The answer in the Orthodox Church is built into every service:
Gold is a predominant tone of Church construction: Icons, the iconostasis, the gold domes of Russian Churches. It is the color of the kingdom of heaven, and justly accorded a place in the Church. I offer as one example the interior of the church only two blocks from where Kellie and I live.
Frankincense is used in every service as a reminder of the presence of the Holy Spirit. The Orthodox Church brings, by the bell-clad sensor, the sweet smell of prayer to the nose of all who enter, harkening to the first gift laid before Christ in the manger.
Finally, and most miraculously, myrrh will on occasion stream from icons or holy relics of the Church. Of course, my rational, scientific mind resisted this idea for a long time. By God's grace I finally smelled the sweet fragrance of myrrh taken from an icon of the Mother of God on Mount Athos in Greece. Father Michael, who visited this holy place, said that this sweet-smelling oil (preserved on a cotton ball) remained fragrant for over twenty years, and remains so even to this day. It is a common occurrence in Church history for myrrh to stream from the eyes of icons, as tears; it is a gift of the heavenly realm to us on earth.
No comments:
Post a Comment