“Do not deprive the dead of mercy” [Commentary on Sirah: 7: 36]

By Agaphangel (Soloviev), Archbishop

Let the mercy of giving be to everyone living, but do not deprive the dead of mercy.

Do not limit your good deeds only to the living; fio extend them also to the dead; expand the boundaries of your love for your neighbors as far as possible. Take care of the decent burial of the dead, receive the children left behind by them, strengthen their glory after death, establish a meal at the grave, etc. see Ruth. 2:20; Tob. 2:4; 4:48. It seems that the latter custom is mainly hinted at here, as below 30:18. And among the ancient Christians for several centuries there was a custom of placing food on the coffins of the dead, which belonged to the poor who prayed for the dead. In some monasteries even today there is a custom of leaving his share of the food in the common meal for thirty days after the death of a brother, and giving it to a beggar in his place after the meal. [Source: The Book of the Wisdom of Jesus, the Son of Sirach, in Russian translation with a brief explanation. St. Petersburg, 1860, p. 59]

By Irenaeus (Horde) Bishop

Let the mercy of giving be to everyone living, but do not deprive the dead of mercy.

Power has its inconveniences, and therefore the wise man advises not to seek it, not to repeat sins, not to laugh at one’s neighbor, not to stick to a crowd of sinners (4-17). In dealing with friends, wife, slaves, even with livestock, be kind and indulgent (18-25); take care of the upbringing of children, of a good life with a wife, fulfill the requirements of the law in relation to priests, be merciful to the poor, do not forget the dead, do not distance yourself from the unfortunate, and generally remember your end: these are the rules of a happy and sinless life (26-39). [Source: Irenaeus (Orda Kharisim Mikhailovich; Bishop of Oryol and Sevsk; 1837-1904). Guide to the sequential reading of the didactic books of the Old Testament. – Kyiv: type. I. and A. Davidenko, 1871. – 4, 244 p., 2 p. ill.; 22. P. 215]

By Philaret of Moscow (Drozdov), Saint

Let the grace of giving be before every living person, and do not withhold grace from the dead. (Sirach 7:36).

True, it is not very appropriate to rejoice in a cemetery: however, I do not hesitate to admit that I am now joyfully in this place, where for many years many people have daily brought their sorrows.

I rejoice, thinking about the condescension of the grace of God, which did not reject this new dwelling, offered to it by faith; because it was pleasing to consecrate it according to the rite of holiness.

I rejoice, thinking about this temple, in place of the old new, in place of the near-destruction immortalized, in place of the meager and inconvenient well-appointed and beautiful.

I rejoice, remembering in faith and hope the departed servant of God, who brought to me the first concern for the insufficient arrangement of the temple that was here, and two more similar ones, and entrusted generous gifts for each of the three, with such strict caution, that “the left hand should not know what the right hand is doing” (Matt. 6:3), – that even the unmarked writing in his own hand about this matter he demanded from me, so that the handwriting of his hand would not be revealed to men. Soul, who loved the beauty of the house of her God! God sees your name, which I do not pronounce, obeying your will: and may He preserve it in the book of life; may He adorn it in heaven with glory, undoubtedly better than that from which you wisely hid yourself on earth; may He tell you there, where you rest with Him, that your good thought has not remained idle, and that your gift has met with both good hands and an abundance of other gifts, so that the good fruit has exceeded the good hope. I rejoice, thinking about every servant of God, little or much, who according to his strength has contributed to the creation and adornment of this temple, and especially about who bore all the care and labor of this arrangement. – And why not sometimes say something in the Church about certain individuals, unless one wishes to say something according to human species? – It was a lowly woman who anointed the head of the Lord Jesus with fragrant myrrh; and this work of hers, apparently, was simple, characteristic of a woman’s way of thinking: however, for the goodness of her intentions, the Lord then commanded that she and her work be spoken of in the Churches of the whole world. It is possible to speak in the Church about what is done for God and the Church. – What is it that makes me happy when I think about the founder of this temple? – Not only that he generously served God here with his acquisitions and labor, but especially that he entered into this work at a time when he was not drawn to it by any need, any obligation; – when he already had another temple under his care; – when the coldness shown by some towards this matter presented an unfavorable example, and we, who sought help for it, were helpless. I do not speak of this more clearly because I do not wish to complain about anyone, nor even to complain in my thoughts: may God guide us all to the best; and He will surely not leave His Church without much-needed help in time, as I said in relation to this temple even in moments of helplessness, and as, by the goodness of God, it turned out in fact. I rejoice, thinking about our poor and helpless brothers, who in this temple find for themselves both newly built dwellings and the means for their constant care prepared with the same free goodwill that acted in the construction of the temple. Having said this, on my part – out of duty of gratitude, for others – for consolation and edification, I will add for the one who does good in the Church: may he not apply his heart to human praise, if he hears or overhears it; may he not accept human reward, vain and insignificant, for what he did for God, the true and eternal Rewarder; may he rejoice with us, but not about himself, but about the Lord, who blessed him both with the acquisition, and the intention of using it well, and the successful fulfillment of the intention. Finally, I rejoice now, thinking also of our departed brethren who lie here. For if it was not in vain that pious antiquity introduced the custom that they should be placed near the Church; if there is benefit for them from the prayers offered here for them and the great bloodless Sacrifice: then it seems to me that they, too, celebrate together with us, when here the prayers and sacrifices for them are renewed, extended to three altars, strengthened.

And what benefit there is for the souls of the departed from the prayers and sacrifices made for them, about that it will not be out of place to say a few words here, for our common consolation and edification.

There are people in Christianity who deprive themselves of the consolation of praying for the departed. What kind of people are these? – Without a doubt, those who, in a way that is noticeable or imperceptible to themselves, love to reason more than to believe. Why do they not accept prayers for the departed? – There is no other reason for this, except that it is not clear how the effect of prayer can extend so far – even from one world to another, from the visible to the invisible.

I would ask a person who reasons in this way: is the effect of the prayer of a living person for another living person understandable to ordinary reason – especially if the prayer is offered for someone who is absent, or even for someone who is present, but is offered to ask for something moral and spiritual, such as forgiveness of sins, correction from vices, taming of passions, enlightenment, confirmation in virtues? Two souls, each with its own mind, will, inclinations, freedom, are not two separate worlds for each other – separate all the more so since they are blocked by bodies? How does the prayer of one extend its effect to another?

Let them answer these questions as they wish. If they rise to explain how the separateness of being and freedom does not hinder the action of prayer for the living: this will explain how the same separateness does not hinder prayer for the dead. If they say that the action of prayer for the living is possible, although inexplicable by reason; then I will say: do not reject the action of prayer for the dead just because it is inexplicable, or seems so. But in my opinion, in matters of faith it is safer to reason less and believe more, and to be based not on one’s own wisdom, but on the Word of God. The Word of God says: “For what we should pray, as we ought, we know not.” Consequently, by reason, without grace, we do not know whether it is possible to pray for anyone. “But the Spirit himself,” continues the Apostolic Word, “intercedes for us with groanings which cannot be uttered” (Rom. 8:26), in the prayer of each, according to his particular state; and the same Spirit, for the general guidance in prayers, especially public ones, clearly utters what one ought to pray for. For example: “I exhort therefore, first of all, that prayers, supplications, petitions, and giving of thanks be made for all men” (1 Tim. 2:1). Again: “If any man see his brother sinning a sin which is not unto death, let him ask, and He will give him life to them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I say not for that, let him pray” (1 John 5:16). And again: “Pray one for another, that ye may be healed. For the effectual prayer of a righteous man availeth much” (James 5:16). Let us also listen to how the Holy Apostle Paul both prays for others and demands the prayers of others. “We pray always for you,” he writes to the Thessalonians, “that our God may make you worthy of the calling and fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodness and the work of faith with power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thess. 1:11-12). And further in the same epistle: “Furthermore, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may run on and be glorified, as also in you” (2 Thess. 3:1). And in another epistle: “praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and in this present time watching in all patience and prayer for all the saints and for me, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel for which I am an ambassador in chains” (Eph. 6:18-20).

Without collecting further testimonies from Holy Scripture about prayer in general, as a matter known, let us apply to the special subject of the present reflection those testimonies which have been cited so far. If we do not know what to pray for; and for the enlightenment of our ignorance the Holy Scripture has been given to us, “which is able to make us wise unto salvation,” even to the point that “the man of God shall be prepared perfect unto every good work” (2 Tim. 3:15-17): then from the wisdom and goodness of the Spirit of God, Who spoke this Scripture, we must expect that it will not only satisfactorily instruct us what to pray for, but will also protect us with prohibitions, so that we do not pray for what prayer would not please God. This expectation is justified by the deed itself. Now we have seen how Holy Scripture, commanding prayer “for all men,” protects the believer from prayer that is not pleasing to God and not useful to men by the prohibition: “there is a sin unto death; let him not pray for that, I say.” From this it follows that if there is no special, definitive commandment in Holy Scripture about prayer for the departed, and it is deduced only from the concepts and commandments about prayer that are more general; but if, moreover, there is no prohibition against this prayer in Holy Scripture, as in fact there is not: this very non-prohibition, the very silence of Holy Scripture is already proof that prayer for the departed is not contrary to God, and is not useless to men.

A hunter of doubts will ask: is it not superfluous to pray for those who died with faith and hope? – I answer: is it not superfluous, apparently, to pray for the Saints? However, St. Paul commands us to pray “for all the saints.” Is it not superfluous to pray for the Apostles, who are the disseminators of grace to all others, and the first of the Saints in the Church: “God has set the Apostles before the Apostles in the Church” (1 Cor. 12:28)? However, the Apostle Paul demands that even non-Apostles pray for him, and this when he was already approaching the crown for his apostolic exploits. There is a prayer in favor of the Gospel itself: “that the word of the Lord may flow forth and be glorified,” although the Gospel itself is “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Rom. 1:16): can we fear excess in prayer for believers? Or, they will ask, is not prayer for those who have died in sin vain? – I answer: it is vain – for those who died in mortal sin, spiritual death, and in this state were overtaken by bodily death – for those who inwardly fell away from the spiritual body of the Church of Christ and from the life of faith, by their unbelief, impenitence, decisive and final resistance to the grace of God. Where the signs of this bitter death are obvious to an enlightened and impartial eye, there is no place for the consolation of prayer: “there is a sin unto death; let him not pray for that, I say.” – But what can prayer do “for a brother who sins a sin not unto death”? It can “give him life.” Can it really be true even for one who has died bodily? – Saint John, by whose words we are now guided, does not say: “yes”; but he does not say “no” either. He does not forbid praying for the dead, while he forbids praying for a desperate and hopeless sinner. The all-pervading wisdom of God, in Divine Scripture, does not proclaim loudly enough the commandment to pray for the departed, perhaps in order that in the hope of this In a separate edition and in the collection of 1835 and 1844, the word is inserted here: late… help, the living have not become lazy, to work out their salvation with fear before bodily death. But when it does not forbid this kind of prayer: does this not mean that it still allows throwing, although not always decisively reliable, but sometimes, and perhaps often, a rope of help, to those souls torn away from the shore of temporary life, but not having reached the eternal haven, which between bodily death and the last universal judgment of Christ, waver over the abyss In a separate edition and in the collection 1835 and 1844, the words were inserted: now arising by faith, now burdened by deeds inconsistent with it…, now rising by grace, now descending by the remains of a damaged nature, now delighting in Divine desire, now becoming entangled in the rough, not yet completely stripped off, clothing of earthly thoughts?

And so, perhaps, why has prayer for the departed existed and exists in the Church from ancient times, not as a solemnly proclaimed, essential member of faith and a strict commandment; but as a pious tradition and custom, always supported by free obedience to faith, and private spiritual experiences. Let us cite some evidence for this.

“The grace of giving,” writes the Son of Sirach, “be before every living, and do not withhold grace from the dead” (Sir. 7:36). What does “the grace of giving” mean here? If this is a gift to the altar, then the words: “Do not forbid grace over the dead,” obviously mean: Offer a sacrifice for the deceased, or, what is the same, pray for the deceased. But if someone wants to admit it is more probable that “the grace of giving” means charity to the poor, then the words: “Do not forbid grace over the dead,” will mean: Give alms in memory of the deceased. Whether the Son of Sirach had this or another thought: they both suggest one thing, they have a common basis – that the living can and should do good and soul-profiting deeds for the sake of the deceased.

In the history of the Maccabees we find precisely the sacrifice and prayer for the dead. Judas offered it for the soldiers who died in the sin of taking spoils of war “from the gifts of idols”, with which the pious should not defile their hands (2 Mac. 12:39-46).

Since the formation of the public Christian Worship, prayer for the dead has been included in it, as a part that constantly belongs to its composition. All the ancient rites of the Divine Liturgy testify to this, beginning with the Liturgy of St. James, the brother of the Lord. Therefore, there is no doubt that prayer for the dead is an Apostolic tradition. “Even if he departed as a sinner,” says St. Chrysostom, “it is worthy of help, as much as possible: however, not with tears, but with prayers, and supplications, and alms and offerings. For this was not simply intended, nor do we do it in vain, remembering the departed in the Divine mysteries, and approaching them, praying to the Lamb lying down, who took away the sin of the world, but that from here there may be some consolation for them. Nor in vain does he who stands before the altar, performing the terrible mysteries, cry out: for all who have fallen asleep in Christ and those who perform the memory of them” (on 1 Cor. homily 41). And further he says: “Let us not be lazy in helping those who have departed, and offering prayers for them. For the general purification of the universe lies ahead. For this reason we pray for the whole world in hope, and we call them with the martyrs, with the confessors, with the priests. For we are all one body, though the brightest are members of members. And it is possible to collect forgiveness for them from everywhere, as it is from prayers, from the gifts offered for them, from the saints named with them.” “The most pious Emperor,” writes Eusebius about Constantine the Great, “chose the Church of the Apostles, founded by him in Constantinople, as the place of his burial, in the hope of participating in the prayers performed there in honor of these Saints, and in order that, uniting in the Church with the people of God, he might be deemed worthy to participate in the Divine service, in the mystical sacrifice, in the prayers of the faithful, even after his death” (On the Life of Constantine, Book 4, Chapter 71). – “It must not be denied,” says Blessed Augustine, “that the souls of the departed receive consolation from the piety of their living neighbors, when the sacrifice of the Intercessor is offered for them, or when alms are given in the Church: but this is useful only to those who in life deserved that this should be useful to them afterwards” (On Faith and Love, ch. 110).

St. Gregory the Dialogist, in his Turkic collection: in his conversations… presents a remarkable experience of the effect of prayer and sacrifices for the deceased, which happened in his monastery. One brother, for breaking the vow of poverty, out of fear of others, was deprived of a Church burial and prayer for thirty days after death; and then, out of compassion for his soul, the Bloodless Sacrifice was offered for thirty days with prayer for him. On the last of these days the deceased appeared in a vision to his surviving brother and said: “Until now I was in ill health, but now I am well; for today I have received communion” (Conversations, Book 4, Chapter 55).

But let us be careful not to prolong the words to the point of fatigue after the short service. For those who are attentive, what has been said is enough for everyone to confirm for themselves the following rules, not unfamiliar, but often forgotten:

First: pray for the departed with faith and hope in the mercy of God.

Second: do not live carelessly yourself, but try, through pure faith and urgent correction of sins, to strengthen your hope that prayers for you, after your death, will bring joy to your soul and help it to achieve eternal peace and bliss in God, ever blessed and most glorified forever. Amen.

[Source: 97. Sermon on the consecration of the Church of the Holy Spirit at the Moscow Danilovskoye Cemetery (Spoken on September 25; published in Christian Reading of 1832 and in the collections of 1835, 1844 and 1848)]