What should a Christian do if their loved one is gravely ill and near death? #

Earthly life is given to us to prepare for eternal life, to learn to love God and our neighbor. A Christian must both live and die “to the glory of God,” as the apostle Paul writes (Romans 14:8). Until their final days, a Christian should remain united with Christ—not merely by being a “good person,” but through prayer, repentance for sins, and partaking of the Body and Blood of Christ “for the remission of sins and life everlasting.”

The holy fathers teach us that no Christian should leave this life without repentance and communion. Even those excommunicated from communion due to sins must receive absolution on their deathbed and partake of the Holy Mysteries, which serve as a pledge of their soul’s salvation. This is reiterated in the canonical rules of the Church (e.g., the 13th Canon of the First Ecumenical Council and others).

Thus, it is crucial for a Christian during illness to call their spiritual father, or, in his absence, another priest of the Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church, to administer the Holy Mysteries.

Repentance cleanses the soul of sin, and communion of the Body and Blood of Christ completes the mystery of repentance, consuming sins and uniting the person with God. If someone dies shortly after confession and communion, their soul finds it much easier to pass through the trials of sins at the “aerial toll-houses,” provided their confession was sincere.

However, we all have many forgotten sins for which it is impossible to repent. For this reason, the Lord established another important sacrament for sick Christians—anointing with oil (eleosvyashchenie or sorobovanie). In this sacrament, prayers are said over the sick person, and they are anointed with holy oil (olive oil) by seven priests (or fewer, if necessary, and even just one in extreme cases). In these prayers, the priests ask God to forgive all the sick person’s sins, including those forgotten or unknown, after which the person is given communion of the Body and Blood of Christ. There are cases where “hopeless” patients recover after sorobovanie. While this does not always happen—being subject to God’s inscrutable will—relief from suffering is almost always observed. Therefore, it is desirable for every sick person, especially those near death, to receive sorobovanie.

If the sick person is in a hospital, even in intensive care, a priest should be invited to the hospital to administer the Holy Mysteries. If the person’s condition is critical and death is imminent, the priest should be summoned immediately, at any time of day or night. Even if the critically ill person has eaten, the holy canons allow them to receive Holy Communion so they do not depart from this world without this great blessing. Delay in such matters can be fatal—not just physically but spiritually. If someone dies without confession and communion, especially if they have not partaken in years, their soul may be lost eternally. Relatives who refuse to call a priest for the dying commit a grave sin and risk the damnation of their own souls.

It should be noted that every Christian should strive to confess and partake of the Body and Blood of Christ during the Church’s fasting periods or at least once a year. Relatives of the sick and elderly, who cannot attend church but remain at home or in care facilities, should regularly invite a priest, preferably during the fasting periods, and immediately in case of a health decline. Even if the sick person has fallen into a coma and appears unconscious, a priest must still be called. There are many cases where the sick emerge from comas within hours of receiving communion, are discharged from the hospital, and live for many years afterward. Only in cases where the person openly rejected God and faith before falling into a coma, and categorically refused confession, should they not be communed while unconscious. If they acknowledged God but postponed confession, without rejecting it outright, the priest should perform the rite of “silent confession” and commune the sick person, entrusting them to God’s mercy.

It is critical that the priest arrives while the sick person is still alive. Once a person has died, confession, anointing (sorobovanie), and communion are no longer possible—and this is a tragic spiritual loss.

—Archpriest Vadim Korovin