It is important that we pray for those who have gone on before us
The Apostolic Orthodox and Catholic Church has always prayed for its dead. Although the New Testament does not directly address the subject of praying for the dead, and even though we are told that our departed loved ones are with the Lord (1 Thessalonians 4:13), the Holy Apostle Paul prays for a friend, that he may “find mercy from the Lord on that day” of judgment (2 Timothy 1:16-18).
In 2 Maccabees 12:4 we read of pious Jews offering prayer for the forgiveness of those fellow Jews who had died, thus we Christians inherited the practice for praying for our own dead. The history of the Church shows that the intercession for the dead has always formed a part of the Church’s liturgical life.
Because Christ rose from the dead, and trampled down death by His own death, the barrier between living and dead was eliminated. Since there is no separation between the saints who have gone on before us (the Church Triumphant) and those here on earth (the Church Militant), those who have departed this life are just as much with us and just as much a part of the Church as those with whom we worship in our temples here on this earth. Since there is no separation between the saints in heaven, and those of us on earth, we can pray for them in the same way we pray for each other. We ask our friends, whether they be in paradise, or here on earth, to pray for us. Since there is no separation in death, we pray for one another.
Although we do not know the needs and concerns of those who have departed this life, we do know that God knows their needs. So, just as we pray for the needs of our friends and family, understanding God knows what they need, we pray for those who have gone on before us, trusting God knows what they require.
Although our Protestant friends teach that the judgment after death determines the eternal state of the soul, death only determines the state and “residence” of the soul in the spiritual world. Therefore we must not confuse this particular judgment and temporary disposition with the eternal disposition of the soul to be determined at the Great Judgment. At the general resurrection, each of us 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. 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, just as we do for our family and friends in this life.
With love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon
Saturday December 2, 2023 / November 19, 2023
26th Week after Pentecost. Tone eight.
Nativity (St. Philip’s Fast). Fish Allowed
Prophet Obadiah (Abdias) (9th c. B.C.).
Martyr Barlaam of Caesarea in Cappadocia (304).
Venerables Barlaam and loasaph, prince of India, and St. Abenner the King, father of St. loasaph (4th c.).
St. Philaret, metropolitan of Moscow (1867).
New Hieromartyr priest John Vishnevsky (1920).
New Hieromartyrs Porphirius (Gulevich) bishop of Simpheropol an Crimeria, Ioasaph (Udalov) bishop of Chistopol, deacon Antonius (Korzh), monk Barpholomeus (Ratnykh), priest Vladimir Pischulin, archpriest Demetrius Kiranov, priest John Bliumovich, archpriest Nicholas Mezentsev, priest Timothy Izotov (1937).
New Hieromartyrs Sergius Mikhaev, Michael Dmitriev, Alexandra Mishutina, John Malinovsky, Constantine Mikhailovsy, Alexander Serebrov, Ignatius Teslin, John Piramidin, Simeon Krivosheev, John Florovky, Jacob Briliantov, Demetrius Kuklin, Jacob Peredery priests, New Hieromartyrs Ioasaph Krimzin, Gennady Rebeza, Peter Mamontov, Gerasim Sukhov, Michael Kvanin, Martyr Valentine Kornienko, Peter Antonov, Leonid Salkov, Timothy Kucherov (1937).
St. Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia (1991).
Venerable Barlaam, abbot of the Kiev Caves (1065).
Uncovering of the relics (1626) of Monk-martyr Adrian, abbot of Poshekhonye (1550).
Martyr Azes of Isauria, and with him 150 soldiers (284).
Martyr Heliodorus in Pamphylia (273).
Venerable Hilarion of Georgia, wonderworker of Thessalonica (875) (Georgia).
“The Joy of All who Sorrow” (1863) Icon of the Mother of God.
St. Patroclus of Bourges (577) (Gaul).
St. Egbert, archbishop of York (766) (Celtic & British).
Martyr Agapius of Gaza (306).
St. Simon, wonderworker of Calabria (10th c.).
Martyrs Anthimus, Thalalaeus, Christopher, Euphemia and her children (Greek).
Martyr Pancharius (Greek).
Martyr Barlaam of Antioch (Greek).
The Scripture Readings
Galatians 3:8-12
8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.” 9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.
The Law Brings a Curse
10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.” 11 But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for “the just shall live by faith.” 12 Yet the law is not of faith, but “the man who does them shall live by them.”
Luke 9:57-62
The Cost of Discipleship
57 Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, “Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.”
58 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”
59 Then He said to another, “Follow Me.”
But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”
60 Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God.”
61 And another also said, “Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house.”
62 But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”