tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73042886598650075.post7204526562582500688..comments2024-03-22T11:37:52.668-05:00Comments on Byzantine, Texas: On the destruction of the body by fireByzantine, TXhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17845681957622343484noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73042886598650075.post-11889832226569297002012-09-26T07:29:08.314-05:002012-09-26T07:29:08.314-05:00A friend responds: "In ancient times pagans a...A friend responds: "In ancient times pagans always either burned the bodies of their dead, or left them for birds to consume, whereas Jews and Christians placed their dead in tombs, or in the earth, awaiting the bodily resurrection" - This is quite clearly an incorrect statement. I think we have all seen a sufficient number of Egyptian mummies to easily refute what pagans "always" did.<br /><br />If we restrict "pagan" to mean the pagans of Rome, then this is also incorrect. Pre-Classical Rome followed the ancient Etruscan custom of inhumation within hypogea (pagan equivalents of the Judeo-Christian catacombs of Rome) and columbaria (for the poorer Romans). By the time of the late Republic cremation vs. inhumation was an increasingly popular option. Sulla expressed a preference for cremation because he feared that his body might be desecrated by his enemies as he had done with his own political rival, Marius.<br /><br />As far as I am aware no classical pagan civilization exposed their dead to birds - that is a feature of certain Asian societies like Tibet, as well as ancient Zoroastrianism.<br /><br />The Christian preference for inhumation is entirely based on the belief in bodily resurrection (as with Jews) and the belief that the body and soul constitutes the whole person within orthodox Christian belief. It had little to do with differentiating Christian funerary rites from those of pagans.<br />Barsanuphius Coppolahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02373022976580338276noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73042886598650075.post-20512923461784985642012-09-25T19:32:17.741-05:002012-09-25T19:32:17.741-05:00Great post!
There's a very nice book out by a...Great post!<br /><br />There's a very nice book out by an Orthodox couple called (I think) "A Christian Ending". It is somewhat of a handbook for the traditional method of burial, and I guess would fit within the "green" model.<br /><br />Sadly, too few Orthodox keep with the Orthodox tradition when it comes to embalming.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73042886598650075.post-81538613959350755512012-09-25T07:41:24.420-05:002012-09-25T07:41:24.420-05:00A priest told me about being given a tour of a cre...A priest told me about being given a tour of a crematorium. He saw ashes on the floor. There was also a barrel containing ashes. He asked what that was. They said "if you promise not to tell" (he waited until he had moved to another city to tell), "sometimes when a body is cremated, there is too much of a volume of ashes to fit into the urn, and sometimes, if a person is small, there isn't enough, so we use this to make up the difference." Plus, the cremation factory seems a cold, non-personal way of handling a body. I was appalled by a case I saw where the family (who are Catholic) treated the body in the gnostic manner as if it was an empty shell that was now of no use. When they were told (shortly after the death) they could place the flowers on the body, they dumped them on the face, feeling the body was just the empty shell.Bob Grabanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07313592183643672459noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73042886598650075.post-80050814032052190562012-09-25T07:28:10.772-05:002012-09-25T07:28:10.772-05:00A few quick responses...
1. The Japanese Orthodox...A few quick responses...<br /><br />1. The Japanese Orthodox are ordered to do so by the state. God willing, the Japanese government will give an exception one day.<br /><br />2. We burn those things because we are disposing of something that has come to the end of its use. The bodies of Christians still have a very real purpose in the future (parousia) and so do not need to be burned prematurely or ever for that matter. <br /><br />3. The martyrs are revered because they valiantly faced persecution, torture, and death at the hands of the ungodly. It is not the cremation that we esteem, but their steadfast faith in the Lord even under horrible conditions such as being burned alive. So, while the method of their murder is part of their hagiographies, we do not bless cremation any more than we would bless the cross or the Catherine wheel.Byzantine, TXhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17845681957622343484noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73042886598650075.post-65707737888335260842012-09-24T16:22:25.313-05:002012-09-24T16:22:25.313-05:00I am all for not cremating people; I happen to fin...I am all for not cremating people; I happen to find the practice rather abhorrent, for reasons I can't really put my finger on. But let's think logically about the standard reasons set forth for it's forbidding in the Church.<br /><br />If it's about the body being holy, and having received the Body and Blood of Christ, then why is burning not permitted? For all other holy items, the proper and accepted methods of disposal are either burial OR burning. Why not the body as well?<br /><br />Additionally, what of those martyrs who are burned at the stake? Does that count as cremation? Or is that a separate issue?Steve Allenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04448197527704114806noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73042886598650075.post-1619400033837217332012-09-24T11:17:22.500-05:002012-09-24T11:17:22.500-05:00I thought the Orthodox Church of Japan permitted c...I thought the Orthodox Church of Japan permitted cremation? Please correct me if I am wrong. I was also wondering about the Syriac Orthodox Church in Kerela, India.Steve_Barriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01700596373993979010noreply@blogger.com