Cremation Issues
Published by deviousdiva February 27th, 2007 in Religion.Cremation became legal in Greece a year ago although there is still no crematorium. The Greek Orthodox church is now grappling with the issue of cremation for its followers. Yiannis Boutaris, best known for his wine label and a candidate in last years municipal elections has spoken out after he had to travel to Bulgaria to carry out his wife's wish to be cremated and then sought to have a traditional Orthodox funeral service. Most church officials refused to carry out the ceremony. He finally found a priest in a small village in Northern Greece who was willing to take the risk. After the funeral last week, he came out an said:
The church treats you as though you have committed suicide
Suicide is not permitted by the church but people who die in this way are permitted burial services if a doctor signs that the deceased could not be held accountable for their actions. [This issue deserves a seperate post]
After some heated debates this week in Paliament and in the media, the church has decided to re-consider its position. The Athens mayor Nikitas Kaklamanis has also announced plans to build the first crematorium, possibly at the first cemetary in Athens. A spokesman for the Orthodox church, Father Timotheos said:
The official line of the Greek Church is that it is against cremation…but because it is a matter that increasingly is being debated, the Holy Synod [the executive organ of the Greek Church] will discuss it, probably after Easter, with the intention of taking a position to inform its members what they should do
He also pointed out that cremation has long been practised in other predominantly Orthodox countries - Bulgaria, Serbia and Russia, for example.
Antonis Alakiotis, the president of the Committee for the Right of Cremation in Greece, says that a growing number of Greeks are opting for cremation.
Many Orthodox now prefer to be cremated because of the necessity for the bodies of Greeks to be exhumed after three years. The exhumation is a very difficult time for the families. Often the body has not decomposed fully. But one of the most positive aspects of the Greek Orthodox Church is that it is not dogmatic.
Read the whole article at the Athens News.
The end of the article deals with some of the envioromental issues surrounding burial and cremation and I was very interested in a new idea coming out of Sweden (where else?) where bodies will be freeze-dried using liquid nitrogen then dried by evaporation and buried in a biodegradable casket.
Churches have backed the plan, describing the issues as ethically similar to those addressed when approving cremation about 100 years ago
What do you think? Sounds like a sensible idea to me…
Technorati Tags: Greece, Greek Orthodox church, cremation, burial
it’s inconceivable to me that one would not be able to dispense of his body as he sees fit.
hmm… freeze-dried tribbles..
zardozfreezeddried ,,ill drink to that.
Shall we all retire to Sweden?
i’d love to live there NOW.
for the time being, i think i’ll go to beijing.
If I had to see a loved one’s remains exhumed three years after their burial, I just cannot imagine the emotional turmoil it would cause.
I would be interested to read your future commentary on the Church’s view of suicide. My mother lost her life-long fight with depression and committed suicide 14 years ago. Although we were awaiting the arrival of my brother before proceeding with the burial, we also had to wait to get permission from the higher-ups in the Church to give her her burial. Fortunately, our parish priest handled it with great sensitivity. While I agree that her actions were wrong, I also wish the Church didn’t have to make such a big deal about it. It just makes trying to understand and cope with mental illness that much harder for everyone (loved ones and many others who feel the ripple effect of such an action). And the more taboo the topic of mental illness is within the Church community (esp. here in the Diaspora), the less effect counseling efforts by the Church will have.
I guess I could write a post on this topic too..
Hi AntigoneSis, Thank you for sharing your story. I am wondering if you would consider guest blogging with a post on suicide and the Orthodox church ? I feel you could write about the issues in a much more personal and insightful way, having experienced it yourself.
Contact me by email if you are interested. Thank you again.
The Swedish idea sounds wonderful.
I want to be cremated, Thanos doesn’t want me to be. I don’t really want to be dug up after three years, and I don’t want to risk being buried alive (better to be burned alive than buried alive!). Yea, I’m weird like that.
I asked Thanos if it was his religion that made him not want me cremated. He said no, it was his occupation. We don’t “give back” to the earth if we don’t decompose. Sounds like bs to me, since we decompose in a box, not in the earth.
I don’t know where our argument is going to take us. I don’t hate the idea of being biodegradable, but only if I am truly biodegradable. I don’t want to be in a box for three years and then moved.
But my god, build a crematorium already! I have never seen more dragassishness than in Greece. And I’m the queen of dragassishness!
i think you’re biodegradable in any case.
even if you’re cremated you ‘give back’. the matter that was once us never disappears.
carl sagan said we’re starstuff.
i think this should be a personal choice. any amount of emotional blackmail by family or church, to me, repulsive.
Freeze-dried. That’s a new one to me.
For myself I don’t have a concern. Got lots of land to dig holes in anyway. Japan has a lot of space constraints so cremation makes sense.
Well, I -for one- am gonna specifically request that I am cremated, when that time comes. And I have already contacted my notary to that effect, so that I can put it in writting next time I’m back home.
I just can’t stand the idea of slowly decomposing in the ground, being eaten by maggots and then getting exhumed before they are even done
And I am sure that, despite the fact that the Orthodox Church will refuse to give me its blessing my God will.