Orthodox Christians can be cremated. How does the church view cremation? Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church - document “On the Christian burial of the dead

Today, few people are really interested in how the church views human cremation. This question is being discussed in the media to calm one’s own conscience, to find a beautiful explanation for the savage treatment of the body of a deceased person. All the fuss about financial problems with burial, especially in big cities, really causes additional problems for the loved ones of the deceased. But it’s not worth losing your human face, not to mention your Christian worldview. After all, it’s not just about tradition, which the church hierarchy insists on, but most importantly, it’s about the attitude towards faith, which is trampled upon by all and sundry with the connivance and bashful silence of those who still identify themselves with Orthodoxy.

Evidence of hoary and recent antiquity

Cremation was invented during the construction of the Tower of Babel, when people were punished for striving to become higher than God. It was at this moment that paganism and polytheism arose, and with them atheism, materialism and other cults. Burning a corpse when nothing is sacred is easier and more profitable. Business on the dead also did not appear today. The ancient priests knew a lot about making money from the grief of other people.

Before the revolution in Russia, the question of why a dead person cannot be cremated had only a negative answer. City dwellers constituted a minority as a percentage of the country's total population. Most people lived in rural areas and there were no problems with places for cemeteries; there was enough land for everyone. For hundreds of years, Christians buried their relatives and friends in graveyards - village cemeteries. The terrible thought of making money from this never occurred to anyone. Even the most wretched found peace under the Christian cross, as a symbol of resurrection.

After 1917, cremation of the deceased was officially allowed in the USSR. Those in power were not interested in the opinion of the Orthodox Church at that time. There is no God, personality is completely destroyed after death, existence rules over consciousness - these and other communist dogmas led to the appearance of pagan mummies like Lenin’s in the center of the capital, and throughout the country - numerous crematoria. The first such institution was organized already in 1920. Soon a columbarium appeared in the Kremlin wall, where urns with the ashes of Soviet leaders were walled up after cremation.

The rulers, who were far from being Russian people, organized a massive orgy of faith and common sense.

In just 2 generations, thanks to violence and propaganda, all these cynical innovations have become commonplace. For 3 decades now, Bolshevism has not existed as a planetary phenomenon, but the ritual of burning deceased people, which it allowed, continues to safely march across the territory of Russia. So 70 years of godless rule, urbanization, and the Western way of life are gradually crowding out pious customs and making it difficult to treat the deceased as a person.

Reasons for the spread of cremation on Russian soil

Currently, the Russian Orthodox Church, as at all times, is categorically against cremation. But this is no longer enough. After all, ideas are immortal - be they pagan, heretical or communist. All of them are aimed at fighting God. Today, churches are being actively revived. Obvious atheist propaganda has died down. But the burning of deceased Christians, especially Orthodox Christians, continues. What could be the source of such an attitude if not the absence of real faith?

Many undergo the sacrament of baptism, go to church once a year on Easter and consider themselves true Christians. But as soon as it comes to defending a worldview in front of people of other faiths or circumstances such as funerals, courage disappears somewhere. The absence from infancy of training in fidelity to the Church, Russian traditions, not to mention the understanding of Orthodox teaching, led to the revival of such savagery.

According to statistics, more than 60% of deceased Muscovites end their earthly existence in a crematorium.

All major cities in Russia are actively building new furnaces for fire funerals. In St. Petersburg, the problem with land is even more pressing than in the capital. City cemeteries are overcrowded, and people have to agree to perform a pagan ritual. After all, burning costs much less than Orthodox burial. Another important reason for the development of a network of crematoriums throughout the country was the economic interest of interested business structures, authorities and other elements. You have to pay a lot of money for a place in a cemetery in a big city.

What do pagan sacrifices, the bonfire of the Inquisition and a beautiful crematorium have in common?

Why has business become the defining model in the life of a Russian person? This is explained by the broken connection of generations united by faith and tradition. Economic dependence on the dollar forces most people, not burdened with Christian knowledge, to live in accordance with Darwin's theory. If the ancestors were monkeys, then they can be safely sent to the oven. The attitude of the Church towards cremation is only negative.

Today in Germany there is an idea about building a pyramid following the example of the Cheops pyramid, where you can hide 50 million urns with the ashes of burnt corpses. This plan fits well with another fashionable intention of democracy - to allow euthanasia of the terminally ill. In some “humanistic” countries it has already become law. Soon, the German concentration camps of World War II will turn out to be a child's prank. After all, it is necessary to significantly increase the number of crematoria for burning people killed by “doctors”.

Buddhists and Hindus still burn their dead in crematoriums.

This is due to the ancient belief that the body is a prison for the soul. Therefore, you need to get rid of it as quickly as possible, as a temporary and harmful phenomenon. Medieval inquisitors sent living people to the stake, but under the guise of fighting sedition. And only the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church stood in the way of the spread of blasphemy with the face of humanism over the souls of the living and the bodies of deceased Orthodox Christians.
Each Christian ritual has a certain meaning. No exceptions are:

birth;
baptism;
funeral service;
death and burial.

Cremation resembles the “furnace of fire” described in the Gospel, “where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” But this does not mean that all those burned will be sent to hell. God judges by criteria other than the method of burial. You will have to bear responsibility for deliberately neglecting the words of Holy Scripture. The Church advises that Christians should not be cremated, not only because it may somehow affect the fate of the deceased in eternity, but because it causes spiritual harm to the living.

How does the Orthodox consciousness relate to the burning of the dead?

Currently, to justify cremation, the belief that there is no difference between a traditional funeral and cremation is being introduced. After all, the body still becomes dust, as it is written in the Bible. Sometimes people drown, burn in fires, and it is impossible to bury them. To this the Orthodox Church gives a serious and well-founded answer. According to her teaching, the body of a Christian is the temple of the Holy Spirit. And for most people it gradually smolders after death. Death is compared to the dying of a grain, which, when decomposed, produces fruit. So the body, after separation from the soul, awaits its time for the general resurrection, “sprouting in the earth.”

The importance of bodily substance is evidenced by thousands of examples of the incorruptibility of holy saints. For example, in the caves of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra there are more than 200 holy relics of saints, which are already more than 1000 years old. Their bodies did not decompose in conditions of high humidity and air temperature. These people are gifted with Divine grace, which has kept the temple of the Holy Spirit intact.

Whether cremation is a sin can only be answered with reason by the True Church - the Orthodox. At the end of world history there will be a general resurrection of the dead, the first of whom was Jesus Christ. That is, the body will rise and unite with the soul. This action implies that God has the power to restore the whole person. And people, by burning a corpse, renounce their belief in the resurrection of the dead.

The priesthood never ceases to repeat that the dead edify the living. It is not for nothing that in the old Jewish tradition there was such a rule: to send youth and children to funerals so that they would remember their fate. The gospel truth, which states that God has no dead, but all are living, further emphasizes the importance of funerals and funerals. Burying the deceased in the ground is closer to biblical tradition than burning him in a furnace.

What about the soul?

Prayers directed to God calm and pacify any sinner, if he was a true member of the Church and not a nominal one. A parishioner who understands at least a little about the canons is close and understandable to the rite when it happens. The soul, located at this moment above its own body, sees and understands all this. It is impossible to even imagine what happens to the spirit of the burned person. For an unbelieving living relative, the main thing is to follow all earthly rules so that he is not judged by neighbors or acquaintances. Most often, the relatives of the deceased have several tasks:

buy a prestigious place in the cemetery;
order the best coffin;
arrange a luxurious wake with delicacies and pickles.

But these problems of the temporarily living no longer concern those who have passed into eternity. What attitude can Orthodoxy have towards cremation if it fundamentally rejects the concept of an afterlife? The living simply do not believe in the existence of another world, which is why they allow such actions. It is necessary to understand that the deceased are not in the cemetery. There is only dust here, and the spiritual substance is contained until the general resurrection in immaterial abodes.

How the Church relates to human cremation can be understood by considering at least the basics of its dogma.

People who lived in accordance with God's commandments and were buried in different cemeteries in other states will meet in the afterlife and be together.
Someone who was a God-fighter cannot be with a believer, even if he has lived for decades in a marital or other family relationship.

Humanly, this point can be understood, but God has his own plans. Many people ask whether it is possible to perform a funeral service for the deceased after burning, or whether it is better to conduct the burial ceremony in absentia. The priesthood is authorized to conduct funeral services. Otherwise it would be contrary to Orthodox teaching. The Church does not deprive the deceased of funeral prayers, regardless of one method or another of burial. The funeral service is necessary for the soul of the deceased so that it, if possible, overcomes the path on which it will encounter the demonic horde. Therefore, burning is not a sin of the deceased, but of those who did it.

The question “how to cremate a person” has always worried people. And this is no coincidence: interest in death is inherent in our nature, and fire has fascinated people since ancient times. In this article we will explain in detail how human cremation occurs.

It is important to understand that cremation is only the first stage of burial. Depending on the will of the deceased/relatives, after cremation, the urn with ashes is placed in a niche of the columbarium, buried in a grave, or done in another way (for example, the ashes are scattered).

During cremation, as during burial in the ground, the process of transition of organic tissues into inorganic chemical compounds that make up the soil occurs. Cremation is essentially the same as burial, since the body goes into the ground. There is only one difference: mineralization of the body and its inclusion in the soil takes up to 20 years, and cremation of a person reduces this period to one and a half hours.

Residents of Russia increasingly prefer cremation to the usual method of burial. The share of cremation in Russia as a whole is low - 10%, but in large cities it is 30-40%, and in Moscow and St. Petersburg it is close to 70%. This happens for many reasons, the main ones being the lack of space in cemeteries, the simplicity of the process and low cost.

How people were cremated in the past. History of cremation.

The history of cremation goes back to ancient times. People have long realized that ashes are safe for health, and many religions, such as Buddhism and Hinduism, have included cremation in their rituals. In India, Japan, Indonesia and many other countries, just as people were cremated in the past - on a bonfire in the open air - they still do it today.

Along with the most ancient type of burial—deposition of corpses—cremation was already practiced in the Paleolithic, and in the Bronze Age and Iron Age, inhabitants of ancient civilizations began to cremate everywhere. Burning became the dominant burial rite in ancient Greece, from where the tradition passed to Ancient Rome, where they came up with the idea of storing ashes in specially designated places - columbariums, where you can come and honor the memory of your ancestors.

Incinerators began to be used in Europe in the late 18th century due to the growth of cities and a shortage of cemeteries. Gradually, cremation began to spread in Europe, the USA and other countries.

How a person is cremated in a crematorium these days.

Human cremation takes place in crematoria - complex engineering structures designed for 100% combustion of the dead along with the coffin at ultra-high temperatures.

The crematorium complex consists of several industrial furnaces capable of generating temperatures of 900-1100°C, which ensures the complete disintegration of the body and its transformation into ashes. Cremation takes from one and a half to two hours, and after cremation of a person, ashes with a volume of 2-2.5 liters remain.

The coffin with the body is delivered to the crematorium and placed on a hearse in the hall for the farewell ceremony. At the end of the ritual, the coffin is transferred to a conveyor and moved to a transit room, from where after a certain time it enters the cremation oven. Imagining how people are cremated in a crematorium, we, especially at a young age, think that the body is sent to the fire immediately after the coffin disappears behind the curtains of the farewell hall. But this is not always the case: such technology is not provided in every crematorium.

After cremation, the ashes are placed in a metal capsule and sealed. Most often, the relatives of the deceased want to receive the ashes in an urn. Funeral urns come in a variety of designs and are chosen according to taste: purchased from a crematorium or funeral store and then given to the crematorium staff, who transfer the ashes from the capsule to the urn.

The urn is collected by the relative responsible for receiving it, after which the final stage of burial begins.

After cremation, the urn with ashes is stored in the crematorium until claimed by her relatives. The shelf life varies in different regions, but most often it is 1 year. If the ashes are not claimed, the urn will be buried in a common grave at the crematorium.

Human Cremation: How people are cremated.

The most common cremation oven has two chambers. In the first, the coffin with the body is burned in jets of hot air, and in the second, the afterburning chamber, 100% combustion of organic tissues and trapping of impurities takes place. An important element of crematorium equipment is the cremator, in which burnt remains are crushed into ashes, and metal objects are removed from them using a magnet.

Most often, stoves operate on gas, as it is economical and quickly sets the desired temperature in the chamber.

To prevent mixing of ashes after combustion, each body is registered, assigned an identifier, and a metal plate with a number is placed on the coffin. After cremation, a plate with a number is placed inside the remains, allowing the ashes to be identified.

What to do after cremation?

After cremation, when an urn with ashes is received, proceed in one of the following ways:

Bury the urn in the grave. This could be either a new plot purchased at auction or a related grave;
Place the urn in a niche in an open or closed columbarium;
You can dispose of the ashes according to the will of the deceased, for example, scatter them. The legislation of the Russian Federation does not define special places for this, so the choice depends only on you.

The advantages of cremation compared to traditional burial in the ground:

you can bury the urn at any time; there is no need to rush to a decision;
there is no need to wait until the end of the sanitary period after the last burial in a related grave (15 years for Moscow).

Feeding worms is a mediocre prospect. This is one of the most popular reasons why many people consider cremation. And it’s beautiful to have ashes scatter over the sea or in the mountains. Western media reports about people whose ashes were scattered by relatives in Disneyland, circumventing the law. This is what the dead bequeathed.

Some people proceed from simple mathematics: the population is growing, the number of deceased is increasing. Why take up extra space after death?

Well, there are plenty of other reasons. Therefore, not everyone wants to bury their body. The method of burial sometimes concerns us even more than the way of life. But what is the Orthodox view on this issue? Let's look at the church's attitude towards cremation.

Orthodoxy discourages cremation due to tradition and theological reasons

The Russian Orthodox Church has several reasons for disapproving of cremation.

Reason 1. Tradition. Any religion - or almost any - is a chain of succession. She is an island of reliability and stability. Innovations are introduced into tradition rarely and carefully. Otherwise, it is impossible to preserve the heritage of our ancestors.

It is very important for people to believe in what their ancestors believed. Otherwise, we get a gap in ideologies, cultures, and worldviews.

Sometimes such events lead to a favorable outcome. For example, Christianity once distanced itself from Judaism and feels great. But it also happens the other way around. Therefore, you need to take a closer look at any things of the church, determine for yourself whether it is acceptable or not. There is a tradition of handling the body of the deceased. It has been followed for centuries. Orthodoxy has no compelling reasons to abandon it.

Reason 2. Theology. Orthodoxy has the idea of respectful treatment of remains. It comes down to theology. The Holy Scriptures say that everyone will rise from the dead sooner or later. This process also applies to the body. There is a thought in the Bible about bodily resurrection. There is a soul, there is its temple - flesh. If you get rid of the flesh, there is a contradiction with the idea of resurrection. Although this is hardly a problem for the Lord. If desired, he is capable of creating anything. This is confirmed by Saint Gregory the Theologian:

Gregory the Theologian

Saint

“If you, holding a handful of seeds in your hand, can easily distinguish one vegetable from another, is it really possible for the Lord, Who holds the whole world in His handful, to disappear or get lost?”

However, in the Orthodox environment, it is customary to treat the bodies of the deceased accordingly - as the happiness of human nature, the physical expression of its spiritual essence.

It would seem, what is so good about a mortal body? Why should we honor him?

Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh explains the essence very well:

Anatoly Surozhsky

Metropolitan

“We find this love, this care, this reverent attitude towards the body in Orthodoxy; and this is reflected in a surprising way in the funeral service. We surround this body with love and attention; this body is the center of the funeral service for the deceased; not only the soul, but also the body. And indeed, if you think about it: there is nothing in human experience, not only earthly, but also heavenly, that would not reach us through our body.”

For Orthodox Christians, these reasons are usually enough to listen to the position of the church. But at the same time, Orthodoxy cannot interfere with the will of the dead. His opinion is advisory in nature. It is more a question of how strong the authority of the church really is for a person. What does he put higher - her opinion or his will?

Early Christian apologist Marcus Minucius Felix writes:

Mark Minucius Felix

Early Christian apologist

“The Church believes that the Lord has the power to resurrect any body and from any element (Rev. 20:13). “We are not afraid of any damage in any method of burial, but we adhere to the old and better custom of interring the body.”

The modern Orthodox Church, in most cases, categorically opposes cremation and even tries to stop the construction of crematoria. Cremation in Orthodox circles is considered an act of atheism. It is believed that burning a body is prohibited in this biblical saying:

(1 Cor. 3:16-17)

“Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will punish him: for the temple of God is holy; and this temple is you"

However, this interpretation does not stand up to criticism. Saint Theophan the Recluse explains that the temple of God is believers gathered together. And the Spirit of God dwells in them while they all stick together. In his commentary, Theophan the Recluse reveals the meaning of the verse: believers cannot be divided. This is a warning against the division of the Church, but not a conversation about the fate of the bodies of the dead.

When this measure is forced, the Orthodox Church is lenient about burning bodies

Different situations are possible. For example, in some countries it is prohibited to bury in the ground. They only allow cremation. So what should an Orthodox person do now? Become a lawbreaker for the sake of something he won't care about after death? Of course not.

In such situations, the attitude of the Russian Orthodox Church towards cremation is lenient. To Caesar - Caesar's, to God - God's. Otherwise, it turns out that a person is right between a rock and a hard place: the law says one thing, religion says another, and man is to blame. In such a situation, the most reasonable and fair person should meet halfway. Priests recommend neglecting tradition due to circumstances.

It also happens that the decision to cremate or bury is made based on finances. Well, if the deceased and his relatives do not have enough money for a place in the cemetery, a coffin, a monument, etc., what to do? Priest Alexander Shantaev tells how the church treats such stories:

Alexander Shantaev

Priest

“If there is an opportunity to bury a deceased loved one in a grave, in the ground, even if it involves difficulties and expenses, it is better to make every effort to do so.

If this is not possible, and I know that there are many such cases, then I have to cremate. This is not a sin, but a forced measure, conditioned by external circumstances, to which we cannot oppose anything.

If there is anything to repent of, it is that they did not make advance efforts to ensure that the body of a loved one avoided cremation.

A deceased Christian, who has received holy baptism and upon death has been honored with a funeral service according to the rite of the Orthodox Church, and instead of a grave burial - cremated - can and should be remembered at Liturgies and memorial services, like other deceased who have died in peace with the Church.

I know of no canons or rules that state otherwise.”

Cremation is simply the destruction of a corpse, it is not of a demonic nature

Sometimes Orthodoxy and cremation are opposed. Just heaven and hell, God and the Devil. It is not right. Burning a corpse is an event without plus or minus, it is neutral. A completely empty action that has nothing to do with the teachings of Orthodoxy. This is not hellfire, not the machinations of demons.

So is it possible to cremate an Orthodox person? Why not? In the next world, people will still be judged for their actions during life, and not for how a person disposed of his body.

The main condition of Orthodoxy: if cremation occurs for one reason or another, then the ashes must be interred. Not everyone follows this. But the church does not have any canons or measures in this regard. For example, for abortion, penance is imposed. For certain offenses they are excommunicated from the church. But cremation is an empty and tertiary event. This is not what a person needs to worry about.

Although other Orthodox churches (EOC, ROCOR) are more categorical regarding cremation. For example, there is no funeral service for those cremated.

Canonical Orthodox funerals consist of 8 actions from ablution to burial

All the actions described below can only be carried out after all formal procedures have been completed.

From the moment of death until burial, loved ones must read the psalter. You don't have to be near the body. But it is important not to stop reading. It is recommended to immediately order a magpie for the deceased from the church. It is believed that this will benefit the soul.

Washing the body. The deceased is washed with warm water. At the same time, you should read “Lord have mercy” and “Trisagion”. At the end the body is combed. This ritual symbolizes that a person will be resurrected in purity and integrity. At the same time, a lamp or candle is lit in the house. It burns until the body of the deceased is taken out.
Deceased's vestment. A cross and clean clothes are put on the deceased. New is best. This is a symbol of renewal at the resurrection.
Preparation for entombment: First, the deceased is placed on the table, with his head towards the icons, and covered with a shroud. At the same time, make sure that your eyes and mouth are closed. The arms are folded crosswise. Right over left. A cross is placed in the left hand, an icon is placed on the chest, facing the deceased. For men - the Savior, for women - the Mother of God. Four lit candles are placed in a cross pattern around the deceased. Before the funeral service, relatives read the canon “Sequence on the departure of the soul from the body.”
Coffin position: The priest sprinkles the coffin and body with holy water. A pillow made of straw or cotton wool is placed inside. Then the body is immersed. He is covered to the waist with a shroud. A funeral crown is placed on the head. A funeral lithium follows. The canon “Following the departure of the soul from the body” is read again. Before removal, relatives say goodbye to the deceased.
Funeral service. The coffin is carried out feet first while the Trisagion is chanted. The funeral ceremony is performed. This can be done in the temple, or in the house. During the funeral service, excerpts from the Gospel, the “Apostle” and the prayer of permission are read. Then its text is placed in the hand of the deceased. The funeral kutya is placed on a table near the coffin.
Parting. Everyone goes around the coffin and kisses it for the last time - but not the deceased, but the icon on his chest or the aureole. Stichera are sung. The face is covered with a shroud forever. The priest crosswise sprinkles the body with earth or specially prepared sand and says: “The earth is the Lord’s and its fulfillment, the universe and all who live on it.”
Funeral procession. The coffin is carried out feet first from the church (if the funeral service was held in the church) to the hearse. The funeral procession moves to the cemetery. In front they usually carry a cross or an icon of Jesus Christ.
Burial. The coffin is lowered into the grave with its feet facing east. At the same time they sing the Trisagion. Everyone should have burning candles. The priest again says: “The earth is the Lord’s and its fullness, the universe and all who live on it,” and throws the earth crosswise onto the lid of the coffin. Then everyone also throws a handful of earth. The coffin is then buried. The cross is placed at the feet of the deceased. Wreaths and flowers are laid on the grave.

Cremation is one of the ritual burial processes. The procedure involves burning the human body. Subsequently, the burnt ashes are collected in special urns. Methods for burying cremated bodies vary. They depend on the religion of the deceased.

History of the cremation ritual

The tradition of burning corpses has been known to humanity since ancient times. According to archaeologists, this procedure was first used in the Paleolithic era. Later, this burial process spread everywhere.

There is a legend about the burial of Buddha, according to which his body was burned and his ashes were buried in several parts of India.

In ancient times, cremation was widespread in Rome and Greece. It was believed that burning the body would help a person pass to the afterlife.

The Christian religion initially did not accept the cremation procedure. Among the Orthodox, the burial process was carried out by placing a corpse in the ground. The burning of a human body was a sign of paganism.

Later, due to the development of Christianity in European countries, cremation was prohibited. The penalty for violating the ban was death. The burning procedure has not been used for more than a thousand years.

Today, cremation is common both in Europe and in the Russian Federation. This is due to the increase in population in big cities and the lack of cemetery space. This is a big problem. Therefore, increasingly, Christians prefer the burning procedure, regardless of how the church views cremation. It happens that relatives carry out the will of the deceased, who before his death expressed a desire to be cremated.

Traditions of Christian burial

Burial of a body in the Christian religion combines Orthodox and pagan elements. It is important to carry out the burial ritual correctly and observe all national rules. This will help the deceased to pass on to another world.

The following rituals exist:

washing the body of the deceased;
the process of putting on special clothes;
farewell;
parting;
funeral service;
burial;
commemoration

Funeral preparations are carried out carefully. The deceased is washed with water. According to tradition, a person must appear before God purified physically and spiritually. After this, the body is dressed in the best clothes. In Ancient Rus' these were white robes. They were worn by both women and men. In the modern world, men are usually dressed in classic black suits and light shirts. Women are buried in light-colored dresses. Now there are many funeral services where you can buy everything you need, including outfits.

Dead unmarried girls are buried in wedding dresses, with a veil placed next to them. This is a sign of purity and innocence. Young men wear wedding rings and wedding suits. There may be some wedding traditions present. For example, drinking champagne.

The burial takes place on the third day after death. All this time the body is indoors. They place him facing the icons. Mirrors are covered throughout the house. This is also a kind of tradition that has its own history. Extraneous sounds are not allowed. A prayer is placed in the hands of the deceased and a whisk is placed on the forehead. A person must wear a cross. The room is fumigated with incense and church candles are burned.

The person is seen off with special honors. A portrait of the deceased is installed, relatives and close people say goodbye and express their condolences to each other. The funeral procession escorts the person's body to the cemetery, where the burial takes place.

The funeral ceremony for the soul of the deceased by a priest is obligatory. This is a necessary measure for the remission of sins of the deceased. In the Orthodox religion there is no funeral service for suicides. Exceptions are possible, but they require permission from the Patriarch of All Rus'.

After the burial, flowers and wreaths are left on the grave, and a wooden cross is placed.

Upon arrival from the cemetery, according to tradition, a wake is held. They set the tables, read prayers, and sing special songs. As a rule, commemoration is carried out on the third, ninth and fortieth day. It is believed that on the fortieth day the soul leaves the human world and passes into the Kingdom of God.

The Christian Church's attitude towards cremation

In large cities, there is less and less space left in cemeteries for burying people. Today this is a major problem for megacities. There is practically no space available for new cemeteries. In this situation, cremation becomes an alternative solution to the problem.

How does the church view cremation? The Christian Church advocates burying the body in the ground. This tradition is associated with Many scriptures say that man was created in the image and likeness of God. Consequently, even after death the body must go into the ground. Therefore, the Orthodox faith takes care of the safety of the body.

Cremation is allowed by the church, but only as a necessary measure. Cemetery space is expensive. Not every person has the means to purchase it. Burning the body and burying the urn with the ashes is much cheaper. Of course, burning a body does not mean making it difficult to transition to another life. The Church does not refuse funeral services to relatives who decide to cremate the body of the deceased. This action is not considered a sin. According to the clergy, cremation will not prevent the resurrection from the dead. But still, for the Orthodox religion, this is an unnatural process of decay of human remains. Regardless of the form of burial, all the deceased are remembered at liturgies and memorial services. Still, the church’s attitude towards cremation is negative.

Meeting of the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church

In May 2015, a meeting of the Russian Holy Synod took place. This event was held in the Danilovsky Monastery in Moscow. At this event, an important document “On the Christian burial of the dead” was adopted.

The project has been developed over several years. The Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' participated in its revision. This document describes the burial standards for Orthodox believers.

Of course, there are situations in which the funeral service and burial of the body becomes impossible. These could be plane crashes, floods (where bodies are washed away in water), terrorist attacks, fires, or some other tragic situation. In such situations, funeral services for the dead may be performed in absentia. They pray for them in the same way as for those buried in the ground. The clergy pay great attention to the relatives of the victims. They are taught to pray fervently for loved ones.

The essence of the document "On the Christian burial of the dead"

The meeting of clergy clearly described their position in the burial document.

According to the Holy Scriptures, the human body is the temple of God. The body of the deceased must be treated with respect. According to Christian belief, man comes from dust and after death his body must turn into dust. In this state it must rest until the day of resurrection, when “what is sown in corruption will be raised in incorruption” (1 Cor. 15:42).

In accordance with the burial document, any burial is carried out in the ground in wooden, plastic or stone coffins. Burial in caves and crypts is possible in compliance with the necessary standards.

Cremation is not recognized as the norm for burial. At the same time, the church says that the Lord God is able to resurrect any body that has been exposed to any element.

Procedure for cremating a human body

The process of cremation of a person occurs according to the preliminary will of the deceased. It takes about one and a half hours. In the Russian Federation, the share of cremated burials is small and amounts to approximately 10%. But in large cities, mainly Moscow and St. Petersburg, this method of burial prevails over the traditional one. Its share is 70%. Of course, before deciding to burn a body, you need to think about all the intricacies of cremation; you must weigh the pros and cons.

This procedure is carried out in specially designated places, crematoria. There are furnaces here, the temperature of which varies from 900 to 1100 °C. After the procedure is completed, the ashes are only 2-2.5 kg. First, it is placed in an iron capsule, which is subsequently sealed. You can also store ashes in an urn. The relatives of the deceased buy it themselves. Urns can come in a variety of designs and shapes. Crematorium staff move the ashes from the capsule to the urn.

Only relatives can collect the ashes. The shelf life of the urn in the crematorium is 1 year. Sometimes more. If the ashes remain unclaimed, after the expiration of the storage period, burial occurs in a common grave. Every crematorium has such burials.

Cremation oven

How are people cremated? Modern cremation ovens consist of two chambers. The first chamber contains a coffin with the body of the deceased. The first stage of human cremation takes place here. Combustion occurs using hot air. Hot jets are unable to burn the body completely. Therefore, the remains are sent to the second chamber. It is called an afterburner chamber. The remains of organic tissues completely burn out in it.

From the cremation oven, the remains are sent to the cremator, where they are ground into dust. Unburned metal products are removed with special magnets.

It is impossible to confuse the remains. Before burning, a metal number is placed in the coffin. After the procedure, he is pulled out of the ashes.

Places for burial of ashes

The state does not allocate special places for burial of ashes. The relatives of the deceased dispose of the urn at their own discretion or carry out the last will of the deceased. The procedure for burying ashes is more convenient than traditional burial. The urn can be placed in a related grave. In this case, it is not necessary to maintain a sanitary period (15 years).

You can purchase a place in an open or closed columbarium. Some simply scatter the ashes in a specific place.

A columbarium is a place where urns containing the ashes of the deceased are stored after the cremation procedure. Such storage facilities were first built during the ancient Roman civilization. A columbarium is a structure divided into many cells. Such storage facilities exist at every crematorium. In Moscow, the most famous columbarium is located in the Kremlin wall.

There are two types of such burials: open and closed. An outdoor columbarium is installed outdoors. These can be various types of structures, divided into cells.

The closed columbarium is a separate building, the so-called mausoleum. In the walls of such premises there are cells intended for storing ashes. The cells can be concreted after placing the urn in them. After which a portrait of the deceased person and various inscriptions are placed on the cell.

Basically, the columbarium cells are covered with glass. Relatives and loved ones usually place mementos and photographs of the deceased along with the urn.

There are also family columbariums. In terms of their semantic meaning, they can be compared to family crypts or family graves in a cemetery. One such cell can hold up to four urns with ashes.

Moscow crematoria

There are three crematoriums in Moscow. All of them are located in the cemeteries: Nikolo-Arkhangelsk, Mitinsky and Khovansky.

Nikolo-Arkhangelskoye Cemetery - Moscow, Saltykovka microdistrict, st. Okolnaya, 4.
The Mitinskoye cemetery is located outside the Moscow Ring Road, Moscow, Mitinsky district, Pyatnitskoye highway, 6th km.
Khovanskoye Cemetery is located in Moscow, Mosrentgen settlement, st. Admiral Kornilov, Kyiv highway, 21st km.

To find out how people are cremated, you need to contact the crematorium administration. Here you can find out the cost of the procedure.

Basically, crematoriums provide services of various levels. The price depends on the choice of the hall for saying goodbye to the deceased, ritual accessories, etc.

Burial of ashes at the Nikolo-Arkhangelskoe cemetery

Nikolo-Arkhangelskoe Cemetery was founded in 1960. Initially, burials were carried out here only using the traditional method. Later, in 1973, it was decided to open a crematorium on the territory of the Nikolo-Arkhangelskoye cemetery in Moscow. This is a big building. The crematorium carries out up to forty cremations per day.

Basically, relatives of the deceased do not pay attention to how the church views cremation. The fact is that the cemetery is closed to new burials. Burial is allowed only in family graves or places purchased in advance. The traditional method of burial in a related grave requires compliance with sanitary deadlines. This condition is becoming a major problem for megacities. Therefore, most of the population of large cities resort to the cremation procedure.

On the territory of the Nikolo-Arkhangelskoye cemetery there are open and closed columbariums. Unlike places for traditional burials, a place to store ashes here can be purchased without any problems.

The open columbarium of the Nikolo-Arkhangelsk cemetery is located on the street. These are rows of long walls divided into small cells. The ashes of the deceased are concreted in an open columbarium. After which the relatives have no access to the urn.

The indoor columbarium is located in a separate building. This is a room whose walls are also divided into cells. Here the urn is behind a glass door. In addition to the urn, it is possible to put little things that are dear to the deceased person into the cell: photographs, jewelry boxes, etc.

Prices for open and closed columbarium cells are different. In addition, the cemetery administration may collect an annual fee from the relatives of the deceased.

The cemetery provides various services: a monument store, a morgue, and grave care. You can rent equipment for caring for graves. In addition to the general crematorium, there is also a private one. It is located at the main entrance to the cemetery.

On the territory of the cemetery, the Church of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, as well as a small chapel, was built.

Based on the above, it is impossible to draw an unambiguous conclusion about how the church views cremation. On the one hand, the Christian faith promotes the traditional burial of the body of a deceased person. This is the natural way. It repeats the burial of Jesus Christ. On the other hand, cremation does not mean that clergy refuse to perform the funeral service and bury the ashes of the deceased. Because according to scripture, the Lord God will resurrect all souls in their body. Before making an important decision about the form of burial, it is worth weighing the pros and cons.

In today's densely populated world, people are increasingly thinking about consigning their bodies to fire rather than to the ground. We will tell you in this article how the church views cremation and how wise it is to choose this method of burial.

Many people, regardless of religion, are increasingly choosing cremation today. This is not surprising, because this type of burial has its advantages:

Rational use of land resources due to the small size of the urn.
Environmental friendliness and aesthetics.
Small funeral expenses.
More affordable and easier transportation.

Different religions have different views on cremation. Many of them, such as Judaism and Islam, believe that the body and soul are one, therefore, when we destroy the body, we destroy the soul. Others, for example, Hinduism and Buddhism, on the contrary, believe that when burned, the soul quickly leaves the body in which it is locked. The Catholic Church for many years prohibited the cremation of the deceased, but since the 1960s this ban has been lifted. But the attitude of the Orthodox Church towards cremation still remains extremely negative. Despite the fact that the priests agree to perform funeral services for the bodies of the cremated deceased, they are confident that this is a pagan rite that harms the soul of the deceased.

You may ask: If it is only a matter of time before the body decomposes completely, then what difference does it make whether burial in the ground or cremation is chosen? The Church finds an answer to this too. The fact is that the fact of attitude towards the body remains important. If Eastern religions, which are the founders of this tradition, treat the body as the prison of the soul, then for Christians the body is a sacred temple. And it is not in a person’s power to decide what will happen to him even after death. The priests claim that by agreeing to cremation, people are insulting the Lord himself, the one who gave us this body and infused life into it.

However, despite the fact that the church’s attitude towards cremation is generally negative, there are many representatives of the Orthodox faith who allow the burning of a body under certain conditions. Such conditions may be the lack of funds to purchase a place in the cemetery, and subsequently to arrange the grave, purchase a monument and a fence. An exception is also the case when a loved one wants to be buried with his family, but due to sanitary standards this is not possible. The fact is that it is possible to bury the body with the deceased father, grandmother, husband or wife only when enough time has passed since the date of death. With an urn everything is much simpler. However, people must understand that it does not matter to a person’s soul whether he is buried in the same grave with a loved one or not. If this was a truly sincere relationship, if these people were connected by strong feelings and no less strong faith, then after death their souls will find their way to each other without problems, even if the bodies are buried in cemeteries of different countries. It’s another matter if during life one of the people was a fighter against God. Then burial in the same grave will not guarantee that souls will meet after death. Sometimes the church makes concessions and allows cremation to be carried out for convenience. Thus, it will probably be difficult both physically and financially for an older woman to get to one end of the city to visit her mother and father’s grave, to the other to her husband’s, and to the neighboring city to the cemetery where her sister is buried. It is much easier when you only need to tidy up one burial site.

Often relatives come to church with the will of the deceased, which states a request to cremate the body. In this case, relatives are interested in how the church views cremation and whether it is possible to violate the will of the deceased? The priests insist on going against the wishes of the deceased and burying the person according to all Christian traditions. In this case, you save the soul of the deceased from great sin. Also, you should not scatter ashes over any place, be it the sea or the home of the deceased.

If, for some reason, you cremated the body of your loved one, and now regret what you did, remember that nothing can be changed. Despite the fact that cremation and the Orthodox Church are incompatible concepts, the priests do not advise making a big tragedy out of what happened. What's done is done, and tears won't change anything. The main thing is to understand everything in time and repent. After all, God, placing people in paradise, is guided not by what happened to the body after death, but by what a person was like during life.

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