www.byzcath.org Forums News & Events Eparchial & Parish Events Divine Liturgy at funerals?

I understand Metropolitan William has asked the priests to encourage the celebration of the funeral service without the Divine Liturgy. We at St. Basil's in Irving had just such a funeral last Friday, i.e., without the Divine Liturgy. It was nevertheless a beautiful and moving service.

My impression is that serving Divine Liturgy for funerals of laity is a latinisation. I have seen it done three times in an Orthodox Church: twice for priests' funerals and once for a bishop.

Any thoughts on this?

It is and it isn't. The current resurgence may be to latin-influence, they tend to do everything with a Mass, but almost every Mystery in the Early Church was celebrated within the context of the Divine Liturgy.

This is certainly is a wise pastoral move. Funerals attract a lot of "outsiders." Having the service on its own, without the Eucharist, allows the priest to offer a beautiful service without having to explain that those who are not members of the Church, or who are lapsed, cannot receive the Eucharist. Such a statement can rouse all sorts of emotions from family and visitors alike.

Fr. David

Quite true, especially where, as is almost always the case, you have family members who were baptized or even brought up in the Church but who move away and move 'on.' They often think that they 'belong' to their old, hometown Church and to dispel that lack of understanding in the midst of mourning or heightened emotion can be difficult.

Exactly. We only have to recall this [abcnews.go.com] story from just a few months ago. Such circumstances can be avoided simply by not offering the Liturgy.

Fr. David

For those interested, click to find the traditional text of the Byzantine Funeral (Great Panachida). It's currently being reviewed by a private group of individuals to make the translation more faithful and will be published in a study edition.

Here is a portion of what has been published in the Funeral guidlines for our parish: In our Holy Church the Funeral Service is celebrated according to the norms contained in the translation of the Roman Trebnyk, approved by the Synod of the Ukrainian Catholic Bishops. This does not include the Divine Liturgy. The Liturgikon reserves the Divine Liturgy for the departed on the ninth, fortieth, and anniversary of repose. (Pastoral Guide of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in the United States of America)

The Ukrainian Catholic Bishops of the United States in their Pastoral Letter for the Great Fast 2007 write the following: “We honor our beloved dead by showing them the greatest respect; by doing the best we can to honor them. It is in conjunction with this desire that we, the Ukrainian Catholic Bishops of the United States, take this opportunity to reclaim our ancient heritage. Until fairly recently, funerals – like weddings -- stood on their own. The beauty of the Funeral Liturgy, which we call Parastas was allowed to shine forth as a liturgy in its own right and not as a mere adjunct to the Divine Liturgy. A return to this venerable tradition would show the greatest honor to our beloved dead; how better could we honor them than by using the ancient rite, whose prayers were offered for their ancestors from time immemorial? This is not to discount the importance of the Divine Liturgy; far from it! Rather, the Divine Liturgy would be reserved for other significant gatherings -- such as the fortieth-day commemorations which, though so full of meaning, have fallen into disuse in some places. And what better time to begin to implement such a change than during the Great Fast, when we do not normally celebrate Divine Liturgy during the week? For this reason, beginning with this Great Fast, we encourage the celebration of the Parastas as the Funeral Liturgy of our Church within the United States.”

How does the Presancified Funeral during Lent fit into all this? Father Mondick says the Ruthenian Trebnyk prescribes the Divine Liturgy with Parastas for regular days and the Presanctified Liturgy with Parastas during Lent. It doesn't seem right.