Death in Greece… Greeks forced to dig up their dead as Church puts brakes on cremation

Cemeteries in Greece are overcrowded and have nowhere to expand . For this reason bodies are often kept underground for three years before being exhumed so that bones can be stored at an ossuary.

Families have the option of leasing for another three years, but the costs are prohibitive. Most people choose to exhume the graves.

The exhumation that is paid for by the family is a distressing process. It’s like a second funeral where the families see the deceased once again feeling obliged to attend the exhumation process out of respect for the dead.

A quarter of the bones have yet to decompose, especially when the deceased had been treated with drugs that may have helped preserve the corpse.

The bones are washed and then placed in small metal boxes. They are placed in the ossuary, a vast building with archives and filing cabinets full of bones.

In Greece, cremation is not an option though in 2006, a law had been passed allowing for the crematoria to be built. The Orthodox Church had then expressed its vigorous opposition in the belief that a body must be buried in order to be resurrected at the second coming.

The only way for Greeks to cremate their relatives is by heading to Bulgaria. Churches won’t carry out a funeral service if it knows that the body will be cremated so oftentimes people lie and say that it will be buried.

Thessaloniki Mayor Boutaris wants to open a crematorium next year but without funding the chances don’t look good.