Funeral service of a monk

[barbara bates]

Can anyone help please - we need an English version of the funeral service for a monk. Many thanks.

[Fr Raphael Vereshack]

Jordanville has an English version of this service.
Perhaps someone in ROCOR in the UK could get a copy to you. Otherwise St Tikhon's Press multi-volume Book Of Needs (Trebnik) should have this service included in it.
In Christ- Fr Raphael

[barbara bates]

Thank you, Father, for your prompt reply. I wonder if you know of an online version that I could download and print quickly? yours in Christ, Barbara

[Fr Raphael Vereshack]

I'm sorry- I tried all the sites I know of with Liturgical materials & wasn't successful.
Perhaps if you contact a monastery that uses English.
In Christ- Fr Raphael

[M.C. Steenberg]

I am not certain from memory, but does not Hapgood's English Service Book contain that for a monk's funeral?

INXC, Matthew

[Fr Raphael Vereshack]

Matthew asked


I am not certain from memory, but does not Hapgood's English Service Book contain that for a monk's funeral?

No- I just took a look and that particular service isn't there.
In Christ- Fr Raphael

[Olga]

I've found this, though it's the service for a priest, but it might help. (Only just found it, it will probably need minor editing as it is from an American source.) I couldn't work out how to attach it as a Word document, so here it is in full:

Burial of Priests

Preparation:
The body of a dead priest is washed by three priests, who wipe with the sponge in crosswise form, according to the pattern used at baptisms: forehead, eyes, ears, breast, hands and legs, and then he is wiped with pure oil.
After clothing him in all his usual clothing except the outer cassock (rason), they vest him in complete sacerdotal vestments.
When the body is laid on the prepared table, the face is covered with an aer; in the right hand is placed a cross, and the Gospel is read over him in the interval between panikhidas, until the time of the funeral.
The sacerdotal vestments in which the departed priest's body is clothed must be new ones, and not ones which have been used; his footwear (slippers) must also be new.
The aer which is placed over his face is not removed at burial. The Gospel which was read over him is placed in his hands at the time he is carried out and remains with him in the coffin.
Proceeding with the body
At the bringing of the body of a priest to the church and to the grave, banners, cross and Gospel are borne before the body and the funeral toll is rung, because this procession is a regular cross-procession. The coffin is halted in front of the temple and the funeral litiya is sung there.
After the litiya, when carrying the body of a departed priest, the Irmosi of the canon "Thou art my helper and protector" are sung (but from Pascha to Ascension, "Christ is risen").
In the Church the coffin is placed nearer the Ambo than that of a lay person, and around the coffin without exception there are placed four candle-stands on the four sides.
The body of a dead priest must be born by priests, if there are enough of them.

The order of the ritual

The burial of a priest starts out at home just as does that of a lay person, with a litiya, but the dismissal is not prescribed--it is joined to the service of burial.
After "Blessed is our God", the Trisagion is sung and the introductory prayers are read.
After the exclamation at "Our Father", the troparia of the litiya, "With the spirits of the righteous", are sung, and there is a litany for the departed, upon which the priests pick up the body and proceed to the temple.
In the church the "Undefileds" are sung in three stases, and after them the troparion, "Give rest, O our Savior, unto Thy servant", as at the burial of lay-person, but immediately after this troparion the "stepenny", hymns of degrees, are read, then epistle and Gospel.
The presiding priest reads the first Gospel, then he also reads the first prayer, which follows it; the succeeding Gospels and prayers are read by the rest of the priests in order.
The Psalms which come between the Gospels are read separated into verses, and "alleluia" is sung in between the verses. (All the readings at a priest's funeral are done by priests--stepenny, Undefileds, beatitudes--and not by the lower clergy.)
After the 4th Gospel the Beatitudes are read, with their troparia.
After the 5th Gospel Psalm 50 is read and the canon in tone six: "The cruel tyrant" is sung, and after the 6th and 9th odes the little litany for the departed is intoned.
After the 6th ode, after the Kontakion, "With the saints..." the 24 _lkosi_ are read, usually by the presiding priest; after each one of them the singers sing "alleluia." After they've all been read the Kontakion is sung again, and the canon is continued.
After the 9th ode and after the litany, the Exapostilarion is read with verses, and the verses on the Praises, the Great Doxology, and Vouchsafe, O Lord, to keep us this day without sin are sung, followed by the reading or singing of the Aposticha: 24 stanzas divided into groups of three stanzas, each in one of the eight tones.
Then, after the Trisagion, the troparia of the litiya are sung, then the litany, at which the prayer "O God of spirits" is read out loud, and, after the exclamation, the verses of the last kiss, as at the funeral of a lay person, are read. After the kissing, the prayer of absolution is read, then laid in the right hand of the departed, and his body is then born to the grave, nowadays after the dismissal and the intoning of "memory eternal."

Burial

While the body is being carried to the grave, the canon, "A helper and protector" is sung again (but from Pascha to Ascension, "Christ is risen.") When the body arrives at the grave-site, the Trisagion is read, then troparia of the litiya, litany for the departed and the dismissal. Oil is also poured, if the departed was anointed, and then the body is given to the earth as is a lay person's.

[1] The Hours are "services of the narthex." When served in the Nave, the curtain and doors remain closed, except here, when the censing for Divine Liturgy begins. While the custom is widespread of opening them at the beginning of the Hours before Liturgy, that is, if not a mistake, not the best usage, nor is it consistent with the Ordo.

[Marie-Duquette]

St. Anthony's Greek Orthodox Monastery in Arizona has an English translation side-by-side with the Greek. I attended a monk's funeral service there; and followed the ritual with this booklet, which I then asked to read more thoroughly after the service. I didn't ask to keep a copy, and don't recall the specifics of the translation.

Why wouldn't the St. John the Baptist Monastery in England carry such a translation. Sometimes what is needed is closer to home than we think!

[Olga]

I found these rubrics for conducting a funeral for a monk, abbot or archimandrite from a Russian source. Attached is the text in Russian/Slavonic. My knowledge of Slavonic isn't good enough to attempt a full translation, so hopefully others on this forum could oblige.

[M.C. Steenberg]

Dear Olga,

Thank you for posting the Russian text of the funeral service for a monk -- which differs from that of a priest, as posted earlier in this thread. While it's not the monastic service requested originally, I though that I would provide a link to the funeral service of a layperson (http://web.ukonline.co.uk/ephrem/funeral.htm) as translated by Archimandrite Ephrem, which I came across while looking on-line for the other. It's a readily accessible version.

INXC, Matthew

[Eugenia]

Dear Matthew,
Thank you for the link to the funeral service for a layperson. It truly is beautiful to read. I had a question regarding the individual who has fallen asleep in the Lord. I have attended funerals where the reposed had a band across the forehead with slavonic words. Also, it is my understanding that some hold a rolled parchment in their hands with words. Do you know what these words are and whether it is a widespread Orthodox tradition or part of our individual ethnic backgrounds. Thank you and God bless, Eugenia

[Michael Astley]

Three years after the initial request was made, I wonder whether there may have been a change in what resources regular contributors here have to hand. If anybody has the text and/or rubrics of the monastic funeral office in English in electronic format (or can scan them), or knows where I can find them online as a matter of some urgency, I should be very grateful indeed.

I forget whether or not my settings make it visible but, in case not, my e-mail address is readermichael@rocor.org.uk

Thank you so very much.

In Christ,
Michael

[Michael Astley]

Please ignore my earlier post. The service is actually in the STS Trebnik but without a heading of its own. Now I've found it. Silly me.

M