In the Orthodox Church tradition, it is customary to prayerfully see off the deceased relatives and friends on the last journey. For this, there is a special rite in the Church called the funeral service.
During the funeral service, the clergyman and those praying ask God for the remission of sins to the deceased person. Most often, this follow-up takes place before the burial of the deceased (until the third day). However, there are times when, for various reasons, relatives do not have time to sing a service to a person before the latter is sent off to the place of rest. In such a situation, it makes sense to run to a funeral service called correspondence.
The correspondence funeral service is most often performed in the church. The sequence of the correspondence funeral service is identical to a similar rite performed immediately before the coffin of the deceased. Any day can be considered the time of the correspondence funeral service (when the liturgy is held in the church, the correspondence funeral service is carried out at the end of the service and prayer services).
During the funeral service in absentia, the priest prays in front of a tetrapod - a special candlestick set aside for candles in memory of the dead. The beginning of the funeral service is standard: selected verses of the 17th kathisma are sung, followed by special funeral troparia, during which the forgiveness of sins to the deceased is asked for and the granting of the latter the opportunity to be in paradise with the saints. After that, the clergyman (he may be a deacon) commemorates the deceased at the funeral ectinia; The funeral sedal is sung in chorus, after which the irmos of the funeral canon are sung with choruses about the granting of peace to the deceased.
At the end of the canon and the funeral stichera, passages from the New Testament are read, in which people are announced about the reality of life after death, and also narrates about God's judgment that takes place after a person ends the days of earthly life.
After reading the Holy Scriptures, the choir sings the funeral stichera and troparia. At the end of the correspondence funeral service, the priest (deacon) pronounces an augmented litany with commemoration of the name of the deceased and proclaims eternal memory to the deceased person.
A distinctive feature of the correspondence funeral service is that upon completion of the rite, the priest gives the relatives the land, which will need to be poured crosswise onto the grave of the deceased. In the rite of ordinary funeral service, the earth is sprinkled directly into the coffin on the bedspread.
The correspondence funeral service can be performed at any time after death, but you should try to resort to this rite as early as possible. There is a practice that the absentee funeral service is carried out up to forty days from the moment of death, because church tradition says that it is on the fortieth day that the soul goes to a private judgment to God.
