I've never prayed for a departed. I wouldn't know what to say. :) Is there any Biblical support for the idea that the departed are in discomfort because they are separated from their bodies? Paul seems to say the opposite:
2 Cor 5:6-8 : 6 Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. 7 We live by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.
It doesn't appear that Paul believes there is an intermediate state of any kind. He seems to think that once we physically die, the elect go straight into the presence of our Lord. I like the sound of that, so I think I'll just skip all the suffering and purgation-type stuff. :)
After the second coming, our natural state will be re-established (this is not reincarnation, as our identities remain, and the bodies we get will be our old bodies made new).
I agree that there's no reincarnation here, and it's really more closely a reunification. And, I've always wondered how that's physically going to work out. Will we all look like 18-year-olds? Plus, what sort of bodies do abortion victims get?
Quite a number of Heavenly visitations have related that . . .
folks they knew who’d graduated from this life all looked to be a youthful 30 years old.
That children for some reason were schooled in Heavenly schools and grew at whatever rate to again . . . look like a youthful 30 eyars old . . . forever.
"Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on their souls and accept them in your Kingdom."
The actual parastos/panekhida, memorial service is quite beautiful as we go through series of God praising prayers of gratitude to the merciful God and ends with us committing their souls to memory eternal.
We also pray for our departed during Divine Liturgy.
The priest recites (I am omitting people's responses) "That the Lord God will establish his (or her or their) soul(s) where the just repose. "
"The mercies of God, the Kingdom of Heaven, and the remission of his (or her or their) sins, we ask of Christ, our King Immortal and our God"
"O God of spirits, and of all flesh, Who hast trampled down death by death, and overthrown the Devil, and hast bestowed life upon Thy world: do Thou Thyself, O Lord, grant rest to the soul(s) of Thy departed servant(s), (name-s of the deceased), in a place of brightness, a place of verdure, a place of repose, whence all sickness, sorrow and sighing have fled away."
"As the gracious God, Who lovest mankind, pardon every transgression which he (or she or they) has (or have) committed, whether by word, or deed, or thought. For Thou alone art without sin, and Thy righteousness is to all eternity, and Thy word is truth."
"For Thou art the Resurrection, and the Life, and the Repose of Thy departed servant(s) (name-s of the deceased). O Christ our God, and unto Thee we ascribe gory, together with Thy Father, Who is from everlasting, and Thine All-Holy, and Good and Life-Giving Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages."
No magic, FK. Just throwing ourselves at His feet.
It doesn't appear that Paul believes there is an intermediate state of any kind. He seems to think that once we physically die, the elect go straight into the presence of our Lord/I>
I would expect +Paul to think that body was filth. That's the Gnostic in him. Yet, the body is just inanimate clay; nothing God didn't make. It is our soul that sins.
If it would preferable to be away from the body then why give us new bodies? We were not meant to be angels who are punished by being imprisoned in a body (although Gnostics did believe exactly that!).
God created us body and soul, together. The soul by itself is in in unnatural state without a body. But, of course, the pagans and Gnostics (and apparently some Protestants) believe that the soul pre-exists the body, in which case – who needs the body, right?
Will we all look like 18-year-olds?
Where does it say that in the Bible? I have heard that said by many people, but I can't figure out whence that came.
Plus, what sort of bodies do abortion victims get?
Such speculations are absurd and pointless, FK. We simply don't know.
LOL. Me, either. Let's not start now. 8~)
KOSTA: Thus all the souls of the departed are in discomfort because they are in an unnatural state.
Huh? Departed souls are either in heaven or hell. Neither group has any need of our earthly supplications. The ones in hell are beyond redemption while the ones in heaven are happily preoccupied with glorifying God and enjoying Him forever.
Do you actually believe those in heaven are in discomfort, Kosta?