وجبـــــــة روحيـــــ(†)ــــــــــة يوميـــــــــة

[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III



We notice that when the Lord sent the plague on the Israelites, Aaron the chief priest, upon Moses' command, took his censer, put incense in it and burnt it with fire from the altar to intercede for the people before God,
. When he ran into the midst of the assembly and offered the incense, the plague ceased. The Lord accepted the incense from Aaron as a prayer (Num.16: 44-48) as though it were a sacrifice.
We notice that Aaron did not offer a sacrifice for the Israelites, but incense alone. The incense was not offered to absorb the smell of a burnt offering but it was an offering to make atonement for the people (Num. 16: 46,47).

[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III



Because of the importance of incense, only priests were allowed to offer it. So incense is in a higher position than prayer because prayer can be raised by any individual to the Lord. When Korah, Dathan and Abiram dared to offer incense, the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them with all their belongings. So they went down to the pit alive (Num.16: 31,32). This happened not because they offered a sacrifice, but because they offered incense, even though they were of the tribe of Levi.

[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III



As incense was so important, it was offered in golden censers as is written in the Epistle to the Hebrews (Heb.9: 4) and as is said about the twenty-four priests who had golden bowls full of incense (Rev.5: 8).

[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III



In the Book of the Prophet Malachi, there is a prophecy about the continuation of the offering of incense and that it is not limited to the Jewish Era. The Lord says: “For from the rising of the sun, even to its going down, My name shall be great among the Gentiles; in every place incense shall be offered to My name, and a pure offering; for My name shall be great among the nations” (Mal.1: 11). Of course, worship among the Gentiles did not happen except in the Era of Christianity. Thus the Lord has included incense among the forms of Christian worship.

[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III



There are two examples in the New Testament showing the Divine concern about incense, and both are written in the Book of Revelation:
(a) About the twenty-four priests, it is written: “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” (Rev.5: 8).
(b) St. John the Visionary says: “Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. And he was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar, which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel's hand” (Rev.8: 3,4).

[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III



In commenting on the expression “the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God”, we say that the whole life of the Church is incense. The Church is resembled to incense in the Book of the Song of Solomon, in which the Divine Inspiration says: “Who is this coming out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all the merchant‘s fragrant powders?” (Song 3: 6)

[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III



One of the important situations in the history of incense in the life of the saints is that the angel of the Lord appeared to Zacharias the priest on the right side of the altar of incense while he was burning incense in his lot (Lk.1: 8-11). This is proof of the sanctity of the place and the sanctity of the work of offering incense. This holy occasion was worthy to be associated with a Divine revelation.
It is clear from the incident of Zacharias' burning incense in his lot that offering incense was a separate work in itself; it was not connected with the offering of a sacrifice or burnt offering.

[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III



Because incense is important in Christianity, frankincense (which is a component of incense) was one of the gifts offered by the Magi to Christ. It was a symbol of His Priesthood and a profession from the Magi that He is a Priest, in the same way that gold was a symbol of His Kingdom and myrrh a symbol of His sufferings.

[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III



Incense has numerous meanings, which satisfy the senses and nourish the soul. Not all those who attend church are of a profound spiritual level and deep thought. Children, for example, who do not apprehend much from the sermon or the readings of the Holy Bible or the prayers, are spiritually affected through their senses by the incense, candles and icons which serve as spiritual lessons for them, uplifting them to a spiritual atmosphere. The same applies to the uninformed and superficial believers who have no depth of knowledge and have not studied theological books.

[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III




The first lesson we learn from incense is the Lord's teaching: “...he who loses his life for My sake will find it” (Matt.10: 39). An example of this is the particle of incense, which burns and burns until it becomes perfumed pillars of smoke. You look for it in the censer as a particle of incense, but you do not find it because it offered itself as a burnt offering to God.
Burnt offerings are not only of sacrifices but also of incense, which the Holy Bible considers as a sacrifice to be offered on the altar of incense. Incense teaches us a great lesson. How beautiful it is when a man offers himself as a burnt offering to the Lord! Every offering is outside the self but the offering of the self is the greatest offering. Offering the self is represented by putting the particle of incense in the fire. It is said that our God is a consuming fire (Deut.4: 24). The saints were particles of incense put into the Divine censer and were burnt by the love of God.