A Pastoral Encyclical on the Cremation of the Dead and the Sanctity of the Human Body

PASTORAL ENCYCLICAL ON THE CREMATION OF THE DEAD
PAVLOS, BY THE GRACE OF GOD
METROPOLITAN OF THE MOST HOLY METROPOLIS OF SERVIA AND KOZANI

Sunday of Orthodoxy 2026 

 

To the pious clergy and the devout and saint-loving people of our Sacred Metropolis.

My beloved spiritual children,

Taking the opportunity given to us by this Sunday, on which the Feast of Orthodoxy is celebrated, we will attempt, with unity of heart, to convey to your good hearts and Christ-centered minds a few theological, spiritual, and scriptural reflections concerning the issue of the cremation of the dead.

In order to approach this timely subject, we must first consider what man is. The Old Testament emphatically notes the importance and greatness of man in comparison with the rest of creation. God created everything through His word — “He spoke and it came to be” — in five days: first heaven, earth, and the billions of stars; then plants, animals, birds, reptiles, and the whole irrational creation. On the sixth day He created man, not merely by His word, but with the participation of His Son and Word and of the Holy Spirit. The entire Holy Trinity was Creator in the making of man, as is stated in the Book of Genesis:

“Let Us make man according to Our image and likeness. Let him rule over the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and over everything that moves upon the earth” (Gen. 1:26–27).

Argumentum ex Silentio - (Is the Cremation of the Dead "Permitted?")

By Fr. Theodosios Martzouchos

“But even at his final moment he dared to ‘set fire’ even to his own earthly remains: he took care that the place where his bones would rest should remain unknown… And his bones were lost, according to his command, in the forest of Kerasia.”

Archimandrite Vasilios Gontikakis,
Elder Porphyrios as an Athonite, p. 78.

“When Abba Arsenios was about to depart this life, his disciples were troubled; and he said to them: ‘The hour has not yet come. But when the hour does come, I tell you this: I shall be judged with you before the fearful tribunal if you give my relics to anyone.’ They said to him: ‘What then shall we do, since we do not know how to bury you?’ And the elder said to them: ‘Do you not know how to tie a rope to my foot and drag me up the mountain?’”

The Gerontikon, Abba Arsenios, 40.

A television persona died and chose (whether personally or through relatives — it makes no difference) cremation instead of the customary burial.

This event became the spark for a “social conflagration” over an issue that has long been smoldering beneath the surface, precisely because it is unclear how many people actually accept such a practice and, when the time comes, how many will choose it.

Much emotional and psychological commentary was written, and there was even an appeal to the… magisterium — not to persuade, but to silence.

Yet commands must persuade and must be well-founded. If they lack these elements, the fault lies not with those who do not obey them, but with those who hasten to issue judgments.

Modern man, faced with all this, will think:

“So what? Can’t I choose how my body will decompose? Don’t I have the right?”

"The Body is Not the Soul’s Garbage"

By Fr. Libyos

If the body has no worth, then neither does the soul.

The body is not the soul’s garbage, to be burned in the landfills of our “pseudo-civilization.”

You see, we have this “modern,” “rational” idea that cremation is simply a technical solution: cleaner, more efficient, more ecological, less space, less “trouble.”

But this is precisely where the problem lies.

Because the real question is not, “What is more practical?”

The real question is: what kind of civilization are we, when we consider it normal to burn a human being?

On Burial and Cremation

By Metropolitan Nektarios of Hong Kong

After the cremation of the body of a journalist and presenter, I read quite a few comments: some gave a defense against cremation, others supportive of the performance of a funeral service for those who are to be cremated.

Personally, I found something I read in a television program’s “chyron” to be disturbing: “reactions to the presenter’s cremation are intensifying.”

What does it mean that reactions are intensifying, and who is reacting?

Some people who play at being ecclesiastical journalists and create artificial tensions on television programs?

Or others who cash in their atheism on the payrolls of TV channels?

And what is the aim of this kind of reporting?

It is to such vulgarities that we should react.

The Cremation of Bodies, According to the Church of Greece (Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos)

 

The Cremation (Burning) of Bodies, According to the Church of Greece 

By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou

Various people ask me what the “official” decision of the Church of Greece is regarding the cremation of bodies. Certainly, some clergy have expressed their views on this matter and these have appeared in the media and on social networks; however, what matters is the decision of the Church of Greece itself, both from a theological standpoint and with regard to the pastoral consequences.

1. The Holy Synod has dealt repeatedly with this timely issue. On March 3, 1999, it organized a conference at the Caravel Hotel on the theme: “The Cremation of the Dead: Findings and Prospects for a Better Pastoral Approach to the Issue.” It was organized by the Synodal Committee on Dogmatic and Canonical Issues of the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece.