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Joined: Aug 2005
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Recently in my parish I have bought a box of insence. It's okay, not cheep, but not as nice as I have seen and smelled elsewhere.

WHAT INSENCE DO YOU RECCOMEND? (I do have a budget to keep, but I prefer quality to people complaining about their eyes burning, their throats drying up, and a sudden rash of insence related allergies in the parish)

Where do you get yours from? (Can it be ordered online?)

Do you swich your insence during fasts and/or feasts?

Kadylo
(Yes, it is ironic that I call myself "Kadylo" and I ask a basic question about insence.)

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Holy Cross Hermitage is my preferred source for both home and parish. The website is http://www.holycross-hermitage.com and click on "Incense" on the right.

Here's my usual incense "cycle": Orange Blossom for usual Sundays; Rose or Iveron for feasts of the Theotokos; Cassia or frankincense for fasts and feasts of the Cross; and Imperial Violet for Pascha, Ascension, Pentecost, Theophany, Christmas seasons and other similar great feasts of the Lord.

I haven't tried all of theirs, but I am sure all are wonderful and you make like to make your own selections for various feasts and fasts. It is the best incense I have yet found.

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Greetings Kadylo.

We use Glora F-8 incense at our parish. It really cut down on the coughing and sneezing. It is a divine scent (rose and lavender). I believe it is purchased from our beloved bretheren at the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese. Here is the link:

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

Please contact the Diocese and give this one a try. It is a winner.

Father Deacon Diak, thank you for the information on Holy Cross's incense. I look forward to trying some at home, if possible.

In Christ,

Michael

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Dear Kadylo,
If you are in the USA the best incense on the market is sold by Holy Transfiguration Monastery in Boston - accept no substitutes. But here are some general criteria:

a) no chemicals and no artificial ingredients! This is the garbage which causes some people to react badly to incense.

b) genuine, natural, and therefore expensive aromatic oils from real flowers.

The sense of smell is beyond doubt the most subtle sense in the human nervous system. Fragrances can be quite powerful (they can also be over-powering, but that's an entirely different discussion). I recommend having at least three different fragrances available for your church: for Sundays and feast days, for fast days, for Great Lent, for Holy Week, for Pascha, and for the feast of the Church or some similar occasion (yes, I know that's more than three).
If you ask them nicely, Holy Transfiguration will sell you a "sampler" package so that you can sit down with your Pastor, your deacon and anyone else whom the pastor wants involved and decided what would be nice for each need.

Enjoy!

Incognitus

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Slava Isusu Christu!

Like Diak, we use Holy Cross Incense here in Homer Glen. As an acolyte I can vouch for it.

Blachernae Rose and Imperial Violet are two of my personal favorites.

In Christ,

John

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Thanks for the tip Incognitus. Have any favorites?

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How does one go about using a sampler? Do you light a few up in different rooms and then pick a room?

Kadylo

P.S. Incognitus: I am the pastor. smile

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Dear Father Kadylo,
I have lots of favorites - they're really all good. Get the sampler set, sample at your leisure, and select what you like.
Oddly enough, one can get into an argument over the charcoal. I prefer the self-lighting kind; others do not. Each to his own taste.

Incognitus

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Try the Gloria brand. It is distributed by the ACROD and is a very potent, traditional blend that comes both in a rock form as well as a powder. Go to the ACROD website and click on the link for Christ the Savior bookstore.

Ungcsertezs

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I've purchased some Gloria F-8 for use in my home Kadillo. It's a very good smelling incense. I can remember some of the stuff we used when I was an altar boy...Yeech!!! I got it online from Holoviaks church supply. I think they are the cheapest price on the net for a one pound bag. Try it, you'll like it.


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