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The St. Daniel Burial Ministry at St. Anne Church in Corvallis, Oregon began in the fall of 2007 and is dedicated to providing assistance during the serious illness, death, and burial of its members. The ministry team consists of the parish rector and ten church volunteers who serve both as administrators and service providers for the work of the ministry. Several of the current ministry team members possess professional healthcare, funeral home and/or business management experience.
The primary aim of the St. Daniel Ministry is to help parishioners obtain adequate information for end-of-life planning and to offer enough spiritual direction, emotional support and hands-on assistance so that they can minimize or eliminate the involvement of outside funeral home personnel with the burial preparation and final disposition of their bodies. Enabling Orthodox Christians to properly participate in the burial preparation process for their fellow Orthodox and guiding them in prayer for the departed soul while they respectfully care for the body in an Orthodox manner, is the ultimate benefit provided by the ministry. The substantial cost savings obtained by greatly reducing or eliminating the need for expensive funeral home services is another significant benefit.
The work of the St. Daniel Burial Ministry has evolved greatly over the years. In its beginning stages, the ministry served mostly as a resource center, directing parishioners to appropriate paperbound and online reading materials and facilitating the purchase of burial plots in the Orthodox section of a nearby cemetery. Ministry members took time to learn from and study the experiences of two other Orthodox burial ministries in the state: at St. Nicholas Church (OCA) in Portland and at Holy Annunciation Church (OCA) in Milwaukie, and researched the pertinent laws of the State of Oregon. A workbook of burial information for parishioners was compiled and advance directives, POLST documents and other legal forms and instructions were posted on the church website. A parishioner experienced in carpentry also began constructing simple and affordable pine caskets for sale to church members.
Over time medical equipment and various supplies were acquired to further the mission of the ministry, such as: a mortuary gurney to transport bodies from the place of repose to the church, a body bag, a casket trolly, thermal blankets, ice chest for dry ice, myrrh, grooming and personal hygiene items. The church was also given a 12-passenger van that could transport a body or casket.
At the present time, the St. Daniel Ministry at St. Anne’s can often function as a typical funeral home in situations where embalming is not needed. In its official capacity, the ministry acts as a home or “green” burial advisory committee with support staff available for the family of the deceased. This capability is due in large part to Oregon’s humane and uncomplicated home/green burial laws that makes Home Burial Packets available to families and to the professional oversight of the former mortuary directors and medical personnel who serve on the ministry team.
On the death of a member, Ministry members come to the place of repose, recite the panikhida prayers and then clean, anoint, groom and clothe the body for burial. Preparation of the body can take place at the place of repose prior to transport to the church or it can be performed at the church in a special space dedicated for that purpose. The body is then kept cold on dry ice at the church until the day and time chosen for the funeral service (usually within one to three days).
Over the course of the current pandemic, while most of the ministry’s services have continued unabated, the scope of our ability to provide hands-on preparation of the body for burial has been curtailed to a slight degree. In general, the number of ministry team members on site with the body is kept to a minimum. When possible, family members of the deceased are enlisted to engage in direct contact with the body during the preparation for burial under the immediate oversight of a ministry team leader. Preparation of the body is now only done at the church in St. Daniel’s well-ventilated workspace by individuals both masked and gloved.
For more information about the St. Daniel Ministry at St. Anne Orthodox Church feel free to email either Fr. Stephen Soot, parish rector, at frsoot@comcast.net or founding ministry member Linda Elizabeth Martin at linda.martin@q.com . Or you can visit the parish website at: https://www.staoc.com/stdanielburialassistance/.
The patron saint for the burial ministry at St. Anne’s is St. Daniel of Pereslavl, the Abbott of the Pereyaslavl-Zalesski monastery. He was born around 1460 in the city of Pereslavl-Zalessk. From his childhood, Daniel had a love for the pious life and Christian deeds. He became a monk in the monastery of St. Paphnutius of Borovsk. Later in his native land, he dedicated himself to love for neighbor and had a unique form of asceticism – that of caring for the dead. Whenever he heard that someone had died and was unburied because of neglect, poverty, or lack of family, St. Daniel would hasten to bury him decently and to offer prayers to God for him. The saint founded a monastery on the site of the cemetery. St. Daniel died April 7, 1540. His relics remain incorrupt.
The Diocese of the West is the geographical district of the Orthodox Church in America consisting of the Western United States. The diocese has active parishes in Montana, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, Washington, Oregon, California and Hawaii. San Francisco is home to the diocese’s cathedral, Holy Trinity, as well as the Chancery offices. The diocese is led by His Grace Vasily, Bishop of San Francisco and the West.
