Cremation in Christianity

In other large areas such as South Asia, it is strongly opposed due to its religious meaning in Christianity, for instance, plus the precedence of Jesus' burial and the rest of the biblical record.

Christians also used burial as a mark of difference from the Iron Age European pre-Christian Pagan religions, which usually cremated their dead.

In Medieval Europe, cremation was practiced only on certain occasions when there were many corpses to be disposed of simultaneously after a battle, during famine or an epidemics to stop an imminent threat of disease spread.

Much later, Sir Henry Thompson, Surgeon to Queen Victoria, was the first to recommend this practice for health reasons after seeing the cremation apparatus of Professor Ludovico Brunetti of Padua, Italy, at the Vienna Exposition in 1873.

Later tried at Cardiff Assizes and acquitted on the grounds that cremation was not contrary to law, he was able to carry out the ceremony (the first in the UK in modern times) on March 14, 1884 with pagan prayers.

This change of attitude prompted the formation of cremation companies in the UK One of the first such was set up in Manchester in 1892, closely followed by Maryhill, Glasgow, in 1895.

On August 15, 2016, it was approved the instruction Ad resurgendum cum Christo that prohibited the dispersion of the ashes "in the air, on the ground or in water or in any other way" nor their conversion into "objects" to be kept for example at home.

The instruction required that they be preserved in a sacred place such as a cemetery "or, if appropriate, in a church or in an area specifically dedicated for this purpose by the competent ecclesiastical authority".

However, church officials still tend to discourage this practice because of concerns over what would happen to the niches if such a parish closes or decides to replace the current building.

While in Orthodoxy there is no direct connection between cremation and the dogma of the general resurrection, it is seen as a violent treatment of the body after death and as such is viewed harshly.

The highest frequency in the EU is found in the Czech Republic, neighbour to Poland where in contrast cremation after the fall of communism almost has disappeared.

During the time between the world wars, the development of modern crematoriums also helped to differentiate Christian cremations from Pagan rites of burning the body on a pyre.

However, in later years the high frequency has peaked and fallen; one explanation is the immigration from Muslim, Pentecostal, Catholic and Orthodox nations.

According to canon law: "The ashes of a cremated body should be reverently disposed of by a minister in a churchyard or other burial ground in ... or on an area of land designated by the bishop for the purpose ... or at sea.

"[11] In the Finnish language, Christian cremation is called tuhkaus (incineration), while polttohautaus (burial by burning) refers to Pagan ritual on pyre.

[18] In the past, Apostle Bruce R. McConkie[19] wrote that "only under the most extraordinary and unusual circumstances" would cremation be consistent with LDS teachings.