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Dear Friends,

What are the complete traditions involving a non-Latinized, fully Byzantine funeral?

Alex

Christ is risen!

Dear Alex,
The following is a brief list of points made in my seminary class of several years ago.

1. Call the priest the moment that death appaers immenent so the prays for the departure of the soul from the body can be read.

2.From the time of death. Family and friends should stay near the body and read the psalter and the hours if possible. This is a comfort to the soul , as it may be confused after being ripped from its body in death. For the firts time the soul sees the angels and the demons. The use of the psalter with prayers is comforting and helps in its transition.

3. The priest for men (it may end up being deacon or minor clergy)or the Presbyterva for women (it may be other women also) wash and lovingly clean the body. If this is done at a mortuary or funeral home, they will provide a vinegar solution to assist in cleaning the body. Some Orthodox traditiona also annoint the body with rose oil. Camphor soaked cotten is placed into all the orafices to hold down on odors of the bosy as it decomposes. Remember in a traditional byzantine burial the body is not embalmed.

4. The Body is then clothed according to their station within the church. Bishops in monastic robes with their episcopal acrutements, faces will eventually be covered by a veil. Priests robed as for a liturgy with Gospel Book in hand.
Deacons robed as for a service with a cold censer in his hands. Subdeacons and readers robed either in riassa or in riassa with vestments over them, holding a cross. Women Monastics are garbed as they would be garbed for Church services. Laity, male or female in close appropriate for Church or in their Baptismal robes if they still have them. In their hands they will hold either an icon or a cross.

5.The Body is placed into a wooden coffin with a cross on its cover and the words written around it "Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal One, Have Mercy upon me..." The body is covered with a shoud ( a sheet) that has on it the cross with the symbols of the crucifixion--- spears , sponge, etc similar to what the monastic wears on the great schema. A head piece is also worn with specific wording (can not remember the exact wording on it. In the hand during the funeral is placed a scroll with the prayer for the dead on it.

6. The first Panikida or memorial is usually done in the evening after the death and if there are 2 evenings prior to burial another panikida is done.

7. On the Third day the full orthodox burial service is sung (with variations for Bishop, Priest, and Season such as Pascha. It is concluded by the very emotional "last Kiss, the oil from a lmpada, ashes, etc being placed into the coffin with the deceased as the shroud is pulled up to completely cover the face. The body is taklen to the Cemetary where it will be laid in its grave and those in attendance throw handfuls of dirt on the coffin before going away.

8. The priest and family remain at the grave until it is closed.

Your brother in Christ,
Thomas

Modern pragmatica has greatly modified the face of the funeral service from the days of the village funerals in the "old country". Things like regulations regarding the handling of corpses, and these obligatory facilities called funeral homes have to be dealt with as a matter of course these days.

Originally, the prayers for the departing of the soul from the body were said by the priest. The body was washed and wrapped in a white linen or if they were some sort of officer or dignitary, in an official uniform as appropriate. I have a black and white picture of an old Hutsul funeral and on top of the winding sheet was a beautiful embroidered scene similar (but smaller) to the plashchanitsya on it. Also there were small loaves of bread tied with rushnyky (embroidered towels) to the candlesticks of those processing around the body. I don't know if I can talk everyone into doing that at the next funeral.

A small panakhyda was sung and then the family and friends recited as many kathismata of the psalter as possible before morning. In the morning, another small panakhyda was sung and the body was processed to the church with the Trisagion and the troparia "So Duchi Pravednik" "To the Soul of your Servant" etc. Another problem, we can't often process from the funeral home to the church anymore.

At the church the full Parastas with the final farewell was sung. The body was processed to the graveyard where a small panakhyda was sung with the final internment service.

It seems that having the Divine Liturgy for the dead is a more recent development, as the full Parastas was the service for the dead in the church, not a Divine Liturgy. This is just the funeral services themselves, there were commemorations on the third, ninth, fortieth day with kolyvo and panakhyda, etc. which should probably be handled in a separate thread.

That was then, this is now. This is how we had the last funeral I served at, about two weeks ago. Since the lady died at the nursing home, the priest went there to say the prayers for the departing of the body and had a small panakhyda there. After the body was removed and prepared by the nursing home, in the afternoon, we sang a few kathismata of the Psalter until the evening, when the priest anticipated Parastas (which is basically a modified Matins incorporating the hymns of John Damascene for the dead, etc.). As a cantor, although funerals are always sad, I love doing Parastas, for one thing the hymns of St. John Damascene are sung in all eight tones Samohlasni which keeps you on your toes. Final farewell occurred at the end of Parastas.

In the morning we had small panakyda and the body was taken to the church. In Ukrainian Catholic usage there is the service of the readings of the Gospel pericopes as the body is brought into the narthex of the church. The Zhovka Trebnik and the Slavonic Malijy Trebnik from Rome differ slightly in some of the particulars. But in the Maljy Trebnik there are nine Gospel pericopes, some to be read before and some after Divine Liturgy. At the conclusion of Divine Liturgy another small panakyda, and then a final Gospel reading in the narthex. The body was removed from the church with slow ringing of the bells (as it came in), and the singing of the Trisagion and "so duchi pravednik".

We went to the cemetary, one more small panakhyda and the internment ceremony. As my oldest son who served for this funeral noted at the conclusion, "Tato, that's a lot of smoke from the kadilo" as he had been holding and feeding it for every service since the first service the day before. All rising up like our prayers for the deceased.
Subdeacon Randolph, a sinner

I guess ya'll don't have "Dies Irae" (the old requiem sequence of the latin rite). In my opinion it is an excellent prayer.

GLORY TO JESUS CHRIST!
GLORY TO HIM FOREVER!

Don't forget about putting the coins over the eyes to keep them shut.

Coins were also placed into pockets of the deceased to "ease" their way into the next life.

During the Paschal season there were many pysanky also placed into the coffin.

A more recent tradition is the photographing of the deceased in the coffin. This was done so that the pictures could be sent home to the "Old Country" for family and friends there. The photos were also sent from the "Old Country" here is if the deceased died over there.

Hope this helps....
mark

ps
Alex, I'm having trouble sending a private email. I keep getting a msg that your mail box is full. Email me at home thanks!
mark

Dear Mark,

Yes, you are right.

Please send me an e-mail at:

alex_roman@ontla.ola.org

God bless,

Alex

Glory to Jesus Christ!
Glory to Him Forever!

Well, I did some checking about funeral customs and learned quite a bit. Most of what I learned is for the west side of the mountains but I found it very interesting indeed.

In the home of the deceased, the clock was stopped, the mirrors were covered and the windows were opened for a time to let the "spirits" leave. There was no work done in the house of the deceased nor was there any cooking done; hence the custom of taking food to the home of the deceased by neighbors.

If the head of the household died, his animals and especially his bees were told of his death and that the were to have a new master.

The body was prepared by the elderly women of family. Each person had his/her funeral clothes made at an early age. It was usually the finest of embroidery.

There were also customs depending on the age of the deceased. If it was a child, there very often was no funeral by a priest if the child was under the age of 7 yrs. The belief was that a child under the age of 7 was not capable of sin therefore was pure in the eyes of God. In the case of newborn or infants, the mother was not permitted to attend the funeral as they did not want the "evil spirits" to take possession of the mother lest she have other children die also.

If the deceased was of an age where he or she would have had children, they were dressed in their wedding finery. If the deceased was an un-married young woman, they would dress her a bride and have a mock wedding procession to the grave complete with attendants, flags, etc.

Once the body was washed by the old women, it was dressed and then various things were placed into the coffin including coins, and for a man - a pipe, a bottle of distilled spirits, a walking stick and for a woman - her choti, prayer book, holy cards, sewing items, etc.

In many areas, there were customs practiced to avoid the deceased coming back as a vampire. These included laying the deceased face down in the coffin and fastening the body to the coffin.

After the ceremonies at the grave, a meal was prepared in the home of the deceased and all the friends and neighbors would attend.

Well, hope this helps....

mark

ps
I can remember some of these customs from when I was a small child and even when my Baba died.

Dear Mark,

Actually, your account hit really close to home!

My father was a hobby beekeeper, he lived for his bees.

When he died, I in fact did "tell" the bees about their keeper's passing.

During the 40 day period following his repose, bees kept trying to get inside the house! The morning after we found a bee inside and marvelled at how it could have come in.

My mother usually covered mirrors at someone's death and opened windows.

At the blessing of my uncle's new home some years back, people had a bit too much to drink on an empty stomach beforehand. I know that's hard to imagine, but it happens . . .

As they walked with the priest who was blessing the house, the happy-go-lucky uncle kept telling someone to open up all the windows so the demons could get out quickly . . .

Don't you just hate it when things like that happen?

Alex