April 18, 2025
patriarchia.ru
Three Local Churches—Russian, Romanian, and Bulgarian—consecrated Chrism this year—one of the main signs autocephaly.
The Churches began the long process of making Chrism on Holy Monday, with the special mixture of oil and various spices being mixed continually for three days while clergy read the Holy Gospel over it.
His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and a host of Russian hierarchs and clergy celebrated the Vesperal Liturgy of St. Basil the Great with the rite of the consecration of Holy Chrism in Christ the Savior Cathedral yesterday, reports the Russian Orthodox Church.
The rite of consecration was celebrated after the Anaphora. The Patriarch explained:
The gift of the Holy Spirit, received from the Lord, bestowed upon the Holy Apostles, and through them upon their successors, the bishops, and through the bishops upon the priests, is passed on in the Church even to this day, and the visible, physical bearer of this grace is the holy Chrism.
He entreated the people to pray for the whole Church:
I ask you all to pray for our Church, for our people, that faith would never cease in those who receive grace from the Holy Apostles, that our episcopate, our clergy would strictly preserve the Apostolic faith, that no human temptations could provoke schisms and divisions, that the life of the people of God, that is, all of us, would flow in unity, wisdom, spiritual and physical purity, and that everyone, even those who sin, would have the opportunity through repentance, communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ, and at Baptism—through Chrismation—to receive the gift of grace, by which our sins are healed.
The Chrism will be distributed to all dioceses of the Moscow Patriarchate.
In Bucharest, the hierarchs of the Holy Synod, led by His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel of Romania, consecrated Chrism for the 23rd time, during the Liturgy at the external altar of the Patriarchal Cathedral, reports the Basilica News Agency.
basilica.ro
In his homily, Pat. Daniel emphasized that “Both the holy Eucharist and the holy and great Chrism symbolize the sacrificial, humble, and merciful love of Christ.”
He continued:
The holy Eucharist is the mystery of Christ’s sacrificial love, of His death on the Cross and of His Resurrection from the dead on the third day, to overcome the sin of man’s disobedience to God through humble obedience and to give the world eternal Heavenly life through His Resurrection…
The holy and great Chrism began in the very expensive myrrh or nard that Mary, the sister of Lazarus, offered to Jesus, pouring this myrrh on His head and feet as a sign of gratitude for the resurrection of her brother.
But the Lord Jesus Christ says that Mary made this gesture of appreciation for the burial of the Lord Jesus, as a symbol of the appreciation of His sacrificial love. That is why the holy and great Chrism is sanctified on the same day as the Holy Eucharist, on Holy and Great Thursday.
Following the consecration, jars of Chrism were distributed to the bishop. All but 5 diocesan hierarchs were present for the rite.
And in Sofia, His Holiness Patriarch Daniil of Bulgaria led the ninth consecration of Chrism in modern Bulgarian Church history during the St. Basil’s liturgy.
He was joined by a host of hierarchs and clergy, the Bulgarian Church reports. Pat. Daniil read the prayers of consecration before the Lord’s Prayer.
bg-patriarshia.bg
The Bulgarian primate explained:
In the Church of Christ, the fragrant holy Chrism has rich and deep symbolism. As a mandatory element in the consecration of the holy altar, it’s a sign and symbol of the Lord’s Tomb—that Tomb from which Life Itself shone forth, because death could not hold Him. Holy Chrism is also used in the consecration of the holy antimension, which also symbolizes the laying of the Savior in the Tomb. And according to St. Symeon of Thessaloniki and other fathers and teachers of the Church, the holy Chrism symbolizes the richness of the gifts of the All-Holy Spirit, which God generously pours upon us—those buried in Christ’s death and reborn to a new and eternal life with Christ, in the sacrament of our renewal.
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Source: Orthodox Christianity
