Liturgical Incense
Fragrant smoke rising before the altar — prayer made visible
Liturgical incense is the burning of fragrant smoke in worship to honor the altar, Gospel, icons, gifts, and the faithful, symbolizing prayer rising to God. It appears in early sources such as Egeria's account around 380 and the liturgies of the fourth and fifth centuries. Traditions differ: it is standard in Orthodox, Oriental, Catholic, and high-Anglican worship, but abandoned in most Reformed and Free traditions; early Christians at first avoided it for its pagan-sacrifice associations.
How it traveled
- RevelationPatmos · c. 100 CEexplains
Key passages(5)
Each passage is tagged by what it does with the idea: explains it, applies it in practice, redefines it with a new meaning, or challenges it. Relevance shows how directly the passage is about this idea.
The smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel’s hand.
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Another angel came and stood over the altar, having a golden censer. Much incense was given to him, that he should add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the thro
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Treatise on the Sacraments (qq[60]-90) · Thomas Aquinas
Objection 5: Further, nothing which appears ridiculous ought to be done in one of the Church's sacraments. But it seems ridiculous to perform gestures, e.g. for the priest to stretch out his arms at t
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Treatise on the Sacraments (qq[60]-90) · Thomas Aquinas
Reply to Objection 6: As was said above (ad 3), those things are mentioned in this sacrament which belong to the entire Church; and consequently some things which refer to the people are sung by the c
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The Canons of the Councils of Ancyra, Gangra, Neocæsarea, Antioch and Laodicea, which Canons were Accepted and Received by the Ecumenical Synods · The Ecumenical Councils
Such is the new theory, which, even if rejected, at least is valuable in drawing attention to the great importance of the vigil-service in the Early Church, an importance still attaching to it in Russ
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