How to pray for the departed

[neon_knights]

There was a friend of mine that just passed away today, and I would like to say some prayers for him. How do Orthodox pray for those who have died?

 

[ProScribe]

Enter the deceased person's name in this thread:http://www.christianforums.com/t93891-12/#post58215691

Then include whatever prayer you want. God bless

 

[ArmyMatt]

just ask God to have mercy on him/her.

 

[Bryne]

What is purpose for praying for the departed? As I understand it, you don't believe in purgatory...is that correct? So, if not to pray for them while in purgatory, then why?

(note...I am not trying to debate or argue...that would be most inappropriate in this thread...I am just trying to understand)


Neon...may God have Mercy on your friend, and may He comfort his family and friends who remain here.

 

[ProScribe]

The memory of both the living and the dead are all known to God. Just like giving alms or practicing charity - its a small tradition to say prayers for their remembrance.

 

[gzt]

See the bottom of this page for some prayers for the departed where you can insert the name: Orthodox Prayers, Orthodox prayer, Daily Orthodox prayer Readings, Russian Orthodox prayers, Greek Orthodox prayers,Orthodox Church prayer links, Eastern Orthodox Prayers, morning prayers, evening prayers, Troparion, Kontakion, Orthodox, Troparions,

It is also traditional to simply read from the psalter. Most traditionally done by people taking turns in vigil over the body continuously until burial.

 

[choirfiend]

Neon,
Keep your friend in your prayers and ask for the Lord to have mercy and to remember him eternally and to bring comfort to his family. I'm very sorry to hear of your friend's passing.


Bryne,
from oca.org Q&A
Your second question was, “Why do you pray for the departed? The Bible clearly says it is appointed unto man once to die and after that the judgement. Recall the rich man after death!” Unfortunately, you begin this by asking a question which you then seem to answer and then offer chastisement. Perhaps you are assuming that the Orthodox doctrine concerning the Last Things are identical with those of other bodies, specifically Roman Catholicism, which is not the case either.
We believe that death is the result of sin, that death is not a part of God’s original design for mankind: “For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, says the Lord God; so turn and live” (Ezek 18:32). Death was not “created” by God, who is the Source and Author of all life and Who, by revealing His Name as “I AM” to Moses reveals that He is Existence Itself: “God did not make death, and takes no pleasure in the destruction of any living thing; He created all things that they might have being” (Wis 1:13). Death is a consequence of the first sin, a consequence which touches all humanity. Jesus Christ came into the world to conquer death, to point the way to new and eternal life, to offer a refuge from corruption and all that corrupts God’s “good” creation. This was accomplished through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, who “has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at His coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death (1 Cor 15:20-26). Finally, our hope as Christians is to share in Christ’s victory over death: “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die” (Jn 11:25-26).
Death, for Orthodox Christians, is always a tragedy, something which distorts the goodness and beauty of God’s creation. By His own example at the tomb of His friend Lazarus we see that death is always tragic, even for the One Who conquers death. Christ came to proclaim new life, to acknowledge that death is not a transition into eternal oblivion, to announce that “through [Him] God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep” (1 Thess 4:14). We also believe that “if we have been united with HIm in a death like His, we shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His. ...If we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him” (Rom 6:5,8). Concerning prayers for the dead, your question, which is more of a statement, seems to be directed at those who teach that after death humans may encounter “purgatory,” an intermediate state in which the “punishment” accorded to sin must be “purged” before one can enter the eternal Kingdom of God. This teaching, found among the Roman Catholics but completely alien to Orthdox Christianity [which rejects the doctrine of purgatory], implies that one should pray for the release of the souls of the departed from such punishment and may imply that the departed, of their own will, can freely repent of the sins they committed during this lifetime.
Orthodox Christians pray for the dead so that the Lord will have mercy on their souls, that He will grant them eternal rest “in the bosom of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,” that He will extend His unfathomable love upon them, and that He will receive them into that state “in which there is neither sickness, nor sighing, nor sorrow, but life everlasting.” Saint Paul clearly teaches that those who have gone before us are still members of the Body of Christ, the Church. And it is the duty of the members of the Church to pray for one another. Just as the living continually beseech God to have mercy on them—and may rightly offer prayers to God on behalf of their living spiritual sisters and brothers as well as request prayers on their own behalf from others—so too we have the duty to pray for all members of the Body of Christ, even those who have departed this life and still “belong to Christ.” One will find that the early Christians, surrounded as they were by death as a result of official persecution on the part of the Roman Empire, took great care to honor the dead, to bury them with great care and reverence—to the point of offering the Eucharistic celebration on their graves, which is one of the earliest indications of the veneration of their relics!—and to remember them especially on the anniversary of their deaths which were seen as “birthdays” into eternal life. In asking God to have mercy on the souls of the departed, we also ask God to have mercy on us who are still in this life, and we recognize that we too shall die. All members of the Church, living as well as faithful departed, cry before the throne of God, “Lord, have mercy on us.”
I might add here that the standard Reformed reactions to prayers for the dead are reactions to certain teachings in Roman Catholicism. The arguments against these teachings and practices should not, in blanket fashion, be used against Orthodox Christianity which rejects some of the very same teachings and practices, such as the recent reintroduction of “indulgences” by Pope John Paul II. Orthodoxy is not a form of Roman Catholicism and it should not be assumed that the teachings of the Orthodox Church are one and the same as those of Roman Catholicism.
It should also not be assumed that, just because the Orthodox may have a similar ritual to another Christian body, it has the same meaning. One must look beyond externals, as Christ continually challenged the pharisees, and evaluate things on the spirit which drives those externals.

 

[gzt]

The most important reason is that we love them and death cannot separate us from our loved ones. Even when they're dead, we want God to have mercy on them, you know? I don't imagine we'll stop praying for each other even after the resurrection in paradise.

As for the specific content of the prayers we most often pray, we don't know what will happen to them until the great and final judgment (or in it).

 

[Bryne]

I guess what I don't understand is that if there is no purgatory, then when you die, you are either in heaven, where our prayers are not needed...or in hell, where are prayers will do no good.

Still...I am not overly opposed to it. I often wonder if because God is out of time, our prayers might have a retroactive effect...what I pray for today was actually answered sometime in the past by my perspective...because God, who is outside of time, knew that I would pray that prayer, and stepped in at the time that His answer would do the most good. If that is the case, then praying for the departed makes perfect sense to me.

 

[Dorothea]

I guess what I don't understand is that if there is no purgatory, then when you die, you are either in heaven, where our prayers are not needed...or in hell, where are prayers will do no good.

Still...I am not overly opposed to it. I often wonder if because God is out of time, our prayers might have a retroactive effect...what I pray for today was actually answered sometime in the past by my perspective...because God, who is outside of time, knew that I would pray that prayer, and stepped in at the time that His answer would do the most good. If that is the case, then praying for the departed makes perfect sense to me.

We believe we are in Paradise or some place like Hades (don't know if that's the right term or whatever) until His Second Coming.

Intercessory prayer prayers continue until His Second Coming. So anytime between then and now, we pray for each other.

Here's some info on praying for the dead:

Why does the Orthodox Church encourage its members to pray for the dead? Some would say that such a practice is at best superstitious, and perhaps even heretical.

The Scriptures very strictly forbid any attempt to summon the spirits of the dead, or to try to engage them in conversation (see for example Leviticus 19:31 and 20:6, as well as 1 Samuel 28). But knowing that our Christian parents, grandparents, children, brothers, sisters, and friends live on with Christ after they die, and remembering the great unity that we still have with them as fellow-members of Christ's Body, the Church finds nothing in the Scriptures that would prohibit Christians from expressing love for and maintaining a sense of fellowship with those who have died. And what better way do we have to express our love than to pray for them?4 Someone might object, "If they are already in heaven, how can they possibly need our prayers? Their eternal destiny is already settled!" Very true! One's eternal destiny-whether one spends eternity in heaven or in hell-is determined by how one believes and lives in this life.

The Orthodox Church does not claim that prayers for someone who died in opposition to God can save that soul from hell, since the Scriptures clearly teach that there is no chance for repentance after death (Luke 16:19-31, Hebrews 9:27, etc.). While firmly believing this, the Church still teaches that prayer for the dead in Christ is helpful to them. Why? Because in the Orthodox view, sanctification is seen not as a point-in-time occurrence, but as a process which never ends. As Saint Paul says, "And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into His likeness from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit" (2 Corinthians 3:18, RSV). And in 1 Corinthians 1:18, which the King James Version translates as "For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God", the phrase "which are saved" in the original Greek is sozomenois, which means literally, "who are being saved". For this reason, Orthodox Christians look upon salvation itself as a dynamic process, a continual growth in holiness, purity, and closeness with God which continues even in heaven. Since we are created beings, and God alone is Uncreated, how can we imagine that men and women will ever fully comprehend God or be totally filled with His Holiness, His Uncreated Life? He is infinite Love and infinite Holiness: those with Him in heaven are blessed to grow in this Love and Holiness infinitely. There is another aspect to this ongoing process of sanctification.

Christians of all ages have realized, in their struggle against the sinful impulses of the flesh and the temptations of the devil, that when we commit sin, we inflict wounds upon ourselves: "For the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23). Of course, Orthodoxy also considers sins to be the breaking of God's commands, which requires repentance and asking His forgiveness. But the Church realizes, from long pastoral experience, that serious sin cripples and deadens our souls, and distorts the image of God in us. Sin can leave long-lasting scars even after God's forgiveness is granted and accepted. The effects of sustained sin-our own, and that of others-do not simply vanish when we accept God's forgiveness, though this remission of our guilt is certainly the crucial first step towards total healing. Only through an ongoing life of faith in Christ do we gradually become cleansed and healed, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, from these wounds of sin. This happens as we gradually become more and more suffused with God's light and love-as we ever more completely partake of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). Just as this process is never completed in anyone's life while on earth-no one becomes sinless-it is the Orthodox understanding that sanctification continues on, in some way, into the world beyond-especially in the beginning stages of the next life. The Church believes that our prayers for the departed can help them in this process of healing and purification. There is yet another dimension to this question. Not only do our prayers help the departed, but praying for them helps us as well. It keeps their remembrance alive in us, helping our hearts to stay warm and full of love towards them. It gives us a way to experience a sense of their presence, since prayer is far more than simply the making of requests. It keeps them before our eyes as living examples of Christian faith for us to emulate. Prayer for the departed also gives us another way to continue in the awesome privilege of participating in God's ongoing work of the salvation, sanctification, and glorification of every soul whom He draws to Himself (Ephesians 6:19; Colossians 1:3-12; 1 Thessalonians 5:17; 2 Thessalonians 1:11,12). And a vivid remembrance of those living with Christ in heaven can more thoroughly and deeply assure us that there truly is life after death, which can help diminish any fear of death which we may have. We can see, then, that our prayers for the departed help preserve and increase the unity between the Church on earth and the Church in heaven-which helps both aspects of the Church. As a contemporary British Orthodox theologian, Bishop Kallistos Ware, says, "lust as Orthodox Christians here on earth pray for one another and ask for one another's prayers, so they pray also for the faithful departed and ask the faithful departed to pray for them. Death cannot sever the bond of mutual love which links the members of the Church together".5

Holy Trinity Orthodox Church - Prayer and the Departed Saints

(separated the paragraph for easier reading)

 

[Dorothea]

There was a friend of mine that just passed away today, and I would like to say some prayers for him. How do Orthodox pray for those who have died?

I'm sorry to hear that your friend has departed, neon. Lord, have mercy, and may his memory be eternal.

 

[Bryne]

Thanks Dorothea. That was very helpful.