern Orthodox Tradition by Fr. Stanley Harakas.
Marty writes:

The word wholeness appears in the subtitle of this book, as well it

should. The term sometimes acquires faddish connotation in this new
age of New Age thinking, but in these times when Westerners are learn-
ing from Buddhism and Hinduism or Christians are recovering elements
of wholeness from Judaism, this word speaks directly to the center of
Orthodoxy’s vision and aspiration. It belongs here, offering riches to
those in the tradition and beckoning those who must cross bridges to it.
(Marty, 1990, p. xi)

In chapter nine of this same book, Fr. Harakas makes mention of the fact
that “. . . nearly all of the services of the Church include some mention of
healing” (Harakas, 1990, p. 89). This focus on healing is central to an appre-
ciation of the liturgical rites and pastoral practices of the Book of Needs.
What are the framing understandings and commitments embodied within
these rites and practices?
 Sin, Sickness, and Salvation 201

Marty in the previously mentioned foreword inadvertently discloses his

strongly Western Christian bias when addressing his puzzle concerning Har-
akas’s treatment of Orthodox bioethics. Marty keeps looking for “dogma” or
references to doctrinal teachings, without finding what he as a Western
Christian is accustomed to expect. He wonders when the author will take
up issues of justice and love. Marty goes on to conclude that the teaching of
Orthodox is found in Orthodox Christian prayer. “Harakas is talking about
the teaching of Orthodoxy, about the action within it, whenever he takes up
liturgy in detail” (Introduction). Marty encounters the circumstance that the
principle of Lex Orandi – Lex Credendi lies at the heart of Orthodox Chris-
tian reflection in general, and that concerning bioethics in particular.
It is because in praying we find our relationship to God that an exami-
nation of the rites of ministry to the sick in the Book of Needs discloses the
Orthodox Christian theological understanding of sickness and its relation-
ship to sin and salvation. Lex orandi lex credendi is best translated as “the
law of praying is the law of belief.” As a consequence, in Orthodox
Christianity the doctrines, teachings of the church, and the living Tradition
of the church are to be found in the liturgical prayers. Of course, this would
include the portions of Scripture used within liturgical rites, for the church
makes the Bible, not the Bible the church, and one finds the full meaning of
the Bible disclosed only in the liturgy and the prayers of the church. The
prayers in the Book of Needs are not just influenced by but often paraphrase
biblical symbols and metaphors. Because Orthodox Christians pray the
Bible in their supplications to God, they become familiar with the biblical
stories as they are nested within the liturgical life of the Orthodox Church. It
is through praying the liturgical rites of the Orthodox Church that Orthodox
Christians appropriate for themselves the Doxa of Orthodoxy, or the glory
of God as disclosed by His church, as their own. This integration of the
Orthodox Doxa, the right way of glorifying God, often requires an intense
struggle, in that the commitments imposed by that right way often run com-
pletely counter to American cultural beliefs.
An example of this conflict with American culture is found in such
common Orthodox phrases as “joyful sorrow.” Orthodox Christians seek joy
in their asceticism, so for example, unlike Western Christians, they regard
Lent as a period of joyful engagement in struggle towards God. It is for this
reason that illness and suffering can bring joy when recognized as an ele-
ment of one’s ascetic struggle to God. Seraphim Aleksiev, in The Meaning of
Suffering and Strife and Reconciliation, for example, underscores this bond
between joy and suffering:

God is the source of joy, and the devil—the source of suffering. That is
why even the sorrows which come to us according to God’s will in this
temporary life carry in themselves joy and lead to heavenly glory if they
are endured with faith and trust in God’s providence. In contrast, the
202 Archpriest Chad Hatfield

sinful pleasures with which the devil tempts us carry poison in them-
selves, and their end is utter disappointment. Whoever follows God is
happy even in suffering, as the holy Apostle Paul speaks; sorrowful, yet
always rejoicing (II Cor. 6:10); but whoever follows the devil is unhappy
even in his earthly joys. How many wicked ones there are who seem to
be prospering in this world, but take a peek into their hearts. You will
see such suffering, such an emptiness there! (Aleksiev, 1994, pp. 21–22)

It is also recognized that often only sickness and suffering can wake us out
of our empty isolation from God and pursuit of transient pleasures. Thus, in
a widely used prayer book for Orthodox Christians, there is a “Prayer in
Time of Trouble” with the petition,

have mercy upon me, and deliver me from this trouble that besets me,
for which, I know, I am deservedly suffering. I acknowledge and
believe, O Lord, that all trials of this life are given by Thee for our
chastisement, when we drift away from Thee, and disobey Thy command-
ments . . . (Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese, 1956, p. 21).

So, too, “A Prayer of a Sick Person” includes the recognition “I know, O

Lord, that I justly deserve any punishment Thou mayest inflict upon me for
I have so often offended Thee and sinned against Thee, in thought, word
and deed” (Pocket Prayer Book, pp. 22f). Such prayers may often strike con-
temporary non-Orthodox as harsh and even unjust. References to God as
willing suffering do not set well with most people today. Yet, Orthodox
Christians recognize this connection between sin, suffering, and salvation,
finding it expressed in the prayers of the Orthodox Church. Sickness and
suffering are understood to be avenues of salvation and a participation in
the glory and joys of the resurrection of Christ and life in the Kingdom of
God. This is why the Orthodox Church teaches Her faithful to accept suffer-
ing as something that has the potential of bringing them further along in the
process of theosis.
This theological insight discloses that suffering accepted as punishment
becomes ascetic therapy that leads to joy and salvation, as the Egyptian
pharmacologist turned monk, Matthew the Poor, writes:

Can we now understand the meaning of the saying, “for it has been
granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in
Him, but also suffer for His sake” (Phil 1:29)? And discern that pain, after
being a punishment, has become in Christ a gift? And that the gift of suf-
fering not caused by sin is inevitably a participation in glory? (Matthew
the Poor, 1984, p. 128)

The bottom line of all Orthodox Christian theology and pastoral practice is
the salvation of the individual person. All theology is salvific, therapeutic.
 Sin, Sickness, and Salvation 203

This even applies to the administration of matters of Canon Law: Here the
spiritual father chooses between a strict application of the Canons or a more
moderate or more severe application through the principle of economia,
namely, aiming the canon at the salvation of the penitent. Sickness, suffer-
ing, and penance are all understood by Orthodox Christians as a means to
salvation.
In all of this, it must be remembered that the prayers of the Orthodox
Church engage the Scriptures both directly and indirectly. They bring from
the Bible the biblical connection between salvation and healing. The Arch-
priest Joseph Allen underscores this “linkage” in the scriptural interweaving
of the language of salvation and the language of healing:

Furthermore, this linkage is often both a causal and symbolic one. In the
Old Testament, God seems to be, at once, causer, and healer; “disease
and sickness come from the hand of God, as do all the fortunes and
circumstances of life.” Here there seems to be a literal and physical link-
age. Among the many examples (of which I found approximately forty!)
we can take Deuteronomy, which says “See now that I, even I, am He
and there is no god with me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal”
(32:39). In Hosea we find: “for He hath torn and He will heal, He hath
smitten and He will bind us up” (6:1). Later in Hosea: “woe unto them!
for they have fled from me: destruction unto them!” (7:13). Psalm 103
speaks of forgiveness and healing in the same verse: “Who forgives all
thine iniquities; who heals all thy diseases” (103:3). When God “heals”
Israel, whether seen as a causal or symbolic event, it seems to relate to
His desire to lead them to salvation.

In the New Testament there is also a “linkage” of faith and healing,

again both causal and symbolic. At every point the healing of a person
is transmuted into a question of faith and salvation. In Mark 5:34 we
read: “Daughter, your faith has made you well, go in peace, and be
made ‘whole.’” This is also found in Luke 8:48, but now it is applied to
the daughter who is dead: “Fear not, only believe and she shall be made
whole.” There are, of course, many more examples which the exegete
could better reveal. (Allen, 1981, pp. 215–216)

It is within this biblical insight concerning the connection of salvation and

healing that the liturgical prayers in the Book of Needs incorporate specific
biblical passages in the church’s address of persons sick and suffering.

II. THE BOOK OF NEEDS: THE RITES OF HEALING

The texts and rites of Part Two of the Book of Needs begin with the “Service
of Prayer for the Sick (Whether One or Many).” The traditional Trisagion
204 Archpriest Chad Hatfield

Prayers open, when a priest is present, with the acclamation, “Blessed is our
God, always now and ever, and unto the ages of ages.” These prayers come
as easily to the Orthodox Christian as does the Lord’s Prayer in other Chris-
tian traditions. What follows is the recitation of Psalm 70 (71). This particu-
lar Psalm is the prayer of an old man seeking deliverance from personal
enemies. In this lament there is a trust in God from previous times in which
God has not failed him (May and Metzger, 1977, p. 708). The Nicene Creed
is then recited, followed by an Ektenia. In the Orthodox Christian tradition,
these litanies are expansive and cover a variety of concerns. Prayers for the
peace of God and the stability of the world and humanity set the tone.
There are prayers for everyone in the house, followed by prayers for the
forgiveness of the transgressions of the sick person, both voluntary and
involuntary. In the petitions that follow, there is a strong theme of God’s
presence and mercy. There are also specific references to the Paralytic
(Mark Ch. 2), and the Cananite Woman (Matthew 15:22). Troparia and
Psalm verses follow with a Kontakion that makes reference to the Paralytic
and the Mother-in-law of Peter (Matthew 8:14). Prokeimena, which are the
introductions to Scripture readings, prepare for the epistle, which is cer-
tainly the best known of passages read at times of sickness and Holy Unc-
tion. The pericope is a selection from James (5:10–16).
Fr. Harakas offers the following commentary on the passage from the
Epistle of St. James:

The selection of the Scripture readings for this sacrament (unction) is

impressive. The readings touch on a range of topics: the institution of
the sacrament in the Epistle of James, compassion for the suffering,
repentance for sins, healing as a gift, the use of oil for healing, and
instances of healing by Christ. Thus those in attendance hear at the
beginning “is any among you sick, let him call the presbyters,” the foun-
dation verse for the church’s special prayer for those who are ill (James
5:10–17). (Harakas, 1990, pp. 104–105).

The use of oil for anointing the sick is ancient and has pre-Christian roots.
One commentary on this passage says: “Prayer is combined with olive oil—
not only the primary medicine of ancient times, but also a symbol of the
Holy Spirit in the Church . . . ” (Allen et al., 1993, p. 548). Fr. Harakas in fur-
ther commentary on this passage from James reminds us:

At least four elements are part of the action described here. First, this is
not a casual or private anointing. In the case of illness, the sick person is
instructed to call for officials of the church. It is generally accepted that
we are already talking about clergy, those persons set aside and
ordained as assistants to the local bishop. The anointing is an action of
the church. Second, the anointing of a sick person’s body with oil is a
physical act, a familiar therapeutic tradition of that time and age. Third,
 Sin, Sickness, and Salvation 205

nevertheless, the anointing is not merely a simple medical procedure: it

is associated with prayer, as is the case with every other sacramental act.
And fourth, it is related to the forgiveness of sins, indicating not only the
connection between sickness and sin but also the spiritual dimension of
this act of healing. (Harakas, 1990, p. 100)

The passage ties together sickness, healing, and forgiveness of sin.

Another biblical theme, found in verse 16, is the confession of sins to
one another. The sacrament of Penance must be mentioned when examin-
ing these pastoral rites of visitation to the sick, because reconciliation of the
sick with God and the church is central to the Christian life. Confession of
sin before the entire Christian assembly, in the presence of the bishop or at
least the presbyter representing him (so that sins could be forgiven or
retained—John 20:23) eventually became private confession to a priest, who
represents the church, the Body of Christ. This is obviously not recognized
as necessary by all Christians, but the Orthodox Christian will want to make
his confession to a priest especially in times of sickness and difficulty. It is
interesting to note the commentary on this subject from the Orthodox Study
Bible:

What is not taught in Scripture is a private confession only to God,

which is a refusal to acknowledge sin to the community (I John I:8,10).
Thus, the Church has effected healing through such works of faith as
confession of sins and the power of intercessory prayer. (Allen et al.,
1993, p. 548)

In all of this, it is important to realize that the church is not merely a com-
munity, but the Body of Christ in the world, which as Christ has the power
to heal and forgive.
The reading from Matthew’s Gospel that follows (8:1–17) is a series of
recorded encounters with Christ and healings. They include the healing of
the leper, the centurion’s servant, Peter’s mother-in-law, and many who
were demon-possessed. It concludes with the powerful link to the suffering
Servant of the Lord through references to the Prophet Isaiah. He is the One
who takes upon Himself the stripes and illness of others. Matthew’s inter-
pretation of “take” is to take away, which Jesus does by healing. This pas-
sage is surely a comforting one for those Orthodox who understand what
the Orthodox Church teaches about suffering. It is as Matthew the Poor
reminds us: “Now the suffering man is forever free from sin in Christ; he
sees no injustice in his suffering, no matter how great his pain or how com-
plete his innocence” (Matthew the Poor, 1984, p. 127). In the second Ekte-
nia reference is made to the daughter of Jarius and the second of a total of
five times that reference is made to the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law.
Reference is also made to the tears of Hezekiah, the repentance of
206 Archpriest Chad Hatfield

Manasseh, and the Ninevites, and the confession of David. There is a sense
here that no matter how great our sins are, the mercy of God is greater, pro-
vided we repent and seek God’s blessing or healing.
It is interesting to note that the Western church has never given much
of a place to the Prayer of Manasseh, which for Orthodox is the last book in
the Old Testament, the last writing included in the Septuagint. In the Ortho-
dox Church, this prayer is found often in the rites for healing, confession of
sins, and at Great Compline. This prayer purports to be the prayer found in
II Chronicles 33:10–13,18–19, but in fact is an anonymous prayer of Jewish
composition perhaps from the first century A.D. Raymond Brown is of the
opinion that the prayer was composed in Greek, in Alexandria, while others
are not so sure. The oldest extant record of this text is a third-century Chris-
tian Syriac document. For Orthodox Christians this prayer is well known
and is a piece that speaks to the Orthodox heart. It seems that if the author
has a didactic point to make, it may be this—if Manasseh, a religious
reformer’s son and most wicked of kings, idolatrous, murderous, and cause
of others’ sins, could turn to God in repentance and find pardon, then so
can we all. In biblical and liturgical parlance, the heart is the seat of noetic
understanding (Sir. 17:1,6 and Rom. 10:10), of experience of God (“Blessed
are the pure in heart, for they will see God,” Matt 5:8). Reference to the
heart and change of heart speaks of the interior change that comes with
true repentance and healing. It is to this change of heart that both the
prophets and Jesus Christ call us.
Two prayers now follow, with the first one making mention of God as
the “Physician of souls and bodies; who humbles and raises up, who chas-
tises and again heals.” This is surely an extraction from Deuteronomy 8:5
and the 12th chapter of Hebrews. I am sure that this kind of theology strikes
many modern Americans as strange and “not of their God.” However, for
the Orthodox Christian, we are called to hear St. John Chrysostom’s words
and to take them to heart:

Then sufferings are a perfecting, and a cause of salvation. Seest thou

that to suffer affliction is not the portion of those who are utterly for-
saken; if indeed it was by this that God first honored His Son, by leading
Him through sufferings? (Chrysostom, 1994, Homily 4.4, vol. 14, p. 384)

The second prayer again makes reference to our “Holy King, who chastises
us that we do not perish; Who raises up those who fall and restores those
who are downcast.” The theme of redemptive suffering is clearly found
here. Once again the moral theologian, Fr. Stanley Harakas, expresses an
Orthodox understanding:

. . . The Orthodox preaching and teaching tradition also affirms suffer-

ing, which comes to human life unwelcome and uninvited, can be dealt
 Sin, Sickness, and Salvation 207

with in a way that transforms us. The heart, mind and life of a person
who suffers may be refined and purified; suffering may indeed be nec-
essary to prepare our souls for the kingdom of God. Viewed from this
perspective, being made to suffer may be an expression of the “mercy of
God,” for only by that suffering are we able to change so as to be fit for
God’s kingdom. In this sense, suffering may become an instrument for
our benefit. (Harakas, 1990, 45)

In a culture that seeks to end suffering as soon as possible and certainly

finds no value in suffering, this theological concept is one which must be
preached upon and taught about frequently in parish life so that it is not
strange to our own Orthodox people. It is important that this kind of radical
understanding be grasped at some level by the faithful before sickness and
suffering strikes. As a pastor I know from experience that this theology pre-
sents some very real challenges. This portion of the Book of Needs con-
cludes with the usual ending for an Orthodox liturgical rite with the custom
of sprinkling of Holy Water being mentioned. This particular text does not
make mention of drinking Holy Water, but it should be noted here that this,
too, is a common Orthodox Christian practice.
What follows next is a cluster of eight optional prayers for use on spe-
cial occasions. The first prayer may be used as a substitute for the last
prayer in the rite. This prayer features a reference to the “sins of transgres-
sions” in a form that is similar to an absolution prayer in the Mystery of
Confession. Orthodox Christians would associate the language of prayer
with John 20:23, where the words of Christ are interpreted as the Scriptural
foundation for Holy Orders. I would find this prayer of great use with a per-
son who has lost the ability to speak. The second prayer once again makes
mention of the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law and chastisement being
associated with God’s goodness and mercy. Again, it is essential to recog-
nize, when making reference to “God’s will,” that for Orthodox Christians,
God’s will is always that we may be saved. Fr. Harakas, quoting from St.
Peter of Damascus as found in The Philokalia, offers the following passage
that speaks to this Orthodox perspective:

We ought all of us give thanks to God for both the universal and partic-
ular gifts of soul and body that He bestows on us. The universal gifts
consist of the . . . elements (of the creation) and all that comes into
being through them, as well as all the marvelous works of God men-
tioned in the divine Scriptures. The particular gifts consist of all that God
has given to each individual. These include wealth, so that one can per-
form acts of charity; poverty, so that one can endure it with patience
and gratitude; authority, so that one can exercise righteous judgment
and establish virtue; obedience and service, so that one can more
readily attain salvation of soul; health, so that one can assist those in
need and undertake work worthy of God; sickness, so that one may
208 Archpriest Chad Hatfield

earn the crown of patience. . . . All these things, even if they are
opposed to each other, are nevertheless good when used correctly, but
when misused, they are not good, but are harmful for both soul and
body. (Harakas, 1990, p. 38)

The third prayer is for one suffering from a fever. Naturally, reference is
made to Peter’s mother-in-law who was suffering from a fever. The image
of the “river of water in a dry place” and the “shadow of a great rock in a
dry and weary land” is used here. For one suffering from fever, this is most
likely a comforting thing to hear, but it seems to be a good example of Byz-
antine poetry without a strong biblical connection as regarding any specific
text from the Bible.
The next section has a fourth prayer, a prayer for a sick child, which
begins with reference to Christ being born as a human infant and being
under the authority of earthly parents (Luke 2:51). Pastorally speaking, this
may be an area to build upon when faced with a child who is reluctant to
face treatment or take medicine. This prayer also includes the first reference
made to God sending forth an angel: “. . . to guard, cherish, protect, visit
and defend” the child who is sick. The fifth prayer is for those times when
sickness increases. This prayer makes a clear connection between suffering
with Christ and sharing in grace as a result of the suffering. The atonement
reference to being washed in the “Precious Blood” is now used. The power-
ful use of Christ as “Judge” is used, and a plea for God to look upon the
person’s faith and not their works when they stand before God in Judgment
is made. A further prayer for grace to be increased that “. . . their faith not
waver, their hope not fail and their love not grow cold . . . ” is a preface to
a petition that the fear of death not cause them to lack trust in God. This
prayer concludes with a beautiful use of the words of Christ as found in
Luke 23:46—“Into your hands O Lord, I commend my spirit.” The sixth
prayer offered is for use before an operation or surgery. The overriding
themes are bodily suffering and patient endurance. Specific reference is
made to the blessing of the “. . . means employed for the working-out of his
(or her) cure . . . . ” The seventh prayer is for a person who has suffered an
accident or other injury. From the Scriptures, an image of St. Peter sinking
and Christ reaching out to save him by taking his hand is used. I am unsure
as to why this image is used here. Most would interpret the passage from
Matthew 14:31 to be one of Peter sinking because he is focused on the
storm and not Christ. My guess is that it is intended to be a reminder to
injured persons not to become so overwhelmed by their problems and
pains that they forget Christ who is the “Deliverer from pain.”
The eighth prayer in this group is one used after an attempted suicide.
This is a prayer that speaks words that remind us that God is the author and
giver of life and we are to prepare for the life to come. Thanksgiving is
given that the person has been delivered from “blood-guiltiness.” This is an
 Sin, Sickness, and Salvation 209

interesting phrase that has its origins in the ancient Greek concept of
miasma, which is the stain or pollution incurred by any bloodshed (Buttrick
and Crim, 1976, vol. 1, p. 449). To the Orthodox Christian, what may seem
a harsh term for most Western ears would be a compassionate term to
express concern for that which is stained in the soul to be cleansed and set
right, and that this sin not find grounds for growth again. Repentance is
called for and a clear statement that this act was from “the Enemy” is
declared. This prayer carries both the message of God’s love and the call to
set things right that sin may not strike again. This prayer expresses the seri-
ous way Orthodoxy addresses an issue such as suicide that is not always
understood by non-Orthodox. It carries a similar tone of repentance that is
found in the rites for a second marriage after divorce. Things need to be
cleared and set right before healing can begin. Orthodoxy recognizes the
need to confront sin as we seek mercy and new life in Christ.
What follows after this cluster of eight prayers is a prayer for one who
is sick and cannot sleep. The structure begins as the intercession prayer
from the Orthros Service. Saints are invoked beginning with the Mother of
God and working down to the particular saints of the day. What follows is
reference to the “Seven Holy Youths” or the “Seven Sleepers of Ephesus.”
This legend, which was known in both the East and West in the sixth cen-
tury, centers on seven Christian youths who were walled up in a cave dur-
ing the persecution of Decian (c.A.D. 250), where they slept until the reign
of Theodosius II, or for 372 years (May and Metzger, 1997, p. 1265). The
prayer ends in traditional doxology form, without ever asking specifically
for sleep or a restful night. Two special prayers of thanksgiving follow. The
first one follows Orthodox theology in that reference is made to opportunity
to make the healing an avenue for complete healing and preparation for
“enjoyment of eternal happiness in the Life to come.” The second prayer
introduces a theme taken from I Peter 2:24 with reference to the wounds or
stripes of Christ by which we have been healed. Acknowledgment is also
given, as in previous prayers, to God being the One who casts down and
lifts up again. Having been spared death, petition is made that the good
work begun may be complete, in due course, by God, that everlasting life
may be attained.
Throughout these prayers in the Book of Needs, one encounters the
church at prayer with her members who are sick, suffering, and broken by
sin. In each of the prayers, the church reaches out to the particular situation
of a suffering person, calling that person back to the wholeness to be found
in the Body of Christ. The theology of sickness, suffering, and sin that one
encounters is the theology of the church in prayer, for the church’s prayer is
her theology. “If you are a theologian, you will pray truly. And if you pray
truly, you are a theologian” (Evagrios, 1988, vol. 1, p. 62). The Book of
Needs situates the priest and the suffering and penitent Christian within the
living Body of Christ.
210 Archpriest Chad Hatfield

III. THE BOOK OF NEEDS: THE NEED FOR BLESSING

In the background of all Christian prayer, there is the recognition of sin,

for it is sin that deprived us of Paradise, leaving us in the hands of death
and suffering, from which we were freed only through Christ’s Incarnation
and our redemption. The numerous rites of blessing in the Book of Needs
are all roads that lead to the same path—away from sin and suffering
through repentance towards health and salvation. Orthodox Christian the-
ology at its very core recognizes the relationship between sin and death,
sin and suffering. Orthodox Christian theology at its very core offers the
way to be freed from death, sin, and suffering through grace, forgiveness,
and ultimate healing at the Resurrection on the Last Day. This appreciation
of the bond between sin and suffering, grace and healing, brings the
Orthodox Christian to a perspective radically at odds with the contempo-
rary culture. On the one hand, he can without flinching appreciate the
connection between sin and suffering. On the other hand, he can recog-
nize that through ascetic struggle and repentance there is endless mercy
and healing.

NOTE

1. See Vlachos, 1993, for a more complete discourse on the Orthodox Christian theology of
healing.

REFERENCES

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Faber and Faber.
 Sin, Sickness, and Salvation 211

Harakas, S. (1990). Health and Medicine in the Eastern Orthodox Tradition. New
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Marty, M. (1990). ‘Foreword,’ in S. Harakas, Health and Medicine in the Eastern
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