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Incense

The Symbolism of Incense.

The mystical meaning of incense is not difficult to comprehend. By its burning it symbolizes the zeal with which the faithful should be animated; by its sweet fragrance, the odor of Christian virtue; by its rising smoke, the ascent of prayer before the throne of the Almighty.

Incense may be used in Christian worship at the celebratiion of the Eucharist, and at solemn celebratins of the divine office, especially in the evening.

The smoke of burning incense is viewed by many of the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox faith as a sign of a good Christian's prayer.

Incense has been employed in the worship of the vast majority of Christian groups since antiquity, particularly the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglo-Catholic and High Church Lutheran, and rarely but occasionally in some Protestant congregations.

A horrible, a type of censer, is used to contain incense as it is burned. A server called a thurifer sometimes assisted by a boat boy or girl, approach the the person conducting the service with a thurible with burning charcoals. Incense is taken from what is called a "boat", and usually blessed with a prayer. The thurible is then closed, and taken by the chain and swung towards what or who is being censed.

 

Origins

In the ceremonies of [pre-christian religion] incense had an important part. Its use is mentioned by Ovid and Virgil as a feature of the rites of Roman worship, being probably adopted from the Eastern nations with whom the Romans had come into contact. Among these, especially the Assyrians and Egyptians, it has been known almost from the dawn of history. The carvings of the tombs and temples of Egypt represent kings offering homage to the gods by burning incense in censers much like those used in  Catholic churches at the present day.

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