Prayers for Healing ST. NERSESS ARMENIAN SEMINARY ARMONK, NEW YORK 2018 From the Spiritual Treasury of the Armenian Church Prayers for Healing From the Spiritual Treasury of the Armenian Church Second revised and expanded edition compiled and translated with an introduction by Michael Daniel Findikyan FRONT COVER T‘oros of Taron. The Healing of the Paralytic. All illustrations are from the Gospels of the School of Gladzor. © St. Nersess Armenian Seminary Design and layout by Armen Edgarian Armonk, New York 2018 With the exception of the translations of the prayers of St. Gregory of Narek, which are under copyright (see credits), permission is hereby granted to reproduce any individual English translations in this book for educational or devotional purposes provided that St. Nersess Armenian Seminary and Michael Daniel Findikyan are duly acknowledged. The English translation of Liturgical and scriptural texts in Classical Armenian are in the public domain. THIS BOOK IS PUBLISHED IN TRIBUTE TO V. Rev. Fr. Simeon Odabashian and V. Rev. Fr. Daniel Findikyan On the twentieth anniversary of their ordination to the holy priesthood of the Armenian Church by their friends and family, the Diocese of the Armenian Church (Eastern) and St. Nersess Armenian Seminary. Contents One Prayers in Time of Sickness and Uncertainty .............1 TWO Mystical Prayer of Healing by St. Gregory of Narek .....15 THREE The Prayer of King Hezekiah ......................21 FOUR Prayers for Loved Ones who are Sick .................25 FIVE Prayers for Healing and Forgiveness ...................31 SIX When Death is Near ...................................35 SEVEN Sacred Words of Encouragement in Times of Distress ..37 EIGHT “Why Have You Forsaken Me? ......................45 NINE When Fear Billows to the Surface .....................49 TEN Stories of Healing ....................................51 ELEVEN Prayers for Holy Communion ....................61 T‘oros of Taron, The Healing of the Paralytic at the Pool of Bethesda. TWELVE Prayer for a Woman in Labor ....................65 THIRTEEN Prayer for the Intercession of All the Saints of God ..67 FOURTEEN A Service of Prayer for the Sick ...............71 INTRODUCTION in some cases slightly adapted, from various services of the Armenian Church where healing and consolation are “All we can do is pray,” we often hear resignedly when primary themes. Others are from the pen of our Armenian someone we love is faced with serious or terminal illness. Church fathers, especially St. Gregory of Narek (d. 1004). Prayer should not be our last hope, however. It should be For more than a thousand years Armenians have turned to our first instinct when sickness looms or strikes. St. James his saintly words in times of sickness, attributing to them the Apostle writes, “The prayer of faith will make the sick miraculous power and relief. Many of the prayers appear person well. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful here in English translation for the first time. Besides and effective” (James 5:15-16). prayers, this booklet contains words of consolation from Sickness and prayer go together. the Bible. Selected from both the Old and New Testaments, Yet it is often precisely when we most feel the need for the scriptural passages remind us that God desires our God’s consolation that words for prayer fail us. Some well-being and is with us all the time, even when we feel people have little previous experience with prayer, so when spiritually barren. the ominous lab report comes back, or the ambulance It is actually in those inevitable moments of life when siren closes in, they are at a loss as to how to reach out to faith gives way to pain and anxiety that the Spirit of Jesus heaven. But even for those who are in the habit of praying, Christ tends to appear in surprising and powerful ways. the pain and fear that accompany sickness and other Ours is a God who was not satisfied to remain sequestered ordeals that will strike us all at one time or another can in heaven’s remote realms of glory. The Father of our Lord easily stifle their efforts to pray. Jesus Christ did not, and does not stand by idly while his It is at just these distressing times that we can turn to creatures grapple in a fallen and ferocious world. The very the prayers of the church. The prayers of healing in this central tenet of the Christian faith is that in the person of booklet survive to this day because faithful Armenians Jesus Christ, God infused every divine and eternal quality have used them to come close to the Lord in times of into this time-bound, and terminally ill world—Love, pain, sickness, fear and doubt. Through them, countless Hope, Joy, Godly Vigor, Meaning, Beauty, Truth, in the generations have found healing in God. person of God himself. The Son of God entered this world These prayers are from the spiritual treasury of the truly and completely, touching and sharing every pain and Armenian Church. Most are liturgical texts taken, and nightmare of this world, including suffering and death. VI VII This is why healing is the very essence of the Christian absorption and pride, along with the malignant demons Gospel. Luke the Evangelist tells us that when Jesus they generate. chose the twelve apostles, “he sent them out to preach Christ’s healing restores our divine pulse, the vital the kingdom of God and to heal.” (Luke 9:2) It is no sign of heavenly life that even biological death cannot mere coincidence that in Armenia the Christian faith extinguish. We pray for this eternal healing even if, in was embraced and propagated as a consequence of God’s mysterious providence, recovery from physical the miraculous healing of the pagan King Drtad by St. illness is not to be. “For I am sure,” St. Paul writes, “that Gregory the Illuminator. neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor Obviously, in spite of our prayers, some sick people will things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, not get well. This does not mean that God has spurned nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to our prayers. On the contrary, God’s healing power in separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Jesus Christ reaches to the deepest corners of human (Romans 8:38-39) existence. There, embedded in every baptized believer, is To open ourselves, and those we love to that divine the undying Spirit of Christ God himself. Prayer awakens medicine of eternal life, Jesus Christ our God has taught us to Christ, the physician of our souls—both those us to pray. May this booklet help in that most blessed for whom we pray, as well as us who do the praying. Of privilege. course when we pray we want Christ to restore the sick to physical health—to shrink the tumor, to take away the pain, to unshackle us from addiction and to make us whole again. But we all know that the day will come for each of us when our bodies will surrender their biological life. Christ shows us that true healing is deeper and broader than recovery from physical and medical ailments. God’s healing raises us from those deadly afflictions that are at the root of all suffering—physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. These include the disorders that jeopardize our divine and eternal life: self- VIII IX ONE Prayers in Time of Sickness and Uncertainty 1. Blessed is our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed by thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive those who are indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and glory forever. Amen. o 2. Hear my prayer, O Lord; Let my cry come to thee! Do not hide thy face from me in the day of my distress! Incline thy ear to me; Answer me speedily in the day when I call! —Psalm 102:1-2 Artist unknown, The Healing of the Leper. o X 1 3. I plead to you, loving Lord, heal me. 5. Hope of life, hope and sanctuary of salvation, O Lord Be life in my death. and Savior Jesus, save me and ease my pain. Loving Lord, Be light in my darkness. hear my prayer through the intercession of your holy and Take away my pain. immaculate virgin Mother, and by virtue of your precious Amen. and holy Cross. And save me. Amen. —St. Nersess the Grace-filled Յոյս կենդանութեան, յոյս եւ ապաւէն փրկութեան, o տէր Յիսուս փրկիչ. փրկեա՛ եւ փարատեցո՛ զցաւս անձին իմոյ։ Մարդասէր տէր, վասն սրբուհւոյ 4. Heavenly king, my soul is in your hands at all times, անարատի Մօր քո եւ կուսի, եւ վասն խաչի քո and I put my trust in your holy cross. A multitude of saints պատուականի, տէր, ընկա՛լ զաղաչանս մեր, եւ are my intercessors with you, who are generous toward all. կեցո՛ զիս։ Do not turn your face away from me, for I look to you for protection. Through your precious and holy cross, keep o me in peace. Amen. 6. Hear my pleas, Lord, through the intercession of the holy Անձն իմ ի ձեռս քո է յամենայն ժամ, եւ ի սուրբ Mother of God. Send down on me your mercy and compassion, խաչ քո յուսացեալ եմ, թագաւոր երկնաւոր, almighty Lord God. Save me and have mercy on me. Amen. զբազմութիւն սրբոց քոց բարեխօս ունիմ առ քեզ։ Որ երկայնամիտդ ես առ ամենեսեան, մի՛ o անտես առներ զապաւինեալս ի քեզ, այլ պահեա՛ պատուական եւ սուրբ խաչիւ քով ի խաղաղութեան։ 7.