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> Deceased nuns were placed on stone chairs to decompose, while the surviving nuns prayed near the lifeless bodies. This sounds fringe, and it may well have be
by OfSanguineFire 3y ago
> Deceased nuns were placed on stone chairs to decompose, while the surviving nuns prayed near the lifeless bodies.
This sounds fringe, and it may well have been by that time. But it isn’t all that different from the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd-century Christian practices that bothered the pagan Roman authorities: holding service in catacombs and holding the bones of the deceased.
- zdragnar 3y agoThere is at least one non-Western culture that I am aware of that still practices essentially the same thing, though laying down rather than in a sitting position. I think it is only for a week, so probably not as unhygienic, I suppose. Even modern Orthodox tradition holds the relics (bits and bobs from corpses, as well as full ones) of saints in high regard.