Dionysius the Areopagite in the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy spoke of “the sacrament of the consecration of chrism,.” It was ordered by chanting the psalms, reading the Gospel, prayers, and censing the church. He called the aim of consecrating and using chrism “the perfection of every religious function.” A theme that could be discussed further in this volume is how the sacraments and rituals help to perfect us in Christ. Human perfection was a major topic in Byzantine theology among many church fathers who discussed various terms such as epektasis, theosis, ever-moving rest, dynamic salvation, divine energy as relating to Christian perfection. It’s difficult to capture what these words mean in the literature. These ideas are worth understanding for our own benefit and salvation, and to order our general desire for perfecting ourselves in the right way. The holy fathers connected them generally to the sacraments and rituals of the church that are further connected to immaterial fruits such as love, joy, peace, and goodness – inexhaustible gifts. These spiritual fruits are Paradise, and Paradise is human nature, which is the perfection that Christ brings to us in the holy gifts, mysteries, and all of the sacraments that come from Christ the center of the cosmos. These are not just linked to biological life, but also zoetic life that is given by God to all creatures as a gift. The paschal troparion speaks of Christ the Conqueror of Hell as bestowing zoe (life) not bios in Greek to those prisoners of the afterlife. Zoetic relationships are beyond the biological ties of genetics, political and animalistic behaviors, and physical processes, but of marriage, adoption, friendship – things of an eternal nature not subject to change or corruption because they are based on love. That might be an important distinction made by the holy fathers. Chrisma or holy oil that is made up of about 40 different elements is used in baptism, unction, tonsure and other blessings. Oil in the Old Testament as well as the New Testament has symbolic meaning: salvation, medicine, healing, cleansing, joy. These symbols become real and actual experiences, as long as we participate in them, in our bodies and in our lives through the Holy Spirit in the One, Holy, Apostolic and Catholic Church that we call in shorthand – Orthodox Christianity or Holy Orthodoxy. Oil is called the “gift of the Divine Spirit.” Holy oil or chrism is prepared in the third week of Lent and ends during Holy Week. The patriarchal prayer teaches that the anointing with chrism means entering the royal priesthood, not the liturgical priesthood, of all believers, which is more recent than the royal, ancient priesthood. It’s also an apostolic blessing. The prayer of consecration teaches that, “… we may receive sanctification, like the chrism which is poured out upon our heads, since the chrism which is poured out is the Name of of Thine only-begotten Son, Christ our God, through whom the whole world, visible and invisible, is sweetly scented.” The Jesus Prayer also helps perfect us, since the holy scriptures teach, “Thy name is as ointment poured forth.” Healing and perfection go hand in hand in Holy Orthodoxy. Repentance and healing seem to be necessary before the experience of enlightenment and interpretationm, unlike the tradition of “Frankish asceticism” characterized by Metr. Hierotheos of Napfpakos as a later western understanding of Christian perfection that relies heavily on outward method over inner transformation in order to “see” God. To be perfect isn’t a neurotic, obsessive, or anxious goal in Orthodox Christianity as it might be asssociated in other traditions. It’s the natural aim we have by participating the sacraments to become a sacer homo (sacred man). But all people, sinners and righteous, will see God at the end of time. It isn’t something we have to earn. It’s just given to us out of love. The Name of Christ is poured out in the world, Origen teaches correctly. St. John Chrysostom teaches on Song of Solomon that “wheresoever the Name of God is, all is auspicious. For if the names of consuls make writings sure, much more does the Name of Christ.” He also says that we are perfected by His Name. All objects can be used for our perfection, and the Orthodox Church has various orders for blessing Christians in many situations in daily life or major events. The next chapter focuses on molebens and akathists, and the Book of Needs.