When it is said
In the Russian Church’s Book of Needs, the priest’s service book, it is “A prayer for every kind of illness”. The priest says it for a sick person, by name.
It is said at home too. The Russian Orthodox magazine Foma prints it for anyone praying for someone’s recovery, and says it is good when family or friends pray with the sick person. Russian prayer books give a shorter form among the “Prayers for the sick”. Greek service books print it too.
Where it comes from
No author known
In the oldest Byzantine service book
The oldest Byzantine service book that survives, a manuscript of the late 700s now in the Vatican Library, already has this prayer among its prayers for the sick. Four other early service books have it too. In all five it stands on its own, outside any service.
Miguel Arranz, “Le preghiere degli infermi nella tradizione bizantina”, Orientalia Christiana Periodica 62 (1996); Orthodox Encyclopedia (Pravoslavnaya Entsiklopediya), Holy Unction
An “invisible arm”
In the oldest copies the prayer asks God to stretch out His “invisible arm”, full of healing. The Greek service book printed in Venice in 1862, reprinted in Athens since 1970, leaves out “invisible”. So does the Russian Book of Needs.
Miguel Arranz, “Le preghiere degli infermi nella tradizione bizantina”, Orientalia Christiana Periodica 62 (1996); Great Euchologion, Venice 1862
What the words mean
Loose, remit, forgive
Near its end the prayer asks God to set the sick person free from any sin, and to pardon and forgive it. In the traditional wording the three words are “loose, remit and forgive”. The Jesuit scholar Miguel Arranz notes that they are a reminder: healing the sick includes forgiving their sins, as the letter of James says.
Miguel Arranz, “Le preghiere degli infermi nella tradizione bizantina”, Orientalia Christiana Periodica 62 (1996)
The Scripture in it
The LORD sends poverty and wealth; He humbles and He exalts.
On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.”
When Jesus arrived at Peter’s house, He saw Peter’s mother-in-law sick in bed with a fever. So He touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she got up and began to serve Him.
And the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick. The Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.
Bible text: Berean Standard Bible, public domain.
In Greek
Δέσποτα Παντοκράτορ, Ἰατρὲ ψυχῶν καὶ σωμάτων, ὁ ταπεινῶν καὶ ἀνυψῶν, ὁ παιδεύων καὶ πάλιν ἰώμενος, τὸν ἀδελφὸν ἡμῶν (τὸν δεῖνα) τὸν ἀσθενοῦντα ἐπίσκεψαι ἐν τῷ ἐλέει Σου. Ἔκτεινον τὸν βραχίονά Σου τὸν πλήρη ἰάσεως καὶ θεραπείας, καὶ ἴασαι αὐτόν, ἐξανιστῶν ἀπὸ κλίνης καὶ ἀρρωστίας.
Ἐπιτίμησον τῷ πνεύματι τῆς ἀσθενείας· ἀπόστησον ἀπ᾿ αὐτοῦ πᾶσαν πληγήν, πᾶσαν ἀλγηδόνα, πᾶσαν μάστιγα, πάντα πυρετὸν ἢ ῥῖγος· καὶ εἴ τι ἔστιν ἐν αὐτῷ πλημμέλημα ἢ ἀνόμημα, ἄνες, ἄφες, συγχώρησον διὰ τὴν Σὴν φιλανθρωπίαν.
Ναί, Κύριε, φεῖσαι τοῦ πλάσματός Σου, ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ Κυρίῳ ἡμῶν, μεθ᾿ Οὗ εὐλογητὸς εἶ, σὺν τῷ παναγίῳ καὶ ἀγαθῷ καὶ ζωοποιῷ Σου Πνεύματι, νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.