HIS HOLINESS GAREGIN II BLESSES INGREDIENTS FOR THE HOLY MURON

armradio.am
18.09.2008 15:32

Sunday, September 14, was the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross
– one of the five major feast days of the Armenian Church. This year,
the day was also significant, as it played an important role in the
preparations leading up to the Blessing of the Holy Muron (Chrism),
scheduled to take place in the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin on
Sunday, September 28.

His Holiness Garegin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All
Armenians, presided during the Divine Liturgy celebrated in the
Mother Cathedral in the morning. In the evening, following vespers,
His Holiness presided during the "Andastan" service, wherein the
Catholicos, bishops, priests, deacons and faithful processed around
the Cathedral with the reliquary containing an actual piece of the
Holy Cross on which Jesus Christ was crucified. The Andastan service
also includes the blessing of the four corners of the world on this
festive day. The service is noted by the blessing of basil and the
sprinkling of rosewater on the faithful.

At the conclusion of the Andastan service, the procession of clergy
and faithful moved from the courtyard of the Mother Cathedral to the
garden of the Old Pontifical Residence, where the service of blessing
the ingredients that will comprise the Holy Muron was offered. As
Holy Scripture was read, prayers intoned and hymns sung, the Armenian
Pontiff blessed the oils, balsam, floral extracts, aromatic roots and
plants, and asked for the graces of the Holy Spirit to descend from
heaven, infuse the elements of nature that would soon be added to
the cauldron, and to dwell within the hearts of Armenian faithful
in the homeland and throughout the Diaspora. In his message to
the faithful, His Holiness also stated, "We encourage our sons and
daughters throughout the world to pray with us unceasingly during
this time, so that your voices will be mixed with the sweet aromas
and floral essences, and thereby sanctify the Muron. We ask God to
send the manifold gifts of the Holy Spirit with His miraculous power
to purify the souls of all Armenians who will be baptized, sealed
and ordained with this Chrism, and that the sanctity of the Muron
becomes the adornment of every individual."

After the ingredients were blessed, His Holiness added the elements
into the cauldron one at a time, and sealed the lid. The cooking
process will take three full days, during which time, the cauldron is
constantly attended to by the monks and deacons of the Brotherhood of
Holy Etchmiadzin. As the fire below the cauldron cooks the elements,
the clergy stand 24-hr vigil and offer their continuous prayers and
recitation of psalms, since the mixture is never left unattended.

On the evening of Wednesday, September 17, the cooking process came t
o an end, and the mixture will be allowed to rest for three full days.

During this time as well, the cauldron is never left unattended and
is always accompanied by the prayers and psalms of the priests.

On Sunday, September 21, the mixture will be strained and prepared
for the actual blessing of the Holy Muron one week later, on Sunday,
September 28, when it is mixed with the pure olive oil that has been
placed in the main cauldron which has been resting on the bema of
the Mother Cathedral of Holy Etchmiadzin for the past 40 days. Also
added at that time will be a portion of the Holy Muron consecrated
by the Catholicos of All Armenians in 2001, to confirm the continuity
of the Holy Muron from the past to the present, and from the present
to the future.