Reason for the General Funeral

It was written in “The Spiritual Pearl of the Rites of the Church”:^*

All the Christian people including: men and women, old and young, servants and masters, gathered in the holy Church for the general funeral. This service was prayed on this day in the event that someone departed during Pascha Week since there was no Raising of Incense except on Great Thursday and Bright Saturday. So this funeral replaced the funeral on the four days where there was no Raising of the Incense. And if anyone departed during those days, (s)he would be brought to the church where the appropriate funeral prayers were prayed, but without the Raising of Incense.

The reason why we do not celebrate any liturgies during these next three days of Holy Week is because Palm Sunday was the tenth day after the full-moon—the day at which the sheep and the goats were sold for the feast according to the sayings of God in the Torah, “Take unto you a lamb for yourselves without blemish and keep it with you until the fourteenth day—when you shall slaughter it according to the sayings of the Lord. Keep it on the eleventh, the twelfth, and the thirteenth day and slaughter it on the fourteenth day.” So they kept the lamb for three days: Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, and on Thursday, they slaughtered it. For this reason, no liturgies are celebrated during these three days. The liturgy or the sacrifice on Great Thursday is the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, who was slaughtered for the sins of the world.