Question: Why do we pray for the dead on the 3rd, 9th, and 40th day of a person's
repose, and what is the basis for the practice?
St. John
Chrysostom states that the practice of praying for the dead comes from the
Apostles themselves: "Not in vain did the Apostles order that remembrance
should be made of the dead in the dreadful Mysteries. They know that great gain
resulteth to them, great benefit; for when the whole people stands with
uplifted hands, a priestly assembly, and that awful Sacrifice lies displayed,
how shall we not prevail with God by our entreaties for them?" (Homily 3
on Philippians).
The
Church commemorates the dead at every liturgy, and in every liturgy (that of
St. Basil the Great, St. John Chrysostom, St. James, etc.). But there are special
days of commemorating the dead, and these commemorations also go back to the
Apostles.
The
Apostolic Constitutions state: "Let the third day of the departed be
celebrated with psalms, and lessons, and prayers, on account of Him that arose
in the space of three days; and let the ninth day be celebrated in remembrance
of the living, and of the departed; and the fortieth day according to the
ancient pattern: for so did the people lament Moses, and the anniversary day in
memorial of him. And let alms be given to the poor out of his goods for a
memorial of him" (Apostolic Constitutions 8:42).
St.
Symeon of Thessaloniki says that the memorial on the 3rd day is in honor of the
Trinity, the 9th day memorial is in honor of the nine ranks of angels, the 40th
day memorial is in honor of Christ's Ascension on the 40th day, and the annual
memorial signifies that the departed lives and ins immortal in the soul
(Nikolaos P. Vassiliadis, The Mystery of Death, trans. Fr. Peter A. Chamberas
(Athens, Greece: The Orthodox Brotherhood of Theologians, 1997), p. 422f).
An old
article from Orthodox Life (The Church's Prayer for the Dead, Orthodox Life,
1978, no. 1, p.16f), summarizes the Church's teaching on this question:
"We
commemorate the dead on the third day firstly, because those who have departed
had been baptized in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the One God
in three Persons, and had kept the Orthodox faith they received at holy
baptism; secondly, because they preserved the three virtues which form the
foundation of our salvation, namely: faith, hope and love; thirdly, because
man's being possesses three internal powers—reason, emotion and desire—by which
we all have transgressed. And since man's actions manifest themselves in three
ways—by deed, word, and thought—by our commemoration on the third day we
entreat the Holy Trinity to forgive the departed all transgressions committed
by the three above-mentioned powers and actions. When St. Macarius of
Alexandria besought the angel who accompanied him in the desert to explain to
him the meaning of the Church's commemoration on the third day, the angel
replied to him: "When an offering is made in church on the third day, the
soul of the departed receives from its guardian angel relief from the sorrow it
feels as a result of the separation from the body. This it receives because
glorification and offering is made in the Church of God which gives rise in it
to blessed hope, for in the course of the two days the soul is permitted to
roam the earth, wherever it wills, in the company of the angels that are with
it. Therefore, the soul, loving the body, sometimes wanders about the house in
which his body had been laid out, and thus spends two days like a bird seeking
its nest. But the virtuous soul goes about those places in which it was wont to
do good deeds. On the third day, He Who Himself rose from the dead on the third
day commands the Christian soul, in imitation of His resurrection, to ascend to
the Heavens to worship the God of all."
On the
ninth day, the Holy Church offers prayers and the Bloodless Sacrifice for the
departed, that his soul be accounted worthy to be numbered among the choirs of
the saints through the prayers and intercession of the nine ranks of angels.
St. Macarius of Alexandria, in accordance with the angel's revelation, says
that after worshipping God on the third day, it is commanded to show the soul
the various pleasant habitations of the saints and the beauty of Paradise. The
soul considers all of this for six days, lost in wonder and glorifying the
Creator of all. Contemplating all of this, it is transformed and forgets the
sorrow it felt in the body. But if it is guilty of sins, at the sight of the
delights of the saints it begins to grieve and reproach itself, saying:
"Woe is me! How much I busied myself in vanity in that world! Enamored of
the gratification of lust, I spent the greater portion of my life in
carelessness and did not serve God as I should, that I too might be accounted
worthy of this grace and glory. Woe is me! Poor me!" After considering all
the joys of the righteous in the course of six days, it again is borne aloft by
the angels to worship God.
From
earliest antiquity the Holy Church has correctly and devoutly made it a rule to
commemorate the departed in the course of forty days, and on the fortieth day
in particular. As Christ was victorious over the devil, having spent forty days
in fasting and prayer, so the Holy Church likewise, offering for the departed
prayers, acts of charity and the Bloodless Sacrifice throughout the forty days,
asks the Lord's grace for him to conquer the enemy, the dark prince of the air,
and that he receive the Heavenly Kingdom as his inheritance. St. Macarius of
Alexandria, discussing the state of man's soul after the death of the body, says:
"After the second adoration, the Master of all commands that the soul be
led to hell and that it be shown the places of torment there, the various parts
of hell, and the diverse tortures of the wicked, in which the souls of sinners
ceaselessly wail and gnash their teeth. The soul is borne about these various
places of torment for thirty days, trembling lest it itself be imprisoned
therein. On the fortieth day it is once again borne aloft to adore the Lord
God, and it is at this time that the Judge determines the place of confinement
proper to it in accordance with its deeds. This is a great day for the
deceased, for it determines his portion until the Dread judgment of God, and
therefore, the Holy Church correctly commands that fervent prayer be made for the
dead on this day."
In
additions to these days, there are days appointed throughout the Church year on
which the dead are specially commemorated. That Christians have always prayed
for the dead is one of the most well attested Traditions of the Church, and is
found in the earliest writings of the Church, throughout the fathers, and is a
practice that is also found in Judaism and Islam. Only with the advent of
Protestantism do you find Christians that do not pray for the dead, but not
even all Protestants reject prayers for the dead.
By Fr. John Whiteford
Source: http://fatherjohn.blogspot.com.by/2014/04/stump-priest-prayers-for-dead-on-3rd.html
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