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Today I listened to the memorial service. I knew from beforehand that President Barack Obama had sworn not to speak the name of him who carried out the massacre in Colorado. But, I think that Gov. John Hickenlooper said it most clearly, “I refuse to say his name.” This particular stance by not only the President and the Governor, but by many others, is a worthy stance. You see, this reminds me of the Orthodox funeral service and of our sayings when someone dies (sleeps in the Lord). At the Trisagion service, at the funeral service, whenever we formally remember him we sing or say, “Let his memory be Eternal.” The shorthand version of that is, “Memory Eternal.” The almost final prayer/blessing is when the priest says, “May your memory be eternal, dear brother (sister), for you are worthy of blessedness and everlasting memory.”
To not be remembered by God is to have no Eternal life. We do not know whether that will be true of him who committed the atrocity. He can always truly repent and be forgiven by God. But, if he does not, then the President and the Governor have taken a most Biblical stance. May his name not be remembered either by us or by God. “I refuse to say his name,” is one of the ultimate curses for it says that neither we nor God have any knowledge of him. “I refuse to say his name.”
The Anabaptists, particularly the Amish, the Brethren, and the Mennonites use shunning as one of the most severe disciplines that they know. When shunning is invoked, it means that the community behaves as though the person no longer exists. “I refuse to say his name,” means that a person’s own relatives will not know the person, even on a public street. It is a strong discipline.
And so, I join in with those who have said, “I refuse to say his name.” Let there be no memory of him. Let him be denied the fame that he wanted. Let him be no more by name in our minds. Unless, unless, unless he repents and turns his heart to the Lord our God. But, until such a time let his name not be spoken.
Father, the novels by Chaim Potok are often narrated by characters who have survived the Holocaust or the Soviet empire. Whenever a character invokes the name of either Stalin or Hitler it’s usually during a heated conversation, and usually followed by “May his name and memory be erased!”
Amen.
I made it a point to forget the name of the VaTech shooter, and I intend to do the same here. The “Memory Eternal” is such a powerful and wonderful way in which we mourn and enter into the grief of others.
I can think of no better thing to do here. As a newspaper reporter who writes about crime, I always spend more time concerned with the perpetrator–it is his name I follow through the court system, him I see as the case proceeds. But when we get done, I file the case in my head by victim. We manage our databases the same way as well. The power of evil is so overwhelming sometime, and we can diminish it in a way by not evoking it by name.
May his memory be stricken from the records of our communal memory until such a time as he chooses life.
I will continue to pray that the man will be saved. Y’all have fun with your self-righteous judgement. God will remember his name no matter what you say about it.
Huw, let me suggest something from Scripture, and the prayers we pray.
The quote from Scripture comes from 1 Corinthians 5:4-5. “In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” Note that the delivery to Satan is in order, “that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” Look at my article and see how I say twice that should he repent, I would again mention his name.
But, note also that I use the word curse and talk about the funeral service. Look at the traditional Orthodox funeral service closely because there is a very interesting prayer of final absolution as part of the service. The OCA version records it as, “… And if he be under the ban or excommunication of a Bishop or of a Priest; or if he has brought upon himself the curse of his father or mother; or has fallen under his own curse; or has transgressed by any oath; or has been bound, as a human, by any sins whatsoever, but has repented of these with a contrite heart, may He absolve him also from all these faults and bonds.”
Traditionally this prayer was written out and either read by a bishop or priest, or by the godfather (or mother) of the person. The paper was then rolled up and placed in the coffin with him/her. That final absolution released the person from all earthly excommunications and/or curses. It is then up to God. But, notice that the service assumes that bishops and priests (and even parents and the person himself/herself) have the authority to make certain declarations that will bind, at least until death and ought to be forgiven at the final absolution.
In both the Scripture that Saint Paul wrote and in the funeral service, the ultimate reason for the ban is that “his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ …”
You see, there is a much greater danger. That danger is also spelled out for us in Scripture. Eventually there comes a final judgment. In it there is the possibility that the Lord might say, “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’”
The ban is not merciless, but has the intent of being merciful. The ban and the turning over to Satan is the last hope for someone who has so strayed from the Way that they are in imminent danger of being eternally lost.
And so, yes, as a priest, I have written words that amount to a ban. But, not a merciless ban. That ban, that shunning, is the last hope for someone who is so far from the path that the danger of his loss is imminent.