The Chrism used when you’re chrismated comes from the Patriarch of Antioch. He consecrates it during Holy Week, and it’s distributed to bishops, who send it to parishes like ours here in Beaumont.
But there’s more to the story than that simple supply chain.
What Chrism Actually Is
Chrism isn’t just olive oil. It’s olive oil mixed with aromatic essences, following the recipe God gave Moses in Exodus 30 for anointing priests and the tabernacle. The Orthodox recipe can include forty or more ingredients: white wine, balsam, rose oil, basil, styrax, benzoin, and other fragrant substances. Some traditions even add ash from burnt icons. The result is a thick, sweet-smelling oil that’s been called myrrh since the early Church.
This isn’t something you can pick up at a religious supply store. Each Orthodox Church makes its own.
The Making of Chrism
The process happens during Holy Week. Starting on Holy Monday, clergy begin brewing the Chrism in a large cauldron. They heat olive oil and wine together, then add the aromatics over several days. Priests in full vestments read the Gospels continuously while the mixture simmers. There’s something almost medieval about the whole scene, and that’s not accidental. This is how it’s been done for centuries.
The actual consecration happens on Holy Thursday, at the Vesperal Liturgy of St. Basil the Great. The Patriarch (or in some Orthodox Churches, the ruling bishop with his synod) blesses the new Chrism, breathes on it to invoke the Holy Spirit, and it’s carried in procession to the altar. Here’s the part that connects you to the apostles: a few drops of old Chrism, previously consecrated, are always added to the new batch. That means the Chrism used at your Chrismation contains oil that traces back through an unbroken chain to the early Church.
Think about that for a second. The oil that seals the gift of the Holy Spirit on your forehead has physical continuity with the oil used on Christians in Damascus or Antioch fifteen hundred years ago.
Why the Patriarch?
In the Antiochian tradition, the Patriarch of Antioch and All the East consecrates the Chrism for the whole Church. This isn’t just practical (though it would be complicated if every priest made his own). It’s theological. The Chrism comes from the chief bishop because Chrismation is connected to the apostles. In the Book of Acts, the apostles Peter and John laid hands on new believers so they’d receive the Holy Spirit. We believe that same gift is given through Chrismation, and the oil comes through apostolic succession.
Your bishop receives Chrism from the Patriarch. Fr. Nicholas receives it from the bishop. And when a catechumen is chrismated at St. Michael, that same oil is applied with the words, “The seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
More Than a Symbol
If you’re coming from a Baptist or non-denominational background, you might be thinking this sounds awfully elaborate for what could be a simple ceremony. But we don’t believe Chrismation is just a symbol or a nice ritual. Something actually happens. The Holy Spirit is given. The newly baptized person becomes a full member of Christ’s Body, able to receive Communion. The oil isn’t magic, but it’s a real means of grace, consecrated for a sacred purpose.
St. Cyril of Jerusalem, writing in the fourth century, called Chrism “the seal of the covenants.” Early Christians understood that this anointing marked them as God’s own, set apart and empowered by the Spirit. We believe the same thing today.
When you see that small bottle of Chrism on the tetrapod during a baptism, you’re looking at something that connects our little parish on Calder Avenue to Antioch, to Jerusalem, to the Upper Room. It came from the Patriarch, yes. But before that, it came from a recipe given by God, prepared with prayer, and consecrated by the invocation of the Holy Spirit during the holiest week of the year.
That’s where the Chrism comes from.
