Anointings with Oil and Handlayings in the Early Eastern Church: Further Evidence for These Gestures as Early Ritual Cognates

Abstract

Anointings and handlayings were used across the Christian liturgical tradition in the patristic period and often in a number of similar ways. While distinct ritual gestures, their similar use, particularly in the rites of Christian initiation, suggests they were often interchangeable and, thus, functioned as ritual cognates. This article defines what a ritual cognate is within a ritual system. It then looks at the way these gestures were used in the Eastern liturgical sources from the third to sixth centuries in order to support the argument that these gestures should be viewed as ritual cognates. Uncovering their function as ritual cognates helps explain these gestures as well as how ritual systems are constructed.