Rest in peace

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article does not cite any references or sources. (May 2007) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

The phrase "rest in peace" typically occurs on headstones, often abbreviated "RIP." "Rest in peace" is a prayer that the deceased may rest peacefully, not in torment, while awaiting Judgment Day. The expression comes originally from "requiescat in pace", Latin for "may he/she rest in peace." In Italian, it is said as "Riposi In Pace."

In Protestant Christianity, the belief that the dead wait in Hades until Judgment Day has largely been replaced with the belief that the dead go to their respective fates immediately after death (see particular judgment). Roman Catholicism holds that the soul is similarly judged, but that the body rests in peace until the Final Judgement, when the saints will be reunited with resurrected bodies. All these ideas are contrary to the minority belief known as soul sleep, that the dead receive neither reward nor punishment until Judgment Day.