Praying for the Dead-Is it Biblical?

 

If the Church is the New Israel, we are also the heavenly Jerusalem. As the heavenly Jerusalem, it is our duty to be the beacon of light in the world. The salt of the earth, the city set on a hill. Thus, the Orthodox Church teaches that we must pray for the dead. Many of our Protestant brothers and sisters and their respective churches deny this, but the Bible clearly says otherwise.  The Roman Catholics believe in purgatory, but the Orthodox Church rejects this as a heresy developed after the Roman church fell away and became apostate. This topic is very relevant to the current timing of the church as the church prays for the dead on the two Saturdays before Lent and the first Saturday of Lent.

The Bible commands us as Christians to pray for one another. Because of the victory of Christ over death, there is no veil between those in this life and those in the next. And James 5:16 clearly commands us to pray for one another. Furthermore, both Ephesians 5:30 and Romans 14:6 say that we are members of Christ’s body, whether we have reposed in the Lord or are currently struggling in this earthly life.  Thus, scripture clearly suggests that prayers for the dead are valid. Hebrews 12:22-24 includes the angels and those perfected in righteousness. Romans 8:38-39 says that even death cannot separate us from the love of Christ, so if death does not separate us, then we must understand that Christ loves those even in death and we must pray for them. Again, the scriptures do not talk about “death” meaning that those who die cease to exist, rather the Bible talks about our soul living on after death, both in Luke 16:19-31 and Revelation 6:9-10.  In the Orthodox Cannon of Scripture, we include the Maccabees and the Book of Sirach. In Sirach 7:33 it states, “Give graciously to all the living; do not withhold kindness even from the dead.” So once again the Scriptures confirm the prayers for the dead by their words. If we hold true that the Holy Bible is the inspired written word of God, then must take these writings as true and cannot have qualms about it. We cannot deny part of the Bible and accept other parts. We either believe the whole thing or it becomes worthless. As one can see, through these Biblical examples we understand those may not be present in the body, but they are still alive. Christ even teaches that God is not the God of dead, but the living. (Mark 12:27 and Luke 20:38).  If God is the God of the living our brothers and sisters who have reposed in their earthly bodies are not dead but much more alive than us. Thus, by being alive they too need our prayers.  

What happens to us in the next life is not very clear, as the scriptures do not give us a clear account of what the soul experiences after our earthly death. Some like Father Seraphim Rose have proposed the Tollhouse theory, which I will not discuss here, but you can find information on in other locations on the internet. Others like our protestant brothers and sisters teach Soul Sleep where the soul goes into a long rest and awaits the final judgment of Christ at his Awesome Judgement Seat. We as Orthodox are not so dogmatic about death, we just know that it occurs and that we are waiting the final judgment at the Second Coming. Plus, we also have tradition that has been passed down from even the apostles themselves to pray for the dead.

This apostolic tradition comes from the life of St. Paul himself.  Regarded as one of the greatest Christians of the early church and with many of his writings included in scripture there is no better source than St. Paul on this teaching.  In 2^nd Timothy, we learn of the repose of Onesiphorus, one of St. Paul’s most beloved friends. St. Paul says, “The Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain…” Onesiphorus is clearly no longer among the earthly living and St. Paul is praying for his soul.   In this example and this belief, we ask God to keep those who are asleep in the Lord in his memory and for it to be eternal, meaning that God will grant them peace, life, and mercy, along with forgiveness for their sins.  We also pray that they will give a good account of their actions before the Awesome Judgement Seat of Christ at the Last Judgement, which an account of was read this past weekend. Finally in Revelation 1:18-19 Christ says he holds the keys to the underworld, and by that he can mercy on those he chooses. We do not know the mind of Christ. We can only believe that Christ knows what’s best for us, and we are not in the business of questioning or trying to understand the thoughts of God.

I have only scratched the surface on this topic, and I do not wish to get to theological or wordy in my writings. Usually, I would give patristic writings that would deal with the subject but in its place the source of writings of the Church Fathers the Holy Scriptures are the best place to deal with an issue this big. If one wishes to discover more on this topic, I am sure there are many websites and even books you can get to understand praying for the dead even further. I pray that you are well and that as we prepare for Forgiveness Sunday, you would forgive me as God forgives.

 

Amen.