Someone close has died… Sooner or later we
all encounter the mysterious phenomenon of death. And every decent person, by
measure of his power and opportunities, tries to give the deceased his last
due, to worthily send him off on the path of the whole earth. We attend to
obtaining a coffin, to organizing the funeral, to planning the funeral repast.
But we sometimes do not realize that the deceased himself does not need either the coffin nor the meal. Naked a person leaves his
mother’s womb, naked he returns to the womb of the earth. Only one thing he
needs, and needs it extremely. That is prayer. After the body’s death God
designates a place for the soul until the Final Judgment — either heaven or
hell, depending on how he had lived his life. Prayers for the repose of the
dead, panihidas and commemorating at the liturgy greatly help the soul in the
other world.
There is tale in the Lives of the Saints about
the Venerable Macarius the Great, who prayed for everyone who departed for the
other world. Once he saw a skull in the desert, which by the power of God
related to Macarius that through his prayers, even the worst sinners receive
some relief from their sufferings.
The first and immutable responsibility of each
believer is the ordering of a funeral service for his deceased relative. One
can display economy anywhere, only not on the funeral service! It must be
performed no sooner than the third day of death (the day of death is considered
the first day, even if the person died just before midnight);
it is better, if the service occurs in church or at the cemetery. In an extreme
case a funeral service can be performed in absentia. The deceased must be
buried in the earth at all cost. Cremation is foreign to Orthodox ritual,
borrowed from the eastern cultures. Even if the deceased willed to have himself
cremated, going against his will is not a sin.
On the 9th and 40th days
after death panihidas must be ordered—prayers for forgiveness of the sins of
the deceased. Particularly important is the 40th day, on which the
personal judgment of God is carried out over the soul, determining its fate
until the Second Coming of Christ. Prayers for the repose will be more
effective, if any one of the relatives of the deceased partakes of the
Eucharist on these commemorative days. Panihidas should be served in the future
as well, on birthdays, the day of death, the saint’s day of the deceased.
Writing altar pleas, putting up candles can be done every day. At the cemetery,
one must not insult the memory of the deceased by becoming drunk or pouring
vodka on the gravesite. It is better to light a candle, to pray, to clean up
the grave. At home, at the commemorative repast, Russians partake of special
food — kutia (rice with honey or raisins), yeast-raised pancakes (blini), kisel
(flummery).
If the deceased during his life was a believer,
did not disparage God or the Church, confessed his deadly sins, long-term
memorial services are ordered in the Church — for forty days (sorokoust), six
months or a year. Monasteries accept "eternal" (while the monastery
stands) remembrances.
Can an Orthodox Funeral Service be Performed for People of
Other Faiths?
This question has been raised many times. Notice, that the question is not whether one can at least pray for
a deceased person of another faith, but can funeral services or panihidas be
served for them. It is vital to differentiate between these two
inquiries: just prayers for deceased persons of other faiths, and the
performance of an Orthodox rite for them. Personal, in-home prayer for
non-Orthodox persons is not forbidden, one can remember them at home, read
psalms at their gravesite, offer alms for the remembrance of their soul… But
the Orthodox funeral rite and panihidas are constructed in the certainty that
the deceased and the one for whom the service is being held is a true member of
the Orthodox Church.
In protecting the purity of its Orthodox
teachings and the order of life established by God, the Church has always
forbidden bishops, clerics and laity to join in prayerful association not only
in the church, but even at home with all heretics, schismatics, and
excommunicants. The strictness with which the Church guarded its children from
the danger of being infected by some heresy even extended to forbidding
hierarchs to pray or serve even in the presence of heretics. The basis for this
canonical rule lies in the eternal word of Christ: "But if he neglect to
hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen
man and a publican" (Matthew 18:17).
Being without the Church in life, heretics and schismatics are even farther
from it in death, because then they lose the ability
to repent and turn to the true light.
So it is perfectly natural that the Church cannot
bring the mollifying bloodless offering or any prayer at all for non-Orthodox:
this last is clearly forbidden according to the Apostle (1 John 5:16). In keeping with the commandments of the
apostles and holy fathers, the Church prays only for the repose of Orthodox
Christians who died in faith and repentance, as living members of the Body of
Christ. This includes those, who might have fallen away at one time, but
repented and returned to the Church.
Remaining true in all ways to the ancient Universal
Church, our Russian Orthodox Church
not only forbade funeral services for non-Orthodox — Roman Catholics,
Protestants, Armenians, etc., but even to perform panihidas for them. Out of
Christian mercy it only began to permit one condescension in relation to them:
if the non-Orthodox is of "Christian faith," and for their burial
there is no priest or pastor of their faith available, then an Orthodox priest
may, in his vestments, accompany the body of the deceased to the cemetery and,
during singing of "Holy God…" preside at the lowering of the coffin
into the grave. Taking a body of a non-Orthodox person into an Orthodox Church
is not permitted.
The expanse of Orthodox Christian love, in the
name of which some demand to allow church prayers for deceased Christians of
any faith, cannot extend to disregard for Orthodox teachings of faith, a
treasure which our Church has protected in the course of centuries. Otherwise
all boundaries will be erased, which separate the One
True Church
from those who are torn from the blessed unity with it.
From everything said here, it is clear that
Church prayers are even more greatly forbidden for deceased Muslims, Buddhists,
Jews and people of faiths, which do not recognize the Lord Jesus Christ.
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