Mission Monthly – July 1997

“Most persons are indifferent towards their most sacred duties concerning their deceased parents, brothers and sisters, owing to their ignorance of the importance and necessity of the Church's holy memorial services… [those who pray them] are richly rewarded by God for their benevolent act for the dead, and for their prayers to God for the salvation of their parents and brothers or sisters, relatives and friends.”

St. Nectarios of Aegina (+1920)

If there is one custom of Eastern Orthodox Christianity that often amazes and many times disturbs those outside the ancient faith, it is the fact that we pray for the dead. Isn't it interesting that this intrinsic action of Orthodox Christianity is so outside the experience (or even the taste) of much of “modern” Christianity.

One of my classmates from seminary related to me an experience within his own family that I found shocking and completely apart from my own experience as an Orthodox Christian. Within a very short period of time (weeks at most) after the death of his grandfather, his (non-Orthodox) grandmother discarded everything that belonged to her husband. She threw away all of his possessions, all pictures of him and then proceeded to move into a new apartment. His description left me with an image of a woman who wanted to wipe away all memory of a man who no longer exists or possibly never even existed. My classmate's grandmother, though Christian, is certainly not Orthodox in her actions. Let us look for a moment at why, from the beginning, the Church considers praying for the dead “important” and “necessary.”

One of the most tragic trends of modern thought, along with an overwhelming rejection of the presence of sin, is the inability to truly accept the reality of death and, what we believe as Orthodox Christians, its eternal implications. Our youthful, health-conscious, trend-centered culture seems to view death as something that happens to “the other guy.” In one of the final interviews given by the famous actor, Michael Landon, before his death to cancer he stated, “I wish someone would've told me when I was young, really told me, that one day I was going to die. I probably would've done some things differently.” And when we do accept the reality of death a recent USA TODAY national survey concluded that 88% of the adults polled believe that they are going to heaven. The denial of death and the certainty of heaven are a lethal combination for the health of the soul struggling to seek and know God in Truth and Holiness. It is precisely against these two trends, along with a deep concern for the salvation of the departed soul alive in Christ, that the prayerful remembrance of the dead is poised.

One of the most beautiful elements of the Church's prayers for the dead is the philosophical conclusion that the state of a soul upon death, no matter how reprehensible, is a dynamic state uncertain of the final verdict only to be revealed at the Second Coming. We believe that because there is no repentance after death, the prayers of the Church can continue to lift the soul of the reposed before the Throne of God, entreating Him for mercy. This is the benevolent act that St. Nectarios refers to in the above quote. The blessing received in return for our prayers centers on the common directive from the Holy Fathers, “Always keep your death in mind and do not forget the eternal judgement, then there will be no fault in your soul”(Abba Evagrius). In remembering others in their death it should bring to mind the reality of our own and thus help us to remember to repent and seek salvation each moment of every day.

The Apostolic Constitutions of the early Church show us that formal prayers for the dead were easily advanced by the end of the third century. This is not a new Tradition! I am sorry for my friend's grandmother who will probably miss the blessings that come from the continued communion in Christ between those in this life and those in the next. I am sorry that this man's name will not be lifted up again and again in the Memorial Service, in the Holy Eucharist, in the private offerings of prayer in the heart or on the Memorial Saturdays when the Church offers to God the names of the departed. I am sorry that this woman may never know the blessings of repentance that come from remembering her own in the death of her loved ones. It may sound morbid when told to remember you own death. St. John Chrysostom even tells us that, “death is not good,”but he does go on to say, “but it is good after out departure 'to be with Christ.'” May God give all of us the wisdom to pursue and celebrate this Tradition of our Orthodoxy, and to know the rich rewards of these benevolent acts both for the souls of the departed and for our own.