S.

Muksuris: Revisiting the Orthodox Funeral Service

Revisiting the Orthodox Funeral Service: Resurrecting a Positive Thematology in the Rite for the Dead1
Stelyios S. Muksuris, Ph.D. Professor of Liturgy, Byzantine Catholic Seminary

Introduction Within the corpus of liturgical services in the Eastern Church, no one rite would be expected to draw as thoroughly and vividly the stark contrast between death and resurrection as the funeral. This thematology of opposites, however, and their related sub-themes (e.g. despair and hope, darkness and life, finality and perpetuity), in the Byzantine funeral rite, always appear so far polarized to the point that the contrasting elements never seem to engage with each other. Christ's manhandling of death at Golgotha and His instantaneous inauguration of the life of the Kingdom, sealed by His three-day Resurrection, the sine qua non of the Christian faith (1 Corinthians 15:14), remains the , trans-historical event from which the Church derives her eschatological orientation. But in the funeral rite, as one carefully probes the rubrical and hymnological flow, quite noticeable is a disheartening and unsettling disconnect between the positive theme of eternal life and the negative notion of the crude finality of bodily death. The latter is not expressed as the portal for the former; it is stripped of any positive value and relegated to a completely undesirable event. Both themes are juxtaposed clumsily in the rite --the objects of two separate, disjointed reflections, hardly contributing to an organic synthesis. With regard to the mixed thematological content, Elena Velkovska observes that "it should be noted that the ideas developed by Byzantine funeral hymnography provoke in the relatives mourning the deceased an effect exactly opposite to that consolation of hearts that the ancient Inclination Prayer aimed to produce." 2 This prayer, first appearing in the oldest extant Byzantine euchologion from the eighth century, the Italo-Greek Barberini Codex gr. 336, situates the act of consolation in Christ not merely as an external act of divine philanthropy, removed from the Christological mystery; the consolation is intimately tied to the Resurrection because the resurrected Christ Himself is the consolation! The presidential prayers of the funeral rite, of which the consolatory Prayer for the Bowing of the Heads is but a representative example, verifiably abound in biblical content 3 and are among the oldest remnants of the funeral service. 4 More importantly, however, they retain a
1 This paper was delivered at the International Conference on Liturgical Renewal, held at Hellenic College and Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, Brookline, MA, from March 15-16, 2013. Copyright 2013 by V. Rev. Dr. Stelyios S. Muksuris. All rights reserved. The author may be reached at doctorssm@gmail.com. 2 E. Velkovska, "Funeral Rites according to the Byzantine Liturgical Sources", in Dumbarton Oaks Papers 55 (2001) 43. The Inclination Prayer affirms Christ's power to bestow comfort on the mourners following a person's death precisely because He is simultaneously the resurrection and the life (Jn 11.25) of the dead. For the English translation of the prayer that appears in the 10th-11th century codex Grottaferrata .. (folio 78r-78v), see Velkovska, p. 44, and the "Appendix", p. 47 for the original. For the 8th century Byzantine recension, see also Parenti and Velkovska, eds. L'euchologio Barberini gr. 336 (Rome, 2000), p. 235 (Prayer 265). 3 Velkovska, "Funeral Rites according to the Byzantine Liturgical Sources", p. 43. 4 E. Velkovska, "Funeral Rites in the East", in Handbook for Liturgical Studies. Volume 4: Sacraments and Sacramentals. Ed. Anscar J. Chupungco (Collegeville, MN, 2000), p. 353. See also J.L. Zecher, "Death's Spiraling Narrative: On 'Reading' the Orthodox Funeral", in Studia Liturgica 41 (2011) 274; and Alexander Schmemann, "Four Previously Unpublished Lectures on 'The Orthodox Liturgy of Death'", transcribed by Robert Alan Hutcheon in From Lamentation to Alleluia: An Interpretation of the Theology of the Present-Day Byzantine-Rite Funeral Page 1

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positive thematology centering on the hope and victory realized in the resurrected Lord, the intended central focus that, as Velkovska notes, is sadly overshadowed by the stark pessimism of the funereal hymns,5 whose content is strikingly contradictory to the Christian Gospel, "theologically incoherent and pastorally deformed."6 Paul Fedwick considers the Eastern funeral service a "juxtaposition of sometimes conflicting views", indicating that "all these views are brought together without any desire of reconciliation."7 Alexander Schmemann leveled perhaps the most severe critique of the rite's fateful development by arguing that the Orthodox funeral service is comprised of two strata: the earlier material found in the euchological prayers, readings, and psalmody, which profess the hope and joy in the Resurrection; and the later material layered over the earlier, "whose outlook is gloomy and even terrifying, and reflects not hope but despair in the face of death."8 For Schmemann, this lamentational hymnody stands completely at odds with the paschal theme and represents both a theological and pastoral anomaly that can only be detrimental to both the local and global church, failing to transform the life of man.9 Other scholars have chimed in with similar concerns about the predominantly selfdefeating character of the Eastern funeral rite. Peter Galadza has rightly denounced the absence of a sound resurrectional focus as well as the inclusion of prayers for the consolation of the bereaved, and he has likewise advocated for the restoration of a greater diversity in funereal readings, hymnography, and eulogies, as well as the renewal of cathedral elements to encourage and facilitate popular participation.10 Galadza also notes the wisdom among American Eastern Catholics for the past forty years to celebrate a funeral Eucharist for the obvious thematic content, although he deplores the minimalism of appending to the liturgy only the final kiss and the lit, or "extended trisagion", which is offered twice or thrice during the funeral vigil. 11 Paul Meyendorff has ascertained in the Byzantine funeral rites a preoccupation with the soul's status in the process of salvation, at odds with the ancient Christian message that regarded bodily resurrection and beatitude as equally important.12 Hence, one notes the potential for a thematic
Service Analyzed Through Its Practical Relationship top Bereaved Persons (Ph.D. diss., University of Ottawa, 2003), pp. 310-60, esp. pp. 323-42. 5 Velkovska, "Funeral Rites in the East", p. 353. 6 Zecher, p. 274. 7 P.J. Fedwick, "Death and Dying in Byzantine Liturgical Traditions", in Eastern Churches Review 8.2 (1976) 152, note 1. 8 Zecher, p. 274. 9 Schmemann's mantra of a sensible consistency between the trinity of lex orandi, lex credendi, and lex vivendi has been expressed elsewhere in a very bold manner, : "A decadent liturgy supported by a decadent theology and leading to a decadent piety: such is the sad situation in which we find ourselves today and which must be corrected if we love the Church and want her to become again the power which transforms the life of man." A. Schmemann, Of Water and the Spirit (Crestwood, NY, 1974), p. 11. See also Alkiviadis Calivas, Essays in Theology and Liturgy. Volume 3: Aspects of Orthodox Worship (Brookline, MA, 2003), pp. 125-37. 10 P. Galadza, "Lost and Displaced Elements of the Byzantine Funeral Rites: Towards a Pastoral Re-appropriation", in Studia Liturgica 33 (2003) 62-74. 11 Galadza, p. 62. The other extreme, equally problematic, is the "liturgical fundamentalism (of the Eastern Orthodox) inimical to any modifications of the textus receptus." 12 P. Meyendorff, "The Development of the Christian Funeral", lecture at St. Vladimir's Seminary 2006 Summer Liturgical Institute, http://www.svspress.com/product_infophp?products_id=3111. Meyendorff's observation of this Platonic tendency is likewise resonated by Theodor Filthaut, who says cemeteries, as the resting places of dead bodies, give the impression that Christianity, like so many other religions, is a religion of the spirit, regarding matter and the body as things below man's dignity or unimportant, placed into the ground from which the souls have Page 2

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dichotomy here, where ritual elements dealing mainly with the body's fallen and ignoble nature in death conflict with the more positive material that exalts the unitive resurrection of both soul and body. In all fairness though, let us hear the minority's voice. Among those proponents who do not visualize a necessary conflict in the funeral's thematology is Jonathan Zecher, who while acknowledging objectively the presence of conflicting notions, believes they can be somehow reconciled if the funeral rite is studied and read as a whole, in the form of what he terms a spiraling eschatological narrative. He argues that
funerary theology is not removed from its resurrectional fundament. Instead, it locates resurrection within a rich and complex (and consistently biblical) eschatological narrative. To return briefly to the agonistic hymns concerning the event of death, we must note that the funeral has no single perspective from which it looks at death. It dwells in the present moment, but it also looks backward toward creation and forward to the eschaton, theologically centering each on Christ's death. . . . These themes are deliberately unsystematic. They are, instead, narratological. 13

To his credit, Zecher's invitation to view the funeral service and its contents as an organic whole is a noble attempt to bring about a reconciliation of an otherwise thematically convoluted and disjointed rite. In my opinion, however, his position seems more to justify a funeral service requiring a manner of theological contemplation more appropriate for monks than for the typical lay worshipper, whose minds can grasp Zecher's suggested spiraling narrative of death more comprehensively than the typical layman. In addition, one gets the impression that Zecher is making excuses for a situation that is well beyond correction. The narrative remedy only seems to justify what appears to have been a haphazard aggregation of disparate elements or, more accurately, the Schmemannian understanding of a later, probably monastic content immersed in a macabre realism and imposed on an earlier stratum of positive hope in a holistic resurrection. Regardless of one's stance, several questions nevertheless come to mind with regard to this conspicuous and contradictory thematology. What key factors, historical and otherwise, prompted this uncomfortable coexistence and what warrants that it necessarily remains this way ad aeternam? If Sabaite or Studite hymnology has supplied a good portion of the content of the funeral service14 since, according to Karen Westerfield Tucker, it was "shaped to correspond with
departed. He notes that "our cemeteries reveal the gap between the gospel message and the religious outlook of many Christians today. . . . Graveyards, of course, are not the place for unrestrained merriment. But shouldn't we find there some measure of the joy that Christ bequeathed to his disciples (Jn. 15,11)?" (p. 69) See T. Filthaut, "Proclaiming the Resurrection in Our Cemeteries", in Johannes Wagner, ed. Reforming the Rites of Death. Concilium: Theology in the Age of Renewal, vol. 32 (New York, 1968), pp. 67-74. 13 Zecher, pp. 290-91. 14 Zecher explains that much of the funerary hymnody (canons, troparia, and idiomela) is anonymous, but this fact only highlights those with an ascribed authorship, such as the hymnographical work of John of Damascus and the funereal canon attributed to Theophanes Graptos of St. Sabas Monastery in Palestine. See Zecher, p. 280. Robert Taft has indicated that Theodore the Studite's invitation to Palestinian monks to supply the thriving Constantinopolitan monastery with bodies and hymnographical material against heretics eventually contributed also to the development of the funeral rite, focusing on the oftentimes discomfiting and grim realism surrounding death. See R.F. Taft, "In the Bridegroom's Absence: The Paschal Triduum in the Byzantine Church", in his Liturgy in Byzantium and Beyond (Burlington, VT, 1995), p. 72. On another occasion, Taft has made the insightful observation that Eastern monks were notorious for not only composing but aggregating hymnographical compositions into services in spite of the thematic or rubrical disparity this would cause. Monks typically preferred to add content they considered God-inspired rather than to subtract it and thus ignored the inevitable confusion this would later cause Page 3

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the more elaborate structure used for the regular daily services of the Church, probably under monastic influence" in the eighth century,15 why has the Church not yet edited the official texts to secure a more balanced thematology, at least for parish usage? Why does each funeral service celebrated by Eastern churches in the twenty-first century still seem locked in a different epoch (which for some inexplicable reason the Church has romanticized), expressing a whirlwind of disproportionate ideas that derive from unexamined and unaltered liturgical texts, concepts more familiar to Byzantine or Palestinian monks and reflective in fact of a late medieval rural society?16 Robert Taft has taught us that indeed, there is no such thing as an ideal age for liturgy and that history does not necessarily provide us with models for imitation. As he has said time and time again, "The past is always instructive but never normative." 17 And this inalienable truth testifies to the fact that "Tradition is the church's self-consciousness now of that which has been handed on to it not as an inert treasure, but as a dynamic principle of life" 18, the presence of the Holy Spirit in the Church working with us in "creative continuity" with the past. 19 So, the bottom line is that in its current state, the funeral service of the Orthodox Church is gravely wanting, both theologically and pastorally, and requires a serious thematic overhaul. How does one go about this seemingly daunting task? In this paper, I propose to delve into the earliest Byzantine euchological sources (the Barberini and Grottaferrata codices) and examine closely the presidential prayers used in the funerals of various categories of individuals. In these prayers, the so-called "earlier material", we shall extract and affirm a biblical thematology that is at once hopeful, joyful, and equally realistic, ministering as much to the living as to the dead. We will then offer specific suggestions to create a more thematologically balanced and coherent rite, such as distributing presidential prayers throughout the service, restoring the pre-baptismal anointing for the dead, and advocating for a greater variety in the lectionary and hymnographical material. The ultimate hope is to create a service that is theologically appropriate and pastorally appealing, one where the eschatological vision of "God in the midst of gods", the Church united in prayer, is attained. A Historical Survey of the Major Sources Velkovska has correctly indicated that the original setting of the official ecclesiastical prayers for the dead are to be found in the intercessions of the Eucharistic Prayer, 20 following the consecratory epiklesis. The Byzantine anaphora of Chrysostom makes a commemoration of the dead, for whom the Eucharist is offered, making no distinction between different kinds of saints those canonized by the Church and those Christians of orthodox piety who have reposed in the Faith. The Apostolic Constitutions, a Syrian church order contemporary with Chrysostom's anaphora, mentions the singing of psalms at the death of a Christian, not to mention a eucharistic celebration at the cemetery. The same source highlights the significance of memorial commemorations on the third, ninth, and fortieth days following death. The Egyptian
during the rite's celebration in different contexts. 15 K.B. Westerfield Tucker, "Christian Rituals Surrounding Death", in P.F. Bradshaw and L.A. Hoffman, eds. Life Cycles in Jewish and Christian Worship (Notre Dame, IN, 1996), p. 204. 16 Velkovska, "Funeral Rites in the East", pp. 352-53. 17 R.F. Taft, "'Eastern Presuppositions' and Western Liturgical Renewal", in Antiphon 5:1 (2000) 10-22. 18 Ibid. 19 Calivas, p. 125. 20 Velkovska, "Funeral Rites according to the Byzantine Liturgical Sources", p. 21. Page 4

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sacramentary, known as the Euchologion of Serapion of Thmuis, also dating from the fourth century, give us the earliest extant Christian prayers for the dead in Greek, which contain the classical theme of rest "in the bosom of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."21 The oldest evidence of funeral rites from Byzantium is a collection of prayers found in the famous euchologion known as the Codex Barberini gr. 336 and listed in numerical order (nos. 264-270; the original numbering in the manuscript has 224-28).22 This enumeration, however, offers no indication of the distribution of the prayers in the rite. Among the seven presidential prayers, three bear the title () ("(another) prayer for one who has expired"), one with the heading ("another universal burial prayer"), one entitled ("a burial prayer for a bishop"), and the final one ("a prayer for a monk who has fallen asleep"). The first prayer, almost identical to the priestly prayer offered in the modern Orthodox funeral, has attached to it an inclination prayer, or a prayer for the bowing of the heads. This inclination prayer is of particular interest to us for two reasons. First, it comprises a liturgical unit with the first prayer, and is very closely connected with it. While the first prayer, "O God of spirits and all flesh", is essentially a collect that follows the diaconal litany for the repose of the dead, the second inclination prayer has as its focus the comforting of the mourners. In the Byzantine cathedral Liturgy of the Hours, witnessed also by Barberini, 23 the dismissal prayer is conventionally followed by an inclination prayer, the former asking for God's help and mercy during the day or night, the latter invoking a blessing on those present who have bowed their heads. Second, the content of the inclination prayer refers to the consolation of the bereaved attending the funeral, so there is immediately a pastoral concern for the living, beseeching Christ to provide comfort to the survivors and allay their emotional pain. And this legitimate petition is accomplishable because, as the same prayer and its predecessor indicate, He who possesses power and authority over all flesh and can supply the dead with rest "in the bosom of Abraham" can also minister to the living. So, what we have here is a complete liturgical structure (a litany followed by a collect prayer and a prayer of inclination, both prayers sealed by a trinitarian doxology). Velkovska is convinced that "this structure represents beyond doubt the original nucleus of the Byzantine funeral rite."24 This claim, if in fact true, bears powerful witness to a positive thematology in the earliest Byzantine funeral rite, which is as concerned for the living as for the dead and which identifies the resurrected Christ as the one who fulfills the needs of both. The first very ancient oration in the Barberini codex, " ", appears likewise in the Armenian and Coptic euchologia 25 and, as Velkovska confirms, is found in the
21 M.E. Johnson, ed., The Prayers of Sarapion of Thmuis. A Literary, Liturgical and Theological Analysis" , Orientalia Christiana Analekta (OCA) 249 (Rome, 1995), pp. 68-69. 22 See Parenti and Velkovska, eds. L'Euchologio Barberini gr. 336, pp. 235-38. In the ancient numbering, there appears to be an erroneous duplication of the last two numbers, 227 and 228. 23 Ibid. See, for example, the liturgical unit in cathedral vespers, prayers 63 and 64 (the ancient enumeration includes both under 42), pp. 94-95, et al. 24 Velkovska, "Funeral Rites according to the Byzantine Liturgical Sources", p. 23. 25 V. Bruni, I funerali di un sacerdote nel rito bizantino secondo gli eucologi manoscritti di lingua greca (Jerusalem, 1972), p. 158. Page 5

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Nessana Papyrus, which dates to about 600 A.D. 26 Several other local Italo-Greek and Palestinian manuscripts between the tenth and twelfth centuries contain euchologia comparable to Barberini, and these include prayers for different categories of the dead. 27 More importantly, what is also included in them is the litany-presidential prayer-inclination prayer structure, which are listed in their entirety, although the prayers themselves contain the known incipits. In all the available sources the two prayers, the collect "O God of spirits and all flesh" and the inclination "O Lord, Lord, the encouragement of those in sorrow and the comfort of those who mourn", is common to all of these medieval sources and thus must represent a common tradition.28 In the Byzantine euchological tradition of Constantinople and its environs, with regard to the presidential prayers for various categories of the dead, it is difficult not to notice that common themes permeate each prayer and represent a very archaic tradition. These themes include the concepts of "light, peace, rest, refreshment, and particularly of repose in the 'bosom of Abraham.'"29 However, in between the eighth and tenth century, all we have are assortments of funeral prayers but no extant funeral rites. This changes with the Byzantine euchologion composed in southern Italy but discovered near Rome and dated between the tenth and eleventh century, the manuscript known as Grottaferrata ...30 This codex represents the most ancient funeral rite in the Byzantine tradition and it is verifiably in the form of a monastic orthros. 31 Velkovska identifies three unique structures to the rite: (1) monastic (Studite) matins;32 (2) a cathedral-stational liturgy; and (3) the funeral rites proper. The matins service is identical to the ones celebrated in monasteries on the Saturdays of Lent and ordinary, non-festal Saturdays. The litany and the hymnographical canon --- the former proper to the funeral service, the latter comprising the core of matins --- change in accordance with the social and ecclesiastical rank of the deceased. In the morning service, four prayers are said, with prayers 1, 2, and 4 in Grottaferrata corresponding to prayers 1, 2, and 5 in Barberini. 33
26 Velkovska, "Funeral Rites according to the Byzantine Liturgical Sources", p. 24. See also J.C.J. Kraemer, Excavations at Nessana vol. 3 (Princeton, NJ, 1958), p. 310. 27 These include the tenth-century St. Petersburg gr. 226 and Grottaferrata .. IV, which quite probably may have included prayers used in the eighth century not listed in Barberini. Velkovska, "Funeral Rites according to the Byzantine Liturgical Sources", p. 24. Other euchologies in which this ancient prayer structure is found are Sinai glag. 37 (the oldest Byzantine euchologion in Slavonic) and Sinai gr. 959 from the eleventh century and Sinai gr. 961 (11th-12th century). See ibid. pp. 24-26. 28 Ibid. p. 26. 29 Ibid. p. 29. These themes are reflected in Luke 16:22-24 and Hebrews 4:10-11. See also B. Botte, "Les plus anciennes formules de prire pour les morts", in La maladie et la mort du chrtien dans la liturgie (Rome, 1975), pp. 83-99. 30 S. Parenti, "La celebrazione delle Ore del Venerd Santo nell'eucologio .. di Grottaferrata (X-XI sec.)", in Boll Grot 44 (1990) 81-125. 31 I.M. Phountoules, (Thessalonike, 1979). 32 Velkovska, p. 31. The structure is as follows: "Blessed is the Kingdom" - Hexapsalmos (or Ps 90 only if the deceased is a monk) - litany and prayer - "Alleluia" with troparia - Psalm 118 (17th Kathisma of the Psalter) - canon and liturgical unit (litany and prayer) after 3rd, 6th, and 9th odes - troparion and Exaposteilarion - lauds (Pss 148150) with respective hymnography. 33 "O God of spirits and all flesh..."; "O Lord, Lord, the encouragement of those in sorrow and the comfort of those who mourn..."; and "O Master God of spirits and all flesh...". The third prayer derives from the Italo-Greek schematologion, a Byzantine monastic liturgical manual containing rits for monastic vesting, consecration, and the Page 6

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Essentially, the compiler has interspersed the prayers for the dead, as they appear in the euchologies, and their respective liturgical units throughout the matins service, a phenomenon not all that different from the distribution of cathedral prayers in monastic vespers and matins, which has rendered the synthesis known as the Studite office. Thus, as Velkovska observes, "The history of the funeral rite is no different from the general history of the Byzantine Liturgy of the Hours.34 With regard to the stational celebration (in all likelihood, the usual procession to the cemetery via particular churches or important sites), three antiphons are constructed around a psalm (Psalms 22, 23, 83) with hymnography, a litany and a prayer, more hymnography, and an epistle reading (Romans, Corinthians, Corinthians). Scholars have offered different hypotheses for the origins of this section of the funeral rite.35 In the final graveside rites, the troparion " " ("Beholding me voiceless") is followed by the farewell kiss and accompanied by the hymn " " ("Let us give the final farewell kiss"). The celebrant then blesses the oil for anointing with the same formula used in the prebaptismal anointing. As the body is laid in the tomb, Psalm 117:19 and Psalm 131:1436 are sung as verses, and a theotokion ("My every hope") concludes the hymnody. After this, the celebrant pours oil three times over the body, singing "Alleluia" as during the baptismal rite before the neophyte is immersed into the font, with the paschal symbolism of Romans 6:3-5 quite apparent. A final prayer of consolation for the living is offered, the slab is placed over the tomb and blessed, and the people are dismissed. The modern celebration of the funeral service for parish usage within various Eastern jurisdictions, deriving from this common Studite synthesis, has several variations (additions, omissions, truncations) that are simply two numerous to get into here and are beyond the immediate scope of this paper.37 What is key though is the adaptation of cathedral prayer and hymnody (immersed in archaic biblical and christological themes) onto a predominantly monastic orthros, to which has also been added a hymnographical repertory from the same monastic tradition, that assesses the stark reality of death in a contemplative and depressing manner. In this synthesis of two liturgical currents to form a modified but complex funereal Liturgy of the Hours, we are confronted with essentially two divergent ways of seeing death, whose uncomfortable juxtaposition in the rite is at once theologically and pastorally problematic.

funerary rites for a monk. See. Velkovska, p. 32 and pp. 36-38. 34 Ibid. p. 33. 35 Vitaliano Bruni traces the three antiphons to a hagiopolitical cathedral vigil (Bruni, p. 120). Miguel Arranz argues that it possibly derives from a pannychis or partial post-vesperal vigil. M. Arranz, "Les prires presbytrales de la 'Pannychis' de l'ancien Euchologe byzantin et la 'Panikhida' des dfunts II", in Orientalia Christiana Analekta 41 (1975) 314-43. 36 "Open for me the gates of the righteous; I will enter and give thanks to the Lord" (Ps 117:19 LXX; NIV). "This is my resting place for ever and ever; here I will sit enthroned for I have desired it" (Ps 131:14 LXX; NIV). 37 = The Priest's Service Book. Trans. Evagoras Constantinides (Merrillville, IN, 1989). The Funeral Service Book According to the Use of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America. Compiled by John G. Winfrey (Englewood, NJ, 2001). The Great Book of Needs: Expanded and Supplemented. Vol. 3. Trans. with notes by St. Tikhon's Seminary. (South Canaan, PA, 1998-1999). The Office of Christian Burial according to the Byzantine Rite . Trans. Inter-Eparchial Liturgical Commission (Pittsburgh, PA, 1975). Page 7

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Extracting the Positive Thematology from the Barberini gr. 336 Prayers38 The first two prayers of Barberini (nos. 264 and 265) make up the presidential prayerinclination prayer unit discussed earlier. The prayer establishes the mastery of God over the living and the dead, precisely because God possesses eternal life by nature but also because as man He experienced the sting of bodily death in Christ, which He overcame. Interestingly, the original prayer is directed to the Trinity, not to Christ, as evident in the received text used today.39 By virtue of such authority over the devil and death for the purpose of sharing abundant life, the Trinity bestows rest to the wearied souls exhausted and violated by sin and its consequences. This rest is given in a "place", or better "condition", of refreshment ( refrigerium40) and proximity to the divine, uncreated light, where God's presence outrightly forbids pain or sorrow or sighing. Such human sentiments are incompatible in the world permeated by God and actually, they are treated like enemies of redeemed man, like wild beasts, that have been "chased away."41 Connected to rest is the request for forgiveness, whose meaning in the Greek literally means "to make room for (in God's heart)", implying not simply a mechanical erasure of transgressions but more so a welcoming and acceptance by God to share in the divine life. The inevitability of man sinning is acknowledged next, but God's flawless righteousness and promise that He is "the resurrection and the life" (John 11:25) for those who believe is given absolute precedence above and beyond man's corrupted state. So, God's life is shared with the dead, whose existence does not come to an end but simply transitions to another mode. And so the dead are not called dead by the Church, which implies a hopeless and macabre termination, but rather "those who have fallen asleep", awaiting in their new mode of existence to be awakened in the presence of God. The inclination prayer continues the positive thematology begun by the prayer for the dead by shifting the focus now to the living. The assurance that God's power can bestow life on those who have fallen asleep verifies that He can likewise minister to the needs of mourners in need of consolation, healing, and direction. The prayer specifically petitions God to "comfort those seized by pain in mourning for the one who has fallen asleep" and to "heal the pain of sorrow that lies in their hearts." To fully capture the intensity and magnitude of God's compassion, the prayer utilizes the untranslatable noun , which implies a compassion and co-suffering that stems from God's most inward being. Thus, God not only makes provisions for the living and the dead; He also participates in these very provisions by sharing the experience with them. With regard to the living's concern for their loved one who has passed, the
38 The prayers may be found in Parenti and Velkovska, pp. 235-38. The English translations from the original Greek, wherever provided, are my own. 39 Velkovska, "Funeral Rites according to the Byzantine Liturgical Sources", p. 44. From a textual viewpoint, this position is justified by virtue of a doxological ending that must conclude (Barberini omits the trinitarian ekphnsis) with a glorification of all through Persons ("Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit") rather than the textus receptus, which reads, "For You are the resurrection ... O Christ our God ... " together with Your eternal Father and Your allholy and good and life-creating Spirit ...). 40 Zecher, p. 279, n. 20. The refrigerium was a Roman feast held by the family over the deceased's tomb on the ninth day after death and on subsequent anniversaries, offering food and drink to the dead to refresh them. Christians were strongly discouraged from taking part in such festivities and were rather urged to celebrate the Eucharist in their memory, drawing the connection that the living and the dead together participated in the new life of the resurrected Lord. 41 Cf. Isaiah 35:10, in which Zion itself will be evacuated of every negative force and the saved will be characterized by an inimitable elation enough to intimidate and put to flight every form of sorrow and sighing common to the fallen world. Page 8

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theme of rest in Abraham's bosom is repeated. Velkovska argues that in this inclination prayer may be found the rationale behind why Theodore the Studite included the funeral service among the Church's sacraments for the living, which seeks the healing of the faithful like the sacraments of unction and confession.42 In this regard, the prayer of the Church is not fragmented or onesided; it is holistic and draws into a cohesive unity the whole Church, triumphans and militans. So in the funeral liturgy, as in the Eucharist, the entire Church is present before the divine , in prayerful worship and dialogue with God and with one another, offering both mutual support and succor. I will return to this theme later in the paper. Several other positive themes run through the corpus of the remaining Barberini funeral prayers. Prayer 266 ("(another) prayer for one who has expired") identifies God as the god who saves (" "), "creator, savior, and judge of the living and dead." He possesses full authority to cast souls down to Hades and raise them upward, as well as to lead man back to the earth from which he was made but also to call him forward to life " " ("for Your love of man"). This divine philanthropia is the driving force behind God's creative and salvific activity. God's righteous judgment of condemnation and His prerogative of casting down is tempered by His compassion to "make things right", as it were; to give His most prized creation rest together "with all the saints who have pleased [Him] throughout the ages." In this sense, God shows His impartial love to all of humanity, welcoming the first and last with the same intensity of purpose. Prayer 267, possessing the same descriptive lemma as the previous prayer, identifies God as " " and asks the Lord to not only give rest to the departed but also that He preserve the living with "a Christian and sinless end." Once again, we note the concern as much for the living as for the dead, and that the living require (and so request) provisions for their own transition to eternal life. Hope and joy in their own resurrection can be secured by fulfilling a life of faithful union to God in this life, and this becomes a major concern for the survivors as they observe the transition of their loved one into eternal life. Prayer 268 ("another universal burial prayer"), the lengthiest of the corpus, shares striking similarities with the more well-known no. 264. It rehashes the positive theme of rest in a place of light and refreshment, and adds the "land of the righteous" (cf. no. 266 with its reference to cohabitation with the saints). It mentions how in the presence of God, pain, sorrow, and sighing are not simply absent but fled away as if threatened. Then it makes a stunning theological statement by giving a definition for physical death in the Orthodox understanding. It reads: ". . . for there is truly no death for Your servants but the transition of the soul" ("... , "). This didactic articulation is intended for the living and provides the proper context and positive attitude for understanding what has happened in death, namely, that death is not a termination in the linear sense but the continuation of one's existence in a different mode or phase. The same prayer then transitions by making a request for the consolation of the living, calling God "the help of those who mourn" and asking Him to become their consolation, "enlightening the blurriness of their longing by Your intelligible light." Then a general request is made for everyone attending the
42 Velkovska, "Funeral Rites according to the Byzantine Liturgical Sources", p. 44. "In this context one can grasp the modern understanding of liturgical theology, which sees in the funeral more a celebration of life for the benefit of the living than a celebration for the departed." See also L.V. Thomas, Rites du mort: Pour la paix des vivants (Paris, 1985). Page 9

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funeral (clergy and laypersons), that the Lord will "preserve those who have come to honor the remains (of the deceased) and show mercy upon our transgressions." This theme of forgiveness is the direct result of God's philanthropia, which equally defines His righteousness and the truthfulness of His word for both the living and dead. Finally, the doxological ekphonesis calls God "the remission of our faults", placing this acknowledgment in the mouths of both the living and the dead and allowing the entire membership of the Church, in one prayerful expression of solidarity, to seek forgiveness and fellowship with God and each other. Prayers 269 ("a burial prayer for a bishop") and 270 ("prayer for a monk who has fallen asleep") are case specific and mention characteristic themes peculiar to the individuals as they lived their lives and callings on earth. The prayer for the deceased bishop is not surprisingly addressed to Christ as lamb of God and simultaneously chief shepherd of the Church, after whom the bishop's role as caretaker of the flock is ordered. The prayer petitions God to give the bishop "a pious reward" and to "welcome him as a lamp-bearer in Your heavenly bridal chamber". In addition, the prayer continues: "grant him angelic comfort [Luke 16:22,25], so that he may shamelessly stand by your unapproachable throne." The biblical imagery of the Parable of the Ten Virgins (Matthew 25:1-13), highly eschatological in content, connects this theme with the apocalyptic vision of standing by the divine throne (Revelation 4:4). From the content of the prayer, it would appear that the intention is to perpetuate the bishop's place by God's celestial throne in the afterlife but without the pastoral demands (" "). The same prayer also asks Christ to "become the comfort of your sheep" who have lost their earthly shepherd, again focusing significantly on the needs of the living as much as the dead. Prayer 270 follows the motifs of no. 266, identifying God as "He alone who possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light", who has the power to "cast down to Hades and lift up", and who by "Your wisdom created man from the earth and again returns him to the earth, demanding of him to fulfill the responsibilities of the soul." The common theme of rest in the patriarchs' bosom is once again emphasized, and added to this is the request for the bestowal of a martyr's "crown of righteousness", to reward the monk for his selflessness and self-denial in the ascetic struggle upon earth. The prayer asks for the monk to attain "a share in the portion of those being saved, in the glory of Your elect, so that he may receive abundantly, in Your name, the reward in Your mansions for all his toils in this world." The loftiness of the martyr's crown is sought after by virtue of the monk's daily dying to Christ and to his own will. In these prayers, we can identify three dominant but related features. First, we perceive that the concern of the Church is as much directed toward the living as it is toward the dead, and this is evident in the binary prayer unit that couples the prayer of repose for the dead (no. 264) with the prayer of consolation for the living (no. 265). As we observe in Barberini prayers 268 and 269, these two themes often complement each other in the same prayer, and in no. 267 (the shortest of the corpus), the simple petition for eternal rest is conjoined to a petition that seeks for the living provisions to conclude their lives in a Christian and blameless manner. Secondly, Such inclusive language suggests a complete eschatological vision of the Church whereby present before the enthroned Godhead is the redeemed cosmos, the living and the dead gathered before Him, together with the saints and angelic powers. This same vision is

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described vividly by Symeon of Thessalonike (+1429) in his monumental work (On the Sacred Liturgy), where this experience is applied to the holy prothesis:
But let us understand how also through this divine symbol and through the work of the holy proskomide we see Jesus himself and his Church all as one, in the middle him the true light, [and the Church] having gained eternal life, illumined by him and sustained. For he, through the bread, is in the middle; his Mother, through the [triangular bread] particle, is to [his] right; the saints and angels [smaller triangular particles] are on [his] left; and below is the pious gathering of all who have believed in him [small particles]. And this is the great mystery: God among men and God in the midst of gods, made divine from him who is truly God by nature, who was incarnated for them. And this is the future kingdom and the polity of eternal life: God with us, seen and communed.43

Finally, Symeon's otherworldly vision of the redeemed Church in the aforementioned text proposes a valuable pastoral tool: the recognition that bodily death does not sever the bonds of unity shared by the living and the deceased who believe in the resurrected Lord. The Pauline assurance in Romans 8:38-39, namely, that "neither death nor life, . . . shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord", highlights the divine philanthropia as the unitive force which permeates the cosmos, the spiritual and material realms as it does time, and redefines human relationships by bestowing upon them an intrinsic and permanent value radically different from that which we do. Those fallen asleep, like the saints who are glorified, remain full members of the sacramental Church and so continue to offer the worship due to God together with the living, albeit in a different phase of their existence. This unity was first conveyed by the ancient catacombs where Christians gathered for the Eucharist and later on up to our own day, by the cemeteries that surround local parish churches. Suggestions Towards a Viable Solution In the modern funeral service, the canon for the dead 44 is replete with imagery focusing on the holy martyrs, whose struggles for Christ and corresponding rewards are compared to those of the dead, both of whom are imitators of Christ in their suffering, death, and resurrection. Little material in the canon possesses a disheartening thematology and chiefly that which reflects upon the consequences of the Fall. Sadly, this central element of the funeral matins service is absent from Greek parochial usage although present in the modern Slavic and Antiochian recensions but in a very abbreviated form. The Damascene Idiomela45 and the troparia of the final farewell 46 are replete with macabre and dismal imagery more so than the canon, which clash thematically with the more dominant theme of hopefulness and joy in the Resurrection. To be sure, most of these troparia conclude with a petition for rest, but the content is highly unbalanced. As we have said
43 On the Sacred Liturgy 94; PG 155.285AB. See also my book, Economia and Eschatology: Liturgical Mystagogy in the Byzantine Prothesis Rite (Brookline, MA, 2013); and Steven Hawkes-Teeples, ed. and trans. St. Symeon of Thessalonika: The Liturgical Commentaries (Toronto, 2011), p. 231ff. 44 See . Ed. Spyridon Zervos (Athens, 2008), pp. 408-13. The ninth-century hymnographers Joseph and Theophanes established the weekly cycle of commemorating the martyrs and the dead on Saturday, although it appears that this cycle appeared even earlier in the Middle East and eventually was adopted in Constantinople in the eleventh century. Velkovska notes that in the Chrysostomian Urtext, no distinction was drawn between in the intercessions for the saints and the dead: the offering was made for both; hence, the appropriateness of allowing the dead to "share" a liturgical day with the saints and, consequently, to have their own respective troparia and stichera interspersed throughout the ordinary liturgical material for Saturday. See Velkovska, p. 41. 45 See , pp. 413-14. 46 Ibid. pp. 417-20. Page 11

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earlier, this hodgepodge of conflicting notions poses as much a theological as well as pastoral difficulty, for which several solutions are possible. Let us begin with the most radical and surely the most unpopular and unrealistic. The entire funeral service should be discarded and a new service written, one which would eliminate the frightful and depressing themes and instead borrow resurrection elements almost exclusively, much like the designated rite for the dead during Renewal Week. The issue here is that those themes perceived as "negative" cannot be discarded entirely because of their highly didactic value that requires the acceptance of a certain realism. Death is a fearsome, non-discriminating force that exerts its destructive potency on all living creatures. It naturally compels mortals to readily accept the transience of human life and to live in a morally responsible way in preparation for the afterlife. On this side of death man reflects on the eschatological unknown; on the other side of death awaits the judgment. So fear indeed conditions man's behavior. Nevertheless, in Christ the unknowability and sting of death are overcome but in the service, the promise of resurrection and peaceful rest appear as a sort of afterthought. I propose that this hope should dominate the entire funeral liturgy and thus be interspersed more evenly throughout the service. This leads me to a more reasonable solution, which will take into careful consideration the suggestions made by liturgical scholars earlier in this paper. To overcome this dueling thematology in the funeral rite, and since the presidential prayers represent seemingly older material that preserves biblical and early Christian notions centering on hopefulness in the resurrection, these prayers should be interspersed more evenly throughout the service. The typical prayer of repose (a modified version of Barberini no. 264) is read in the funeral service only once,47 as in the Trisagion conducted in the home and at the grave.48 The prayer is preceded by the usual diaconal litany and followed by the trinitarian doxological formula, "For You are the resurrection, the life, and the repose . . .". In concelebrations, in the modern practice, each subsequent priest intones the doxological ekphonesis without a preceding litany but more importantly without a preceding prayer, for which the purpose of the trinitarian ekphonesis is to serve as the seal or katakleida. This is a liturgical anomaly, sadly repeated in other Byzantine services and most especially in the Divine Liturgy.49 So, it stands to reason in concelebrations that the liturgical unit comprising the diaconal petitions, presidential prayer, and ekphonesis should be interspersed throughout the entire rite, given the repertory of variant prayers for repose provided by Barberini and other sources. In addition, the inclination prayer of consolation that follows the prayer of repose must likewise be incorporated into the service, since it traditionally forms an expanded liturgical unit common in cathedral vespers and matins. Perhaps existing variant prayers of consolation may be attached to the prayers of repose or new ones may be composed that match the general thematic flow of each prayer. As alluded to earlier, one cannot effectively conduct the funeral service without allotting equal attention to meeting the pastoral needs of the grieving survivors, for whom the content of the funeral service is more important than for the dead. Naturally, the

47 The Priest's Service Book, pp. 228-29. 48 Ibid. pp. 206-07. 49 Calivas, pp. 214-17. Page 12

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resurrection of such cathedral elements in the funeral rite will not only encourage popular participation but also assist in the grieving process in a more constructive Christian way. Another vital modification to the rite is the restoration of the baptismal and paschal vision, "to which, as we have seen, the earliest ritual for the Byzantine Rite bears unequivocal witness."50 Velkovska has noted that the blessing of the oil for the anointing of the dead uses the same formula as in the blessing of the oil for the pre-baptismal anointing. The prayer requests that the oil become "an anointing of incorruption, a weapon of justice, a renewal of soul and body, a defense against every influence of the Devil, and a release from evil, to all those who are anointed with it in faith. . . ."51 The tomb, like the baptismal font, should be understood as a locus of transformation and transition that propels the person of faith who descends into it into eternal life, as a womb that gives new birth in Christ. The anointing today, together with the pouring of earth over the deceased, is done at the conclusion of the funeral service or at the grave, but it is not accompanied by any prayer that suggests this paschal connection. The usual verses associated with these last rites are Psalm 50:7 (LXX) for the oil, Psalm 23:1 (cf. Ecclesiastes 3:20 and Psalm 102:14) for the earth, the second of which is avowedly abrupt and dejecting. Galadza has recommended a greater diversity in the readings, hymnography, and eulogies, from which the modern rite suffers terribly. The historical precedent for such diversity is accounted for in the comparison of the modern received text, which received its final form in the sixteenth century, and the earliest complete funeral rite in any Byzantine manuscript, the tenth-century Crypt. gr. ... However, he is also cognizant of the challenge of diversity when he writes:
Anyone familiar with funerary practice among Western Christians, especially Protestants, realizes the extent to which funerals are "customized." While this sometimes carries the danger of suppressing or ignoring fundamental aspects of revelation, and may hamper popular participation because of the infinite number of options that are provided . . . the Byzantine "one-size-fits-all" approach for funerals of laypersons (small children excepted) carries the danger, on the other hand, of not incarnating the word in concrete, or particular, flesh, as it were, or reducing this enfleshment, at best, to the homily.52

Galadza advocates for a "middle-road" solution, which entails the avoidance of an excessive variety common in the West and the incorporation of a "sustainable diversity", more in line with the Byzantine ethos.53 For example, the petitions need to be rewritten so as to reflect the different categories of the deceased. However, the litanies should go a step further by making specific requests not only for the dead (by progressing beyond the "forgiveness" and "rest" language) but also for the surviving relatives and for the healing of the community, which has lost a member. In addition, Galadza offers examples of alternate New Testament readings that were included in the antiphons comprising the tenth-century rite, 54 and he even advocates for a restoration of Old Testament readings to the funeral, especially those from the Isaian corpus with their emphasis on social justice and God's righteous judgment. I propose as alternate lections the raising of Lazarus in John 11:1-45, as well as the Synoptic and Johannine accounts of the
50 Velkovska, "Funeral Rites in the East", p. 353. 51 The Priest's Service Book, p. 67. 52 Galadza, pp. 67-68ff. 53 Ibid. p. 72. 54 Ibid. pp. 69-70 for a layperson and p. 72 for a monk. Page 13

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Resurrection; in other words, the Morning Gospels of Sunday Matins. This selection will ensure that the funeral service retains a strong resurrectional character, sadly eclipsed in the rite or relegated to the status of a consolatory afterthought. A final consideration has to do with the composition of new hymnographical canons for different categories of deceased persons and for different existential situations (suffering and death due to illnesses, accidents, etc.), which could also incorporate more resurrectional and biblical material. Galadza reminds us that in the Middle Byzantine era, euchologia typically lacked the kontakion and canon and only included the rubrics specifying where in the rite these forms were to be inserted.55 Usually chanters had the freedom to select their material from the kontakaria or canonaria. New compositions today can be constructed to fit into traditional known melodies, which can facilitate lay participation. CONCLUSION As Fr. Taft and Fr. Calivas have correctly stressed time and time again with regard to the liturgical life of the Church, we are never guided by a retrospective ideology but by the living Holy Spirit, who not only reveals divine truth but also bestows upon the faithful the wisdom to adapt a meaningful liturgical expression in creative continuity with the past. Insofar as the funeral service in the Orthodox Church has sought historically to minister to the living both theologically and pastorally (in addition to formalizing the rite of passage for the dead within a Christian context), it maintains a certain level of sacramentality that is too often ignored or forgotten. The centrality of resurrectional hope and victory is paramount in the Christian faith; it should condition Christian thinking and behavior and so permeate all liturgical rites, most especially the Divine Liturgy and the funeral service. Hopefully this paper has built yet one more case for the latter's much overdue revision toward a more positive thematology. Before concluding, I wish to recall Symeon's eschatological vision mentioned earlier in this study: "And this is the great mystery: God among men and God in the midst of gods, made divine from him who is truly God by nature, who was incarnated for them. God in the midst of gods."56 When the funeral rite is conducted within the context of a eucharistic liturgy, the aforementioned paschal themes are celebrated by the entire Church on both sides of death. Both the living and the dead not only appear " " ("with one accord in one place"; Acts 2:1), offering petitions for the welfare of each other, but they also visually comprise the redeemed Church present before the divine throne - sanctified and united in the fellowship of Almighty God.

55 Ibid. p. 73. 56 See note 43 above. Page 14