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The Funeral Service Priest Blessed is our Lord God, always; both
now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Choir.‑ Amen. The First Stasis, in Tone 6 Ah, the blameless in the way. Alleluia.
Blessed are You, O Lord, teach me Your statutes. Alleluia. My soul is worn with endless longing for
Your judgments at all times. Alleluia. My soul has slumbered from sorrow;
strengthen me with Your words. Alleluia. Incline my heart unto Your testimonies,
and not unto covetousness. Alleluia. Despair took hold on me because of
sinners that forsake Your Law. Alleluia. 1 am a partaker with all that fear You,
and with them that keep Your commandments. Alleluia. Glory to the Father and to the Son and
to the Holy Spirit, both now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen.
Alleluia. Priest Have mercy on us, O God, according to
Your great mercy; listen, and have mercy. Again we pray for the repose of the soul
of the servant of God (Name), departed this life; and for the
forgiveness of his (her) every transgression, voluntary‑and
involuntary. Let the Lord establish his (her)
soul where the Just repose; the mercies of God, the Kingdom of the Heavens,
and the remission of his (her) sins; let us ask of Christ our immortal King
and our God. Let us pray to the Lord. Lord have
mercy. Priest For You are the Resurrection, the Life,
and the Repose of Your servant (Name), O Christ our God; and to You do we
send up glory, with Your Eternal Father, and Your All‑Holy, Good and
Life‑creating Spirit, both now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Choir: Amen. The Second Stasis, in Tone 5 Your hands have made and fashioned me;
give me understanding, and I will learn Your commandments. Have mercy on me,
O Lord. For I am become as a bottle in the
frost; yet Your statutes have not forgotten. Have mercy on me, O Lord. I am Yours, O save me; for after Your
statutes have I sought. Have mercy on me, O Lord. From Your judgments I have not declined,
for You have set a Law for me. Have mercy on me, O Lord. I have inclined my heart to perform Your
statutes, forever, in return for Your mercies. Have mercy on me, O Lord. It is time to serve the Lord; but they
have violated Your law. Have mercy on me, O Lord. Glory ... Both now ... Have mercy on me
Lord. Priest Let us pray to the Lord. Lord have
mercy. Priest For You are the Resurrection, the Life,
and the repose of Your servant (Name), O Christ our God; and to You do
we send up glory, with Your Eternal Father, and Your All‑Holy, Good and
Life‑creating Spirit, both now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen. Third Stasis, in Tone 8 And have mercy upon me. Alleluia. Look upon me, and have mercy on me. According to the judgment of them that
love Your Name. Alleluia. I am young and accounted as nothing.
Your statutes have I not forgotten. Hear my voice, O Lord, according to Your
mercy; According to Your judgments quicken me. Alleluia. Princes have persecuted me without a
cause, and because of Your words my heart has been afraid. Alleluia. My soul shall live, and shall praise
You, And Your judgments will help me. Alleluia. I have gone astray like a sheep that is
lost. Seek Your servant, for I have not
forgotten Your commandments. Priest Let us pray to the Lord. Lord have
mercy. For You are the Resurrection and the
Life and the Repose of Your servant (Name) O Christ our God; and to
You do we send up glory, with Your Eternal Father, and Your All-Holy, Good
and Life-creating Spirit, both now and ever, and to the ages of ages: Choir: Amen. Eulogetaria for the
Dead Blessed are You, O Lord; teach me Your
statutes. The Choir of the Saints has found the
Fountain of Life, and the Door of Paradise. May I also find the way through
repentance: the sheep that was lost am 1; call me up to You, O Savior, and
save me. If there are more than three priests,
each repeats after each "troparion ": "Let us pray to the
Lord," followed by "For You are the Resurrection and the
Life.” Blessed are You, O Lord; teach me Your
statutes. You Who of old did fashion me out of
nothingness, and with Your Image divine did honor me; but because of
transgression of Your commandments did return me again to the earth where I
was taken; lead me back to be refashioned into that ancient beauty of Your
Likeness. Blessed are You, O Lord; teach me Your
statute.. Image am I of Your unutterable glory,
though I bear the scars of my stumblings. Have compassion on me, the work of
Your hands, O Sovereign Lord, and cleanse me through Your loving kindness;
and the homeland of my heart's desire bestow on me by making me a citizen of
Paradise. Blessed are You, O Lord; teach me Your
statutes. Give rest, O God, unto Your servant, and
appoint for him (her) a place in Paradise; where the choirs of the
Saints, O Lord, and the just will shine forth like stars; to Your servant
that is sleeping now do You give rest, overlooking all his (her)
offenses. Glory to the Father and to the Son and
to the Holy Spirit. The Trinal Radiance of One Godhead with
reverent song acclaiming let us cry; Holy are You, O Eternal Father, and Son
also Eternal, and Spirit Divine; shine with Your light on us who with faith
adore You; and from the fire eternal rescue us. Both now and ever and to the ages of
ages. Amen. Hail, O Gracious Lady, that in the flesh
bears God for salvation of all; and through whom the human race has found
salvation: through You may we find Paradise, Theotokos, our Lady pure and
blessed. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia; Glory to
You, O God. Tone 8 With the Saints give rest, O Christ, to
the soul of servant where there is not pain, nor any sorrow, nor any
sighing, but Life everlasting. (Composed by St. John of Damascus) Tone I Where is the pleasure in life which is
unmixed with sorrow? Where the glory which on earth has stood firm and
unchanged? All things are weaker than shadow, all more illusive than dreams;
comes one fell stroke, and Death in turn, prevails over all these vanities.
Wherefore in the Light, O Christ, of Your countenance, the sweetness of Your
beauty, to him (her) whom You have chosen grant repose, for You are the
Friend of Mankind. Tone 2 Like a blossom that wastes away, and
like a dream that passes and is gone, so is every mortal into dust resolved;
but again, when the trumpet sounds its call, as though at a quaking of the
earth, all the dead shall arise and go forth to meet You, O Christ our God:
on that day, O Lord, for him (her) whom You have withdrawn from among us
appoint a place in the tentings of Your Saints‑yea, for the spirit of
Your servant, O Christ. Another in Tone 2 Alas! What an agony the soul endures
when from the body it is parting; how many are her tears for weeping, but
there is none that will show compassion: unto the angels she turns with
downcast eyes; useless are her supplications; and unto men she extends her
imploring hands, but finds none to bring her rescue. Thus, my beloved
brethren, let us all ponder well how brief is the span of our life; and
peaceful rest for him (her) that now is gone, let us ask of Christ, and also
His abundant mercy for our souls. Tone 3 Vanity are all the works and quests of
man, and they have no being after death has come; our wealth is with us no
longer. How can our glory go with us? For when death has come all these
things are vanished clean away. Wherefore to Christ the Immortal King let us
cry, "To him (her) that has departed grant repose where a home is
prepared for all those whose hearts You have filled with gladness." Tone 4 Terror truly past compare is by the
mystery of death inspired; now the soul and the body part, disjoined by
resistless might, and their concord is broken; and the bond of nature
which made them live and grow as one, now by the edict of God is rest in twain.
Wherefore now we implore Your aid grant that Your servant now gone to rest
where the just that are Yours abide, Life-bestower and Friend of Mankind. Tone 4 Where is now our affection for earthly
things? Where is now the alluring pomp of transient questing? Where is now
our gold, and our silver? Where is now the surging crowd of domestics, and
their busy cries? All is dust, all is ashes, all is shadow. Wherefore draw
near that we may cry to our immortal King, "Lord, Your everlasting
blessings vouchsafe unto him (her) that now has gone away. bringing him (her)
to repose in that blessedness which never grows old." Tone 5 ICalled to mind the Prophet who shouted,
"I am but earth and ash." And once again I looked with attention on
the tombs, and I saw the bones therein which of flesh were naked; and I said,
"Which indeed is he that is king? Or which is soldier? Which is the
wealthy, which the needy? Which the righteous, or which the sinner?" But
to Your servant, O Lord, grant that with the righteous he (she) may repose. Tone 6 My beginning and foundation was the form‑bestowing
Word of Your commandment; for it pleased You to make me by compounding
visible and invisible nature into a living thing. out of earth was my body
formed and made, but a soul You gave me by the Divine and Life‑creating
In‑breathing. Wherefore, O Christ, to Your servant in the land of the
living, in the courts of the righteous, do You grant repose. Tone 7 Bring to his (her) rest, O our
Savior, You giver of life, our brother (sister) whom You have withdrawn
from this transient world, for he (she) lifts up his (her)
voice to cry: "Glory to You." Another in Tone 7 When in Your own image and likeness You
in the beginning did create and fashion man, You gave him a home in Paradise,
and made him the chief of your creation. But by the devil's envy, alas,
beguiled to eat the fruit forbidden, transgressor then of Your commandments
he became; wherefore back to earth, from which he first was taken, You did
sentence him to return again, O Lord, and to pray You to give him rest. Weep, and with tears lament when with
understanding I think on death, and see how in the graves there sleeps the
beauty which once for us was fashioned in the image of God, but now is
shapeless, ignoble, and bare of all the graces. O how strange a thing; what
is this mystery which concerns us humans? Why were we given up to decay? And
why to death united in wedlock? Truly, as it is written, these things come to
pass by ordinance of God, Who to him (her) now gone gives rest Glory to the Father and to the Son and
to the Holy Spirit. The death which You have endured, O
Lord, is become the harbinger of deathlessness; if You had not been laid in
Your tomb, then would not the gates of Paradise have been opened;wherefore to
him (her) now gone from us give rest, for You are the Friend of Mankind. Both now and ever and to the ages of
ages. Amen. Virgin chaste and holy, Gateway of the
Word, Mother of our God, make supplication that his (her) soul find mercy. Prokeimenon, Tone 3 Blessed is the way wherein you walk
today, for there is prepared for you a place of rest. (3) Unto You, O Lord, will I cry. The Epistle Priest: Wisdom! The reading from the First Epistle of
the Holy Apostle Paul to the Thessalonians. ( I Thess. 4:13‑18) Priest: Wisdom. Let us attend. Reader Brethren, we would not have you ignorant
concerning those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who
have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so,
through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this
we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are
left until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen
asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command
with the archangel's call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the
dead in Christ will rise first; then we who are alive, who are left, shall be
caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and we
shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these
words. Priest: Peace be to you who read. Reader: And with your, spirit. Choir: Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia. The Holy Gospel Priest Wisdom! Attend! Let us hear the Holy
Gospel. Peace be to all. Choir: And with your spirit. Priest The reading from the Holy Gospel of St.
John. (John 5:24‑30) Let us attend. Choir: Glory to You, O Lord, glory to
You. Priest The Lord said to those Jews which had
come to him: Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes
him who sent me, has eternal life; he does not come into judgment, but has
passed from death to life. Truly, truly, I say to you, the hour is coming,
and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those
who hear will live. For as the Father has life 'in himself, so he has granted
the Son also to have life in himself, and has given him the authority to
execute judgment, because he is the Son of man. Do not marvel at this; for
the hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come
forth, those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who
have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment. I can do nothing on my own
authority; as I hear, I judge; and my judgment is just, because I seek not my
own will but the will of him who sent me. Choir: Glory to You, O Lord, glory to You. Priest Have mercy on us, O God, according to
Your great mercy; we pray You listen and have mercy. (Lord have mercy.) Again we pray for the repose of the soul
of the servant of God (Name) departed this fife; and for the
forgiveness of his (her) every transgression, voluntary and involuntary.
(Lord have mercy.) Let the Lord God establish his (her)
soul where the just repose; the mercies of God, the Kingdom of the Heavens,
and remission of his (her) sins: let us ask of Christ our Immortal King and
our God.(Lord have mercy.) Let us pray to the Lord. Choir: Lord have mercy. The first-ranking priest approaches
the deceased and says the following prayer in a loud voice; the other priests
present simultaneously say the same prayer inaudibly. O God of all spirits and flesh, Who has
trodden down death, destroying the power of the devil, bestowing life on Your
world. to the soul of Your servant (Name) departed this life, do You
Yourself, O Lord, give rest in a place of light, in a place of green pasture,
in a place of refreshment, from where pain and sorrow and mourning are fled
away. Every sin by him (her) committed in thought, word, or deed, do You as
our good and loving God forgive, seeing that there is no man that shall live
and sin not, for You alone are without sin: Your righteousness, and Your law
is truth. For You are the Resurrection, the Life,
and the Repose of Your servant (Name), O Christ our God; and to You do
we send up Glory, as to Your Eternal Father and Your All-Holy, Good, and
Life-creating Spirit, both now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen. Priest Let us pray to the Lord. Lord have
mercy. Each of the priests in turn blesses
the deceased and says: For You are the Resurrection, the Life,
and the Repose of Your servant (Name), O Christ our God; and to You do
we send up Glory, as to Your Eternal Father and Your All‑Holy, Good,
and Life‑creating Spirit, both now and ever and to the ages of ages.
Amen. If the Funeral Service is presided
over by a Bishop, he then says the following Prayer of Absolution. Prayers of Absolution For the loosing from every curse and
interdict, read for the deceased person by the Bishop. Priest: Let us pray to the Lord, Lord have mercy. O Lord our God, Who by Your unutterable
wisdom have fashioned man out of the dust and transformed him into comeliness
and beauty; and have adorned him, as a precious and heavenly creature, for
doxology and magnificence of Your glory and Kingdom, in that You brought him
into existence as a being fashioned according to Your image and likeness; and
Who, when he had transgressed the commandment of Your ordinance, and kept it
not, although he participated in Your image, gave command for this reason, as
God of our fathers, to prevent evil from becoming immortal, decreeing that
his composite and mixture, this bond which You made for joining body and soul
unbreakably, should be sundered by Your divine Will, and be dissolved; so
that the soul would withdraw where it had required existence, and there abide
until the general Resurrection; whereas the body would break up into
the elements out of which it had first been compounded; for this reason we
pray You, the beginningless Father, and Your Only‑Begotten Son, and
Your All‑Holy, Consubstantial and Life‑creating Spirit, that
endured not to see the work of Your fashioning swallowed up by destruction,
but rather let the body indeed be dissolved into the elements, and let the
soul be appointed a place in the Choir of the Just: Yea, O Lord our God, let
Your Immeasurable mercy prevail, and Your manbefriending love which is beyond
compare; and if this servant has incurred the curse of father or mother, or a
ban invoked upon himself (herself); or if he (she) has provoked any priest to
bitter severity, and from him has incurred a ban unbreakable; or if he (she)
has incurred a Bishop's very grievous interdict, but through thoughtlessness
and needlessness has failed to obtain forgiveness; do You forgive him (her)
through me, Your sinful and unworthy servant; and let his (her) body indeed
dissolve into its elements, but his (her) soul do You appoint to dwell in the
tentings of the Saints. Yea, O Lord our God, Who to Your holy Disciples and
Apostles gave this authority for granting remission of sins, and did say that
whatsoever things they would bind and loose, those things would be bound and
would be loosed; and Who through them in Your manbefriending love has caused
to be transmitted to us also, unworthy though we be, the same gift in equal
measure; loose this Your servant (Name), now fallen asleep from sin of
soul and body, and make him (her) to be now forgiven in this present world
and in the world to come; through the intercessions of Your all-pure and Ever
Virgin Mother, and of all the Saints. Amen. Second Prayer of Absolution Let us pray to the Lord. Lord have
mercy. Greatly merciful Sovereign Lord Jesus
Christ our God, Who after Your holy, third‑day resurrection from the
dead gave to Your holy Disciples and Apostles the Keys of the Kingdom of
Heaven, and also the authority of Your Grace both to bind and to loose the
sins of men, so that bound in Heaven would be whatsoever things through them
might be bound on earth, and likewise loosed in Heaven whatsoever things‑
through them might be loosed; and gave also that as their successors, we,
Your deficient and unworthy servants, should have, by Your unutterable and
manbefriending love, this same exceedingly holy Gift and Grace from You, so
that we in like manner should both bind and loose the things that happen to
be done among Your people; Yourself, All‑Good King, through me, Your
humble and unprofitable servant, forgive this Your servant whatsoever
mistakes as a human being he (she) has made in this present life: remit for
him (her) whatsoever sins he (she) has committed in word, deed, and thought:
and loose him (her) also from any ban which in any wise whatsoever has come
upon him (her), whether he (she) himself (herself) out of recklessness or by
some other fault has bound it upon himself (herself); or, by a Bishop or
another, when, because of the envy and cooperation of the Evil One, he (she)
stumbled into so grievous a state: be well pleased, as alone Good and greatly
merciful, that his (her) soul be appointed a place with the Saints which from
everlasting have been well pleasing to You, but that his (her) body be given
to the nature which You have fashioned; for blessed and glorified are You to
the ages. Amen. Priest Glory to the Father and to the Son and
to the Holy Spirit both now and ever and to the ages of ages. Amen. Lord have
mercy; Lord have mercy; Lord have mercy. Apolysis Glory to You, O Christ our God and our
Hope; glory to You. May Christ our true God, Who rose from
the dead, have mercy on us; He Who as Immortal King has authority over both
the dead and the living. Through the intercessions of His spotless, pure, and
holy Mother; of His holy and just friend Lazaros, who lay in the grave four
days; of the holy and glorious forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; may He
give rest to our brother (sister), who has departed from us, and number him
(her) among the just and holy, through His goodness and compassion, as our
merciful God. Everlasting be your memory, O our
brother, who are worthy of blessedness and eternal memory. (3) For women: Everlasting be your memory, O our
sister, who are worthy of blessedness and eternal memory. (3) And the Choir begins the Stikhera of
the Last Kiss, singing as many as may be needed to fill up the time until all have said Farewell. Tone 2 Brethren, come, and let us a farewell
kiss give to him (her) whom death has taken, and offer thanks to God. For he
(she) has departed from the bosom of his (her) kin; and he (she) hastens to
burial, no longer remembering vanity, nor yet the flesh which is often sore
distressed. Where are now his (her) kindred and comrades? Now is come the
hour of partings: let us pray to the Lord to bring him (her) to his (her)
rest. Tone 2 Brethren, what at this last moment means
your distress of parting, your wailing? What means your funeral dirge? Come,
and give a kiss to him (her) so lately with us: for consigned to the grave is
he (she); with stone is he (she) to be covered. Darkness is his (her)
dwelling place; he (she) with the dead is entombed. Come, all you his (her)
kindred and comrades: now is come the hour of parting. let us pray to the
Lord to bring him (her) to his (her) rest. Theotokion Mother of the never setting Sun, Parent
of our God, O preserve them that set their hope on you; intercede, we pray
you, with our greatly gracious Lord, that repose may be granted him (her)
that now is departed. in that habitation where repose the souls of the Just:
and unto everlasting remembrance set him (her) in the courts of the
Righteous, Maid All‑Blameless, as the heir of blessings divine. Glory to the Father and to the Son and
to the Holy Spirit. Looking on me as I lie here prone before
you, voiceless and unbreathing, mourn for me, everyone‑brethren and
friends, kindred, and you who knew me well; for but yesterday with you I was
talking, and suddenly there came upon me the fearful hour of death: therefore
come, all you that long for me, and kiss me with the last kiss of parting.
For no longer shall I walk with you, nor talk with you henceforth: for to the
Judge I go, where no person is valued for his (her) earthly station: Yea,
slave and master together stand before Him, king and soldier, rich man and
poor man, all accounted of equal rank: for each one, according to his (her)
own deeds shall be glorified, or shall be put to shame. Therefore I beg you
all, and implore you, to offer prayer unceasingly for me to Christ our God,
that I be not assigned for my sins to the place of torment; but that He
assign me to the place where there is Light of Life. Both now and ever and to the ages of
ages. Amen. Theotokion, Tone 6 Through the prayers of her that gave You
birth, O Christ, and the prayers of Your Forerunner, of Apostles, Prophets
Hierarchs, Ascetics, and of the Righteous, and of all the Saints, to Your
sleeping servant do You grant repose. Priest Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers,
Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy and save us. Choir. Amen. If a Bishop is Presiding, he says: Through the prayers of our holy Fathers
... Priest Through the prayers of our holy Bishop.
. . After the last farewell has been
given we proceed to the grape, singing: I weep, and with tears lament . . .(see page
78). The Burial At the gravesite the Trisagion is
sung. Then the Priest sprinkles the
deceased in the form of the Cross with oil, saying: You shall sprinkle me with hyssop and I
shall be clean. You shall wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. Then the priest sprinkles the
deceased in the form of the Cross with earth, saying: The earth is the Lord's, and the
fullness thereof; the world, and all that dwell therein. You are dust, and to
dust you will return. Through the prayers of our holy Fathers ... Back to “The
Priest’s Service Book” |