Next to many churches we find a cemetery. The cemetery is a holy place. Here the bodies of our forefathers rest in peace until the Last Judgment. On the crosses and monuments are inscriptions, or messages, that testify to our love for those who have already left this world.
Although the cemetery is a place of sorrow where we may even shed tears because it reminds us of our Lords Resurrection, His triumph over death, it is also a place of prayer. Where better to think of our own earthly end and our future life than in the cemetery? All of us will die one day. We are not on earth for centuries but for years, and sometimes even less than years. The cemetery reminds us to prepare ourselves for God's righteous judgment. After we die our bodies will lie here until they are raised again at Christ's Second Coming. If we have been faithful Christians, our souls will go to be with the Lord, beyond the grave, awaiting the Final Judgment.
In the cemetery it is good to pray for the reposed (those who have already died). Here our prayers for them are especially alive and fervent. Those who have reposed need nothing more from us than our prayers. We can say this little prayer for them: “With the saints give rest, О Christ, to the souls of Thy servants...”
There is also a special bread, called prosphora, which is brought to the priest along with a list of names we have written down of those who are dear to us—both the living and the dead—so that he can pray for them during the Divine Liturgy. Little pieces are taken out of the prosphora and put into the Holy Chalice for each person we ask him to remember.
The cemetery is like an outdoor church where we can also venerate the memory of many righteous people, and sometimes even the relics of saints, who, having received boldness before God, can pray to Him to help us.
We should not sorrow overmuch about being separated from those who are dear to us. In Gods time we will follow them with faith and love, but now let us go to church to stand before the altar of the Lord—in Him there are no dead. In the church we approach in spirit the borders of His heavenly Kingdom.