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. Subsequent writers similarly make mention of the practice as prevalent, not as unlawful or even disputed (until Arius challenged it towards the end of the 4th century). This passage occurs in one of his later writings, dating from the beginning of the 3rd century. Īmong Church writers Tertullian († 230) 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". Mayst thou live among the saints (3rd century).The inscriptions in the Roman catacombs bear similar witness to the practice, by the occurrence of such phrases as: Abercius, who throughout speaks in the first person. The tomb of the Christian Abercius of Hieropolis in Phrygia (latter part of the 2nd century) bears the inscription: "Let every friend who observes this pray for me", i.e. While prayer for the dead continues in both these traditions and in those of Oriental Orthodoxy and of the Assyrian Church of the East, many Protestant groups reject the practice. 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".
Prayer for the dead is well documented within early Christianity, both among prominent Church Fathers and the Christian community in general. And towards the end of the same letter, in 2 Timothy 4:19, 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. 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". May the Lord grant mercy to the house of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain, but when he was in Rome, he sought me diligently, and found me (the Lord grant to him to find the Lord's mercy on that day) and in how many things he served at Ephesus, you know very well.Īs with the verses from 2 Maccabees, these verses reflect the deep-felt desire that God will deal mercifully with the deceased "on that day" (perhaps Judgement Day, see also Eschatology). Christianity New Testament Ī passage in the New Testament which is seen by some to be a prayer for the dead is found in 2 Timothy 1:16–18, which reads as follows: Prayers such as Namo Ratnasikhin Tathagata are for animals. 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. 2.12 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saintsįor 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 (or Qi Fo Mie Zui Zhen Yan 七佛滅罪真言).
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