Highlight- Early Christians

Question 1

Why weren’t cremations a thing during this time period?

Answer 1

Body was transformed by god on judgment day

Question 2

What did lights and candles signify?

Answer 2

Eternal life and the glory to come

Question 3

When were christian funerals

Answer 3

During the day

Question 4

What were cemeteries considered?

Answer 4

resting places

Question 5

Who consecrated the first christian cemetery and when

Answer 5

Pope John III in 575 AD.

Question 6

What does Monotheistic belief in god mean?

Answer 6

Exsistence of one god

Question 7

Death beliefs of the christians

Answer 7

added to the conception of the early hebrews of “flesh and blood” that the body is to resurrected and would be judged on his/her life on earth to be rewarded or punished. Christ aded concept of sonship of man and brotherhood of man.

Question 8

What did christ preach most often about?

Answer 8

infinite and equal value of every human soul

Question 9

how was the soul looked at and what was destined in the afterlife?

Answer 9

The shoul was both spiritual and immortal and destined in the afterlife to be a discarnate spirit; no soul could be totally destroyed.

Question 10

Resurrection fo the body for christians

Answer 10

Christians held that it was the power of god that transformed the body on the day of judgement and many felt that the dead must necessarily be buried in the earth.

Question 11

What did the christians believe about resurrection and cremation?

Answer 11

That the resurrection was a miracle of god.
That the bodies burned buried or lost at sea shared equally in the miraculous transformation, although the church held it revolting that the human body “once the temple of the Holy Spirit, once sanctified and refreshed spiritually by the sarcraments” should be burned, except in “well defined, isolated instances when because of disease or epidemic, cremation is absolutely necessary to prevent the disease”

Question 12

Doctrine that in death all men are equal and that the eternal rewards they gain are not to be assigned.

Answer 12

Death beliefs in christianity

Question 13

Simple, unpretentious and organized within the context of community living by a group of people.

Answer 13

Burial Customs of the christians

Question 14

What was one of the seven great enumerated corporal works of mercy enjoined upon all christians

Answer 14

burying the dead

Question 15

What were the requirements that Early Cannon law laid down for the burial of the dead

Answer 15

1. The body should be decently laid out; with lights beside it;
2. should be asperges with hole water and incensed at stated times
3. the cross should be placed upon the breast or in lieu of a cross the hands should be folded
4. Buried in consecrated ground

Question 16

What was the regulation that the dead must be buried in a coffin

Answer 16

there were none

Question 17

Who forbad the priest to bestow the ceremonial kiss upon the dead and prohibited the practice of clothing the corpse in rich raiment

Answer 17

Council of Auxerre

Question 18

Who closed the eyes and mouth of the dead as one of the first acts after death?

Answer 18

Performed by the spouse, children or other close relatives of the deceased.

Question 19

Who administered to the dying and took charge of the care of the dead?

Answer 19

the family

Question 20

Christians touched the dead, and since the body was considered sacred and holy, it was possible for the laity and even the clergy to handle it without fear or legal defilement or need for ritualistic purification.

Answer 20

Kiss of Peace

Question 21

What was a developed rite that was included in the burial service which involved contact with the dead, namely imparting the kiss of peace

Answer 21

Formal liturgical rite

Question 22

The communion or Eucharist administered to the dying as a means of giving them strength on the journey into eternity.

Answer 22

Viaticum

Question 23

What color did the christians believe that the deceased went forth into immortality?

Answer 23

White

Question 24

Who washed the corpse? and why?

Answer 24

The female relatives and was preparation to make the dead appear to best advantage in the afterlife.

Question 25

Why did the christians believe in the psychological need in gradually conditioning friends and relatives

Answer 25

The changed conditions brought about by death

Question 26

Why did the christians believe in the physical need in providing an opportunity for continued close observation of the corpse

Answer 26

in hopes that the deceased might return to consciousness

Question 27

If the christian burial was during the forenoon; what was distributed?

Answer 27

The requiem was said and holy communion was distributed

Question 28

If the christian burial took place in the afternoon, what was happening?

Answer 28

The ceremony was limited to singing the psalms and the saying of prayers; accompanied by the special service of the dead.

Question 29

Who was allowed to attend an early christian funeral procession?

Answer 29

Limited to the corpse, the bearers, family and friends of the dead.

Question 30

What was the reason for funerals to be held during the day?

Answer 30

to emphasize the belief that the dead person was entering into eternal light and life and not into the gloom.

Question 31

why were torches carried at the head of the procession?

Answer 31

“befits the progress of a victorious combatant.”

- symbolized both the gloryy into which it was hoped he had come and the triumph of his new state.

Question 32

what days were designated as a special Memorial Day for remembering the dead with requiem masses?

Answer 32

In the primitive church, 3rd, 7th or 9th, 30th or 40th days as well as anniversaries.

Question 33

Who carried out the early christian funeral functions?

Answer 33

The brethren of the dead under the direction of the clergy

Question 34

overseers; burial parties worked in groups, some preparing for the religious procession, some carrying the body, others lifting the body and digging the grave

Answer 34

definition of decani

Question 35

These people risked their lives in caring for the sick with contagious diseases

Answer 35

Parabolani (first class of minor functionaries)

Question 36

2 classes of minor functionaries were assigned to visit the sick and bury the dead

Answer 36

1. paranolani

2. laborantes, lectarii, fossarii, sandapilarii, and decanii

Question 37

These people had the responsibility of digging graves, carrying coffins, placing the remains in the ground, and performing other related services

Answer 37

Laborantes, lectarii, fossarii, sandapilarii, and decanii
(second class of minor functionaries)