What is the funeral service for the deceased in church (for the Orthodox deceased after the funeral of the deceased, how long does the prayer last). Funeral service and burial of the deceased

WHAT IS NEEDED TO PERFORM A FUNERAL SERVICE

1. Baptismal certificate.

2. Death certificate (there is no funeral service for suicides).

3. Funeral veil.

4. Permissive prayer.

5. Pectoral cross.

6. Whisk on the forehead.

7. Large icon.

8. Icon in hand (small).

9. Cross in hand.

10. Lamp.

11. Ember.

12. Incense.

13. Candles.

*All goods must be purchased at a temple or church store.

Temple rector: Priest Nikolai Kokarev

The burial of a deceased Christian takes place on the third day after his death (in this case, the day of death itself is always included in the counting of days, even if death occurred a few minutes before midnight). In extreme circumstances - wars, epidemics, natural disasters - burial is allowed before the third day.

The Gospel describes the burial order of the Lord Jesus Christ, which consisted of washing His Most Pure Body, dressing in special clothes and placing in the grave. The same actions are supposed to be performed on Christians in the present time. Washing the body symbolizes the purity and integrity of the righteous in the Kingdom of Heaven. It is performed by one of the relatives of the deceased with the reading of the Trisagion prayer: “Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us.” The deceased is freed from clothes, the jaw is tied up and placed on a bench or on the floor, with a cloth laid down. For ablution, use a sponge, warm water and soap, using cross-shaped movements to wipe all parts of the body three times, starting with the head. (It is customary to burn the clothes in which a person died, and everything that was used during his ablution.)

The washed and clothed body, which must have a cross on it (if preserved, a baptismal cross), is placed on the table face up. The deceased's lips should be closed, his eyes closed, his hands folded crosswise on his chest, the right one on top of the left. A Christian woman’s head is covered with a large scarf that completely covers her hair, and its ends do not need to be tied, but simply folded crosswise. A Crucifix (there is a special funeral type of Crucifix) or an icon of Christ, the Mother of God or a heavenly patron is placed in the hands. (You should not put a tie on a deceased Orthodox Christian.) If the body is transferred to the morgue, then all the same, even before the arrival of the funeral service personnel, it is necessary to wash and dress the deceased, and when releasing the body from the morgue, put a aureole and a Crucifix in the coffin.

Shortly before the coffin is taken out of the house (or the body is handed over to the morgue), “Sequence on the departure of the soul from the body” is read over the body of the deceased once again. The coffin is carried out of the house feet first with the singing of the Trisagion. The coffin is carried by relatives and friends, dressed in mourning clothes. Since ancient times, Christians participating in funeral processions have carried lighted candles. An orchestra is inappropriate at the funeral of Orthodox Christians.

According to the charter, when a body is brought into the temple, a special funeral bell must be rung, which announces to the living that they have one less brother. In the temple, the body of the deceased is placed on a special stand with its feet facing the altar, and candlesticks with lit candles are placed in a cross shape near the coffin. The coffin lid is left in the vestibule or in the courtyard. It is allowed to bring wreaths and fresh flowers into the church. All worshipers have burning candles in their hands. A funeral kutya is placed on a separately prepared table near the coffin, with a candle in the middle.

Don't forget to take your death certificate to the temple. If for some reason the delivery of the coffin to the church is delayed, be sure to notify the priest and ask to reschedule the funeral service.

The funeral service is not performed for the unbaptized (including infants), heterodox and non-Orthodox people, as well as those killed while committing a crime and suicides. In the latter case, the deceased may be buried if he committed suicide in a state of insanity or madness. To do this, relatives can seek written permission from the ruling bishop by submitting a petition to him with an attached medical report on the cause of death of their loved one.

According to a special rite, the funeral service is performed during the days of Bright Easter Week: instead of sad funeral prayers, joyful solemn hymns of Holy Pascha are sung - the holiday of the Resurrection of Christ and all those who believe in Him.

If it is not known for sure whether a person was buried or not, an absentee funeral service should be ordered.

FUNERAL SERVICE

In common parlance, the funeral service, due to the abundance of chants, is called “The deathly succession of worldly bodies.” It is in many ways reminiscent of a requiem service, since it includes many hymns and prayers common to the requiem service, differing only in the reading of the Holy Scriptures, the singing of funeral stichera, farewell to the deceased and the burial of the body.

At the end of the funeral service, after reading the Apostle and the Gospel, the priest reads a prayer of permission. With this prayer, the deceased is allowed (freed) from the prohibitions and sins that burdened him, which he repented of or which he could not remember in confession, and the deceased is released into the afterlife reconciled with God and his neighbors. To make the forgiveness of sins given to the deceased more palpable and comforting for all those who grieve and cry, the text of this prayer is placed in the right hand of the deceased by his relatives or friends immediately after it is read.

After the prayer of permission, accompanied by the singing of the stichera “Come, we will give the last kiss, brothers, to the deceased, thanking God...” a farewell to the deceased takes place. Relatives and friends of the deceased walk around the coffin with the body, bowing and asking forgiveness for involuntary offenses, kissing the icon on the chest of the deceased and the aureole on the forehead. In the case when the funeral service takes place with the coffin closed, they kiss the cross on the lid of the coffin or the priest’s hand. Then the face of the deceased is covered with a veil, and the priest sprinkles earth in a cross shape on the body of the deceased, saying: “The earth is the Lord’s, and its fullness, the universe and all who live on it” (Ps. 23:1). At the end of the funeral service, the body of the deceased is escorted to the cemetery with the singing of the Trisagion.

The deceased is usually lowered into the grave facing east. When lowering the coffin into the grave, the “Trisagion” is sung - the singing of the angelic song “Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us”; An eight-pointed cross is placed above the grave mound - a symbol of our salvation. The cross can be made of any material, but it must be of the correct shape. It is placed at the feet of the deceased, with the crucifix facing the face of the deceased.

ABOUT THE FUNERAL SERVICE IN THE MORGUE

Before performing the funeral service for the deceased in the morgue, make sure that the funeral service will not be conducted by a false priest and that he has permission to perform the funeral service.

The Orthodox Church recognizes the afterlife, therefore it believes that a person does not die, but falls asleep. Only the body becomes deceased, but the soul continues to live. In the first 40 days, her future path is determined. The prayers that are sung during the funeral service help with this. The priest calls on relatives not through despair and despondency, but through good deeds and turning to God to save a person’s soul. For 40 days she rushes between earth and heaven, so the funeral service must be performed as early as possible, on the third day after death.

If the rite is performed by a false priest or a priest who does not have the blessing (permission of the metropolitan), the funeral service is considered invalid.

Orthodox traditions do not include the various superstitions associated with the deceased that exist in many families, such as curtaining mirrors, refusing to use forks during a funeral meal, the custom of leaving part of the dishes or a glass of water (or even worse, vodka) in front of the portrait of the deceased, etc. . P.
All these superstitions have nothing to do with Orthodoxy. Curtaining mirrors in the house where the body of the deceased lies is justified only in the case when, thinking about the deceased, we move away from the external bustle and give our last prayerful breath for the repose of the departed soul.

At the moment when the soul of the deceased leaves for a parallel world, the living must take care of how to save it. It is important to strictly observe the Orthodox Christian tradition of funeral services.

What is a funeral service? This is one of the most important rituals, which is carried out in the temple, in ritual halls located near the morgue. A funeral service is a farewell ceremony for the departed soul into the afterlife. This ritual included:

• church poems;
• biblical canon;
• reading the Apostle, the Gospel.

When the funeral service is held for the deceased, all those present (relatives, colleagues, acquaintances) must read a prayer together with the priest, asking God to help the deceased soul.

It is very important to know that this ritual is not a rite to forgive sins. Why him? This is necessary in order to free the deceased through prayers from sins for which he repented during his life or for those sins that he did not remember or did not think were sins. In church or at home, relatives of the deceased must read the psalter for forty days after death, ideally at least three times in full.

Every priest advises buying prayer books with a written prayer in specialized church shops. According to the rules, every Orthodox believer must have such a book in his home.

The rules of the ceremony must be strictly followed. After a relative has died, all his relatives are obliged, in addition to the psalter, to read prayers for the repose. The ceremony is carried out three days after death. This is what they say in Orthodox customs. This is due to the fact that the soul of the deceased wanders the earth for three days, near home, loved ones, or goes on a journey, after which it ascends to heaven. From the third to the ninth day, the newly departed soul visits the heavenly abode, and from the tenth to the fortieth, the hellish abode.

On the last day, the newly deceased must appear before the Lord, he will decide the fate of his future existence - hell or heaven. When asking the question why you need to pray, you need to know that the intense prayer of church priests and loved ones plays a fairly serious role in helping the departed soul pass through the gates of heaven.

Tradition says that after the funeral service is completed, the coffin with the body of the deceased must be accompanied to the burial place by the priest (at the head) and the relatives of the deceased.

In the past, it was customary to stop at all crossroads along the route and read funeral prayers. This also had to be done after the funeral. Today this happens in any convenient place. The stop number is not indicated anywhere.

What is needed to perform a funeral service in a church church:

• to be confident in the correct expression of the will of the deceased - it often happens that before death a person asks that a particular priest perform his funeral service in a particular church;
• know for sure that the deceased was baptized in the Orthodox faith;
• have a death certificate issued by the registry office;
• Having arrived at the desired patriarchate, you must present all the necessary documentation that certifies the death; after this, the date, time, and location of the rituals are set;
• purchase the required paraphernalia for the deceased at the church stall. This includes a cross on the body and a larger one in the hands, lamps for the coffin, necessary accessories such as bedspreads, pillows, diapers, aureoles;
• regarding behavior, during the mysterious procession it is required to sing a prayer together with the priest, holding a holy candle in his hands;
• It is very important to make a donation for the event.

The land that the priest sprinkles on the deceased does not need to be purchased - it is given out by the church. What should I do if there is a funeral dinner scheduled after the burial? Correct timing is required. The procession takes about forty minutes, so you need to take into account the time of the ceremony, how long the burial will last and how long to schedule the funeral meal.

Absentee funeral service in church

What is an absentee sacrament? This option can be carried out after the funeral. Holding a funeral service without the body of the deceased is very rare. It is carried out in the following options:

• the burial of the deceased took place several years ago, but the funeral service did not work out due to a number of reasons;
• in the event that the deceased was killed as a result of military action, died in a plane crash, or in a shipwreck;
• the person has been declared missing.

The priest must consecrate and bless the prepared land and read a prayer verse. After everything has come to an end, the land is transferred to the relatives of the deceased. It should be placed in a cross shape on the grave. If the body is cremated, then the earth is poured into a container containing the ashes of the deceased.

When else do they order such a process? When a person is buried far from relatives, in a foreign homeland. But in this case, the funeral service is carried out without land, since it will not be possible to add it to the grave.

How long does a funeral service last in church?

The Church does not have a specific rule that regulates the time limits of church ritual. It is difficult to say how long such a process takes. To find out about the duration of action, talk to your father and mother. They will be able to tell you exactly how long it will take.

The average time period for a funeral service is about 45 minutes.(no more), can be reduced to half an hour. The clock will not affect the quality of the actions performed. This is due to the fact that the key point is reading prayers near the deceased.

How is the funeral service in the church?

It is customary to deliver the coffin with the deceased absolutely prepared:

• a whisk that is placed on the forehead of the deceased;
• a cross is placed in the hand and on the chest;
• the body is covered with a shroud.

How does the sacrament happen? The cleric must place candles on the lid of the coffin, he must light them, and relatives distribute special holy candles to those who come to see the deceased into the afterlife (a lit candle for a living person is a symbol of the victory of the living over the dead). Next, the coffin must be placed in front of the altar, after which the saint reads a prayer, psalm, and Holy Order.

How is the funeral service performed for a newly departed soul? Through prayers and psalms, everyone present asks God for forgiveness for the sin of the deceased and desires the gift of the Kingdom of Heaven. After the prayer for permission has been read, the sheet with it must be placed in the hands of the deceased, and at this moment those who come can say goodbye to the deceased for the last time.

Many people are interested in the question of how to behave in this case? If possible, you need to restrain yourself from crying, pray as hard as possible for the repose of your soul, and read the prayer together with the cleric.

It is also important to be aware of the question of how to dress for church? Clothing should be strict, dark colors, which are allowed by the Orthodox faith. For women and girls, you need to tie a dark bandage or wear a scarf on your head. Legs must be covered (pants, long skirts). The man must be dressed in a strict black suit (no jeans, bright T-shirts, etc.).

How to organize and order a ceremony? You need to choose a specific church (according to the religion of the deceased, place of residence), collect the necessary package of documents (certificates, death certificate), and agree on the time and location.

One of the important moments of the procession is that the icon, which is placed on the chest of the deceased, must be taken home. At home, it is installed in a special place, and every member of the household must read the psalter near it.

Flowers for funeral services in church

Can I bring flower bouquets to a traditional sacrament and are they necessary? As a tribute to memory and respect for a deceased relative, friend, acquaintance, it is customary to lay flowers on the coffin. It is allowed to bring both fresh and artificial flowers to the church. They also bring mourning wreaths and bouquets.

What flowers are allowed? It can be:

• lilies;
• carnations;
• roses;
• asters;
• chrysanthemums;
• the classic option is calla lilies.

Rules for laying wreaths and other things. As everyone begins to gather to attend the funeral service, they first approach the coffin with the body. Bouquets and single flowers are placed next to it. When the procession of a mysterious tradition begins, everything must be removed.

Who is prohibited from having a funeral service in a church church?

There are a lot of prohibitions. Those who have passed into the afterlife must be mourned according to Christian beliefs. But it is impossible to perform the tradition of farewell in the Orthodox patriarchy over such people as:

• God-fighters;
• people with a different faith;
• babies who did not have time to be baptized;
• a stillborn child or killed in the womb.

Is it possible to perform a funeral service for an unbaptized person? No, such a deceased person needs private prayer. Their soul submits to Saint Uar. Also, one should not mourn those who died not by their own death, like suicides. Since suicidal people took their own lives, their souls will never be able to find peace.

Old Believers have funeral services according to separate traditions. The ceremony is closed and before it is performed, many additional procedures are carried out.

The memorial service for Jews and Catholics is almost identical to the Orthodox one. But there are several differences.

Why can't funeral services be held for drowned people? There are many opinions on this matter. But every priest can say with confidence that if drowning occurred as a result of an accident, then the procession can be held. If it was suicide, it’s impossible.

If the dying person has not been baptized, then, first of all, the sacrament of Baptism is performed on him. This is the best parting word for a soul preparing to embark on the road to eternity. These Sacraments are not performed on a person who is unconscious and unable to testify to his will.

Why is it read “waste”?

At the moment of separation of the soul from the body, according to the testimony of many who have experienced clinical death, a person experiences a feeling of languor. He sees unclean spirits, terrible in appearance, and hears their terrible voices.

Facilitates the transition to eternity by reading special church prayers over the dying - “The Canon of Prayer for the Exodus of the Soul”, which is written from the perspective of the dying person, but can be read by a priest or someone close to you.

If a person dies in a hospital, the canon can be read at home. The main thing is to support the soul with prayer in these most difficult moments for it.

Commemoration at the Divine Liturgy (Church Note)

Health is commemorated for those who have Christian names, and repose is remembered only for those baptized in the Orthodox Church.

The Church is currently discussing a draft conciliar document “On the Christian Burial of the Dead.” Funeral services in absentia are one of the church practices that gives rise to debate. We asked priests from Moscow, Kyiv, 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 funeral services 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 kind of natural disaster, or died in a distance, abroad, relatives do not have the opportunity to bury him in the way they would like and as it should be done. But if they know that he was an Orthodox Christian and they themselves want to offer prayers for him, the possibility of performing a funeral service in absentia cannot be ruled out.

Another thing is that absentee funerals should not be allowed to be put on hold 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 also a worse phenomenon: when at morgues random persons who are prohibited from serving or who have never been ordained offer to perform a funeral service so that relatives do not spend money on travel to the temple. The Russian people are trusting, seeing a person in vestments, people think that this is a priest in front of them, and they agree, but in the end, not a funeral service is performed for the deceased, but some kind of indistinct muttering. And this phenomenon is much worse than the practice of funeral services in absentia.

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

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

Archpriest Alexander Ageikin, rector of the Epiphany Cathedral in Elokhov, 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 performing funeral services in absentia.

Of course, such a ban cannot take place, because we still have cases where a person dies at sea, in a fire or during a mountain climb. There are people who are missing and for whom it is clear that they will not return home alive. If we don’t have a funeral service in absentia, how will we be able to perform their funeral service?

Unfortunately, today the practice of funeral services in absentia sometimes takes on ungodly forms and turns into a kind of “rite with enchanted land.” As is known, after the usual funeral service, the deceased is buried, and after the funeral service in absentia, some land is given to the relatives, over which the priest said prayers. And you can often hear the following dialogue: “Can I order an absentee funeral service from you?” “It’s possible.” - “When will you come for the land?” A person is not interested in attending the funeral service, participating in it, his goal is to get this “charmed land” in order, as people say, to “seal the coffin”, to arrange a certain ceremony 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, but the purpose of the funeral service is to gather loving people, friends, relatives at the tomb of the deceased, so that they can hear, as it were, the last word of the deceased addressed to them (after all, part funeral chants are spoken on behalf of the deceased), pray together, reconcile with the person for not paying him due attention, not seeing him for a long time, allowing mistakes, insults and quarrels to interfere with the relationship with him... This is, to some extent, the rite of forgiveness, which They ask the deceased at his coffin.

And today, on very rare occasions, relatives gather to pray at an absentee funeral service.

And since the priest has to perform the funeral service alone in an empty church, a vicious practice arises when he saves up funeral services in absentia in order to perform them in one list, and sometimes waits for the real “in-person” deceased in order to add the names of those in absentia to his funeral service. All this is completely killing the meaning of the funeral service, but once upon a time the monastic brethren called the funeral service a Sacrament.

It happens that a person orders a funeral service in absentia because he began to dream about the deceased. And when you ask what the goal is, it turns out that he simply wants the deceased to leave him alone, stop appearing and tormenting him. That is, a person seeks to make life easier not for the deceased, but for himself.

A separate group of problems that should also be mentioned in the document concerns funeral services in morgues. Recently, a woman contacted me who ordered a funeral service for her mother at the morgue, and she was horrified because the funeral service was carried out at lightning speed, so that when it began, it became clear that this was not a funeral service at all. Funeral services at morgues often turn into a kind of marathon: it is unclear who performs the funeral service for the deceased in 10-12 minutes. The woman who came to me was completely upset, and after listening to her, I put on the stole, took the censer and performed the funeral service for her deceased mother in absentia.

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

- It is well known that this is a new tradition that does not correspond to the general church tradition. Its origin dates back to the post-war period, when relatives of the victims despaired of waiting for missing soldiers. I think that an absentee funeral service is permissible only in cases where an in-person funeral is impossible, when it is unknown where the body of the deceased Christian is located. I have been living by the ocean for many years. Very often people are reported to have died in the water, and rescue services do not always find their bodies. What should you do if relatives ask for a funeral service for someone who has drowned and was not found? This is the case when a funeral service in absentia is permissible. Funeral services in absentia are an extreme exception; they should not be the norm.

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

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

The draft document identifies two practices that require careful consideration - the so-called “absentia 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 think it is important to explain to believers that the funeral service is not of a magical nature: the funeral service means the soul is at rest; if the funeral service is not performed, the soul is tormented. With this approach, in addition to a misunderstanding of the essence of the rite, the funeral service itself is understood as an obligatory, but still private matter for the relatives of the deceased. As a result, the awareness 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 matter, uniting and not dividing.

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 thinks of what is happening not as a private event, but as the work of the entire community, the entire Church. This understanding also extends to the funeral service of the deceased. It is enough to read the text of the burial order to understand how much this text does not agree with the funeral service in absentia! A 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 Judgment Day - this is the meaning of these lines. During the funeral service in absentia, the words sound as if into emptiness. They become pointless.

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

“Funeral service in absentia” should be an exception. This is a forced practice that should be performed only in those cases that are very correctly indicated in the draft document.

Archpriest Andrey Dudchenko, cleric of the Transfiguration Cathedral, Kyiv:

- In my opinion, the practice of funeral services in absentia is permissible only in cases where it was not possible to perform the funeral service over the body of the deceased. These points are precisely stated in the document under discussion. In addition, in modern practice, funeral services in absentia are sometimes blessed to be performed for persons who have died without permission, if the bishop deems this possible - as a rule, this applies to cases where a mentally ill person or a person in a state of severe affect takes his own life. I would like the document to evaluate this practice as well.

For pastoral reasons, it seems to me that the document’s emphasis on the importance of gathering relatives and loved ones of the deceased for the funeral service in absentia is correct. This funeral service is called in absentia 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 extremely rarely visits the temple and even less often hears the sermon of the priest, each funeral service is in many ways a unique opportunity for the priest to convey the word of the Gospel 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 looks for words that will help “reach” the hearts of the people gathered.

Archpriest Mikhail Denisov, teacher at 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 funeral services in absentia, because we do not yet have churches in every locality, and Orthodox Christians do not always have the opportunity to invite a priest to the funeral service. The presence of relatives is, of course, desirable, but not always possible. There are cases when a person is alone, 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 service is also justified when a churchgoer asks to perform a funeral service for his long-dead relatives who were buried without a funeral service. This often happens in Siberia, because under Soviet rule there were very few churches here, and in many areas there were none at all.

Prepared by Olga Bogdanova

The funeral service is a special prayer service established by the Church for parting words and seeing off people to another world. It includes strictly defined alternations of stichera, canon, reading of the Apostle and the Gospel. And, since more than half of the prayers are sung in it, this service was popularly called the “funeral service.”

The holding of this rite indicated that this person was known to the community and the priest, and people gathered to see him off on his last earthly journey. Now, despite the fact that community members live more separated, the meaning of the funeral service should still be preserved. If the deceased was a member of the Orthodox Church, if he was engaged in his spiritual life, if he confessed and received communion (at least sometimes), if he participated, at least minimally, in the life of the community - the Church can give him a farewell message. Christians present at the service must pray and ask God for help to the soul of the person being buried.

The funeral service should not be considered just a ritual. In this case, the rite will be the burial itself, but not the funeral service. Very often people say: “I took part in the rite of Baptism”, “We performed the wedding ceremony”, etc. It is not right. After all, a ritual is only an external, symbolic expression of the essence of belief. With the help of ritual, a person tries to clothe the invisible in the visible in order to make it more understandable. But behind the form there is always something more.

A memorial service and a funeral service are different things, for some reason they are often confused.

A memorial service is simply a funeral prayer for the deceased. It can be performed both before the funeral service and after. The rite, which is called the funeral service, is performed over the deceased once, on the day of his burial.

Litiya is the final part of the funeral service. This service is a very short prayer. By the way, lithium for a loved one can be performed at a grave or at home not only by a clergyman, but also by a simple layman.

The funeral service must take place in the church. In exceptional cases, this ceremony is performed directly at the graves (previously this was allowed during military operations or epidemics). But now, thank God, there is no war! Sometimes the funeral service can be performed at home. But, if a believer is already buried, what prevents relatives from bringing his body to the temple - the house of God? After all, it is pleasant and gratifying for the soul to be there! By the way, since ancient times, according to tradition, the deceased was not only buried in the temple, but also left there for three days. And during this time, right up to the funeral, the Psalter was read for the deceased.

It is customary for Orthodox Christians to bury them in a coffin, which remains open until the end of the funeral service (if there are no special obstacles to this).

The funeral service and burial are usually performed on the third day. The first day is considered to be the day of death itself. That is, if a person died on Tuesday before midnight, then it is customary to bury him on Thursday, and if on Saturday, then on Monday.

It's important to note that On the first day of Easter and on the Feast of the Nativity of Christ, the deceased are not brought into the church and funeral services are not performed.

The body of the deceased in the coffin is covered with a special white cover (shroud) - as a sign that the deceased, who belonged to the Orthodox Church and united with Christ in her Holy Sacraments, is under the protection of Christ, under the patronage of the Church - she will pray for his soul until the end of time . This cover is decorated with inscriptions with texts of prayers and excerpts from the Holy Scriptures, an image of the banner of the cross and angels. Relatives ask for forgiveness for involuntary insults, kiss the icon on the chest of the deceased and the aureole on the forehead. In the case when the funeral service takes place with the coffin closed, the cross on the coffin lid is kissed.

At the end of the funeral service, after reading the Apostle and the Gospel, the priest reads a prayer of permission. After reading the prayer of permission, farewell to the deceased occurs. Relatives and friends of the deceased walk around the coffin with a bow.

A paper whisk is a symbol of a crown, a symbolic designation of the fact that the deceased went into Eternal Life as a warrior who won a victory on the battlefield. The chaplet reminds us that the exploits of a Christian on earth in the fight against all suffering, temptations, seductions and passions are over, and now he expects a reward for them in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Among people who do not understand the essence of religion, there is a widespread opinion that a funeral service is a kind of “pass to heaven.” Many believe that if a funeral service has been performed for the deceased, then he was buried “humanly”, and “the soul is now in heaven, sins are forgiven”! And if they didn’t sing the funeral service, then the soul didn’t go to heaven, because it wasn’t allowed there.

This is simply an ugly, wild, offensive, almost magical perception of the funeral service. People who perceive this order of rites in this way do not understand what is happening at all.

The reason for such an ignorant attitude towards funeral services is that very often relatives have no idea who God is and why the Church gives farewell to the dead. At the same time, they believe that if the soul is not buried, it will not be buried.

During the funeral service, all those present must collectively pray that the soul will pass the tests that it inevitably faces after death. Having left the body, the soul begins to suffer from its own imperfections and passions. That is why the Church calls on believers to fight passions and change themselves for the better. Prayers said during the funeral service greatly help the soul and console it.

But in no case should we think that with the help of the funeral service we can determine the state of this soul in Eternity, much less conduct a trial over it! This is a false understanding of the meaning of the funeral service. This is a daring imposition of your desires and ideas on God.

God takes into account our love, expressed in our prayers (including funeral services), alms, and mercy. But it is He who administers the judgment, not us.

And, the most important thing to understand is that a funeral service is not automatic forgiveness of sins! The funeral service frees the deceased from the sins that burdened him, which he repented of or which he could not remember in confession, after which his soul is reconciled with God and his neighbors, and then released into the afterlife.

Under what circumstances can a priest refuse to perform a funeral service?

He can refuse when he knows for certain that the newly deceased blasphemed God during his lifetime or asked in his will not to perform his funeral service. In this case, the priest, of course, will not do this.

Nothing changes after the funeral service for a person who did not confess God during his lifetime. And, even more so, if he positioned himself as an atheist or agnostic, laughed at faith and believers, and maybe even was their persecutor. What can change for such a person? He never repented, did not confess, did not strive for God, did not desire Him.

Or, another example: the deceased expressed during his lifetime the desire that, in accordance with his militant anti-Christian beliefs, he would not have a funeral service, would not call a priest, etc. But close ones and relatives, wanting to do better, out of false “piety”, can come to their own conclusion that the deceased who erred during his lifetime still needs to be buried. They believe that the soul of this poor person will then appreciate this “care” for it.

This wild disservice to the soul of the deceased is provided not only by the so-called. “half-believers” who go to church only to light candles and bless Easter cakes, but sometimes even those who themselves participate in the sacraments and seem to understand the inner essence of religion.

You should not force communication on the soul of a loved one that he did not want during his lifetime. You should not make yourself a ruler equal to God.

Is it possible to perform funeral services for drunkards, drug addicts and suicides?

Nowadays the Church considers drunkards and drug addicts to be vicious people. But you can have a funeral service for vicious people. This category does not include people who commit suicide. The Church does not perform funeral services for suicides. The only exceptions are those cases where the suicide was mentally ill. Then the Church can perform the funeral service for the deceased, but first his relatives will need to obtain special permission from the diocesan administration.

To perform a funeral service for a suicide is absurd and stupid. There is no point in this. You can deceive the diocesan administration or the priest, but no one is able to deceive God.

So, the desire to perform a funeral service for a suicide or an unbeliever at any cost is madness. May the Lord protect them from such blasphemy.

There is no point in holding a funeral service for an unbeliever. As for drunkards, bandits and drug addicts, they could be weak people or people tainted by vices, but at the same time, hope for correction and reconciliation with God could live in their souls. Yes, their passions raged, yes, they were to blame for many things, but they recognized God. And He himself will decide the future fate of these people...

Non-believers, atheists, agnostics, occultists made their choice during their lifetime. And we must respect this choice, even if it seems terrible to us.

What if a person was an unbeliever, but did not openly insult God or speak out against Him? He simply did not believe in Him in his soul.

No, there are no passive atheists. God is involved in the life of every person. He knocks on every soul. God would not be fair if He did not give each of us the opportunity to come to Him. There are moments in the life of any person when he is given the opportunity to feel the care and love of God. For example, one person was seriously ill as a child, but then miraculously recovered. The other would definitely have died in the disaster, but survived. There are a great many examples of such miraculous healings and salvations that do not fit into the average values ​​of probability theory.

Let's think about how many times in our entire lives each of us could perish and die? Tragic accidents can happen anywhere and anytime. Every day, every car, every person walking towards us could theoretically bring death. But she passes by. But has the atheist now lying in front of us in a coffin ever thought about this? And if he thought about it, then why didn’t he turn for help to the One who controls all accidents? No! It seemed to him unnecessary and unprofitable. Recognizing God would disrupt his plans, break his desires, and deprive him of some opportunities (usually not good ones). And he decided to ignore God, close his eyes and walk past Him.

What should those attending the funeral service do to help the soul of the deceased?

Be in love! Prayer for the deceased should come not only from the lips, but also from the heart of a loving person. He must also prove his love not only in word, but also in deed.

If possible, it is necessary to do alms and acts of mercy for the deceased. It is this, and not the soul-wrenching demonstrative and non-demonstrative manifestations of grief, that will be the real indicator of our love for the deceased.

When a person comes to church, he must remember, firstly, that the funeral service and commemoration are needed for prayer. And it is usually not strangers or long-time neighbors who pray sincerely, but those to whom the deceased was truly dear, that is, people close to him. I believe that only those people who care about the soul of the deceased should come to the funeral service. Usually these are children, sisters, brothers, parents, spouses, closest relatives and friends. These people must love the deceased and pray. And it is completely pointless to invite just acquaintances and even strangers - that is, those who will simply languish and be bored. What is important is not the pomp and “status” of the funeral service, but the fulfillment of what the deceased himself desires. And he wants one thing - sincerity, warmth of love and prayer. Everything that people usually desire during earthly life.

It would be good if people standing in the church took the text of the rite (can be downloaded in advance on the Internet) and followed what the choir was singing. If there is no text, then you can just listen carefully. What is he singing? In some places he sings on behalf of someone who can no longer sing himself - i.e. the deceased himself. On behalf of the newly deceased, ancient stichera with stunning content are read: “Pray for me!” ... "Come, give me the last kiss."

During the ceremony, try to imagine how much your soul needs prayer now, how it wants everyone to pray for it. A new world has opened up for her, she needs support, but she herself cannot pray for herself. And the soul turns to us, asks for prayers, but we don’t hear it! Instead, we look around... Contemplating his inattentive loved ones, the deceased can remember that he also attended funeral services dozens of times and... also did not pray, because he could not imagine himself in the place of the deceased, he could not believe that in due time he too would be starring at this event...

A meaningful presence at this ceremony brings enormous benefits to the person who came to the funeral service. A person thinks about his life, about its meaning, about its ending. This is an extremely important point. After all, we all live in a hustle and bustle, and we try not to think about these topics. Meanwhile, these topics are extremely important for any person. Participating in a funeral service allows you to stop for a few minutes and look inside yourself. Indeed, at this moment we have before us not only a loved one whose soul has gone to God, but also an image of our own future, our death. And here a person present at the funeral service can understand that life must be valued, we must grow spiritually, we must think about what awaits us beyond this line, after the funeral service.

The consciousness of an unbeliever is structured in such a paradoxical way that the death of others seems to him, although regrettable, a completely consistent fact, a logical pattern. At the same time, he does not allow the thought that the same thing could happen to him. And if he admits it, he tries not to pay attention to it, does not let this thought pass through himself. The consciousness of an atheist becomes like this because it is outside of God, it cannot even see the present, much less see such a “terrible” future. Fear and a false sense of exclusivity block such people from understanding the finitude of their existence in this world.

Nowadays, people often try to hide the body of the deceased, hold the funeral as quickly as possible and forget about it. That is, get rid of memories of death as soon as possible...

This tradition came to us from the West, where they try to remove or disguise everything that spoils life and prevents us from enjoying it. In Europe and America, it is now customary to immediately dispose of dead bodies, hiding them in morgues. And even the traditions of wakes and memorial services are gradually becoming a thing of the past there. The people behind the modeling of a godless and immoral consumer society were able to impose on the population of Western countries the false idea that all this, as they call it, “negativity” has a destructive effect on human consciousness. And a person does not know what death is, does not think about it, does not prepare for it. That is, a person lives in a world with a distorted reality, where the illusion of the absence of death is imposed on him. But the reality is that a person still faces death. And he is completely unprepared for it. This tragedy shakes all his ideas about life and puts him in a state of grief. But, if you look at it, nothing special happened. These rose-colored glasses imposed by consumer society simply broke.

Some psychologists argue that the sight of a dead body harms the child's psyche. Therefore, many parents try to protect their children from funerals and wakes.

These would-be specialists forget that for centuries children have ALWAYS been present at the funerals of relatives, friends, and fellow villagers. Previously, people lived communally, in large villages. And the dead were buried by the whole world. And funerals in large villages happened very often. And the children were not afraid, but understood that death is part of life. And they were all right mentally. They then worked all their lives, raised their children, did not get involved in drugs, did not go to prison, did not become degenerates, such as today’s skinheads, emo, goths, etc. And their psyche, unlike modern children, was much stronger. And psychologists were not known then either; people themselves dealt with problems very well.

It’s terrible that they began to hide death from children. First, they get scared because they feel that something important is being hidden from them. When adults mumble something like “grandfather is no more, and you don’t need to see this,” and they themselves cry, for a child the concept of “death” becomes horror. And, of course, he does not perceive it as part of life or birth into Eternity. He begins to perceive death as a catastrophe. But he will have to face it many times in his life, and not only with someone else’s, but also with preparation for his own death. And those false ideas that his parents imposed on him in childhood, when they hid the deceased from him, will have a very bad effect on his mental state.

A child must see that our nature is passionate, perishable and mortal. And in the funeral service for the deceased, we should see another lesson, for ourselves and for our children! This great lesson is that the newly deceased shows by his example what will happen to us. And this gives all people present at the funeral the opportunity to once again think about the frailty of their existence, about the true meaning of life, about the vector of their development.

Is it possible to have a funeral service for a newly deceased person together with other deceased people?

People believe that an “individual funeral service” brings much more benefit to the soul of the deceased.

These are all false superstitions. There is no difference. During the First World War, priests buried thousands of fallen soldiers at the mass grave! Was this an inferior rite? Or maybe it should have been divided according to the number of people serving the funeral? All this is nonsense and speculation of ignorant people. We need to remember that the Lord always hears our prayers. And, therefore, the most important thing in the funeral service is the mood and zeal with which we pray for the deceased. So, it is better to look into your heart and not think about ridiculous superstitions.

In conclusion, I will quote once again Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh, who said:

We always think of death as separation. We will never again hear our beloved voice, we will never touch our beloved body, we will never again live with a person that simple life that is so dear to us. But we forget that death is at the same time a meeting of a living soul with the Living God, an entry into that fullness of life that is not available to anyone on earth. And that’s why, through tears, with a heart torn by our own pain, we can rejoice for another: the time of struggle, suffering, searching is over, he is now in a different light, sees what he was looking for, knows that he lives - life has won. And before the tomb we mysteriously contemplate the majestic meeting of God and man, the moment when a person’s entire journey ends and he comes home**.