Dear readers, on this page of our site you can ask any question related to the life of the Zakamsky deanery and Orthodoxy. Your questions are answered by the clergy of the Holy Ascension Cathedral in the city of Naberezhnye Chelny. We draw your attention to the fact that it is better, of course, to resolve issues of a personal spiritual nature in live communication with a priest or with your confessor.
As soon as the answer is prepared, your question and answer will be published on the site. Questions may take up to seven days to process. Please remember the date of submission of your letter for the convenience of subsequent retrieval. If your question is urgent, mark it as "URGENT", we will try to answer it as quickly as possible.
Date: 08/09/2014 19:52:12
Is it necessary to leave the door open on the fence of the grave?
Protodeacon Dmitry Polovnikov answers
Hello father, tell me, please, is it necessary to leave the door on the fence open?
The tradition of keeping the door open on the fence of the grave is quite new, and until relatively recently it did not exist at all. Usually, when it is voiced, they say that the fence is left open so that the dead feel free and can leave the graves at any time (maybe there are other versions). But this reason in itself is nonsense for the traditional Russian (and not only) attitude towards the dead.
From the point of view of the Orthodox tradition, an open or closed door does not play any role. The body is in the grave, and the soul, at the end of the forty-day period, goes to another world. And from the point of view of the people's worldview, the deceased should lie in the grave, and if the deceased "walks", then this is a terrible misfortune for the whole family. This means that the deceased did not do something in earthly life and is now forced to wander, causing harm to the living. For the traditional view of the fate of the deceased, this is a very dangerous precedent.
Either way, it's up to you, but it's best to keep the door closed. Why did they make a door? After all, otherwise they had to make fences without doors at all.
Records found: 190
Hello. Please tell me. 1. My deceased grandmother was a believer, went to church, kept fasts, soon the anniversary of her death. The question arose whether it was possible to take a photograph in a headscarf on the monument or not. The photographer says that everyone takes a photo with their heads uncovered. But my grandmother wore a headscarf almost all the time. 2. Do I need to consecrate the monument? Thank you.
Natalia
1. Of course, you can take a photo in a headscarf. You want to see a familiar face when you visit her grave. 2. You can invite a priest to the cemetery on the anniversary day to perform a memorial service, and if the monument was recently erected, then it can be consecrated at the same time.
Deacon Elijah Kokin
Hello! A year ago, my mother died after a long serious illness, she was unbaptized. All this time, almost every night I dream, sometimes very bad, sometimes good, then scolds, then calls, then instructs. I don’t believe in dreams, I try not to attach importance to them, but for some reason it’s scary, I became twitchy, I’m afraid to go to bed. I pray at home every day for her, and I put candles in the church, I go to the cemetery, but I still dream. Maybe you just shouldn't pay attention to these dreams?
margarita
You are doing the right thing not attaching much importance to these dreams, it’s just that you may feel guilty about something in front of your mother, so you see disturbing dreams. Maybe you think that you did not pay enough attention to her during her illness, maybe you are worried that she died unbaptized. Be that as it may, now everything is behind, now you need to entrust everything related to your mother to the Lord. And although it is impossible to commemorate your mother in church, you are absolutely right to pray for her in your home prayer.
Deacon Elijah Kokin
Hello! I took my daughter with me to my mother at the cemetery, and she lost her favorite toy there - what does this mean? And is it worth worrying about, or is there nothing to worry about? Thank you in advance.
Julia
Hello Julia! Of course, you don't need to worry. Drive away evil thoughts from yourself, superstition is a sin. The loss of a toy only means that now you have to buy a new one for your daughter.
Priest Vladimir Shlykov
Hello, father. Tell me, please, what should we do?! A year and a half ago, our grandmother, my mother's mother, died, we loved her very much, she was a deeply religious person. On Honey Spas, my mother, having arrived at the cemetery, found that all the flowers were torn out on her grave, some kind of gray wool was lying, and near the grave in the fence - a dead white cat. The grave of the grandfather, who is buried nearby, has not been touched. We removed everything from the grave. They ordered a memorial service in the temple, lit candles on the grave. We don't know if we did the right thing, please help us. Thank you for your reply.
Lisa
Dear Lisa, You did everything right. Don't worry, and pray to the Lord for these vandals who "know not what they are doing."
Priest Alexander Babushkin
Good afternoon, father! Help me with advice, please. My friend constantly turns for "help" to some psychics, astrologers, fortune-tellers, although she herself is a believer and goes to church. From childhood, my grandmother inspired me that all kinds of predictions, fortune-telling, whispering, etc. are a great sin, and that the most correct way to solve your problems is to turn to God through prayer. I never went to fortune tellers and avoided all kinds of psychics. Recently, my friend began to persuade me to go to a very good woman, who helped her recover from a female disease with various herbs and suggested to her that she should pray to various saints and light candles. Naturally, I reacted to this normally, it seems like it doesn’t look like magic, more like traditional medicine. Then I found out that one of our mutual acquaintances succumbed to persuasion and went, but this woman began to perform some rituals with her, said to bake fish liver at home, go to the cemetery, then come to the funeral service in the church and whisper something to the deceased. Can it be so? I heard that these superpowers can have a different nature, both from God and from a demon. In my opinion, all these rituals look like some kind of demonism. How can I convince my friend not to go there anymore?
Elena
The magic you wrote about has only one source. As well as this kind of "superpowers". Study in detail the site http://sueverie.net/, this will help you to understand this issue yourself and, God forbid, convince your girlfriend.
Archpriest Andrey Efanov
Good afternoon. My dad died 3 weeks ago, I was very worried about this, but now some strange feeling has come, I live as before (I rejoice, have fun, rest). The fact is that I cannot accept his death, for me he is still alive, even in the cemetery, approaching the grave, it seems to me that another person is lying there, unfamiliar to me. Please tell me how I should actually behave, I am very tormented by the fact that I am behaving incorrectly. Can't my behavior seem strange from the outside, that I don't care about the death of a loved one? Thank you in advance.
Julia
Dear Julia, most likely, you just have such a mental reaction, a kind of defense mechanism. Pray for the repose of your father - at home yourself and, if he is baptized, then by all means in the church - order a commemoration at the Liturgy, Sorokoust. Over time, you will be able to accept his transition to another world. As for death, with God all people are alive. This is what we must live by, treating the death of loved ones as a temporary separation.
Archpriest Andrey Efanov
Hello. My cat recently died, just 21 days before her 15th birthday. I buried her in the pet cemetery. I try not to think about it, but I can't help thinking. My eyes are constantly in a wet place, because I loved her so much, and she me too. And now I feel empty, and there is no one to support me especially, everyone has their own affairs, and I have to go through my grief alone. Tell me, please, what are the prayers for the speedy reassurance, and is it possible to pray for a dead animal? I really hope for your answer.
Love
Dear Love! We pray for the repose of people, because all people are sinners. As the prayer for the dead says, "There is no man who lives and does not sin." So we ask God to forgive the deceased person and repose him. And animals, of course, do not have sins, and you do not need to ask the Lord for their forgiveness. If animals suffer in life, it is only because of human sins. If your cat, who died at such an advanced age, suffered before death, then now her suffering is over. But, of course, you yourself need prayer. May God help you to endure the pain of loss and, having coped with grief, think about your soul.
Priest Alexander Gumerov
Is it possible to put a fence in the cemetery of the deceased up to forty days
Alexander
Yes, of course you can
Deacon Elijah Kokin
Good afternoon I ask you to answer one insoluble and very controversial question for us. It's been three years since my mom is with us. Her father visits her grave every week, my brother and I believe that it is possible to come and not so often, especially since my father is already advanced in age and he gets upset after visiting. How to be and who is right? How often can you come? Thank you in advance.
Well, who can be right in this situation? You can't tell your heart. Apparently, for your father there is so little left in this life that visiting the grave of his wife is very important for him. Personally, I would not interfere with this, but you are his children and you decide for yourself. In general, he could provide real help to your mother not only by visiting the grave, but also by praying for the deceased. You can pray at the cemetery, you can also at home. But, if you want your father to go to the cemetery less often, you yourself must pay more attention to your father, fill at least partially the emptiness in his soul that formed after the death of his wife.
Archpriest Andrey Efanov
Good afternoon, fathers. Bless. My question is this: please tell me, can a house carry a negative? I live near a cemetery. Parents died early, children do not want to live in this house, and I live alone. I do not know what is the reason and how to be?
Ksenia
Hello Xenia.
The cemetery reminds of the frailty of human existence, so people with little church or non-believers feel uncomfortable next to it.
Maybe that's why your children don't want to live in a house near a cemetery.
If you don't like the area where you live, maybe change?
If there is no such desire, and you have not yet consecrated the apartment, call the priest, pray and live blessed.
May God help you
Priest Sergiy Osipov
Hello, father! Tell me, please, I'm pregnant, 3 months old, can I go to church? I actually go occasionally, but they say that pregnant women should not go to church or to the cemetery.
Faith
Hello Vera.
It is possible and necessary.
Let the child now hear prayers and church singing. For him, the temple will be his home.
What you have been told is nonsense. Ignore such restrictions.
God bless you
Priest Sergiy Osipov
Hello, father. Help with a word. I am 27 years old. 2 months ago, my baby died in the womb at the 9th month, the reasons are unclear. Everything just broke off in a matter of minutes, they managed to save me, but the baby didn’t. I think about him every day and cry. But before, in my youth, out of stupidity, I committed a terrible sin (abortion) I don’t even know how to live now. I understand that all my life now I have to repent and bear this terrible sin. Tell me, do I need to go to the baby in the cemetery, and what should I do now?
Faith
Hello Vera. First of all, pray for the baby, although he is not baptized (only in the church you do not need to write it in notes). You can give alms to the extent possible. Still pray that, if there is the will of God, the next pregnancy will go well. You have probably already confessed to the sin of abortion (if not, it must be done!), so now only heartfelt contrition about what you did long ago can remain. If this memory weighs on you, you can read the Jesus Prayer, or "Hail Mary, Virgin," several times. There is no need to be discouraged. May God help you
Priest Sergiy Osipov
Good afternoon Tell me, how should one relate to dreams of such content: funeral wreaths, the death of a relative, and everything like that, or are all dreams from demons or the devil? Do you need to believe in them? I wanted to clarify one more question, tell me, when should the gate be opened and closed at the grave? Thank you very much for the answer.
Olga
Dear Olga, if you often dream of a funeral theme, you need to go to the temple for confession as soon as possible. When you are inside the fence, the gate can be opened, when you leave - close as you close the front door of your apartment. If the cemetery is rural, then you need to close it securely so that some wild animal does not run in.
Priest Alexander Babushkin
Hello. My dad died 17 days ago. I am very sorry. I read every day a prayer for the repose of a parent. Whenever possible, I go to the temple and order various prayer services. I myself pray as best I can, I know that he really needs it now. And recently I learned from a three-year-old niece that she was talking with her grandfather (my dad). She said he talked to her himself. On different days, she gave me one or two phrases from her grandfather, moreover, phrases that she herself, as a child, would never think of coming up with. Can dad talk to us through his niece? She very coolly gives out phrases without thinking about the meaning. For example, my sister and I were very offended by relatives who covered themselves with stupid excuses so as not to come and remember their father, and quarreled with them. We are very sorry about this. So, the next day, our girl gave us: "Grandfather, he said that we should not touch him." There were other cases as well. I don't know how to react to this. According to her, our dad asks to come to him at the cemetery. But we go there anyway. Maybe we're not doing it right?
Marina
Dear Marina, a similar phenomenon, when children come into contact with spirits, most often demons, is common enough to be discounted. Although, of course, the reason may be in the strong suggestibility of the child or in something else. You go to church, so take your niece with you, take communion with her, I hope that this phenomenon will stop. In general, this usually happens in an environment where they are ready to listen to such "revelations". Don't pay attention and it will all be over soon. But the child must still attend the temple regularly and participate in the ordinances. God bless you!
Archpriest Andrey Efanov
Father, I haven't visited my grandmother's grave for 15 years. I don’t know how, but I felt a strong desire to go - it’s not far, 20 km, but the heat is terrible here, and the cemetery is far from the city. I found the grave after a long search, kind people showed me. Found that the monument was stolen. I felt very sorry for my grandmother. What to do to help the posthumous fate of her sweet soul? Tell me, I beg you. The Lord is with you!
Koleva Nina
Pray for her. And live in such a way that prayer is easy. Monuments are important for the living, but the dead need something else - prayer and a good memory of them. Prayer is both individual and church. If your grandmother was baptized, submit a note about her to the proskomedia. I will quote the words of St. John (Maximovich): “Anyone who wishes to show his love for the dead and give them real help can best do this by praying for them, and especially by commemoration at the Liturgy, when the particles seized for the living and the dead are immersed in the Blood of the Lord with the words: "Wash, Lord, the sins of those who were commemorated here by Your honest Blood, by the prayers of Your saints." Therefore, it is so important to submit notes in church for baptized people with their names. You can periodically order a magpie for the repose of your grandmother, or at least a one-time commemoration proskomedia, as well as submit notes for a memorial service for the deceased.
Priest Konstantin Kravtsov
Hello, father, tell me, please, is it possible to take an unnecessary metal fence for a flower garden from the cemetery to the garden, the relatives of the deceased allowed, but we do not know if it is possible to bring something from the cemetery into the house?
Rimma
Dear Rimma, it is impossible to take anything from the cemetery for household needs, not because it is unclean, but because it is sanctified. After all, a cemetery is a resting place for bodies, which, according to the words of the Apostle Paul, "are the temple of the Holy Spirit living in you" (1 Cor. 6, 19). Therefore, it is necessary to treat cemeteries with the greatest reverence and, of course, you cannot use anything in your home life, for example, a grave fence.
Archpriest Andrey Efanov
The topic of cemeteries is special for me in the sense that I always felt very uncomfortable there, and this is putting it mildly, but as I began to see souls, I try not to go there at all. It used to be that the souls of the dead used to be calmer and went away in their time for rebirth, but now there are many restless and, to a greater extent, young people who either ask to convey something, or want to ride you beyond the aisles of dead space. Although even without publicans, there are enough low-frequency entities in cemeteries, and these comrades are even more unscrupulous. Many of them became due to the abundance of the restless, whose energy they feed on. Yes, and necromancers with cemetery witches feed them with offerings.
Pregnant women, children and the drunk are a special delicacy for the cemetery inhabitants.
Once my mother decided to show me how they ennobled the cemetery, past which they drove to the dacha. We drove into the territory, spun around without getting out of the car on the site, and the publicans filled the whole salon, so much so that my mother began to feel the heaviness. Well, my mentor said in advance what words to say before leaving or leaving the cemetery. Mom did just that. She stopped at the gate, humorously announced to those crowded in the cabin that they had already arrived, stood at the edge of the gate facing our car, said the words, outlining a cross in the air, got into the car, and we drove off, leaving all those suffering in the territory. I don’t remember the exact words now, about 17 years have passed. Approximately the text is as follows: "The living came in - the living and leave. The dead - remain at their graves. Amen."
After looking around the net, I found options that can also be used at the exit from the cemetery:
"The dead will continue to lie here, and I will walk around the white world. Amen."
"Dead - dead, alive - alive. You lie here, and I run home. Truly."
When leaving, do not turn around, do not look around, do not look back. Remember that there are many who are eager to ride you in the territory of the afterlife.
You can't go through a hole in the fence. Only in the gate of the main entrance. The gate is open to the dead.
In ancient times, the Slavs at home tied a scarf in a knot before going to the cemetery to an already buried person with something like this: “Which one left, I’ll come like that. Be that." And when they returned, they untied it.
After the cemetery, it is advisable to visit a public place before going home. For example, go to the store, walk around a bit or stand indoors for a while and go out.
And now about the rest of the rules of behavior in the cemetery.
Read the text version of the video
The very first thing is that you need to enter the cemetery correctly, in order not to leave your luck, happiness there, and most importantly, to “attach” various diseases.
You must definitely enter the cemetery with open hands, if you are carrying a bag - you can’t pinch it in your palm. It must be hung over the arm so that all fingers and hands are open.
This is done in order not to bring anything with you, just the good that is in your life today.
At the same time, one should not forget about what can and cannot be said at the resting places. With deceased relatives, you can share your experiences, but not complain, namely share. However, words should not cause envy or excessive pity: in both cases, the dead can "take" you to them. Remember that you can only allow yourself to be open with a relative whom you trusted in life and with whom you were close.
There is such a sign: What good you say on the grave, then it will remain on it. A phrase like: “I feel so bad, I want to die ...” can become fatal. The spirits of the cemetery may take this as a call to action.
In addition, one should not forget that not everyone can talk with the dead, as well as come to the cemetery.
Alexander Zhukov, psychic: “I’ll say right away that pregnant women are not allowed in the cemetery! Not for a funeral, not for Mother's Day. Generally it is impossible. According to signs, the following events can occur:
. the souls of the dead will take the soul of the unborn baby with them;
. someone else's soul can settle in an unborn child.
And in no case should children under 12 years of age be brought to the cemetery. This is very dangerous for the health of the child and his future. You can completely change the fate of a child! From a mystical point of view, the aura of children is very weak, and it is difficult for children to protect themselves from the penetration of negative energy.
It is impossible to come to the funeral to say goodbye to one person, to visit at the same time the graves of other people resting nearby.
Violation of at least one of the rules can entail the attraction of a large amount of negative information, which, like a weight, will pull you to the ground.
❧To visit the cemetery, you need to carefully prepare, paying special attention to your clothes. Traditional colors are white and black. Black is the most suitable color for the cemetery, as it is considered to be mourning, a color that symbolizes sorrow. If you don't have clothes in the right colors in your wardrobe, you should choose clothes in muted tones.
❧Legs must be closed. It is unacceptable to walk around the cemetery in open sandals or high-heeled shoes. The graveyard is a place of accumulation of "dead" energy, the earth is especially strongly saturated with it. There is a saying: the dead pull the living. It can be regarded as a warning - the cemetery earth, falling on bare skin, negatively affects a person. First of all, the negative impact affects his health.
❧In the cemetery before noon, in the afternoon in the church. It is better to visit deceased relatives before dinner, otherwise in the afternoon the spirits can play a trick on those who came.
❧ You can't swear in the cemetery - all the swearing will remain on you. It really is true. Everything bad that is said in the cemetery falls on the shoulders of the one who spoke out. There may not even be any other options here. At the cemetery, one must be especially careful both in statements and in deeds. In general, staying at the cemetery, you must be very careful. Attentiveness and courtesy are those qualities that are highly valued by the deceased. This is the case when the idea that life does not end after death is of particular importance. Therefore, it is necessary to show respect for those who have already left, otherwise they can punish.
❧If you bring a beautiful bouquet, it's great, just don't neglect the recommendation to bring an even number of flowers.
Throwing out wilted flowers, you should replace them with new ones and explain to the deceased why this is being done.
❧If, when planting flowers, digging on the grave, some incomprehensible things, foreign objects were found, they must be taken out of the cemetery and thrown away. Ideally, burn it, trying not to get caught in the smoke and not to touch it with your bare hands.
Things on the graves could be left by sorcerers, causing damage. Taking such an object, a person takes part of the damage on himself.
❧A week after Easter, it is customary to come to the cemetery to commemorate relatives and friends.
Negative and necrotic energy accumulates in the cemetery, this place is not conducive to fun, people come here with grief. Food absorbs all this, and after eating you can feel unhealthy.
They didn’t arrange a wake at the cemetery - this is self-damage. Trizna at the cemetery came from antiquity, when funeral rites were performedafter burial in moundsand not in cemeteries.
It is better to give alms to the poor and visit the temple, order a memorial service for the deceased - this way of honoring the dead is more acceptable and spiritually useful.
❧Grave defilers, cemetery thieves, will have a sad fate, for they are pursued by evil fate.
❧Stumbling in a cemetery is not good. Even worse - fall. Signs advise you to immediately leave the cemetery, wash yourself with holy water, cross yourself and read the prayer “Our Father” three times.
Believe me, it does not matter to the soul where you will remember it - in a cemetery or in a temple, or in a conversation with relatives. The main thing is that you be sincere and that these memories have a bright, kind shade.
❧As already mentioned, there is a superstition that one cannot talk about the successes and achievements of one's life in the cemetery, so as not to leave everything here.
❧It is also not allowed to count money in the cemetery, otherwise you may not see it anymore. If the bill was taken out of the wallet, or if it fell to the ground at all, it must be left on the grave of a relative or namesake in order to pay off possible poverty and premature death.
❧In principle, any thing that falls on the graveyard ground no longer belongs to its living owner. You shouldn't lift it. If the thing is really needed, you need to leave a ransom for the deceased and the owner of the cemetery - put sweetness in this place and say that you are replacing, not appropriated.
❧ In no case should you bring anything home from the cemetery (this does not apply to sweets that children collect, since they commemorate all the dead with them). This will harm the one who took the things, and the people who used them.
Do not take anything from the cemetery and do not bring it into the house, no matter how valuable it is. According to signs, you will take it from the dead, and they will punish you with troubles and illnesses.
This thing can cause harm not only to the one who brought this thing home from the cemetery, but also to any other person who picks it up.
Important! Handkerchiefs with tears during the funeral are also thrown, digging in the grave, they are not taken out of the cemetery!
❧Do not take pictures in the cemetery; stay surrounded by negative energy in the picture, and who knows how this will affect your destiny.
Taking pictures against the background of many graves, you capture the invisible world of the spirits of the dead and otherworldly beings, who will later easily find their way to your home.
Sign of a broken tombstone
❧For no reason, a monument or a cross fell, which means that the soul of the deceased did not complete important things for her, something worries her.
There are also forgotten, outdated signs that are believed only in the outback, in villages where modern customs have not yet reached. So, a priori, the sign of a broken tombstone cannot promise anything pleasant and kind. If the monument deteriorated without human intervention, and did not suffer from the hands of vandals and marauders, then in the near future there will be another dead person in the family of the deceased.
It doesn’t matter what damage the burial place received: whether the cross simply broke, the tombstone or the pedestal itself cracked, or the earth sank and a deep hole formed - each change threatens the relatives of the person lying here with another death. You can understand who the old woman with the scythe will look for next time by determining which side the earth has collapsed from:
from the south side - a man dies;
the north side "fell" - a woman will die;
the eastern edge sank - an elderly family member dies;
from the western side, the earth has left - death will take a small child.
❧Suicides can only be commemorated when a bird pecks at the grain scattered on their graves. Several grains of wheat are sprinkled on the grave of a suicide and they look from afar: if the bird does not peck at those grains, then there is no need to commemorate the deceased, except for Saturdays to Dmitriev and All Saints.
❧If you know that you will visit the cemetery, take water with you, and be sure to wash your hands and face when leaving to remove negative energy.
❧You should not drink the water that flows in the plumbing system located on the territory of the cemetery. It is used only for cleaning graves and monuments. Water for drinking should be stocked up at home before visiting the cemetery.
❧When leaving, make sure that you do not forget anything in the cemetery, for forgotten things are damaged.
❧ Always leave the cemetery the way you came. But when visiting the dead, it is better to choose different roads, at least go around your own street and go to the house from the other side.
❧ When leaving the cemetery, you must not turn back, even if you were called or called. It is believed that the dead souls wander among the graves and do not realize that they no longer have a place in the world of the living. When a person turns around, the deceased soul may take this as an invitation to follow a living person. As a result, a visitor to the graveyard will bring a dead person to his house, who can cause a lot of trouble to the inhabitants of the house.
❧Also, signs say that after visiting the cemetery, it is important to wipe your feet thoroughly so as not to bring home the cemetery earth. This land can bring a lot of health problems, it carries bad energy.
❧ After leaving the cemetery and coming home, it is important to warm your hands properly (even if they are not cold) - hold them in hot water, over the fire.
It is best to light a church candle with matches (only with them) and warm your hands over it. Bring the palms of your hands as close to the candle flame as you can bear. Move and “burn” the entire area of \u200b\u200bthe palms and fingers in this way.
After that, the candle can not be blown out, gently extinguish it with your fingers. This is done in order not to bring death into the house, not to drag it onto oneself, not to get sick.
❧ You can’t call on anyone from a funeral - you will bring death to the house of the person you visited. But it is advisable to wrap up somewhere in a public place before you return home. It is believed that the tradition of commemoration in the dining room or cafe is the consequences of this sign.
❧ Graves are dug in the direction from east to west, and the coffin with the body is laid with its feet to the east - according to legend, in order to make it easier to rise on the Day of Judgment.
Even if you do not believe in omens, you should not violate the ethics of visiting places of mourning... All the rituals associated with the dead appeared for a reason and it is not in vain that people protect their traditions.
Burial culture is one of the most mysterious and unexplored topics in society. Therefore, a lot of signs and superstitions appeared around him. Some of them have a rational or historical basis, while others are only the fiction of a people who believe in primitive supernatural forces. What category can be attributed to the custom of leaving the gate in the cemetery open? Now let's figure it out.
Why is the cemetery gate left open?
Fences and gates in beliefs have a certain magical power - they keep various kinds of energy inside and do not allow it to come out. Therefore, closing the gate of the grave fence while inside is considered a bad omen. A person who has thus locked himself in a cemetery can allegedly be attacked by the negative energy of death, and therefore this sign predicts the imminent death of an unlucky person.
But if there is no one alive inside the fence anymore? Superstitious people advise to cover, but not to lock the gate. Some explain this by the fact that the dead man needs to communicate with other dead, and the locked gate will prevent him from getting out. Others argue that the open gate, as it were, invites everyone passing by to come in and commemorate the deceased - especially if you leave some tasty offerings at the grave.
In most other countries, graves are not separated by fences at all - it’s simply not customary there
But why not just abandon the installation of the fence? This is where some cultural differences come into play. Firstly, the relatives of the deceased, by installing a small fence, hope to protect the grave from desecration by vandals. Of course, a low barrier will not stop any bully, but that's another matter. Secondly, the attitude towards property in the territory of the former USSR is somewhat different from other countries, and therefore fencing your site is considered not only the norm, but also an obligation. Thirdly, the fence helps to establish boundaries where you can put a bench and sit down for relatives during major memorial days, for example, Radonitsa.
Church opinion
There are no such prohibitions in the Bible. The Russian Orthodox Church recognizes this custom as superstition, and therefore calls for abandoning it and closing (or not closing) the gate in accordance with the arguments of reason.
In general, representatives of the church have repeatedly focused on the fact that such physical attributes as clothes, food and "home" (that is, a grave and a place in a cemetery) are important not for the dead, but for the living. The main goal of funeral rituals is not to imitate the afterlife in accordance with the primitive idea of it, but to stimulate living relatives, acquaintances and just passers-by to pray for the repose of the soul.
There are no special rational reasons not to lock the gate to the cemetery. Therefore, you have the right to decide on your own whether to open it or not - no evil spirits will punish you for this.
Being in burial places, people try to follow the generally accepted rules of conduct and observe all the prescribed rituals. In the Orthodox tradition, it is customary to leave the passage to the grave open. But not everyone knows why it is impossible to close the gate to the cemetery.
Why can't you close the gate to the cemetery?
Religion claims that after biological death, only the human body leaves the world. His soul remains alive and strives for activity. By closing the gate, people do not allow the spirit of their deceased relative to leave the grave and go to another place. As a result, he rushes about, feeling in prison.
Constantly leaving the gate open after visits, relatives enable the spirit to realize its need for wandering.
Where did this ban come from?
The body of the deceased is considered by religion as a kind of burden, which only prevented the soul from existing independently and limited it to certain limits. After the biological death of the organism, this problem disappears. As soon as the body is interred, the soul has the opportunity to travel without any connection with the physical organism.
It is this religious attitude that makes believers leave the gate to the cemetery open. They are convinced that in this way they give freedom to their own person.
There is also an opinion that after death, our loved ones seek to get in touch with us, protect and observe. Imprisoned locked up, they are deprived of such an opportunity.
What happens if you break the rule
You can often hear the stories of people who, after the funeral, dreamed of a dead person. He tried to convey some information, asked for help.
This usually happens when relatives do not follow the described tradition and close the gate behind them with a bolt. It is enough to come to the cemetery and open the fence. Anxious dreams will immediately recede, because the soul of the deceased will calm down.
It should be noted that there is a completely opposite point of view - an open gate allows the spirit of the deceased to go in search of loved ones and take one of them to himself. Those who share this opinion prefer to close the passage to the grave with at least a chain or rope.
Solving this question for yourself, you need to rely on internal sensations. If the soul is calm, and the deceased person does not come in dreams, then everything is done correctly.
