MYRRH-BEARING MINISTRY FORMATION

Dear Church Family, On Sunday, August 30th, immediately following Trapeza, we will be introducing the Myrrh-bearing Ministry. We are hoping to establish this in our parish and we will also discuss the Orthodox perspective on death and burial - one that honors the physical body as a temple of the Holy Spirit and embraces beauty and simplicity in preparing it for burial. Following the example of the Myrrh-bearing women who approached the tomb of the Lord prepared to anoint and reverence His body, we pray that our Ministry will continue to faithfully offer a Christian ending to those within our parish community.

The goal of this meeting will be to present the logistical framework for how to make your wishes known and fill out paperwork that communicates them to your loved ones. Please print the workbooks we will go through together that can be found by clicking HERE and HERE.

We will briefly touch on the actual preparation of the body for burial and invite interested parishioners to join the Myrrh-bearing Ministry. A good resource to consider in learning more about this subject is the book A Christian Ending: A Handbook for Burial in the Ancient Christian Tradition (2nd Ed), by Deacon Mark Barna and his wife and it can be purchased by clicking HERE.

There is also a video tutorial for preparation for the body taught by Monica Staniger of Sts. Cyril and Methodius in Chico that can be viewed HERE.

"O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" (I Cor 15:55) - Xenia Runyon