An Orthodox priest who doesn’t belong to the Coptic Church came to visit me. I discussed with him the crisis of not praying on dead couple in Minya since they are not Orthodox. Many people accused the Coptic church of being merciless.
The old priest knew nothing about the debate. I asked him: “what will you do if somebody among your congregation dies after he left your church and joined another one. Then, his family asks you to pray in his funeral, would you? He said that he would pray for him at the funeral home or in his house, but not in my church. He added that he doesn’t condemn that person or claim he is going to hell or heaven, but it’s not fair to pray for him using prayers that he didn’t believe in during his life. This is how the church deals with those who refused her faith.
I thought about his talk for a while and how we may despise the will of the deceased in order to relief his family. Christianity always respects the will of the people even if they were dead. Christ used to ask people before he healed them if they want to be healed. Moreover, he didn’t heal the sick in Nazareth for their unbelief. The priest who refused to hold the funeral of non-Orthodox couple inside his church has only respected the regulation of his church as well as the will of the deceased themselves.
