_Priest._ Peace to thee.
_Alleluia, tone ii._
_Verse._ I waited patiently for the Lord, and he inclined unto me.
_The fourth priest._
_The gospel from Matthew, section xxvi._
At that time, Jesus came into Peter’s house.... _ending_, his disciples
followed him.[22]
_And the deacon._ Have mercy upon us, O God....
_Page 98._
Furthermore let us pray for mercy, life....
That to him may be remitted....
_And the exclamation_, For a merciful....
_Deacon._ Let us pray to the Lord.
_Priest, the prayer._
O good and man-loving, benign and most merciful Lord, great in mercy
and plenteous in goodness, O Father of compassions and God of every
consolation, who hast empowered us, through thy holy apostles, to heal
the weaknesses of the people by prayer with oil; do thou thyself appoint
this oil for the healing of them that are anointed therewith, for the
alleviation of every sickness and every wound, for deliverance from evils
of them that expect salvation that is from thee. Yea, O Master, Lord our
God, we beseech thee, thou almighty one, to save us all, and, thou that
alone art the physician of souls and bodies, to sanctify us all; thou
that healest every sickness, do thou heal thy servant, _name_; raise
him from the bed of suffering through the mercy of thy grace; visit him
through thy mercy and compassions; remove from him every ailment and
weakness, that, being raised by thy mighty hand, he may serve thee with
all thanksgiving, as also that we, now participating in thine unspeakable
love to man, may sing and glorify thee, who doest great and wonderful,
glorious and transcendent things.
For it is thine to have mercy, and to save us, O our God....
_And after the prayer the fourth priest straightway taketh a fourth twig,
and, dipping it in the holy oil, anointeth the sick person, saying the
prayer,_