The earliest definite instance of a ritual anointing of a Christian monarch is generally thought to have been that of Pepin (the son of Charles Martel and the father of Charlemagne) in 752. Since then an anointing ritual, recalling the Old Testament anointing of Israel's kings, has been the religious centerpiece of the coronation rites of most Christian monarchs. While several such monarchs still reign in Europe today, only one kingdom continues to crown and anoint its monarch in a Christian religious service, a profound expression of the priestly and prophetic dimensions of human society and civil governance, in contrast to the pathological conceits of secularism.
In preparation for the forthcoming May 6 coronation of Britain's King Charles III, the holy oil to be used on that occasion was consecrated recently in Jerusalem. The ritual preparation of the sacred coronation oil is described (with commentary by Jerusalem's Anglican Archbishop) in a YouTube video, which can be watched at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keawBNtB8BE.
The coronation oil was created from olives harvested from two groves on the Mount of Olives. According to the Archbishop of Canterbury, who will perform the anointing ritual on May 6 (as his predecessors have done for over one thousand years): “This demonstrates the deep historic link between the Coronation, the Bible and the Holy Land. From ancient kings through to the present day, monarchs have been anointed with oil from this sacred place. As we prepare to anoint The King and The Queen Consort, I pray that they would be guided and strengthened by the Holy Spirit.”
The choice of Jerusalem as the place to bless the oil and the participation of Orthodox prelates presumably also has personal resonance for the new king, since his own grandmother lived as an Orthodox nun and is buried in Jerusalem. (Born Princess Alice of Battenberg at Windsor Castle, she became by marriage Princess Andrew of Greece and Denmark and thus the mother of the future Duke of Edinburgh, husband of Elizabeth II and so grandmother of King Charles III.)
The newly made coronation oil is based on a centuries-old formula, with some modern modifications. The oil used in 1953 to anoint Queen Elizabeth II included a mixture of orange, rose, cinnamon, musk and ambergris (whale) oils. The oil newly made for King Charles contains oils of sesame, rose, jasmine, cinnamon, neroli, benzoin, amber and orange blossom, but (unlike his mother's) is made without any animal ingredients.
Still today, even in this symbolically impoverished era of widespread ritual minimalism and informality, holy oil continues to play a central role in Christian liturgy. At the Holy Week Chrism Mass each year, Catholic Bishops bless the Oil of Catechumens, for the strengthening of those preparing for baptism, the Oil of the Sick, for the healing of those who are seriously ill, and the Sacred Chrism, oil mixed with perfume, for the anointing of the newly baptized, of those being confirmed, of those being ordained priests, of those being ordained bishops, and for the consecration of altars and churches. Thus, I myself have been solemnly anointed with the sacred chrism three times in my life, at my baptism, my confirmation, and my priestly ordination, and I was privileged to participate five years ago at the solemn dedication of Knoxville's new cathedral at which its altar and walls were anointed.
The word chrism connects the oil with Christ, the messiah anointed by the Holy Spirit. The use of chrism in the Church's rites celebrates the configuring of the one being anointed to Christ himself, in different dimensions and degrees in each instance. The anointing of a king - as Handel's glorious coronation anthem, Zadok the Priest, so powerfully expresses - recalls the anointing of David and Solomon and the priestly and prophetic dimensions of this mundane earthly existence.
Photo: Queen Elizabeth II being prepared for her anointing at her coronation, June 2, 1953.
No comments:
Post a Comment