Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://dx.doi.org/10.18688/aa166-2-12
Title Swinging Thuribles in Early Byzantine Churches in the Holy Land.
Author email vitfan@hotmail.com
About author Fanny Vitto — field and research archaeologist. Israel Antiquities Authority, POB 586, Jerusalem 91004, Israel.
In the section Eastern Christian Art DOI10.18688/aa166-2-12
Year 2016 Volume 6 Pages 119123
Type of article RAR Index UDK 7.033.2...1 Index BBK 85.13
Abstract

The use of swinging thuribles for incense burning is a familiar scene in the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches. The practice of incense burning in religious ceremonies predates Christianity by thousands of years, and the Old Testament, for example, contains numerous references to it. As early as the 4th century A.D., literary sources described the practice of burning incense during the church services in the Holy Land. Several examples of bronze bowls with no lid, suspended by three chains, have been discovered in Early Byzantine churches in the Eastern Mediterranean or are depicted on mosaics of contemporaneous churches in Ravenna and in present-day Jordan. Unlike the Catholic Church, the Eastern Church continued using uncovered swinging thuribles for many centuries.

Keywords
Reference Fanny Vitto. Swinging Thuribles in Early Byzantine Churches in the Holy Land.. Actual Problems of Theory and History of Art: Collection of articles. Vol. 6. Eds: Anna V. Zakharova, Svetlana V. Maltseva, Ekaterina Yu. Stanyukovich-Denisova. St. Petersburg, NP-Print Publ., 2016, pp. 119–123. ISSN 2312-2129. http://dx.doi.org/10.18688/aa166-2-12
Publication Article language english
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