A lot of different traditions are connected with wires to the last path of dead people. Some of them have nothing to do with Christianity, others are completely orthodox and acceptable to the Orthodox culture.
Often before the burial the question arises as to whether to leave in the tomb the holy image of the Lord or the Virgin. Some people categorically assert that this cannot be done. However, the Orthodox tradition ascribes to bury a person with an icon. In modern times, all funerary sets contain small funerary holy images. Before the revolution of 1917 in Russia there were no superstitions related to the fact that a person should not be buried with an icon. Where did such a non-Christian funeral sign come from?
The practice of prohibiting the burial of a person with an icon originates in post-revolutionary Russia, when believers were oppressed by the authorities. History testifies to the fact that many churches were closed, the clergy was referred to prison after 1917. In addition, ordinary believers could be harassed by atheistic authorities. For example, if a person kept icons at home, then he fell under the scrutiny of Soviet city rulers. Icons of believers were seized and burned. All this led to the disappearance of many holy images in the apartments and houses of believers. Those icons that they managed to save were hidden by believers, which is still evidenced by the old practice of closing the red corner in the house with curtains.
When a person was escorted to the last journey in Soviet times, there were no icons in the tomb. There are two reasons for this. The first was a physical lack of holy images. Many believers in the house had only a few icons. The second reason was the fear of believers in front of the Soviet authorities, because funerals according to the Orthodox tradition could turn out to be very disastrous for relatives. It was these reasons that prompted the people in Soviet times to bury the dead without icons.
In modern Russia, when believers are not oppressed by the authorities for professing the faith, and a huge number of icons are released, the Orthodox gradually return to historical Christian traditions. Now they are again burying with icons, as it was before in Orthodox Russia. However, even in modern society, echoes of Soviet practice may take place. This is reflected in some mystical justifications for the prohibition of leaving the icon in the tomb of the deceased. An Orthodox person must remember that this is a superstition that is not related to Orthodox culture.
