When the wreaths are removed from the grave after the funeral according to the church canons? When to put the monument after the funeral?

Life and death are two inseparable components of the earthly existence of the human soul. Different nations have certain rules of burial, carefully passed down from generation to generation. According to the Christian customs, the deceased are buried, on the day of burial a wooden eight-pointed cross is placed on the grave, flowers are laid. When the wreaths are removed from the grave after the funeral and should it be done? Let's try to answer these questions, relying on church canons and folk traditions.

Cross as a symbol of the imperishability of the soul

According to Christian customs, the cross should be placed at the feet of the deceased, so that the person of the deceased faces the crucifixion. This rule is often neglected, establishing a cross in the heads. Often, another church canon is violated-the picture of the deceased relative being attached to the cross. You do not need to do this, just hang a name plate with birth / death dates.

In the Orthodox, the cross is the traditional form of a gravestone, the upwardly tending head points to heaven - the seat of the soul that has freed itself from the mortal body. According to the established traditions, flowers are laid on the grave and funeral wreaths are placed in tribute to the memory and respect for the deceased.

Which flowers are better, live or artificial?

Maintaining order in the cemetery is an aspect not so much spiritual as social. Agree that the dead does not really care what his grave looks like. It is necessary for the living - that was where to come in moments of sorrow or joy, ask for advice or receive a blessing. The question, when the wreaths are removed from the grave after the funeral according to the church canons, should not exist in principle. In any case, until the middle of the last century such a problem did not arise.

The whole point is that according to Christian customs the graves were decorated with fresh flowers, the life span of which is not long. Therefore, they were removed during the first few days. Clear the burial place from unnecessary details, bring it into the proper form can and should be at any time. This is the opinion of most clergymen. Moreover, according to the canons of the church, artificial flowers, which have come to replace the living now, are a symbol of lies and hypocrisy.

Snap to the Fortieth Anniversary Day

In the Soviet era, when church customs were not particularly respected, a tradition appeared to place flowers made of light cloth or paper on graves. Today, funeral wreaths are made of plastic, which significantly extends their service life. These memorial attributes can be open-air without damage to their appearance for several months and even years.

People who profoundly believe, when asked to remove the wreaths from the grave after the funeral according to church canons, are usually answered: to the fortieth day after the burial. In fact, strict church rules are not established on this score.

One can explain the validity of this statement by the custom that has developed in Orthodoxy, after 40 days after the funeral, to invite the priest to the grave of the deceased for the accomplishment of the funeral service. It is highly desirable that the arrival of the priest here was beautiful and clean. But we will repeat: there are no prohibitions on putting things in order in places of burial before this date.

How to care for a grave

Care of graves, according to the clergy, should be carried out regularly, as necessary. To remove wilted flowers, to replace worn out wreaths, to correct crumbling earth - this can be done at any time. Thus, the living people pay tribute to the deceased, they show to others and, first of all, to themselves, that in their hearts memory and love for the departed do not fade.

When the wreaths are removed from the grave after the funeral, in the case of soil subsidence, it is corrected with a shovel, giving the mound the correct form. The surface can be surrounded with green turf, planted around perennial flowers. Good take root and do not require constant care chrysanthemum, cynia, marigold, daffodils, lilies of the valley. In this case, there is no need to use artificial attributes.

Where to put the worn out wreaths

At each cemetery, there are specially designated places for storing such items, which are ultimately household waste that must be disposed of. In many countries, the use of artificial wreaths is gradually abandoned, since the processing of plastics requires additional costs and harms the environment.

Imagine a huge city cemetery, where hundreds of graves are made every day. Naturally, when the wreaths are removed from the grave after the funeral, whole blockages of unnecessary memorial attributes are formed, which are then taken to the dump. In rural areas, wreaths that have served their term are simply burned somewhere nearby. The acrid scent of plastic that is released at the same time not only pollutes the environment, but also disrupts the charitable atmosphere inside the village churchyard.

On what days it is impossible to clean up the cemetery

According to church statutes, it is forbidden to clean, paint fences, plant flowers and trees on graves on all Sundays, and even more so during Orthodox holidays. Such actions are considered a sin and a statement of disrespect for the church.

In addition, there are certain periods when you should not go to the cemetery at all. These include:

• Holy days (from 7 to 20 January).
• Clean Thursday, Good Friday and Great Saturday.
• Easter and the subsequent Light of the Week.
• Days of the Twelve Great Feasts.
• Any Sundays.

Visiting the deceased usually begin with Radonica (the parental day), coming on Tuesday sixteen days after Easter.

And do you need a monument?

The Orthodox Church condemns any excesses in the arrangement of burial places. But since many of us do not consider ourselves to be deeply religious, over the past few decades, it has become customary to establish monuments on graves. As a rule, such monuments are made of marble or granite, cast from various types of metal. Often you can hear in response to the question, when to put the monument after the funeral, the statement: not earlier than in twelve months. Why is that?

Some explain this by the need to withstand a period of 1 year, after which any manipulation on the grave of the deceased will not be able to disturb him. According to popular beliefs, in 12 months the soul of the deceased finally leaves our world. It is possible that in such reasoning there is some kind of rational grain. It was not possible to look beyond the boundaries of eternal darkness.

Interestingly, in the workshops for making heavy tombstones you will be told the same thing. Only the ground will be more mundane, without reference to the afterlife mythology. So, when to put the monument after the funeral? Only when the soil on the grave is completely condensed will it finally shrink. This process in most cases takes at least one year. Otherwise, the metal or stone structure can stand up unevenly, skew, fall or deform due to the movement of the soil layers.

The cross is not a hindrance to the monument

Now we know where and when the wreaths are removed from the grave after the funeral. But with the crosses installed in the burial, according to Orthodox customs, one should be treated with care. Even if you decide to perpetuate the memory of a deceased relative in marble or bronze, the cross must be left in place. Monument in this case is established either next to the cross, or on the opposite side from it.

In some cases, the cross can be laid next to the grave or, in agreement with the priest, burned in a church oven. It seems that in any scenario, external manifestations of respect for the deceased are not so important. The main thing is the spiritual kinship and memory that lives in our heart.