Many different traditions are connected with the wires to the last journey of the deceased. Some of them have nothing to do with Christianity, others are completely orthodox and acceptable to Orthodox culture.
Often before burial, the question arises of whether it is necessary to leave the holy image of the Lord or the Mother of God in the grave. Some people absolutely categorically say that this should not be done. However, the Orthodox tradition ascribes to bury a person with an icon. In modern times, all burial sets contain small burial holy images. Before the 1917 revolution in Russia, there were no superstitions associated with the fact that a person should not be buried with an icon. Where did such a non-Christian funeral omen come from?
The practice of prohibiting the burial of a person with an icon originates in post-revolutionary Russia, when believers were oppressed by the authorities. History shows that many churches were closed, the clergy were exiled to prison after 1917. In addition, ordinary believers could be harassed by atheistic authorities. For example, if a person kept icons at home, then he came under the close scrutiny of Soviet city governors. Icons were confiscated from believers and burned. All this led to the disappearance of many holy images in the apartments and houses of believers. Those icons that they managed to preserve were hidden by believers, as evidenced by the ancient practice of closing the red corner in the house with curtains even now.
When a person was seen off on his last journey in Soviet times, there were no icons in the coffin. This is due to two reasons. The first was the physical lack of holy images. Many believers had only a few icons in their homes. The second reason was the fear of believers in front of the Soviet authorities, because the funeral according to the Orthodox tradition could turn out to be very deplorable for relatives. It was these reasons that prompted the people in Soviet times to bury the dead without icons.
In modern Russia, when believers are not oppressed by the authorities for their confession of faith, and a huge number of icons are produced, the Orthodox are gradually returning to historical Christian traditions. Now they are buried with icons again, as it was before in Orthodox Russia. However, even in modern society, there may be echoes of Soviet practice. This is reflected in any mystical justifications for the prohibitions to leave the icon in the grave of the deceased. An Orthodox person must remember that this is a superstition that does not belong to Orthodox culture.
