Luminile de pe morminte - Înțelesul și folosul rugăciunilor pentru cei morți
The lights on the tombs – the meaning and the benefit of the prayers for the dead

Summary/Abstract: By virtue of its communional character and the fullness of truth it possesses, Orthodoxy does not exclude anyone and anything which God has created, out of His will and love, and which He rules as Almighty Lord (cf. Romans 14, 9). This accounts for the Orthodox veneration of saints and remembrance of the dead, its hierurgies and various prayers for the entire creation which because of man has been subjected to the vanity of sin and now awaits sanctification (cf. Romans 8, 20). As prayer is the truest and deepest expression of the love generated by the salvific truth, Orthodoxy has prayer for the reposed in the Lord because „whether we live, or die, we are the Lord's” (Romans 14, 8), and in the Church we are one body, with Christ as Head and „ Lord both of the dead and living” (Romani 14, 9); moreover, „if one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it” (1 Corinthians 12, 26). The commemoration of the dead, in gratitude and prayer, is not only a moral duty for us all, but also an of spiritual health because only prayer and gratitude foster and sustain the bonds between souls, the spiritual communion of souls which is stronger than the physical death of the body. As the present study shows, commemoration of the deceased in the Orthodox Church is based on Scriptural and patristic arguments in support of praying for the deceased, so that the remembrance of the dead is actually a duty derived from the great commandment of love, preached by the Gospel. Therefore, praying for the reposed in the Lord is an expression of steadfast faith, continuity and unity in sentiment and beliefs from generation to generation, and the testament to our appreciation and gratitude to them, to „love that vanquishes death”, and to our hope and belief in their communion with Christ our Lord in eternity, in the Resurrection and everlasting life.

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