Shroro
The Syriac Orthodox Christian Digest - November, 2005
Intercessory Prayers to the Departed Church Fathers: Are they silent or not?
By Ajay Abraham Kuriakose
Introduction
In this age of new
doctrines, we faithful are often confronted with the question, why do you
pray Intercessory prayers? Your immediate answer, I believe it will help
a sinner like me to obtain mercy
The attacker now uses a technique wherein:
1) He shows that your
belief itself is flawed.
Your
reply: my church people have been doing this for centuries.
In this final step many
of us fall not because they are right but because we have never tried to
study the bible properly ourselves. I shall try to point out as many
Biblical parts in order to show that Praying for the dead is indeed in
line with the BIBLE
All of our
traditions and prayers for the dead are based on the teachings of Christ
and his apostles who spoke in the power of the HOLY SPIRIT.
Ephesians ch1. v20: having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone..
One of the primary verses
with which these people attack us is:
Psalms115 v17.
This verse has become so widely used that most of us have heard this
several times by now. The dead do not praise the LORD, NOR any who go down into silence.
We never have an answer
to this because we never bother to check this up, let alone hold the
Bible
when discussing Biblical topics.
Read the next verse,
because its obvious the psalmist isn’t talking about himself in v17;
V18:
But we will bless the LORD From this time forth
forevermore. Praise the LORD!
Explained below in the
psalmist’s own words is the explanation of who he meant to be in
silence.
These words were in
perfect concordance with Jesus who taught where the souls of Abraham,
Lazarus and other faithful were in difference to the gathered souls of
the rich man and other wicked. (Check it up in Luke
ch.16)
Again the psalmist tells
us what he meant in ch115
v17, through the following psalms
Psalms 30
V3:
O
Lord you have bought my soul up from the grave; you have kept me alive,
that I should not go down to the pit.
He speaks for himself v9.
of the same psalms Verse 9: What profit is there in my blood, When I go down to the pit?
Will the dust praise You? Will it declare Your truth?
If the psalmist was to
bless his Lord forever he certainly could not be gathered with those in
the pit . I hope u understand when he says O Lord you have bought my
soul up from the grave; you have kept me alive, that I should not go
down to the pit.
Also he reaffirms that
his soul is not silent at any point in verse 12.
Psalms 30 Verse 12:
To
the end that my glory may sing praise to You
And not be silent.
O Lord my God, I will give thanks
to you forever.
Now observe the prayer of
the psalmist in the very next Psalms;
Psalms 31
Verse 17: Do not let me be
ashamed, O Lord, for I have called upon You; Let the wicked be ashamed; Let them be silent in the grave,
Verse 18: Let lying lips be put
to silence,
Which speak insolent things
proudly and contemptuously against the righteous.
I suppose it is now clear
as to who the silent are & who can not praise the Lord when they r
dead. Also crystal clear is that the faithful souls are constantly
praising the Lord and hence in constant communication with Him.
The psalmist doesn’t
stop here…
NOTE: the days of
adversity refers to the last days of torment when the faithful souls
will be given rest unlike the torment of the wicked.
Verse 17:
Unless
the Lord had been my help, My soul would soon have settled in silence.
Also Psalms 49v15
Verse 15:
But
God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave,
For He shall receive
me.
This is in line with what
Jesus spoke of what happens to the dead, some are received; others
suffer as in Psalm
49 verse14 (kindly read it also Luke ch.16.)
|
The
Wicked |
The
Righteous Faithful |
|
Psalms 115 verse17: The dead do not
praise the LORD, NOR any who go down into silence. |
Psalms 115 verse18: But we will bless
the LORD |
|
|
Psalms 26 |
|
|
Psalms 30 |
|
|
Verse 9: What
profit is there in my blood, When I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise You? |
|
|
Psalms 30 Psalms 31 Verse 18: Let lying
lips be put to silence, |
|
|
Psalms 94 Verse 17: Unless
the Lord had been my help, |
|
|
Psalms 49 |
From the above I hope it
is clear beyond any doubt that the faithfully departed ones (souls) are
constantly in His presence.
Hebrews ch12 Verse 1:
Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a
cloud of witnesses, …
It is because of this
that we believe that they participate in the Holy Qurbana along with us.
In fact some blessed church fathers have seen with divine eyesight the
presence of these souls in the Church where we all come to commune.
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