Do Eastern Catholics Cremate Themselves?

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Hi, is cremation allowed in the eastern churches? My friend is a cantor at my Uke church said that the body must be present. If not they must go to another church for the funeral.
 
Looking for another source, but this is the comment in Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cremation_in_the_Christian_World

''The Eastern Orthodox Church forbids cremation. Exceptions are made for circumstances where it may not be avoided as in when civil authority demands it, during epidemics or other similar necessary cases. When a cremation is willfully chosen for no good cause by the one who is deceased, he or she is not permitted a funeral in the church and may also be permanently excluded from liturgical prayers for the departed. In Orthodoxy, cremation is a rejection of the dogma of the general resurrection, and as such is viewed harshly."
 
Trishie said:
Looking for another source, but this is the comment in Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cremation_in_the_Christian_World

''The Eastern Orthodox Church forbids cremation. Exceptions are made for circumstances where it may not be avoided as in when civil authority demands it, during epidemics or other similar necessary cases. When a cremation is willfully chosen for no good cause by the one who is deceased, he or she is not permitted a funeral in the church and may also be permanently excluded from liturgical prayers for the departed. In Orthodoxy, cremation is a rejection of the dogma of the general resurrection, and as such is viewed harshly."
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I advise taking this with a grain of salt, as this particular statement is unsourced on Wikipedia, and might not apply to all the Eastern Orthodox.

For the Eastern Catholics, this wouldn’t apply, as the funeral could always be done in a Latin parish even if Eastern Catholicism forbade it as strongly as its Orthodox counterparts.
 
Do those who oppose cremation as a rejection of the resurrection of the body believe that God **can’t **resurrect a cremated body, or just that he won’t?
 
Your best action would be to contact the Churches themselves.
And if you wish, the reasons why they determine their funeral processes.
In this way your information would be accurate. 🙂
I didn’t have much success chasing the relevant information online, and had a computer lock-up while trying, so didn’t return to the search, but yes, Wikipedia isn’t a favored choice for accurate information. It is preferable to find information in Church documents.
However if I personally wished to know I’d probably phone the relevant parishes to find out the facts.
 
Ukrforever said:
Hi, is cremation allowed in the eastern churches? My friend is a cantor at my Uke church said that the body must be present. If not they must go to another church for the funeral.
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Boy I sure hope no one is cremating themselves!! 😃
 
ciero said:
Boy I sure hope no one is cremating themselves!! 😃
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I know! That amused me too but I was trying to be very good and not comment, but now that you’ve broken the ice…it’s really very mean of us, you know, ciero. 🙂
 
Hokomai said:
Do those who oppose cremation as a rejection of the resurrection of the body believe that God **can’t **resurrect a cremated body, or just that he won’t?
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Neither. Cremation was a pagan practice that, in part, represented the belief that the soul leaves the body permanently, that the body is merely chaff to cast off. Since the first Christians came from pagan cultures where the practice represented such beliefs, they forbade cremation as being inappropriate.

So it’s not a strict theological prohibition, but rather a “teaching moment” that has been hardened into a tradition.

Peace and God bless!
 
Do Eastern Catholics Cremate Themselves?
I hope not. No matter how bad things may look, immolating one self is never the answer. Leave that to the Buddhists.
 
As I was answering this question, my screen blinked so I do not know what happened to my previous message (maybe its a demon who does not want me to state these)…so I will reply again.
My sister tells me the Roman Catholic church says cremation is acceptable because of “ashes to ashes, dust to dust”, but I still and always will be Ukrainian Catholic have not heard of such and will not be cremated. (Isnt it true that people want to be cremated only to save money? - I’m dead,what do I care about the money?). My thoughts are:
  1. I have studied Biblical prophecy for over 25 years. Ringing in my ears right now is: ‘those in the graves will rise first…’. If you are cremated, you are not in a grave.
  2. Recently in reading the words of saints (Cant remember who said this but) When the priest comes to bless the graves, the Holy Water, prayers and blessings penetrate to the soul of the deceased.
  3. Ukrainians have a very different thought about the life after (we actually CELEBRATE 40 days after their death). My own mother is packed up and ready to go on an eternal ‘vacation’.
    No,she’s not crazy, we realize life here is our test and it is eternity that is real.
  4. What would you think if the incorruptibles (Sts Therese, Bernadette, Vianny,Pio, etc) if they were cremated.
  5. Being that you are on this site, I have always believed & taught, no matter what our sins are, we have no way of knowing if in that last second before death, a person did not beg God’s Mercy. You may be a saint (you CAN be). Would you really want to scatter your ashes over the sea or mountain or whatever? Or would you prefer to be one of “those in the graves will rise first”…?
If, your thoughts are on the cost of a burial (which I dont know but let me interject here) instead I have instructed my family otherwise.
A) Like in the old days, to be laid out at home without embalming. (Do I care about embalming?)
B) Dont go and find a pretty fancy casket. My body will decay anyway. (Do I care about a fancy casket?)
C) That IS important to me is the sacraments, the funeral mass, the blessings. That is only what will matter to me at that time.
D) Forget the flowers. What will they do for me, they will die faster than I did. Instead, any contributions for masses or to charity.

These are my thoughts only, I would hope you might consider the spiritual side.
 
The Catholic Church forbids scattering of ashes for that reason. It teaches that those who choose cremation are to be permanently interred (such as burying the urn in a Catholic cometary, sealed niche in a mausoleum, deposited at sea…).
 
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