Anointing occupies a richly layered position in the depth-psychology and religious-studies corpus, functioning simultaneously as archaic somatic ritual, theological category, and symbolic act of ontological transformation. R. B. Onians provides the most sustained phenomenological analysis, arguing that ancient anointing was not cosmetic but nutritive—a literal infusion of the ‘stuff of life’ through the skin’s pores, oil serving as the external analogue to the vital fluids (seed, marrow, sweat) believed to sustain consciousness and strength. This physiological substrate underlies the royal and sacral dimensions: in the Hebrew tradition, the king anointed by Yahweh becomes thereby a son of God, an interpretive key Onians deploys to illuminate Christology. Patristic sources, especially John of Damascus, engage anointing as a theo-ontological problem: was Christ’s anointing temporal or eternal, a reward or a constitution? The Philokalia tradition transposes the motif inward, treating anointing with the ‘oil of gladness’ as the intellect’s sanctification by the Holy Spirit. Gnostic and alchemical streams, visible in Meyer and von Franz, redirect anointing toward chrism-as-resurrection and the alchemical vivification of matter. The unifying tension across all positions is between anointing as external, material act and anointing as the inner conferral of divine life, spirit, or identity.
anointing, infusing oil into, kings, i.e. as a begetting, a bestowing of new life, divine life, and is of vital importance for an understanding of the belief that Jesus was not only the king of the Jews but also divine
Onians argues that royal anointing is structurally a begetting—an infusion of divine life through oil—making the practice the physiological and theological foundation for understanding Jesus as son of God.
, The origins of European thought about the body, the mind,, 1988thesis
anointing, the application to the body of oily liquids or unguents, practised from the Homeric age onwards usually after the bath… was, I suggest, thought to feed, to introduce into the body through the pores, the stuff of life and strength
Onians reconstructs the archaic rationale for anointing as the re-introduction of vital substance lost through sweat, making it a technology of bodily renewal rather than mere hygiene.
, The origins of European thought about the body, the mind,, 1988thesis
in His own person He anointed Himself; as God anointing His body with His own divinity, and as Man being anointed. For He is Himself both God and Man. And the anointing is the divinity of His humanity.
John of Damascus resolves the Christological paradox by identifying Christ as simultaneously the agent and the recipient of anointing, with the anointing itself defined as the divinization of his human nature.
, Saint John of Damascus Collection, 2016thesis
we shall make Christ as God Himself condition… not as born, but as promoted by unction, to be the Only-begotten God… He advanced with gradual progress and promotion to perfect divinity, and that He was not born God, but afterwards for His merit anointed God.
John of Damascus exposes and refutes the heretical corollary that treating anointing as a temporal reward would reduce Christ’s divine sonship to an earned promotion, dissolving the ontological uniqueness of the Incarnation.
, Saint John of Damascus Collection, 2016thesis
‘Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed him with the holy Spirit and with power’ (x, 38). He was thus the son of God who was the ‘Son of Man’.
Onians traces the New Testament language of anointing with the Holy Spirit back to the ancient identification of oil with vital divine fluid, so that Jesus’ anointing constitutes his status as son of God.
, The origins of European thought about the body, the mind,, 1988thesis
since He was anointed with the oil of gladness, that is the Spirit, by Him Who is God and Father, He is for this reason called Christ. But that the anointing was an act that concerned Him as man could be doubted by no one who is accustomed to think rightly.
John of Damascus, citing Athanasius, holds that Christ’s anointing with the Spirit pertains exclusively to his humanity, establishing anointing as the doctrinal hinge between the divine name ‘Christ’ and the historical Incarnation.
, An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, 2021thesis
The spirit might be transmitted into the head (seat, apparently, of prophetic spirit and seed) either by anointing or by laying the hand upon it.
Onians demonstrates that anointing and the laying on of hands were functionally equivalent rituals for transmitting prophetic spirit, both understood as physical conduits for the life-soul housed in the head.
, The origins of European thought about the body, the mind,, 1988supporting
even as it was transmitted by anointing. They also by laying on of hands transmitted—another aspect of the same thing—life, health… ‘laying on of hands’ has the same value as their anointing
Onians establishes that early Christian laying on of hands and anointing are two expressions of a single ancient ritual logic—the transmission of vital spirit from person to person.
, The origins of European thought about the body, the mind,, 1988supporting
those whose intellect and inner being are anointed with the sanctifying oil of gladness… and who have received the pledge of the Holy Spirit, even more surely attain the realm of perfection—that is to say, Christ’s kingdom
Symeon Metaphrastis internalizes the anointing motif: the oil of gladness anoints the intellect itself, making inner anointing by the Holy Spirit the mechanism of eschatological transformation and royal participation in Christ.
, The Philokalia, Volume 4, 1995supporting
anointing with ambrosia, just as according to our earlier argument by anointing with grease or oil the liquid of life was believed to be infused through the skin.
Onians shows that divine ambrosia functions in Homeric myth as a godly counterpart to mortal oil, with anointing in both cases understood as the infusion of immortal life-substance through the skin.
, The origins of European thought about the body, the mind,, 1988supporting
Olive oil is employed in baptism as a significant of our anointing, and as making us anointed, and as announcing to us through the Holy Spirit God’s pity
John of Damascus interprets the baptismal use of olive oil as a sacramental sign of divine mercy, linking the material substance directly to the gift of the Holy Spirit and the Christian’s status as anointed.
, An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, 2021supporting
The tree of life, however, is in the middle of the garden. It is an olive tree, and from it comes chrism, and from chrism comes resurrection.
The Gospel of Philip establishes a Gnostic cosmological chain—olive tree, chrism, resurrection—in which anointing with chrism is the essential sacramental means of eschatological rebirth.
, The Gnostic Gospels of Jesus: The Definitive Collection of Mystical Gospels and Secret Books about Jesus of Nazareth, 2005supporting
God hath anointed me with the oil of gladness… The aim is to produce the unitary man (vir unus) who is without stain.
Von Franz reads alchemical anointing with the oil of gladness as the psychic integration of scattered divine particles, making anointing a symbol for the individuation process that produces the purified, unified self.
, Aurora Consurgens: A Document Attributed to Thomas Aquinas on the Problem of Opposites in Alchemy, 1966supporting
All the faithful are truly anointed priests and kings in the spiritual renewal brought about through baptism, just as priests
The Philokalia tradition universalizes royal and sacerdotal anointing by locating it within baptism, democratizing the archaic ritual so that every believer receives the anointed status once reserved for kings and priests.
, The Philokalia, Volume 4, 1995supporting
Anubis anointing the mummy of Osiris, with Isis giving directions.
Von Franz documents the Egyptian funerary anointing of Osiris as the archetypal model for resurrection ritual, situating alchemical and later Christian anointing within a continuity of ancient mortuary practice.
, Alchemy: An Introduction to the Symbolism and the Psychology, 1980supporting
we speak of union, community, anointing, natural conjunction, conformation and the like… through the union it is made clear what either has obtained from the intimate junction with and permeation through the other.
John of Damascus places anointing within a cluster of terms describing the hypostatic union, using it to name the mutual permeation of divine and human natures in Christ’s single person.
, An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, 2021supporting
AL1tUIVW ‘to make fat, anoint’ (lA) with Alnuv<1L<.; ‘anointing’ (med.), AL1tUVLLKo<.; ‘good for anointing’ (sch.), AL1tuaflo<.; ‘anointing’
Beekes documents the Greek lexical family of anointing terms derived from the root meaning ‘fat’ or ‘gleaming,’ illuminating the etymological link between anointing and the application of fatty, oily substances.
, Etymological Dictionary of Greek, 2010aside
We may relate the custom seen in David’s command that Solomon be taken to the water of Gihon to be anointed king
Onians links Solomonic anointing at a water source to the broader complex of water-and-oil rituals that together constitute the transmission of royal vital power.
, The origins of European thought about the body, the mind,, 1988aside