Matushka Donna Farley

By Matushka Donna Farley

A writer of my acquaintance once called me up to say he was working on a novel about religion in the future, and for various reasons needed some information about Orthodoxy. Since his own Christian background was ancient history to him, he had a hard time knowing even where to begin asking questions. After a few stabs in the dark (Is there an intercessory tradition of saints? Is it true you can look at icons as "windows to heaven"?) he asked me to talk about something that was particularly meaningful to me in my Orthodox life.

By Matushka Donna Farley

The recent discovery in Georgia of a crematorium fraud has brought the reality of death and decay to TV screens in a way that most people have succeeded in eliminating from their consciousness entirely. The funeral industry has sanitized death and hidden its dreadful ravages upon the human body. Increasingly at non-Orthodox "funerals",  cremation has become trendy. There is no body present at the service to receive the final kiss, as it is in the Orthodox practice.