Folia Theologica et Canonica 3. 25/17 (2014)

IUS CANONICUM - Szabolcs Anzelm Szuromi, O.Praem., Crystallization process of the ecclesiastical discipline regarding the sacrament of extreme unction and its canon law historical sources

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SZABOLCS ANZELM SZUROMI, O.PRAEM.

Pope St. Gregory the Great (590-604) and Beda Venerabilis (t735).6 Origen refers explicitly to the anointment of the sick in his homily to the book of Leviticus, mentioning the imposition of the hand as its external form and the forgiveness of sins as the effect of the sacrament.7 8 We can read a description similar to this at St. John Chrysostom in relation with the letter of James 5:14, which he presents in connection with Mk 18 and Jn 20.® St. Augustine in his 13th homily speaks on the effect of the anointment pointing on the healing of soul and body, which implies also the obtainment of indulgence, that is, the remission of temporal punishments.9

From among the early Coptic text of the Didache which was composed very possible in the 2nd century, refers already to the administration of the holy anointment10 11, and in the text of the Traditio Apostolica" that comes from the 3rd century we find that prayer of blessing of the oil by the bishop12, which is, on the basis of its content, most probably a liturgical formula concerning the oil of the sick

.13 This is confirmed also by a recent study on the Ethiopian version of the text.14 According to a great probability also the Constitutiones apostoli- cae'5, that was written in the last decades of the 4th century in Cilicia, gives a clear and identifiable record of the liturgical formula concerning the blessing of the oil of the sick16, which serves to restore health and expel evil. The text is significant also from that perspective, that, besides of mentioning the role of the bishop, it refers to the fact that a priest may perform the blessing of the oil only in the absence of the bishop.17

6 In detailed cf. Cappello, F.M., Tractatus canonico - morális de sacramentis, III: De extrema unctione, Taurini-Romae 1949. 5-15. Parenti, St., Anointing of the Sick During the First Four Centuries, in Chupungco, A. J. (ed.), Handbook for Liturgical Studies, IV: Sacraments and Sacramentals, Collegeville, Minn. 2000. 155-159, especially 156.

7 Borrét, M. (ed.), Homélies sur le Lévitique (Sources chrétiennes 286/1), Paris 1981. 108.

8 Malingrey, A.M. (ed.), Sur le sacerdoce (Dialogue et Homélie) [Sources chrétiennes 272], Paris 1980. 154.

9 Patrologiae cursus complétas. Series Latina, ed. I.-P. Migne, I-CCXXI, Lutetiae Parisiorum 1844-1864 (Hereafter: PL) XXIX. 2238.

10 Radó, P., Enchiridion Liturgicum, II. 922.

11 About the collection, cf. Erdő, P., Az egyházjog forrásai. Történeti bevezetés (Bibliotheca Insti- tuti Postgradualis Iuris Canonici Universitatis Catholicae de Petro Pázmány nominatae 1/1), Budapest 1998. 22-24. Gaudemet, J., Les sources du droit de l’Église en Occident du IIe siècle, Paris 1985. 18-20.

12 Lanne, E., La bénédiction de l’huile, in Les bénédictions et les sacramentaux dans la liturgie (Bibliotheca Ephemerides Liturgicae, Subsidia44), Roma 1988. 165-170.

13 Botte, B. (ed.), La tradition apostolique de Saint Hyppolyte. Essai de reconstruction (Liturgie- wissenschafliche Quellen und Forschungen 39), Münster 1989.5

14 Parenti, St., Anointing of the Sick During the First Four Centuries, 157.

15 About the collection, cf. Erdő P., Az egyházjog forrásai, 31-33. Gaudemet, J., Les sources du droit de l’Église en Occident du IIe siècle, 21—26.

16 Metzger, M. (ed.), Les constitutions apostoliques (Sources chrétiennes 320, 329, 336), I. Paris 1985. II. Paris 1986. III. Paris 1987.

17 Cf. Parenti, St., Anointing of the Sick During the First Four Centuries, 158.