"If I may respectfully ask,
in what sense do the Orthodox pray for the souls of the departed? As you know,
this is not a practice within Protestantism."
You ask in what sense do we pray
for the souls of the departed. Why, in the same sense that we pray for the
souls of those with us because Christ is Risen, trampling down death by death.
The barrier between living and dead has been eliminated due to the Resurrection
of Christ. Those who are departed are just as much with us and just as much a
part of the Church as those who we see living on this earth. There is no longer
any separation. And so not only do we pray for them, but they also pray for us;
in the same way that you might ask your friends to pray for you and in turn
pray for them so also do we pray for each other without concern for the
separation of death.
When we pray for either the
living or the dead we use the same prayer: "Lord have mercy", to
express our desires. We do not know what to pray for even for those with whom
we live because only God knows what is best for our salvation, and so we say
"Lord have mercy". Likewise we do not know the needs and concerns of
the departed, but God does and trusting in His knowledge we say, "Lord
have mercy"
We do know that, like all of us,
those who have departed require forgiveness of sins, and that they look for a
"place of rest" in the bosom of Christ and so we make this petition,
that God will provide these things, but again as for specifics about how this
should happen we simply conclude with "Lord have mercy".
Some of the confusion might occur
in that most Protestant confessions teach that the judgment after death
determines the eternal state of the soul. Not so, according to the Tradition
and teaching of the Orthodox Faith. The particular judgment immediately after
death only determines the state and "residence" of the soul in the
spiritual world and that judgment is based on who our spiritual
"friends" are. Do we have more converse with angels or demons? Do we
devote ourselves more to the saints or to sinners? Are we attached to the world
or to the Kingdom of God? Do we act like Satan or Christ? Whatever we are like,
there we are placed in the spiritual world. And the demons are diligent in
attempting to demonstrate that we are tied to them and not to Christ and so any
and every unconfessed sin, no matter how seemingly small and insignificant is
brought out by them as accusations against us and the angels on the other hand
counter this accusation by a description of our righteous deeds which indicate
our change of heart and life. But do not confuse this particular judgment and
temporary disposition with the eternal disposition of the soul to be determined
at the Great Judgment. Then, the soul being reunited with the body thanks to
the general resurrection, each person will be judged by God Who sees within
either the spark of grace or none and those who have that spark will be brought
into the Kingdom of God and those who do not will be cast into outer darkness -
finally and eternally. So you see that when we pray for the departed, we do so
knowing that the final judgment has not yet occurred and while we don't know
what the exact needs of the departed are, we can simply lift them up to God
calling out for His mercy.
Christ is Risen!
By: Fr. David Moser - St Seraphim of
Sarov Orthodox Church, Boise, Idaho
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CONVERSATION