Editing Intercession (section)

===The dead===
{{main|Prayer for the dead}}
In addition to praying for each other in life, early Christians would pray for those who had died.<ref>G. F. Hamilton. "[https://www.jstor.org/stable/30067646 Prayers of the Ancient Church for the Faithful Departed]".
''The Irish Church Quarterly''
Vol. 9, No. 35 (July 1916), p. 201</ref> There is no unequivocal evidence that Christians began to pray for the dead before the third century AD.<ref name="Hamilton 203">Hamilton 203</ref> G. F. Hamilton argues that the earliest example of Church prayer on behalf of dead Christians is found in the [[Sacramentary of Serapion of Thmuis]] (350 AD).<ref>Hamilton 209</ref> Rather than pray for the departed in regular church services on Sunday, these early Christians would hold special commemorative occasions during the week. There was a sharp distinction drawn between remembering and praying on behalf of the dead, and those who were the {{"'}}faithfully' departed",<ref>Hamilton 202</ref> where Christians would only pray for those who had died as believers. The [[First Epistle of Clement]] (95 AD) contains a prayer which, while mainly for protection for the living, also includes the dead.<ref name="Hamilton 203"/> Even quite early, a distinction was drawn between those who had died as Christians, and those who had died as unbelievers. In the ''[[Martyrdom of Polycarp]]'' (155 AD), Polycarp is killed and his bones are taken by fellow Christians and a [[shrine]] is set up to him, where they may remember his [[martyrdom]].<ref name="Hamilton 203"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/martyrdompolycarp-hoole.html|title=The Martyrdom of Polycarp (Hoole translation)|website=www.earlychristianwritings.com}}</ref> In contrast, the "[[Apology of Aristides]]" shows how those who were not Christians were grieved for, while the dead faithful were rejoiced over.<ref>Hamilton 204</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/aristides-kay.html|title=The Apology of Aristides the Philosopher|website=www.earlychristianwritings.com}}</ref>