Dear in Christ Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Congratulations with the feasts of the Resurrection of the Lord, the Holy Great-Martyr Barbara, and Saint John of Damascus!

Both of today’s saints can be linked to the series of sermons from this fall. St. Barbara is especially prayed to for a person not to be denied that which is most important before death, that is, Сommunion of Christ’s Mysteries. It is for this reason that she is often depicted on icons holding a chalice. St. John of Damascus was a wonderful theologian who collected the works of all the great fathers of the Сhurch and synthesized their thoughts. He laid out this synthesis in his book The Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith. He was also a zealous defender of the Church against the iconoclastic heresy. He was also a very talented liturgical poet and composed many church hymns that are used up to our own time. Among them are eight stikhiry which are sung at the funeral service.

It is clear that death is one of the most important moments in the personal life of each person, but perhaps the key moment for the family and friends of the deceased is not the moment of death, but the funeral, i. e. the church service and burial. Today, let’s quickly talk about the funeral service.

The text of the service itself is beautiful and deep in meaning. Most importantly we hear prayers for the repose of the soul of the departed and about the forgiveness of sins. We also hear about the Orthodox teaching on death, on life after death, about the judgement and about the resurrection of the dead. The first part of the funeral is comprised of the reading of the 118th (119) psalm (the 17th kathisma). In this longest of all psalms the author expresses his love for the Law of God and the idea that the goal of man is to fulfill this Law. We Christians, hearing the words of this psalm, of course remember that the one and only person to fulfill this ancient Jewish Law to perfection was Jesus Christ. Speaking about the Law, the author one could say is prophetically bringing to mind Him who fulfilled this Law. We in our turn reading or listening to these words understand that to live according to this Law means to follow Christ and that is why the Law is as sweet as honey.

The second half of the service is composed of a canon for the reposed (in which the martyrs and their witness to Christ even unto death are remembered), prayers for the departed, the funeral stikhira of St. John of Damascus, and the Epistle and Gospel readings about the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, the general resurrection of the dead, and the Dread Judgement.

Not only are the words that are read and sung at the funeral important, but also those signs and actions that are used. The coffin is open and the deceased lies in such a way that if he were able to stand up, he would be in front of the iconostasis, as if standing at a church service. In his hands he holds a cross, a sign of that which is most precious for a believer, that is faith in salvation through the crucified Christ. On his head he wears a crown, a paper strip decorated with small icons, which symbolizes the crowns of the martyrs, i. e. rewards from the Lord in exchange for fidelity to Him. At the end of the service, a paper with the text of the prayer of absolution is placed in the hands of the deceased as a visible sign of our prayers. Before the coffin is closed, a small amount of earth is strewn into the coffin as a reminder that we were formed from earth and return to the earth after death. Also a small amount of oil is poured into the coffin as a sign of God’s mercy (oil, elei in Greek, also means mercy). The coffin is also sprinkled with holy water. In general we could say that the prayers as well as the actions at a funeral can greatly help a person bid farewell to the deceased and to find for himself a measure of peace.

It sometimes happens that when a particularly faithful and pious person dies, his funeral has not so much a sad and gloomy feeling to it as a festive and sometimes even joyful character. Why is this? For our fallen human nature it is unnatural to find joy in suffering and death and yet, despite everything, the funeral is joyful. Perhaps this is the case because the funeral service – the words of the prayers, the physical signs and actions – in the most obvious way justifies the deceased. He has a cross in his hands because he truly had Christ always in his thoughts and also acted according to the commandments of Christ. He lies in church not because someone brought him there for the first time in many years but because he was always there, he never missed services, considered the church his home, sang and read on kliros, served in the altar, cooked in the kitchen, cleaned the church, worked in the church yard, taught in the church school, painted icons, sewed vestments, did odd jobs, was a member of the parish council, made donations. The words about the martyrs and their witness to Christ are not empty, for the deceased, in his morally upright and blameless life, through his repentance, love, and patience until the last moment of life, is truly like a martyr. Such a person in truth has earned a crown from God and therefore his funeral become already a beginning to a new and light-filled life where there is no suffering, but only eternal blessedness. Let’s try ourselves to live such a life, so that our funeral will be not sad and gloomy, but a spiritually joyful event.

priest Alexis