Laying on of hands

In Judaism semikhah (Hebrew: סמיכה, "leaning [of the hands]")[1] accompanies the conferring of a blessing or authority.

The laying on of hands was an action referred to on numerous occasions in the Hebrew Bible to accompany the conferring of a blessing or authority.

[3] However, it seems to have continued at least until 425 CE when Theodosius II executed Gamaliel VI and suppressed the Patriarchate and Sanhedrin.

"[6] According to Jewish tradition, the first dispute in Israel concerned whether or not it was permissible to lay hands upon one's sacrificial animal by applying one's full body weight on a Festival Day.

The New Testament also associates the laying on of hands with the conferral of authority or designation of a person to a position of responsibility.

In Eastern Christianity, laying on of hands is used for the ordination (called cheirotonia) of the higher clergy (bishops, priests and deacons), and is also performed at the end of the sacrament of unction.

[9] In few Baptist churches, the laying on of hands rarely takes place after a believer's baptism although this is traditional to some sects and not practiced as a Biblical command nor example.

[11][12] 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 rite of the king's touch began in France with Robert II the Pious, but legend later attributed the practice to Clovis as Merovingian founder of the Holy Roman kingdom, and Edward the Confessor in England.