In today's densely populated world, people are increasingly thinking about consigning their bodies to fire rather than to the ground. We will tell you in this article how the church views cremation and how wise it is to choose this method of burial.
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 have different views on cremation. Many of them, such as Judaism and Islam, believe that the body and soul are one, therefore, when we destroy the body, we destroy the soul. Others, for example, Hinduism and Buddhism, on the contrary, believe that when burned, the soul quickly leaves the body in which it is locked. The Catholic Church for many years prohibited the cremation of the deceased, but since the 1960s this ban has been lifted. But the attitude of the Orthodox Church towards cremation still remains extremely negative. Despite the fact that the priests agree to perform funeral services for the bodies of the cremated deceased, they are confident 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 decomposes completely, then what difference does it make whether burial in the ground or cremation is chosen? The Church finds an answer to this too. The fact is that the fact of attitude towards the body remains important. If Eastern religions, which are the founders of this tradition, treat the body as the prison of the soul, then for Christians the body is a sacred temple. And it is not in a person’s power to decide what will happen to him even after death. The priests claim that by agreeing to cremation, people are insulting the Lord himself, the one who gave us this body and infused life into it.
However, despite the fact that the church’s attitude towards cremation is generally negative, there are many representatives of the Orthodox faith who allow the burning of a body under certain conditions. Such conditions may be the lack of funds to purchase a place in the cemetery, and subsequently to arrange the grave, purchase a monument and a fence. An exception is also the case when a loved one wants to be buried with his family, but due to sanitary standards this is not possible. The fact is that it is possible to bury the body with the deceased father, grandmother, husband or wife only when enough time has passed since the date of death. With an urn everything is much simpler. However, people must understand that it does not matter to a person’s soul whether he is buried in the same grave with a loved one or not. If this was a truly sincere relationship, 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 problems, even if the bodies are buried in cemeteries of different countries. It’s another matter if during life one of the people was a fighter against God. Then burial in the same grave will not guarantee that souls will meet after death. Sometimes the church makes concessions and allows cremation to be carried out for convenience. Thus, it will probably be difficult both physically and financially for an older woman to get to one end of the city to visit her mother and father’s grave, to the other to her husband’s, and to the neighboring city to the cemetery where her sister is buried. It is much easier when you only need to tidy up one burial site.
Often relatives come to church with the will of the deceased, which states a request to cremate the body. In this case, relatives are interested in how the church views cremation and whether it is 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 great sin. Also, you should not scatter ashes over any place, be it the sea or the home of the deceased.
If, for some reason, you cremated the body of your loved one, and now regret what you did, 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 in time and repent. After all, God, placing people in paradise, is guided not by what happened to the body after death, but by what a person was like during life.
For information about funeral homes and funeral agents, please see the Funeral Homes section of our directory.
Russia is experiencing a cremation boom. In Moscow and St. Petersburg, 60% of the dead are cremated. Why is cremation in Russia replacing the usual, centuries-old ideas about funerals? How is business in Kirov breaking down “outdated” concepts about cemeteries, and what does the Russian Orthodox Church think about cremation?
Recently I was walking with a friend along the massive fence of the Donskoye Cemetery. The red brick walls brought to mind thoughts of the eternal.
“And I want to be cremated,” my friend suddenly blurted out. - So as not to rot.
There was no dispute. The girl is 22 years old, and she is convinced that cremation is modern, convenient and without unnecessary hassle. My arguments in support of a traditional funeral were shattered by the calm calm.
Russia is experiencing a cremation boom. Ritual agencies via the Internet offer to solve all problems in the most “modern” way. And if you have any questions about the fact that burning a dead person in a furnace is, to put it mildly, not our tradition, almost any funeral director will answer you: just like ours!
There is probably nothing surprising about this. The media too often talk about how a famous and respected person was once again cremated. Cremation, at least for secular people, is already commonplace. Just the other day, the Russian News Service reported: “In Moscow and St. Petersburg, 60% of the dead are cremated. Pavel Kodysh, President of the Union of Funeral Organizations and Crematoriums of Russia, spoke about this.” In Moscow, where there are 23 Orthodox monasteries and hundreds of churches, at least 60,000 people are cremated annually. The figure can be increased slightly, since Pavel Kodysh notes that “120 thousand people die a year in Moscow.”
We tried to find out why people send their loved ones to the oven
We tried to find out what motivates people who send their family and friends to the oven. Are you interested in the price of cremation? Fashion for today's popular burial method? A legacy of the Soviet past, when they first began to turn people into ashes on an industrial scale? Lack of land or high cost of cemetery plots? Or is it the desire of modern man not to think about death? Trying to erase any reminders of funerals, dead people and mourning ceremonies?
The Russian Orthodox Church has repeatedly spoken out about cremation. In May 2015, the Council of Bishops recommended that priests treat cremation as an undesirable phenomenon. “Taking into account the ancient tradition of reverent treatment of the body of a Christian as a temple of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Synod recognizes the burial of deceased Christians in the ground as the norm,” says a specially prepared memorandum “On the Christian burial of the dead.” The words of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill also do not require explanation or comment: “Cremation is outside the Orthodox tradition. We believe that at the end of history there will be a resurrection of the dead in the image of the Resurrection of Christ the Savior, that is, not only with soul, but also with body. If we allow cremation, then we symbolically renounce this faith.”
Turnkey cremation
Cremation is cheap and modern. This is one of the main arguments given by supporters of fire funerals. To get first-hand information, I call the crematorium at the Nikolo-Arkhangelsk cemetery.
“7,100 rubles,” answers the crematorium employee. – This price includes musical accompaniment. Also, registration of the deceased, transfer of the coffin, the cremation procedure itself, farewell, engraving and sealing of the urn.
True, you still need to purchase an urn and pay for a coffin, which, after the farewell ceremony, is burned along with the body of the deceased. Naturally, you must not forget about transport.
To finally understand what money you need to have to cremate a person, I turned to the Unified Ritual Service. Here all proposals are already formed on a turnkey basis.
– The price for cremation has doubled since July 1. Our coffin and transport cost 17,000 rubles. The same amount includes a bed, a pillow and slippers—the agency employee placed special emphasis on slippers. – It is customary for us to bring Christians in slippers to cremation.
On average, for cremation with all the necessary attributes you will have to pay around 30,000 rubles. This is without burial.
In St. Petersburg, the deceased will be burned, placed in an urn and placed in a columbarium for 35,000 rubles. It's only 10 thousand cheaper than a traditional funeral .
“There is still a difference,” explains the girl. “You still need to keep an eye on the grave.” A fence, and then a monument. And the urn with ashes is kept in a niche forever. It does not require additional care.
A striking pattern. The overwhelming number of employees of funeral companies advised me to use the services of a crematorium. The reasoning is simple: it is in step with the times and there are no unnecessary movements. And only one woman said with undisguised sympathy:
- Yes, you bury it as it should be - in the ground! To the ground! Well, add 10 thousand, no big deal!
A free plot in a cemetery – or a paid niche in a columbarium?
After the procedure of burning the body, the urn still needs to be buried. To clarify the cost of this service, I contacted the State Budgetary Institution “RITUAL”. This is a state budgetary institution of the city of Moscow. Through this site I go to the Rogozhskoye cemetery. It is not possible to bury the urn in an open columbarium, that is, in a wall. But you can buy a place for an urn in a special niche.
“It’s something like a granite sarcophagus,” they explained over the phone. – The price depends on the row. The first and fifth rows cost 70,000 thousand rubles.
The first row is almost at ground level. And the fifth row is at a height of just over two meters.
“This is something like a mezzanine in the corridor,” I hear an explanation on the phone. – The cost is slightly higher for the second row, third and fourth.
- How much is it? - I ask.
A place for an urn in the Rogozhsky cemetery costs 90 thousand rubles
“90 thousand,” answered the employee of the Rogozhsky cemetery.
For this money you can organize a modest traditional funeral for several people.
They offered to place an urn with ashes in an open columbarium at the Khimki cemetery for 31,500 rubles. This is if the cell is located at chest level. You will have to pay separately for the sign - 5,000 rubles. You also need to add engraving. The amount for engraving is based on the number of characters. It turns out something like 40 thousand rubles. In total, to cremate and rest the remains in an open columbarium at the Khimki cemetery, you will have to pay an average of 75,000 rubles.
At the Lublin cemetery, you can bury an urn with ashes in the ground for 110,000 rubles. This is how much 1 square meter of land costs. A bench and fence are not provided - there is too little space for such luxury.
“Residents of big cities have different views than those in the outback”
Moscow region, Perepechinskoe cemetery. Here, the city authorities provide a plot for two burials completely free of charge. On Perepechinka, as the agents call this place, you only need to pay for digging a grave.
“You can get by with 20,000 rubles,” says an employee of a funeral company. – At the cemetery, the guys will have to throw a circle around the grave digging. It’s such a tradition,” he adds.
Several funeral services offered to organize a traditional funeral for 20,000 rubles. True, you will have to do without wreaths, an orchestra and other glamor.
It is possible to bury any unemployed Moscow resident without money. In the language of ritual agents, this is called “carrying out the last journey free of charge.” The only condition is that the deceased’s work record book must be closed.
Proponents of cremation may object: they say, what about the monument? What about care? The fence needs to be painted. And if possible, this should be done every spring. But the grave sags, especially when it’s fresh! An urn with ashes, if made of copper, is very durable...
Dubious arguments.
– Cremation is more convenient and faster. Residents of big cities have different views than those in the outback. I mean spiritually,” Dmitry, a dispatcher at a Moscow ritual agency, shares his thoughts.
“The earth should be for living people, not for the dead”
Here in Kirov people are discussing their crematorium. Entrepreneur Andrei Kataev decided to build a “socially significant facility” in the city. They plan to cremate Kirov residents at a “low price.” 12,000 rubles - and the job is done. You also need to pay for the urn, coffin and transport.
– No more new cemeteries will be created. People will understand the advantages of the crematorium, and within one or two years we will reach the mark of 50% of cremations of all the dead,” says Andrei Kataev. – But since our people have difficulty accepting everything new, we will have to carry out some kind of unique action, explaining to the population that cremation is a civilized way of burying the dead.
I wonder how this work will be carried out? What kind of shares could these be?
Mr. Kataev is cool about the traditional method of burial.
- Cemeteries are dirty. Well, we don’t have such a culture as, for example, in Europe,” says Kataev. – For priests, funerals are a business: they perform the funeral service. For “ritualists” this is a business; they bury in the ground - this is their bread,” notes Kataev.
That is, Mr. Kataev decided that Kirov residents do not know how to behave in a cemetery and it is best to send the deceased to the oven. And for him this is not a business at all!
In an interview, the entrepreneur enthusiastically talks about how “the land should be for living people, not for the dead.” These are his words. They express his attitude towards the deceased person.
It seems that there is no need to debate the issue of cremation, since sooner or later everyone, everywhere will be cremated. At least those who are opening new crematoriums in the country are sure of this.
Even in “expensive and non-rubber” Moscow, land for burials is given free of charge. It is not possible to save a lot of money on cremation, but the number of urns with ashes, compared to graves, is increasing. So my friend, who is only 22 years old, is already calm about the fact that her body can be burned.
In the next article we will look at how cremation was introduced in Bolshevik Russia. Let's find out how ordinary people reacted to this. And let’s try to answer the main question: why do people today so easily choose a fire funeral without any coercion or pressure? What has changed in the consciousness of society over 100 years, and why is another crematorium in the outback of our country, if not yet a tradition, but already a pattern?
What is uncertain in the human world? Taxes, economics, credit system, ? Yes, it’s always difficult to figure this out, but no one on this list can overcome death by the criterion of uncertainty and mystery. And if we talk about our interaction with society, we rarely have direct contact with death. Accidents, hospices and hospitals. We prefer not to notice this integral side of human life. But then the “old woman with a scythe” quickly turns in our direction, and there is no time for thinking.
There is a healthy interest in death in many cultures. During the 19th century, with the development of natural philosophy, anatomy and literature of decadence, this interest was also characteristic of European culture. But now we have become more sensitive, more closed, and those guys who look at corpses with interest are perhaps unfairly called creepy perverts, sick in the head. But each of us is destined to touch death, whether we like it or not.
1. Stages of death
Let's start with the basics, which will be your guiding stars in the world of decay and carrion (sounds kind of strange).
Clinical death
Your vital functions go to waste, your heartbeat and breathing stop. Brain activity is actually still active, which is why some people think that clinical death is some kind of border between life and death. Actually, there is a possibility that you will be brought back to life if they resuscitate you properly.
Biological death
Embalming fluid consists of formaldehyde, methanol and a couple of other ingredients. It usually contains water, but the most effective and expensive embalming methods are anhydrous. They preserve the body much better. The liquid may contain various dyes so that instead of deathly pallor we see a healthy blush. So it is always matched to the color of the skin.
The principle of operation is simple. A small incision is made in the neck, axilla, or groin to access the carotid, brachial, and femoral arteries. The embalming fluid is pumped into the machine and swapped with the blood. This process takes about an hour. While all this is happening, the corpse is given a wonderful massage to break up any blood clots and speed up the process. The fluid is then drained from the main cavity in the body and replaced with another to slow down decomposition. Depending on the religion, the outer shell is washed by the undertaker, Sikh, family or imam.
6. Embalming #2: Helping Hand
We love our dead. We even say: “A dead person is either good or not at all.” And when preparing the body for “leaving,” we prepare it more carefully than when preparing ourselves for the first job interview.
The nose and mouth have to be filled with cotton wool to prevent moisture from seeping through. The mouth is also sewn or sealed. If there are any wounds on the skin, then the body is wrapped in plastic, and only then in a suit. Small plastic cups are inserted under the eyelids to prevent the possibility of open or hollow eyes. In addition, the latter is done in order to avoid the “cry of the dead man.” And this is not only creepy, but also sad for the family. In general, everything is done in order to maintain the illusion of “normality”, the familiar appearance of a person.
7. Decomposition #1: Self-digestion
No matter how much embalming fluid you pour into a dead body, it will still begin to decompose, especially if the death occurred in the open air. Decomposition begins within minutes of death. After blood stops flowing through the body, oxygen starvation makes itself felt. Enzymes begin to digest cell membranes. This meanwhile causes discoloration.
Next comes rigor mortis, nucleic acids break down proteins in muscle fibers. As soon as the muscles begin to break down more intensely, rigor mortis goes away and the body becomes elastic again. Trillions of bacteria that live in the human body throughout life will be free again. Cell membranes begin to degrade, giving rise to their own decomposition process.
8. Decay #2: Rotting
The next stage of decomposition, when the bacteria are slightly carried away.
The initial stage of self-digestion produces many sugars, salts, liquids and anaerobic bacteria that have recently been released from the prison-guts. In general, bacteria feed, ferment sugars, and produce all sorts of unclean gases such as hydrogen sulfide and ammonia. As bacteria begin to break down hemoglobin in the blood, they turn the skin a mottled dark green color.
All these gas-generating processes cause the body to inflate like a balloon of horror. This is called “bombing”. As a result, pressure will accumulate in the body, and gases and liquids will begin to flow out of every hole (every one, yes). But it might “fortune” and then the whole thing will explode. It is at these moments that the skin begins to loosen, and black spots appear on the body.
9. Decay #3: Colonization
At some certain point, the organism becomes simply irresistible to any creature that is looking for the ideal place to lay eggs. Flies lay hundreds of eggs, which hatch into hundreds of maggots. The giant, writhing mass of larvae can raise body temperature by 10 degrees Celsius. This means that the larvae have to constantly change their location so as not to cook in the body.
Subsequently, they grow into flies, which, in turn, lay eggs again. This process is repeated until all the flesh and skin is consumed. However, the larvae will attract their own antagonists, all kinds of predators such as birds, ants, wasps and spiders. An entire ecosystem is created around the decomposing body. Larger scavengers, of course, can stop all this disgrace in just a couple of hours, for example, if we are talking about a flock of vultures.
You should also remember about the corpse's skull, which is saturated with nitrogen. It is so rich in it that it kills surrounding plants nearby. But after a while, the soil, on the contrary, becomes extremely fertile, which helps the growth of mushrooms, plants and the like.
In the end, all human energy returns to nature, to where it found its birth. It's even beautiful if you can bear the image of horribly rotting corpses.
10. Burial
However, in most cases we do not leave bodies on the street. We come up with fancy religious buildings and burial methods for them.
When you cremate a body, you think you're making your life easier. But this is easier said than done. Because the body burns at an incredibly high temperature, over 1000 degrees Celsius. To burn a normal-sized person, it will take you about 90 minutes, and if we are talking about a person with a lot of fat deposits, then this procedure will take several hours. The ash is then crushed to remove large bone fragments and any metal implants.
What type of soil should I choose? It directly depends on how you decompose. Heavy clay soils will help protect against oxygen and therefore slow down the decomposition process. Loose soils, on the contrary, will speed up this process. It usually takes 10-15 years.
In very hot, dry conditions, bacteria cannot destroy body tissue; they simply dehydrate it. When the ancient Egyptians buried their dead in the hot desert sand, the bodies were preserved much more effectively than in the cold darkness of the pyramid tombs. This is why, as many believe, embalming was invented.
Ultimately, all organs are destroyed, decompose and return their energy to nature. You borrowed all this from her initially, and therefore you have no other choice.
- Well, old man, is it time to go to the crematorium?“It’s time, father,” answered the doorman, smiling joyfully, “to our Soviet columbarium.”
(I. Ilf, E. Petrov. The Golden Calf)
“As children, we ran to watch how the dead were burned in the crematorium. We sneaked to the small window and looked at the coffin engulfed in flames. After a couple of minutes, the domovina disintegrated, and a terrible thing happened: the corpse began to writhe, arms and legs moved, sometimes the dead man rose. that they were burning a living person. We ran away in horror. Then at night I was tormented by nightmares. But still we were drawn to the window like a magnet..." I remember this passage from my aunt’s childhood memories often. More often than I would like, because in recent years I have had to participate more than once in the ceremony of seeing off on my last journey. And often these farewells took place in the crematorium building.
There are many incredible, soul-chilling stories about crematoria, about what happens in the building itself, where access to relatives and friends of the deceased is denied. Where is the truth and where is fiction, we will try to figure it out.
In Europe, the Etruscans burned their dead, then the Greeks and Romans adopted this custom. Christianity declared cremation paganism. In 785, Charlemagne banned cremation under threat of death, and it was forgotten for about a thousand years. But in the XVI–XVII centuries. Cities in Europe began to gradually turn into metropolises, and a big problem arose with the organization of cemeteries. In some churchyards, the dead began to be buried in large common graves, which were open for many days. Often, cemeteries were located in human habitats, which caused the spread of diseases. The idea of burning the bodies of the dead arose again. Since the 16th century. In Europe, funeral pyres began to be used for sanitary and hygienic purposes. However, the problem was creating a suitable burning method - fires were not suitable. This method was invented only at the end of the 19th century. On October 9, 1874, the first cremation was performed in a stream of hot air in a regenerative furnace designed by the German engineer Friedrich Siemens. And the first modern crematorium was built in 1876 in Milan. Currently, there are more than 14.3 thousand crematoria in the world
On the territory of Russia, the first crematorium was built not after the 17th year, as many people think, but even before the October revolution, in Vladivostok, using a Japanese-made oven. Probably for the cremation of citizens of the Land of the Rising Sun (at that time there were many people from Nagasaki living in Vladivostok). Today, a crematorium operates in this city again, this time for Russians.
The first crematorium in the RSFSR (Metallurg furnace) was opened in 1920 in the bathhouse building, house No. 95-97 on the 14th line of Vasilievsky Island in Petrograd. Even the act of the first cremation in the history of Soviet Russia, signed by the chairman of the Permanent Commission for the construction of the 1st State Crematorium and Mortuary, the manager of the management department of the Petrogubis Executive Committee, comrade, has been preserved. B.G. Kaplun and other persons present at this event. The act, in particular, states: “On December 14, 1920, we, the undersigned, carried out the first experimental burning of the corpse of Red Army soldier Malyshev, 19 years old, in a cremation oven in the building of the 1st State Crematorium - V.O., 14 line, no. 95/97. The body was pushed into the oven at 0 hours 30 minutes, and the temperature of the furnace at that moment was on average 800 C under the action of the left regenerator. The coffin burst into flames at the moment it was pushed into the burning chamber and fell apart 4 minutes after it was inserted there". The following are details that I decided to omit so as not to traumatize impressionable readers.
The furnace only worked for a short time, from December 14, 1920 to February 21, 1921, and was stopped “due to lack of firewood.” During this period of time, 379 bodies were burned there, most of which were burned administratively, and 16 at the request of relatives or according to a will.
Finally and irrevocably, fire funerals entered the life of Soviet people in 1927, when the “department of atheism” was opened in Moscow, in the Donskoy Monastery, as atheistic propaganda then called this crematorium. The monastery church of St. Seraphim of Sarov was converted into a crematorium. The first clients of the establishment were trusted comrades - “knights of the revolution”. In the columbarium located in the temple, on the cremation urns you can read inscriptions such as: “Bolshevik-Chekist”, “member of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), staunch Bolshevik”, “one of the oldest figures of the Bolshevik Party”. In general, ardent revolutionaries were entitled to a flame even after death. After 45 years, another crematorium was built in the city - this time the largest in Europe - at the Nikolo-Arkhangelskoye cemetery, in 1985 - at Mitinskoye, and after another 3 years - at Khovanskoye. There are also crematoria in St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Rostov-on-Don, and Vladivostok; On July 7 last year, a crematorium opened in Novosibirsk.
Despite intensive propaganda, citizens of the USSR treated this type of burial with distrust and fear. This is partly (but only partly) explained by the negative attitude of traditional religions towards cremation, because in monotheistic religions cremation is prohibited or, at a minimum, not encouraged. Judaism strictly prohibits cremation of the body. Jewish tradition views cremation as an abusive custom, dating back to the pagan practice of burning the dead on funeral pyres. Burning a person's body is unacceptable in Islam. If this happens, the sin falls on those who committed the burning. The Orthodox Church views cremation as an “alien custom,” a “heretical method of burial.” The Greek Orthodox Church stubbornly resists the introduction of cremation. As stated by the official representative of the Holy Synod, Bishop of Alexandroupolis Anthimos, commenting on a bill introduced by seven members of parliament allowing this rite for members of non-Orthodox (!) congregations in Greece: “Cremation is an act of violence, an insult to humanity, an expression of nihilism...”. The overwhelming majority of Russian Orthodox priests are categorically against fire burial. “The burning of the dead may be a violation of the teachings of the Church on the veneration of the remains of holy martyrs and saints and deprive Orthodox Christians of holy relics,” says priest I. Ryabko. “And as for mere mortals, burning, among other things, deprives believers of that spiritual edification and reminder of death, which they receive when burying bodies in the ground. It follows that, from a purely Orthodox point of view, the burning of the dead is recognized as an alien and unacceptable innovation in the Christian faith." The official position of the Russian Orthodox Church was voiced by the deputy chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin: “We have a negative attitude towards cremation. Of course, if relatives ask for a funeral service for the deceased before cremation, church ministers do not refuse them. But people who profess Orthodoxy must respect the dead and not to allow the destruction of the body created by God." However, there is a lobby in the Russian Orthodox Church that advocates not to anathematize crematoria. Moreover, they say that the crematorium opened last year in Novosibirsk has been consecrated. And in general, recently there have been persistent rumors (which representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church have not confirmed) that the construction of crematoria in all major cities has long been agreed upon with the church authorities and there is a blessing from the Russian Orthodox Church at the highest level. Probably, the rumors arose due to the fact that in all crematoria in Russia there are priests who perform funeral services for the deceased before cremation, and some crematoria have chapels.
Other branches of Christianity look at this method of burial somewhat differently. Lutherans and Protestants were the first to approve cremation. And in 1963, although with reservations, cremation was allowed by the Catholic Church.
But, I repeat, the reason for the cool (pardon the pun) attitude towards fiery funerals is not only the religious beliefs of our citizens. The main reason is the numerous horror stories that have been told by word of mouth for many years about the “horrors” happening in crematoria. I, like many other citizens, have repeatedly heard that the dead are undressed, gold teeth and crowns are taken out, coffins are rented, and clothes taken from the deceased are handed over to second-hand stores. At one time, Mikhail Weller’s story “The Crematorium” added fuel to the fire, which describes how the workers of this establishment in Leningrad undressed the dead before cremation, and handed over the clothes to a nearby thrift store. Let me briefly remind you what the essence of the story is: a man won a car in a cash and clothing lottery, drank to celebrate, and died. He was cremated (allegedly along with the ticket, which was in his suit pocket). A few days later, the widow of the deceased went to a second-hand store, where she saw her husband’s suit. In my pocket, of course, there was that same ticket... By the way, as my mother told me, she heard this story about a suit and a ticket (a bond with a big win) in childhood, when Weller still couldn’t hold a pen in his hands.
I managed to talk with an employee of one of the Moscow crematoria. Of course, I wanted to find out “the whole truth” about what was going on there. An attempt was even made to get Ivan drunk (his name was changed at his request, since employees in the funeral services industry generally prefer not to advertise their place of work). Ivan willingly drank with me, but did not tell any terrible secrets. And in response to a question about the clothes allegedly removed from corpses, he laughed: “Old man, how do you imagine this? In order to rite the deceased, the suits on the back are cut, and the shoes are also cut. In order to bring all this into marketable condition, a team is needed hire seamstresses, motorists and shoemakers. So, what? In general, this is complete nonsense." “What about the gold?” I continued. “Surely you take jewelry from the dead? Don’t let it go to waste...” But Ivan just waved his hand, saying, leave me alone.
And yet, where do the jewels go? In general, agents, when filling out documents for cremation, offer the customer to remove jewelry from the deceased. But if relatives leave everything as it is, then during cremation the following happens. There is such a thing in cremation equipment - a cremulator. It is designed to grind bone remains left after cremation. Using an electric magnet, all metallic inclusions are removed from the ashes: nails, coffin handles, metal prostheses, etc. When the first crematoria first appeared in the USSR, in order to prevent the operator of the cremation furnace from stealing gold from dentures, wedding rings, etc. from the machines, control was established over the delivery of all non-magnetic metals to the state. All metal that did not catch fire was required to be handed over to the state by a special commission (these rules still exist today). However, as it turned out, the temperature in the furnace is so high that gold, silver and other valuable metals melt and, combining with the remains, turn into dispersed dust, from which it is almost impossible to extract anything valuable. Of course, there is a possibility that the crematorium staff may seize valuables even before sending the deceased to the oven. However, until now, since the existence of crematoria, there has not been a single similar criminal case. In principle, this can be explained by the mutual responsibility of the crematorium workers, but somehow it’s hard to believe that information about the crimes did not leak to law enforcement agencies.
As for the coffins, which are supposedly allowed to go “to the left,” both my new acquaintance Ivan and quite official officials unanimously assure that the technological feature of modern ovens is such that they cannot work without a coffin. In general, the cremation process occurs as follows. After the coffin, which is boarded up or closed with latches, enters the storage unit, a metal plate with an engraved number is nailed onto the domino, and the coffin is sealed. If it is decorated with metal or plastic crosses or handles, they are removed so as not to pollute the atmosphere with harmful emissions, and also so that the stove nozzles last longer. After the cremation is completed, along with the remains, the number plate is removed from the ashes and the numbers are checked to eliminate confusion with the release of someone else's ashes (one of the common fears is that someone else's remains will be given away). By the way, some crematoria provide a glass-enclosed viewing room for relatives and friends, from where you can watch the coffin go into the oven. Only one deceased person can be cremated in the oven at a time; before loading the next one, it is thoroughly cleaned. Another interesting detail is that in modern crematoria, in order to turn on the oven, you need to have a key with a code and know a special code.
In general, rumors about outrages in crematoria are, as they say, greatly exaggerated. However, the crematorium, like the entire sphere of funeral services, is a good feeding trough for those who work there. You can always get extra money from the relatives and loved ones of the deceased who are poorly informed by grief. So, for example, the employees of the ritual hall of the crematorium - it seems they are called masters of ceremonies - often ask to give “for candles”, for a “memorial service”, for “remembering the deceased dearly”... And people, of course, give. By the way, one of my friends cherished the dream of getting a job at a crematorium, because she heard that they paid well there. But she failed. It turned out that getting into this institution without patronage is as difficult as it was once to get into MGIMO without bribes and cronyism. The amount she had to pay for employment turned out to be unaffordable for her.
Today, as at the dawn of Soviet power, there is again intensified propaganda for fire burial. Even historical examples are given in favor of crematoria, which show that committing the dead to fire was the norm among many peoples, including the ancient Slavs. Also used as an example are countries where cremation has become widespread: the USA, Japan, the Czech Republic, Great Britain, Denmark... Cremation is presented as the most hygienic and environmentally friendly method of burial. But the point is not about ecology (at least, not only about it), but about the land. Cities are growing and demanding new territories. Cremation does not allow cemeteries to grow greatly and “seize” priceless land. But ordinary people, of course, are not concerned about all this, but about the costs of the funeral. Cremation is cheaper than a regular funeral. That is why, in the last ten years, the tradition of cremating the deceased among poor residents of large Russian cities (primarily Moscow and St. Petersburg) has been gaining popularity. Wealthier people can afford to pay for a traditional funeral and cemetery land, while those who are poorer have to resort to fiery burial.
People don't always want to talk about death, much less think about their own funeral in the future. But, as you know, the human body is not eternal, and the time comes when the relatives of the deceased need to resolve the issue of funeral. Modern funeral services are not limited to the generally accepted burial of a deceased person in a coffin, but offer several options for sending them on their last journey.
Increasingly, in modern society they try not to bury the body underground, but to cremate it. This process involves burning a corpse in special ovens (crematoriums) at high temperatures of over 1000 degrees. Under such conditions, even hard bone tissue becomes brittle and turns to ash. The tradition of burning bodies dates back to prehistoric times and is popular even today.
Cremation is chosen due to its convenience and practicality. In addition, some people are squeamish about the fact that their body will rot and be eaten by worms underground.
Crematorium
To cremate a body, certain conditions are required, which can be achieved thanks to a special Crematorium oven. Inside it, an incredible temperature is reached - up to 1092 degrees Celsius, which allows you to turn the body into a small handful of bones and ash. After burning, large bone remains are crushed in a centrifuge, if there is permission from relatives.
Modern crematoria run on gas, electric or special fuel. The entire cremation procedure for an average person takes about 2 hours, but it all depends on the characteristics of each body. For example, a person who suffered from cancer or tuberculosis during his lifetime requires more time for cremation. The same can be said about drug addicts and those people who often took various drugs.
To ensure that the resulting ashes are homogeneous, all remains are sorted and sifted. Metal crowns or dentures present in the body are selected using a powerful magnet.
How does cremation happen?
After preliminary preparation of the body, the closed coffin with the deceased is loaded into the oven chamber. Next, the automatic electronics of the device come into play.
- The initial stage of cremation is the burning of the coffin. This process takes about 10 minutes. It all starts with the ignition of the walls of the coffin, which begin to disintegrate, after which the ignition affects all combustible materials. The soft tissues of the body begin to decompose when exposed to high temperatures (carbonization process).
- Starting from the second stage, the furnace automation sets the temperature regime so that the destruction of the body occurs in certain sequences. The main thing is that these processes occur according to standard schemes, otherwise it will not be possible to achieve full mineralization of bone and soft tissues.
There are several factors that are taken into account when cremating each body, and thanks to which the required oven mode is set. These include:
- Age of the deceased.
- Body mass.
- The time that elapsed from pronouncing death to cremation.
- Features of the lifestyle of the deceased (habitual diet, drug therapy, presence of diseases).
These parameters are of great importance for crematorium workers, because the required combustion mode will depend on them. Thus, some factors provoke dehydration of the body, others, for example, leaching of calcium from bones, and all this affects the final result of cremation.
Processing of ashes
Burning is not the end of a complex process. Another, no less important stage of cremation is the final processing of the remains, because after the thermal effect of the oven, they remain in a heterogeneous consistency. The remains include ash, bone fragments and possible metal parts. The homogeneity of the ashes is ensured in the Cremulator - a special device for crushing the remains to the state of homogeneous ash, sifting out all that is unnecessary.
But many crematoria operate without this equipment, using old methods of processing ashes (crushing particles with a hammer and sifting the ashes by hand).
After cremation, the ashes of the deceased are placed in an urn and handed over to relatives, who dispose of them at their own discretion, or follow the will of the deceased.
What the law says
There is a certain law according to which ashes are released to relatives. After the burning of the body is completed and the remains are loaded into an urn, it is handed over to the close relatives of the deceased in a specially prepared room - a farewell hall, where a “farewell” ceremony is performed. But you can’t just get an urn with ashes, since it is issued only after the presentation of certain documents:
- Certificate of death of a person.
- Passport of a relative who wants to pick up the ballot box.
- Conclusion on cremation (taken from the crematorium where the procedure was carried out).
- Certificate of availability of a burial plot (this can be obtained from the cemetery where relatives plan to bury the urn). There may be several options:
- Burial in a separate area - burial of the remains after release by the crematorium can be carried out in a cemetery, similar to a standard burial in a coffin. The cemetery administration must allocate a site in advance and prepare a hole. Burying an urn does not require the same area as a coffin, so it will cost a little less.
- Recently, they have begun to practice burying ashes in existing graves of relatives. As stated in the laws, a free plot in the local cemetery is provided for one resident of a locality, but in reality, the relatives of the deceased always pay a considerable amount of money for this. If you bury the urn in a family grave, you will only need money to dig a hole, but if you need to change the monuments, you will again have to pay a lot of money.
- Urns containing ashes are often buried in the Wall of Sorrow columbariums. In this wall there are many cells in which an urn is placed and covered with a memorial plate with information about the person resting in this place.
Common traditions
Burying an urn with the ashes of the deceased is not the only option. For example, in many Western countries, many people leave trash cans for storage at home. For us, this may sound unacceptable and creepy; after all, it contains the remains of the deceased, but if this was the will of the deceased, then hardly anyone will argue with this.
Another tradition of saying goodbye to the deceased is scattering the ashes. Typical dispersal sites are meta-pilgrimages. But occasionally, fulfilling the last will of the deceased, relatives scatter the ashes over his native places. There are special services that scatter the ashes of a cremated person, which will deliver and scatter the ashes anywhere in the world.
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