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The funeral will take place. Orthodox burial rite

Death is the most hidden part of human life. People are born, live, then the time of death comes. There are many secrets associated with death, it cannot be otherwise, because it is beyond the conscious. The departure of a person to another world is a difficult time for family and friends, and the last thing that can be done is to see off the now deceased on their last journey. Any religion has its own rituals and funeral ceremonies, special burial traditions and beliefs that significantly distinguish it from other faiths.

Farewell to the last journey

In ancient times there was a certain list of persons who could not be buried in the cemetery:

suicides;
drowned people;
the killers;
actors.

A person of a different religion must be buried according to his traditions. If a person has previously been baptized, and before death accepted another faith, then they are buried according to the traditions of the real religion. Some religions imply that if you abandon the true faith, you must return. Thus, sins will be forgiven by the Almighty.

Suicide is considered a great sin and most religions refuse to perform funeral services for a suicide victim.

In Kievan Rus there was a belief that drowning was a shameful death. People who saw their end in the river were prophesied to become aquatic creatures in another life. They, like suicides, drowned people, murderers and actors, were buried outside the cemetery.

Modern society has moved away from old beliefs to a greater extent. The burial of the deceased takes place exclusively in the cemetery and with a monument. The unbaptized are still considered a separate category. They are buried in cemeteries, but there is no funeral service.

Orthodox funeral traditions

Orthodox rituals clearly show a relationship with pagan culture. On the day of death, it is necessary to cover all mirrors in the apartment with black cloth, paper or other opaque material.

There should be no music in the house. This is a manifestation of grief and respect for the deceased, since the soul is still nearby, so it does not need to be disturbed.

You can learn from church ministers that the soul stays on earth for 3 days, and after that it goes to study the afterlife, up to 9. Hence the ritual that it is necessary to bury the body on the 3rd day. It is necessary to keep an icon in the apartment, and also a glass of water, if the spirit of the deceased wants to drink.

Farewell to the deceased

If a person dies in a hospital, his body is first taken to the morgue, where a protocol for examination and determination of death is drawn up, but farewell to the deceased still takes place at home.

In modern society, there is not much emphasis on some traditions. In megacities, they do not leave the deceased in an apartment for 3 days, although this custom has been preserved in small towns and villages.

But the farewell traditions have not undergone major changes. On the day of the funeral, before the process itself, loved ones and relatives gather to say goodbye. The coffin is usually left open to allow people to see the person one last time.

Exceptions occur when a person’s face and body do not have a holistic appearance, that is, they are assembled in parts. In such cases, a closed coffin is used so as not to shock loved ones.

The coffin, which is also considered the “house of the deceased,” must be chosen carefully. The sizes depend on the height and build of the person. The last “home” should be comfortable and also have a harmonious appearance.

In the last century there was a tradition of photographing the deceased, but in the 21st century the popularity of such photographs has sharply decreased. A technically developed society is able to remember moments with a living person, but at the same time, in the 19th century such an opportunity was limited. It was necessary to wait for the moment in one position, so photographs from the funeral were valuable.

Things that are valuable to him are placed in the “house” of the deceased: things he liked to use, jewelry and simply frequently used items. The modern world, which is shrouded in electronics, often puts mobile phones in the coffin.

Clothing and signs

Clothing must be selected according to the ritual. It is believed that the deceased must be pure when moving to another world. To do this, he is dressed in everything clean, new if possible. Slippers that fit properly are put on your feet. The deceased should feel comfortable going to the afterlife.

Unmarried women are often buried in wedding dresses. You just need to buy a new one, because if you put on a dress from a person who is still alive, it will negatively affect his health. Girls are dressed in light-colored dresses.

Young guys are given a suit with a white shirt. A ring is put on the finger.

Grandmother is buried in a dress. And a suit is being chosen for grandfather. Elderly people wear any comfortable shoes.

Signs, related to death, come with positive and negative consequences.

Funeral ritual

The coffin is taken outside or to a church, where the deceased will be mourned. Before this, wreaths and photos of the deceased are brought out . If so, medals and orders. It is necessary to spend time sitting on the chairs where the coffin stood.

Some take the coffin to the church where the funeral service takes place. On Sunday, if it falls on Easter, the funeral service is performed in a special way. Most people order a priest to the place where the farewell will take place. Relatives gather around the body, holding candles, while the priest reads a prayer. After reading the prayer, the candles are blown out and people walk around the coffin.

There is an absentee type of funeral service in several cases:

If a person is a military man and is buried in a mass grave.
There is no opportunity to have a funeral service (usually occurs in villages where there are no churches).
Those killed in disasters.
If you didn’t manage to sing the funeral service on time.

Burial procedure

Before the burial procedure, the deceased can be seen for the last time. At this moment, according to Christian traditions, they say goodbye to the deceased. The priest reads out all the person’s achievements, and loved ones say goodbye and kiss the deceased.

The coffin is lowered into the grave on towels. In some cases, candles and coins are sent along with the deceased. Each person throws a handful of earth, and then reads a prayer to himself so that the person’s soul finds peace.

What to prepare for a funeral

On the day of the funeral, after the burial, everyone goes to the wake. It is necessary to organize the funeral hall and discuss food in advance.

Kutya is a must-have dish. The first course is served with Russian cabbage soup or other varieties of soup. Bread should be on the table. For the second course, various cereals are used. In addition to them, they are served with meat or fish. Drinks include vodka for men and wine for women. For the third, compote and flour products are used. Each of those present is given pastries and sweets for the journey in order to remember the deceased.

Funeral services must be done on days 9 and 40. At this time, prayer is ordered in the church.

It is necessary to bury a Christian correctly in order for his soul to find peace in the afterlife.

Recently, a lot of digitized paintings, engravings, lithographs of paintings by 18th century artists Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Hubert Robert, Paolo Panini, Guardi Francesco Lazarri and others, written in the style of so-called “ruin painting,” have appeared on the Internet.

Hubert Robert

Guardi Francesco Lazarro

Carlo Bossoli

In these paintings, the artists painted ruined ancient palaces, temples, aqueducts, all overgrown with perennial trees, and there were a great many such paintings. All of them indicate that a gigantic wave swept across Europe and washed away the ancient civilization that existed only three hundred years ago, and not the sky-high 2 thousand years ago. But, as we know, the wave first swept across the territory of the Urals, Siberia, Russia, and then poured into the Black Sea.

Traces of destruction on the shores of the Black Sea and, in particular, Crimea, were captured by the Italian artist Carlo Bossoli, who traveled around the entire peninsula from 1840 to 1842. The result of his labors was the publication in 1856 of an album of lithographs “Landscapes and Sights of Crimea.”

Cover for Carlo Bossoli's album "Landscapes and sights of Crimea"

Bossoli's lithographs depict many monuments of Crimea that have not survived to this day. His work, permeated with light and the festive atmosphere of the South, allows you to see Crimea through the eyes of the artist’s famous contemporaries, to feel like a discoverer of the land of Taurida, steeped in ancient legends. Let's look at some paintings from the above collection.

View of Feodosia Kafa

So, before you is the painting “View of Feodosia Kafa”. And immediately, on the right in the foreground, we see the ruins of some kind of tower, which is located at the level of the sea surf; perhaps it was part of the wall encircling Kafa. The first floor of the tower is immersed in sand, indicating rising sea levels. If we look at the tower in architectural terms, we can see that it is made at a high level, all the brick blocks are the same size, there are no gaps between them, the tower is decorated with carved ornaments made of the same material as the blocks, there are still metal brackets on the facades , possibly for attaching flags. Next to the tower we see a group of Crimean Tatars, and the people standing in the center are much taller than those who are fishing. Anchors covered with sand are scattered everywhere on the shore; apparently, shipwrecks often occur here.

It is immediately noticeable that people have long been accustomed to the sight of ruins on the shore, i.e. they have long become an integral part of the landscape. In the background you can see sailing ships standing at the pier, in the ultra-distant plan you can see another ruins, the same as those standing in the surf zone, and some strange objects nearby, and on the shore there are many buildings made in different architectural styles.

Feodosia

An interesting detail inherent in Bossoli: he painted the same objects from different angles. Therefore, we can see Feodosia from the other side, i.e. from the slope, where more ruins of towers and buildings are located.

The next picture is simply called: “Feodosia”. Here, as in the previous picture, the ruins of a tower are depicted in the foreground and, apparently, this tower is identical to the one standing on the shore; just below are the ruins of another building. People can be seen idly walking near the ruins. Well, and, of course, it became clear what kind of strange objects were depicted on the opposite side of the bay: these are windmills. In the background you can see the tower from the previous picture.

But what force destroyed these ancient buildings? After all, both towers and other buildings were equally destroyed. Someone will say that these are military actions, but I disagree; there are no characteristic traces of nuclear strikes on the facades of ancient buildings. Well, let's figure it out. And, in principle, the buildings could have been restored, but, most likely, there was simply no one to do it. The city of Feodosia, which we see, has a different architecture and a different composition of the population. And the Genoese capital city of Cafa remained only in the form of ruins in the paintings of the artist Bossoli.

Feodosia modern

And this is what Feodosia looks like now, although we couldn’t find an identical angle, but the city looks very recognizable, and even on the rocks you can see ancient ruins.

Balaclava. General view of the Genoese ruins

You can assess the level of disaster in the form of a flood wave in the following picture “Balaclava, general view of the Genoese ruins.”

Balaclava view from the bay

And again, before us is a whole ensemble of ruins of fortifications. Onlookers are walking among the ruins, apparently discussing what kind of life there used to be - there were goats and sheep grazing nearby, in the background you can see Balaklava Bay and the ships standing in the roadstead. In general, an idyllic pastoral picture. But your heart aches when you imagine the level of that wave, because the ruins of the Genoese fortress are located at an altitude of about forty meters above sea level. This is what the wave was like, yes, and the water stayed at the same level for quite a long time. Carlo Bossoli also painted Balaklava Bay from the opposite side. Ships entering the bay are greeted by the picturesque ruins of a Genoese fortress.

Balaclava, photo of the Crimean War, ruins of the Chembalo fortress

Next you can see what the bay looked like during the Crimean War in the first photographs. In one of the photographs you can see the bastions of the fortress in detail; you can even see the individual stone blocks from which the walls are made. These are mostly rounded boulders, but it is clear that there are also shaped blocks.

In 1840-1842, the artist traveled throughout the peninsula as a traveler, explorer, and painter; he expressed his impressions in a series of beautiful watercolors and gouaches (some of them are kept in the Hermitage). For some time, Bossoli lived with Count Mikhail Vorontsov in Alupka; together with the Vorontsov couple, the artist traveled to the ancient places of Crimea.

Carlo Bossoli and Count Mikhail Vorontsov

One of these places is the “Royal Tomb of Mithridates”, on which the artist depicted Count Mikhail Vorontsov with his wife, and himself in the background.

Royal tomb of Mithridates

The floor slabs are broken, and the guide apparently tells that there are treasures hidden in the depths.

Tomb of Mithridates, Tsarsky Kurgan, round vault

It is clearly noticeable that the stone blocks are made uniformly, and the blocks at the entrance also have a chamfer selected. This suggests that the blocks were either cast or cut with a rapidly rotating cutter, which is a factor in advanced technology. It appears that the material the blocks are made from is shell rock.

Tomb of Mithridates, Tsarsky Kurgan, entrance

Scientists date this building to the 4th century BC. But will shell rock blocks last that long? It seems to me - no.

The next painting is called “Russian Cemetery”.

Crimea Russian cemetery

A very strange cemetery, located almost in the surf. Probably, initially the cemetery was built away from the sea, and at least on some hill, but the picture shows that a small storm is already sweeping over the old graves. Many crosses have already been hit and covered with sand. The crosses are clearly not of the canonical form for Orthodoxy and they are more similar to the form of orders.

The author does not abandon the theme of ruins. In the painting “Ruins of Ancient Chersonesus” the remains of a civil structure are depicted in the foreground; a system of repeating arches in the form of laid out patterns, vaults, makes the building very elegant and airy. And this despite the fact that only a small wall remained of it. In all the similar paintings, I noticed one important detail. There is no debris at the base of the destroyed buildings. They stand on bare rocks and under them there is only stunted grass. Everything was washed away by a powerful stream of water. Near the shore there are the ruins of a fortress. And in the right corner of the picture you can see the bastions of Sevastopol, yes... this is how it was before the Crimean War.

Remains of the Genoese fortress in Inkerman

In the painting “Remains of the Genoese fortress in Inkerman,” the central tower is picturesquely covered with lush greenery. Under the tower you can see a structure that resembles a ramp or a mud-covered bridge. There are no large trees on the nearby mountains, only small bushes are noticeable at the foot. In the distance you can see ships docked in Sevastopol Bay. And today in Inkerman there are still ruins of Genoese fortresses.

Inkerman-fortress

Ruins of Genoese fortresses in Sudak

Sudak-fortress

In the next picture, “Ruins of the Genoese fortress in Sudak,” two rows of fortifications located on neighboring ridges are visible, and even higher, on a separate mountain, there is a tower. At first glance, these fortress walls look almost intact, with only two small breaks visible in two places. This is probably why the fortress was subsequently restored, and now many tourists can see the ancient walls, towers, and look through the loopholes onto the sea surface.

Not only fortresses, but also social facilities were damaged by the elements; in the painting “Karaite Cemetery” many destroyed graves are visible.

Karaite cemetery

slabs from sarcophagi are scattered chaotically on the ground, only some of them were not damaged. And in the distance you can see the skeletons of a fortress, perhaps this is the Chufut-Kale fortress. Mostly Karaites, representatives of a very mysterious people, are buried here. The majority of them call Crimea their homeland, but they also exist in Western Europe and Egypt. This nationality is Turkic in origin, but professes Judaism in its very ancient form. One version says that they are the descendants of the Khazars, the very same ones with whom the prophetic Oleg was at enmity. At the Karaite cemetery you can see that the traditions of this people differ from the Jewish ones.

Many destroyed buildings could be seen on the flat terrain. In the background of the painting “The Steppe between Perekop and Simferopol”

Steppe between Simferopol and Perekop

the ruins of some domed structure are visible. In the foreground, a caravan of nomadic Tatars is moving along the road, a characteristic detail: the carts are harnessed to camels, not horses. In the ultra-distant view you can see Scythian burial mounds. And, which is typical, the building could still be used, but the way of life of the then inhabitants of Crimea turned out to be completely different.

In the painting “Ruins of an Early Christian Church” you can see the skeleton of a once

Ruins of an early Christian church

a large temple, and now only rare visiting people come here to admire its former grandeur. The building was very monumental, executed at a high architectural level. The temple vaults rested on high arched bases, religious frescoes were nowhere to be seen, only bare walls remained.

On the cover of the album “Landscapes and Sights of Crimea” the painting “Perekop” is depicted.

Title page of the album "Landscapes and sights of Crimea"

At first I didn’t even pay attention to it, it seemed to me just an ordinary, passable picture, but it turned out to be the most mysterious of all in this collection.

In the central plan you can see the gate, which is a massive stone arch. An interesting detail immediately attracts attention: the gate was half covered with mud, clay, and sand. The arched passage itself was dug up, but compacted dirt remained on the sides, and the height of the mound on the left side of the arch is more than four meters. In the background you can see a checkpoint: a sentry near the booth, four armed horsemen, a flimsy wooden bridge on pitiful supports, which in no way fits with the massive gate.

Perekop, Bossoli, background

In the ultra-distant plan there is some kind of large city with high domes of temples, with towers, on many buildings there are tall spiers that rest against lead clouds, and the tallest is located on the left side of the picture, possibly in a fortress. On buildings without spiers, chimneys are visible. The time of year is, of course, winter, and winter is very harsh, which is not typical for Crimea. To be honest, I was not immediately able to determine what terrain the city was located on, especially since it is not on modern maps.

But, nevertheless, we realized that if this name is “Perekop”, and from history we know that a deep ditch was dug through the narrowest place of the Crimean peninsula, and a high rampart was poured on the Crimean side, it follows that the city stood on a rampart. And we see that the bridge is not built across a river, but across a deep ditch. An artificial embankment approaches the bridge directly from the shaft.

Perekop Google map

The most interesting thing is that in Google Earth, even the remains of foundations are not visible at the site of this city, but the remains of the star fortress are clearly visible. The city may have been destroyed in the Crimean War, but according to official data, the city of Perekop was destroyed in 1920 by the advancing Red Army and was never rebuilt.

It seems that the city with the arched gate is the artist’s imagination, or that there is some kind of secret message here, and it’s not for nothing that he placed it on the title page. This is the riddle Carlo Bossoli gave us. And if anyone knows anything about the city described above, offer your comment.

An album of color lithographs “Landscapes and Sights of Crimea” was published in 1856. As you know, at that time Europe was experiencing the Eastern (Crimean) military campaign. In the same year, C. Bossoli received an order from the large London publishing house Day&Son for a large album with views of the Crimea,

Kerch from Yeni-Kale

which became a kind of “guide de voyage” - a guide to Crimea for officers and soldiers of the allied armies. Considering the special feeling of reverence for the Crimean land, as well as Bossoli’s anti-militaristic sentiments, it can be assumed that the publication of the album was an attempt by the artist to convince how beautiful this land is, how unique its monuments are, which must be preserved even in fierce battles.

Simferopol

The video provides additional materials for the article.

Header image: engraving Giovanni Batista Pirenesi

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Each of us throughout our lives is faced with the bitter loss of a loved one. During this period, many people experience a feeling of fear and anxiety. This is not surprising, because in the rite of farewell to the deceased there are not only sad emotions, there is also a lot of mystery and mysticalness in it. Elderly people claim that one wrong movement during the burial of a person’s body can doom his soul to eternal suffering. In addition, some mistakes during the ritual can bring disaster to the living. How true this is is not known. But in any case, you need to know what actions need to be carried out at a funeral and how many days after death a person is buried.

The rite of burial of the deceased is a rite of farewell to the deceased, which has been customary to carry out in the Orthodox world since ancient times. It exists so that on this day one can express one’s respect and respect to people who have suffered death.

On this day, all the relatives, friends and acquaintances of the deceased gather to say goodbye to him forever and see him off on his last journey. The ritual also carries a powerful information message. Its holding reminds those present that their existence on earth is not eternal, which in turn should make many think about their lives.

The Orthodox Church views funerals as a transition from earthly life to eternal life. To get to heaven a person must undergo special training. It consists of the following stages:

Unction. If the death is not sudden, but the person was very ill, then before death the priest performs unction.
Confession. Before death, a person must confess and ask for remission of all his sins.
Conducting the communion ceremony. The priest must conduct the rite of communion to the dying person.
Reading special canons. Since ancient times, prayers have been read to a dying person before death. This can be done by both the priest and relatives.
Washing and changing clothes. After a person has died, he must be washed with clean water and wiped dry. This is done so that he appears clean before God. The deceased is also dressed in light and clean clothes. After this is done, it is necessary to cover the deceased with a shroud.
Funeral lithium. It is read an hour before the coffin is taken out of the house. The priest sprinkles the coffin with holy water and conducts the funeral liturgy.
Funeral service. Before the burial takes place, the priest reads a series of prayers and chants.

Only after all the stages described above have been completed is it believed that the deceased will be able to find eternal life in the next world.

On what day are they buried according to Orthodox custom?

Very often, relatives of the deceased have many questions about what day the deceased person should be buried. According to Orthodox traditions, it is customary to bury the deceased on the third day after death.

Why are they buried 3 days after death? The fact is that it is on this day that the final severance of all connections between the soul and the body occurs. The intangible component of a person leaves the Kingdom of Heaven, accompanied by a guardian angel.

Moreover, the third day after death is still associated with the Trinity. After all, the third day is considered a funeral. And funeral services are always held after the burial of the body of the deceased. Thus, it turns out that the memorial day is simply combined with the burial day. But be careful to calculate them mathematically; you cannot simply add the number three. For example, if a person died on March 18, then the day of his burial should not be March 21, but March 20.

Is it possible to bury 2 days after death?

According to the priests, such a ritual cannot be performed on the second day after death. Because the soul is still attached to the body and it simply has nowhere to go. The connection between the soul and the body cannot be severed, since there is a natural process for this in nature. It should also be noted that it is immediately impossible to get used to the fact that a person has died and will not be around. Three days are also given for this.

Are they buried on the second day after death? - Yes, sometimes this can be found. But very rarely. As a rule, this happens either in regions where there is extreme heat, or in the summer. Since during high air temperatures the body begins to quickly decompose. In such cases, priests sometimes allow us to deviate from tradition.

Is it possible to bury on the 4th day?

As Orthodox traditions say, the answer is positive. It is allowed to bury the body later than the third day, the main thing is that it is not the first or second day. In the Orthodox world, burial of the body of a deceased person is allowed on the 5th and 6th day. It all depends on how the person died.

There are a number of cases when burial is not allowed without an autopsy. As a rule, this is in cases of death in hospitals, road accidents, etc. This procedure usually takes from 4 to 7 days.

Is it possible to bury on your birthday?

It is not often that a person dies on the eve of his birthday. Of course, in this regard, Orthodox believers will be interested in whether it is possible to bury the deceased on his birthday. The Orthodox Church does not prohibit rituals on this day.

At the same time, it is very important to remember that during the first three years after the death of a loved one, you must remember him and visit the grave on his birthday and death day.

On what days are Orthodox Christians not buried?

As you know, in Orthodoxy there are some prohibitions, according to which it is impossible to perform a funeral service for a person and on some days it is forbidden to carry out a burial ritual:

There is no funeral service for dead people who committed suicide.
It is forbidden to bury only on Holy Easter and Christmas.
According to popular belief, it is not recommended to carry out such a ritual on New Year’s Day. They say that you will be in trouble all year.

Also, lastly, it should be noted that with traditional Russian traditions, Orthodox funerals imply the burial of the deceased in the ground, believing in his resurrection on the day of judgment. The church does not allow cremation.

The Lord is always with you!

Funerals evoke feelings of fear and anxiety for many people. And this is not surprising. Indeed, in this rite of farewell to the deceased there is not only sadness, but also something mysterious and even mystical. Knowledgeable people claim that one awkward movement during the ritual can doom the soul of the deceased to eternal suffering, as well as bring disaster to the living. Whether this is actually true is unknown. But in any case, everyone should know what to do at a funeral. And, most importantly, how to do it correctly, so that in the future you do not attribute your problems and failures to mistakes made at that moment.

Why are funerals held?

The ritual of farewell to the deceased has long been carried out all over the world. It is intended to pay tribute and honor to people who have suffered death. Despite significant differences between funeral rituals of different cultures and religions, they are all considered sacred and retain the main principle: the relatives, friends and acquaintances of the deceased all gather together to say goodbye to him forever and take him on his last journey.

Funerals also carry a powerful information message. They remind those present that their existence on earth is short-lived, and sooner or later death will come for everyone. This makes many people think seriously about their lives and reconsider their views.

Thus, this ritual is an important part of our culture and a real guide to the right life.

Orthodox funeral

The Orthodox Church views death as a transition from earthly life to eternal life. And to get to heaven a person must undergo special training. This preparation consists of several stages:

Unction. Before death, the priest must perform the sacrament of unction.
Absolution. A dying person must confess his sins to a clergyman and ask for forgiveness from God and loved ones.
Participle. The priest must give communion to the dying person before death.
Reading the canon. The clergyman must read a parting prayer to the dying person before death. Relatives or loved ones can also do this.
Washing and changing clothes. After the dying person has given up the ghost, he must be washed with clean water and wiped dry so that he appears clean before God. The deceased is also dressed in elegant clothes and covered with a shroud.
Funeral lithium. 1-1.5 hours before the coffin is taken out of the house, the clergyman sprinkles the coffin and body with holy water and conducts a funeral service with censing.
Funeral service. Before the burial, the priest reads a series of prayers and chants. Only after completing all these stages, it is believed that the deceased will be able to find eternal life in the next world.

Funeral rules

During the preparation of the body, burial and for a certain period after the funeral, a number of rules apply, the violation of which, according to the Orthodox Church, is fraught with serious consequences. Here are some of them:

It is better to conduct a funeral on the third day after the death of a person.
You cannot bury the dead on Sunday or New Year's Day.
Immediately after death, all mirrors in the house must be curtained and the clock must be stopped. They must remain in this state for 40 days.
The deceased should not be left alone in the room for a minute.
It is forbidden to take the deceased out of the house before noon and after sunset.
Pregnant women and children are not advised to participate in the ritual.
From the moment of death until burial, the relatives of the deceased must continuously read the Psalter.
You can wash the body of the deceased only during daylight hours.
Pregnant women and those experiencing menstrual bleeding cannot wash the deceased.
Funeral clothes should be elegant and light, the shroud should be white. If an unmarried girl dies, she is dressed in a wedding dress.
In the house where the person died, a candle or lamp should burn until the funeral is over. It is better to use a glass with wheat as a candlestick.
You cannot wash, sweep or sweep away dust if there is a dead person in the house.
It is not recommended to have animals in the same room as the coffin.
In the presence of the deceased, they greet not with a voice, but with a nod of the head.
The eyes and mouth of the deceased must be closed. For this purpose, the lower jaw is tied with a scarf, and coins are placed on the eyes.
A corolla, a long strip of paper or fabric with prayers and images of saints, is placed on the forehead of the deceased.
It is imperative to put a cross on the deceased.
Together with the body, all his personal belongings are placed in the coffin: dentures, glasses, watches, etc.
The hands of the deceased should be folded on the chest in a cross. Moreover, place the right one on top of the left one.
The feet and hands of the deceased must be tied. Before burial, the ties are removed and placed in the coffin.
Cotton pads should be placed under the head, shoulders and legs of the deceased in the coffin.
The heads of deceased women should be covered with a headscarf. Also, all women present at the funeral must have a hat.
It is forbidden to put fresh flowers in the coffin, only artificial or dried ones.
The coffin with the deceased is carried out of the house feet first and is accompanied by church hymns.
When taking the coffin out of the house, you need to say: “The dead man is out of the house,” and lock the people there in the house or apartment for a few minutes.
After removing the coffin, all floors must be washed.
Blood relatives cannot carry the coffin and lid.
From the beginning of the ritual until the moment of burial, there should be a cross in the left hand of the deceased, and an icon on the chest, placed with the face facing the body. For women, the image of the Mother of God is placed on the chest, for men - the image of Christ the Savior.
You can walk around the coffin with the deceased only at the head, bowing to him at the same time.
During the funeral service, there should be 4 lit candles around the coffin: at the head, at the feet and at the hands.
The funeral procession should proceed in strict sequence: cross, icon of Christ the Savior, priest with a candle and censer, coffin with the deceased, relatives, other participants with flowers and wreaths.
Everyone who meets the funeral procession must cross themselves. Men are additionally required to remove their hats.
When saying goodbye to the deceased, you must kiss the aureole on his forehead and the icon on his chest. If the coffin is closed, they are applied to the cross on the lid.
Everyone participating in the funeral procession must throw a handful of earth into the grave.
On the day of burial, you cannot visit the graves of other relatives or friends.
It is not recommended to look at the coffin with the deceased from the windows of a house or apartment.
After the funeral, the relatives of the deceased should present those present with pies, sweets and handkerchiefs.
The chairs on which the coffin stood must be placed with their legs up during the day.
At funerals, the only alcohol served is vodka. You need to drink it without clinking glasses.
During a wake, a glass of vodka is poured for the deceased and covered with a slice of bread. After the wake, a glass of bread lasts for another 40 days.
Kutya must be present at the funeral table. The funeral dinner begins with her.
Before entering your home after a funeral, you must clean your shoes and hold your hands over the candle fire.
After the funeral, you cannot visit guests for 24 hours.
The morning after the burial, relatives and friends should take breakfast to the grave.
For a week from the date of death, nothing should be taken out of the deceased’s house. The belongings of the deceased can be distributed no earlier than 40 days after burial.
For 6 weeks after the funeral, in the house where the deceased lived, there should be a glass of water and a plate of food on the windowsill.
It is recommended to plant viburnum on the graves of young men and women near their heads.
One can only speak well of a deceased person.
You shouldn’t cry and be sad for the deceased.

Signs and superstitions

There are many signs and superstitions associated with funerals. All of them are called upon to protect relatives, friends and acquaintances who came to say goodbye to the deceased, and to explain to them how to behave correctly during the ceremony so as not to damage themselves. The most common of them are the following beliefs:

If during the funeral the eyes of the deceased open, then the one on whom his gaze falls will go to the next world after him.
If you hold the feet of the deceased, the fear of him will go away.
If you place a willow blessed in church on Palm Sunday under the deceased, it will ward off evil spirits.
If wheat that was used with a glass as a candlestick at a funeral is fed to a bird, it will die.
If you cross the path of a funeral procession, you can get seriously ill.
If you move all the fingers of the deceased’s right hand over the tumor, while reading the “Our Father” 3 times and spitting over the left shoulder after each time, you can be completely cured of it.
If, after seeing a dead person in a coffin, you touch yourself, a tumor may develop at the point of contact.
If other people's things get into the coffin and are buried along with the body, then trouble will happen to the owners of these things.
If you bury a photograph of a living person with the deceased, this person may get sick and die.
If a pregnant woman attends a funeral, she will give birth to a sick child.
If you step on the towel that the priests place near the coffin during the ritual, you can get sick.
If you drink water from a glass for the deceased or eat his food, a significant deterioration in health will follow.
If someone dies down the street and you plant a vegetable garden before his funeral, there will be no harvest.
If the funeral is postponed for a week or more, the deceased will take one of his relatives with him.
If someone dies in the neighborhood, you need to replace the drinking water that was in dishes or bottles so as not to get sick.
If water that was used to wash a dead person is spilled in a house, those living in that house may die.
If, while carrying the coffin with the deceased from the house, the threshold or doorframe is touched, his soul may return to the house and bring trouble.
If a wake is not arranged on the 40th day after death, the soul of the deceased will suffer.
If you sleep while a coffin is being carried down the street, you can go to the next world for the deceased.
If the feet of the deceased are warm, he calls someone to follow him.

Despite the fact that the time of witches and warlocks is far behind, some still practice black rituals. And funerals are still a favorite event for them. They will certainly take the opportunity to perform a magical ritual or obtain the necessary details for it.

During the farewell and burial rites, these people can do the following:

lie down on the place where the person died;
ask for the sheet on which the deceased lay;
steal ties from the hands and feet of the deceased;
prick the lips of the deceased with needles and then quietly take them away;
replace personal belongings of the deceased;
pour grain from the candlestick;
take away the water or soap used to wash the deceased;
go out behind the coffin backwards;
standing near the coffin with the deceased, tie knots on rags;
take earth from the grave and put it in your bosom;
sprinkle salt on someone present;
putting other people's things in the coffin;
bury things or objects in the grave;
pick up a glass of vodka from the deceased or water from the windowsill, etc.

All these actions are aimed at connecting living people with the dead and dooming them to illness and death. Therefore, you need to be attentive to strangers at funerals, not allow strangers near the coffin, and completely stop suspicious manipulations and theft.

You also need to know that if buried objects were discovered during the care of the grave, they must be burned. At the same time, touching them with bare hands is prohibited!

How to behave at a funeral

Today funerals are managed by funeral directors. They know exactly all the rules of the ceremony and always promptly tell those present how to behave and what needs to be done.

As for the rest: signs and magical rituals, it all depends on you. You make a decision: to follow the advice or not, to avoid suspicious people at the funeral or not to pay attention to anyone. But in any case, during the funeral it is necessary to behave with restraint and caution, and to experience only positive feelings towards the deceased.

Let such events pass you by and do not give rise to fears and doubts. Be healthy!

WHAT WE DO WRONG DURING A FUNERAL

A funeral is a place where the spirit of the deceased is present, where the living and the afterlife come into contact. At a funeral you should be extremely careful and cautious. It’s not for nothing that they say that pregnant women should not go to funerals. It is easy to drag an unborn soul into the afterlife. How to ask forgiveness from a deceased person during reburial. From longing for the deceased. How to remove damage done at a funeral? If a person dropped kutya or something else from the table on himself. About the dead and funerals. Tips and signs. Farewell prayer.
Funeral.
According to Christian rules, the deceased should be buried in a coffin. In it he will rest (keep) until the future resurrection. The grave of the deceased must be kept clean, respectful and orderly. After all, even the Mother of God was placed in a coffin, and the coffin was left in the grave until the day when the Lord called His Mother to Himself.

The clothes in which a person died should not be given to either one’s own or strangers. Mostly it is burned. If relatives are against this and want to wash their clothes and put them away, then that is their right. But it should be remembered that under no circumstances should these clothes be worn for 40 days.

The deceased is washed the same hour after death, until it has completely cooled down. Soap is usually left behind. It helps in many matters and from troubles. But you have to be careful, because using this soap can also cause harm to other people.

They usually dress in new clothes that are appropriate, neither too big nor too small. If there is no new clothing, then only clean ones are worn.

You should not wear clothes that have sweat and blood on them. This could lead to another death.

If a person, while still alive, asked him to wear what he wanted, then his wish must be fulfilled.

Military personnel are usually dressed in military uniform. Front-line soldiers ask to have orders put on them, because anyway they will lose them or be thrown out many years later, but they deserve them and are proud of them. In general, this is a purely personal family issue.

There must be a white blanket with which the deceased is covered. A crown with the image of Jesus Christ, the Mother of God, and John the Baptist is placed on the forehead. On the crown are words in the old style, this is the writing of the Trisagion Song. A cross or icon should be placed in your hands.

If it is not possible to invite a minister from the church, then take care in advance to invite older people to read psalms and serve a memorial service. Psalms are usually read without interruption. They are interrupted only during the funeral service.

Such prayers are a consolation for those who grieve for the dead. In addition, you should read this prayer:

Remember, Lord God, in faith and hope, the eternal life of Your servant, our brother (name), and as Goodness and love for mankind, forgive sins and consume untruths, weaken, forgive and forgive all his voluntary and involuntary sins, deliver him from eternal torment and fire Gehenna and grant him the communion and enjoyment of Your eternal good things, prepared for those who love You, even if they have sinned, but have not departed from You, and undoubtedly in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, God glorified by You in the Trinity, faith and Unity in the Trinity and the Trinity in Unity , gloriously, even to his last sigh of confession.

Be merciful to him in the same way, and I believe in You. Instead of works of imputation, and with Thy saints, as generous, rest: for there is no man who will live and not sin. But You are the only God, besides One God of mercies and generosity, and love for mankind, and to You we send up glory, to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now, ever and ever. Amen.

At the end of three days, it is necessary to take the deceased to church for a funeral service. But gradually they did not adhere to this, and the deceased spent the night at home not for three days, but for one night. Four candles are placed on the coffin in the corners, changing them as they burn.

All the time since the day of death there has been a glass of water and a piece of bread, millet is poured into a saucer. You need to be careful during a funeral. Usually relatives have no time for this. But you can stipulate who will keep order, since it is no secret that a lot is done at a funeral: they remove damage, put photos of enemies in the coffin, try to take hair, nails, strings from hands and feet, etc.

Under the pretext of “touching their feet”, so as not to be afraid, they do the necessary things. They ask for the stool on which the coffin stood, flowers from the wreath, and water. It's up to you to decide whether to give it all or not. Blood relatives should not wash the floor in the house where the deceased lay.

Relatives are not allowed to walk in front of the coffin, carry wreaths, or drink wine. It is allowed to lament and eat kutya or pancake after the burial.

At the cemetery they give the last kiss to the crown on the forehead and hands. Fresh flowers and an icon are taken from the coffin. Make sure that the icon is not buried.

People often ask whether it is possible to wear watches and gold. If you have already put on your watch, do not take it off for anything. There is no harm in the fact that a dead person has a watch on his hand. But if you remove the watch from a dead hand, turn the hands back, and cast a spell on some person, then it won’t be that long of a wait until that person dies. Regarding jewelry: if you don’t mind, then there’s nothing wrong with wearing it on a deceased person.

When saying goodbye, the face is covered. The lid is hammered in and the coffin is lowered. Usually on towels. Towels are distributed to people. But it’s better not to take them, you might get sick.

The coffin is lowered so that the deceased lies facing east. They throw money into the grave, a payoff for the deceased: the relatives throw it first. Then they throw the earth. Not only a funeral service is necessary, but also commemorations, which are done upon returning from the cemetery and which are repeated on the third, ninth and fortieth day and every year.

If you realize you made a mistake during the funeral, be sure to tell her off!

My words are repeated, you are church domes, you are silver bells. An Tyn, Khaba, Uru, Cha, Chabash, you are dead spirits. Do not call to my world, but to your own world, do not look, do not seek. I will gird myself with the light of God. I will baptize myself with the Holy Cross. My Lord is Great. Now, forever. Forever and ever. Amen.

How to ask forgiveness from a deceased person during burial.

Sometimes it becomes necessary to rebury a deceased person. But it is unlikely that the one who conceived and executed it understands what act he is committing. People are accustomed to thinking of a dead person as some kind of object that does not see, hear or feel, and therefore, you can do whatever you want with him, without incurring any responsibility, and that any actions with the dead body will remain unpunished. But that's not true. The body is a vessel where, by the grace of Jesus Christ, the immortal soul of a deceased person resided for a long time. When the body of the deceased is buried, it finds its home, or, as they used to say, a home.

They also say that it is difficult for the deceased to get used to his new home. And only after forty days after the death of a person, when his soul leaves the earth forever, the body it left behind goes into the kingdom of spirits. The abandoned, motionless body is preparing to pass into decay. For it is said: from dust he came and to dust he will go.

A sacred place where, until the Day of Judgment, the flesh that carried blood, mind and soul is kept, the sacred peace that was earned by the one who left this world in which he loved, suffered, worked, endured pain, raised children .

You can talk an insane amount about each dead person and still say absolutely nothing.

Arriving at the cemetery and peering at the monuments, seeing the faces of living people, you want to shout: My God! After all, each of them is a whole world. And in each of them this world died...

So think about whether you should disturb the peace of the deceased by digging up his ashes touched by decay in order to transport them to another, from your point of view, better place. Better than?

You cannot make your soul cry again over a body that has been disturbed by people. May it rest in peace. In addition, if the spirit of the dead is disturbed and does not accept a new place, there will be trouble. The spirit of the dead will punish those who came up with the idea of burying the coffin in an elite cemetery.

If this does happen, you need to protect yourself from possible disaster.

At the new burial site, read this plot forty times. You have to read it while standing at the foot of the grave.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Keep, O Lord, the soul of Your deceased servant (name) in Your kingdom. Don’t let this dead soul walk on earth, don’t let this dead soul harm living souls. Saint Lazarus, did you walk on earth after death? And he walked the earth after death and never harmed living people. So that the soul of the deceased slave (name) no longer walks the earth and does not harm living people forever and ever. Key, lock, tongue. Amen.

You should leave the grave without looking back. At home, eat kutya and drink jelly.

Mark yourself with a cross and say a prayer to the Honorable Cross:

May God rise again, and may His enemies be scattered, and may those who hate Him flee from His presence. As smoke disappears, let them disappear; just as wax melts in the face of fire, so let demons perish from the face of those who love God and are marked by the sign of the cross, and in joy say: Rejoice, Most Honorable and Life-Giving Cross of the Lord, drive away demons by the power of our drunken Lord Jesus Christ, who descended into hell and who trampled down the power of the devil, and who gave us His Honest Cross to drive away every adversary.

Oh, Most Honorable and Life-Giving Cross of the Lord! Help me with the Holy Virgin Mary and with all the saints forever. Amen.

From longing for the deceased.

Get up at night, go to the mirror and, looking into your pupils, say:

Don’t be sad, don’t grieve, don’t shed tears! Night Mother, take the melancholy away from me. As the dawn takes you away, so take away my melancholy. Now and ever and unto ages of ages.

After this, wash your face and go to bed. The next day you will feel better. Do this three times, and the melancholy will go away.
How to remove damage done at a funeral.

At night, burn incense on the coals, saying:

How this incense burns and melts so that it burns, and the grave illness disappears from the servant of God (name). Amen.

If a person turns his kutya over on himself.

From the letter: “For some time now I began to believe in omens, and how could I not believe them if I myself became an eyewitness to the fact that they come true. This is why I decided to write to you: a grandfather in our family died, and my aunt accidentally spilled the funeral kutya on herself, all the food they had prepared for the entire memorial! Kutya had to be cooked again, and my aunt died forty days after the funeral, day after day!”

Indeed, if during a funeral someone’s candle falls or a piece of bread and a glass of water placed for the deceased falls directly onto the lap of a sitting person, then this person will soon die.

If this, God forbid, happens, I advise, just in case, to reprimand the person out of trouble with a special spell that I give in this book.

Read the plot before sunrise:

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Soul, body, spirit and all five senses. I protect the soul, I protect the body, I release the Spirit, I protect the feeling. The Lord God gave the commandment, the Lord God protected him and said: “Evil will not come to you, the wound will not come close to your body.” My angels will sing about you, both on earth and in heaven. The true Lord spoke the truth. He sent a savior and guardian angel. Angel of God, throughout my life, hour by hour, day by day, save, preserve and have mercy on me. I believe in One Father and Son and Holy Spirit. Now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.

If the deceased was buried not at lunchtime, but after sunset, then exactly seven years later there will be a new coffin.

Children under one year of age are not taken to funerals and are not fed from the funeral table.

If at a funeral they give you part of the towel on which the coffin was lowered into the grave, do not take it. The towel should be left in the grave and not given to people. Whoever uses it will get sick.

Sometimes at a memorial service someone suggests singing the deceased person’s favorite song and everyone sings without hesitation. But it has long been noticed that those who sing at the funeral table soon begin to get sick, and those who have a weak guardian angel generally die early.

Do not borrow anything from a family where the deceased person has not been remembered for forty days. Otherwise, you will have a coffin in the same year.

According to custom, people sit around the coffin all night. Make sure that none of those sitting at the coffin sleeps or dozes. Otherwise, you will “sleep” another dead person. If something like this does happen, then it should be dismissed.

After the funeral, the bathhouse is not heated. On this day you should not wash yourself completely, just wash your face and hands. You should especially be wary of requests from strangers to wash themselves after a funeral in your bathhouse or bathtub.

Questions are often asked about commemorations that coincide with Lent. You need to know that commemorations in the first, fourth and seventh weeks of Lent are done only during fasting and strangers are never invited to the commemoration at this time.

It is a very bad omen when the first person carrying the coffin leaves the apartment with his back turned. You need to take care of this in advance and warn those who will carry the coffin so that they leave the apartment facing the exit, and not with their backs.

They don’t move the coffin in the house, they don’t find a convenient place for it. Think in advance about where to put it so you don’t have to move it from place to place.

ABOUT THE DECEASED AND FUNERALS.

How to see off a loved one on their last journey without harming yourself and your loved ones? Usually this sad event takes us by surprise, and we get lost listening to everyone and following their advice. But, as it turns out, not everything is so simple. Sometimes people use this sad event to harm you. Therefore, remember how to properly escort a person on his final journey.

At the moment of death, a person experiences a painful feeling of fear as the soul leaves the body. When leaving the body, the soul meets the Guardian Angel given to it during Holy Baptism, and demons. Relatives and friends of the dying person should try to ease his mental suffering by prayer, but under no circumstances should they scream or cry loudly.

At the moment of separation of the soul from the body, it is necessary to read the Canon of Prayer to the Mother of God. When reading the Canon, a dying Christian holds a lighted candle or a holy cross in his hand. If he does not have the strength to make the sign of the cross, one of his relatives does this, leaning towards the dying person and clearly saying: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me. In your hands, Lord Jesus, I commend my spirit, Lord Jesus, my spirit.”

You can sprinkle holy water on a dying person with the words: “Grace of the Holy Spirit, who has sanctified this water, deliver your soul from all evil.”

According to church custom, the dying person asks for forgiveness from those present and forgives them himself.

Not often, but it still happens that a person prepares his own coffin in advance. It is usually stored in the attic. In this case, pay attention to the following: the coffin is empty, and since it is made according to a person’s standards, he begins to “pull” it into himself. And a person, as a rule, dies faster. Previously, to prevent this from happening, sawdust, shavings, and grain were poured into the empty coffin. After the death of a person, sawdust, shavings and grain were also buried in the hole. After all, if you feed a bird with such grain, it will become sick.

When a person has died and measurements are taken from him to make a coffin, under no circumstances should this measurement be placed on the bed. It is best to take it out of the house and put it in a coffin during the funeral.

Be sure to remove all silver objects from the deceased: after all, this is precisely the metal that is used to fight the “evil ones.” Therefore, the latter can “disturb” the body of the deceased.

The body of the deceased is washed immediately after death. Washing occurs as a sign of the spiritual purity and integrity of the life of the deceased, as well as so that he appears in purity before the face of God after the resurrection. Ablution should cover all parts of the body.

You need to wash your body with warm, not hot water, so as not to steam it. When they wash the body, they read: “Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us” or “Lord, have mercy.”

To make it more convenient to wash the deceased, an oilcloth is laid on the floor or bench and covered with a sheet. The body of a deceased person is placed on top. Take one bowl with clean water and the other with soap. Using a sponge dipped in soapy water, wash the entire body, starting from the face and ending with the feet, then wash with clean water and dry with a towel. Lastly, they wash the head and comb the deceased’s hair.

After washing, the deceased is dressed in new, light, clean clothes. They must put a cross on the deceased if he did not have one.

It is advisable that ablution takes place during daylight hours - from sunrise to sunset. Water after ablution must be handled very carefully. It is necessary to dig a hole far from the yard, vegetable garden and living quarters, where people do not walk, and pour everything, to the last drop, there and cover it with earth.

The fact is that very strong damage is done in the water in which the deceased was washed. In particular, this water can give a person cancer. Therefore, do not give this water to anyone, no matter who approaches you with such a request.

Try not to spill this water throughout the apartment so that those living in it do not get sick.

Pregnant women should not wash the deceased to avoid illness in the unborn child, as well as women who are menstruating.

As a rule, only elderly women prepare the deceased for his last journey.

Relatives and friends should not make a coffin.

It is best to bury the shavings formed during the manufacture of the coffin in the ground or, in extreme cases, throw them into water, but do not burn them.

The bed on which a person died does not need to be thrown away, as many do. Just take her out to the chicken coop and let her lie there for three nights so that, as the legend goes, the rooster will sing her song three times.

When a deceased person is placed in a coffin, the coffin must be sprinkled with holy water both inside and out, and you can also sprinkle it with incense.

A whisk is placed on the forehead of the deceased. It is given in the church at the funeral service.

A pillow, usually made of cotton wool, is placed under the feet and head of the deceased. The body is covered with a sheet.

The coffin is placed in the middle of the room in front of the icons, turning the face of the deceased with his head towards the icons.

When you see a dead person in a coffin, do not automatically touch your body with your hands. Otherwise, in the place where you touched, various skin growths in the form of a tumor may grow.

If there is a dead person in the house, then when you meet your friend or relatives there, you should greet with a bow of the head, and not with your voice.

While there is a dead person in the house, you should not sweep the floor, as this will bring trouble to your family (illness or worse).

If there is a dead person in the house, do not do any laundry.

Do not place two needles crosswise on the lips of the deceased, supposedly to preserve the body from decomposition. This will not save the body of the deceased, but the needles that were on his lips will definitely disappear; they are used to cause damage.

To prevent a heavy smell from coming from the deceased, you can put a bunch of dry sage at his head, popularly called “cornflowers”. It also serves another purpose - it drives away “evil spirits.”

For the same purposes, you can use willow branches, which are blessed on Palm Sunday and kept behind the images. These branches can be placed under the deceased,

It happens that a deceased person has already been placed in a coffin, but the bed on which he died has not yet been taken out. Acquaintances or strangers may come up to you and ask permission to lie on the bed of the deceased so that their back and bones do not hurt. Don't allow this, don't harm yourself.

Do not put fresh flowers in the coffin so that the deceased does not have a strong smell. For this purpose, use artificial or, as a last resort, dried flowers.

A candle is lit near the coffin as a sign that the deceased has moved to the realm of light - a better afterlife.

For three days, the Psalter is read over the deceased.

The Psalter is read continuously over the Christian’s tomb until the deceased remains unburied.

A lamp or candle is lit in the house, which burns as long as the deceased is in the house.

It happens that glasses with wheat are used instead of a candlestick. This wheat is often used to cause damage; it is also not allowed to bark poultry or livestock.

The hands and feet of the deceased are tied. The hands are folded so that the right one is on top. An icon or cross is placed in the left hand of the deceased; for men - the image of the savior, for women - the image of the Mother of God. Or you can do this: in the left hand - a cross, and on the chest of the deceased - a Holy image.

Make sure that someone else's things are not placed under the deceased. If you notice this, then you need to pull them out of the coffin and burn them somewhere far away.

Sometimes, out of ignorance, some heartbroken mothers put photographs of their children in the coffin of their grandparents. After this, the child begins to get sick, and if help is not provided promptly, death may occur.

It happens that there is a dead person in the house, but there are no suitable clothes for him, and then one of the family members gives his things. The deceased is buried, and the one who gave away his things begins to get sick.

The coffin is taken out of the house, turning the face of the deceased towards the exit. When the body is carried out, the mourners sing a song in honor of the Holy Trinity: “Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us.”

It happens that when a coffin with a deceased person is taken out of the house, someone stands near the door and begins to tie knots in rags, explaining that he is tying the knots so that no more coffins are taken out of this house. Although such a person has something completely different on his mind. Try to take these rags away from him.

If a pregnant woman goes to a funeral, she will do harm to herself. It's possible that a sick child will be born. Therefore, try to stay at home during this time, and it is necessary to say goodbye to someone close to you in advance - before the funeral.

When a dead person is being carried to a cemetery, do not cross his path under any circumstances, as various tumors may form on your body. If this happens, then you should take the hand of the deceased, always the right one, and move all your fingers over the tumor and read “Our Father.” This needs to be done three times, after each time spitting over your left shoulder.

When they carry a dead man in a coffin down the street, try not to look out of the window of your apartment. This way you will save yourself from troubles and will not get sick.

In the church, the coffin with the body of the deceased is placed in the middle of the church facing the altar and candles are lit on four sides of the coffin.

Relatives and friends of the deceased walk around the coffin with the body, bowing and asking for forgiveness for involuntary offenses, kissing the deceased for the last time (the corolla on his forehead or the icon on his chest). After this, the entire body is covered with a sheet and the priest sprinkles it with earth in a cross shape.

When the body and coffin are taken out of the temple, the face of the deceased is turned towards the exit.

It happens that the church is located far from the house of the deceased, then an absentee funeral service is performed for him. After the funeral service, the relatives are given a chaplet, a prayer of permission and land from the funeral table.

At home, relatives place a prayer of permission in the right hand of the deceased, a paper whisk on his forehead, and after saying goodbye to him, in the cemetery, his body, covered with a sheet from head to toe, as in a church, is sprinkled with earth in a cross shape (from head to feet, from the right shoulder to the left - to form a cross of the correct shape).

The deceased is buried facing east. The cross on the grave is placed at the feet of the buried person so that the crucifix is facing the face of the deceased.

According to Christian custom, when a person is buried, his body must be interred or “sealed.” Priests do this.

The ties that bind the hands and feet of the deceased must be untied and placed in the coffin with the deceased before lowering the coffin into the grave. Otherwise, they are usually used to cause damage.

When saying goodbye to the deceased, try not to step on the towel that is placed in the cemetery near the coffin, so as not to incur damage to yourself.

If you are afraid of a dead person, hold on to his legs.

Sometimes they may throw earth from a grave into your bosom or collar, proving that this way you can avoid the fear of the dead. Don't believe it - they do it to cause damage.

When the coffin with the body of the deceased is lowered into the grave on towels, these towels must be left in the grave, and not used for various household needs or given to anyone.

When lowering the coffin with the body into the grave, all those accompanying the deceased on his last journey throw a lump of earth into it.

After the ritual of committing the body to the earth, this earth must be taken to the grave and poured out in a cross shape. And if you are lazy, don’t go to the cemetery and take the soil for this ritual from your yard, then you will do very bad things to yourself.

It is not Christian to bury a dead person with music; it should be buried with a priest.

It happens that a person was buried, but the body was not buried. You must definitely go to the grave and take a handful of earth from there, with which you can then go to church.

It is advisable, in order to avoid any troubles, to sprinkle the house or apartment where the deceased lived with blessed water. This must be done immediately after the funeral. It is also necessary to sprinkle such water on the people who participated in the funeral procession.

The funeral is over, and according to the old Christian custom, water and something from food are placed in a glass on the table to treat the soul of the deceased. Make sure that small children or adults do not inadvertently drink from this glass or eat anything. After such a treat, both adults and children begin to get sick.

During the wake, according to tradition, a glass of vodka is poured for the deceased. Don't drink it if anyone advises you to. It would be better if you poured vodka on the grave.

Returning from a funeral, it is imperative to dust off your shoes before entering the house, and also hold your hands over the fire of a lit candle. This is done in order to prevent damage to the home.

There is also this type of damage: a dead person lies in a coffin, wires are tied to his arms and legs, which are lowered into a bucket of water located under the coffin. This is how they supposedly ground the deceased. Actually this is not true. This water is subsequently used to cause damage.

Here is another type of damage in which incompatible things are present - death and flowers.

One person gives another a bouquet of flowers. Only these flowers do not bring joy, but grief, since the bouquet, before being given, lay on the grave all night.

If one of you has lost a loved one or loved one and you often cry for him, then I advise you to get thistle grass in your house.

In order to miss the deceased less, you need to take the headdress (scarf or hat) that the deceased wore, light it in front of the front door and walk around all the rooms with it one by one, reading the “Our Father” aloud. After this, take out the remains of the burnt headdress from the apartment, burn it completely and bury the ashes in the ground.

It also happens: you come to the grave of a loved one to pull out the grass, paint the fence or plant something. You start digging and unearth things that shouldn't be there. Someone outsider buried them there. In this case, take everything you find outside the cemetery and burn it, trying not to get exposed to the smoke, otherwise you may get sick yourself.

Some believe that after death, forgiveness of sins is impossible, and if a sinful person has died, nothing can be done to help him. However, the Lord himself said: “And all sin and blasphemy will be forgiven to men, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven to men, neither in this age nor in the next.” This means that in the future life only blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. Consequently, through our prayers we can have mercy on our deceased bodies, but our loved ones who are alive in soul and who did not blaspheme the Holy Spirit during their earthly life.

A memorial service and home prayer for the good deeds of the deceased, performed in his memory (alms and donations to the church), are all useful for the dead. But commemoration at the Divine Liturgy is especially useful for them.

If you encounter a funeral procession on your way, you should stop, take off your headdress and cross yourself.

When they carry a dead person to a cemetery, do not throw fresh flowers on the road after him - by doing this you damage not only yourself, but also many people who step on these flowers.

After the funeral, do not visit any of your friends or relatives.

If they take the earth to “seal” the dead body, under no circumstances allow this earth to be taken from under your feet.

When someone dies, try to have only women present.

If the patient is dying seriously, then for an easier death, remove the feather pillow from under his head. In villages, the dying person is laid on straw.

Make sure that the deceased's eyes are tightly closed.

Do not leave a deceased person alone in the house; as a rule, elderly women should sit next to him.

When there is a dead person in the house, you cannot drink water in the neighboring houses in the morning, which was in buckets or pans. It must be poured out and freshly poured in.

When a coffin is made, a cross is made on its lid with an ax.

In the place where the deceased lay in the house, it is necessary to place an ax so that no more people die in this house for a long time.

For up to 40 days, do not distribute the deceased’s belongings to relatives, friends or acquaintances.

Under no circumstances should you put your pectoral cross on the deceased.

Before burial, do not forget to remove the wedding ring from the deceased. This way the widow (widower) will save herself from illness.

During the death of your loved ones or acquaintances, you must close the mirrors and not look into them after death for 40 days.

You can't let tears fall on your peace. This is a heavy burden for the deceased.

After the funeral, do not allow your loved ones, acquaintances or relatives to lie on your bed under any pretext.

When a deceased person is taken out of the house, make sure that none of those accompanying him on his final journey leave with his back turned.

After removing the deceased from the house, the old broom should also be removed from the house.

Before the last farewell to the deceased in the cemetery, when they lift the lid of the coffin, under no circumstances put your head under it.

The coffin with the deceased, as a rule, is placed in the middle of the room in front of household icons, facing the exit.

As soon as a person has died, relatives and friends must order the sorokoust in the church, that is, daily commemoration during the Divine Liturgy.

Under no circumstances listen to those people who advise you to wipe your body with the water in which the deceased was washed to get rid of pain.

If the wake (third, ninth, fortieth day, anniversary) falls during Lent, then in the first, fourth and seventh weeks of Lent the relatives of the deceased do not invite anyone to the funeral.

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