Death and Funerals

Hermit76

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ORTHODOX RESPONSES ONLY PLEASE!!!!!!!!!

I am gathering research for our parish regarding an Orthodox ending and funeral preparations. I'm wondering how many of your parishes have individuals who help with the process and what level of help is provided. For example does your parish ever support home body preparation, etc.? Does your parish have a dedicated cemetery? As an Orthodox Christian what are your specific desires for your burial? Do you have your requests and desires in writing? Would you feel better if you had your final wishes documented? Do you have any suggestions for our parish in our preparations?

I'll add one more... Are you thinking of cremation?

Thanks.
 

All4Christ

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ORTHODOX RESPONSES ONLY PLEASE!!!!!!!!!

I am gathering research for our parish regarding an Orthodox ending and funeral preparations. I'm wondering how many of your parishes have individuals who help with the process and what level of help is provided. For example does your parish ever support home body preparation, etc.? Does your parish have a dedicated cemetery? As an Orthodox Christian what are your specific desires for your burial? Do you have your requests and desires in writing? Would you feel better if you had your final wishes documented? Do you have any suggestions for our parish in our preparations?

I'll add one more... Are you thinking of cremation?

Thanks.
Cremation isn’t allowed...it is forbidden (I think even in the canons).

We have a cemetery at our parish and that’s where I’d want to be buried. There is a funeral home that often works with us on the logistics.
 
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Hermit76

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Cremation isn’t allowed...it is forbidden (I think even in the canons).

You're right. Fr. Mark Barna says it is, unfortunately, growing in popularity in the church.
 
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prodromos

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As an aside, I sometimes wonder why we bury people lying down and not standing up.

It would require so much less space.

In Greece, unless you have a family crypt, most people have their remains exhumed after a few years to the grave can be used for someone else. The bones are cleaned and placed in a charnal house. And no, we don't use them to 'decorate' churches.
 
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Hermit76

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As an aside, I sometimes wonder why we bury people lying down and not standing up.

It would require so much less space.

In Greece, unless you have a family crypt, most people have their remains exhumed after a few years to the grave can be used for someone else. The bones are cleaned and placed in a charnal house. And no, we don't use them to 'decorate' churches.
Fr. Mark mentions the removal of bones in his book. He also mentioned where families were buried one on top of the other in very deep graves. However, space is an urban issue. We have lots of room out here in the country. I think monasteries are a good option for burial here in the US. Many of them are quite rural.
I'm not sure how large our parish cemetery is going to be. If planned right you can get 500 on an acre.
 
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E.C.

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ORTHODOX RESPONSES ONLY PLEASE!!!!!!!!!

I am gathering research for our parish regarding an Orthodox ending and funeral preparations. I'm wondering how many of your parishes have individuals who help with the process and what level of help is provided. For example does your parish ever support home body preparation, etc.? Does your parish have a dedicated cemetery? As an Orthodox Christian what are your specific desires for your burial? Do you have your requests and desires in writing? Would you feel better if you had your final wishes documented? Do you have any suggestions for our parish in our preparations?

I'll add one more... Are you thinking of cremation?

Thanks.
So, my old parish in Washington state had a de facto system despite the lack of a dedicated cemetery. There were two or three people who could build a coffin within a week's notice, and two of the matushkas there (sadly one reposed a few years ago) would prepare the body for the funeral and burial if the deceased did not have it done by a funeral home.

Personally, when it is my time, I'd like to forgo the embalming that they do here in the States. Sure, make me look "presentable", but no embalming. Throw me in a wood box and call it a day. The one non-Orthodox request I'd have is if someone could sing "On Eagle's Wings" (one of the few good post Vatican II Catholic hymns that I liked from my childhood) at my burial or reception, but not the funeral. Sadly, I don't have any of this in writing, but being in the military should I pass while on active duty I did have a will written up for my dad to take care of funeral preparations; if that happened I'd likely end up at some national veterans cemetery somewhere. Some day I'll get around to having a new will and plans written up once I find a good place to be buried. I wish more of the monasteries had cemeteries because not only would it help with keeping us all together, but it would also provide them with an income.


Cremation is strictly against the canons. If I'm cremated, I will come back to haunt whoever made that decision. The one place where it is common is in Japan, but that is due to the Japanese government's mandate that ALL deceased in their country are to be cremated. With the Japanese Orthodox Church though, my understanding was that a compromise was made in which the body is not cremated until after the Orthodox funeral; but again, that is due to their country's mandate that ALL are cremated.



In Greece, unless you have a family crypt, most people have their remains exhumed after a few years to the grave can be used for someone else. The bones are cleaned and placed in a charnal house. And no, we don't use them to 'decorate' churches.
I've heard something similar in Italy and I like the idea of family crypts. Wish it was a little more commonplace here in the US.
 
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