The monastery of Anba Bishoy in Wadi al-Natroun, some 120km northwest Cairo in Egypt’s Western Desert, witnessed on 11 March the preparation of the Holy Chrism Oil, the Myron, for the 41st time in the history of the Coptic Orthodox Church. It is also the fourth time during the papacy of Pope Tawadros II.
The leaven
The preparation or ‘cooking’ of the Holy Myron, the Chrism Oil, used in the Myron Sacrament, also known as the Holy Anointment or the Sacrament of Confirmation. It is an event which replicates one of the oldest and most revered traditions of the Church, and which takes place ever so often in the Coptic Orthodox Church. The word ‘Myron’ is a Greek word which means ‘ointment’ or ‘fragrant perfume’. Anointment with Myron grants the seal of the Holy Spirit. The sacrament is granted to the baptised directly after baptism, through anointment with 36 crosses. The baptised then becomes a ‘temple of the Holy Spirit’. Myron is also used to consecrate new churches, altars, altar utensils, and icons.
Traditionally, Myron is prepared during Lent, and is completed on Shamm al-Nessim, Easter Monday, which should see the addition of the ‘leaven’ to the oil.
Tradition has it that the first who made the Myron were the Apostles from the fragrant oils which had been used for the burial of Jesus Christ and the sweet-smelling spices the women had brought to anoint the body of Jesus, but discovered He was risen from the dead.
When St Mark headed to Alexandria, he took with him some of the Myron made by the Apostles and used it in the Sacrament of the Chrism. The tradition was handed on to the successive patriarchs until Pope Athanasius (AD 298 – 373) who decided to remake the Myron in Alexandria. The original oil was, and still is today, used as ‘leaven’.
41st time
Throughout the history of the Coptic Orthodox Church, 25 popes made the Myron; some of them more than once. Among them were Pope Kyrillos VI who was patriarch from 1959 to 1971 and has been recently canonised, and Pope Shenouda III (patriarch in 1971 – 2012) who prepared it seven times during his papacy. The growing Coptic Orthodox congregation inside and outside Egypt generates more demand on the Myron, hence the need for preparing it more frequently and keeping the Church well-stocked with the holy oil.
This year, Pope Tawadros arrived at the 4th-century church in the monastery, and members of the Holy Synod followed him, after which they received from his hands the bottles of 27 special oils and sweet spices—those mentioned in the book of Exodus and in the Song of Songs—that would be used in the preparation of the Holy Chrism Oil. Among them are the oils of cloves, sandalwood, liquid amber, and balsam. These ingredients are mixed in pure olive oil.
At ten o’clock, carrying the bottles, the bishops moved in procession to the big cathedral, marking the beginning of the ritual of preparing the Chrism and Ghalilaon. The procession was led by the choir of deacons chanting Church hymns, followed by the priests and monks, then the metropolitans and bishops, then Pope Tawadros holding in his hand the “Holy Myron Tradition”.
The procession arrived at the cathedral, where a large congregation were present, participating for the first time in Church history in the ceremony.
How it’s cooked
Before starting the cooking process, the Pope explained that mixing the oils takes place in six stages; in the first five stages, five oils are mixed with pure olive oil, and in the sixth stage the last two oils are mixed with olive oil.
“We obtained the twenty-seven ingredients that we use to prepare the Holy Chrism, from the big companies specialised in producing oils from their plant sources,” the Pope explained. “This,” he said, “ensures that the oils are extracted with a high degree of concentration and purity.”
Before he started the preparation of the holy oil this year, Pope Tawadros explained that the method now used by the Church has three advantages:
“We do not use water during the preparation process, because water spoils the oil.
“We do not use heat, because the reaction to heat varies from one substance to another in terms of boiling point, volatility, and degree of combustion.
“We do not use solid materials, since there are no sediments and the aromatic substance remain unchanged. This makes the quality of the oil better, and thus we avoid what used to happen to the oil when it was prepared in the old primitive way; there used to be precipitates in the bottles after a period of use.”
Modern-age method
Traditionally, the natural ingredients, which came from the different parts of trees, were solid materials; some were found in Egypt; others were imported. They needed to be soaked or ground before they were heated, mixed and stirred to extract the oils. The process was commonly denoted as ‘cooking’, a popular description but no Church term. The mixture of aromatic oils extracted was then mixed with pure olive oil. Once the aromatic and essential oils were extracted to make Myron, the remainder material was used to make the Ghalilaon, the holy oil of rejoicing.
In 2014, Pope Tawadros announced the Church would make use of modern industrial products to simplify the making of Myron. The Church made use of the fact that the aromatic oils which were traditionally extracted through the arduous process of “cooking” are now produced at very high standard by multinational industrial firms. By buying these high quality, high purity oils, it was possible for the Church to bypass the primitive extraction process, and go on directly to the mixing process.
At the time, Pope Tawadros told Watani: “For the first time, we have bypassed the arduous step of the extracting the 27 aromatic oils. This was a time-consuming process that involved copious effort, huge 100 litre-crucibles, as well as other equipment.
“The new method,” the Pope said, “has the added value of allowing us to make a bigger quantity of Myron Oil since it simplifies the process.”
Ghalilaon Oil
The new process, however, does not leave any remains after the extraction process, so how would the Ghalilaon Oil be prepared? Pope Tawadros explained that a simple calculation showed that the Myron Oil ingredients allowed for the preparation of a quantity of Ghalilaon Oil that was around 1 per cent of the concentration of the Myron Oil. “So we prepared that portion of Ghalilaon with the same concentration,” he said.
“Myron may be prepared at any time and in any place. Traditionally, it is prepared during Lent and is placed in front of the sanctuary to be there during all the Masses celebrated, and during Holy Week prayers.
According to tradition, the crucibles will remain in place till Easter Monday, Shamm al-Nesssim, when the Pope will place the ‘leaven’ into Myron Oil.
They are then left standing in front of the altar throughout the Khamasseen, the fifty days following Easter that end with the Pentecost, when the Myron Oil is finally stored in flasks and sent to the various dioceses.
Giving thanks
The Pope thanked the monasteries which provided pure olive oil mixed with aromatic oils; these are the three monasteries of Wadi El-Natroun: al-Baramos, al-Suryan, and Anba Bishoy, in addition to the monasteries of the Mar-Mina in Mariout, Anba Samuel the Confessor of Mount Qalamoun, and the Monastery of Moses the Prophet in Sinai.
Anba Danial, Metropolitan of Maadi and Secretary of the Holy Synod, read the tradition of making chrism for the 41st time in the history of the Church, then Pope Tawadros and members of the Holy Synod signed the Myron Tradition.
The entire ceremony was conducted to chants of praise, hymns, and readings from the Old and New Testaments.
Watani International
12 March 2024