Grade 4 Lesson 10

Grade 4 Lesson 10: From Death to Resurrection

Learning Outcomes

Burial

• G4.LO7 - Discuss how remembrance of the departed is an act of love.
• G4.LO8 - Outline and illustrate the funeral service.

Textbook Lesson

• USA & Canada: Lesson 10 Textbook PDF
• UEA: Lesson 10 Textbook PDF

Expanding Thoughts on Lesson

• Biblical Support
  • The Bible bears witness that our souls live on after death, both conscious and active after our earthly lives (Luke 16:19-31; Revelation 6:9-10). For this reason, the Church speaks biblically of the dead as those who have “fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:18; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-16), for they are destined to awake and rise on Judgment Day. With an eye toward the resurrection of the dead and the life of the age to come, we ask God, who gives life to the dead, to keep them in His eternal memory and grant them mercy, peaceful rest, the forgiveness of their sins, and a good answer for themselves before the judgment seat of Christ.
  • As Orthodox Christians, we have hope in Christ both in this life and in the age to come. As He tells us: “I am the One who lives, and became dead, and behold I am alive for ages and ages […] And I hold the keys of death and death’s underworld” (Revelation 1:18-19). So, Orthodox Christians turn to Him in prayer for both the living and the departed, as the Church has done from the very beginning.
  • Judas Maccabaeus offered sacrifices and prayers for his fallen soldiers with the future resurrection of the dead in mind. As he said: “It is therefore a good and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, so they may be set loose from their sins” (2 Maccabees 12:39-46). Secondly, we have the Apostle Paul, who prays for his departed friend Onesiphorus. As he writes: “May the Lord grant that he find mercy from the Lord” on Judgment Day (2 Timothy 1:16-18). And so the Orthodox do likewise!

• Prayer for the Departed
  • Prayer for the departed is an essential component of our faith in Jesus Christ. Praying for those who have died is not merely an expression of mourning – it is a proclamation that Christ has risen from the dead and that, in His love, even death cannot separate us from one another!
  • Forty days after the death of a loved one (or on the nearest Sunday to the 40 days), it is the custom of our Church to celebrate a prayer service in remembrance of the deceased known in English as a Memorial Service. In this service we ask God to “grant rest” to the deceased “in the bosom of Abraham” (Luke 16:22-23) and to place him/her “in a place of light, a place of happiness, a place of refreshment, where there is no pain, no sorrow and no suffering” (Revelation 21:4) as we did during the funeral service.
  • The Orthodox Church remembers a departed person at the time of their death, on the third day after death, on the ninth day, on the thirtieth, and the 40th day, and then yearly on the anniversary of that person’s death. Holy Scripture notes that the women went to the tomb of Jesus to offer incense and prayer (St. Matthew 28:1-10; St. Mark 16:1-10; St. Luke 24:1-10) after the Sabbath, which was the third day from the death of Jesus. Therefore, we also pray for the departed on the 3rd day. The Holy Church prays for the departed on the 9th, 30th, and the 40th days as well.

Lesson Resources

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Connecting Materials

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