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Summary
- Seven closing prayers suit different funerals: for someone who died in faith, after a long illness, after a sudden death, for a young person, when the person’s faith is not known, for a memorial service or cremation, and a blessing on the mourners.
- Traditional closing prayers are quoted from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer (p. 332 and p. 335), the 1888 Catholic Manual of Prayers (“Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord”) and Hapgood’s 1906 Orthodox service book (“Memory eternal”).
- At the grave, the 1928 prayer book’s committal commits the body “earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust; in sure and certain hope of the Resurrection unto eternal life.”
- The 1928 prayer book appoints Psalms 39, 90, 27, 46, 121 and 130 for burial, with readings from 1 Corinthians 15, Romans 8 and John 14.
- Catholics and Orthodox pray for the dead; many Protestants pray only for the mourners, so the intercessions mark the one intention they can leave out.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- Scripture quotations are from the King James Version (1611), text of Project Gutenberg eBook no. 10 (Job 19:25; Psalm 90:1; 121:8; Matthew 5:4; John 11:25, 35; 14:2; Romans 8:39; 14:8; Revelation 14:13). https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10
- The Book of Common Prayer (Protestant Episcopal Church in the U.S.A.), Standard Book of 1928. The Burial of the Dead, pp. 324–336, including “Remember thy servant, O Lord” and the blessing, p. 332; At the Grave, p. 333; “The God of peace,” p. 335; the Burial of a Child, Psalm 23. PDF facsimile: https://www.artisticdailyprayers.org/uploads/3/0/1/6/30164961/bcp1928std.pdf
- A Manual of Prayers for the Use of the Catholic Laity, prepared and published by order of the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore. New York: Catholic Publication Society, 1888. The Burial of the Dead, In paradisum, pp. 583–584, and closing prayer and responses, p. 586. https://archive.org/details/AManualOfPrayers1888
- Hapgood, Isabel Florence, trans. Service Book of the Holy Orthodox-Catholic Apostolic (Greco-Russian) Church. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin, 1906. The Order for the Burial of the Dead (Laymen), kontakion, p. 384; benediction and “Memory eternal,” p. 392. https://www.ponomar.net/data/hapgood.pdf
- General Instruction of the Roman Missal (2002), paragraph 70. https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccdds/documents/rc_con_ccdds_doc_20030317_ordinamento-messale_en.html
- 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. https://988lifeline.org/
- Samaritans. “Contact a Samaritan.” https://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help/contact-samaritan/
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