Fort Worth Star Telegram, TX
Nov 22 2008
1,700-year-old ritual encounters modern age
By LOUIS SAHAGUN
Los Angeles Times
Every seven years since A.D. 301, priests have trekked to the ancient
Cathedral of Etchmiadzin in Armenia to retrieve freshly brewed muron `
a sweet-scented holy oil stirred with what is said to be the tip of
the lance driven through Jesus’ side ` and carry it back to their
respective dioceses.
Prepared in a massive silver caldron, the mixture of herbs, flower
extracts, spices, wine and pure olive oil is derived from an original
batch mixed at the Armenian Church’s founding 1,707 years ago. It is
replenished every seven years by pouring old into new.The priests have
traditionally traveled home with their portions in jars cradled in
their arms; muron is supposed to be handled only by ordained clergy.
But in late September ancient tradition met with a 21st-century
obstacle: As a liquid, muron cannot be taken aboard commercial
airliners, under airport security rules.
"We were very worried ‘ in the old days, we carried the muron in our
hands," said His Eminence Archbishop Hovnan Derderian, primate of the
Western Diocese of the Armenian Church of North America, which is
based in Burbank, Calif. "I would never have given away that
privilege, but we had no option."
Derderian bundled his six containers in layers of cloth and then
packed them snugly into three suitcases. Baggage handlers took it from
there.
"I was confident that nothing would happen to it," he said. "You do
your best, and then trust in God."
Derderian’s containers arrived safely after a 20-hour flight.
A genial man with a black beard, Derderian declared mission
accomplished Oct. 7 when priests from churches across Southern
California gathered around a massive oak table in his office.
Their 7-ounce portions of the amber-hued oil were presented on a
silver tray: 15 small glass jars with white screw-cap lids, each
marked with a label written in English and Armenian: "Holy
Muron. September 28, 2008. Holy Etchmiadzin."
After prayers and solemn hymns, the clergy, clad in black robes, stood
and formed a line. Fist-size silver crosses, some studded with
precious stones, dangled from silver chains around their necks. They
approached the table, in turn, with heads bowed and kissed the jars
that Derderian placed in their hands.
A few minutes later, they were heading back to their churches, where
the oil would be transferred into dove-shaped sterling silver
containers symbolizing the Holy Spirit.
Over the next seven years, the muron will be used ‘ a few drops at a
time ‘ primarily for christenings in Armenian churches the world over.
"Armenians everywhere are bound by muron," said Zaven Arzoumanian, a
theologian with the Western Diocese. "It receives special powers from
relics used in its preparation. The gifts of the Holy Spirit come from
it in church ceremonies.
"That is why," he added with a smile, "our people have always said,
‘My child must be muronized.’?"
Muron’s origins date to the founding of the Armenian Church in the
early fourth century by St. Gregory the Illuminator, patron saint of
Armenians. He established the Cathedral of Etchmiadzin.
St. Gregory is said to have blended the first muron there as a
unifying religious symbol of forgiveness and peace, and as a medicine
for healing.
Over the centuries, church leaders say, muron helped sustain a people
decimated and dispersed by war, conquest and genocide.
This muron season, more than 70,000 people braved drenching rains to
watch His Holiness Karekin II, supreme patriarch and catholicos of
Armenians worldwide, lead a procession from the Cathedral of
Etchmiadzin to an outdoor altar where the mixture had been
steam-heated for 40 days and nights.
The ceremony culminated with a pitcher of fresh muron being combined
with the old in a gigantic engraved silver caldron and stirred with an
assortment of religious relics: a cross believed to contain a fragment
of the wooden cross on which Jesus was crucified; a foot-long iron tip
of the lance believed to have pierced Jesus’ side, and a life-size
gold-plated "Right Arm of St. Gregory the Illuminator" said to be
embedded with a fragment taken from St. Gregory’s grave.
When clergy bring back muron to their home churches, its arrival
process, as Arzoumanian described it, is "a beautiful tiding for our
communities."
The interplay between past and present continues when churches hold
special ceremonies in which urns of water are anointed with a small
drop of muron.
Congregants are invited to scoop up samples to take home or to drink
then and there.
"It’s important to be a part of the muron process," Derderian
said. "It really takes you back in time."
Armenians everywhere are bound by muron. ?.?.?. The gifts of
the Holy Spirit come from it in church ceremonies."
Zaven Arzoumanian
theologian with the Western Diocese of the Armenian Church of North America
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