Why is it customary to read the Psalter for the departed?

The custom of reading or singing psalms at the tomb of the deceased comes from deep ancient Christianity. According to the tradition of the Tradition, the apostles spent three days at the tomb of the Mother of God in psalmody. "Apostolic decrees" prescribe: "When you bury the dead, cover them with psalms." It was a tradition to read the Holy Gospel at the tomb of hierarchs and priests, as preachers and ministers of the Word of God, and to read the Psalter at the tomb of deacons and all other departed Orthodox Christians.

Reading the Psalter for the departed Christians, on the one hand, is the help and comfort of the living soul of the deceased, which at this time is before God, waiting for His righteous judgment. If during our mortal life we ​​need prayer help, then how can we overestimate its importance at this moment, when the fate of the soul in eternity is decided! Cronicles, Prologues are full of tales about how exactly the prayers of relatives, the monastic brethren helped the dead person to get rid of eternal torment, begged God for mercy, or at least supported his soul, mitigated suffering.

On the other hand, reading the Psalter, like a funeral, is necessary not only for the deceased, but also for his relatives. When a person is left alone with his pain, loss, despair envelops his soul, and the consequences can be very grave. And if at this moment he turns to God and the emptiness in his soul is filled with prayer, the person will certainly feel support and help.

In addition, the death of a loved one is an instructive example for a thinking person. He understands that he will have to go the same way. And the words of psalms, prayers that sound at the funeral, can give such a person food for thought, to show the meaning of life and death.