Chrismation

Chrismation is the name given in Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Catholic churches, as well as in the Assyrian Church of the East initiation rites, to the sacrament or mystery more commonly known in the West as confirmation, although Italian normally uses cresima ("chrismation"), rather than confermazione ("confirmation").

The term chrismation is used because the recipient of the sacrament is anointed with chrism, which according to eastern Christian belief, the Apostles sanctified and introduced for all priests to use as a replacement for laying on of hands by the Apostles^[1] and consists of a "mixture of forty sweet-smelling substances and pure olive oil"^[2] sanctified by a bishop with some older chrism added in,^[3] in the belief that some trace of the initial chrism sanctified by the Apostles is contained therein.