(Directions to Orthodoxy) - The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople and Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches traveled to Armenia for the annual feast of the blessing of holy muron (chrism).
The presdent of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan stresses the importance of religion in maintaining peace and moral values in a meeting with the Catholicos of All Armenians and the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.
President Serzh Sargsyan today hosted the Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II, Heads of Dioceses of the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, His All Holiness Bartholomew I who arrived in Armenia on the occasion of blessing the Holy Chrism and representatives of sister churches of the Armenian Apostolic Church.
Greeting the guests, the President of Armenia said: “Muron is of special symbolic importance or us. Everyone in Armenia believes that spreading all over the world, the Muron returns to Holy Etchmiadzin – our religious center and it’s the spiritual magnetism of our people.”Serzh Sargsyan stressed the importance of religion in maintaining peace and moral values, fighting against despair, immorality and temptations, since there are many temptations in the contemporary world.
“Having been deprived of statehood for many centuries, the Church has guided our people to the 21st century. Every official should return his duty to the church for our country to grow stronger and for our belief to lead us towards brighter future,” the President said.
The Patriarch thanked the representatives of sister churches for participating in the ceremony of blessing of Holy Muron.
On behalf of Pope Benedict XVI, Cardinal Leonardo Sandri wished peace, prosperity to the Armenian people and noted: “The enthusiasm with which people participated in the ceremony of blessing the Holy Muron shows their exceptional devotion to the church.”
A portion of an article on the blessing is here:
Every seven years the Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians renews the bonds linking the Armenian Apostolic Church to her early fourth-century apostle, St. Gregory the Illuminator. It is a rite that has continued without interruption since Gregory baptized Armenia’s King Tiridates III at the end of the third century.
In a four-hour-long ceremony, the Catholicos consecrates a vat of perfumed olive oil, mixing with it a vial of myron, or chrism, consecrated previously by his predecessors. After the chrism is venerated by the faithful, the Catholicos distributes the blessed oil to his archbishops and bishops for use in their respective dioceses, a symbol of their communion with the Catholicos.
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