A benediction is a short invocation for divine help, blessing and guidance, usually at the end of worship service. It can also refer to a specific Christian religious service including the exposition of the eucharistic host in the monstrance and the blessing of the people with it.
Icon of Jesus Christ Pantokrator by Theophanes the Cretan. His right hand is raised in benediction.
Benediction given by a Lutheran priest at the Lutheran Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul in Moscow
Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament at Sacred Heart Chaplaincy, Cagayan de Oro, Philippines.
In religion, a blessing is the impartation of something with grace, holiness, spiritual redemption, or divine will.
St. Sergius blesses Dmitry Donskoy to fight Mamay, 1919, by Aleksandr Novoskoltsev [ru]
Isaac Blessing Jacob, painting by Govert Flinck (Rijksmuseum Amsterdam)
Position in which a Jewish kohen places his hands and fingers during the Priestly Blessing, detail of a mozaic in the Synagoge of Enschede, Netherlands
A bishop blesses a girl with the sign of cross on her forehead during Confirmation in the catholic church