FUNERALS

Funeral Services in the Cathedral are conducted for those who are Orthodox Christians in good ecclesiastical standing with the Church. In other words, only those who have been baptized and/or chrismated in the Orthodox Church, and have had their marriage blessed in the Church are eligible for an Orthodox funeral service in the church building. If there is a question, please contact the parish priest. Should there be a death in the family the following steps should be taken.

1. Immediately notify the family doctor or the County Medical Examiner (county Coroner) if the death occurred at home so he may examine the deceased and sign the death certificate. The body may not be removed otherwise.

2. Call the funeral director of your choice.

3. Inform the parish priest.

The church has no objection to autopsies for the sake of determining the cause of death or to further medical science, or to the donation of any body organs (eyes, heart, etc.) for transplants. However, because the human body is the Temple of the Holy Spirit, the Orthodox Church insists that those who perform autopsies accord the utmost respect for the body. Arrangements for the funeral service must be made with the priest in conjunction with the funeral director. No funerals are allowed on Sunday, the day of the Resurrection of our Lord.

Some families prefer Memorial Donations to flowers. Such being the case, special envelopes are available to the funeral director and family at the Church Office or in the Narthex of the church. The church makes acknowledgements to the donors and a list sent to the family.

In the event of suicide, funeral rites are usually not accorded the deceased, unless the family acquires a letter from the family physician stating the deceased was under treatment for psychotic or emotional disorder. The Church believes that no one is permitted to take the life of another, especially the life of oneself. Suicide is murder and consequently a grave sin. Committing suicide signifies a loss of patience, hope and faith in God. Absent an emotional disorder, a person of faith does not lose hope no matter how great the difficulties he or she faces. If there is a question, the parish priest should be contacted.

Various Christian groups, instead of burial, prefer the cremation of the dead, which was customary among many ancient peoples. The Orthodox Church, however, mindful of the fact that the human body is the Temple of the Holy Spirit and inspired by the affection toward her departed children refuses to deliberately destroy the body, and has adopted the burial of the dead, as it appears in the Catacombs, and in the graves of the Martyrs and Saints. Cremation, therefore, is contrary to the faith and tradition of our Church and is forbidden to Orthodox Christians. A Church funeral is denied to a person who has been or will be cremated.

 MEMORIALS FOR THE DEAD

In God and His Church there is no division between the living and the departed, but all are one in the love of the Father. Whether we are alive or whether we are dead, as members of the Church we still belong to the same family, and still have a duty to bear one another's burdens. Therefore, just as Orthodox Christians here on earth pray for one another, and ask for one another's prayers, so they pray also for the faithful departed, and ask the faithful departed to pray for them. Death cannot sever the bond of mutual love that links the members of the Church together.

According to the teaching of the Church, the results of the Resurrection are placed in the realm of the future. Nevertheless, its initial meaning is revealed in the Sacrament of Holy Baptism, for in Baptism we both die and rise, or rather we are initiated into the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ (Romans 6:3-1 1). The finality and power of death is destroyed, for Christ has, by His Resurrection destroyed its power. On the last day, the bodies of all the dead in Christ will rise in their glorified form (I Corinthians 15:43). The glorified body and soul will compose again their indestructible unity, as Christ, the God-man, both before and after His Resurrection was and is an indivisible unity. We mourn the death of our loved ones, but we pray that they will find rest and forgiveness in Christ. Ours is the duty to pray for the repose of all members of the Body of Christ. As tokens of the immortality of the soul, boiled wheat (Koliva) is prepared and brought to church for the Memorial Service (Mnimosinon), at which prayers for the repose of the souls of those departed are offered (John 12:24). Memorials are offered the fortieth day after death and on the first anniversary of one's death, and once a year thereafter, if the family wishes. Memorials are also chanted on the two Saturdays before the beginning of Great Lent, the first Saturday of Great Lent, and on the Saturday before the Sunday of Pentecost. These particular Saturdays, called Saturdays of the Soul or Psychosavvata, are set aside for the commemoration of all departed Orthodox Christians, and their salvation. Memorial Services may not be held on the following days:

1. From the Saturday of Lazarus through the Sunday of St. Thomas.

2. All the Feastdays of our Lord.

3. August 15.