welcome

Beloved Sons and Daughters of God the Father,

Grace and peace to you all! 

"For if we have been united with Him in His death, so then shall we be united with Him in the Resurrection" (Romans 6:5)

The mystery of death has troubled and fascinated humanity since the fall of our first parents, Adam and Eve. Death comes to us as an inheritance from the Original Sin, and by our own personal sins, we have signed on to this tragic legacy. All have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God, St. Paul teaches. Indeed, many people view death as an unremittingly frightening prospect, one from which they spend their lives trying to distract themselves, because they feel overwhelmed by their sins or because they lack faith in God.

Our own experiences of mourning deceased family members and friends teach us the deep longing of the human heart for hope in the face of death. But we also know, in our own lives or through others, the temptation to avoid thoughts of death, as well as the temptation either to move too quickly through our mourning or to dwell on our sadness with too little hope. Many people are tempted to engage in the process of mourning as an intense, but merely human, drama. And we know that there are many who, out of a different kind of concern, wish to avoid “making a fuss” in favor of extremely simplified acts of “saying goodbye” to their deceased loved ones.

Today, these temptations and others are deeply influencing the approach to death and burial taken even by those of the household of faith, the Church. Many Christians have lost a clear sense of how to face death with faith and hope, about the importance of exercising Christian charity by praying for our beloved dead, of properly burying the dead with dignity and reverence, and about what it truly means to experience the consolation that only our communion with Jesus Christ can offer.

I am pleased to introduce you at this time, to the St. Joseph of Arimathea Society, the funeral and burial ministry of the Italo-Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of the Americas and Canada. The purpose of the Society is to help Christians bury their dead with dignity and reverence and to restore a funeral and burial praxis that is in keeping with the Christian, specifically, the Orthodox Catholic Christian, understanding of death.

Christ's Victory - Our Salvation

We do not want you to be unaware, brothers [and sisters], about those who have fallen asleep, so that you may not grieve like the rest, who have no hope.
— I Thessalonians 4:13

It is in Jesus that we find the definitive answer to sin and death. We know, following upon the words of St. Paul above, that by God we are justified freely by His grace through the redemption in Christ Jesus. At every Divine Liturgy and throughout Sacred Scripture and the Church’s Tradition, we hear proclaimed this foundational truth: the Passover of Jesus Christ through death to risen life is our Passover as well.

Christ is risen!  Truly He is risen!  These words with which we greet one another at Pascha and throughout the forty days of Paschaltide are a constant reminder to us of an undeniable truth and reality - that Christ conquered death by death and upon those in the tombs bestowed eternal life. Christ invites us to share in His victory. The salvation won by Christ for all of us becomes a gift for each of us by virtue of our Baptism:

Or are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life.

We know that our union with the crucified and risen Lord Jesus, established in Baptism, is perfected in the Eucharistic sacrifice, as we eat the holy Bread of eternal life and drink from the Chalice of everlasting salvation.The Banquet of Christ’s Body and Blood is our Passover meal, renewing and amplifying the graces of our Baptism, and causing us to share to the fullest degree possible in the dying and rising of Jesus, who is the Bread of Life, the resurrection and the life, and the way, the truth, and the life.

These points concerning Original Sin, salvation in Jesus Christ, Baptism, and the Holy Eucharist are essential in helping us understand more deeply the necessity for proper, dignified, and reverential funeral rites. In the funeral liturgy, all of these essential elements of the Christian Faith come together with great poignancy, and we express in a most powerful way our hope in Christ’s resurrection.

In other words, the Church’s funeral rites are about salvation. The Fathers of the Church have consistently and clearly taught us that the disposition of our dead brethren is a work of mercy and charity which is never to be taken for granted or reduced to a mere ritual act. They have taught us that human life does not end with death but that it is merely a change, a transition to a new and more perfect life in communion with the Holy Trinity.

I cannot express more strongly the need for a return to a more theologically based understanding of dying and death which will bring us back to a more reverent practice of funeral rites and practices. It is for these reasons that I established the St. Joseph of Arimathea Society to assist individuals and families in implementing more Christian-based funeral and burial practices. In addition to creating the Society and establishing it with a specific purpose and mission, my secondary hope is to introduce some practical steps by which we, as Orthodox Catholic Christians, can more perfectly express our faith through the funeral and burial rites of the Church.

Alive in Christ - the Church's Funeral Rites

"Now there was a virtuous and righteous man named Joseph who, though he was a member of the council, had not consented to their plan of action. He came from the Jewish town of Arimathea and was awaiting the kingdom of God. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. After he had taken the body down, he wrapped it in a linen cloth and laid him in a rock-hewn tomb in which no one had yet been buried. It was the day of preparation, and the Sabbath was about to begin. The women who had come from Galilee with him followed behind, and when they had seen the tomb and the way in which his body was laid in it, they returned and prepared spices and perfumed oils." (Luke 23:50-56

Our tradition of burial and praying for the dead is rooted in customs we have inherited from the Old Covenant. We read in the Second Book of Maccabees, for example, that prayers and sacrifices for the dead are “holy and pious” and can have the power of freeing the dead from their sins. There are also numerous examples of burial in the Old Testament, and the account of Our Lord’s burial on Good Friday testifies to the care and reverence with which the bodies of the dead were treated by the Jewish people.

The burial of Jesus also serves as a model because, for those who are baptized into Christ, the body becomes holy, the temple of the Holy Spirit, and deserving of special reverence. We express this reverence through our funeral rites in several ways: the use of dignified caskets and coffins; clothing the casket with the white pall, which serves as a reminder of the baptismal garment of the deceased; the sprinkling of the body with holy water and the numerous incensations during the funeral rites and services, which symbolize both reverence for the body and the rising of our prayers before the throne of God’s mercy.

To some degree, we could say that the eight-part celebration of the Order of Christian Funerals has to do with eight ways of showing this reverence to the body of the deceased, even as we pray for the repose of his or her soul:

• The Office of the Parting of the Soul from the Body: This is the first ritual encounter with the mystery of a person's death. When death is imminent, we gather around our dying loved one to offer prayers as the soul leaves the body and begins its journey to judgment. We commend the soul to the care of the angels, who take it to stand in judgment before the throne of Christ.
• The First Trisagion Service: This is the first formal funeral service, taking place immediately when death has occurred. It marks the beginning of the Church's three-day period of mourning and continual prayers for the deceased.
• The Rites and Prayers of Preparation of the Body and the Second Trisagion Service: This normally takes place in a funeral home where the body is washed and prepared for burial. Members of the family or parish can take part in this ceremony at the end of which is celebrated a Second Trisagion Service.
• The Wake and Third Trisagion Service: This normally takes place in the funeral home when memories are shared and condolences are prayers for the repose of the deceased are offered to the family.
• The Reception of the Body into the Church and the Fourth Trisagion Service. On the day before the funeral liturgies and burial, the body of the deceased is brought to Church where it will lie in state and prayers will be continually offered throughout the night for the repose of his or her soul and that God will be merciful in judgment.
• Vigil for the Deceased: This beautiful service expresses our grief and understanding of the mystery of death and is where emotions flood our hearts and find expression in the simple yet beautiful rite of keeping vigil near the body of the recently deceased.
• Funeral Liturgy: The central act of worship we offer for the dead, this liturgy is ordinarily celebrated in the form of the Divine Liturgy. In the offering of the Holy Eucharist, we place the body of the deceased before the Lord’s altar, interceding for the one who has died and offering his or her life along with the Body and Blood of Jesus. This “Prayer after Communion” from the Funeral Liturgy summarizes what we ask God to give to the relative or friend we are burying: Grant, we pray, almighty God, that your servant, who has journeyed from this world, may by this sacrifice be cleansed and freed from sin and so receive the everlasting joys of the resurrection. Our own faith in the Paschal Mystery is also strengthened in celebrating the Divine Liturgy. These graces are renewed in the celebration of the Fortieth day Divine Liturgy and Memorial Service and the subsequent annual remembrances.
• Committal: In this final act of the funeral rites, we perform in a most proximate way the corporal work of mercy, burying the dead. In the Rite of Committal, we commit the body of the deceased to its final resting place, confident that the Lord Jesus will raise us up on the last day to everlasting communion with Him and His Father in unity with the Holy Spirit for all eternity.

Here it is appropriate for me to underscore that the Church’s clear preference is for burial of the bodies of her sons and daughters rather than their cremation. In fact, unless prescribed by order of civil law, creation is forbidden to Orthodox Catholic Christians of the Italo-Greek Byzantine Orthodox Catholic Church. In this, we are witnessing our belief that our bodies are made holy from the moment of Baptism and are destined to rise on the Last Day. Again, while the Church permits cremation in very limited circumstances, cremation must never express a denial of Church teaching. Further, cremated remains must always be treated with the same respect the Church accords to the bodies of the deceased, and this includes their reverent disposition in a cemetery. If the body of an Orthodox Catholic Christian Catholic is to be cremated, the Church requires that it be present for ALL the funeral rites. Those who desire to use the services and programs of the St. Joseph of Arimathea Society are bound to follow the practices of the Italo-Greek Byzantine Orthodox Catholic Church, especially with regard to cremation.

Of course, the Church’s funeral rites are not only about showing reverence for the body of the deceased. There are also many other ways each of these eight parts of the funeral liturgy plays an important role in assisting both the dead and the living. We have seen the great efficacy of the funeral rites in joining our beloved dead to the Passover of Jesus. Our belief in the communion of saints also gives us the consolation of knowing our prayers are of great benefit to those who have died in Christ and are now undergoing purification in preparation for the glory of heaven.

And these rituals are also of great benefit to the mourners themselves. First, all of the Church’s liturgical worship is redemptive, meaning it accomplishes the saving work of Jesus Christ in our lives. This is the most important good fruit that comes to the living through their participation in the rites of Christian burial. Second, the Church, like a good mother, consoles her children in their time of loss and grief:

The celebration of the Christian funeral brings hope and consolation to the living. While proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ and witnessing to Christian hope in the resurrection, the funeral rites also recall to all who take part in them God’s mercy and judgment and meet the human need to turn always to God in times of crisis.

Indeed, the faithful celebration of the Church’s funeral rites greatly benefits us spiritually and consoles us in our sorrow.

These rites also aid us in our relationships with God and with the whole community of faith. Our coming together physically is a sign of the strengthening of our spiritual bonds, as we worship together and console one another with the faith and hope we have in Christ Jesus. The Church through its funeral rites commends the dead to God’s merciful love and pleads for the forgiveness of their sins. At the funeral rites, especially at the celebration of the eucharistic sacrifice, the Christian community affirms and expresses the union of the Church on earth with the Church in heaven in one great communion of saints.

Unfortunately, many people today have come to see the Church’s funeral rites as over elaborate and unnecessary. They will sometimes refer to the traditional funeral as “making a fuss” or “making a big deal” out of death and mourning. As the principal pastor of the faithful of our Holy Archdiocese, I certainly need to acknowledge the often legitimate motivations that prompt concern about matters such as the cost of funerals, but I also need to offer the truth that the funeral rites themselves are essential to the life of the Church and that these rites ought to be celebrated at the death of every Christian. No Orthodox Catholic Christian, in fact, no Christian, should pass over to the Father without being accompanied by the prayers of the Church. That is why I established the St. Joseph of Arimathea Society - to help those who cannot afford to give their loved ones a proper funeral and to take care of those dead who have no one to care for them and bury them.

Whenever one of the faithful or our brethren dies, we have a duty to celebrate these rites with reverence, awe, and great faith and hope. While there are often genuine human or economic concerns motivating those who wish to set aside our funeral rites, even these legitimate concerns should only modify, and not change in any essential way, the form of Christian burial given to us by Christ through his Church.

The funeral rites of the Church are some of the most beautiful, evocative, and powerful expressions of our Orthodox Catholic faith. They are gifts given to us by God our Father.

Christian burial is also an act of charity we offer for one another. Whenever financial or logistical concerns burden a grieving family, pastors, and their co-workers should do all they can to accommodate the legitimate requests of the faithful. The faithful, in turn, are called to honor the leadership given by their pastors and to recognize that there can be many reasons - of a spiritual or practical nature - why certain accommodations may be impossible. The whole journey of the Christian funeral is a sacred time when the Church’s ministers and those who mourn are called to cooperate in charity as they plan and celebrate these sacred rites.

The St. Joseph of Arimathea Society - Continuing the Legacy of Him Who Cared for Christ in Death

"When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus; then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. So Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a fine clean linen cloth and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn in the rock. He then rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb and went away." (Matthew 27:57-60)

Here it was that Joseph of Arimathea, together with Nicodemus, the blessed Mary, and other women, buried from the Cross by consent of Pilate, the body of Jesus, which they had wrapped up in fine linen, perfumed with myrrh and aloes. Thus, we have a prime example of reverential and dignified burial, one that we most certainly should follow in our own funeral and burial rites and practices.

St. Joseph of Arimathea lovingly cared for the body of Jesus after His death. So then, we take up Joseph's work and continue it, caring for our dead brothers and sisters, especially those who have no one to care for them and bury them when they die.

We must never let those who have no one to care for them in death be treated as nothing more than a dead body, forgotten and disposed of in an irreverential and antiseptic way. The death of any human being is a significant event, one which affects the entire human family. While death is very much a part of the human experience, it was never intended to be so. Therefore, we should mourn the death of a fellow human being, for their loss is a loss of one-of-a-kind beauty and substance that can never be replaced or replicated. 

The St. Joseph of Arimathea Society was established and exists to ensure that all men, women, and children who die are treated with the respect and dignity they deserve, which is theirs by right as God's children. The Society is a direct continuation of St. Joseph's noble and holy work and it fulfills our Christian mandate to bury the dead in a fitting and dignified way.

Witnesses to the Resurrection

"I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in Me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die." (John 11:25-26)

I want to conclude this message by asking you to recognize in the journey of the Christian funeral a privileged opportunity for evangelization and for being evangelized. The testimony of many who have subscribed to our belief in proper Christian funerals here in the Archdiocese as well as those who have used the services of the St. Joseph of Arimathea Society over the years confirms the wisdom of the Church, that the events of death and Christian burial are opportune occasions for sharing the Good News of our salvation. For those who believe in Jesus Christ, death and burial are sacred events, in which God draws very near to us and invites us to draw near to Him.

Every aspect of preparing and celebrating the rites of Christian burial, from the offering of condolences and prayers to the planning of the liturgical rites to the celebration of the Vigil for the Deceased, Divine Liturgy and Funeral Service, and Rite of Committal, all provide opportunities to share Christ with one another and non-believers.

We must help each other to recognize God’s presence in each of these moments and to entrust ourselves and our beloved dead to His unfathomable love and mercy. We should help especially those who either are not Orthodox Catholic Christians or who do not practice their faith so that they might come to recognize the occasion of a Christian funeral as a profoundly grace-filled moment. We have a sacred responsibility to do all we can to help others to know the faith and hope that are our great consolation in the face of death - faith and hope in the power of Christ’s Resurrection - and to see that the graces they experience during a funeral are meant to help them embrace the fullness of life in Jesus Christ and His Church.

For all Christians, the Church’s funeral rites are essential to the life of faith, hope, and charity to which God our Father calls us. In these rites, our Heavenly Father joins us by the power of His Holy Spirit to the mystery of Christ’s death and resurrection, binding us more closely to Christ and to each other in the Communion of Saints.

Through the intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos, the Mother of Sorrows, and of St. Joseph of Arimathea, may we always be grateful for these precious gifts of salvation, and be led without stumbling through the darkness of death to the dawn of everlasting life.

Finally, I encourage you all to pray fervently for the continued successful ministry of the St. Joseph of Arimathea Society and to support its work of charity and mercy with a donation of any amount. Your donations help us provide loving, respectful, and reverent care for the dead, especially those who have no one to care about them and bury them.

With prayers for you and joining you in prayer for all the faithful departed, I remain,

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Archbishop Stephen