La crismazione ne La Vita in Cristo di Nicola Cabasilas

Abstract

The aim of this contribution is to give heed to an authoritative voice from the Orthodox tradition regarding Chrismation which the faithful belonging to such a tradition receive after having been baptised and before approaching the eucharistic table. The voice to which we are referring is that of Nicola Cabasilas, who dedicates book III of his The life in Christ to the contribution which the mýron confers to such a life. The specific theme is set within the framework of a synthetic presentation of Chrismation in the Oriental  tradition and concludes with some outlines of synthesis. In Cabasilas’ presentation, Chrismation represents a component set within a broader sequence of ritual actions which, beginning with baptism, finds its fulfillment in the participation in the eucharistic table. By means of this sequence of “mysteries”, God’s salvific action realises in a progressive manner the théosis (divinisation), that is, man’s assumption of that “christic” form according to which he was conceived from the very beginning.