Catholicosate

CATHOLICOS TO BLESS HOLY MURON
AT THE HOLY SEE

His Holiness Catholicos Aram I will bless and consecrate the Holy Muron on Friday, July 1, at the Monastery of the Holy See in Antelias, Lebanon. The holy oil is prepared and blessed every seven years, one of the oldest traditions in more than 1,700 years of history of the Armenian Church. 

More than 40 ingredients of incense, flowers, herbs, spices, flower essences, oils and leaves go into the mix, that is prepared in a large, ceremonial cauldron. The new muron is always mixed with the remainder of the previous batch. 

The Holy Muron will then be distributed to every church of the Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia throughout the world, where it will be transferred into dove-shaped silver canvasses.  

According to tradition, a portion of the Holy Anointing Oil of Exodus 30, which Moses and Aaron had blessed, still remained in Jesus’ time. The chrism oil is said to have been blessed by Jesus and some of it was given to St. Thaddeus, who then brought it to Armenia.