BURIAL PRACTICES

BURIAL PRACTICES. Recently, it has been argued that the burial practices of the people of God since the Iron Age have been quite modest. The de-emphasis of material goods in tombs is thought to point to a recognition of an afterlife beyond the realm of earthly riches in the bosom of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This attitude contrasts sharply with the elaborate and expensive funeral rites one may find in Egyptian, Greek, or Roman non-Christian cultures of the same period-and to a certain degree with the modern funeral industry of North America.

Whether this argument holds from the Iron Age to the early Roman period, it does seem to be supported by the archaeological evidence and literature we have from the early and imperial church, that is, the late Roman and Byzantine periods. For example, the early Christian attitude toward the body and the Byzantine canons related to burial both show a sensitivity toward the witness of a transformed flesh, so to speak, and a proscription against the elaborate and expensive rites of cremation. The deceased was-and still is-buried facing the east so that he may arise facing Christ on the day of the general resurrection (q.v.). The resurrection of the body, rather than cultural rites and votive offerings of a material nature, became the focus of the Christian burial rite.

The present-day liturgical rites of burial are thematic and include special times of prayer (q.v.). The liturgical themes, even when sung within funerary tones, speak primarily of salvation, the deliverance God provides his people, and resurrection. The liturgical colors are specified as bright.

The Western Christian practices of meditating on the Cross and death and wearing dark liturgical colors for funerals, probably originating around the 8th c., are not indigenous to the Orthodox Church. These may even be considered inappropriate because the Cross and death are primarily baptismal themes, i.e., in Baptism (q.v.) the new Christian dies with Christ and takes on a new life through the Cross. On the pastoral and human level, the clergy of the Orthodox Church consider it inhumane to the surviving family and friends of the deceased to focus on the Cross and death, since they have experienced enough of this tragedy in their loss: The message they need is that of salvation, deliverance, resurrection, and hope.

The special liturgical times of prayer at death-before death: penance, an anointing, and Holy Communion are appropriate-include prayers at the departure of the soul from the body, and again on the third, ninth, and fortieth days. The funeral service, patterned after the matins and including the interment, is usually served within three days when possible. The significance of the prayers at the departure of the soul is obvious; that of the third day is patterned after the three-day resurrection of Christ (counting Friday as the first day and beginning the third day in the evening, according to the Jewish and Christian liturgical reckoning); that of the ninth and fortieth days is after the vision of Macarius of Alexandria who saw these particular days as times of personal judgment. (See Cremation.) Celebrating the Divine Liturgy is not required for the funeral service, and the Orthodox have no Eucharistic celebration that is distinguished as a “Funeral Mass” per se. The funerals of priests and bishops are distinguished liturgically from those of the laity.

Although local burial practices are influenced by their respective cultures, of note are the current burial practices in monasteries on Mt. Athos (q.v.). The body of the deceased is interred on the day of death after only a brief (one-half hour) funeral service. After a sufficient period of time for the decomposition of the flesh, usually a year, the bones are placed in a general monastery ossuary and the skull is placed on a shelf in the ossuary vault with other skulls. A favorite epitaph on the skull shelf reflects the spiritual discipline of meditating on death: “Take heed, those of you who look in here, for you will soon be looking out.” There are striking similarities between this burial practice and that mentioned above for the period from the Iron Age to the early Roman period. Among other burial practices in monasteries in Slavic countries, notably the Pechersk Lavra of the Kievan Caves, saintly relics are preserved through mummification.