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Part IV: Dogma and Ritual Questions · 34

Was the Use of Incense Abolished in the New Testament?

Faith Q&A › Many Years with People's Questions › Part IV

The question

Some people say that incense was used to get rid of the smell of blood during the sacrifices in the Old Testament, so that when the blood sacrifices were abolished in the New Testament, the use of incense was consequently abolished. Is this true?

The answer

This is not true. The offering of incense was something on its own, which the priest could do without performing a sacrifice.

When God struck the tribe of Israel with the plague, Moses ordered Aaron, the chief priest, to raise the incense and to stand between the living and the dead. And on account of the offering of incense, God accepted their intercession and put an end to the plague. (Num. 16..48) On this occasion no sacrifice was made, and there was no smell of blood to be disguised. Incense was just used alone.

There was also a separate altar called 'the altar of incense' (Ex. 30. 1), which Aaron lit each morning and evening so that there would always be incense before the Lord, and this had no connection with the sacrifices.

The incense was considered a sacrifice on its own. Thus the place where it was offered was called 'the altar of incense'.

We read of the priest Zechariah when the angel announced to him that Elizabeth would give birth to John the Baptist that: "when Zechariah's division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. " (Luke 1:8) and "an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense." (Luke 1:11)

So incense on its own could constitute a sacrifice, and there didn't have to be a blood sacrifice which would need to have its smell taken away by any incense.

We observe the same in the New Testament in the Book of Revelation.

There is an angel who offers a lot of incense with the prayers of the saints: " Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. 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) There were no blood

sacrifices involved. There was also the incense offered by the twenty four elders (Rev. 5:8). This was something independent, and was not accompanied by any animal sacrifice, and this remained in existence in the New Testament.

The raising of incense was not a ceremony only connected with animal sacrifice and conditioned by it, but was a spiritual activity, like the prayers of the saints, having an effectiveness all on its own.

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Thrice-Blessed Pope Shenouda III of Blessed Memory

Thrice-Blessed Pope Shenouda III of Blessed Memory, Many Years with People's Questions, Part IV: Dogma and Ritual Questions. Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate. Translated by Mrs. Glynis Younan, London. Revised by Mrs. Wedad Abbas. First edition, August 1992. Revised COEPA 1997. ISBN 977-5319-0-2-1.