Christian laying on of hands

In Christianity, the laying on of hands (Greek: cheirotonia – χειροτονία, literally, "laying-on of hands") is both a symbolic and formal method of invoking the Holy Spirit primarily during baptisms and confirmations, healing services, blessings, and ordination of priests, ministers, elders, deacons, and other church officers, along with a variety of other church sacraments and holy ceremonies.

In the New Testament the laying on of hands was associated with Christ healing the sick (Luke 4:40) and after his ascension, the receiving of the Holy Spirit (See Acts 8:14–19). Initially the Apostles laid hands on new believers as well as believers. (See Acts 6:5–6). In the early church, the practice continued and is still used in a wide variety of church ceremonies, such as during confirmation.

The primary use of laying of hands is . When a man is accepted to join the clergy, either as a deacon or a pastor (etc.), he is brought before the altar and prayed over by either the sitting pastor or a senior deacon. Each previously ordained, former or current, clergyman of any rank then line up and lay their hands upon the new clergyman, one at a time, and pray over him.

ordination

The second usage of the laying of hands is in and in commissioning, which itself works in two forms. Anointing of the sick is a practice explicitly authorized in the Bible^[13] and is performed by the clergy. In circumstances where all secular medical options have been exhausted (including but not limited to the dying), or treatment has stalled, or the diagnosis is unknown, the clergy are called to the recipient's house, where they anoint the head of the infirm with oil and proceed to lay their hands upon them, simultaneously, and pray over them. The Baptist Church does not teach that neither physical healing nor medical guidance to doctors is invoked by or within the anointing. Therefore, God may or may not grant physical healing to the sick in spite of the act. The healing conferred by anointing is thus a spiritual event that may not result in physical recovery.

faith healing

The third and final usage is used to commission certain parties of going abroad for an extended period of time. This act, performed by the laity and clergy at the same time, involves the entire congregation rising and gathering around the parties, laying their hands upon the recipient 's body, or on the bodies of those in front of them as a chain, as the clergy (normally the pastor) pray over them. This action can also be used as an invocation of medical guidance or, in terminal situations, as faith healing.

missionaries

In Baptist churches, the laying on of hands takes place after a believer's baptism.^[10] This is one of the two points which was added in the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith in 1742.^[11]^[12]

In adherence to strict autonomy and autocephalocy, the Southern Baptist Church does not officially prescribe, reject, or affirm the practice of laying on of hands. Each church is expected to decide the matter for itself between its clergy and its congregation. In regards to ordination, the laying of hands is representative of authorizing, permitting, and recognizing the calling of the receipiant to the clergy.

Southern Baptist Christians employ the laying on of hands during the ordination of clergymen (such as deacons, assistant, and senior pastors) as well as situations of calling for divine healing.

The laying of hands generally encompasses three different variations. Some, all, or none of these are employed at each church, based on each congregation's preferences.

Like baptism and the administration of the Lord's Supper (the Eucharist), Southern Baptists believe the laying of hands to be a solely ceremonial action which, while still holy and important, does not empower or invoke the specific task it is used to call for.^[14] In ordination, the laying of hands is not empowering the individual to serve in the clergy, but to authorize and recognize his spiritual gifts and his calling to do so. In healing, it is to ascribe urgency and importance, not to invoke actual healing. Southern Baptists do not believe that God's power can be invoked by man, but that the decision to heal or not heal is God's will alone.

Catharism[edit]

A Cathar Perfect, the highest initiate in the Cathar hierarchy after spending time as a Listener and then Believer, had to undergo a rigorous training of three years before being inducted as a member of the spiritual elite of the now defunct religious movement. This took place during a ceremony in which various Scriptural extracts were quoted, including, most particularly, the opening verses of the Gospel of John. The ceremony was completed by a ritual laying on of hands, also known as Manisola, as the candidate vowed to abjure the world and accept the Holy Spirit . At this point, the Perfecti believed, the Holy Spirit was able to descend and dwell within the new Perfect — hence the austere lifestyle needed to provide a pure dwelling place for the Spirit. Once in this state of housing the Holy Spirit within themselves, the Perfect were believed to have become "trans-material" or semi-angelic, not yet released from the confines of the body but containing within them an enhanced spirituality which linked them to God even in this world, as expressed in the Gospel of Luke. The Cathars were decimated and annihilated as a sect during the Albigensian Crusade.

Mormonism[edit]

Along with others in the Latter Day Saint movement, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believe the restoration of Christ's priesthood came about by the laying on of hands by John the Baptist and the resurrected Saint Peter to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery.

The laying on of hands is seen as a necessary part of confirmation and ordination to the Aaronic and Melchizedek priesthoods.

In addition to these confirmations and ordinations, worthy Melchizedek priesthood holders lay their hands on the head of one receiving a blessing of healing, comfort, or counsel.^[15]^[16]