Once when
one of my nri marthomite cousins came to our church for my grandfather’s
remembrance service, i was shocked to find her coughin at the incense and
blowing it away with her hands.
Later i think some
protestants have also asked me this question, why do we have incense in our
church?
It is because we the
Oriental Orthodox Christians follow the Early Christian worship,(which had much
Jewish influence) and like to use Biblical symbolisms in our worship. The
Orthodox church is Scripture in brick and wood.
Significance
of Incense in Scriptures
Malachi. 1:11. “…and in every place incense is
going to be offered to My name”
Numbers 16:46-50. “And
Moses said to Aaron, Take your censer, and put fire therein from off the altar,
and lay incense on it, and carry it quickly to the congregation and make
atonement for them. Here offering of the incense is to get rid off the plage.
It also removes the foul smell of sin”.
Ps. 141:2. “Let my
prayer be counted as incense.”
Heb. 9:4. “Having the
golden altar of incense.”
Rev. 5:8. “golden
bowls full of incense which are the prayers of the saints.”
The worship of the
Church is a heavenly worship and hence fragrant incense is used.
Mt. 2:11. ” They
offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh”.
Ex. 35:8, 15. “Spices
for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense this
altar of incense”.
Proverbs. 27:9ff. “Oil
and perfume make the heart glad”.
Ex. 40:26, 27. “..Put
burnt fragrant incense upon it””.
2 Chron. 2:4.
“..dedicate it to him for the burning of incense.”
1 Dings 9:25. Solomon
offered the incense in the temple of God”.
2 Chron. 2:6. “..it is
the place to burn incense before God”.
Revelations 8:3,4
“And another angel
came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given to him
much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints on the
golden altar which was before the throne.
The smoke from the
incense and the prayers of the saints went up from the angel’s hand to God.” Courtesy:
Dr. Siju, kuwait.
Worship
with all the human senses
Another important aspect is that in Orthodox
Christian worship we participate with all the 5 senses of the human body:
- Eyes (Seeing the
Qurbana, Icons, Altar).
- Ears (Hearing the
Liturgy and songs).
- Skin (Kiss of
peace/Kaiyasthuri, blessing by the priest).
- Tongue/Taste (Eating
the Eucharist bread and wine, chanting prayers).
- Nose (INCENSE).
Censing to
emphasis unity in Christ
The main theme of the
Orthodox Church is theosis or becoming God-like (John 10:34) not by essence but
by grace.
* We cense the Altar
Table as God’s throne and the Holy of Holies in Christianity.
* We cense the icons in
the church that remind us about our continuous presence in heaven on earth and
give us vivid examples of successful stories of personal theosis of the saints.
* We cense the bodies
of our departed this life brothers and sisters in Christ before and during
funeral services to show that their bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit
(1 Cor. 6:19-20), and that our unity in Christ is not broken by temporal separation
through death (John 11:25-26).
* We also cense the
people present, the living members of the Church to underline our unity with
the saints through the grace of God and through sharing in the image of God.
Everybody and
everything is being censed during the service to emphasize the essential unity
of those in heaven and on earth, as well as our participation in heavenly
things during services. That is why we not just have a liturgy but Divine
Liturgy where people are united with Christ, through Christ and in Christ our
God!
Therefore, we use
incense and censer for our own spiritual awakening, and for making our
experience of worship more complete.
O Lord, I cry out to
you. Come quickly to me!
Pay attention to me
when I cry out to you!
May you accept my
prayer like incense,
my uplifted hands like
the evening offering! (Psalm 141)
Source: http://theorthodoxchurch.info/blog/ocrc/2009/06/why-do-we-use-censer-in-our-church/
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