Praying for the dead

[Olympia]

Greetings in Christ,

I have a question about death. Why do we pray for the dead at 9 days, 40 days, 3, 6, and 9 months? Do these dates have a special meaning, or do they exist for the greiving family?

[Thomas Garland]

According to Hapgood's Service Book of the Orthodox Church, St Macarius of Alexandria says that:

- for the first 2 days after death, the soul is allowed to roam at will, accompanied by the Angels, and finally is brought to heaven on the 3rd day, in imitation of the Resurrection.

- for the next 6 days (ie to the 9th day after death), the soul is shown the beauty of Paradise and is then taken again to do reverence to God.

- for the next 30 days (ie to the 40th day after death), the soul is shown the torments of Hell.

This reference doesn't mention other periods for prayer, other than the birthday, name-day and death-day anniversaries.

Hope this is useful!

NB have you ever read Metropolitan Antony (Bloom)'s wonderful exposition of prayer for the dead in his little book 'Living Prayer'?

Thomas Garland

[Olympia]

Thankyou, Thomas for your answer. I do have "Living Prayer" by Metropolitan Anthony, and I will add it to my reading list.

Olympia

[M.C. Steenberg]

Dear Olympia,

In addition to Thomas' helpful summaries of the explanations from the Service Book, there are also many other levels of symbolism and meaning for the various timings of the memorial services. Much of the tradition comes from the revelation given to St Macarius of Alexandria about the affairs of the soul after death; but additional symbolism is gleaned from the life of Christ (e.g., the forty-day commemoration in remembrance of Christ's victory over the Devil in the desert on the fortieth day).

The various symbolisms are nicely summarised in a document to be found on the orthodoxinfo.com website. The direct link is:

http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/death/prayer_dead.htm
(Link opens new window)

There is also a helpful article on the Orthodox funeral services and practises:

http://www.holy-trinity.org/liturgics/sokolov-death.html

I hope you find these helpful.

INXC,
Matthew

[Sarah Anne]

We just prayed for all the dead this weekend, during the Vigil for Saturday of the Departed. I was wondering if this includes *all* the dead, or just all the dead who were Orthodox?

[Peter]

Sarah, in the Triodion it says that the Saturday of the Dead is for the "universal" remembrance of the dead.... it doesn't specify only the "Orthodox dead."

I read through some of the prayers, and there are a few that are specifically for "our departed Orthodox brethren," but there are also (many) others that are for "all Thy children" and so on.