On memorial services in general
Prayer for the dead is an ancient tradition of our Church, one that has consistently been observed. As the Gospel clearly demonstrates, both in the narrative of the Lord’s divine and fearsome Transfiguration, where Moses and Elijah appear, and in the parable of Lazarus and the rich man, the dead retain complete Consciousness.
Life continues after death. Through our common love in Christ, the members of the Church that have died maintain spiritual communication with those of us that remain on earth. This love links all the faithful into a single whole. It can do this because there is one Church, which has Christ as its head. All of us together are the body of the Church, and each one of us individually is a member of this body.
The only thing that death changes in our relationships with those who have died is the way in which we perceive them. Whether we live or die we belong to the Lord.” (Romans 14:7-8)
The Church is divided into the Church Triumphant and the Church Militant. To the Church Triumphant belong all those who ended their struggle in earthly life victoriously; they await the crown of righteousness that they will receive “on that day” To the Church Militant belong all those who are still struggling against sin in order to attain perfection. The members of the Church Triumphant have an indissoluble relationship with the members of the Church Militant. Those in heaven are not indifferent toward those who are still alive. “Earthly death, which is the separation of the soul from the body, does not destroy the faithful believer’s relationship with the Church. Death does not separate us from our others co members in Christ.” Love, like souls, is eternal. Both the Holy Scriptures and our ecclesiastical history and tradition in particular provide us with a large amount of evidence for the existence of mutual spiritual communion and support, through love and prayer on each other’s behalf, between the members of the heavenly Church and the Church on earth. This relationship exists because we all constitute “one communion of saints.”
Those who have passed on and those who are still alive in this world all share in a mystical and supernatural communion of life, prayer, and brotherly love. It is this relationship that enables them to assist each other, and it was God, in His love, who
established things in this way, desiring that we should all be saved through one another’s help.
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Our Church’s memorial services are based on this relationship, and the Church has been performing these services and praying for the dead since it began. If these services were of no value, the Church would not perform them and would not pray for those who have passed away.
Hiermonk Benedict of the Holy Mountain
Publications of The Attendants of Hiermonk Spyridon New Skiti, Holy Mount Athos, Greece.
