In pics: Pope Tawadros II leads preparation of holy chrism oil ritual

CAIRO – 10 March 2021:  Pope Tawadros II of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St Mark led, Wednesday the ritual preparation of the holy chrism oil for the 40th time in the history of the Coptic Orthodox Church in Monastery of Saint Bishoy n Wadi El Natrun, Beheira Governorate.

 

The last time the Pope led the ritual of preparing the holy chrism oil, was on April 4 and 5, 2017, in the monastery of Anba Bishoy as well. Large number of the Church's bishops participated in the rituals.

In one of his articles, April 2017, Pope Tawadros said that the holy chrism oil is one of the Catholic Church’s Sacraments.

 

The chrism oil locally known as Myron oil, consists of 27 substances extracted as essential oils and added to the urtla-pure olive oil.

The traditional method of preparing the chrism oil was by extracting these oils from their plant origins; which consumed a great time and effort in addition to the loss of these oils that reaches 30%.

 

Later on, the Church started to use more scientific advanced methods for the extracting, along with using some of these pure essential oils from several international companies.

After the approval of the members of the Holy Synod, this method was used for the first time in 2014 during the ritual preparation of the holy chrism oil, which marked the 38th time in the history of the Coptic Orthodox Church.

 

The holy chrism oil is used in several occasions, including the baptism and in a church's dedication ceremony.