IPN interview with Bishop of Saint Dumitru Church of Chisinau Pavel Borshevschi
IPN: The decision to put off the celebration of the Sunday of the Dead discontented some of the faithful as they believe this is not really by Christian tradition. Is it normal to celebrate the Return to Life of Christ at the cemetery after we already celebrate the Feast of Ascension, 40 days after Easter?
Pavel Borshevschi: Those who treat this subject superficially, from the viewpoint of gastronomy, present giving and other pseudo-Christians traditions, probably are discontented. The practicing Christians understand this holiday in a different way and I will try to explain what the meaning of the Sunday of the Dead is and the context in which this holiday appeared. The commemoration of the dead in the Orthodox Christian Church has a special meaning. We consider that by prayer we can show our love to the dead. In the course of the year, the Church celebrates the dead during a number of days, including on three Saturdays during Lent. Moreover, all the Saturdays of the year are days of remembrance for those who departed this life.
As regards the celebration of the dead on the Sunday of the Dead, this is done because prayers for the dead are not said in the period between Palm Sunday and the first Sunday after Easter, called Low Sunday. Earlier, when someone died in this period, they were buried without the service held by the priest. This way, on the Monday after Low Sunday, the Christians went to the cemetery, prayed for the dead in the period and remembered those who passed away.
But this does not refer to the whole Orthodox Christian Church. For example, the Russians remember the dead on Tuesday, on Radonitsa. The Romanians in different regions of the country commemorate the dead on the Monday after Low Sunday, on Easter or even on Pentecost, as we will celebrate this year. The same situation is witnessed in Greece where there are local traditions that are not regulated by church canons.
Given the aforementioned, we can say that we do not infringe anything, given the exceptional state we have in the country, if we remember the dead on June 6, 7 and 8.
IPN: Why couldn’t the date of the holiday be kept, but by saying prayers at home and not going to the cemetery this time?
Pavel Borshevschi: But nobody bans us from making a Church of our house and commemorating the death together with the whole family in this Church. We, the Christians, should have a special list of the family members and include the names of our grandparents, parents, brothers and all those who died in it. On the Sunday of the Dead, we can tell about those who are mentioned in the list in our house, in the middle of the family, remembering them and asking God to forgive our sins as there is no person without sins. On this day and not only, we can give alms to those who are sadder than us and live worse than us, in the name of those who died.
The day we will go to the cemetery was transferred given the situation in which we are now. This is necessary so that we do not expose ourselves and those around us. Why shall we go to the cemetery? Also because we need to look after the graves of our dear people who passed away and because the cemetery is the Church, is the place where the bodies of the dead wait for rebirth on the second coming of Our Lord. It is thus nice to go to this Church once a year and to pray there and communicate with the dead by prayer.
IPN: Shall we go to the cemetery with red painted eggs and Easter bread on June 6, 7 and 8?
Pavel Borshevschi: The red painted eggs and Easter bread are traditional for the period during which we celebrate the Return to Life of Christ, from Easter to the Feast of Ascension, especially by singing Jesus is Risen.
We call on the faithful to go to the cemetery on these days with the things that they usually take to church – a pure wax candle that reminds of the Light of Jesus Christ through which we obtain redemption, the incense as the perfume of the Church, the oil for the grave lamp holder, bread and wine.
As Pentecost is the holiday of flowers for the ancient Latins, it would be nice to go to the graves with fresh flowers as to adorn them.
You can go with red painted eggs and Easter bread too as we celebrate the Return to Life of Jesus Christ each Sunday and these are traditional on Easter.
IPN: Does history know circumstances when the celebration of Low Sunday was transferred?
Pavel Borshevschi: I didn’t study history and I cannot say.
IPN: Why cannot Easter be also transferred?
Pavel Borshevschi: Before the start of the fourth century, Easter had been celebrated in different regions of the Roman Empire on different days. For the unity of Christians, the first Ecumenical Synod in 325 decided that the Christians all over the world will celebrate it the same day. A formula was agreed to determine the date of Easter each year. In short, this formula says that Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full Moon after the Spring Equinox. And if this Sunday coincides with the Jewish Pesach (Passover), the Christians’ Easter should be transferred to the next Sunday.
This way, Easter Day is not fixed by local traditions, as in the case of the Sunday of the Dead, but is regulated by the church cannon. Therefore, the celebration of Easter cannot be transferred to another day than the one determined by the aforementioned formula.
Marina Florea, IPN
The celebration of the Sunday of the Dead was postponed to June 6, 7 and 8. The decision was taken at the April 9 meeting of the Synod of the Orthodox Church of Moldova. At the same time, the services on Palm Sunday and on Easter this year will be held according to the recommendations formulated by the Commission for Exceptional Situations, in the conditions of the state of emergency. As regards the blessing of the Easter food, this paschal ritual will be held in accordance with the decision of the local bishop. For the bishoprics of the Eparchy of Centru, a communiqué about the method of holding this ceremonial will be issued later.
