January: Day 19: Venerable Makarios the Great

 

January: Day 19:
Venerable Makarios the Great
 
(On Prayer for the Dead)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. Today we commemorate one of the great ascetics of the Egyptian deserts, Venerable Makarios of Egypt, who lived in the 4th century A.D.

One day, while walking in the desert, Venerable Makarios saw a dry human skull on the ground. Turning it with his staff, Makarios noticed that the skull seemed to make a sound. “Whose skull are you?” asked the Elder. And from the skull came this answer: “I was the head of all the priests who lived here; and you, Abba Makarios, are filled with the Spirit of God. When you pray for us, who are in torment, we experience some comfort.” “What kind of comfort is this for you, and what kind of torment?” asked the Elder. “As the sky is distant from the earth, so great is the fire in which we are tormented. We are scorched on all sides, from head to toe,” the skull answered with a groan; “and we cannot see each other. But when you pray for us, we partially see each other, and this gives us some comfort.” Hearing this, the Elder wept and said: "Unhappy is the day in which a man transgresses the commandment of God." Then he asked again: “Do you have other, greater torments?” A voice was heard from the skull: “Others are even deeper beneath us.” “Who are these?” the Elder asked again. “We, who have not known God, still experience some of God’s mercy,” the voice from the skull continued, “but those who, having known God, have rejected Him and do not keep His commandments, they experience even more severe, unspeakable torments beneath us.” The Holy Elder then buried the skull in the ground and went away in deep thought.

II. Let us say a few words about prayer for the dead.

a) Prayer for the departed has existed and exists in the Church since ancient times, not as a solemnly proclaimed, essential part the faith and a strict commandment, but as a pious tradition and custom, always supported by free obedience to faith and private spiritual experiences. Let us cite some evidence of this.

"The grace of giving," writes the son of Sirach, "let it be before every living person, and over the dead let not grace be withheld." What does "the grace of giving" mean here? If it is a gift to the altar, then the words "over the dead let not grace be withheld" obviously means to offer a sacrifice for the deceased, or, what is the same, pray for the deceased. But if someone wants to admit it is more probable that "the grace of giving" means philanthropy to the poor, then the words "over the dead let not grace be withheld" will mean to give alms in memory of the deceased. Whether the son of Sirach had one or another thought: they both suggest the same thing, they have a common basis - that the living can and should do good and soul-profiting deeds for the sake of the deceased.

In the history of the Maccabees we find precisely sacrifice and prayer for the dead. Judas offered it for the soldiers who died in the sin of taking spoils of war "from the gifts of idols" with which the pious should not defile their hands (2 Macc. 12:39-46).

b) Since the formation of public Christian worship, prayer for the dead has been included in it as a part that constantly belongs to its composition. All the ancient rites of the Divine Liturgy, beginning with the Liturgy of Saint James, the brother of the Lord, testify to this. Therefore, there is no doubt that prayer for the dead is an apostolic tradition.

c) The Holy Fathers also testify to the benefit of prayers for the dead. “Even if he departed sinful,” says Saint Chrysostom, “it is worthy to help as much as possible: however, not with tears, but with prayers, and supplications, and alms and offerings. For this was not simply deliberate, nor is it in vain that we make memory of the departed in the Divine Mysteries, and approach them, praying to the Lamb, who took away the sin of the world, but that from here there may be some consolation for them. Nor in vain does he who stands before the altar, performing the terrible Mysteries, cry out for all who have fallen asleep in Christ and for those who perform memory of them” (Discourse 41 on the 1st Epistle to Corinthians).

“It must not be denied,” says Blessed Augustine, “that the souls of the departed receive comfort from the piety of their living neighbors, when the sacrifice of the Intercessor is offered for them, or when alms are given in the church, but this is useful only to those who in life believed that this would be useful to them later” (On Faith, Hope and Love, ch. 110).

d) Saint Gregory the Dialogist presents a remarkable experience of the effect of prayer and sacrifices for the deceased, which happened in his monastery. One brother, for breaking the vow of poverty, out of fear of others, was deprived of church burial and prayer for thirty days after his death; then, out of compassion for his soul, the Bloodless Sacrifice was offered for thirty days with prayer for him. On the last of these days, the deceased appeared in a vision to his surviving brother, and said: “Until now it was bad for me, but now I am well: for today I have received communion” (Dialogues, Bk. 4, Ch. 55).

III. For those who are attentive, it is enough to confirm for themselves the following rules, not unfamiliar, but often forgotten:

First: pray for the departed with faith and hope in the mercy of God.

Second: do not live carelessly yourself, but try to strengthen your hope through pure faith and immediate correction of sins, that prayers for you, after your death, will bring joy to your soul and help it to attain eternal peace and blessedness in God, ever blessed and most glorified forever. Amen. 

 

Source: A Complete Annual Cycle of Short Teachings, Composed for Each Day of the Year. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.