The Brotherhood of St. Joseph of Arimathea

Preparing ahead

We pray for “a Christian ending to our life, painless, blameless and peaceful.” Setting things in order beforehand is a gift to those who will be left: they will not have to guess, in their grief, what you would have wanted.

Papers for those you love

A Gift for My Loved Ones

For your health care if you cannot speak for yourself: a letter to your family in the faith, a health care power of attorney, and a living will written for an Orthodox Christian.

Another Gift for My Loved Ones

For your funeral and burial: whom you name to arrange it, how you wish to be buried, whom to tell, notes for an obituary, and where your papers are kept.

Both are published by the Orthodox Church in America with the blessing of its Holy Synod; the funeral forms come from A Christian Ending by Mark and Elizabeth Barna (Divine Ascent Press). An Orthodox Workshop in Greenville offers them as fillable forms, free.

Download the forms, free

Sign them before two witnesses and a notary, as each form directs. Give the originals to the person you name, and copies to your priest and your family. The Brotherhood does not collect or keep these papers. If you are unsure whether a form fits South Carolina law, ask a lawyer.

A casket made by Orthodox hands

Orthodox craftsmen make plain wooden caskets in the old way, some with the Trisagion carved on them and some with nothing a green burial forbids. Some ship them flat, to be put together by the family and friends. A family deals with the maker directly; the Brotherhood sells nothing and takes nothing.

Casket makers

An Orthodox Workshop also publishes a printable brochure for parishes on the same downloads page.

The Brotherhood's own help

When someone is dying, ask for a priest. Your own priest is asked first.
Members of the Brotherhood can record their wishes in its final-wishes registry, so that a request for a priest finds them.
The funeral homes and cemeteries in our directory, and the brotherhoods whose work we take up.