Honoring the Ancestors
By Fr. Paisius Altschul
“…If our dead ones who are dear to us have been vouchsafed the Kingdom of Heaven, they reply to prayer for them with an answering prayer for us….” - Fr. Michael Pomazansky
The children of Africa have kept a deep sense of honoring the ancestors since the earliest times. Appreciation for, respect, veneration, and seeing oneself at the end of a long line of all those that came before are principles that native cultures have shared in common throughout all of Africa. It is in keeping with the original revelation of God’s ways passed on to Noah. After the sin of Ham, in failing to honor his father Noah, (Gen. 9:20-24) his children have shown, on the contrary, the deepest respect for parents and ancestors. As the faith spread abroad and became more removed from the original teaching and ways, the honoring of ancestors led many to actually worship the ancestors as gods. For others they saw the ancestors as their protectors, guides and avengers of wrongs that needed to be regularly appeased through sacrifice and offerings. However, these traditions, as well as other tribal belief systems, all contain a fundamental human principle: the importance of honoring those that came before us. We are to see ourselves in lowliness, as recipients of all that have come before us, indebted to their goodness and maintaining respect for them.
In the Law given to Moses, we are taught to “honor thy father and thy mother.”(Ex. 20:12) Moses taught the younger to rise in the presence of an older person and to fear God. (Lev.19:32) In the book of Job it is written, “For inquire, please, of the former age, and consider the things discovered by their fathers; for we were born yesterday, and know nothing, because our days on earth are a shadow. Will they not teach you and tell you, and utter words from their heart?” (Job 8:8-10) This idea of remembrance is also reflected in the detailed geneologies found in the book of Genesis in the Old Testament and Matthew and Luke in the New Testament. The apostle Paul spoke of giving special greetings to the apostolic couple, Andronicus and Junia, who, he said, “were in Christ before me.” (Rom 16:7) These ideas of honor reflect the faith passed down from Noah and finally brought to fulness when the God-Man, the Savior of all Mankind, Jesus Christ, came into the world and sent out His Holy Apostles.
When the good news of the birth of the Messiah was announced to the holy Virgin, Mary, she burst out later in song and prophetically declared, “My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior. For He hath looked upon the lowliness of His handmaiden. From henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.” (St. Luke 1:46-48) Here she spoke of universal and endless blessing that would be given to her because she became the Mother of God.
Right before the Lord Jesus Christ was arrested and taken to the Cross for the salvation of the world, He offered a prayer so deep and far reaching many overlook its significance. He prayed for the Apostles and for those that believed in Him through their teaching, that they would all be one. He specifically prayed that they would be one just like He and the Father were one. Think of it, a unity with Christ and the apostles that would extend down through the ages for those that believed in Him through the Apostles teaching. Thus, the unity is not only with those that are alive now, nor was it just for the twelve who were alive then, but for all who believe in Christ, then and now, to be one together. This is often called the Communion of saints. It is a holy community that all people are invited to participate in. (St. John 17:20-23)
Close to the time that Jesus was to go to Jerusalem to suffer and die, He took three of His closest disciples with Him up to a mountain called Tabor. As He was praying, there appeared to Him the holy prophets Moses and Elijah. Now Moses had died, but Elijah had been taken up to heaven in a fiery chariot and never died. Yet both of them appeared and spoke with Jesus. (St. Luke 9:28-36) This is why when Lazarus, the friend of Jesus, died, that Jesus said he was merely asleep. St. Paul spoke of believers in Christ not dying, but sleeping. (1 Thes.4:13-14) For though the body in death is in a state of sleep to be awakened at the resurrection of the dead when Christ returns from heaven, the soul is in a continued state of consciousness.
The idea of continuing to share in God’s kind of life even after death is part of the Faith. Jesus said that when God said, “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,” He was revealing that He was “not the God of the dead but of the living.” (St. Luke 20:37-38) In the Old Testament period, during the time of the Maccabees, the Holy Prophet Jeremiah, many years after his death, appeared to Judas Maccabees, and was shown to be a great protector of the people of Israel through his prayers. (2 Mac.15:13-16) The book of 1st and 2nd Maccabees appears in the Apocrypha of the Protestant Bible, yet in the time of Christ and the Apostles, it was part of the Septuagint, which was the Bible used throughout the world at that time. The feast of Dedication in St. John 7 is a feast recorded in the book of Maccabees, and honored by Christ Himself.
In the letter of St. Paul to the Hebrews, St. Paul adds to our about our communion together with the holy ones that are around the throne of God. He says, “we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses” referring back to all the saints of the Old Testament period. (Heb. 12:1) He then goes on to say that the believers in Christ now “have come to Mt. Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and Church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus, the Mediator of the New Covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than the blood of Abel.” (Heb. 12:22-24) In this amazing passage, he says not that we will come, but that we have come to this heavenly fellowship. To participate in the life of the heavenly Church while on earth is a basic part of the Faith. Their examples, their faith, their encouragement, and their prayers are all part of the way Christ administers His grace to His Church on the earth. From the earliest Christian times, there have been two primary ways to stay connected in truth with one’s ancestors. They both are centered in prayer. For those that have actually become saints, we ask them to pray for us. For most, whose place of respose is unclear, we pray for them.
When the 1st century Bishop, St. Ignatius of Antioch, was thrown to the lions in Rome in the early 2nd century, he afterwards appeared to the faithful. In the “Martyrdom of Ignatius”, written around 110 AD, it is recorded that “some of us saw blessed Ignatius suddenly standing by us and embracing us, while others beheld him again praying for us.” That the saints pray for us is verified not only by Jeremiah in the Old Testament and St. Ignatius in the early 2nd century, but in nearly 2000 years of continuous Orthodox Christian history. In one of the earliest first century Liturgies, the Liturgy of St. James, who was the half-brother of Christ-God, and the early leader of the Jerusalem church, we find, “Especially we perform the memorial of the Holy and Glorious Ever-Virgin, the Blessed Theotokos (God-bearer, i.e. the Mother of God). Remember Her, O Lord God, and by Her pure and holy prayers spare and have mercy on us.” The main portion of this liturgy goes back to the first century!
The ancient liturgies of St.Mark (commonly used in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church), that of St. Cyria of Alexandria and that of St. Basil the Great (both commonly used in the Egyptian or Coptic Orthodox Church) and that of St. John Chrysostom (commonly used throughout most of the Orthodox Churches) all contain these same elements. Why this is so significant is that the basic parts of most of these liturgies were written before the formation of the New Testament was finished! This included the parts where we ask the saints to pray for us and where we pray for the departed. While some strongly object to the idea that those in heaven are able to pray for us, most will readily admit that they could use the prayers of those that they believe are closer to God than they themselves. If we are truly “surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses” in Heaven, and we have come to the “spirits of righteous ones made perfect,” and we are to be “as one” with them as the Father and the Son are one, than why not ask them to pray for us? This is not to negate the work of Christ as the Mediator between God and man (1 Tim. 2:5) for all prayers go to the Father through the Son, even those in heaven, as well as those on earth. It rather magnifies Christ Who is “wondrous in His saints.” (1 Chr. 29:10-12) as the Head of the Body of Christ. (Eph.1:22-23)
The second way to stay connected is to pray for them. Regarding the prayer for the departed, a most illuminating passage is found again in the story of the Maccabees in the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament. There it was found that, in a certain battle, some of the Jewish soldiers died, but previously had confiscated some forbidden golden idols, which were still in their possession. When this was discovered, all the Jews “blessed the ways of the Lord, the righteous Judge, Who reveals the things that are hidden; and they turned to prayer, beseeching that the sin which had been committed might be wholly blotted out. And Judas Maccabees himself sent to Jerusalem to provide for a sin offering. In doing this he acted very well and honorably, taking account of the resurrection.” (2 Mac. 12:39-46) During the feast of Pentecost, celebrating the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Church, there is a beautiful prayer during Vespers that is prayed on our knees for all people, even for those in Hades. In another of prayer the Akathist for the Departed, the following prayer reflects the early Church understanding on prayer. It shows an experience that St. Macarius, the great African desert father had. We pray, “Enlightened by the illumination of the All-highest, Saint Macarius heard a voice from a pagan skull: When you pray for those suffering in hades, then there is comfort for the heathen. O wondrous power of Christian prayer, by which even the nether regions are illumined! Both believers and unbelievers receive consolation when we cry for the whole world: Alleluia.”
In an explanation of early Orthodox Church teaching on this subject, Fr. Michael Pomazansky writes, “Of course, on the earth it is not known to what lot each has been subjected after his death. But the prayer of love can never be profitless. If our dead ones who are dear to us have been vouchsafed the Kingdom of Heaven, they reply to prayer for them with an answering prayer for us. And if our prayers are powerless to help them, in any case they are not harmful to us, according to the word of the Psalmist: “My prayer shall return to my bosom.” (Ps. 34:16, Sept., 35:16 KJV), and according to the word of the Savior: “Let your peace return to you.” (Mt. 10:13).”
There is a vast difference between this and what is called in the Scriptures, necromancy or spiritism. There one actually seeks to contact the departed for consultation or guidance. This treacherous path actually opens the soul up to a myriad of spirits who are capable of posing as the departed, but unfortunately bring the soul in subjection to the power of darkness and the evil princes. A few of the commands against it are in Leviticus 19:31; 20:6; and 1 Sam. 28. This unfortunately is what often occurs when people innocently seek guidance from their ancestors. (Isa.8:19-9:2) The Scriptures say, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” (Hos. 4:6)
Yet, the desire to help one’s ancestors can safely be accomplished through the prayer tradition of the Church. Prayers during Liturgy, alms and memorials given on their behalf (like Judas Maccabees), and other special prayer services of the Church enable one not to neglect their loved ones but show them the proper respect they deserve and give them the most powerful help available in heaven and on earth: the prayers of the Church of Christ offered to God through Jesus Christ.
Today, as more and more are discovering the ancient riches of the Orthodox Church, we are led to the true path regarding helping and honoring our ancestors. Let us remember every godly thing they have passed on to us, let us venerate and love them, let us recount their lessons and pass them on to the next generation, and, above all, let us bring them regularly before the Holy Trinity, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, One God, through the Prayers of the Church.
