by Fr. Jonathan H. Cholcher
[This article is the second of four explaining the Orthodox Christian meaning of important topics and practices commonly misunderstood by the non-Orthodox. The four topics are: 1. Praying to Saints, 2. Prayers for the Departed, 3. The Veneration of Icons, and 4. The Sinlessness of the Virgin Mary.]
Prayers for the Departed are prayers offered to God on behalf of persons departed this life, that is, they have died a bodily death. Bodily death occurs when the soul, or spirit, of a person departs their body and the body sleeps; hence, the common Christian description of bodily death is “falling asleep” (see Luke 8:52; 1 Corinthians 15:20; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-15). The word cemetery (Gk., koimētērion) literally means “sleeping-place,” that is, the place for the sleeping bodies of those who have departed this life.
Though in bodily death the body sleeps, the soul, or spirit, of a person continues to exist and live on. Though departed this earthly and mortal life, the person retains their personal identity alive in an immaterial, spiritual state awaiting the resurrection of their body and reunification of the complete person body and soul. The soul always retains its connection with the body; the state of the soul is imprinted with the good or evil done in the body at the time of bodily death (2 Corinthians 5:10; Galatians 6:7-8; Revelation 14:13). Because the body is an integral part of the human person, respectful care is lavished on the bodies of the faithful before, during, and after burial, because the body is a relic, that is, a bearer of the sanctification of God (Genesis 49:49; 50:24-25; 4 Kingdoms 13:21; Ezekiel 37:11-14; John 19:39-42).
“So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom” (Luke 16:22-23). “[Moses] called the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ For He is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to Him” (Luke 20:37-38; cf. Exodus 3:6, 15). “But you have come…to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect” (Hebrews 12:22, 23). “[B]eing put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, by whom also [Christ] went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah” (1 Peter 3:18-20).
Therefore the Church offers Prayers for the Departed because they are, in fact, alive in spirit and active participants in the grace of God unto eternal life. Specifically, the Departed await in anticipation the resurrection of their bodies from the grave, and the faithful still alive in this mortal existence join the Departed in prayer in the hope of that Resurrection. “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18; N.B., this passage, vv.13-17, is the Epistle reading for the Orthodox Funeral service).
The Apostle writes elsewhere: “[W]e also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. For we were saved in this hope…Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses…He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God” (Romans 8:23-24, 26, 27). First and foremost Prayers for the Departed are intercessory groans of the Spirit of God for the saints in the hope of the Resurrection, through the certitude of faith in Jesus Christ “who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us” (Romans 8:34).
One of the characteristic Orthodox prayers for the departed begins as follows: “O God of spirits, and of all flesh, who hast trampled down death and overthrown the devil and given life unto Thy world: Do Thou, the same Lord, give rest to the soul of Thy departed servant(s), in a place of brightness, a place of refreshment, a place of repose, where all sickness, sorrow, and sighing have fled away.” This is a prayer of participation in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, the fulfillment of a Christian’s faith in Christ.
The foundational act of Prayer for the Departed is thanksgiving to God for eternal life in Christ for both soul and body. If a person is “in Christ,” then they participate in the Resurrection because Jesus Christ “is the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25; see John 5:24-25). Participation in the Resurrection is participation in brightness, refreshment, and repose (Isaiah 35:4-10; 60:1-2, 19-22; Revelation 7:14-17; 21:1-8). This is what Lazarus began to experience after his bodily death (cf. Luke 16:22, 25), and what was promised to the repentant thief crucified beside Christ: “Today you will be with Me in paradise” (Luke 23:43).
The prayer above continues as follows: “Pardon every transgression which he (she) hath (they have) committed, whether by word, or deed, or thought. For Thou art a good God and lovest mankind, because there is no man who lives and does not sin; for Thou only art without sin, and Thy righteousness is to all eternity, and Thy word is true.”
Prayers for the Departed include a petition for forgiveness. Despite a person’s faith and superior righteousness, everyone falls asleep in bodily death with some sin. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). In so praying for the departed, the Orthodox Church acknowledges that nothing we do “guarantees” forgiveness (and this applies especially to extreme measures such as “Last Rites” intended to give solace to survivors for one departed who did not practice a life of faith and repentance). The only guarantee of forgiveness is the mercy of God in Christ. “And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1).
The prayer for forgiveness should not be taken as an element of uncertainty of salvation in Orthodox theology. Rather, the petition for the forgiveness of the departed drives us more and more to the certainty of what Christ has done for sinners by His death and resurrection, in which the faithful share through faith in the Holy Spirit active in the mystical life of the Church, e.g., Baptism, Chrismation, Holy Communion, Confession, keeping the commandments of Christ, works of repentance and love, etc.
At the conclusion of the Orthodox Funeral service, the Priest blesses the departed one’s body with a Prayer of Absolution. “We (i.e., successors to the apostles and spiritual fathers; see Matthew 16:19; John 20:23; 1 Corinthians 4:1, 15) ask God to pardon you, O spiritual child.” This assumes the departed was in this life an active participant in the Church’s practice of faith and repentance (i.e., Confession and Communion). What was begun in this life by the mercy of God continues into the next in the company of all the faithful who pray to God for salvation. “After death there is no repentance” (St. John of Damascus; see Hebrews 9:27-28); therefore, the Church with thought for the departed maintains its prayer for repentance and forgiveness now.
On a finer point, when praying for the pardon of the departed we consider these words of Christ. “Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come” (Mattew 12:31-32; italics mine). Implicitly, some sins other than blasphemy against the Holy Spirit can be pardoned in this age positively affecting one’s spiritual state in the age to come.
This age refers to the entire period of existence, for the living and departed, prior to the coming of Christ in glory on the Last Day, or Day of Judgment (see Matthew 24:3, 29-31). During this age, even for more serious sins, forgiveness is possible. The age to come refers to the period of existence after the coming of Christ in glory, that is, after the resurrection of all who have lived and the final judgment. In the age to come, a person’s state is fixed either in the kingdom of God’s light and purity (heaven), or in everlasting fire and punishment (hell; see Matthew 25:31-46; John 5:28-29). We pray for the possibility of helping even departed sinners to be freed from their sin in this age before the Second Coming of Christ and the inauguration of the age to come.
For instance, when Judas Maccabeus discovered those slain in battle died because they had idol tokens under their tunics, he not only prayed their sin might be forgiven, but he took up an offering to present in Jerusalem as a sin offering on behalf of the slain. “For if he were not looking for the resurrection of those fallen, it would have been utterly foolish to pray for the departed. But since he was looking to the reward of splendor laid up for those who repose in godliness, it was a holy and godly purpose. Thus he made atonement for the fallen, so as to set them free from their transgression” (2 Maccabees 12:44-45).
Once again, for those already departed this life in certain serious sins awaiting the Day of Judgment, we have no human guarantee their sin will be forgiven. The Orthodox Church rejects the false notions of purgatory and universalism (i.e., all, even the devil, will be granted eternal life in the end) as mechanisms of salvation after death. However, we hope this can be accomplished by the mercy of God in Christ, and so we pray for the departed, even those who appeared in this life to die in spiritual ignorance, negligence, and unrepentance. It is the Lord Jesus Christ “who will judge the living and the dead” (2 Timothy 4:1; 1 Peter 4:5). Until the end of this age we continue to commend the departed caught even in serious sins to the mercy of God for the possibility of their eternal life in His glorious kingdom.
Finally, one of the most common and simplest Prayers for the Departed consists of two words: “Memory eternal.” The prayer is usually introduced as follows: “Grant rest eternal and blessed falling-asleep, O Lord, to Your servant who has fallen asleep, and make his (her) memory to be eternal.” This petition expresses a statement in the Psalms: “A righteous man shall be in everlasting remembrance” (Psalm 111:6).
The key meaning here centers on the memory of God, God’s remembrance of the righteous, for He alone is eternal. When God remembers a person, he or she is never forgotten. In other words, God’s eternal memory is the bestowal of God’s eternal salvation and blessing.
“Then God remembered Noah, and whatever was with him in the ark” (Genesis 8:1). “So God heard [the children of Israel’s] groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Then God looked upon the children of Israel and was made known to them” (Exodus 2:24-25). “’Will a woman forget her child, so as not to have mercy on the offspring of her womb? But even if a woman should forget these things, nevertheless, I shall not forget you,’ says the Lord” (Isaiah 49:15).
The Divine Liturgy summarizes the meaning of God’s eternal memory most clearly. “[The Lord Jesus] took the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me’ (lit., unto My remembrance). For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes” (1 Corinthians 11:25-26; see Luke 22:19). At the Lord’s Supper, the eternal kingdom of Christ is made manifest in which both the living and departed faithful commune in the crucified and risen Body and Blood of Christ Jesus (Luke 22:29; Hebrews 8; 10:19-25; 12:22-24). The liturgical assembly is remembrance of Christ by doing what He says and receiving Him, and God remembering us in forgiveness and love.
Neither merely a mental image or recollection, nor a sentimental reflection, “Memory eternal” is a concrete and tangible state of being resting in the sanctifying grace of Christ. As our Lord said of the woman who anointed Him for His burial, “Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her” (Matthew 26:13). Memorials (eulogies, memorial services, tombstones, etc.) are pledges of persons living in the present, not of those lost to the past.
Prayers for the Departed comprise the normal practice of the Body of Christ, the Church. They are communication with the Head, Christ, who enlivens the faithful unto everlasting life.
