(At the consecration of a monastic church dedicated to St. Macarius, the Coptic patriarch Benjamin I, 622-661, relates) When I had finished the divine service and communicated the clergy, I saw again a great grace which I must not hide from thee. For when the old men came up for communion, I saw a vapour of incense ascending like perfume from their mouths, so that I thought that each one of those fathers and monks carried incense when he came up to communion. Then the roof of the church opened, and that perfume ascended from it. And I observed their mouths as they prayed when they approached the Lamb, and I saw the words and the incense which issued from their mouths ascending to heaven. So I was assured then that it was their petitions and their prayers, which they uttered when the received the Holy Mysteries, which are the Body and Blood of the pure Lord Jesus Christ.
And I saw the angels receiving those prayers of theirs, and carrying them up before the throne of the Lord. And, on account of the power of their prayers and supplications, I thought: Verily this is the golden candlestick holding the lamp; and this is the precious jewel; and this is the morning star which rises and shines upon the whole world. And I sang the hymn of the three young men, Ananias, Azarias, and Misael, which they recited in the furnace of burning fire: Blessed art Thou O Lord, God of our fathers, and praised and glorified for ever. And blessed in truth is the Lord, the God of these saints, by whom and by whose like He directs the world. This is the meeting-place of angels, and the harbor of all the souls which flee to God, the Deliverer of all souls. Then I glorified and thanked the Lord Jesus Christ, who made me worthy to witness what I saw.
Severus ibn al-Muqaffa
History of the Patriarchs, 14 (247-248)
