Prayer for the dead


Religions with the belief in a final judgment, a resurrection of the dead or an intermediate state often offer prayers on behalf of the dead to God.

Buddhism

For most funerals that follow the tradition of Chinese Buddhism, common practices include chanting the name of Amitabha, or reciting Buddhist scriptures such as the Sutra of The Great Vows of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, Amitabha Sutra, Diamond Sutra or a combination of classic Buddhist scriptures, such as the Great Compassion Mantra, the Heart Sutra, the Amitabha Pure Land Rebirth Mantra and Sapta Atitabuddha Karasaniya Dharani.
Other practices include Ritsu offer refuge, Pure Land Buddhists nianfo or chant Pure Land Rebirth Dhāraṇī and Tibetan Buddhists chant Om mani padme hum repeatedly. Prayers such as Namo Ratnasikhin Tathagata are for animals.

Christianity

New Testament

A passage in the New Testament which is seen by some to be a prayer for the dead is found in, which reads as follows:
As with the verses in, these verses reflect the deep-felt desire that God will deal mercifully with the deceased "on that day". It is not stated that Onesiphorus, for whom Saint Paul or the writer of the epistle prayed, was dead, though some scholars infer this, based on the way this only refers to him in the past tense, and prays for present blessings on his household, but for him only "on that day". And towards the end of the same letter, in, we find a greeting to "Prisca and Aquila, and the house of Onesiphorus", distinguishing the situation of Onesiphorus from that of the still living Prisca and Aquila.

Tradition

Prayer for the dead is well documented within early Christianity, both among prominent Church Fathers and the Christian community in general. In the Catholic Church the assistance that the dead receive by prayer on their behalf is linked with the process of purification known as purgatory. In Eastern Orthodoxy, Christians pray for "such souls as have departed with faith, but without having had time to bring forth fruits worthy of repentance". While prayer for the dead continues in both these traditions and in those of Oriental Orthodoxy and the Assyrian Church of the East, many Protestant groups reject the practice.
The tomb of the Christian Abercius of Hieropolis in Phrygia bears the inscription: "Let every friend who observes this pray for me", i.e. Abercius, who throughout speaks in the first person.
The inscriptions in the Roman catacombs bear similar witness to the practice, by the occurrence of such phrases as:
  • Mayst thou live among the saints ;
  • May God refresh the soul of... ;
  • Peace be with them.
Among Church writers Tertullian is the first to mention prayers for the dead: "The widow who does not pray for her dead husband has as good as divorced him". This passage occurs in one of his later writings, dating from the beginning of the 3rd century. Subsequent writers similarly make mention of the practice as prevalent, not as unlawful or even disputed. The most famous instance is Saint Augustine's prayer for his mother, Monica, at the end of the 9th book of his Confessions, written around 398.
An important element in the Christian liturgies both East and West consisted of the diptychs, or lists of names of living and dead commemorated at the Eucharist. To be inserted in these lists was a confirmation of one's orthodoxy, and out of the practice grew the official canonization of saints; on the other hand, removal of a name was a condemnation.
In the middle of the 3rd century, St. Cyprian enjoined that there should be no oblation or public prayer made for a deceased layman who had broken the Church's rule by appointing a cleric trustee under his will: "He ought not to be named in the priests prayer who has done his best to detain the clergy from the altar."
Although it is not possible, as a rule, to name dates for the exact words used in the ancient liturgies, yet the universal occurrence of these diptychs and of definite prayers for the dead in all parts of the Christian Church, East and West, in the 4th and 5th centuries shows how primitive such prayers were. The language used in the prayers for the departed is asking for rest and freedom from pain and sorrow. A passage from the Liturgy of St James reads:
Remember, O Lord, the God of Spirits and of all Flesh, those whom we have remembered and those whom we have not remembered, men of the true faith, from righteous Abel unto to-day; do thou thyself give them rest there in the land of the living, in thy kingdom, in the delight of Paradise, in the bosom of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, our holy fathers, from whence pain and sorrow and sighing have fled away, where the light of thy countenance visiteth them and always shineth upon them.

Public prayers were only offered for those who were believed to have died as faithful members of the Church. But Saint Perpetua, who was martyred in 202, believed herself to have been encouraged in a vision to pray for her brother, who had died in his eighth year, almost certainly unbaptized; and a later vision assured her that her prayer was answered and he had been translated from punishment. St. Augustine thought it needful to point out that the narrative was not canonical Scripture, and contended that the child had perhaps been baptized.

Catholic Church

In the West there is ample evidence of the custom of praying for the dead in the inscriptions of the catacombs, with their constant prayers for the peace and refreshment of the souls of the departed and in the early liturgies, which commonly contain commemorations of the dead; and Tertullian, Cyprian and other early Western Fathers witness to the regular practice of praying for the dead among the early Christians.
However, in the case of martyred Christians, it was felt that it was inappropriate to pray "for" the martyrs, since they were believed to be in no need of such prayers, having instantly passed to the beatific vision of Heaven. Theoretically, too, prayer for those in hell would be useless. However, since there is no certainty that any particular person is in hell, prayers are offered for all the dead, except for those believed to be in heaven who are prayed to, not for. In prayers for the dead, there is usually reference to them being in purgatory. In view of the certainty that by the process of purification and with the help of the prayers of the faithful they were destined for heaven, they are referred to as the "holy souls".
Limits were placed on public offering of Mass for the unbaptised, non-Catholics, and notorious sinners, but prayers and even Mass in private could be said for them. The present Code of Canon Law of the Catholic Church states that, unless the person concerned gave some signs of repentance before death, no form of funeral Mass may be offered for notorious apostates, heretics and schismatics; for those who for anti-Christian motives chose that their bodies be cremated; and for other manifest sinners to whom a Church funeral could not be granted without public scandal to the faithful.
On the other hand, "provided their own minister is not available, baptised persons belonging to a non-catholic Church or ecclesial community may, in accordance with the prudent judgement of the local Ordinary, be allowed Church funeral rites, unless it is established that they did not wish this."
During the slaughter of the First World War, Pope Benedict XV on 10 August 1915 allowed all priests everywhere to say three Masses on All Souls' Day. The two extra Masses were in no way to benefit the priest himself: one was to be offered for all the faithful departed, the other for the Pope's intentions, which at that time were presumed to be for all the victims of that war. The permission remains.
Each Eucharistic Prayer, including the Roman Canon of the Order of Mass, has a prayer for the departed.
In Communio Sanctorum, the Lutheran and Catholic Churches in Germany agreed that prayer for the dead "corresponds to the communion in which we are bound together in Christ... with those who have already died to pray for them and to commend them... to the mercy of God." Likewise, in the United States, the Evangelical Lutheran Church and Catholic Church formulated a statement The Hope of Eternal Life, which affirmed that "there is communion among the living and the dead across the divide of death....Prayerful commendation of the dead to God is salutary within a funeral liturgy....Insofar as the resurrection of the dead and the general final judgment are future events, it is appropriate to pray for God's mercy for each person, entrusting that one to God's mercy."
Tridentine Mass contains three prayers for the dead:
  • Suscipe Sancte Pater:
  • Commemoration of the dead :
  • Placeat tibi:

    Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy

Theology

and Oriental Orthodox reject the term "purgatory". Prayer for the dead is encouraged in the belief that it is helpful for them, although how the prayers of the faithful help the departed is not elucidated. Eastern Orthodox simply believe that tradition teaches that prayers should be made for the dead.
Saint Basil the Great writes in his Third Kneeling Prayer at Pentecost: "O Christ our God... on this all-perfect and saving Feast, art graciously pleased to accept propitiatory prayers for those who are imprisoned in hades, promising unto us who are held in bondage great hope of release from the vileness that doth hinder us and did hinder them,... send down Thy consolation... and establish their souls in the mansions of the Just; and graciously vouchsafe unto them peace and pardon; for not the dead shall praise thee, O Lord, neither shall they who are in Hell make bold to offer unto thee confession. But we who are living will bless thee, and will pray, and offer unto thee propitiatory prayers and sacrifices for their souls."
Saint Gregory Dialogus in his famous Dialogues teaches that, "The Holy Sacrifice of Christ, our saving Victim, brings great benefits to souls even after death, provided their sins can be pardoned in the life to come." However, St. Gregory goes on to say, the Church's practice of prayer for the dead must not be an excuse for not living a godly life on earth. "The safer course, naturally, is to do for ourselves during life what we hope others will do for us after death." Father Seraphim Rose says: "The Church's prayer cannot save anyone who does not wish salvation, or who never offered any struggle for it himself during his lifetime."