Regarding Commemoration of the Dead......the after life.

Commemoration of the dead on the third day after death is an ancient, Apostolic tradition.
It is appointed first of all because the reposed had been Baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the One God in Trinity.
It is our hope that he maintained intact the Faith he accepted at Holy Baptism. Because throughout his life he prayed for remission of sins to God, One in Trinity, he is commemorated on the third day.
Second, he strove to preserve three Gospel virtues � faith, hope, and love � which form the basis for our salvation.
Third, his being consisted of three parts: spirit, soul and body, all three sin together; and after man�s translation to the world beyond the grave, all three need to be cleansed of sin.

www.stjohndc.org...


The state of the soul after death, according to the clear testimony of the word of God, is not

unconscious but conscious (for example, according to the parable of the rich man and Lazarus,

Luke 16:19-31). After death man is subjected to a judgment which is called �particular� to distinguish

it from the general last judgment. It is easy in the sight of the Lord to reward a man �on

the day of death according to his conduct,� says the most wise son of Sirach (11: 26). The same

thought is expressed by the Apostle Paul: �It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the

judgment� (Heb. 9:27). The Apostle presents the judgment as something which follows immediately

after the death of a man, and evidently he understands this not as the general judgment, but

as the particular judgment, as the Holy Fathers of the Church have interpreted this passage. �Today

shall thou be with me in paradise� (Luke 23:43), the Lord uttered to the repentant thief.

In Sacred Scripture it is not given us to know how the particular judgment occurs after a

man�s death. We can judge of this only in part from separate expressions which are found in the

word of God. Thus, it is natural to think that in the particular judgment also a large part in the

fate of a man after death is taken both by good and by evil angels: the former are implements of

God�s mercy, and the latter � by God�s allowance � are implements of God�s justice. In the

parable of the rich man and Lazarus, it is said that �Lazarus was carried by the angels into Abraham's

bosom� (Luke 16:22). In the parable of the foolish rich man he is told: �Thou fool, thisnight thy soul shall be required of thee� (lit: �they shall take,� Luke 12:20); evidently it is evil

powers who will �take it� (St. John Chrysostom.). For, on the one hand, the angels of these �little

ones,� in the Lord's own words, always behold the face of the Heavenly Father (Matt. 18: 10),

and likewise at the end of the world the Lord will send His angels, who will �sever the wicked

from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire� (Matt. 13:49); and on the other

hand, �our adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour�

(1 Peter 5:8), and the air, as it were, is filled with the spirits of evil under the heavens, and their

prince is called the �prince of the power of the air� (Eph. 6:12, 2:2).
www.intratext.com...