Incinerarea – o posibilă provocare moral- pastorală contemporană pentru diaspora ortodoxă, în contextul unei culturi occidentale thanatofobe
Incineration - A Possible Contemporary Moral and Pastoral Challenge for the Orthodox Diaspora, in the Context of a Thanatophobic Western Culture

Summary/Abstract: The European cultural and social context in which many Romanians that have left in search of a better life live is often full of moral and spiritual challenges. One of these challenges is the phenomenon of cremation or burning of the body after death. The secularized mentality of Western European society, the break with or alienation of ecclesial life and the forgetfulness of one’s own Christian faith teachings can certainly be factors that make it easier for the Orthodox Christian living in the European diaspora to opt for the „solution” of cremation. For this reason, even if we do not have at hand statistical data on how often priests in the diaspora face dillemas of their faithful related to cremation, we believe that the presentation of this phenomenon and its analysis deserves all attention, given its extent in recent decades. Therefore, the aim of this study is rather prophylactic, preventive, trying to clarify some of the reasons why the Orthodox Church practices the burial of the body after death. The present study aims to discuss the issue of cremation on three levels. The first level presents the the way in which the phenomenon of burning the body is perceived nowadays. This is why it brings into discussion the positions and the opinions of sociologists and theologians regarding the reality and the spreading of the phenomenon of cremation. The second level focuses briefly on how the Christian Churches have responded to the issue of cremation. Finally, the third level highlights the arguments for which the Orthodox Church opposes the burning of the bodies of the deceased people.

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