Weihrauch

Kultische Verwendung

Alte Welt

The use of incense dates back to ancient times but the origin is uncertain. It may have originated in Sumerian and Babylonian cultures, where the gum, resins of aromatic trees, were imported from the Arabian and Somali coasts to be used in religious ceremonies. Its use was common in the pagan worship rituals of the ancient Greeks, Egyptians, Phoenicians, Assyrians, and Babylonians. In the Roman period there were cases of Christians being martyred for refusing to offer incense to idols.

Judentum

Incense was used as a perfumed offering on the altar of incense in the time of the Tabernacle and in the First and Second Temple periods, being an important component of priestly liturgy in the Temple in Jerusalem. The incense offered in the Temple is described in the Book of Exodus as a mixture of stacte, onycha, galbanum and frankincense.

       "And the Lord said to Moyses: Take for yourself spices - oil of myrrh, onycha, galbanum that is sweet and translucent frankincense, each shall be in equal proportion. And they will make it incense, perfumed work of a perfumer, mixed, pure, holy work. And you shall beat some of it small and place it before the witnesses in the tent of witness, there where I shall be known to you. It shall be a holy of holies for you. Incense according to this mixture you shall not make for yourselves. It is to you something made holy to the Lord. Whoever makes such as this, so as to be scented with it, shall perish from his people." Exodus 30:34-38 (Septuagint).[2] 

Thus in accordance with Old Testament tradition, incense is used in every Church service. It is burned as an offering to God even as it was in the days of the First and Second Jewish temples.

Siehe auch

• Weihrauchfass

Weblinks

• OrthodoxWiki: Incense (englisch, 31.05.15)

Einzelnachweise

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anbetet in Geist und Wahrheit S. 170