This bishop noticed that many of his parishioners were surprised when he conducted the funeral service in white vestments. They thought, like most, that black vestments were more appropriate for mourning and grief at funerals and memorials. The following are excerpts from his sermon on this subject.
“Rejoice, brothers, in the Lord; again I say, rejoice.” Wearing black as a sign of mourning dates back to pagan times. The Latin West preserved this custom and included it in its tradition because its theological teaching about heaven and hell leaves no room for the mercy of Christ but for mourning, as if there is no hope after death. But wearing black to signify excessive mourning is contrary to the Orthodox faith and is contrary to the Bible. We mourn at funerals, but we do not mourn the departed; rather, we feel sorry for ourselves because we are deprived of the presence of those we love. But to make the event a time of mourning and blackness shows that we are weak in faith and that we have forgotten Christ and His love. Our Father St. John Chrysostom addresses those who wear black: “What are you doing, you who defile this day of judgment? You who cling to the black of mourning, do you not believe in Christ? Why do you shame this departed one? Why do you turn comfort into fear and trembling at death? Why do you push people to accuse God?” “You are fighting yourselves. Why do you mourn like pagans who have no hope of resurrection?” We just have to adopt his thinking.
Felix, the first-century historian, gives us directions on how we should adorn our funerals in his description of Christian funerals in early Christian times: “There is no mourning at our funerals. Why is there any? We adorn our funerals with great tranquility, as we adorn our lives. No wreaths of flowers that will wither are placed on the brow of the dead, for we hope for evergreen and eternal wreaths. Quietly and modestly, preserved in the abundance and indulgence of our God, we are filled with joy in the hope of the coming joy and with confidence in the present greatness of God. Thus we are lifted up in blessing and live in contemplation of what is to come.”
Do you want us to shroud ourselves in black for fear of death, for ourselves or for the departed? Father Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, admonishes us in his words: “The foolish fear death as if it were all evil. The foolish fear death, either because they think it means annihilation, or because they are terrified by stories about it… the ranks of the devils, the high slopes of darkness, and so on.” Let us leave these things behind us, and come to understand the Orthodox meaning of death, and let us put aside our unorthodox black garments and rejoice, crying out with Saint Gregory the Theologian: “I believe in the words of the wise, because every sensitive and God-loving soul, when it departs from here, advances rejoicing to meet its Lord… and enters the joy of happiness prepared for it.”
Black clothes are inappropriate and shameful for Orthodox funerals and memorials, as if we were entering a wedding chamber dressed in gloomy black. Haven’t you heard that we celebrate funerals and memorials? No, let us wear the crowning garments of white and gold, and let us cast aside mourning and carry hope, as our father John Chrysostom teaches us: “There is no place for tears where miracles are performed and where this mystery is celebrated. Listen to me, I beg you… A great mystery is celebrated when someone dies. If we were sitting together and the emperor sent to invite us to his palace, would it be right for us to mourn and lament? Do you not know what a mystery is taking place now, and how wonderful and worthy of singing and praise it is? It is a great mystery of the wisdom of God. The soul is running to its Lord, and you are mourning?” “For just as the sun rises bright and radiant, so the soul, after leaving the body with a clear conscience, shines with joy… The soul leaves the body in the company of the angels, think how it should be! In what wonder, what splendor, what joy! Why do you mourn? This is the reason for prayers, psalms, and doxologies to God: so that you may not mourn or lament, but rather give thanks to God who has taken the one who has fallen asleep…”
So no one should talk to me anymore about black clothes at funerals and memorials. They only distract the minds of our youth and divert their attention from the Gospel of Christ. They are totally anti-Orthodox and contrary to the Gospel of Christ. At our funerals and memorials let us mix our sorrow with joy, and if we are unable to rejoice, at least let us be comforted by the words of the One who promised us that “neither life nor death… will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Metropolitan Lazarus Bochalo (Romania)
Quoted from Orthodox Heritage Magazine
We searched for His Eminence Metropolitan Lazarus, but we did not find his name within the Roman Church.
But we found the sovereign Lazar (Puhalo) of Ottawa We attribute this page to him.
Romania may have been mentioned inadvertently or our research may have been incomplete.
