Talk:Viaticum

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is akin to the ancient pagan practice of placing coins on the eyes of the dead person so that he or she had money to pay the passage for Charon to ferry the person across the River Styx to Hades.

is removed by me because this is not a true statement.

Paying the coin to cross the river Styx was obligatory, while administering the Viaticum was not. It was only meant to strengthen the dying person emotionally / psychologically. Not having the Viaticum administered did not mean one could not go to heaven. |A significant difference thus. If we insist to compare, we should then also refer not only to Charon, but also to Egyptian mummies, Nordic myths and so on.

If anything, the Viaticum is (perhaps!) based on the old Greek principle of giving those who were to embark on a long journey, a farewell meal called hodoiporion.

Josh