Quid est Veritas?

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Suicides used to be denied Christian burial, and often were buried in the land outside the bounds of the formal Churchyard. Particularly egregious examples were buried in more secular locales such as crossroads.

The justification seems that to kill yourself, entails rejection of God's will. They are thus apostates, and depending on your theology, having a mortal sin on their books.

However, this was relaxed for those who committed suicide in a fit of insanity. A good example is in Hamlet, where Ophelia is given a Christian burial regardless - with one of the gravediggers of the opinion that had she been a commoner, she would have been denied one.

Nowadays I have never heard of suicides being denied Church services or burial.
The Anglican Church seems to have only allowed it in 2014 though and to my knowledge, I don't think Reformed Churches have such a rule either.

Was Canon law on this point ever altered for Catholics or Orthodoxy? What of other Churches? Or is it just because of the growing belief of depression as a clinical entity, that suicides are nowadays universally treated as signs of mental illness?
 

Philip_B

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I think sometimes we better understand suicides as victims of depression schizophrenia or some other mental issue. We are indeed thsnkfully less judgemental.
 
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~Anastasia~

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Suicides used to be denied Christian burial, and often were buried in the land outside the bounds of the formal Churchyard. Particularly egregious examples were buried in more secular locales such as crossroads.

The justification seems that to kill yourself, entails rejection of God's will. They are thus apostates, and depending on your theology, having a mortal sin on their books.

However, this was relaxed for those who committed suicide in a fit of insanity. A good example is in Hamlet, where Ophelia is given a Christian burial regardless - with one of the gravediggers of the opinion that had she been a commoner, she would have been denied one.

Nowadays I have never heard of suicides being denied Church services or burial.
The Anglican Church seems to have only allowed it in 2014 though and to my knowledge, I don't think Reformed Churches have such a rule either.

Was Canon law on this point ever altered for Catholics or Orthodoxy? What of other Churches? Or is it just because of the growing belief of depression as a clinical entity, that suicides are nowadays universally treated as signs of mental illness?
I can't speak for canon law (though I doubt it has been modified) ... however, like pretty much any canon applying to how to handle situations in the people, the application can always be pastoral - what is best for the salvation of people.

Orthodoxy at this point I know tends to believe that if one takes their life, they are most likely not in their right mind. If this is a modified opinion (over time) I am not sure. I have heard of instances long ago that people were allowed a Christian burial and what goes with it, in spite of committing suicide, because they were judged not to be acting in reason.
 
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JCFantasy23

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The justification seems that to kill yourself, entails rejection of God's will. They are thus apostates, and depending on your theology, having a mortal sin on their books.

It a shame they were denied church burials. I think much of this was based on ignorance. We know more now about mental illness and how, in the grips of certain manias and delusional states, people can succumb to suicide without their full will in place or even having their right frame of mind. We understand grief with more sympathy now, we get how it doesn't always just 'go away'. I don't find any special emphasis on church sanctioned burial ground anyway - I doubt God cared about the dirt a person was buried under throughout history when one of his followers died. Excluding people from the church's special burial ground seemed to me more like a past issue where the church was trying to control people with fear/threat.
 
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