What is the significance of Luke 22:44 where Christ's sweat was as great drops of blood in the garden of Gethsemane while he prayed? Luke 22:44 talks about Jesus Christ's experience while he was in the Garden of Gethsemane. During a time when an angel visits him to strengthen him he begins to sweat blood.  I would like to understand better the significance of this verse:

44 And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: 
   and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.



Did he literally bleed through his pores as could be interpreted from this verse?  
What would cause him to sweat blood during a prayer to his Father?  
What is the spiritual meaning behind this sweat of blood that came from his body in the Garden of Gethsemane?
Was he feeling pain that required an angel to strengthen him in order to bear what he was feeling?
Did he literally bleed through his pores as could be interpreted from this verse?

Yes. This condition is called Hematidrosis.

What would cause him to sweat blood during a prayer to his Father?

Hematidrosis may occur when a person is suffering extreme levels of stress; for example, facing his or her own death.

What is the spiritual meaning behind this sweat of blood that came from his body in the Garden of Gethsemane?


The drops of blood that Jesus sweat in the Garden of Gethsemane surely fulfilled "the anguish of His soul" that Isaiah spoke of; that is, Jesus's passion was not merely  physical but also spiritual.
His anguish clearly demonstrated he was human and that his sufferings were real. Two early heresies, Docetism and Sabellianism, denied both.


Was he feeling pain that required an angel to strengthen him in order to bear what he was feeling?

I would not call it pain, I would say intense spiritual agony. Being the Son of God, he knew in detail everything that was about to happen to him. He knew that he was facing physically one of the most horrible forms of capital punishment in history. Since his body was human, he would feel everything at least as intensely as we would.