The Funeral Luminaries, that Is, from the Funeral Rites

About the so-called “funeral” exapostilaria, we should remember, first of all, the fact that nothing has been written, neither here (in our country) nor elsewhere, although their history (evolution) is very interesting and very little known. Given these “lacks” in liturgical research, it is clear that our presentation will not be very elaborate, but we hope to be able to outline at least those important aspects related to these hymnographic texts. Initially, these exapostilaria were part of the structure of the Funeral Order; some of them still remained in the composition of these offices (with small exceptions, in the sense that we observe both a “mutation” of them from one order to another, but also their disappearance from these offices), others have entered into the structure of other church ordinances, such as the Matins Service, as we shall see. About the history of these exapostilaria and about their “migration” in various forms, we will try to write in this article, which is not considered to be a complete one, given the few sources that mention these exapostilaria.