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Rich Spirituality 127

damom, gum, styrex, carum, sandhal, oil
of flowers, saffron, crocus mendragora, ma-
haleb, cypress, oil of rose, camomile, violet,
lilly, nenuphar, orange flower, clover, galea
leaf, myrtle leaf, narcissus, laurel, mandarin,
laudanum, mastic tree, aloe, elder, amber,
radix of violet, greek incense, spear mint,
basil, hyacinth, myrtle, and wine. The blessing
of the holy muron, which was established by
St. Gregory the Illuminator and is performed
every seven years, is one of the privileges of
the catholicos. Its preparation, which extends
over three days, includes the reading of
psalms and prayers, and the singing of
hymns. After the preparation, the muron is
placed on the altar of the church for forty
days, after which it is blessed. During the
blessing, the old muron is poured into the
new one as a sign of the continuity of the
Armenian Church. The holy muron of the
two Catholicosates are mixed together during
the blessing ceremony at both the Holy See of
St. Etchmiadzin and the Holy See of Cilicia,
as a concrete and visible expression of the
unity of the Armenian Church.

Images
Images (patker) used in the Armenian
Church are spiritual signposts to deepen the
faith in the life of the faithful. Because they
are only symbols, the faithful venerate but do
not worship them. In the 7th Century, a cont-