Chrismation is the mystery where you’re anointed with holy oil and receive the seal of the Holy Spirit. It happens right after baptism, completing your entrance into the Church.
If you grew up Baptist or non-denominational here in Southeast Texas, you’ve probably never heard of this. That’s because most Protestant churches don’t have it. But in the Orthodox Church, it’s how we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit that Christ promised His disciples. It’s our Pentecost.
What Actually Happens
Right after you come up out of the baptismal water, the priest anoints you with holy chrism on your forehead, eyes, nostrils, mouth, ears, chest, hands, and feet. Each time he says, “The seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit.” The people respond, “Seal!”
That’s it. Quick, but not small.
The anointing sanctifies your whole person. Your senses, your actions, the path you walk. St. Ephraim the Syrian wrote that through this seal, all the entrances to your soul are sealed against evil. You’re marked as Christ’s own, a little “christ” yourself (the word means “anointed one”). You become a dwelling place for the Holy Spirit.
Why Right After Baptism?
We don’t wait. Some churches confirm people when they’re twelve or fourteen, after classes and a bishop’s visit. We do it immediately because baptism and chrismation aren’t two separate things. They’re one initiation.
Think of it this way: baptism is your death and resurrection with Christ. Chrismation is receiving the Spirit’s power to live that new life. Baptism is Easter. Chrismation is Pentecost. You can’t have one without the other.
That’s why even infants are chrismated right after they’re baptized. And that’s why they can receive communion immediately too. They’re full members of the Church, sealed with the Spirit, ready to receive Christ’s Body and Blood.
The Holy Chrism Itself
The oil used isn’t something your parish priest whips up in the kitchen. Holy chrism is olive oil mixed with wine and aromatic substances, consecrated by the Patriarch on Holy Thursday. Then it’s distributed to bishops and priests throughout the Archdiocese.
This connects your chrismation to the whole Church. The oil that anoints you in Beaumont was blessed by the same Patriarch who blessed the oil in Damascus, Los Angeles, and every Antiochian parish in the world. It’s a tangible link to the apostles themselves, who laid hands on believers to impart the Holy Spirit.
What About Converts?
If you’re coming into the Orthodox Church from another Christian tradition, how you’re received depends on your background. Most Protestant converts who were baptized in the name of the Trinity are received by chrismation alone. You won’t be rebaptized.
Your priest will anoint you just as he would anoint someone coming up from the baptismal font. You’ll have an Orthodox sponsor standing with you. And when he says “The seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit,” something real happens. You’re not just joining a new church. You’re receiving the fullness of the Spirit in the Church Christ founded.
This isn’t about invalidating what happened before. It’s about completion. Many converts describe it as finally receiving what they’d been seeking all along.
The Biblical Foundation
The New Testament shows the apostles laying hands on new believers so they’d receive the Holy Spirit. In Acts 8, Philip baptizes people in Samaria, but Peter and John have to come down from Jerusalem to lay hands on them. In Acts 19, Paul finds disciples in Ephesus who’d been baptized but hadn’t received the Spirit. He lays hands on them, and the Spirit comes.
Chrismation continues this apostolic practice. The chrism itself represents the bishop’s hands, since he can’t personally be at every baptism. When the priest anoints you, he’s acting in the bishop’s place, who acts in the apostles’ place, who received the Spirit from Christ.
St. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians that God “anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts.” That’s what’s happening in chrismation. You’re sealed. Marked. Claimed.
What It Means for Your Life
After you’re chrismated, you’re expected to live as someone who has the Holy Spirit. Not perfectly (none of us manage that), but intentionally. The Spirit gives you what you need to resist sin, to pray, to love people you’d rather not love, to keep showing up when you’d rather quit.
Fr. Alexander Schmemann wrote that the Christian life isn’t about trying really hard to be good. It’s about cooperating with the Spirit who already lives in you. Chrismation is when that indwelling begins.
You’ll mess up. You’ll need confession. You’ll have days when you can’t feel anything spiritual at all. But the seal remains. You belong to Christ, and His Spirit is in you whether you feel it or not.
If you’re preparing for baptism and chrismation, or if you’re a convert getting ready to be received, this mystery is waiting for you. It’s not magic. It’s not automatic. But it’s real. And when the priest anoints you and speaks those words, you’ll receive what Christ promised: the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, the One who will lead you into all truth.
