ANOINTING OF RULERS

The practice of anointing rulers, as an integral part of the coronation ceremony or as an independent act of performing the sacred secret, is a relatively well-known phenomenon in the history of formal rituals of initiation by which a subject/layman receives a higher charisma and is transformed into a legitimate sovereign. According to its essence, anointing is incomparably more significant than the act of crowning, because it represents the target repetition of a sacred secret that is by definition unique and unrepeatable[1].

All ruler anointing among Christians are based on Old Testament examples, primarily on the anointing of Saul and David[2] by the prophet Samuel[3], and Solomon's by the prophet Nathan and the high priest Zadok, as well as on the verses from the 23rd and 133rd Psalms. [4]. The New Testament context relies heavily on the 2nd Epistle to the Corinthians of St. Apostle Paul [5].

Since anointing is closely related to ordination, there is still some dilemma regarding the understanding of whether the ruler was originally ordained (ordination as ordination) or chirothesia (ordination as blessing). Chronologically, ordination precedes anointing (the case of St. Columba and the ordination of Aidan More, the first Christian king of Scotland, on the island of Iona).

The first recorded anointing of a Christian ruler was performed on the Visigothic king Wamba in the year 672. By performing this holy sacrament on the ruler, the Council of Toledo attempted to influence the proverbial history of violence that followed the change of ruler on the Iberian Peninsula, and thus to confirm God's special a boon belonging to the legitimate heir to the throne. St. Julian of Toledo, describing this first anointing, states that Wamba is in a splendid robe in the church of St. Peter and Paul uttered the Symbol of Faith, then fell on his knees before Bishop Quirikus, who poured oil on his head; that oil immediately began to "evaporate like a column of smoke" (evaporatio quædam fumo similis in modum colum-næ, Julian, Historia, c. iv), from the top of which a bee flew out, which was understood by all present as miraculous and happy prediction. St. Isidore of Seville pointed to the analogy of the name of Christ (Christos, as the Greek translation of the Hebrew Messiah, i.e. the anointed one) with the charisma that the person who is anointed receives by receiving the Holy Spirit. However, some older sources mention other, older, cases of anointing rulers. So St. Gilda mentions the anointing of British kings a hundred years earlier, and the Italian bishop Gregory is credited with having anointed the Christian king Abraham in the presence of the Ethiopian emperor St. Elesbana.

The anointing of the ruler acquires its full political significance with the ascension to the throne of Pippin the Little.

The royal anointing was particularly important in the protocol of the coronation of French kings, due to the belief that only the chrism with which they were anointed was received directly and exclusively as a gift from heaven, as a result of which the medieval French Ordo determined that as part of the introitus, and before the vow and oaths, performs a special liturgical introduction of the Holy Ampoule with the chrism, which was performed in the cathedral in Reims by the abbot and monks of St. Remigia (St. Rémi) under a separate processional sky (canopy).

Regarding anointing in the East, in Byzantium, there is an opinion among experts that it was only introduced in the 13th century, but there is also an opposing view that believes that there are good indications that the first anointed Vasilev was still Basil I, which is primarily based on one the letter of Patriarch Photius, in which the anointing of that emperor with chrism is expressly mentioned.

As the sacramental factor of the ruler's ordination was emphasized by the anointing, there is a striking tendency of the Church both in the European West and in the East to gradually diminish the importance of the identification of the Christian ruler with the secret of the priesthood, as well as the efforts of the state to, on the contrary, ensure the legitimacy of the government and its the right to mediate in matters of faith on the basis of immediate charisma. Ž devoted his significant study to that topic. Dagron [6].

In imperial Russia, the anointing of the ruler was given much greater importance than in Byzantium, which was explained by the decisive influence exerted on the Greeks by the Roman late-antique factor of acclamation and election to the empire, in relation to the Russian understanding that the emperor can only be the one chosen by God , not people; in such a context, the anointing of the Russian emperors was understood as a higher confirmation of the right to the empire, above and beyond human competence, with an emphasis on the biblical model of Melchizedek's mysterious holy kingdom without beginning and end, in relation to the clear origin and even clearer end of the ever-separated hereditary priesthood in to the family of Levi and the hereditary kingdom in the tribe of Judah and the house of David.

In our country, the great cycle of royal Nemanjić coronations and anointing of the empire begins with the first crowning of Stefan the First Crowned. It is reliably known that he was crowned for the first time in the archbishopric church in Žiča in 1217. The act of consecration and anointing performed by St. Sava should mean that the basis of that coronation ritual (according to the scant data from Theodosius's and even more scant from Domentian's life) must have been Byzantine practice[7]. The ceremony began with the convocation of the assembly and vigil on the eve of the Savior's Day, and continued the next day with the archbishop's liturgy. After the Great Entrance of St. Sava called his brother to the altar[8]. There, after the prayers and blessing (probably after the consecration), he covered him with an acacia cloth, girded him with a pearl belt (loros?) and crowned him, and then anointed him with myrrh. Then followed the invocation of the reigning name of the newly crowned king, the presentation to the people and the many years. The new king's public confession of faith was made the next day at the council, accompanied by a general oath on the highest Orthodox shrines. We do not have more precise data on the anointing of later Serbian medieval rulers, but there is no reason to suspect that they were performed simultaneously with the coronation, although there is a justified reservation regarding the question of whether the ruler's anointing could have been performed on the young king, during his father's lifetime.

The collapse of the Serbian state and the fall under the Ottoman rule marked the end of the continuity of the ruling consecration during the next three and a half centuries.

Serbian ruling princes from the Obrenović dynasty, as vassal princes in the Ottoman Empire, received the usual Ottoman investiture with a charter, hervania and saber, and could not claim the formal right to consecration by coronation and anointing. The decision to still approach the holy secret of anointing can probably be interpreted as Prince Miloš's desire to confirm and strengthen his own rise to power and hereditary right to princely dignity in his family with the very important act of church consecration and receiving God's grace. A significant consistency was shown in this. All princes from Miloš's house, with the exception of Prince Milan Obrenović II, who reigned too short, were anointed upon ascending the princely throne[9]. All anointings were performed in Belgrade. The service itself, repeated in 1889 and 1904 during the anointing of kings Aleksandar I Obrenović and Peter I in Žiča, had an unchanging structure and form, identical to the one cited by A. according to the Russian model. Maljcev[10]:

Ø vigil before the service

Ø the archbishop's liturgy, extended by appropriate invocations within the Great litany and a special prayer by the metropolitan after the Suguba litany,

Ø anointing the ruler's forehead, eyes, nostrils, mouth, ears, chest, backs of hands and palms,
which is performed in front of the Imperial Doors after the communion of the clergy[11],

Ø the ruler's communion, which is performed inside the altar, in front of the Holy Table, according to the way in which they receive communion
priests, especially by the Body and Blood of Christ,

Ø hail for many years, which is given after the ruler's communion has been completed and the intercessory prayer has been completed.

By comparing the general scheme and organization of the acts of coronation and anointing of Serbian rulers of the 19th and 20th centuries, it is striking to lean towards the Russian understanding and deviate from the Byzantine model, which, after all, represented a relic memorial compared to the impressive power of the only modern Orthodox empire. As much as the Russian model of imperial authority in relation to the Church was inappropriate and inapplicable to the circumstances in Serbia, it could hardly have had a serious alternative even for a moment. However, in relation to the reference coronation service of the Russian emperors, certain deviations were introduced into the ritual of the coronation of King Peter I: three relatively peripheral ones - the taking of the oath (which the King had already taken before the Assembly) was omitted, the coronation of the king's wife was omitted (Peter I was a widower at the time of the coronation), the invocation of the ruler's great title was omitted, and one very important thing - the holy secret of anointing was separated, which, according to the Russian model, should follow the ruler's ceremony, but in 1904 it was arranged as a separate service that was performed on the 25th September of the same year in Žiča. The reason was of a purely practical nature: the coronation took place in Belgrade because, justifiably, it was feared that a large mass of guests and people could neither be transported nor accommodated in an appropriate and dignified manner in Kraljevo at the time! On the other hand, the tradition of Žiča as a place of consecration by Serbian rulers was so strong that it could not be bypassed. Consequently, the act of anointing (for which a precedent was already established in 1889 on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the Battle of Kosovo) was dislocated in the "seven-door Žiča"! [12]

The composition of the holy oil, or chrism, has partly changed throughout history. In the Old Testament[13] it is explicitly said: 22. And the Lord said to Moses: 23. "Take the best spices: myrrh, the purest, five hundred shekels, and cinnamon of the fragrant half, as much, two hundred and fifty, and ijirot, also two hundred and fifty, 24. and cassia, five hundred by world measure, and olive oil one inch. 25. And from it make oil for holy anointing, the best oil with apothecary's skill, so that it will be holy anointing oil. 26. And with it anoint the tent of meeting and the ark of the testimony, 27. and the table and all its utensils, and the candlestick and its utensils, and the altar of incense, 28. and the altar on which the burnt offering is offered, and all its utensils, and the laver and the foot of it. 29. Thus you will sanctify them, and they will be holy of holies, and everything that touches them will be holy. 30. Help Aaron and his sons, and you will anoint them to be my priests. 31. And to the children of Israel say and say: let this be my holy anointing oil from knee to knee. 32. The human body should not be anointed with it, nor should you make such oils as it is, it is holy, let it be holy to you. 34. If anyone makes such oil or anoints another with it, he will be cut off from his people."

According to the regulations from 1853, which the Serbian Orthodox Church adheres to, Holy Miro is prepared and blessed exclusively by the Patriarch during the Holy Thursday service, and consists of 31 different components; chrism should not be conceptually confused with the consecrated olive oil with which the faithful are normally anointed. After the unification of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, royal coronations and anointings were not renewed. The religious inhomogeneity of the new state, as well as the continued abandonment of ancient traditions in the remaining European metropolises, did not make the act of coronation an indispensable act of assuming the dignity of the ruler and consecrating the king. The last ruling kings of Yugoslavia, Alexander I and Petar II, took over the dignity of ruler by constitutional automaticity (the inheritance of the throne is immediate, unconditional and irrevocable), and confirmed their entry into the right of rulership and power by taking the constitutional oath before the Metropolitan, that is, before the Patriarch. After the 2nd World War, the only European monarch who is invested with regalia through the rite of coronation and anointing is the ruler of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, while the kings of Norway go through a special Lutheran consecration service in the cathedral in Nidaros (Trondheim).

Source: "CORONATION OF SERBIAN RULERS", catalog on the occasion of the exhibition of 8 centuries of the Žiča monastery, organized by the Historical Museum of Serbia and the National Museum of Kraljevo, 2007. The author of the text, arch. Dragomir Acovic.

footnotes

[1] The anointed person through this Holy Sacrament receives the grace of the Holy Spirit, hence the formula pronounced by the priest performing the Orthodox anointing: "The seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit". Hence the need for repeated anointing, because the ruler who is crowned changes his human nature, and takes on grace as a new personality in an already baptized body. Protopresbyter Dr. Lazar Mirković (Orthodox liturgy, second, special part /sacred secrets and prayers/, Belgrade 1983, p. 53) warns that the holy secret of anointing, which among the Orthodox is performed immediately after baptism, is especially (repeatedly) performed only in three cases: "1) when adults from non-believers join the Orthodox Church, who were properly baptized, but were not anointed by St. by peace; 2) during the anointing of emperors and kings on the throne and 3) when the baptism in distress was performed by a lay person" (p. 53). The same author quotes (p. 54) the third Mystagogic catechesis to the neophytes by which St. Cyril of Jerusalem interpreted the holy peace: "You should not consider that oil as ordinary myrrh; because just like the bread of the Eucharist after the invocation of St. The Spirit is no more ordinary bread than the body of Christ, so is this St. Myrrh after the epiclesis is no longer simple or, as one might say, ordinary, but it is the grace of Christ and is given by the presence of the divinity of Christ St. Spirit". However, Mirković warns that "the anointing of emperors and kings on the day of their coronation is the second higher degree of giving the gifts of St. The spirit needed for this high position and service. The secret of the priesthood is not repeated either, but it has degrees of elevation, and the re-ordination of the priest qualifies for higher service; in the same way, the holy anointing of emperors is a higher degree of mystery, a powerful spirit, which descends on the head of the people." (op.cit., p. 229).
[2] 2 Samuel (2 Kings), 2:4. Bible, Voice of the Church 2005.
[3] 1 Samuel (1st Book of Kings), 10:1. Bible, Voice of the Church 2005.
[4] Psalm 23: 5-6: You have set a table before me in the sight of my enemies, you have anointed my head with oil, and my cup is full. / Yes! Your goodness and mercy will accompany me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for a long time. Psalm 133: 2, : Like good oil on the head, which runs on the beard, Aaron's beard, which runs on the skirt of his garment, like the dew on Ermon, which descends on the mountains of Zion. Because there the Lord gives blessings and eternal life. Bible, Voice of the Church 2005.
[5] And God is the one who establishes us with you in Christ, and who anoints us. / Who sealed us and gave the pledge of the Spirit in our hearts. (1:21,22). Bible, Voice of the Church 2005.
[6] Gilbert Dagron, The Emperor and the High Priest, Study on Byzantine "Caesaropapism", Clio, Belgrade 2001.
[7] Mirković (op.cit., p. 231) states that the act of coronation of Serbian rulers was identical to the modern Byzantine model, which he deduces from the identity of the translation of the text for "činъ bivaemyi na postav̀̀'liníe c'ra" of Serbian trebnik Jeronim Zagurović from 1540 with the Greek original. This claim of Mirković should be taken with a certain reservation!
[8] The mention of the "call to the altar" would have to mean that Stephen was certainly received communion inside the altar, but it does not necessarily mean that he was also anointed in the altar. In later practice, the anointing of Orthodox rulers is performed in front of the open Imperial Doors, on the soleia. It should not be forgotten that the communion of rulers in the manner of priests, separated by the body and blood of Christ, was also foreseen in the West in an earlier period (French Ordo from 1250)
[9] Miloš in 1830, Mihajlo in 1840 and Milan in 1868. About these anointings, see: Bishop of Žički Sava Dečanac, Ruler and People, Coronation and Anointing of the Ruler, His Duties and the People's, Belgrade 1897.
[10] Alexey Mal'tsev, Sacred Coronation under the Constitution of the Orthodox Catholic Eastern Church in Connection with the Historical and Liturgical Outline of the Various Acts of Coronation, Berlin 1896).
[11] According to St. Cyril of Jerusalem was anointed after baptism on the forehead, ears, nose and chest, while according to the 7th canon II. The Ecumenical Council determined that the anointing of those who convert from heresy to Orthodoxy is performed on the forehead, eyes, nostrils, mouth and ears. The valid canon establishes that the anointing of the newly baptized is performed on the forehead, eyes, nostrils, mouth, ears, chest, hands and feet. (Dr. L. Mirković, op.cit. p. 52). The patterns, however, differed somewhat, even within the same confessional community, depending on the established tradition and the level of tolerance of the Church towards such tradition. In the coronation ceremony of the Sicilian King Ruggero II, there is the following quote related to the anointing:„13. Tunc ab episcopo metropolitano ungantur manus de oleo sanctificato: Unguantur manus iste de oleo sanctificato, unde uncti fuerunt reges et prophete, et sicut unxit Samuel David in regem, ut sis benedictus et constitutus rex super populum istum quem dominus deus tuus dedit tibi ad regendum et gubernandum. Quod ipse. 14. Sequitur oratio: Respice, omnipotens deus, hunc gloriosum regem N. a serenis obtutibus, et sicut benedixisti Abraham, Ysaac et Iacob, sic illum largis benediccionibus spiritualis gracie cum omni plenitudine tue potencie irrigare atque perfundere dignare. Habundanciam frumenti, vini et olei, et omnium frugum opulenciam, ex largitate divini muneris longa per tempora tribue, ut illo regnante sit sanitas corporum in patria, et pax inviolata sit in regno, et dignitas gloriosa regalis palacii, maximo splendore regie potestatis oculis omnium fulgeat, luce clarissima clarescat, atque splendere quasi splendidissima fulgura, maximo perfusa lumine, videatur. Tribue ei, omnipotens deus, ut sit fortissimus protector patrie et consolator ecclesiarum atque cenobiorum sanctorum, maxime cum pietate regalis munificentie, atque ut sit fortissimus regum, triumphator hostium, ad opprimendas rebelles et paganas naciones. Sitque suis inimicis satis terribilis, pre maxima fortitudine regalis potencie, optimatibus quoque ac precelsis proceribus ac fidelibus sui regni sit magnificus et amabilis et pius, ut ab omnibus timeatur atque diligatur. Reges quoque de lumbis eius per successiones temporum futurorum egrediantur regnum hoc regere totum, et post gloriosa tempora atque felicia presentis vite gaudia sempiterna in perpetua beatitudine habere mereatur. Quod ipse. 15. Postea ab episcopo metropolitano unguantur de oleo sanctificato caput pectus scapule ambeque compages brachiorum: Ungo te in regem de oleo sanctificato. In nomine patris et filii et spiritus sancti. Amen. 16. Spiritus sancti gratia humilitati nostre officio in te copiosa descendat, ut sicut manibus nostris indignis oleo materiali pinguescis exterius oblitus, ita eius invisibili unguedine delibutus impinguari merearis interius, eiusque spirituali unccione perfectissime semper imbutus et inlicita declinare tota mente et spernere discas et utilia anime tue iugiter cogitare optare atque operari queas. Auxiliante domino nostro Iesu Christo….“(cited by: Reinhard Elze, The Ordo for the Coronation of King Roger II of Sicily: An Example of Dating from Internal Evidence). From the above, it can be seen, apart from the formula of prayers and blessings, that anointing is done on the palms, head, chest, shoulders and hands. Describing the extraordinarily ritualized act of crowning and anointing Polish kings, A. Gieystor (Aleksandar Gieysztor, Spektakl i liturgia–polska koronacja królewska, Kultura elitarna a kultura masowa w Polsce pòźnego šredniowiecza, Wroclaw 1978, p. 9-23), states that the archbishop "with one stroke" (uno contextu) and without a word anointed the ruler on the head, chest, shoulders and hands, while in later coronations the anointing was performed only on the palms, right hand and shoulders, and that ordo coronandi then ordered a moment of complete silence and immobility for all present, as an invitation for everyone to take part in the miracle of the transformation of a layman into God's anointed. The later practice of the Catholic anointing of Roman emperors reduced the areas to be anointed only to the joint of the right hand, shoulder and shoulder (this is how the Ordo for the coronation of Emperor Maximilian II specifies: …Nachdeme diese Gebet vollendet sein, macht Herr Landcammerer der Königl. W. den Ermel an der rechten Hand auf bis aufs bloss und geschicht die Salbung von der Junctur der Faust bis zum Elbogen in Form des heiligen Creuzes einwerts mit gebürlichen Worten und einer Oration. / следи: Verba unctionis brachii: Ungatur manus ista de oleo sanctificato, unde uncti fuerunt reges et prophetae, et sicut unxit Samuel David in regem, ut sis benedictus et constitutus rex in regno isto super populum istum, quem dominus Deus tuus dedit tibi ad regendum ac gubernandum. Quod ipse praestare dignetur. Потом следи: Folgends wirdt der König an der Brust und zwischen den Schultern gesalbet mit diesen schönen Gebeten aus dem Pontifical: / Verba unctionis pectoris et inter scapulas: Ungo te in regem de oleo sanctificato in nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus sancti.).The act of anointing performed on the Russian empresses Anna Ivanovna and Yelisaveta Petrovna specifies (in the case of the latter): „И тогда первьій Новгородскій Архіерей, изъ нарочнаго къ тому пріуготовленнаго драгаго яшмоваго пребогато золотомъ и преизрядною финифтьною съ рєзьбою работою украшеннаго сосуда, омоча драгоцєнный и къ тому нарочно устрпенный златый сучецъ въ святое мүро, помазалъ Ея Императорское Величество на челє, на очахъ и ноздряхъ, на устахъ, на ушесєхъ, на рамєхъ, на персєхъ и по обою сторону на рукахъ глаголя: Печать дара Духа святаго“. The anointing of the Orthodox ruler's wife is performed only on the forehead! According to current protocol, the English kings anoint the palms of both hands, the chest and the crown. The text of that part of the service (the coronation of Elizabeth II) specifies: „The Queen shall sit down in King Edward’s Chair (placed in the midst of the Area over against the Altar, with a faldstool before it), wherein she is to be anointed. Four Knights of the Garter shall hold a rich pall of silk, or cloth of gold: the Dean of Westminster, taking the Ampulla and Spoon from off the Altar, shall hold them ready, pouring some holy Oil into the Spoon, and with it the Archbishop shall anoint the Queen in the form of a cross: On the palms of both hands, saying,
Be thy Hands anointed with holy Oil. On the breast, saying: Be thy Breast anointed with holy Oil. On the crown of the head, saying: Be thy Head anointed with holy Oil, as kings, priests, and prophets were anointed, And as Solomon was anointed king by Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet, so be thou anointed, blessed, and consecrated Queen over the Peoples, whom the Lord thy God hath given thee to rule and govern, In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. Then shall the Dean of Westminster lay the Ampulla and Spoon upon the Altar; and the Queen kneeling down at the faldstool, the Archbishop shall say this Blessing over her: Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who by his Father was anointed with the Oil of gladness above his fellows, by his holy Anointing pour down upon your Head and Heart the blessing of the Holy Ghost, and prosper the work of your Hands; that by the assistance of his heavenly grace you may govern and preserve the Peoples committed to your charge in wealth, peace, and godliness; and after a long and glorious course of ruling a temporal kingdom wisely, justly, and religiously, you may at last be made partaker of an eternal kingdom, through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. /span> Amen." The last known anointing of a Christian emperor, that of the Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie in 1930, illustrates the practice of the pre-Chalkidonian churches: mentioning Samuel's anointing of David and Nathan and Zadok of Solomon, abuna Kyrillos, after the investiture with the imperial insignia, anointed the ruler by head, forehead and shoulders.
[12] The most famous case of separation of anointing from coronation in recent times is the protocol of the imperial coronation of Napoleon I, which stipulated that his anointing should be performed a week before the coronation. That plan was changed due to problems with the arrival of Pope Pius VII in Paris, so the act of coronation and the holy secret of anointing were still performed in a unified service.
[13] 2nd book of Moses, 30:22-33, Bible, Voice of the Church 2005.