Why Do We Pray for the Dead?
Question
Why do we pray for the dead?
Answer
Because the day of the general judgment has not yet come.
That day which Saint John the Revelator spoke about in the Book of Revelation: “And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books” (Rev. 20:12).
The day of judgment has not yet come. And the souls of the departed are in a place of waiting, desiring to be at rest. And as the Scripture says, “their works follow them” (Rev. 14:13). Certainly, there are souls that are very assured, while other souls still need reassurance. And perhaps we may wonder: Did God forgive that sin for me? Did I truly repent before death with genuine repentance? And did God accept my repentance?
We pray for these souls that God may give them rest in the place of waiting.
We ask for niyah—that is, rest—for them. We ask that God may give rest to their souls in the Paradise of Delight, meaning that He may comfort those souls and reassure them concerning their fate, and that they may not be troubled by the images of their sins that follow them.
Certainly, the sins that a person has repented of, God erases, and He no longer remembers them. And for this reason, we say about those who have repented:
“Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity” (Ps. 32:1–2; Rom. 4:7–8).
We pray that the Lord does not account their sins to them, so that those sins do not follow them and trouble them.
Therefore, when we ask for rest for their souls, we are asking for comfort for their souls and their thoughts and their feelings, and reassurance concerning their fate and the judgment they will hear from the mouth of God on the day of judgment.
Article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III – Al-Keraza Magazine – Year 23 – Issues 5 and 6 (2–3 February 1995)
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