Sacramental Beliefs
The Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Coptic and Old Catholic Churches consider this anointing to be a sacrament. Other Christians too, in particular Anglicans, Lutherans and some Protestant and other Christian communities use a rite of anointing the sick, without necessarily classifying it as a sacrament.
In the Churches mentioned here by name, the oil used (called "oil of the sick" in both West and East) is blessed specifically for this purpose.
Read more about this topic: Anointing Of The Sick
Famous quotes containing the words sacramental and/or beliefs:
“Oh! thou clear spirit of clear fire, whom on these seas I as Persian once did worship, till in the sacramental act so burned by thee, that to this hour I bear the scar; I now know thee, thou clear spirit, and I now know that thy right worship is defiance. To neither love nor reverence wilt thou be kind; and e’en for hate thou canst but kill; and all are killed. No fearless fool now fronts thee.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“The essence of belief is the establishment of a habit; and different beliefs are distinguished by the different modes of action to which they give rise.”
—Charles Sanders Peirce (1839–1914)