We read of many different ceremonial washings in the Scriptures, water baptism being the foremost for Christians. From earliest times, both within Judaism and the Christian church, the faithful in obedience to God have been seen calling down the grace of God, the "sweet unction of the Holy Spirit" upon water, oil, bread, and wine, and upon holy things and places such as crucifixes and "tents of meeting." The following liturgy illustrates the way the church has prayed since its beginning to set apart and hallow water for the purposes of purification of persons and things. This of course makes it important to the healing ministry. These prayers are taken from A Manual for Priests (Society of Saint John the Evangelist, Cambridge, MA, 1978) and are the ones my pastor presently uses.
THE BLESSING OF WATER
Salt and pure and clean water, being made ready in the Church or Sacristy, the Priest, vested in surplice and violet stole, shall say:
Our help is in the Name of the Lord.
Who hath made heaven and earth.
And immediately he shall begin the Exorcism of the salt.
I adjure thee, O creature of salt, by the living God, by the true God, by the holy God, by God who commanded thee to be cast by the prophet Elisha into the water to heal the barrenness thereof, that thou become salt exorcised for the health of believers: and do thou bring to all who take of thee soundness of soul and body, and let all vain imaginations, wickedness, and subtlety of the wiles of the devil, and every unclean spirit fly and depart from every place where thou shalt be sprinkled, adjured by the Name of Him, who shall come to judge both the quick and the dead, and the world by fire. Amen.
Let us pray.
Almighty and everlasting God, we humbly beseech thy great and boundless mercy, that it may please thee of thy lovingkindness to bless and to hallow this creature of salt, which thou hast given for the use of men, let it be to all them that take of it health of mind and body, and let whatsoever shall be touched or sprinkled therewith be free from all uncleanness, and from all assaults of spiritual wickedness. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Exorcism of the water
I adjure thee, O creature of water, by the Name of God the Father Almighty, by the Name of Jesus Christ his Son our Lord, and by the power of the Holy Ghost, that thou become water exorcised for putting to flight all the power of the enemy; and do thou avail to cast out and send hence that same enemy with all his apostate angels, by the power of the same our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall come to judge the quick and the dead, and the world by fire. Amen.
Let us pray.
O God, who for the salvation of mankind hast ordained that the substance of water should be used in one of thy chiefest Sacraments: favorably regard us who call upon thee, and pour the power of thy benediction upon this element, made ready by careful cleansing; that this thy creature, meet for thy mysteries, may receive the effect of divine grace, and so cast out devils, and put sick- ness to flight, that whatsoever in the dwellings of thy faithful people shall be sprinkled with this water, may be free from all uncleanness, and delivered from all manner of hurt; there let no spirit of pestilence abide, nor any corrupting air; thence let all the wiles of the hidden enemy depart, and if there be aught that layeth snares against the safety or peace of them that dwell in the house, let it fly before the sprinkling of this water, so that the health which they seek through calling upon thy holy Name may be protected against all things that threaten it. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Then the Priest shall cast the salt into the water in the form of a Cross, saying:
Be this salt and water mingled together: in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
The Lord be with you.
And with thy spirit.
Let us pray.
O God, who art the Author of unconquered might, the King of the Empire that cannot be overthrown, the ever glorious Conqueror: who dost keep under the strength of the dominion that is against thee; who rulest the raging of the fierce enemy; who dost mightily fight against the wickedness of thy foes; with fear and trembling we entreat thee, O Lord, and we beseech thee graciously to behold this creature of salt and water, mercifully shine upon it, hallow it with the dew of thy lovingkindness: that wheresoever it shall be sprinkled, with the invocation of thy holy Name, all haunting of the unclean spirit may be driven away; far thence let the fear of the venomous serpent be cast; and wheresoever it shall be sprinkled, there let the presence of the Holy Ghost be vouchsafed to all of us who shall ask for thy mercy. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
This was taken from the book "Restoring the Christian Soul".
