Washing and anointing: Difference between revisions

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[[File:Washing and anointing tub in the Salt Lake Temple, June 1911.png|thumb|One of ten washing and anointing rooms of the [[Salt Lake Temple]] of [[the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] circa 1911.]]

'''Washing and anointing''' (also called the '''initiatory''') is a ritual purificationan [[Temple (LDS Church)#Temple ordinances|ordinance]] of ritual purification, similar to [[chrismation]],. thatIt is a key part of the [[Endowment (Mormonism)|temple endowment]] ceremony as well as the controversial [[Second Anointing]] ceremony practiced by [[the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] (LDS Church) and [[Mormon fundamentalism|Mormon fundamentalists]].

In thepreparation deeplyfor the sacredtemple ritualendowment, a person, generally over the age of 18, is sprinkled with water, then [[Anointing|anointed]] with perfume or oil as a cleansing before God.<ref name="buerger35" /><ref name=":1">John Christopher Thomas describes this Old Testament practice, “This cleansing from bodily uncleanness was a symbol of putting away of the filth of sin; the washing of the body therefore was a symbol of spiritual cleansing, without which no one can draw near to God..." {{citation |title=Footwashing in the Old and New Testament, the Graeco Roman World, the Early Church, and the Liturgy |date=April 15, 2014 |url=http://www.zionlutherannj.net/footwashing-in-the-old-and-new-testament-the-graeco-roman-world-the-early-church-and-the-liturgy-2/}}</ref> Once washed and anointed, the participant is dressed in the [[temple garment]], a symbolic white undergarment.<ref name="packer">{{Harvtxt|Packer|2007}}.</ref> The ordinance performed by the authority of the [[Melchizedek priesthood (Latter Day Saints)|Melchizedek priesthood]], and by an officiator of the same sex as the participant,<ref name="ABVW" /> is "mostly symbolic in nature, but promis[es] definite, immediate blessings as well as future blessings," contingent upon continued righteous living.<ref name="packer" /> These ordinances of washing and [[anointing]] are referred to often in the temple as "initiatory ordinances" since they precede the endowment and [[Sealing (Mormonism)|sealing]] ordinances.<ref name="perry">{{harvtxt|Perry|1992}}.</ref>

Like other temple ordinances, washings and anointings are also conducted on behalf of deceased individuals as a type of "[[wikt:vicarious|vicarious]] ordinance".<ref name=":2">{{harvtxt|Gaunt|1996}}.</ref>

The LDS Church states the origins of these rituals can be traced back to the biblical period, where [[anointing]]s were used to sanctify individuals and objects, while washings were used for ritual purification.<ref name=":1" /><ref name="perry" /> The LDS Church introduced washings and anointings in the [[Kirtland Temple]] in 1836, before revising the rituals in [[Nauvoo, Illinois]] in 1842.<ref name="buerger35" /> The modern LDS Church only performs these rites in [[Temple (LDS Church)|temples]] set apart and dedicated for sacred purposes according to a January 19, 1841 revelation that [[Joseph Smith]] stated was from [[Jesus Christ]].<ref name=":3" />

Washing and anointing also plays a key role in the [[Second Anointing]] ritual practiced by the [[Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]], in which participants are anointed as a "priest and king" or a "priestess and queen", and are sealed to the highest degree of salvation in LDS theology.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hammond |first1=Elizabeth |title="The Mormon Priestess: A Theology of Womanhood in the LDS Temple" |date=November 2, 2015 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0190248031}}</ref> This is the most secretive ritual practiced by Latter-day Saints, and most LDS adherents are unaware of the ritual's existence.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Brooke |first1=John L. |title=The Refiner's Fire: The Making of Mormon Cosmology, 1644-1844 |date=May 31, 1996 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |___location=Cambridge, UK |isbn=978-0521565646 |page=294 |quote=The frequency of second anointings declined after the turn of the century, and they were virtually eliminated under the authority of Heber J. Grant in the 1920s, to the point that modern Mormons are generally unaware of the rituals existence ....}}</ref>

==History==