Tag Archive for: Holy Muron

HOLY MURON: SIGN OF OUR UNION IN CHRIST

Last Friday, [October 4, 2024] I had the great honor of bringing the newly blessed Holy Muron from the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin to our beloved Eastern Diocese. In a special service at St. Vartan Cathedral, I gathered with our clergy to distribute this sacred anointing oil, which will be shared with parishes across the diocese. This was a powerful reminder of the unity of our worldwide Armenian Church.

Think about this: all the different kinds of perfumes, incenses, and flowers gathered from the four corners of the world in Holy Etchmiadzin, blessed by our Catholicos…

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THE LIVING STONES

“You are living stones that God is building into his spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 2:5).

What a beautiful image St. Peter gives us of our lives, our faith, and our purpose! He calls us “living stones”, being built up into something incredible—a spiritual house for the Lord. When St. Peter wrote these words, he must have been thinking about the magnificent Temple from the Old Testament, a place where God’s presence dwelled.

When King Solomon built the Temple, there was something remarkable about the process. The Bible tells us that he arranged the construction in such a way that there was only peace and quiet on the construction site: “In building the temple, only blocks dressed at

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THE BALM OF HEALING

During the Blessing of the Holy Muron Service, I had the immense honor of holding a special container carrying the precious Balm oil. As I handed it to His Holiness Karekin II, I watched as it was mixed with olive oil and other sacred ingredients. And in that moment, something stirred within me. I couldn’t help but reflect on the deeper significance of what was happening.

This balm is one of the main ingredients of the Holy Muron and represents the healing. In the book of Jeremiah, chapter 8, verse 22, the prophet cries out, “Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why, then, is there no healing for the wound of my people?” Jeremiah was lamenting the spiritual brokenness of God’s people. He was asking, “Why are we still suffering if healing is available?”

Isn’t that a question we all face at some point in our lives? After my car accident two years ago, I grappled with these very questions. For a time, I wondered if I would ever fully recover—if the healing I desperately prayed for would ever come.

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THE BLESSING OF THE HOLY MURON

Today is a day like no other—a day filled with God’s presence, His anointing, His grace, and His Holy Spirit! We have gathered here, at the very heart of our faith, the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, for a sacred moment—the Blessing of the Holy Muron by the hand of His Holiness Karekin II Catholicos of All Armenians.

Throughout Scripture and history of the Christian Chruch, the oil has been used for anointing. Kings and prophets were anointed with oil, patriarch and priests were anointed with oil, children at their baptism and even the sick were healed by anointing with oil. The oil represents the presence and work of the Holy Spirit, moving in our lives, empowering us, and marking us as God’s chosen people. And today, this Holy Muron, this sacred oil, is a sign that God’s Spirit is alive and working in His church and in each of us.

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THE RECONSECRATION OF HOLY ETCHMIADZIN CATHEDRAL

Today is a day of new beginnings. We stand here at the heart of our faith, in a place where heaven touched earth. Holy Etchmiadzin, the very first Christian cathedral built in the world, has been renewed, restored, and reconsecrated. After centuries of standing as a beacon of hope, a symbol of God’s presence among His people, it has emerged once again, shining brighter than ever before.

As we stand in awe of its beauty, we’re reminded of something powerful: God is always at work restoring, renewing, and rebuilding our lives. We, the people of God, have been through our own season of wear and tear, like the stones of this holy church that weathered countless storms. But God promises, “I will restore the ruins and rebuild them as they were in the days of old” (Isaiah 58:12). When things seem broken when the weight of life’s challenges feels too heavy to bear, we can trust that God’s plan is to restore us, to make us stronger and more radiant than before.

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THE SEAL OF IDENTITY

We all have something in our lives that reminds us of where we come from. It could be a family heirloom, a tradition passed down through generations, or even a place that holds deep meaning in our hearts. For us, as Armenians, one of the most powerful connections to our history, to our faith, and to our identity is Muron, the blessed oil of the Armenian Church.

Throughout the history of our Church, Muron has symbolized an indelible mark, the seal of the Holy Spirit upon the faithful. Whether at baptism, ordination, or the consecration of churches and paintings, it serves as a reminder of who we are in Christ. It speaks of our belonging to something far greater than ourselves—the Armenian Apostolic Church, the body of believers who share in the life, death, and resurrection of our Savior.

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BLESSING OF HOLY MURON AT HOLY SEE OF CILICIA 2022

His Holiness Catholicos Aram I blessed the Holy Muron before a crowd of thousands of faithful outside St. Gregory the Illuminator’s Cathedral at the Holy See in Antelias, Lebanon. A tradition that is repeated every seven years, this is the 13th time that the Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia holds the ceremony at its current seat in exile, following the 1915 Genocide.

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