Epitaphia

Epitaphia (ἐπιτάφια), funeral orations. It was usual in the early Church to make funeral orations (λόγοι ἐπικήδειοι) in praise of those who had been distinguished during life by their virtues and merits. Several of these are extant, as that of Eusebius at the funeral of Constantine; those of Ambrose on the deaths of Theodosius and Valentinian, and of his own brother Satyrus; those of Gregory of Nazianzus upon his father, his brother Csesarius, and his sister Gorgonia; and that of Gregory of Nyssa upon the death of Melitus, bishop of Antioch. — Riddle, Christ. Antiq. book 7, chapter 3.