Andcross Orthodox online store offers a wide range of Orthodox products - gift sets, icons, icon cases, books, monastery candles, jewelry and much more. Some of the products of our own production, as well as from other suppliers - monasteries, temples, masters of the entire Orthodox world.
Andcross Orthodox Online Store - Established in 1999
Especially for those people who admire antique Russian jewelry, the online store Andcross suggests a wide assortment of gorgeous jewelry, created according to ancient Russian technologies using various methods and traditions.
The excavations carried out by the archaeologists in the 10-15th centuries in Veliky Novgorod and other towns in Kievan’ Rus, became an inspiration for the creation of jewelry in an ancient Rus’ style. The historical sources of jewelry are:
These jewelry works of art are made almost without the use of any technical devices, manually and fully of ecologically clean materials. Every jewelry accessory is created with great love by a jeweler who is absolutely happy about his job. The collection of jewelry is quite extensive and diverse. Here you can find bracelets of different construction and width, earrings of a standard shape, all kinds of necklaces with a unique ornament, to be exact:
All the jewelry that can be found on the website, is made of brass or copper.
In the days of the ancient Egyptian religion and until the end of the Middle Ages, aromatic resins were used in natural or powdered form. Frankincense used In Christian practice wasn’t mixed with anything, or it was combined with myrrh or styrax. The Book of Exodus (30:34) contains a description of one of the recipes.
The passage focuses on the fact that God told Moses to take the same amount of each incense (gum resin, onycha, galbanum, and pure frankincense) and being a perfumer to produce incense from them by grinding everything into a fine powder. Then it was to be placed in front of the Ark of the Covenant in the place for sacrifices, where God would appear to Moses and which later would become a great shrine for people.
In the XVII century in Greece, the monasteries of Mount Athos began to produce incense different from others, which became the standard in all Orthodox churches. At first, it was a powder of frankincense resin mixed with aromatic myrrh oil in the form of balls. Following the recipe of the Athos frankincense, various other monasteries and private businesses have created their own recipes, which have been kept secret. According to these recipes, various aromatic mixtures are made with Boswellia resin, as well as pistachio, juniper, pine, cypress, the Amboyna pine and other trees resins. To make it, you should make a thick “dough” from powdered resin, adding essential oils, other fragrant substances, and warm water. After the dough is ready, it is sprinkled with magnesium carbonate so that it does not stick, and rolled into a layer, which is then cut into cubes. They are dried for two weeks and then packed.
The resins are burned using charcoal or special devices.
There are safety measures:
Burning incense candles which are made of frankincense, charcoal, and aromatic components are considered traditional in Orthodoxy. In the Russian tradition, they are called burning incense candles or monashenki (nuns).
During the pre-revolutionary period, these candles were used at home. With their help, a blissful atmosphere was created in the house and you could sense the smell of the church, which could be easily recognized.
In practice, charcoal and frankincense separately are not as convenient to use as burning incense candles.
They are also convenient to use when performing short religious services.
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