Abstract: În ceea ce privește tradiția Bisericii noastre, trebuie specificat, mai întâi de toate, faptul că practica citirii „stâlpilor” la răposații mireni reprezintă un obicei local, în sensul că ea nu se regăseşte în celelalte tradiții ortodoxe, cum ar fi cea greacă şi cea rusă (cel puțin aşa reiese din diverse studii), şi că ea nu reprezintă o substituire a citirilor indicate de tradiția bisericească, ci mai degrabă un adaos. Cu alte cuvinte, rânduiala „stâlpilor” nu reprezintă nicidecum, în viziunea Bisericii noastre Ortodoxe Române, o îndepărtare de la tradiția bisericească, ci mai degrabă o „îmbogățire” a acesteia.
Keywords: ritual, vigil, funeral prayer, Psalter Book, prayer, Church, funerary
Summary: With regard to our Church’s tradition, one must note that the practice of funeral Gospel readings as special prayers (“stâlpi”) for the lay deceased is a local custom, that is, it is not found with other Orthodox traditions such as the Greek or the Russian one (at least, according to various studies); this practice is not intended to supplant or suppress the readings prescribed by ecclesial tradition, but rather to supplement them. The diversity of practices related to these readings is probably due, in the Orthodox East, on the one hand to the absence of any explicit liturgical prescriptions, and on the other hand, to the freedom in interpreting the existing indications of the common liturgical tradition. The “evolution” of this practice in time is most likely also accounted for by the dissimilarities concerning the exact content of these funeral readings: certain sources indicate full readings of the Gospels, while liturgical books and some experts in Liturgics describe them as selective readings, or extracts (pericopes). Moreover, according to some sources, even readings from the Psalter Book could be considered as “stâlpi”.
In conclusion, according to the stance of our Romanian Orthodox Church, the ritual of funeral Gospel readings (“stâlpi”) is in no way a departure from the ecclesiastical tradition, but rather an “enrichment” of it.
Diac. lect. univ. dr. Nicolae Preda – Facultatea de Teologie Ortodoxă „Justinian Patriarhul” a Universității din București; Doctor în Teologie Liturgică la Institutul Pontifical Oriental din Roma; e-mail: preda_nicolae@hotmail.com
