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Summary
- Three old prayers are given in full for a sick brother: “For a Sick Person” from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer (p. 45), “For the Sick” from the 1888 Catholic Manual of Prayers, and a hymn from the Orthodox service of Holy Unction.
- There are short prayers for a test or operation, a night in hospital, fear, his doctors and nurses, slow recovery, a brother without faith, the family, and thanks when he is better.
- Martha and Mary sent Jesus word of their brother Lazarus in one sentence: “Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick” (John 11:3).
- Catholics can ask a priest for the Anointing of the Sick, Orthodox Christians can ask for Holy Unction, and Protestants can ask their pastor or elders to pray, all following James 5:14–15.
- Orthodox families give the names of the sick to the priest, on notes headed “For health,” to be remembered at the Liturgy, and Orthodox Christians ask the healer Panteleimon to pray for them; most Protestants pray to God alone.
- No prayer works by its wording alone: Matthew 6:7 warns against “vain repetitions,” and the Catholic Catechism calls wearing charms “reprehensible” (paragraph 2117).
Bibliography (Click to show)
- Scripture quotations are from the King James Version (1611), text of Project Gutenberg eBook no. 10 (Deuteronomy 18:11; Psalm 41:3; 56:3; 103:2–3; 121:4; Proverbs 17:17; Isaiah 40:31; Lamentations 3:25; Matthew 6:7; Mark 2:3–12; John 11:3, 5, 17; 2 Corinthians 1:4; 2 Timothy 1:7; James 1:5; 5:14–16; 1 John 4:18). https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10
- The Book of Common Prayer (Protestant Episcopal Church in the U.S.A.), Standard Book of 1928. Evening Prayer, “A Collect for Aid against Perils,” p. 31; Prayers and Thanksgivings, “For a Sick Person,” p. 45; Visitation of the Sick, “Unction of the Sick,” p. 320. PDF facsimile: https://www.artisticdailyprayers.org/uploads/3/0/1/6/30164961/bcp1928std.pdf
- A Manual of Prayers for the Use of the Catholic Laity, prepared and published by order of the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore. New York: Catholic Publication Society, 1888. Occasional Prayers, “For the Sick,” p. 171; The Visitation of the Sick, p. 496. https://archive.org/details/AManualOfPrayers1888
- Hapgood, Isabel Florence, trans. Service Book of the Holy Orthodox-Catholic Apostolic (Greco-Russian) Church. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin, 1906. The Office of Holy Unction, pp. 336–337 and 341; Appendix B, “Holy Unction,” pp. 607–608. https://archive.org/details/ServiceBookOfHolyOrthodoxChurchByHapgood
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd ed. Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1997. Paragraphs 1514–1516. https://www.vatican.va/content/catechism/en/part_two/section_two/chapter_two/article_5/ii_who_receives_and_who_administers_this_sacrament.html ; paragraphs 2111 and 2117. https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P7E.HTM
- Orthodox Church in America. “Prothesis.” The Orthodox Faith, vol. 2, Worship. https://www.oca.org/orthodoxy/the-orthodox-faith/worship/the-divine-liturgy/prothesis
- Orthodox Church in America. “Greatmartyr and Healer Panteleimon.” Lives of the Saints, July 27. https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/1985/07/27/102099-greatmartyr-and-healer-panteleimon
- St Elisabeth Convent, Minsk. “Проскомидия” (Proskomedia). https://obitel-minsk.ru/treby/proskomidiya
- Westminster Confession of Faith (1646), chapter 21, section 2. https://thewestminsterstandard.org/the-westminster-confession/
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