02.11.2013

Now the Church is discussing a draft conciliar document "On the Christian burial of the departed." The funeral service in absentia is one of the church practices that causes controversy. We asked priests from Moscow, Kiev, Tobolsk and Lisbon to express their opinion about this type of funeral service.

Archpriest Vladimir Divakov, Secretary of the Moscow Diocese, Rector of the Church of the Ascension of the Lord ("Great Ascension") in Storozhi, Moscow:

- The practice of a funeral service in absentia is absolutely necessary, because relatives do not always have the opportunity to organize a regular funeral service.

If a person drowned, died in a fire, during some natural Disasters or died in the distance, abroad, relatives do not have the opportunity to bury him in the way they would like and how it should be done. But if they know that he was an Orthodox Christian and they themselves want to offer up prayers for him, the possibility of performing a funeral service in absentia cannot be ruled out.

Another thing is that it is impossible to allow absentee funerals to be put on stream when they are ordered, for example, only because it is expensive and problematic to transport the body of the deceased to the temple. This is a completely different situation.

But there is a worse phenomenon: when at morgues random persons who are forbidden to serve or who have never been in dignity offer to perform a funeral service so that relatives do not spend money on the road to the temple. The Russian people are gullible, seeing a man in vestments, people think that there is a priest in front of them, and they agree, and as a result, not a funeral service is performed over the deceased, but some kind of indistinct muttering. And this phenomenon is much worse than the practice of absentee funerals.

Archpriest Vladimir Vigilyansky, Rector of the Church of the Holy Martyr Tatyana at Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov, Moscow:

− The document under discussion speaks about the practice of the funeral service in absentia absolutely correctly, but too abstractly. Indeed, this is a legacy of the Soviet past, when people were afraid of open confession, they were afraid that they would find out that the deceased and his relatives were “secret” believers, and so on. In exceptional cases, this is quite legitimate. I, like many priests, had the experience of a funeral service in absentia. For example, one of the parishioners of our temple was a test pilot who burned down along with the plane during a test. Relatives ordered the funeral, and I had no arguments to refuse them.

Archpriest Alexander Ageikin, Rector of the Epiphany Cathedral in Yelokhovo, Moscow:

- We discussed the document on the Christian burial of the dead with the priests of our deanery, and we had many questions about the possibility of a categorical ban on conducting absentee funerals.

Of course, such a ban cannot take place, because we still have cases when a person dies in the sea, in a fire or during a mountain climb. There are people who have gone missing and it is clear that they will not return home alive. If we don't have a funeral service in absentia, how can we do it?

Unfortunately, today the practice of the funeral service in absentia sometimes takes unpious forms and turns into a kind of “rite with enchanted land.” As you know, after the usual funeral service is performed, the deceased is buried in the ground, and after the correspondence ceremony, relatives are given some land, over which the priest said prayers. And you can often hear such a dialogue: “Can I order an absentee funeral from you?” - It is possible. - "And when to come for the land?". It is not interesting for a person to be present at the funeral service, to participate in it, his goal is to get this “spellbound land” in order, as people say, to “seal the coffin”, to arrange a certain rite correctly. In this regard, the rite of the funeral service in absentia is overgrown with a mass of superstitions, as if it were some kind of magical act, and the purpose of the funeral service is to collect loving people, friends, relatives at the coffin of the deceased, so that they could hear, as it were, the last word of the deceased addressed to them (after all, part of the funeral chants is spoken on behalf of the deceased), pray together, reconcile with the person for not paying him due attention, for a long time did not see , they allowed mistakes, insults and quarrels to interfere in relations with him ... This is to some extent the rank of forgiveness, which is asked from the deceased at his coffin.

And today, in very rare cases, relatives gather to pray at the funeral service in absentia.

And since the priest has to perform the funeral alone in an empty church, a vicious practice arises when he accumulates absentee funerals in order to perform them in one list, and sometimes he waits for a real “full-time” deceased in order to add the names of those in absentia to his funeral. All this completely kills the meaning of the funeral, and after all, once the monastic brethren called the funeral the Sacrament.

It happens that a person orders a funeral service in absentia, because the deceased began to dream about him. And when you ask what the goal is, it turns out that he just wants the deceased to leave him behind, stop appearing and torturing him. That is, a person seeks to facilitate the existence of not the deceased, but himself.

A separate group of problems, which should also be mentioned in the document, concerns funerals in morgues. Recently, a woman who ordered a funeral for her mother at the mortuary contacted me, and she was horrified, because the funeral was performed at lightning speed, so when it began, it became clear that this was not a funeral at all. Funerals at morgues often turn into a kind of marathon: it is not clear who bury the dead in 10-12 minutes. The woman who came to me was completely upset, and after listening to her, I put on an epitrachelion, took a censer and performed an absentee funeral for her deceased mother.

Hegumen Arseny (Sokolov), rector of the Church of All Saints, Lisbon:

- It is well known that new tradition, which does not correspond to the general church tradition. Its beginning dates back to the post-war period, when the relatives of the dead despaired of waiting for the missing soldiers. I think that a funeral service in absentia is permissible only in those cases when it is impossible to do it in person, when it is not known where the body of the deceased Christian is. I have lived by the ocean for many years. Very often it is reported about the dead in the water element, and rescue services do not always find their bodies. What to do if relatives ask for a burial service for the drowned and not found? This is the case when an absentee funeral is permissible. Absentee funerals are the extreme exception; they should not be the norm.

Archimandrite Sylvester (Stoichev), senior assistant to the rector of the Kiev Theological Academy for educational and methodological work, cleric of the Academic Church of the Nativity of the Virgin, Kiev:

- The appearance of a draft document, which is dedicated to the Christian burial of the dead, is very timely, because it is well known how many unacceptable distortions in the understanding of this action take place not only among the laity, but even among the clergy.

The draft document indicates two practices that require careful consideration - the so-called "absentee funeral" and cremation.

It should immediately be clarified that, ideally, neither one nor the other should be, but the realities of life make their own adjustments, and the task of the clergy is to minimize all kinds of incorrect opinions and practices regarding burial.

When it comes to the funeral service in absentia, I consider it important to explain to believers that the funeral service is not magical in nature: the funeral service - the soul is at peace, not the funeral service - the soul is tormented. With this approach, in addition to a misunderstanding of the essence of the rite, the funeral itself is understood as obligatory, but still a private affair of the relatives of the deceased. From this, the realization is lost that a believer, a member of the Church, cannot have a private matter, for everything that happens in the Church is a common cause that unites, not divides.

The principle of unity permeates the entire life of the Church. In the succession of many Sacraments, especially Baptism, it is clear that the conciliar mind of the Church conceives what is being performed not as a private event, but as the work of the entire community, the entire Church. This understanding extends to the funeral of the deceased. It is enough to read the text of the burial rite to understand how much this text does not agree with the funeral service in absentia! The call to look at the deceased, to understand the meaning of a person, to realize the human weakness that appeared due to the fall, and to testify to faith in God, who will resurrect everyone on the Day of Judgment - this is the meaning of these lines. During the funeral service in absentia, the words sound as if into the void. They become pointless.

Often there is blatant disrespect: people ask to perform a funeral service in absentia for one of their relatives, but they themselves do not stay!

"In absentia funeral service" should be an exception. This is a forced practice, which should be done only in those cases that are very correctly indicated in the draft document.

Archpriest Andrey Dudchenko, Cleric of the Transfiguration Cathedral, Kiev:

- In my opinion, the practice of the funeral service in absentia is permissible only in cases where it was not possible to perform the funeral service over the body of the deceased. In the document under discussion, these points are just stipulated. In addition, in modern practice, funerals in absentia are sometimes blessed to be performed in relation to persons who have arbitrarily died, if the bishop deems it possible - as a rule, this applies to those cases when a mentally ill person lays hands on himself or a person in a state of severe passion. I would like the document to assess this practice as well.

From pastoral considerations, I see the correct emphasis in the document on the importance of gathering relatives and friends of the deceased for an absentee funeral. This funeral is called absentee due to the absence of the body of the deceased, but not relatives! Considering the circumstances of our reality, when the majority of the population rarely visits the church and even more rarely hears the priest preach, each funeral service is in many ways a unique opportunity for the priest to convey the gospel word to the circle of relatives and friends of the deceased. Every effort should be made to ensure that the sermon at the funeral does not sound formal, but that the priest is looking for words that will help "reach out" to the hearts of the assembled people.

Archpriest Mikhail Denisov, teacher of the Tobolsk Theological Seminary, rector of the Church of the Seven Youths of Ephesus, Tobolsk:

- At present, it is impossible to completely abandon the practice of funerals in absentia, because we still do not have churches in every settlement, and the Orthodox do not always have the opportunity to invite a priest to the funeral. The presence of relatives is, of course, desirable, but not always possible. There are times when a person is lonely, there are no relatives, he was buried, and compassionate neighbors ask for a funeral service. Or, for example, a person died in a nursing home ...

An absentee funeral is also justified when a person who has become a church member asks for the funeral of his long-dead relatives who were buried without a funeral. In Siberia, this often happens, because temples at Soviet power there was very little here, and in many areas there was none at all.

Prepared by Olga Bogdanova

The first thing to do is complete all the necessary paperwork. Immediately after the death of a person, it is necessary to issue a death declaration form. This is done by the doctor.

If a person died at home during the day, you need to call a local doctor from the clinic, if at night - an ambulance (103 from city and mobile; 130 for MTS and Megafon subscribers). The doctor will issue a death certificate.

In parallel, you need to draw up a protocol for examining the body of the deceased. For this, a police officer is called (102 from the city; from mobile 102 for Beeline subscribers; 120 for MTS and Megafon subscribers). If a person died not at home, police officer will also issue a referral for a forensic autopsy).

Then you need to get a medical certificate of death.

For this you need to take:

death certificate issued by a doctor,
protocol of examination of the body of the deceased, which was issued by a police officer,
medical insurance policy of the deceased,
his outpatient card (if it is on hand),
the passport,
passport of the person who will be engaged in registration,

and go to the clinic at the reception.

In the absence of suspicions of a violent death or non-natural death (accident, suicide, car accident, fall from a height, murder, and so on) and there is a medical record of an outpatient in the district clinic, the district police officer writes out a certificate of non-violent nature of death in the name of the chief physician district clinic to obtain a "Medical death certificate". Relatives or other legal representatives of the deceased must take into account and take into account in advance the possibility of obtaining a “Medical death certificate” at the district clinic.

The district polyclinic has the basis for issuing a "Medical death certificate" in the case of an outpatient medical card, which reflects the dynamic observation of the patient, the established clinical diagnosis, which in itself could cause death. But if since the last observation of the patient has passed long time, the district polyclinic may refuse to issue a "Medical Death Certificate".

If the district polyclinic has no grounds for issuing a “Medical Certificate of Death”, the head doctor of the polyclinic may send the body of the deceased for pathoanatomical examination to the city or district mortuary of a medical institution attached to the polyclinic according to the administrative-territorial principle.

An autopsy may not be required (unless the relatives themselves ask for it), for example, if an old grandmother who was ill for a long time died, or if a person was registered in an oncology clinic, and in many other cases when the natural cause of death is obvious.

If, for some reason, it became necessary, a death certificate is given after an autopsy already in the morgue. Relatives need to call a specialized car to transport the deceased to the morgue (medical workers should know the telephone number of the service), and then contact the morgue with the passports of the deceased and the applicant in order to issue a medical certificate of death.

If a person died at night, the body can be transported to the morgue immediately. In this case, relatives or the police call a specialized car to transport the body of the deceased, and give the employees of this service a death declaration form and a protocol for examining the body of the deceased, and in return they receive a referral form to the clinic, by which you can get an outpatient card of the deceased if it is not on hand. After receiving an outpatient card with a post-mortem epicrisis, you must go to the morgue with the passports of the deceased and the applicant to obtain a medical certificate of death.

If a person died not at home, it is necessary to call a specialized car to transport the body to the morgue at the place of death. Employees of this service will take away the death declaration form, the body examination protocol and the referral for a forensic autopsy. The death certificate will be issued at the morgue.

If a person dies in a hospital, hospital doctors ascertain the death and place the body of the deceased in the hospital morgue, perform an autopsy there, and issue a death certificate there.

Having received the certificate, you need to contact the registry office and obtain a death certificate (form 33) and a stamp death certificate.

After that, if necessary, you can organize a car to transport the body to the morgue at the place of residence, if the body was originally sent to the morgue at the place of death. Without a stamped death certificate, the body cannot be transported to another morgue.

Having received all of the above documents, you need to contact the funeral service and place an order for the provision of funeral services and organization of the funeral. You can place an order in person by contacting the service bureau directly, or you can call an agent to place an order.

If the deceased is at home before the funeral

Today, very few people leave the dead at home, as a rule, the body is transported to the morgue. If the body will remain at home until the funeral, a freezing specialist can be called to the house and embalming (a process that slows down the decomposition of the body) at home can be carried out.

If the body of the deceased remains at home before the funeral, it is customary to wash it after embalming warm water, (if the deceased is a baptized Orthodox) read "Trisagion" or "Lord, have mercy."

After washing, the deceased is dressed in clean, if possible, new clothes. If the deceased is a baptized Orthodox, he must be put on pectoral cross hic.

The washed and cleaned (dressed) body of the deceased is placed on the table and covered with a shroud (white veil). The eyes of the deceased must be closed, the mouth closed (for which, in the very first hours after death, the jaw is tied up, and the bandage is removed before being placed in the coffin). The arms and legs of the deceased are also tied up to give them the proper position during the funeral (arms folded on the chest, and legs stretched out and pressed against each other). If this is not done, in rigor mortis, the muscles and tendons are compressed, and the human body can assume an unnatural posture. Before the funeral, they are usually untied.

When the body of the deceased is washed and removed, they immediately begin to read the canon called "Following the Exodus of the Soul from the Body." If it is not possible to invite a priest to the house, then relatives and friends can read the Follow-up.

Before the position of the deceased in the coffin, the body and the coffin (outside and inside) are sprinkled with holy water.
In the coffin, a small pillow is placed under the head of the deceased, covered up to the waist with a special consecrated cover (funeral coverlet) depicting a cross, images of saints and prayer inscriptions (sold in a church shop), or simply with a white sheet.

V left hand a funeral cross is placed on the deceased, a holy icon is placed on the chest: according to tradition, for men - the image of the Savior, for women - the image of the Mother of God (it is better to buy in a church shop, where everything is already consecrated). Immediately before burial, the icon should be removed - it cannot be buried. You can pick it up and leave it at home, or you can take it to the temple and put it on the canon - a square candlestick in front of the crucifixion, where they put candles for the dead (ask the temple employees), and after 40 days from the date of death of a loved one, pick it up and take it home.

A chaplet is placed on the forehead of the deceased - a symbol of the observance of the faith by the deceased Christian and his accomplishment of a Christian life feat. The crown is placed in the hope that the deceased in the faith will receive the crown of incorruption from God after the resurrection. The rim traditionally depicts the Savior, mother of God and the prophet John the Baptist. The whisk is sold in the church shop.

The coffin with the removed dead is usually placed in the middle of the room in front of domestic icons, with the head towards the icons.

They also light a lamp or a candle, which should burn as long as the deceased is in the house.

How to dress the deceased, putting in a coffin

It used to be customary to dress the deceased in all white, and the funeral clothes were prepared in advance. A man's head was covered with a shroud - a thin scarf with a sharp top and a cloth descending on the back, a woman with a light scarf. Today, it is customary to dress the deceased in everything new, clean. Clothing should be closed, with long sleeves, a small cutout at the neck (without a neckline), the length of the skirt for women should not be higher than the knees.
According to Christian tradition, before burial, the body of the deceased is often dressed in bright clothes - a kind of sign that dormition is not only the sorrow of parting with others, but also the joy of meeting God.

Clothing should fit well. If a person during his lifetime has prepared for himself a suit or dress for a funeral, it is important to fulfill his desire. On the hand of the deceased, if he was married, you can, if desired, leave a wedding ring.

The deceased should be buried in shoes. It is not necessary to buy “white slippers”, just shoes should be.

Military people are usually buried in dress uniform, with awards.

There is a tradition to put books, money, jewelry, food, photographs in the coffin. WITH Orthodox point vision is a relic of paganism, when it was believed that things would continue to matter, they could “be useful” to the deceased in the next world. However, Christians are also convinced that there are “things” necessary for the deceased: the love and prayers of his loved ones for him, their alms and good deeds in his memory.

Deceased in the morgue

If the body of the deceased was taken to the morgue, clean and, if possible, new clothes should be taken there. If the deceased was baptized Orthodox, also everything necessary for the position of the deceased in the coffin: a pectoral cross, a funeral cross in hand, an icon, a funeral shroud, aureole.

For women (according to common civil funeral customs) they bring:
Underwear;
stockings (or tights);
long sleeve dress;
headscarf (not black);
shoes (or slippers);
toilet water, soap, comb, towel (they tie the face of the deceased)

For men:
Underwear;
socks;
razor;
T-shirt, white shirt;
black/grey pantsuit
shoes/slippers
toilet water, soap, comb, towel.

If your deceased is a believer, you can ask the morgue workers to prepare the body for burial, taking into account Orthodox traditions (usually morgue workers know them very well).
At home, they read the canon “Following after the departure of the soul from the body” about the deceased Orthodox, and then the Psalter.

If death occurred within eight days from Easter to Tuesday of St. Thomas' week (Radonitsa), then in addition to "Following the Exodus of the Soul" they read the Easter Canon
In the Orthodox Church, there is a pious custom of continuous reading of the Psalter for the deceased until his burial. The Psalter is also read in the future on the days of commemoration, and especially in the first 40 days after death. During the Easter week (eight days from Easter to Radonitsa) in the Church, the reading of the Psalter is replaced by the reading of the Easter Canon. At home, reading the Psalter over the deceased can also be replaced by the Paschal canon. But if this is not possible, then you can read the Psalter.

Deceased in the temple

It used to be customary to leave the body of the deceased in the temple so that as many loved ones as possible could participate in prayer for the dead, which continued over the coffin all night and ended in the morning with a requiem Liturgy and a funeral service.
If we are not talking about the all-night prayer and the Liturgy, then there is no point in keeping the body in the temple.

If you left your deceased in the temple overnight and were asked to cover the coffin with a lid, there is nothing wrong with that. At the funeral, the lid will be opened, and you will be able to say goodbye to the deceased.

Mourning at home

It is customary to clean the house in which a person died in a special way. The most common custom is to hang mirrors, sometimes to decorate chandeliers with black crepe. All this is nothing more than a tribute to tradition. As well as an even number of flowers brought to the funeral. Such things have no significance for the posthumous fate of the deceased or the life of his relatives.

funeral service

On the third day after the death of the deceased, the deceased is buried (the first day is considered to be the day of death), although due to various circumstances, the day of the funeral can be shifted. If the deceased is a person baptized in the Orthodox faith, he performs the funeral service before burial.

This service is not performed only on the day of Pascha and on the day of the Nativity of Christ.
The funeral service for an Orthodox Christian is performed only once, in contrast to memorial services and litia - funeral services that can be performed many times.

Photo from mpda.ru

It is better to agree on the funeral in advance: come to the temple and contact the church shop or directly to the priest. They will also tell you what to prepare for this. The shop can name the approximate amount of the donation for the funeral service. If there is no such amount, you can leave the money at your own discretion.

For the funeral, the coffin with the body of the deceased is brought into the temple with their feet forward and placed facing the altar, i.e. feet to the east, head to the west.

When performing the funeral service, relatives and friends stand at the coffin with lit candles and pray together with the priest for the soul of the deceased. Candlelight is a symbol of joy, light is also a symbol of life, victory over darkness, an expression of bright love for the deceased and a warm prayer for him. Candles are also reminiscent of those candles that we hold on Easter night, testifying to the Resurrection of Christ.

After the proclamation of "Eternal Memory" or after reading the Gospel, the priest reads a prayer of absolution over the deceased. In this prayer, we ask God for the forgiveness of sins for which the deceased did not have time to repent at confession (or forgot to repent, or out of ignorance). But this does not apply to those sins for which he did not intentionally repent (or did not repent at all at confession). The text of the permissive prayer is placed by the priest in the hands of the deceased.

After that, the mourners, having extinguished the candles, approach the coffin with the body, ask the deceased for forgiveness, kiss the halo on the forehead and the icon on the chest. The body is completely covered with a veil, the priest crosswise sprinkles it with earth. After that, the coffin is covered with a lid and no longer opens. (If relatives want to say goodbye to the deceased at the cemetery, they should tell the priest about it and the priest will give them land with him. At the cemetery, before closing the coffin, the relatives should sprinkle the body covered with a veil with earth crosswise and cover it with a lid).

If the funeral service takes place with the coffin closed, they kiss the cross on the lid of the coffin.
The closed coffin with the singing of the Trisagion is taken out of the temple facing the exit (feet forward).
Perhaps the funeral of two or more people at a time.

According to church canons, the priest performs the funeral in white robes, as in the rite of baptism of a person. This has a symbolic meaning. If baptism is a birth in Christ, then a funeral service is the birth of a soul into Eternal Life. Both of these events are the most important stages of a person's life.

There are no restrictions on participation in the funeral service for children or, as the "popular opinion" claims, pregnant women - no! Any person, if he wants, can come and pray for the deceased.

Whom the Church does not bury

The Church does not bury the dead, who during their lifetime consciously renounced the Christian faith, and suicides, unless the suicide was committed in a state of mental disorder. In this case, a request is made to ruling bishop and a certificate from the psychiatric dispensary, drawn up in the prescribed manner, signed by the head physician, on a special form with a stamp; the bishop, upon consideration, may issue a blessing for an absentee funeral.

You should also contact the bishop if there is any doubt that the deceased committed suicide himself (for example, it could be an accident, death by negligence, etc.).

If it is known for certain that a person committed suicide in the absence of factors that the Church recognizes as mitigating, then you should not try to get the blessing of the bishop by deceit and manipulation. Although it follows from love, nevertheless, deceit will not bring benefit to the soul of the deceased. In this case, it is better to pray intensely at home, to do works of mercy for the sake of the suicide, to give alms for him, that is, to do everything that can bring comfort to his soul.

absentee funeral

If it is not possible to bring the body of the deceased to the temple, and it is also not possible to invite a priest to the house, then an absentee funeral may be performed in the temple. This method of burial appeared in Soviet time when people did not have the opportunity to find or invite a priest for an in-person funeral.

To perform the funeral, one must invite a priest from an Orthodox church, and not use the services of unknown persons offering them.

After completing the funeral service in absentia, relatives are given earth (sand) from the funeral table. The body of the deceased is sprinkled crosswise with this earth. If by this time the deceased is already buried (an absentee funeral can also be performed once, but at any time, regardless of the "statute of limitations" of death), then his grave is sprinkled with earth from the funeral table crosswise.

If the burial of the urn is made in a columbarium (storage of urns with ashes after cremation), then in this case the consecrated earth is poured onto any grave of an Orthodox Christian.

Funeral

Contrary to existing superstition, the coffin with the body of the deceased is supposed to be carried, if possible, to his close relatives and friends. If for some reason (for example, there are no relatives and close men or they are old and not strong enough), you can ask other people to help with the removal of the coffin.

An exception exists only for priests, who should not carry the coffin of a layman, no matter who he is. If a priest is present at the funeral, then he goes ahead of the tomb as a spiritual shepherd.

If the funeral begins from the house, then an hour and a half before the removal of the coffin from the house, the “Following the Exodus of the Soul” is read again over the body of the deceased. If the body of the deceased is in the morgue, then you can read "The Follow-up to the Exodus of the Soul" before the funeral begins anywhere (at home, at the morgue).

The coffin is taken out, turning the face of the deceased towards the exit, i.e. feet forward. Believers sing the Trisagion.

There are a number of superstitions associated with a meeting with a funeral procession: there is an opinion among the people that this is " bad sign". According to church ideas, such a meeting does not have any negative meanings, perhaps for someone a meeting with a procession is an opportunity to pray for a deceased person. The notion that a funeral procession should not cross the road is more related to an expression of respect for the deceased.

Burial can take place at any time of the day, not just in the morning.

Photo from wikipedia.org

In the grave of the deceased, they are placed facing east. As the coffin is lowered, the faithful again sing the Trisagion. All the mourners throw a handful of earth into the grave.

A cross is placed on the grave of a Christian. The grave cross is placed at the feet of the deceased, turning him face side to the west, so that the face of the deceased was directed to the holy cross.

If relatives want to install a monument or tombstone on the grave, the choice of its shape, type, size and decor (even if it contains sacred images) is not regulated in any way church tradition. It can be chosen at your discretion.

By Orthodox canons, the burial of the deceased Christian should not be performed on the day of Holy Easter and on the day of the Nativity of Christ.

Cremation

Cremation is not a traditional way of burial for Orthodox Christians, the most preferred is the burial of the body in the ground. If this is not possible, cremation is acceptable. For the posthumous fate of the deceased, the type of burial does not play any role.

commemoration

After the funeral service in the church and the burial of the body in the cemetery, the relatives of the deceased arrange a memorial meal. This tradition dates back to early Christian times, when alms were distributed to the needy and hungry in memory of the deceased.

A commemoration can be arranged on the third day after death (day of the funeral), on the ninth, fortieth days, six months and a year after death, on the birthday and day of the angel of the deceased (name day).

V weekdays Great Lent commemorations are not performed, but are postponed to the next (forward) Saturday and Sunday. This is done because only on Saturday and Sunday the Divine Liturgies of John Chrysostom and Basil the Great are performed, where the dead are commemorated, as well as memorial services are performed.

Memorial days that fall on the first week after Easter (Bright Week) and on Monday of the second (Thomas) week after Easter are transferred to Radonitsa - the 9th day after Easter, which falls on Tuesday of the second week after Easter. This is a day of commemoration of the dead, specially established by the Church, so that believers can share the joy of Easter with the souls of relatives and friends who died in the hope of the Resurrection and Eternal life.

On Radonitsa, unlike days Bright Week, it is customary to visit cemeteries, clean up the graves (but do not have a meal in the cemetery) and pray.

There are no other restrictions on the organization of commemoration on certain days! Of different kinds the idea that, for example, only suicides are commemorated on Monday, and so on, have nothing to do with church tradition and mean absolutely nothing.

memorial table

For the funeral table, traditional dishes are kutia and funeral pancakes. They are used to start the meal. However, this is just a custom. If you can't cook them, don't worry.

Traditional kutya is made from wheat grains, which are washed and soaked for several hours (or overnight), then boiled until tender. Boiled grains are mixed with honey, raisins, poppy seeds to taste. Honey can first be diluted in water in a ratio of 1/2 and boil wheat grains in the solution, then drain the solution. Rice kutya is prepared in the same way. Loose rice is boiled, then diluted honey or sugar and raisins (washed, scalded and dried) are added to it.

Alcohol is allowed on the memorial table; one of the relatives can make sure that its quantity corresponds to the spirit of the memorial meal, and not to a noisy feast.

For believers, if the commemoration takes place on fasting days (when it is not customary to eat food of animal origin), then the dishes prepared for the memorial meal should be lenten. The rest of the dishes are prepared at the discretion of those who arrange the meal.

The Christian memorial meal begins and ends with a general prayer for the deceased.

Should the deceased have a glass of vodka with bread?

There are many customs associated with the memorial table that have absolutely nothing to do with the church's understanding of the afterlife. For example, there is a custom at the commemoration to put a glass of vodka and a piece of bread, which, as it were, are intended for the person being commemorated (or to drink for the commemoration of the soul of the deceased in the cemetery immediately after the funeral). Often a glass of bread is placed in front of a photograph of the deceased. If it is easier for relatives, no one will forbid them to do it. However, this custom does not reflect any Christian meanings. Whether a glass of vodka with bread will be delivered or not will not affect the posthumous fate of the deceased.

One of the most common customs is not to clink glasses, commemorating the dead, also only “folk”, it does not carry any Christian meanings. When a person's body is buried, the Church invites loved ones and relatives to express their love and good memory for the deceased by praying for his soul.

Church commemoration

According to the faith of the Church, the soul, having separated from the body, goes through ordeals for 40 days - special trials, a test of its earthly life. How the soul passes its posthumous "exam" depends on its fate and residence until the Second Coming of Christ and the Last Judgment.

The soul of a deceased person, when separated from his body at death, retains his mind and will, can regret something, repent, but can no longer change anything in his afterlife, cannot act, because he is separated from the body. As a person dies, so he appears before God. But relatives are able, through their prayers, combined with the prayers of the entire Church, to help their deceased. And first of all - to pass the test in these first 40 days.

About a deceased person on the very first day they read "The Canon of Prayer to Our Lord Jesus Christ and the Most Pure Mother of God, the Mother of the Lord, when the soul is separated from the body of every true believer." It is in the prayer book, you can find the text on the Internet.

Previously, when it was not customary to take the body of the deceased to the mortuary, it was at home, the Psalter was read over it, and the invited priest performed litia. The meaning of this commemoration was that there was a constant prayer for the deceased. Today, when the body of the deceased, as a rule, is in the morgue before the funeral, you can read the Psalter about him at home, as well as order the reading of the Psalter in the monastery.

It is important immediately after the death of a person, before the funeral and burial, to order in the temple or monastery of Sorokoust - in this case, the deceased will be commemorated at the Divine Liturgy for 40 days (when the soul will go through ordeals). It is only necessary to clarify whether the Liturgy is served every day in the church, and if not every day, find one where the Liturgy is served daily - as a rule, these are large city parishes or any monasteries.

Third, ninth, fortieth day

Days special commemoration the deceased - the third, ninth and fortieth after death.
The first day is the day of death itself, even if the person died late in the evening (before midnight). For example, if a person died on March 1, then the ninth day is March 9.

Why are these days so important? A revelation given by an angel to Saint Macarius of Alexandria (395) is known: “When an offering takes place in the Church on the third day, the soul of the deceased receives relief from her angel in sorrow, which it feels from separation from the body; receives because the doxology and offering in the Church of God has been completed for her, which is why hope is born in her. On the third day, He Who rose from the dead on the third day - the God of all - commands, in imitation of His Resurrection, to ascend to heaven for every Christian soul to worship God. Therefore, on the third day, the Church makes an offering and a prayer for the soul.”

“From the third to the ninth day, the soul is shown Paradise, the abodes of the saints. If the soul is guilty of sins, then at the sight of the joy of the saints, it begins to regret its life and reproach itself. On the ninth day, the soul is again ascended by angels to worship God.

After the second worship, the Lord “commands to take the soul to hell and show it the places of torment that are there. The soul abides here for thirty days, trembling, lest it itself be condemned to imprisonment in them. On the fortieth day, she again ascends to worship God and her future fate is decided: a place is appointed in which she will remain until the Last Judgment, ”writes Saint Macarius. Therefore, on this day it is so important to pray for the soul of the deceased.

You can order a memorial service for the deceased - a memorial service established by the Church, which consists of prayers in which those praying rely on God's mercy, asking for the forgiveness of the sins of the deceased and granting him blessed eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven. During the service of memorial services, the assembled relatives and friends of the deceased stand with lighted candles as a sign that they also believe in a bright future life; at the end of the memorial service (when reading the Lord's Prayer), these candles are extinguished as a sign that our earthly life, burning like a candle, must go out, most often not burning down to the end we presume.

It is customary to perform memorial services both before the burial of the deceased, and after - on the 3rd, 9th, 40th day after death, on the days of his birth, namesake (name day), on the anniversary of death. But it is very good to pray at a memorial service, as well as submit notes for remembrance on other days.

You can also ask the priest, having previously agreed, to make a lithium - a different type of church commemoration of the deceased. Litiya can be read not only by priests, but also by laity. It is very good to read the lithium in the cemetery.

Photo from hram-troicy.prihod.ru

Commemoration on Radonitsa

Radonitsa - Tuesday of the second week after Easter - a day of special remembrance for the dead.
According to St. John Chrysostom (4th century), this holiday was already celebrated in Christian cemeteries in antiquity. The special place of Radonitsa in the annual circle of church holidays - immediately after Easter Easter Week - helps Christians not to delve into feelings about the death of loved ones, but, on the contrary, to rejoice at their birth into another life - eternal life. The victory over death, won by the death and resurrection of Christ, displaces the sadness of temporary separation from relatives, and therefore we, in the words of Metropolitan Anthony of Surozh, "with faith, hope and Paschal confidence, stand at the tomb of the departed."

The basis for this commemoration is, on the one hand, the memory of the descent of Jesus Christ into hell, connected with St. Thomas Sunday (the first after Easter), and on the other hand, the permission of the Church Charter to perform the usual commemoration of the dead, starting with St. Thomas Monday. By this permission, believers come to the graves of their neighbors with the joyful news of the Resurrection of Christ, hence the very day of commemoration is called Radonitsa.

Usually, on the eve of the day of Radonitsa (the church day begins in the evening), after the evening service or after the Liturgy on the day of Radonitsa, a full memorial service is performed, which also includes Easter hymns.

Litiya (strengthened prayer) is usually performed at the cemetery. To do this, it is better to invite a priest, if it is not possible, it is possible to perform lithium on your own by reading the Chin of lithium performed by a layman at home and in a cemetery. But you can simply read the troparion "Christ is risen from the dead", as well as "Seeing the Resurrection of Christ."

The Church as the body of Christ, as the totality of the living and the dead in Christ, can, by the grace given to her by God, pray for the dead, offer a bloodless sacrifice for them (remove particles from the prosphora at the proskomidia of the liturgy), escort them on their last journey with a special rite of prayers - the funeral service , serve memorial services, litia, evening funeral services (parastases).

On the third day after death, a deceased Orthodox Christian is honored with a church funeral and burial. A funeral service is a funeral service performed once over the body of the deceased. The significance of this divine service is so great that in ancient times they attributed it to the Church Sacraments and attached special mystical significance. And, indeed, in addition to the usual prayers for the dead, a permissive prayer is read over the deceased (necessarily by a priest), in which the oaths that were on him are forgiven, as well as the sins in which he repented at confession or forgot to repent out of ignorance, and the deceased is released in peace. afterlife. The text of this prayer is immediately embedded in right hand deceased by his family or friends. If the prayer is not read by the priest over the deceased, but simply put by relatives into the hand of the deceased, then it has no power and does not play any role.

Who loses the church funeral

Those who deliberately took their own lives are deprived of the church funeral service. They should be distinguished from people who took their own lives by negligence (accidental fall from a height, drowning in water, poisoning with stale food, death at work, etc.), who are not recognized as suicides. This also includes suicide committed in a state of acute attack of mental illness or under the influence of large doses of alcohol (the so-called "pathological intoxication").

V Orthodox Church It is customary to attribute to suicides those who died “during robbery”, that is, those who committed a gangster act (murder, armed robbery) and died from their wounds and injuries. Victims of a gangster attack are certainly not included here.

In order to perform the burial service of a person who committed suicide in an insane state, his relatives should first contact the Diocesan Administration and ask for written permission from the ruling bishop, submitting a petition to him and attaching to it a medical report on the cause of death of their loved one.

In doubtful cases and in the absence of written permission from the bishop, the priest may refuse to perform the funeral service, especially if relatives deliberately try to hide the true cause of death of the deceased. When registering a funeral service, in doubtful cases, a representative of the church council can familiarize himself with the "Certificate of Death" issued by the registry office.

Commemoration at the Divine Liturgy (Church note)

Those who have Christian names are remembered for health, and only those baptized in the Orthodox Church are remembered for repose.

At the liturgy, you can submit notes:

On the proskomedia - the first part of the liturgy, when for each name indicated in the note, particles are removed from special prosphora, which are subsequently lowered into the Blood of Christ with a prayer for the forgiveness of sins

Funeral for babies

A special funeral service is performed for infants who died after Holy Baptism as for the immaculate, sinless, in which the Holy Church does not pray for the remission of the sins of the dead, but only asks to be worthy of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Over the dead babies who have not been honored with Holy Baptism, no funeral service is performed, since they are not cleansed from the sin of their parents. About the future fate of infants who died without Baptism, St. Gregory the Theologian says that “they will not be glorified, nor will they be punished by the Righteous Judge, as those who, although not sealed, are not evil, and suffered more loss than they did. For not everyone who is not worthy of punishment is already worthy of honor, just as not everyone who is not worthy of honor is already worthy of punishment.

absentee funeral

There are cases of tragic death when it is impossible to find the body of a person (who drowned in a shipwreck, died in a war or as a result of a plane crash, in a terrorist act, etc.) or when a person goes missing and relatives learn about his death many years later. In such cases, there was a tradition to perform the so-called absentee funeral. But it is permissible only in case of extreme need and real need, and not because of the laziness and negligence of the relatives of the deceased, and not because "it's easier this way."

V last years, unfortunately, a completely unacceptable practice has developed when the relatives of the deceased come to the temple, “order” a funeral service in absentia and immediately go about their business. A few days later (at best) they appear “behind the country”, that is, when their loved one is already buried by the priest all alone, when, except for an unfamiliar priest, not a single soul related to the deceased even thought to pray for his repose. Such an attitude towards the deceased shows the callousness of the soul of his relatives and complete indifference to the afterlife of the deceased. These qualities cannot be inherent in a Christian, and therefore, such an attitude towards church prayer for the deceased is reprehensible.

If, nevertheless, for some objective reason, the body of your deceased relative was not brought to the temple for a funeral service, you need to come to the church and ask the priest to perform the funeral service in absentia. To do this, you need to find out exactly when and at what time this funeral will be performed, so that you can attend it and pray fervently for your deceased.

The indefatigable psalter

The indefatigable Psalter is read not only about health, but also about repose. Since ancient times, ordering a commemoration at the Unsleeping Psalter has been considered a great charity for a deceased soul ..

It is also good to order the Unsleeping Psalter for yourself, support will be vividly felt. And one more crucial point, but by no means the least important
There is eternal remembrance on the Unsleeping Psalter. It seems expensive, but the result is more than a million times the money spent. If there is still no such opportunity, then you can order for a shorter period. And it's good to read it yourself.

A few words about the "land"

In the rite of the funeral, there is no indication of the consecration of the earth, with which the priest crosswise sprinkles the “relics” of the deceased before closing the lid of the coffin, while saying the words: (Ps. 23:1).

But our contemporaries began to attach to this symbolic action magical meaning. The attitude towards this land has turned into a dense superstition, expressed in the fact that people who are far from the Church see the whole meaning of the Christian funeral service only in receiving the coveted "land". But the main thing is to perform the rite of church burial, so that the prayers of the Church would receive mercy from God, before whom he is about to appear. And the earth itself does not bring any benefit to the soul of the deceased.

In modern practice (for the sake of consoling the mourner), a tradition has developed when, during the funeral service in absentia, the priest blesses the earth three times, saying all the same words: "The land of the Lord, and the fulfillment of it, the world and all who dwell in it"(Ps. 23:1). However, we repeat, there are no indications for such an action in the Church Charter. At the end of the absentee funeral, this earth can be poured crosswise on the grave of the deceased, if any: like you are the earth, and you will return to the earth(Gen. 3:19).

If the Christian was cremated, then the earth can be poured into the urn with the ashes of the deceased and thus symbolically consign him to the earth. However, this is not at all necessary.

If the grave of a person is absent or is located very far from the place of residence of relatives and it is not possible to get to it, then there is no need to take the land after the funeral service in absentia.

Sorokoust about repose

This type of commemoration of the dead can be ordered at any hour - there are no restrictions on this either. During Great Lent, when a full liturgy is performed much less often, in a number of churches commemoration is practiced this way - in the altar, during the entire fast, all the names in the notes are read and, if they serve the liturgy, then they take out the particles. It is only necessary to remember that people baptized in the Orthodox faith can participate in these commemorations, as well as in the notes submitted for the proskomedia, it is allowed to enter the names of only the baptized deceased.

Funeral in the morgue

In recent years, some funeral homes have included mortuary funerals as part of their "services". This practice must be treated with great caution.

If for some good reason it is not possible to bury the deceased in the temple of God, then, as an exception, it is allowed to perform the funeral of the deceased at home. And only if this turns out to be impracticable, then it is necessary to find out where, in what environment the funeral service is performed in the morgue: is there a specially allocated ritual room for this, in which there are at least icons, a requiem table (eve), candlesticks. Go into this room, make sure it's in the right environment.

Then be sure to find out the name and surname of the priest who usually buries the dead in this mortuary: persistently ask in which church he serves, and then be sure to contact that church to make sure that the priest named to you is really a full-time cleric of this church, and not a mummer an impostor or a priest who is forbidden to serve.

If you have any doubts, negotiate with the administration of the morgue and invite a priest you know from the temple, of which you are a parishioner.

But still - make every effort to bury your dear deceased in church.

About cremation

“It is absolutely unacceptable for an Orthodox Christian to indulge in the development of the sinful pagan tradition of burning the bodies of the dead. Let's remember the words Holy Scripture: He said to Adam, “In the sweat of your face you will eat bread until you return to the ground from which you were taken.”(Gen. 3, 17, 19). It is worthy to commend the body of the deceased to the earth with the corresponding funeral services performed in the temple of God, is the first Christian duty of the relatives of the deceased, for the fulfillment of which everyone will give an answer to Last Judgment God's. Because burning the body of the deceased is grave sin- desecration of the temple of God: Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you? If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will punish him: for the temple of God is holy; and this temple is you(1 Cor. 3:16-17)."

However, it is fundamentally wrong to believe that cremated people will not be resurrected for the Judgment of God! “The Lord Jesus Christ, speaking of the Last Dread Judgment, which will determine the fate of man in Eternity, points to the return to life of all people who have ever died: When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory; and all nations will be gathered before him(Matthew 25:31-32). All nations- these are all the people who have ever lived on earth: both believers, and atheists, and the righteous, and sinners, and those who lived before the birth of Christ, and our contemporaries - absolutely everything.

Christ directly said: God is not the God of the dead, but of the living(Matthew 22:32). This means that the essence (human life) once created by God cannot be destroyed, and the image of God, the bearer of which is every person, is also the image of Divine immortality.

The dogma of the General Resurrection is the main dogma of Christianity. In the Creed, finally adopted on II Ecumenical Council, this dogma is expressed by the words: "I have tea for the resurrection of the dead."

Therefore, it must be said that cremation is the sin of those who decide to do it; however, it cannot harm the soul of the deceased. And the Church does not refuse to bury those deceased who will later be cremated, or who have already undergone cremation.

The Orthodox Church does not recognize death - a person falls asleep, but does not die immediately. The body becomes deceased, and the soul struggles between earth and sky for another forty days. The priest performs the rite of burial of the dead, in order to make it easier for the soul to determine its future path with prayers.

The burial and funeral of the deceased is scheduled for the third day, counting the day of death. Through chants and prayers, there is an appeal to God with a call to save the human soul and send it to the afterlife.

During the funeral service in the temple, the lid of the coffin remains in the vestibule, and the body of the deceased is brought inside to the funeral bell ringing and placed with their feet to the altar. Lighted candles in candlesticks, fresh flowers and wreaths are placed near the coffin. A funeral kutya is brought to a separate table.

But the funeral of the deceased is not forbidden in other places. If relatives for some reason refuse to take the coffin with the body to the church, then the priest comes to the petitioner's home. Also, it is possible to perform this ritual in other places:

• funeral at the cemetery;
• funeral service in the morgue;
• funeral service in a nursing home, hospital, etc.

The funeral delivers the deceased from the burden of sins in which he repented. It also forgives the fact that a person accidentally could not remember at confession. The great meaning of the Orthodox funeral is the reconciliation of the departing soul with God and relatives. During the ceremony, relatives and close people stand at the coffin with candles. They all pray fervently, echoing the priest.

After the funeral of a person is completed, the mourners extinguish the candles, walk around the coffin, say goodbye to the deceased and kiss the forehead. The body is covered with a veil, and the priest pours earth on it crosswise. The lid, which will soon be put on the coffin, is no longer supposed to be opened: the deceased is ready for burial.

Do not be embarrassed that priests spend the funeral in the church in festive white clothes. Do not allow despair and inconsolable grief, perceive the event at which you are present, as the transition of the soul into eternity. Look for support in faith and hope, in the manifestation of bright love for the deceased and sincere prayer for him.

How much does a funeral cost?

Of course, you are interested in how much the funeral service in the church costs and how can it be ordered? Several factors will affect the upcoming financial expenses:

• the choice of the temple and its status;
• location;
• ordering a ceremony through a ritual agency or direct contact with the priest.

If you follow the canons of conscience, then the clergy should not have strict tariffs for the funeral of the deceased, the price is a kind of donation, i.e. You need to pay as much as you think is possible and necessary. Unfortunately, in many churches at the entrance there is a price list hanging on the wall, according to which parishioners use the services.

But do not spare money for the funeral service - the cost of the service will go to charity, provided that you did not whisper with the priest about the discount and did not secretly put banknotes in his pocket. In Moscow, the funeral of the deceased will cost from 1 thousand to 7 thousand rubles. The ceremony takes place after 11 o'clock. Try to order the funeral the day before or at least before the morning service.

Archbishop Vikenty explained the inadmissibility of "absentee funeral" and cremation

Message from the Archbishop of Yekaterinburg and Verkhoturye Vikenty about the need for church burial of the dead, as well as the inadmissibility of the practice of "absentee funeral" and cremation.

I do not want to leave you, brethren, in ignorance of the dead,

lest you grieve like others who have no hope.

For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again,

even those who die in Jesus will God bring with him.

(1 Thess. 4:13-14)

Dear brothers and sisters!

In the life of all of us, days inevitably come when our loved ones, our friends and acquaintances complete their earthly existence. These moments of parting give rise to many problems and everyday troubles associated with arranging a funeral. But at the same time, we must remember that every Orthodox Christian must take care not only of the proper burial of the body of the deceased, but also - to a significant and even greater extent! - about the repose of the soul of a person close to him.

Unfortunately, the years of persecution of the Church led to the fact that in this the pious traditions of our ancestors were violated, and for many they are not even known. An Orthodox Christian should strive to depart into eternal life reconciled with God and people, having confessed and partaking of the Holy Mysteries of Christ. Already at the moment of death, the fervent prayer of the Church for her faithful child begins: the Canon of Prayer is performed to our Lord Jesus Christ and the Most Pure Mother of God, the Mother of the Lord, when the soul is separated from the body. And immediately after death, the Succession is performed after the departure of the soul from the body. Then the reading of the Psalter begins over the body of the deceased.

After the necessary preparation and position of the deceased in the tomb, he was always taken to the temple of God. Special additions were made to the evening service, petitions for the deceased. All night the coffin was in the church, the reading of the Psalter continued. Then the deceased, as it were, spent the last time at the morning service, at the Divine Liturgy, when again all the parishioners prayed in a cathedral for him. And, finally, the rite of the funeral was performed and funeral procession with the singing of the prayer "Holy God, Holy Strong, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us" recovered to the cemetery. Here, a lithium was performed over a fresh grave.

This pious order is now known only to people deeply churched, constantly visiting the temple of God, resorting to the sacraments of the Church. And they strive to see the departed dear to them "on the path of all the earth" in the way the Orthodox Church teaches.

But very many, even those who belong to the Church by Holy Baptism, at a difficult moment of death of their loved ones are lost in the face of death, they begin to act as neighbors, acquaintances, and sometimes even some unscrupulous workers of ritual services advise them. A lot of money and effort are spent on acquiring expensive coffins, on arranging noisy, drunken feasts - a commemoration, which not only does not benefit the suffering soul of the deceased, standing before God, but even harms it. The saints of God understood this very well. The Monk Ephraim the Syrian, whose penitential prayer we say every day during Great Lent, instructed those around him: “Do not put me in luxurious tombs, because your decorations will not serve me for anything ... Instead of wasting incense and aromas, remember me in prayers their own, for what good is incense to a dead man who cannot smell it?"

From a Christian point of view, the main thing is to care for the soul of the deceased, and secondarily, the fulfillment of our duty to bury his body. The service for the dead, which has been shaped by centuries of tradition, is deeply instructive. It brings great spiritual benefit to the soul of the deceased, and consoles relatives and friends who are grieving for the loss, renewing the saving truths of Christianity in their hearts, delivering them from soul-destroying despair. Therefore, the rejection of the conciliar prayer for the deceased, performed in the temple of God, is an undoubted sin.

Slightly better are those sad cases when only one of the relatives goes to the temple to order the so-called "absentee" funeral. In this case, the service is performed over a sheet of paper, on which the priest pours earth. This land is transferred by relatives to the cemetery, where they are scattered over the grave of the deceased.

Dear brothers and sisters! By such an act, everyone who did not take part in the prayer shows their complete indifference to the deceased, to his afterlife participation. The performance of "absentee funerals" can only take place in special cases. For example, during a war, not only can relatives not be able to participate in the burial of their deceased relative, but sometimes they do not even know about the place of his burial, they only have a notification of death. In this case, the "absentee funeral" is blessed by the Church and can be performed. It can also take place in the case when a person is in a long-term unknown absence and the fact of his death is established by the court.

But, to our deep regret, "absentee" funerals are sometimes performed even for those who lived and died just a few blocks from the temple of God. Why is this happening? The consequences of the persecution of the Church by the theomachic authorities in the 20th century still make themselves felt. Then, even the regional cities of the USSR, the temples of God were closed. Millions of our brothers and sisters were forcibly deprived of spiritual guidance by Orthodox clergy. And then, when it was impossible to find even a priest to perform the rites of the Orthodox funeral, the relatives of the deceased Christians were forced to bury without church prayer. Then they turned to one of the active Orthodox churches, where the clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church, with the blessing of the hierarchy, performed "absentee funerals." In these circumstances, the commission of such a ceremony was a necessary measure.

But today, dear brothers and sisters, we have every opportunity to fulfill all the canons of the Orthodox faith. Churches of God are open everywhere, and there is every opportunity to perform funeral services in them over the bodies of the dead, as prescribed by the Church liturgical Charter. We must honestly tell ourselves that the performance of an "absentee" funeral - if, I repeat, it is not caused by exceptional circumstances - in the absence of most of the relatives, the body of the deceased himself, is simply a soul-destroying formality, our attempt to justify our laziness and callousness of the soul. Such insincerity brings much less benefit to the deceased than it should, and directly accuses us before God: "Cursed is he who does the work of the Lord negligently ..." (Jer. 48:10).

And it is absolutely unacceptable for an Orthodox Christian to condone the development of the sinful pagan tradition of burning the bodies of the dead. Let's remember the words of Holy Scripture: "And he said to Adam: ... in the sweat of your face you will eat bread, until you return to the ground from which you were taken..." (Gen. 3:17-19). It is worthy to commend the body of the deceased to the earth with the corresponding funeral services performed in the temple of God is the first Christian duty of the relatives of the deceased, for the fulfillment of which everyone will give an answer at the Last Judgment of God. Therefore, burning the body of the deceased is a grave sin - a desecration of the temple of God: "Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God lives in you? If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will punish him: for the temple of God is holy; and this temple is you" (1 Corinthians 3:16-17).

Therefore, in order not to make such tragic mistakes, now our own funeral services are being created at the churches of our diocese. Such services operate in Yekaterinburg, Kamensk-Uralsky, Talitsa and other cities. Their employees, believers Orthodox people, they know exactly how, in accordance with church canons, our labors are performed for the best repose of the deceased. They will help with the choice of funeral accessories, and with the design. required documents, and, most importantly, with the organization of the reading of the Psalter and all the necessary funeral services. And the memorial meal will be organized by them in strict accordance with the church charter (for example, now, during Great Lent, such a meal should be fasting, as well as on other fast days and during multi-day fasts). Funeral accessories for these services are also made by Orthodox parishioners, and here it is impossible to encounter a violation, for example, of the shape of the cross, which sometimes happens.

The funeral service of the Yekaterinburg diocese now operates around the clock, you can call there by phone 217-91-39. This mode of operation allows this service to deliver the deceased for the night to John the Baptist Cathedral, where the reading of the Psalter is performed over the coffin. Relatives, friends of the deceased can take part in this cathedral prayer throughout the night.

It is good to take care of the issues of the upcoming burial in advance, visit the temple of God and find out about everything you need. Then, in a difficult hour, you will do what is right, as it should be for your spiritual benefit and your neighbors.

But can we consider after the funeral that our duties are fully fulfilled? If the deceased is dear to us, then we must continue to take care of his soul. According to Orthodox tradition, on the third, ninth and fortieth day after death, we need to hasten again to the temple of God in order to call our brothers and sisters to the conciliar prayer for the deceased at the Divine Liturgy and perform a memorial service for him.

During all forty days after the death of a person, his relatives and friends should read the Psalter. How many kathismas a day depends on the time and strength of the readers, but reading must certainly be daily. We can find the order of these prayers in Orthodox prayer books.

But the question arises, how can we make sure that our prayer is heard, so that the deceased dear to us is forgiven for his voluntary and involuntary sins, so that he is rewarded with a good fate with all the saints who have pleased God from time immemorial?

We know that the Lord showed many mercies and miracles through the prayers of the saints. This means that in order for our prayer to be just as strong and intelligible, we must strive to bring our lives closer to the way of life of the great saints of God. We need to change, begin to live a true church life, be sure to attend Sunday and holiday services, submit notes for the repose of our loved ones for church commemoration, constantly resort to the sacraments of the church, observe fasts, regularly confess and partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ.

Now the most favorable time in order to embark on this saving for us and beneficial for our dear departed path: the time of Great Lent, the time of repentance and prayer. In addition, during Great Lent a special commemoration of the dead is celebrated on Saturdays of the second, third and fourth weeks. This year, this commemoration will be performed at the evening Divine Liturgy on the eve and after the morning Divine Liturgy on March 18 and 25, as well as on April 1.

Dear brothers and sisters! Our earthly life must be a preparation for Eternal Life, a search, first of all, for the Kingdom of God and its righteousness. We deeply mourn when we part with a loved one whom we loved and revered. But death is not a network of destruction of life, but only the door to the true, eternal life and, and faith in this eternal life and prayer soothes our hearts, uniting the Church of heaven and earth together. And since we believe that with God everyone is alive, we can have a great prayerful union with the departed dear to us, and if we are worthy, in the Orthodox way, to see them off on their last journey, if we earnestly pray for their repose, the Lord will not will leave us all with his mercy, and then for us in the most difficult days the words of St. Ephraim the Syrian will be a consolation: “Let your mortal hearts not grieve; the day of the Lord will come, rejoice and awaken us who have died, the guardians will move before the Lord, the angels will rejoice on the day of resurrection. Let not your soul grieve, redeemed by the cross and called into the kingdom; the day of the Lord will come, and will give a voice in Sheol, and the dead will rise and give praise. tombs and will clothe the worthy with glory in the Kingdom."

I invoke God's blessing on all of you and remind you: we have a great treasure - an ancient funeral rite blessed by the Mother Church, containing the wondrous power of prayer. Let in our souls both during prosperity and during the loss of relatives there be the same saving mood: the memory that the main thing in our life should be care for the soul. Let in all cases when the death of a neighbor enters our home, it is this mood that determines our firm Christian choice: to take care of the spiritual well-being of the deceased, bring his body to the temple of God for a funeral service, and then reverently commit the body to the earth. Then the All-Merciful Lord, seeing our fidelity to Him and zeal, will give rest to the souls of our dear departed in the villages of the righteous, where the saints rest, and create eternal memory for them.

Those relatives of the departed who, out of ignorance or spiritual weakness, neglected their Christian duties, should be called upon to seriously think about eternity, about their afterlife, and repent of their sins associated with neglect of the spiritual welfare of their departed neighbors. Realizing their sins, they need to resort to the sacraments of Confession, Communion and take on themselves a feasible zealous deed of prayer to heal the wound inflicted on their soul by these evil deeds. Along with this, they should explain to their relatives and friends, friends and acquaintances the inadmissibility of such neglect in relation to the deceased.

vikenty,

Archbishop of Yekaterinburg

and Verkhotursky

"News agency of the Yekaterinburg diocese"

14 / 03 / 2006