Source: Orthodox History
June 4, 2024
Editor’s note: Today, nine Orthodox Churches consecrate their own Holy Chrism: Constantinople, Moscow, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Georgia, the Orthodox Church in America, the Macedonian Orthodox Church (or whatever you want to call it), and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The rest of the autocephalous churches – the ancient patriarchates of Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem, the ancient Church of Cyprus, and many of the “newer” autocephalies like Greece, Albania, and Poland – receive their Holy Chrism from Constantinople. For the newer autocephalous churches, the reception of chrism from Constantinople was part of the deal when they received recognition of autocephaly from the Ecumenical Patriarchate. But what about a church like Antioch, which is older than Constantinople itself? Why do they receive chrism from the EP? When did this start, and is there any good reason today why Antioch shouldn’t resume consecrating chrism for itself?
Macarius, the 17th century Patriarch of Antioch who consecrated Holy Chrism not only in his own see but also in Romania and Russia. Canon 6 of the Council of Carthage of 418-419 prohibits presbyters from consecrating chrism. Although there is no canonical prohibition for any bishop to consecrate it, it became the custom for only patriarchs (and much later, primates of autocephalous churches in general) to consecrate chrism during Holy Week. Part of the reason for this was the value of this relatively rare occurrence involving the patriarch surrounded by many of his bishops, as a sign of unity. Another major factor, however, was the increasingly elaborate nature of both the ritual itself and the recipe used, which came to involve a large variety of rare and costly ingredients.
At least in the period following the Muslim conquest of Antioch (if not earlier), the patriarchs of Antioch maintained that they had at one point held the exclusive right to consecrate chrism for the entire Church. This may be due to the fact that the ritual of consecrating chrism by bishops originated within the territory of the Patriarchate of Antioch or it may be due to Antioch’s better access to the necessary ingredients.
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