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My mother recently died and at her funeral the priest sprinkled olive oil and water and broke a plate. Would you tell me what this means please? (I left home very young and never attended church and know nothing about the Greek Orthodox religion).
Answer to Question 531 Towards the end of the graveside burial service the priest pours olive oil on the body and says: "Sprinkle me with hyssop and I shall be cleansed, wash me and I shall be whiter than snow." Throughout history kings and queens were anointed at their coronation. The pouring of oil on the body is like a last anointing to prepare the person for the Kingdom of heaven where they shall reign with Christ. The priest then throws in some earth and water and says: "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, thou art earth and to earth shalt thou return." This is a reminder that man was created from the earth and that when we die we are returned to the earth from whence we came. The priest then throws in the kolyva that have been prepared and says: "For Thou art the resurrection, the life and the repose of Thy departed servant [name], O Christ our God, and to Thee we ascribe glory, together with Thine eternal Father and Thine all-holy, good and life-giving Spirit, now and for ever: world without end." The Kollyva are symbolic of the resurrection of the dead on the day of the Second Coming of the Lord. St. Paul said, "what you sow does not come to life unless it dies" (I Corinthians 15:36), and St. John, "unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit" (John 12:24). Thus, as the wheat is buried in the soil and disintegrates without really dying but is later regenerated into a new plant that bears much more fruit than itself, so the Christian's body will be raised again from the very corruptible matter from which it is now made. The Kollyva then, symbolize the hope in the resurrection of the dead. The breaking of the plate is not a Christian custom, but rather a superstitious observance. The breaking of the plate symbolizes the soul's release from the body.
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