My beloved spiritual children in Christ Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.

DEATH, THE THRESHOLD TO ETERNAL LIFE (Part III)

God's Judgment

The judgment of the soul according to its faith and deeds on earth, is an unquestioned teaching of the Gospel it is also a self-evident demand of human nature and reasoning. The Christian Church places this judgment at the very moment of the death of the individual for two reasons:

1. Any moral progress of the soul is excluded after its separation from the body; and

2. There is no hope of repentance or betterment after death.

The moral progress of the soul, either for better or for worse, ends at the very moment of the separation of the body and soul; at that very moment, the definite of the soul in the Everlasting Life is decided (see Androutsos Dogmatics p. 409). It will be judged not according to its deeds one by one, but according to the entire total results of its deeds and thoughts. The Orthodox Church believes that at this moment the soul of the dead person begins to enjoy the consequences of its deeds and thoughts on earth - that is, to enjoy the life in paradise or to undergo the life in hell. There is no way of repentance, no way of escape, no reincarnation and no help from the outside world. Its place is decided forever by its Creator and Judge.

The Orthodox Church does not believe in indulgences as remissions from purgatorial punishment. Both purgatory and indulgences (a Roman Catholic dogma) are intercorrelated theories, unwitnessed in the Holy Scripture or in the Early Christian Church, and when they were enforced and applied, they brought about evil practices at the expense of the prevailing Truths of the Church. If Almighty God in His Merciful Loving-kindness changes the dreadful situation of the sinner, it is unknown to the Church of Christ. The Church lived for fifteen hundred years without such a theory.

The Last (Final) Judgment is not an act of overthrowing throwing the judgment of the soul at the time of its separation from the body, but rather to effect a union with the transformed, risen body with which the soul will continue to live forever. After the separation, the soul is conscious and consequently, feels, understands, and in general exercises all the energies of the soul (Revelation 6:9-10, 7:15; 1 Peter 3:19; Hebrews 12:23; Luke 16:27-28). The word "sleep", by which death is characterized, does not refer to the soul, but to the body. In Matthew 27:52, we read that many saints who had fallen asleep were raised. The Last Judgment (Final Judgment) will take place on the Second Coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, a strong belief of the Church recorded in the Creed that "He (Jesus Christ) shall come again with glory to judge the living and the dead." The time of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ is not known and, according to the book of Revelation, cannot be conjectured by any means.

Christ is the Author of Salvation, Judgment, and Everlasting Life. In short, in regards to death we are confronted with salvation, judgment, and Everlasting Life in the Name of Jesus Christ. The Christian believer is assured of two things: that he will find the means of salvation in Christ and His True Church and that his future destiny depends upon his/her present life.

Burial Service
Outline of the Funeral Service

The Funeral Service of the Orthodox Church does not exclude private prayers and readings from the Holy Scripture, particularly those parts which refer to the hope, and the Everlasting Life we have in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The divine service itself consists of hymns, prayers, and readings from the Holy Scripture.

Trisagion (Thrice-holy) and selection of verses from the long Psalm 119.
Blessings (Evlogetaria): "Blessed are Thou, O Lord; teach me Thy statutes!" (Psalm 19:12).
Hymns: chants in various tones.
Readings: (a) from Saint Paul's Epistle: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 and (b) from the Gospel of Saint John 5:24-30.
Small Ektenia: Prayers and Dismissal.
Similar chants during the viewing of the body.

Most of the material that the Church uses for the divine Funeral Service refers not only to the dead but to the living as well. It is, therefore, profitable for the Orthodox Christians to study the thoughts and prayers of the Church.

Man knows that he is mortal; he has seen many a relative and friend of his return back to the earth. The hymnologist again reminds us: "Earth thou art and unto the earth thou shall return."

Wealth, health, position, glory-all these earthly things are vanity. "All things are more fleeting than a shadow and succeeded by Death." Only one thing endures, that which makes one "In the Light of Thy countenance and in the sweetness of Thy beauty", one's faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Otherwise, alas! The soul is helpless; neither Angels nor men can aid it. O brethren, do you realize "the shortness of our life?" What are you striving to gather on Earth? You know that "all mortal things are vanity since after death they are not." "Wealth remaineth not, glory goeth not with us. Death comes suddenly, and all these things vanish utterly." What then remains? Only this: you in Christ, your Creator, and your Redeemer. Nothing of what you have can or shall follow you but everything which has constituted your being, your personality, your kindness, or your unkindness, your virtues, and vices, will follow you.

With these prayers and meditations at the very moment of the death of our relative or friend, we beseech Almighty God to save the soul. Let us, then, say with the sacred writer: "Blessed is the way in which today thou goest, for a place of rest has been prepared for you." (Source: Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America)

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"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!" -- Saint John Chrysostom

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With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia (Ministry)
The sinner and unworthy servant of God

+Father George