Why Do We Use Incense in Our Worship?

Incense is part of the joy and beauty of Orthodox Worship. The sight and smell of incense is one of the defining characteristics of liturgical worship in the Orthodox Church. Physical symbols are an important part of Orthodox worship and incensing is a symbol of our prayers ascending to God and of His transforming power in our lives. The use of incense has accompanied the worship of the God of Israel and of Christianity from times immemorial and the association of incense with prayer and offering has its roots deep in, the Bible, both in the Old and New Testaments.

It goes without saying that incense played an exceptionally large role in Old Testament worship. Moses was given special instructions for making the incense to be used exclusively for the worship of God (Exodus 30: 34-38). One of the many ingredients given in God’s list was frankincense. The Lord commanded Moses to make an altar to burn incense on (Ex. 30: 1) and gave specific instructions on how the incense was to be made and when it was to be offered. Incense was very much a part of the heavenly worship. In his vision of God, Isaiah describes how as the angels sang: “Holy, Holy, Holy” the doors shook and the temple in heaven was filled with incense (Is. 6: 4). Heavenly worship includes incense, in the New Testament too. Angel Gabriel gives Priest Zechariah the promise of the birth of John the Baptist while making the evening offering of incense (Lk. 1:10-20).  ^“Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all God’s people, …… The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of God’s people, went up before God from the angel’s hand. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, ….” (Rev. 8: 3-5). Orthodox worship patterned after the heavenly worship, is the use of incense. Thus the continuation of the offering of incense has been included incense among the forms of Orthodox Christian worship.

Throughout Scripture we see the inward and outward aspects of worship offered to God in unity. Scripture tells us to lift our hands and our hearts to God. God is glorified by both, and He commands us to worship Him with both. The hands are outward, and the heart is inward. We rightfully and meaningfully lift of our hearts and lift of our hands to God, complimenting one another. Incense and prayer work the same way. “Let my prayer arise in Thy sight as incense. And let the lifting up of my hands be an evening sacrifice”. (Ps. 141: 2)  

During our worship in Church, the priest burns incense in a censer. Grains of Incense, a mixture of spices and gums, a material used to produce a fragrant smoke when burned, are placed over burning red-hot coals in the censor, causing clouds of smoke to go heavenward, the prayer of God’s people ascending on high and the appearance of God in numinous glory, assuring his people of his presence with them. Our prayers ascend to the presence of the Most-high God and are pleasing to Him; The aroma is due to the incense that is used during a typical Orthodox Church service,

Scripture is literally filled with references to incense for the worship of God. Incense is used at the worship services in the Holy Church and rituals at home:

• God commanded the Moses to burn incense to Him, incense of a specific mix of certain ingredients (Ex. 30: 1). And the Lord said unto Moses, Take unto thee, sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum; these sweet spices with pure frankincense: of each shall there be a like weight; (Ex. 30: 34). Incense was burnt along with animal sacrifices, as well as on its own on a special altar, where it was offered twice a day (Ex.  30: 7).

• Adoration or the worship paid to God alone, Holy Eucharist and other Sacramental services. The burning of the fragrant spices shows the importance of all creatures before their Creator. For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same My name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto My name, and a pure offering: for My name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts.” (Mal. 1: 11).

• Prayer, which rises to God like incense smoke. “Lord, I have called upon you: answer me. Give heed to my words and receive my prayer as incense before you, the offering of my hands as the evening offering” (Ps. 141: 1-2). ….And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside (Luke 1: 10);  ………they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people. (Rev 5: 8); ………….. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all God’s people, on the golden altar in front of the throne. The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of God’s people, went up before God from the angel’s hand (Rev.  8: 3, 4). Then Judith prostrated herself, put ashes on her head, and uncovered the sackcloth she was wearing. At the very time when the evening incense was being offered in the house of God in Jerusalem, Judith cried out to the Lord with a loud voice, and said, (Judith 9: 1).  

• Offering of Incense is a Prayer by itself. The Lord accepted the incense from Aaron as a prayer (Num. 16: 44-48) as though it were a sacrifice. When the Lord sent the plague on the Israelites, Aaron the chief priest, ran into the midst of the assembly and offered the incense, the plague ceased. Priest Aaron did not offer a sacrifice for the Israelites, but incense alone. It was an offering to make atonement for the people (Num. 16: 46, 47).

• Incense has been used to cast away illness and evil energies, to drive out pests and plagues (Numbers 16) and create a sort of “smokescreen” for the presence of God in the holiest recesses of the Temple. Moses put the incense in it, and it atoned for the people. He stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was checked.” (Num. 17: 12-13). Offering of the incense gets rid of the plagues and removes the foul smell of sin, to please the Lord with complete dedication and obeying the Biblical commands (Num. 16: 46- 50; Ex. 35: 8, 1 Kings 9: 25, 2 Chron 2: 4, Mal. 1: 11….) 

• Incense represents the Grace of the Holy Spirit. Just as the Holy Spirit is “everywhere present and fills all things,” the smoke of the censer fills the Church with its fragrance. Grace which, God pours into our souls as incense pours fragrance throughout the Church. His Holy Spirit descends and fills the temple, and the fragrant odor of incense offers a reminder of His unseen presence and activity among us.

• In the Bible, clouds are often used as a sign of God’s presence (Holy Spirit). A cloud in the Bible often reveals presence of God and His Glory. God appeared in the cloud on many occasions. He guided His people in Sinai in the form of an overshadowing Pillar of a cloud during the day (Num. 9: 17; 10: 34 Ex. 13: 22). The Lord talked to Moses from a cloud (Ex. 24: 15, 16). A cloud (Oxymoron) covered the Tabernacle, and the Glory of the Lord filled it (Ex. 40: 34).  During the consecration of Solomon’s Temple, the cloud filled the temple and Solomon said, “The Lord said, He would dwell in the dark cloud” (1 Ki. 8: 10-12). During the Transfiguration of Christ, a cloud appears, and the Voice of God is heard from it (Matt. 17: 5). Jesus ascended into heaven, in a cloud (Acts 1: 8). He will also come in the clouds (Matt. 24: 30), in Christ’s Second Coming. Other than fragrance incense forms another characteristic, that it forms a cloud. Incensing produces a cloud of smoke, in our Worship Services.

• To honour God, Who crowned the saints in heaven, who worked wonders through them here on earth, who sanctified and glorified their bodies. By using incense as it is shown to be used in the worship of the saints in Heaven, we confirm and illustrate the essential unity of Christians in Heaven and on Earth, as well as our participation in the things of Heaven.
• To show respect and devotion to the servants and special friends of the Almighty. The Church incenses her ministers, her bishops, and priests, to honour in their person Jesus Christ, whom they represent and with whose sacred character they are clothed.
• We use incense because it smells good, and therefore we use it as an expression of beauty, of joy and of our love for the Kingdom of God. The liturgical services of the Holy Orthodox Church engage body as well as soul. We see and touch, hear and in partaking of the Holy Eucharist, we “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34: 8). Among these impressions, one is that of the fragrant smoke of incense. When we use incense and experience its aromatic perfume through our sense of smell, we are helping to involve and invoke the entirety of our person in worship.  We are to consecrate all of ourselves to God – mind, heart, will, strength, emotions, and senses.  All our senses: touch, sight, taste, hearing, and even smell! 
• St. Paul says that we are God’s incense.  Apostle Paul applies says that we are the aroma of Christ to God.  “For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life.  And who is sufficient for these things?”  (2 Cor. 2: 15, 16). His Gift, both to Himself, and to the world. “And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour.”  (Eph. 5: 2). It has the same meaning for us during the offering of our gifts upon the altar.
• Censing the Gospel, relics, icons, tombs, the Gifts, or the people is also an act of sacred respect. Gifts of Gold, Myrrh and Frankincense were given to the Child Jesus, (Matt. 3: 11) at His birth by the Magi, a gift worthy of a Priestly King. This symbolized His role as the Great High Priest. The faithful are censed, to honor the likeness to Christ that was imprinted on at Baptism and to honor them as temples of the Holy Spirit (I Cor 6). When you are censed, you should make the sign of the cross to remind yourself of your baptism and that you are a Temple, made in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1). Incensing the body at a funeral service is a sign of reverence for the body that was once the temple of God.
• Incense can put into the Censor, by the Celebrants, Priests or Bishops only. The Priest makes the sign of Cross, in the Name of the Holy Trinity, while putting the incense into the censor. Censing is always performed amidst prayers, promeon, ethro prayers, kukillions, Dhoopa Prarthana and these prayers rise to heaven.

• And since the activity of the Holy Spirit toward the Church within the Qurbana is a work of sanctifying and purifying, the altar, gifts, ministers, and people are all censed (signifying the activity of the Spirit) in preparation for receiving the sacramental presence of our Lord Jesus Christ.
• Incense becomes a physical reminder of the special purpose at hand when we come to the Church. Simply put, when an Orthodox Christian smells incense, no matter where he is or what he is doing, he thinks one thing worship.
• The beautiful aroma of incense reminds us to be aware of His presence.  When our Lord died, He was buried wrapped in incense.  The aromatic clouds of incense we smell during our times of worship remind us that our Lord was sacrificed for our benefit.  
• Incense is also a picture of the transformation within a Christian when he is joined to the glowing radiance of God’s power in Jesus Christ, just like the resinous incense is transformed into a sweet fragrance when it is placed on the glowing coal in the censer.

By considering all these passages, we should be able to discern the usage of incense which would please God in the context of worship.  In general, incense has the benefit of being a source of contemplation for those who attend the service.