When Death Visits Us

We Orthodox believers know that death is not something to be feared

As a small boy growing up in Spokane, Washington, we lived near one of the city’s large cemeteries. From the earliest days, when I was allowed to ride by bicycle out of our immediate neighborhood, I would ride through this cemetery. The large mausoleum, as well as the number of family entombment chapels, were fascinating to me, and not in the least bit scary.

One of my earliest memories was sharing with a Sunday School teacher, at our Lutheran church, how sad I was that part of that cemetery was overgrown, and neglected. I even weeded one of the graves, following the suggestion of this teacher, “to do my part.” I was only in the fifth grade, yet knew the importance of keeping alive the memories of our long gone family members.

At least twice a year, I would go to other cemeteries with my grandmother, and spend time tending the graves of her sisters and parents, as well as other deceased members of our family, all of whom I knew through photographs and stories shared with me by my beloved grandmother. The lives of those family members, who were long dead by the time I was born, were vivid to me, through my grandmother’s eyes.

Grandma Haraldson was of the old school, where, even as a devout Baptist, she’d talk to her relatives as though they were there with her, either in a photo she’d kiss, or the gravestone she’d clean. For her, flowers left at the graves of loved ones were an ongoing connection to people whom she still missed, and still loved. The visits and the flowers were all her way of letting them know she still loved them. She once told me that Jesus would let them know she’d been there.

Since my childhood, cemeteries have been important to me. Whenever I am in Spokane, I not only drive by the house I was raised in, and my grandmother’s old house, but I still visit that old cemetery. The area that was once neglected, is now restored and beautiful.

When teaching in Berkeley, California, I would often take a sack lunch and drive to this historic old cemetery in Oakland, where some of the Bay Area’s most famous people are buried, and eat my lunch in the most peaceful place I knew. In doing so, I was following an old European tradition of picnicking in cemeteries.

A new trend in our nation is taking hold, with the growing practice of cremationing. In abandoning the Christian tradition of burial, and the adoption of the pagan practice of cremation, we are symbolically declaring we no longer believe in the resurrection of the dead, and the sacredness of the human body, made in the image and likeness of God.

In forgoing the tradition of visiting the graves of our loved ones, we are further distancing ourselves, as a people, from the reality of death. In abandoning the tradition of family plots, we’ve lost an historical tradition that has kept family histories alive and thus contributing to the loss of family memories. The memories of those who’ve gone on before us, will ultimately have been one of the greatest losses for us, as a people.

There is a good reason why the Orthodox Church forbids the cremation of her dead, and a good reason why we Orthodox bury our dead in consecrated ground. Numerous times throughout the year, the clergy of our Church go to the graves of Orthodox believers, and offer up prayers for their souls, in the hope of the General Resurrection. Like my Baptist grandmother, we know that our deceased relatives are comforted by our visits, and by the prayers we offer on their behalf. We Orthodox believers know that death is not something to be feared, but something that is our entry into Eternal Life.

Love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon

Photo: Hieromonk Paul doing the Proskomedia Service, in which he commemorates the faithful, both the living and the dead, and prepares the Lamb (bread) for consecration during the Divine Liturgy.

Prayer Request
Would you please remember in your holy prayers Archpriest Seraphim Cardoza and Archpriest Moses Berry. Father Seraphim is struggling with serious congestive heart failure, and is sequestered in his Rogue River, Oregon home in a state of complete exhaustion. Father Moses, who lives in Ash Grove, Missouri, is facing the amputation of his left leg, just below the knee, on the 9th of June. These two wonderful priests are dear to me, and I am heartbroken with the knowledge of their suffering.
Abbot Tryphon

Tuesday June 9, 2020 / May 27, 2020
Third Day of the Holy Trinity. Tone seven.
Fast-free Week. Fast-free
Hieromartyr Therapon, bishop of Sardis (259).
Translation of the relics (1667) of Venerable Nilus of Stolben Island (1554).
Venerable Therapontes, abbot of Byelozersk (White Lake) (1426).
Translation of the relics (1472) of Sts. Cyprian (1406), Photius(1431), and Jonah (1461), metropolitans of Kiev.
Venerable Therapontes, abbot of Monza (1597).
St. John the Russian, whose relics are on the island of Euboea (1730).
Virgin-martyr Theodora and Martyr Didymus the Soldier of Alexandria (304).
Martyr Julius the Veteran at Dorostolum, Moesia (302) (Romania).
Venerable Bede the Venerable (735) (Celtic & British).
Venerable Michael of Parekhi (8th-9th c.) (Georgia).
St. Basil of Khakhuli, son of King Bagrat III (11th c.) (Georgia).
Martyr Eusebiotus (Greek).
Martyr Alypius (Greek).

The Scripture Readings

Matthew 11:27-30

27 All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. 28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am [a]gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Romans 1:1-7

Greeting

1 Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God 2 which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, 3 concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who [a]was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, 4 and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. 5 Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name, 6 among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ;

7 To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 1:13-17

13 Now I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that I often planned to come to you (but was hindered until now), that I might have some fruit among you also, just as among the other Gentiles. 14 I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise. 15 So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also.

The Just Live by Faith

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”

Matthew 4:25-5:13

25 Great multitudes followed Him—from Galilee, and from Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan.

The Beatitudes

5 And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him. 2 Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying:

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn,
For they shall be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek,
For they shall inherit the [b]earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
For they shall be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful,
For they shall obtain mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart,
For they shall see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers,
For they shall be called sons of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. 12 Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Believers Are Salt and Light

13 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.