Dear Friends,
On Tuesday, August 19 His Holiness KAREKIN II, Catholicos of All Armenians, presided over the first of forty days of prayerful preparation leading up to the Blessing of Holy Muron, which will take place on Sunday, September 28.
For the spiritual edification of our faithful I share with you an article regarding this auspicious service of blessing and encourage you to pray that the Grace imparted by the Holy Muron be a source of new inspiration and unprecedented spiritual growth for all members of the universal Armenian Church.
With prayers,
Hayr Simeon
The blessing of holy Muron (Chrism) is a venerable and mystical sacred service, which is conducted once every seven years. Holy Muron has two essential ingredients, olive oil and balsam, into which is mixed a liquid concoction of more than forty different fragrant incenses, flowers, roots of sweet smelling plants, oily liquids and leaves. Following a specified process of preparation, special prayers and prescribed spiritual services, the above materials are poured into the Muron cauldron. Forty days before the blessing of Muron the cauldron with olive oil is covered with a fine veil and is placed on the bema before the main altar in the Cathedral of Holy Etchmiadzin. At the conclusion of each evening service throughout this forty-day period, a special prayer office is offered in anticipation of the ensuing Muron blessing.
In the Armenian Apostolic Church the blessing of Muron is reserved for the Catholicos of All Armenians with the participation of twelve fully vested archbishops and bishops. The Catholicos blesses the Holy Muron with three sacred objects possessed by our church: the Right Hand of Saint Gregory the Enlightener, the Holy Lance, and a relic of our Lord’s true living Cross.
The use of Holy Muron in the Armenian Church originates from apostolic times. According to sacred Tradition the first enlightener of the land of Armenia, the holy apostle Thaddeus, brought oil blessed by Christ to Armenia. While en route to Armenia he anointed the sick king Abgar with the sacred oil and healed him. After that the apostle departed to Taron where he buried a bottle of that same oil under an evergreen endive plant. Later on Saint Gregory the Enlightener, our father in the faith, built a church in that place called Saint John the Baptist, which is referred to in Armenian literature also as the Monastery of Yeghertood (“Monastery in [the region] full] of endive plants”) or Soorp Shish Yoogho Monastery (“Holy Oil Bottle Monastery”).
In the Armenian Church the blessing of Muron began with Saint Gregory the Enlightener. According to national tradition Saint Gregory, the first chief bishop of Armenia, saw in a vision the holy oil buried by Saint Thaddeus and after unearthing it, he mixed it with his own blessed oil. Thus every time that the Catholicos of All Armenians blesses new Muron, old Muron passed down from the Enlightener and kept in a dove shaped urn, is mixed with the new, so that the Holy Grace found in the old is imparted to the new Muron. At the moment when the old Muron is poured into the new, a unique chemical reaction takes place and the oil in the cauldron begins to boil by itself.
In our church holy Muron is used in the following rites and canons:
- Sacrament of Chrismation (Confirmation), which is conducted after Baptism
- Consecration of priests, bishops and catholicoi. In olden times Armenian kings were also consecrated with Muron.
- Cross engraved foundation stones of new churches, the cupola cross; and at the dedication of a church the Holy Altar and its icon of the baby Jesus with the Mother of God, as well as the columns and walls of the church are consecrated with Muron.
- On January 6, the feast of Theophany, following the Divine Liturgy and during the Blessing of Water, Muron is poured into a font (symbolizing the Jordan River) in remembrance of the descent of the Holy Spirit upon Jesus when He was baptized in the Jordan.
The Blessing of the Holy Muron is a sacred and most revered event for every Armenian. It is a unifying power for Armenians throughout the world and a mighty force, which cements our small nation’s past and present. The blessing is a reminder that we were baptized and born of the Holy Font of the Armenian Church and bear on our foreheads the seal of the holy Muron, symbol of the Holy Spirit. We have lived by the mystery of the Holy Muron and will continue to live with the blessings of Holy Etchmiadzin.
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Oil (Muron), this magnificent substance (like that) applied by wrestlers to their bodies, as an enhancement during tournaments, making it difficult for their opponents to take hold of them, sets demons and diseases to flight. For in the words of Ezekiel addressed to the spiritual Pharoah, in the form of a satirical allegory: “On the day you were created, I placed you with an anointed guardian cherub amidst the fiery stones of the holy mountain of God.
St. Gregory of Narek (Prayer 93)
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With prayers.
Hayr Simeon
August 31, 2008