Orthodox rituals, as you know, are quite bright. Among its mandatory attributes is the burning ceremony, which we will discuss in more detail below.
What is censing
The meaning of the word "incense" is quite simple. It means to burn a fragrance in honor of a deity. Burning has been used in religious ceremonies since ancient times and was a form of sacrifice. In fact, nothing has changed to date. In Judaism, this rite came, in all likelihood, from the Middle Eastern paganism, where it was very popular. The Tanakh, that is, the Hebrew Bible, contains detailed instructions on how the censer should look like, what kind of incense to put in it, and how to perform the rite itself. Incense - for a believing Jew means to worship God, proclaim his glory and fulfill one of his commandments. However, only members of the priestly corporation did this by special right and at a special time. The Bible also contains an instructive story about how two priests burned the wrong incense, which caused the Lord to be angry and cursed at them - that's how seriously they took this in ancient times. After the Temple in Jerusalem wasdestroyed (and in the Jewish religion there can be only one temple - in Jerusalem), this ritual was forgotten, since the laity do not have the right to perform it. But it was preserved in Christianity, although initially it was not there. Censing - for Christians of the first centuries of our era meant to become like the pagans, who loved this ritual very much. It was the attachment of the Greeks and Romans to this ritual that turned the followers of Christ away from it, who saw it as idolatry. Gradually, however, their position changed. It all started with the developed tradition of funeral prayers, when an unbearable smell came from a decomposing body. They began to drown it out during the memorial service by burning incense, which soon acquired a ritual character. Thus incense penetrated into the Christian cult. Censing is for the modern Orthodox the same as praying to God. Many believers are not only present at the censing in the temple, but also perform it themselves at home with the help of special devices.
Parallels in other religions
Almost all religions have something similar to censing. To incense is to offer a special gift to the deity, which is both material and spiritual. The closest parallel to Christian censing is the tradition of burning incense sticks in Buddhism and Hinduism. Similar ceremonies are also known in the folk religions of the tribes of Africa and America.
