Divine Liturgy
What is the Raising of Incense?
Incense Before The Liturgy
The Raising of Incense is a prayer service in which the priest offers incense before God while the Church prays thanksgiving, litanies, hymns, and readings. It is served in the evening as Vespers and in the morning as Matins.
Incense is not decoration. Scripture connects incense with prayer, and the rite teaches the people to stand before God with repentance, thanksgiving, and intercession.
Let my prayer be set before You as incense, the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.
What You May See
You may see the priest open the sanctuary curtain, pray the Lord’s Prayer and Thanksgiving Prayer, place incense in the censer, process around the altar
The movement of the censer, the altar, the icons, and the people all teach that prayer is offered to God on behalf of the whole Church.
Why It Comes Before The Liturgy
The Raising of Incense prepares the Church for the Eucharistic service. It gathers the people into prayer before the readings and before the gifts are offered. It also helps a visitor understand why incense appears again during the readings and other parts of the Liturgy.
If you are unsure what to do, stand prayerfully if you are able and follow the people around you. Ask a deacon afterward to point out where the incense service begins and ends.
- Coptic Rites (1): Raising of Incense, Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States. Teaching slides on incense, prayer, liturgical order, and reverent participation.
- Coptic Rites (3): Liturgy of the Word, Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States. Teaching slides on the Pauline, Catholic Epistle, Praxis, Synaxarium, Gospel litany, Creed, and related rites.
- Coptic Rites (4): Liturgy of the Believers, Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States. Teaching slides on the Anaphora, institution narrative, invocation of the Holy Spirit, consecration, litanies, and Communion.
- Coptic Liturgies, Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States. Overview of the Divine Liturgy, the three Coptic liturgies, and the principal parts of the Eucharistic service.
Raising of Incense: A Coptic service of psalms, doxologies, litanies, absolutions, and incense, commonly prayed in Vespers and Matins.
Incense: Fragrant offering used in worship as a biblical sign of prayer rising before God, especially around the altar, Gospel, icons, clergy, and faithful.
Vespers: The evening prayer service, often joined to the Raising of Incense, preparing the Church to enter the coming liturgical day in prayer.
Matins: The morning prayer service, often joined to the Raising of Incense before the Divine Liturgy on Sunday morning.
Intercession: Prayer offered on behalf of another. The Church asks the saints to pray with and for us because they are alive in Christ.
Sanctuary: The set-apart altar area of the church, entered by appointed clergy and altar servers according to the rite because it is ordered around the holy mysteries.
Censer: The vessel that holds burning coal and incense during prayer. Its movement helps express prayer rising to God and reverence for the Gospel, altar, and people.
Altar: The holy table in the sanctuary where the Eucharistic gifts are offered and consecrated, treated with reverence as the center of liturgical worship.