“In India - for example, in Varanasi - the bodies of the dead are burned at the stake. In Russia, in addition to burial, there is cremation. Is it legal for us to carry out cremation not in the ovens of official institutions, but in nature, on firewood?” asks The Village reader Ilya. With the help of a lawyer and funeral experts, we found the answer to this question.
Sergei Yakushin
Vice President of the Union of Funeral Organizations and Crematoria
The burial of the dead is regulated by the Federal Law "On Burial and Funeral Business". In accordance with this law and sanitary requirements, the body of a deceased person must be buried, that is, the remains must be buried.
Here are some of the articles of the law that pertain to your question:
Article 3. "Burial"
This Federal Law defines burial as ritual actions for burying the body (remains) of a person after his death in accordance with customs and traditions that do not contradict sanitary and other requirements. Burial can be carried out by committing the body (remains) of the deceased to the ground (burial in a grave, crypt), fire (cremation followed by burial of an urn with ashes), water (burial in water in the manner determined by the regulatory legal acts of the Russian Federation).
Article 4. "Burial places"
1. Places of burial are plots of land allotted in accordance with ethical, sanitary and environmental requirements with cemeteries being built on them for the burial of bodies (remains) of the dead, walls of sorrow for the burial of urns with the ashes of the dead (ash after the burning of the bodies (remains) of the dead, hereinafter - dust), crematoriums for committing the bodies (remains) of the dead to fire, as well as other buildings and structures intended for the burial of the dead. Burial places may refer to objects of cultural and historical significance.
Article 25
1. The organization of the funeral business is carried out by local governments. The burial of the deceased and the provision of burial services are carried out by specialized funeral services created by local governments.
Accordingly, it is definitely impossible to simply burn the body of a deceased person. Cremation of the dead can only be carried out in crematoriums on the basis of a stamp death certificate issued by the registry office (federal law "On acts of civil status") by the funeral organization using specialists, equipment and in a specially designated place.
Press Service of the State Unitary Enterprise "Funeral Services"
You cannot cremate a deceased relative on your own.
Crematoriums are built on allotted plots of land to provide services for the burning of the dead (cremation) in compliance with one or another burial rite. The crematorium provides services for putting the body of the deceased (deceased) on fire, starting from the acceptance of the coffin to the issuance of an urn with ashes, a certificate of cremation and a document for receiving the ashes.
Russian legislation does not provide for any other facilities for burying a body by setting it on fire.
Olga Lukyanova
Theoretically, a person who wants to independently cremate a deceased relative will fall under Article 244 of the Criminal Code (“Desecration of the bodies of the dead and their burial places”). The punishment in this case is a fine of up to 40 thousand rubles or in the amount of a three-month salary, or compulsory work (120–180 hours), or correctional labor (up to a year), or arrest for three months.
And then, even if you think logically: what kind of madness is this?! To burn a body to ashes, a certain temperature is needed, burning takes a long time ... Yes, in India they burn bodies, and often half-burnt corpses float along the Ganges.
The Village thanks the editors of the Funeral Portal for their help in preparing the material
ILLUSTRATION: Dasha Chertanova
Many people consider cremation a natural type of burial, explaining this by the fact that they do not want to realize the fact that the bodies of their loved ones will decompose in the ground for a long time. But many are wondering: how does cremation take place, what will happen to the soul of a person after cremation, whether such a rapid decay of the body will make the transition of the deceased to another world difficult, and how the church relates to this.
Cremation process
There are different models of cremation equipment: gas, liquid fuel or electricity. Depending on this, the burning process lasts from 80 to 120 minutes. The temperature inside the furnace is from 872 to 1092 degrees Celsius. The highest temperature is achieved in a gas oven, but no ash is produced during cremation. The body of the deceased is destroyed only into small fragments - bones. An employee of the crematorium, using a magnetic device, extracts metal objects from the ashes, such as dentures or pins connecting joints after life-long medical operations, then manually or using a special device crushes the remains of the bones, or places them in a centrifuge, in which the remains are carefully sifted into an urn .
It is believed that the ashes should be homogeneous, therefore, larger organic fragments that have not been crushed will be removed. From the point of view of cremation, the bodies of the deceased differ from each other in that the amount of time it takes to burn is not the same. For example, the tissues of those who used strong medications during their lifetime, those who died of tuberculosis, as well as drug addicts, burn much longer. The bodies of those who died from cancer burn, on average, for half an hour longer - it is not for nothing that doctors have recently been talking about the informational nature of these diseases.
Urns for ashes are vases, cups, caskets made of stone, wood or ceramics, decoratively decorated with religious ornaments. After cremation, relatives are invited to place the urn in a columbarium, bury it in the ground, take it with them, or, if possible, scatter the ashes on a special site.
Attitude towards cremation in various religions
Cremation and Orthodoxy
The Orthodox Church does not welcome cremation, but it does not particularly condemn it. Even Patriarch Alexy stated that this method does not contradict Orthodox canons. After all, cemeteries pollute the environment, and in the first place - sources of drinking water. Funeral services are held in Russian crematoria. However, any interference in the process of disintegration of human bodies: both slowing down - embalming, and speeding up - cremation, are a serious violation of all Christian customs. In this case, the sin falls on relatives or on those who inspired them on this path.
Cremation and Judaism
Cremation and Islam
Muslims consider cremation to be a wild pagan custom, a manifestation of disrespect for the deceased, an absolute sin.
Cremation in India
In India, the burning of a corpse is considered a custom, not a process - but a rite that has been preserved unchanged from time immemorial. The funeral pyre is kindled on a pyramid of firewood, aromatic oils are added to it and prayers are said. The clapping of a cracked skull, heated in fire, means that the soul of the deceased rushed into the sky. The ceremony takes place in public on the banks along the sacred river Ganges. The remains that have not burned to the end are thrown into the water, which is a sign of blatant unsanitary conditions.
Cremation and Buddhism
Preachers of Buddhism consider cremation the only form of burial. In Japan, 98% of the dead are cremated. According to the tradition of Buddhism, teeth are taken out of the ashes, just like the Tooth of the Buddha, supposedly extracted from the ashes of the burnt body of this deity. The tooth of the Buddha is the only Buddhist relic. The Japanese worldview says that any person is a failed Buddha who has the opportunity to manifest himself in the future. Therefore, the tooth of each person may be the tooth of the future god.
Today, cremation is mandatory in Southeast Asia, and is widespread in Europe and North America. About 95% of the dead are cremated in the Czech Republic, 69% in the UK, 68% in Denmark, 64% in Sweden, 61% in Switzerland, 48% in Australia, and 46% in the Netherlands.
The role of cremation in the occult sciences
From the point of view of esotericism and parapsychology, the process of dying a naturally buried body into the earth is complex and goes through several stages: first, the conscious essence of a person still occupies the etheric body, then this essence begins to slowly disintegrate. The etheric body is inseparable from the physical body and completely repeats its outlines, therefore, when the process of disintegration of the etheric body is completed, only then the astral body - the soul, together with the metal body gains freedom. However, this body remains polarized for some time. In the case of the spiritual underdevelopment of the deceased, the astral body can stay for a long time next to the decaying corpse, since its attraction to everything material is quite strong.
In the attire of the astral and mental bodies, the soul tries to dissolve this totality of energies as well; there is a conflict between the conscious essence of the "I", which has its own individual feelings and passions, and the absolute thinking essence, which no longer has an interest in form and transfers its attention inward. In this regard, the destruction of the obsolete physical shell facilitates the transition to the astral body of the deceased to a new phase of existence on another plane of existence. Cremation contributes to the rapid dispersal of all these bodies, bypassing all stages, which may be painful, especially for those people who lived far from divine laws.
In today's densely populated world, people are increasingly thinking about committing their body not to the earth, but to fire. How the church relates to cremation and how reasonable it is to choose this method of burial, we will tell in this article.
Many people, regardless of religion, are increasingly choosing cremation today. This is not surprising, because this type of burial has its advantages:
- Rational use of land resources due to the small size of the urn.
- Environmental friendliness and aesthetics.
- Small funeral expenses.
- More affordable and easier transportation.
Different religions view cremation differently. Many of them, such as Judaism and Islam, believe that the body and soul are one, therefore, by destroying the body, we also destroy the soul. Others, for example, Hinduism and Buddhism, on the contrary, are sure that when burned, the soul quickly leaves the body in which it is locked. The Catholic Church for many years forbade the cremation of the dead, but since the 1960s this ban was lifted. But the attitude of the Orthodox Church towards cremation is still extremely negative. Despite the fact that the priests agree to bury the bodies of the cremated dead, they are sure that this is a pagan rite that harms the soul of the deceased.
You may ask: if it is only a matter of time before the body is completely decomposed, then what difference does it make which method of burial was chosen: burial in the ground or cremation? The Church finds an answer to this as well. The fact is that the fact of relation to the body remains important. If the Eastern religions, which are the founders of this tradition, treat the body as a dungeon of the soul, then for Christians the body is a sacred temple. And it is not in the power of a person to decide what will happen to him even after death. The priests claim that by agreeing to cremation, people are offending the Lord himself, the one who gave us this body and instilled life into it.
However, despite the fact that the attitude of the church towards cremation is generally negative, there are many representatives of the Orthodox faith who allow the burning of the body under certain conditions. Such conditions may be the lack of funds to buy a place in the cemetery, and later the arrangement of the grave, the acquisition of a monument and a fence. An exception is also the case when a loved one wants to be buried with his family, but according to sanitary standards, this is not possible. The fact is that it is possible to bury the body to the deceased father, grandmother, husband or wife only when enough time has passed since the day of death. With an urn, everything is much easier. However, people should understand that it doesn’t matter for a person’s soul whether he is buried in the same grave with a loved one or not. If these were truly sincere relationships, if these people were connected by strong feelings and no less strong faith, then after death their souls will find their way to each other without any problems, even if the bodies are buried in cemeteries of different countries. Another thing is if during life one of the people was a theomachist. Then the burial in one grave will not be a guarantee that the souls will meet after death. Sometimes the church makes concessions and allows cremation for convenience. So, for an aged woman, it will certainly be difficult both physically and financially to get to one end of the city to the grave of her mother and father, to the other - to her husband, and to the neighboring city - to the cemetery where her sister is buried. It is much easier when only one burial place needs to be put in order.
Often, relatives come to church with a will of the deceased, in which it is written about the request to cremate the body. In this case, relatives are interested in how the church relates to cremation and is it possible to violate the will of the deceased? The priests insist on going against the wishes of the deceased and burying the person according to all Christian traditions. In this case, you save the soul of the deceased from a great sin. Also, do not wave ashes over some place, whether it be the sea or the home of the deceased.
If for some reason you nevertheless cremated the body of your loved one, and now you regret your deed, remember that nothing can be changed. Despite the fact that cremation and the Orthodox Church are incompatible concepts, the priests do not advise making a big tragedy out of what happened. What's done is done, and tears won't change anything. The main thing is to understand everything and repent in time. After all, God, placing people in paradise, is guided not by what happened to the body after death, but by what a person was during life.
For information about funeral homes and funeral agents, please see the Funeral Homes section of our directory.
And why do you think crematoriums arose if a person was burned for one or two in the backyard?
How are corpses burned in an attempt to hide the traces of a crime? I know of only three methods, all of which are very close in their essence: burning a corpse in a car, burning a corpse in a homemade incinerator (usually a barrel) and burning in heating stoves.
When the corpse of an adult is burned in a Moscow crematorium with the help of gas, the corpse of a person burns out within 50 minutes at a temperature of about 1200 °. How will a criminal burn a corpse if he does not have access to a crematorium? Most likely, with the help of gasoline and firewood or coal. The temperature of the flame during the combustion of wood is approximately 800-1000 ° C, gasoline - 1300-1400 ° C. But in the case of gasoline, combustion occurs on the surface, which, for sure, reduces the efficiency of combustion. How long will the corpse burn in such conditions? Consider fragments of one of the articles (forensic experts have a very fun job, yes) devoted to this issue. This paper examines the duration of burning people in a conventional furnace:
When burning the limbs of the corpses of adults, firewood was consumed on average about 11 kg. The combustion rate averaged 111 minutes. About 1.5 kg of ash remained in the furnace. A careful examination of it came across pieces of bone tissue in the form of thin fragile gray-white response plates.
111x4 = 444 minutes, i.e. 7.4 hours for limbs only. Another problem immediately comes up: resources. 11 kg of firewood per limb is 44 kg per limb only, excluding the head and body. Let's look further:
After the simultaneous burning of dismembered corpses of adults (2), firewood of 21-29 kg was consumed. The duration of combustion was 4 hours 15 minutes. - 4 hours 25 minutes In the ashes (2.5-3 kg) there were small shapeless pieces of gray-white bone tissue.
...
For burning a corpse in two stages, 47 kg of firewood was required, the duration of combustion was 7 hours and 45 minutes. Ash remained the same as after the simultaneous combustion.
Thus, burning is unprofitable for the following reasons. Firstly, it is quite noticeable: the combustion process is quite long, even in parts. If the murder is especially not a single one, constant burning will attract the attention of people (considering that there will be a specially equipped place for this). Secondly, it is very costly: one corpse needs about 30 kg of firewood or more (I assume that coal is not much less), and the question is about serial murders. In the context of getting rid of evidence, time is critical.
Of course, you can bypass all these problems and make some kind of self-made gas crematorium. But is it necessary to bother with this and equip something if it is easier and more reliable to bury the victim: the area of \u200b\u200beven a small forest park is quite large, the probability that it will accidentally stumble upon is extremely low, and the process itself is much faster?
