Second anointing
Rare Latter-day Saint ordinance / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In the Latter Day Saint movement the second anointing is the pinnacle ordinance of the temple and an extension of the endowment ceremony.[1][2]: 11 Founder Joseph Smith taught that the function of the ordinance was to ensure salvation, guarantee exaltation, and confer godhood.[5] In the ordinance, a participant is anointed as a "priest and king" or a "priestess and queen", and is sealed to the highest degree of salvation available in Mormon theology.[6]: 286
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In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), Mormonism's largest denomination, the ordinance is currently only given in secret to select couples whom top leaders say God has chosen.[7] The LDS Church regularly performed the ceremony for nominated couples from the 1840s to the 1920s, and continued less regularly into the 1940s.[2]: 40 By 1941, about 15,000 second anointings had been performed for the living, and over 6,000 for the dead.[2]: 41 The practice became much less common thereafter,[2]: 42 but has continued into modern times.[9] Most modern LDS adherents are unaware of the ritual's existence.[10] Instructors in the church's institutes of religion are told, "Do not attempt in any way to discuss or answer questions about the second anointing." (emphasis in the original).[11] The ordinance is also performed by many Mormon fundamentalist groups. However, it is not performed by denominations such as the Community of Christ, who historically did not practice the Nauvoo endowment ceremony.[12][13][14]