www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Faith & Theology Insense at home questions?.

How long does one small charcoal usually last at an icon corner?. How would you use a censor in a small room with an icon corner, without overdoing the insense. Basically how much insense and what do you use to extinguish the charcoal after prayers are said.

I light the incense charcoal outside on the back porch to allow it to heat up (concerns of carbon monoxide poisoning here).

I then place a small bit of incense on the heated coal and bring it inside and start doing the incensing/prayers and ensure each icon is venerated. (I either use Psalm 50/51 or individual prayers from the heart).

Once done, I take the incense burner back outside, place a bit more incense on the coal, and take it into each room of the house requesting a blessing.

Upon completion, I take the incense burner back outside on the porch, and allow the charcoal to finish burning out, at which point, I later dispose of it in my outside small trash can.

This leaves the house fragant, without overwhelming you, especially in a small room, but the room will have the presence of some fragrence/smoke in it. :-)

I would love to hear how others do this.

In Christ,

Michael

I grab the charcoal from the top with a pair of tongs, then hold it upside down while using a butane lighter to light the perimeter of the top (although now the bottom) of the charcoal. Once the perimeter glows red, I know it has "caught", and I can place the charcoal face-up in the censer. It is usually ready for use immediately, and will still be usable for about 2 1/2 hours, although after two hours I find a few puffs of breath help re-heat the coal enough to get the incense going.

I'm more concerned about fire than the carbon monoxide content of a single coal. The coals I use tend to shower glowing embers, so I make sure there are no combustibles in the area where the embers are likely to land.

One kernel of incense should be adequate for your purposes.

To extinguish the coal, simply close the censer, and it will extinguish from lack of oxygen quite quickly. I usually just let the coal stay in the censer until the next time I need it. That way I don't have to worry about whether the coal is cool enough to discard or not.

Depending on the size of your coal, I often break mine into quarters. I agree with the previous poster that one rock of insence will normally do quite well (depending on the type of insense you have). A small piece of coal is sufficient to burn one rock. And this way your coal supply last longer too.

My first suggestion is... experiment. Start small; Achieving a "Holy Fog" may be fun, but you may not want to live in it (and the neighbours may call the fire department).

My second suggestion is... DON'T USE CHEEP INSENSE. Good insence may cost more but it will insire you to prayer easier, it is a more fitting sacrafice to God, and it will not burn your eyes and cause you to choke.

Fr. Bo

Can someone tell me where I can go to get the incense and the container for it? (ie. What kind of store should I go?)

Slava Isusu Khrestu

Try the link to Eastern Christian Supply

http://www.easternchristiansupply.biz/map.cgi

Z Bohom
Unworthy
Nycholaij

Slava Isusu Khrestsu

Hello Again

Try also Holoviak's Church Supply, Inc.
Online Catalog



http://www.holoviak.com/acatalog/

Z Bohom
Unworthy
Nycholaij

yes, indeedy, by all means, PROPER VENTILATION!!!!!
when using incense at home, use your common (in)cense.
Much Love,
Jonn

Get a wooden handle! The brass one will get hot really quickly. The extra couple dollars for the wooden handle is worth it.

The metal handle can be an issue. My metal handle made the censer all but unusable. However, when the censer is open I found that the cross adorning the top of the censer pointed down and made a convenient and cool handle.

Fr. Bo,

Barekmor.

Which supplier do you recommend? There is a site called Mt. Sinai Orthodox Church products [msocp.com], but I don't know their background. I don't want to buy from that Gnostic group which claims to be authentic.

Also, I have read that a Japanese company makes very high quality clean burning charcoal, it's called Shoyeido's Ceremonial Charcoal, certainly more expensive but for those who can afford.

What other brands do you or others recommend?

The very cheap ones tend to burn quickly and smell strong, almost overpowering the incense.

I picked up some very nice Omani incense in Dubai, it was fairly inexpensive compared to what it costs in the States and smells very citrusy, not bad at all.

I typically buy mine at a store called "Universal Church Supply" in Edmonton, but the better stuff I get from a parishioner.

One of my early posts when joining this forum was also about this insense. It was called " what kind of insence do you recommend? " and was first posted on September 24 2005. I am not sure if hitting this will link you to it, if so, great. If not perhaps someone else can make the link to that thread. Anyway there were some good recomendations.

God bless,
Fr. Bo

P.S. what does "Barekmor" mean?

Bless, my Lord.

Dear Mir,

Our parish uses Gloria #8 incense made by the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese of America. It is a very beautiful blend of rose and lavender. I purchased a pound about two years ago, and have quite a lot left. Here is the link:

http://www.acrod.org/incense.html

In Christ,

Michael

Slava Isusu Khrestu

If you desire only the perfume of the incense and minimum "fog" place the tiny piece of incense along side the charcoal but not touching. Our priest does so and the aroma fill the temple with minimum of fog and those who choke ( usually at everything even and empty kadylo ) are happy ...well...maybe.... not as miserable

Z Bohom
Unworthy
Nycholaij