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'''Incense''' is a product of aromatic plant matter, often with an oil or resin as a base. In the [[Orthodox Christianity|Orthodox Christian]] practice, incense is an important liturgical implement which is often considered distinctive to the Faith as well.
Incense is burned in a gold [[censer]] and ignited by burning charcoal. Customarily, the [[censer]] is suspended by chains and swung; however, a hand censer can be used when necessary. The censer is employed only by the [[priest]] and/or [[deacon]] to venerate all four sides of the [[altar]], the [[Eucharist|Holy Gifts]], the [[clergy]], the [[congregation]], [[icon|icons]], and the church structure itself.
== History and practice ==
===Ancient World===
The use of incense dates back to ancient times but the origin is uncertain. It may have originated in Sumerian and Babylonian cultures, where the gum, resins of aromatic trees, were imported from the Arabian and Somali coasts to be used in religious ceremonies. Its use was common in the pagan worship rituals of the ancient Greeks, Egyptians, Phoenicians, Assyrians, and Babylonians.<ref name=CHRISTODOULOS>{{el icon}} [[Christodoulos (Paraskevaides) of Athens]]. ''"[http://www.ecclesia.gr/greek/archbishop/christodoulos.asp?id=163&what_main=1&what_sub=8&lang=gr&archbishop_heading=%C5%E3%EA%FD%EA%EB%E9%EF%E9 Ἡ Προσφορά τοῦ Θυμιάματος]."'' Εγκύκλιοι. ECCLESIA: ΔΙΑΔΙΚΤΥΑΚΟΣ ΟΙΚΟΣ ΕΚΚΛΗΣΙΑΣ ΤΗΣ ΕΛΛΑΔΟΣ. 11/10/2001.</ref> In the Roman period there were cases of Christians being [[Martyr|martyred]] for refusing to offer incense to idols.<ref name="CHRISTODOULOS"/>
===Temple of Jerusalem===
Incense was used as a perfumed offering on the [[w:Altar_(Judaism)#Altar_of_Incense|altar of incense]] in the time of the [[Tabernacle (biblical)|Tabernacle]] and in the First and Second Temple periods, being an important component of priestly liturgy in the Temple in [[Jerusalem]]. The incense offered in the Temple is described in the [[Exodus|Book of Exodus]] as a mixture of [[w:Stacte|stacte]], [[w:Onycha|onycha]], [[w:Galbanum|galbanum]] and [[w:Frankincense|frankincense]].
:* "And the Lord said to [[Moses|Moyses]]: Take for yourself spices - oil of [[myrrh]], onycha, galbanum that is sweet and translucent frankincense, each shall be in equal proportion. And they will make it incense, perfumed work of a perfumer, mixed, pure, holy work. And you shall beat some of it small and place it before the witnesses in the tent of witness, there where I shall be known to you. It shall be a holy of holies for you. Incense according to this mixture you shall not make for yourselves. It is to you something made holy to the [[Lord]]. Whoever makes such as this, so as to be scented with it, shall perish from his people." [[Exodus]] 30:34-38 ([[Septuagint]]).<ref>''A New English Translation of the Septuagint (NETS).'' Albert Pietersma and Benjamin G. Wright (Eds.). Oxford University Press, 2007. ISBN 9780195289756</ref>
Thus in accordance with [[Old Testament]] tradition, incense is used in every Church service. It is burned as an offering to [[God]] even as it was in the days of the First and Second Jewish temples.
===Christian Worship===
From an indication in Revelation 8:3-5 incense was used in [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/subapostolic sub-Apostolic] Christian worship, however there is no clear evidence of its Christian use until about the year 500.<ref name=NICON>Rev. Nicon D. Patrinacos. "Incense (Greek: θυμίαμα)." In: ''A Dictionary of Greek Orthodoxy - Λεξικον Ελληνικης Ορθοδοξιας.'' Light & Life Publishing, Minnesota, 1984. p. 205.</ref> Censers may at first have been fixed, with the introduction of portable censers originating later. The incensing of the [[altar]], [[church]], and [[congregation]], is first recorded in the 9th century.<ref name="NICON"/>
Emperor [[Justinian]] bestowed 36 golden censers with precious gems to the Cathedral [[Hagia Sophia (Constantinople)|Church of the Holy Wisdom]], and according to the testimony of Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (908-959), Byzantine Emperors entering the Church offered incense at specific censers.<ref name="CHRISTODOULOS"/>
The faithful will often burn incense using a hand [[censer]] in the home during Morning and Evening Prayers, and it is common for the head of the household to bless the Holy Icons and all of the members of the household with a hand censer.
==Theological significance==
Incense represents prayers of the [[saint]]s lifting up into the heavens before [[God]]. This is evident from the blessing verse of the celebrant of the censer before incensing begins:
:* "We offer to Thee, [[Christ]] our God, this incense as a spiritual fragrance; receive it, we [[Prayer|pray]], to Thy heavenly altar and send down to us, in return, the [[grace]] of Thy [[Holy Spirit]]."<ref name="NICON"/>
And elsewhere:
:* [[Psalms|Psalm]] 140:2 - "Let my prayer be set forth before You as incense, The lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice."<ref>Psalm 140:2. ''The Orthodox Study Bible (SAAS).'' St. Athanasius Academy of Orthodox Theology, 2008. p.773.</ref>
Incense is also described as being used in heavenly worship, offering the faithful a foretaste of what is to come.
:* [[Book of Revelation|Revelation]] 5:8 - "Now when He has taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints."<ref>Revelation 5:8. ''The Orthodox Study Bible (NKJV).'' Thomas Nelson Inc., 1982. p.1722.</ref>
:* Revelation 8:4 - "And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel's hand."<ref>Revelation 8:4. ''The Orthodox Study Bible (NKJV).'' Thomas Nelson Inc., 1982. p.1726.</ref>
==Composition of the Holy Incense==
===Biblical and Judaic Usage===
The recipe for making the holy incense, given in Exodus 30:34-38, names four components. The same quantity of each was to be taken and, mixed with [[Salt in the Bible|salt]],<ref group="note">Only the salt of [[w:Sodom and Gomorrah|Sodom]] ("melaḥ Sedomit") could be used.</ref> made into a confection.<ref name=JEWISH-ENCYC>Immanuel Benzinger, Judah David Eisenstein. ''[http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/8099-incense INCENSE].'' Jewish Encyclopedia, 1906.</ref> These were: [[w:stacte|stacte]], [[w:onycha|onycha]], [[w:galbanum|galbanum]], and pure [[w:frankincense|frankincense]] (the resin of the olibanum-tree, being one of the various species of ''[[w:Boswellia sacra|Boswellia]]'' indigenous to [[w:Arabia Felix|Arabia Felix]]).
In later tradition<ref group="note">Given by [[w:Maimonides|Maimonides]], "Yad," Kele ha-Miḳdash, ii. 1-5.</ref> seven others spices were added to these, namely: [[w:Myrrh|myrrh]], [[w:Cinnamomum aromaticum|cassia]], [[w:Spikenard|nard]], [[w:Saffron|saffron]], [[w:Costus|kostus]], [[w:Cinnamon|cinnamon]], and aromatic-[[w:Bark|bark]].<ref name="JEWISH-ENCYC"/>
Josephus speaks of thirteen ingredients, agreeing with the fact that in other sources the following two herbs are mentioned:<ref name="JEWISH-ENCYC"/> Jordan [[w:Amber|amber]], and a secret unknown ingredient - known in Hebrew as ''ma'aleh ashan'', literally "that which causes smoke to rise" - which has a quality which enabled the smoke to rise up to heaven in a straight column.<ref group="note">In our own time, some have speculated that this may be the plant ''[[w:Leptadenia pyrotechnica|Leptadenia pyrotechnica]]'', which contains nitric acid.<br>
:* Rabbi Chaim Richman & The Temple Institute. ''[http://www.templeinstitute.org/incense.htm INCENSE].'' The Temple Institute.</ref>
In the [[Mount Athos|Athonite]] tradition, incense is often sprinkled liberally with clay dust to prevent granules from clumping.
== Theological significance Notes== <references group="note" />
== External links ==
'''Wikipedia'''* [[w:Incense|Incense]]* [[w:Frankincense|Frankincense]]* [[w:Religious_use_of_incense#Christianity|Religious use of incense - Christianity]]* [[w:Incense offering|Incense offering]] (Ketoret, Jerusalem temple incense)* [[w:Spikenard|Spikenard]]'''Online Catalogs'''* [http://www.tcgalaskaholycross-hermitage.com/upscgi-bin/pagescommerce.cgi?search=action&category=NCNS&keywords=all&template=PDGCommTemplates/TopBotNav/Storebuilder_Type4.html Athonite Style Church Incense/holy_cross_incense].htm [[Hermitage of the Holy Cross (Wayne, West Virginia)|Holy Cross Hermitage's traditional Athonite incense]] - Online Catalog. * [http://www.msocpthehtm.comorg/catalog/incenseindex.htm Mount Sinai php?cPath=38&osCsid=51a6099cd11dea6f898ae5b14affc277 Incense and Charcoal]. The [[Holy Transfiguration Monastery (Brookline, Massachusetts)|Holy Transfiguration Monastery]] Store. '''Other'''* {{el icon}} [[Christodoulos (Paraskevaides) of Athens]]. ''"[http://www.ecclesia.gr/greek/archbishop/christodoulos.asp?id=163&what_main=1&what_sub=8&lang=gr&archbishop_heading=%C5%E3%EA%FD%EA%EB%E9%EF%E9 Ἡ Προσφορά τοῦ Θυμιάματος]."'' Εγκύκλιοι. ECCLESIA: ΔΙΑΔΙΚΤΥΑΚΟΣ ΟΙΚΟΣ ΕΚΚΛΗΣΙΑΣ ΤΗΣ ΕΛΛΑΔΟΣ. 11/10/2001.* {{el icon}} ''[http://enel.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incense Wikipedia%CE%9B%CE%B9%CE%B2%CE%AC%CE%BD%CE%B9 Λιβάνι].'' Βικιπαίδεια.* Immanuel Benzinger, Judah David Eisenstein. ''[http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/8099-incenseINCENSE].'' Jewish Encyclopedia, 1906.* {{note|1}} King James VersionJoseph Jacobs, public domainImmanuel Löw. See ''[http://www.biblegatewayjewishencyclopedia.com/passagearticles/?search=Psalm%2014111324-nard NARD].'' Jewish Encyclopedia, 1906.* Rabbi Chaim Richman &version=9The Temple Institute. ''[http://www.templeinstitute.org/incense.htm INCENSE].'' The Temple Institute.
[[Category:Liturgical objects]]
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