Citizen Columns
Question
If a person commits suicide, are they guilty of sin? Or has society, particularly their faith community, failed in some way?
Answer
Earlier this year the Standing Conference of Orthodox Bishops in the Americas (SCOBA) issued an important pastoral letter on this topic and my repsonse is taken from there. If you want to read the full text see www.scoba.us/news.
Historically, the Church was called upon to address the issue of suicide from the outset. Philosophical and religious teachings prevalent in the Greco-Roman world tended both to disparage the body and to endorse suicide in circumstances of severe hardship. The early Church's condemnation of suicide affirmed teachings that were sharply different from those of the broader culture: the sacredness of each human being, the holiness of our bodies as Temples of the Holy Spirit, and, especially, the call for each one of us to maintain faith and hope even in the midst of extreme adversity. The norm therefore was to decline to offer a funeral service and burial to suicide victims.
On the other hand, the Church acknowledged the complex etiology and emotionally charged character of a suicide. Spiritual factors and physical factors, like depression, can severely compromise a person's ability to reason clearly and act freely. So the Church has taken very seriously such factors, and has responded pastorally by offering a funeral service and burial to suicide victims whose capacities for judgment and action were found to be significantly diminished. Through advances in science we now have a better understanding of the relationship between suicide and depression, as well as a more accurate account of the causes of depression.
Those left behind carry a great burden - of hurt, guilt, and often shame - with the realization that their loved one has taken his or her own life. But we must acknowledge that, in most instances, the complex web of causes contributing to a suicide lies beyond our full understanding. We should maintain a certain humility while remembering that the state of the suicide victim is and must remain in the hands of God.
Father John Jillions
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