Parental Saturday - All days of commemoration in the Orthodox calendar. Parental Saturday: Orthodox Traditions

Ecumenical Parental Saturday before Lent, in 2019 coming on March 2 is one of the special days when in all churches there is a service to commemorate the dead Christians. The prayerful sighs of the living for the departed are a precious gift for both.

Memorial Service for the Dead Christians

According to one of the poetesses, there are no unbelievers in heaven, souls acquire faith. The task of all living beings is to unite in the universal petition that sounds in churches at this time for the repose of the departed servants of God. Being in Heaven, the departed souls see our faith from above, even those who were once an ardent fighter against religion.

The second name of this day is Meat-Fare Saturday, when there is a “farewell” to meat dishes before Easter.

What is the essence of the parental universal Sabbath

7 days before Lent begins a week dedicated to reflections on the Last Judgment. In prayer, Orthodox people, in the unity of faith, in a common petition, pray to God for mercy on all the dead, forgiveness of the sins of the living.

Why do the memories of the dead always fall on the Sabbath?

We find the answer in the Bible (Mat.27:57-66). Jesus was buried in the rock on Friday, but on Saturday the Pharisees and scribes demanded that the entrance to the tomb be sealed so that the disciples would not steal the body to proclaim the resurrection by fraudulent means. For the Jews, the Sabbath has always been and remains a day of rest. So the body of Jesus remained at rest until the true Resurrection.

Why Saturday is called parental

On this day, the elders of the family, mother, father and parents are commemorated. Also, it is generally accepted that all the deceased go to their ancestors to meet them in heaven.

Respect for parents runs like a red thread throughout the Bible. The 10 commandments say, honor your father and mother. This is the fifth commandment. It is not indicated here that only good and alive.

Throughout their lives, children should remember those through whom God gave them life, honor and remember.

The Fifth Commandment of the Law of God

The days of people on earth are not limited to their own lives. The human age is extended in children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Returning to the fifth commandment of God, one can see that each person is responsible to his children and grandchildren for their longevity.

Children must be brought up in honor of their parents, not for the sake of their father and mother, but for the sake of their future life. Failure to comply with the commandments is a sin, honoring the parents is higher than the commandment "Thou shalt not kill."

Are there many Orthodox in the world who live according to the commandments of God? How many of us truly honor parents? Sin leads to death not only physical, in front of each person the Last Judgment awaits. Honor your father and mother before and after death, and you, your children and grandchildren, will be granted life with prosperity according to the promise of God.

Sometimes children are annoyed by parents who insist on obedience and punish the disobedient. Stupid children do not understand that parents are driven by a lack of desire for power, and the usual fear of raising a child who does not respect the father and mother.

Universal parental Saturday is a day of remembrance for all the deceased, because they went to their ancestors. Out of great philanthropy, the apostles left the instruction to make ecumenical common prayers for everyone, regardless of who, when and where died.

Why Orthodox Christians Pray for the Dead

According to the Holy Fathers of the Church, the human soul meets with Eternity, but this is not the end, then - the Last Judgment. The soul of the deceased passes only a small court, waiting for the Second Coming of Christ. Living on earth, a person through fasting and prayer, taming his body can correct his sins, the dead have only a soul, which is very difficult to correct.

But the Apostle James instructed all Orthodox to pray for each other in order to receive healing. (James 5:16)

Prayer for the Dead

Memorial Saturday is a universal prayer for the healing of the souls of the deceased, the deceased, or in other words, sleeping people, their liberation from original sin. The triune principle of man consists of spirit, soul and body, but the departed have soul and spirit, which means they still have time to repent. Praying for those who have gone to another world, the Orthodox help them receive God's mercy - the forgiveness of sins for the salvation of their souls.

The philosopher Plato compares the body to a violin case, a broken string does not mean the death of a musician.

When a person dies, he does not know where his soul goes. The survivors cannot imagine this either. The child, being inside the mother, cannot imagine life outside the mother's womb, but the time comes, the baby appears with a cry. Of course, he is uncomfortable and scared, he finds himself in a different, initially seemingly hostile environment. Time passes, the child understands that he is welcome here, they were waiting for him, he gains a sense of comfort.

So the human soul finds itself in another world, it is doomed to immortality. A dead person cannot repent or change anything in his sinful earthly life. Time doesn't go backwards. Remaining relatives, friends and just acquaintances in prayers for the deceased can alleviate their fate in Heaven.

One of the gifts of God for making petitions for the dead is the Ecumenical Parental Saturday before Lent.

There is no death, there is a transition from earthly life to heavenly existence, there is a kind of door that always opens in one direction.

On Meatfare Saturday, all the dead are commemorated, starting from Adam, therefore this day is called ecumenical.

Basic Rules of Conduct on the Ecumenical Memorial Saturday

The morning of the Ecumenical Saturday begins with the Proskomidia, a funeral liturgy, after which a general memorial service is served. Before the start of the Proskomidia, Christians submit notes with the names of the dead, who were baptized according to Orthodox traditions. They are prayed for by name during all services.

Relatives can pray for unbaptized people themselves.

You can not submit notes for the dead:

• suicides;
• women who died during abortions;
• unbaptized;
• atheists;
• heretics.

To commemorate such deceased, without naming the name, they ask the beggars, distributing alms to them.

Important! During prayer, candles are placed near the Crucifixion, and not near the icons of the Saints.

During the Meat Day, the dead are commemorated during meals. On this day, psalm 118 (kathisma 17) is read

Psalm 118 Blessed are the immaculate on the way to the Ecumenical Memorial Saturday

Day of special remembrance of the dead in the church

In addition to Myasopustnaya, the second, third and fourth Saturdays of Great Lent are a time of remembrance and prayers for the dead. The Fathers of the Church emphasize the great mission of Christians to give love to the world, for God is love! If God does not have the dead, all souls are alive, then our calling is to love them, forgive and bless them.

The commemoration of the dead begins on Friday evening, when a memorial service or parastas will be performed. The Great Friday memorial service or parastas (intercession) is a great petition before God for all the deceased.

“Following the parastas, that is, the great requiem, for the deceased father and our brothers and for all Orthodox Christians who have passed away”

The beginning of the parastas is the same as the usual memorial service (which is an abbreviated parastas).

After the Alleluia and the troparia, "Deep Wisdom" is sung immaculately.

Immaculate are divided into 2 articles.

First article: "Blessed are the undefiled on the way."

Chorus: “Remember, Lord, the soul of your servant” (or “the soul of your servant”, or “the soul of your servant”).

After the first article - a small funeral litany and an exclamation: "God of spirits ...".

Second article: "I am yours, save me."

Chorus: “God rest the soul of Thy servant” (or “the soul of Thy servant”, or “the soul of Thy servant”).

Immediately after this, troparia for the Immaculate are sung:

"Blessed are you, O Lord...

Find the source of life with holy faces ... ".

After the troparia and a small funeral litany, the rest of the saddles is sung: “Peace, our Savior”, the 50th psalm is read and the canon “The water has passed” is sung - its edge line: “Singing to the dying faithful Osmo lash” (placed in Oktoikh, tone 8, on Saturday).

Choruses to the canon: “Wonderful is God in His saints, the God of Israel” and “Rest, O Lord, to the souls of Thy servants who have fallen asleep.”

According to the 3rd song, katavasia - irmos: "Heavenly circle", and saddle: "Truly, all kinds of vanity."

According to the 6th song, katavasia irmos: "Cleanse me, Savior."

After a small funeral litany - kontakion and ikos: "With the saints, rest in peace" and "Thou art alone Immortal."

According to the 8th song, the priest creates an exclamation: "The Virgin and Mother of Light ...".

Chorus: “Dusi and souls of the righteous…” and irmos: “Fear every ear.”

After canon the Trisagion is read according to the Our Father and the troparion of the litia is sung: “From the spirits of the righteous who have died, the soul (or souls) of Your servant (Your servant), Savior, rest in peace ...” and so on.

During the Saturday Liturgy, words of consolation are heard, giving hope for a future meeting in Heaven.

All those who are in the temple at the Liturgy are covered by the real grace of God, showing that Christ lives in his worshipers, and we are one body with Him, this is the mystery of His Divine Love.

Divine Liturgy. Universal parental (meatless) Saturday

At the end of the Liturgy, Orthodox people take Communion, receiving the Grace of Holy Communion. According to St. Seraphim of Sarov, those who did not receive Holy Communion that day turned their backs on the One who gave us Love in the Cup of Salvation, which was extended by God's hand.

Prayer for the dead

Give rest, Lord, to the souls of the departed Thy servants: my parents, relatives, benefactors (their names) and all Orthodox Christians, and forgive them all sins, voluntary and involuntary, and grant them the Kingdom of Heaven.

When and by whom was the Ecumenical Memorial Saturday established?

The history of the commemoration of the dead goes back to the distant past. Confirmation of this ritual can be found in the Old Testament of the Bible (Numbers 20:19; Deut. 34:9; Mac. 7:38-46).

The Apostles James and Mark prayed for the dead during ancient liturgies. The Apostolic Decrees clearly indicate on which days those who have gone to the other world are commemorated. The Fathers of the Church, among them Gregory the Great, John Chrysostom, revealed the true meaning of memorial prayers.

The tradition of praying for their deceased parents and relatives is inherent in every nation on earth. The patricians, respected in Rome, differed from the rootless plebeians not only in their wealth, but primarily in the fact that they knew and remembered their ancestors many generations ago.

The Apostle Paul in his letter to the Corinthian church writes that there is no one on earth who could foresee what God has prepared in Heaven for those who love Him.

Christian doctrine says that the perfection of man occurs only on earth. The Divine Liturgy read by the Great Leave gives hope to all living beings, emphasizing that Christ, through the prayers of His Mother Mary, will grant us salvation, for Christ is a lover of mankind.

The remaining people on earth will never learn the secrets about the afterlife of the Saints, will not find answers why their bodies do not smolder and by what rank incense comes from a dead body. It is the duty of every Orthodox Christian to help the dead. Universal petition has great power to untie bonds in Heaven. The meat-fare Saturday was established in the fifth century by order of the Monk Savva the Sanctified.

Icon of Savva the Sanctified

Why is kolivo prepared for Ecumenical Memorial Saturday?

Kolivo or kutia are brought to the temple during a memorial service or lithium. This is one dish made from wheat (sometimes I replace it with rice) with the addition of honey and raisins. The grain is a prototype of the deceased person. As grain dies to form an ear, so the body of the deceased is buried in the earth so that his soul will be resurrected in paradise, where life will be sweet as honey.

Recipe for a funeral kutia

To prepare koliva, you will need peeled wheat, which should be soaked overnight in cold water before cooking. Add pure water to the swollen grains in a ratio of 1: 3 and cook until tender. In the finished porridge, add raisins soaked in boiling water and salt to taste. When the porridge with raisins becomes warm, honey is added to it.

Unlike the rich Christmas kutia with many ingredients, poppy seeds, nuts and dried fruits are not added to the hungry kolivo.

Preparation of a funeral kutia

Parental Saturday is the day of commemoration of the dead in Russian Orthodoxy, when an ecumenical memorial service is held for the dead Christians, prayers are read at liturgies for the repose of the deceased, and relatives commemorate their relatives and friends with kind words and prayers and visit their graves in cemeteries.

What is Parents' Saturday?

On Parental Saturday, believers pray for all the dead Christians, but first of all, they commemorate their parents and loved ones. From this comes the name "parental" - the first thing they always pray for their deceased parents.

What do they do on Mother's Saturday?

On Parental Saturday, believers visit a church or temple, participate in a memorial liturgy, be sure to submit notes of repose, light a candle for their deceased relatives, and can order a memorial service for the relatives of the deceased. Many Orthodox on this day visit cemeteries where their loved ones rest, put in order the grave and tombstone, lay flowers, and, if necessary, change the cross or fence.

Many bring treats to the graves of their deceased loved ones. From the point of view of the Orthodox faith, this is nothing more than a pagan prejudice. Instead, it is better to bring Cahors (wine) to the temple for the funeral liturgy and Lenten products in order to give them to the poor.

Also on Parental Saturday, a wake is held. On such a day, it is desirable to gather with the whole family and remember the kind words of their deceased loved ones. The Church does not approve of turning the commemoration into a stormy libation, since the essence of the collective meal on this day is to commemorate those who are no longer with us, and not in the tradition of fun and carnal joys.

There is also a tradition to bring wine for the liturgy and Lenten treats to the temple, which will be given to the poor parishioners.

7 Parental Saturdays in the Orthodox calendar

During the year, seven parental Saturdays are celebrated, three of which fall on Lent. In the Orthodox tradition, there are also special days of remembrance, specially dedicated to prayers for the soldiers who died for the Orthodox faith.

Universal and private Parental Saturdays

Parent Saturdays are ecumenical (Myasopustnaya and Trinity) and private. During the Ecumenical Sabbath, a commemoration of all the dead Christians is held. Private parental Saturdays are commemoration days that exist only in the calendar of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Saturday Parents Calendar

In the Russian Orthodox tradition, it is customary to celebrate seven parental Saturdays during the year:

• Meatless (Ecumenical) Parental Saturday;
• Three Parental Saturdays of Great Lent;
• Radonitsa;
• Trinity Parental Saturday;
• Dimitrievskaya Parents' Saturday.

floating dates

As a rule, Parental Saturdays do not have a clearly fixed date and change from year to year. This is due to the fact that the date of the memorial day is set relative to the day of the week and other sacred holidays. The date of the Parents' Saturday can always be checked according to the church calendar.

Calendar of Parents' Saturdays for 2019-2020-2021

Name of Parents' Saturday

Meatless Saturday

Meatless Parental Saturday is the first parental day of the year, one of the two Universal Parental Saturdays. It is held on the Saturday before the Week of the Last Judgment and a week before Great Lent. The name "Myasopustnaya" comes from the second naming of Sunday a week before Lent - Myasopustnaya.

Among the days of commemoration, Meatfare Saturday is of particular importance, since it is the first day of the year when a general funeral liturgy is held. During the days of Great Lent, the full liturgy is not served, so the commemoration of the dead is possible only on special days. Many Orthodox try to send a note with the name of the deceased to the temple the day before the Meatless Parental Saturday, because the next such opportunity will not appear soon.

Parental Saturdays in Great Lent

Great Lent lasts 48 days and serves as a preparation for the believer for Easter. It is installed in memory of the exploits of Christ in the wilderness for forty days. During most of Lent, there are no funeral liturgies. So that the dead Orthodox would not be left without remembrance, three parental Saturdays were allocated on the second, third and fourth week (week) of Great Lent.

Radonitsa

Radonitsa is the first day of the ecumenical commemoration of the dead after Great Lent and Bright Week (the first week after Easter). It is celebrated on Tuesday of St. Thomas' week, so it cannot be fully called the parental Saturday. However, it is of particular importance, since it is the first weekday after a month and a half when it is possible to hold a liturgy after the departed.

In the Orthodox tradition, the church celebration of Easter lasts 40 days. Therefore, Radonitsa should be considered not just as a day of remembrance, but as an opportunity to share the joy of the Easter holiday with all deceased loved ones. Despite the widespread celebration of Radonitsa, the church charter does not provide for a funeral liturgy on Tuesday of St. Thomas' week. Some liturgists of the Russian Orthodox Church criticize Radonitsa on the grounds that it leads to a mixture of the festive and solemn and the funeral.

Trinity Saturday

For the Orthodox, Trinity Saturday is the second of the two main days of commemoration of the dead - the Ecumenical Parental Saturday. On this day, it is customary to offer prayers not only for their relatives and friends, but also for all the dead Christians.

Trinity Saturday precedes the Day of the Holy Trinity (another name for Pentecost). According to the Gospel, on this day the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles, thus marking the creation of the universal apostolic Church. The descent of the Holy Spirit made it possible to save the human soul, and therefore on Saturday before the Day of the Holy Trinity, it is important to pray not only for the living, but also for the departed Christians.

Dimitriev parental Saturday

Dimitrievskaya Parental Saturday is the last of the Parental Saturdays of the year. It is dedicated to the feast day of the Holy Great Martyr Demetrius of Thessalonica. On this day, all the dead are commemorated, but first of all the soldiers who died for the Orthodox faith. It is believed that Prince Dmitry Donskoy laid the foundation for the celebration of Dimitri's Saturday when he visited the Trinity-Sergius Monastery after the victory in the Battle of Kulikovo.

Days of memory of Orthodox soldiers

In addition to Dimitri's Saturday, there are two more days when a liturgy is served in the churches of the Russian Orthodox Church for all the dead Orthodox soldiers. These days do not belong to Parental Saturdays, but are also important days of remembrance. The days of memory of Orthodox warriors, unlike Parental Saturdays, have a clearly established date.

September 11 is known as the Day of Remembrance of the Orthodox soldiers who fell for the Faith, the Tsar and the Fatherland. It was established to hold a memorial service on this date during the years of the war between Russia and the Ottoman Empire by decree of Empress Catherine the Great. The war, which lasted from 1768 to 1774, claimed the lives of many Russian Orthodox soldiers. So that there would be a day of honoring the memory of not only those who died in the Russian-Turkish war, but also of all Orthodox soldiers who had ever fought against enemies, the Empress established a special memorial day. Nowadays, this memorial service is held irregularly.

May 9 is the day of commemoration of all those who died during the Great Patriotic War. The Great Patriotic War claimed the lives of many of our compatriots, including Orthodox Christians. On the holiday of Victory Day, the church holds a service in memory of the victims of the war and prays for the repose of all those killed.

Prayer for the Dead on Parents' Saturday

On Parental Saturday, it is important for an Orthodox Christian not only to visit the graves and hold a commemoration. First of all, he must visit the temple and pray for the repose of his relatives and friends, especially his parents and other ancestors. If you can’t visit the temple, then you can offer a prayer at home in accordance with the prayer book. There are various prayers suitable for reading on parental Saturday, here is one of them: a prayer for a deceased Christian, a prayer for a widow and a widower, a prayer for children for deceased parents.

The most basic and simple prayer for deceased relatives, which any Orthodox can read, sounds like this:

“God give rest, Lord, to the souls of your departed servants: my parents, relatives, benefactors (their names) and all Orthodox Christians, and forgive them all sins, voluntary and involuntary, and grant them the Kingdom of Heaven.”

If a Christian wants to pray for a specific deceased, then he can read the following prayer:

“Remember, Lord our God, in the faith and hope of the belly of your eternally reposed servant, our brother (name), as Good and Humanitarian, forgive sins and consume injustice, weaken, leave and forgive all his voluntary sins and involuntary, deliver him eternal torment and the fire of Gehenna, and grant him the communion and enjoyment of Your eternal good, prepared for those who love You: if you sin, but do not depart from You, and unquestionably in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Your God in the Trinity glorified, faith, and Unity in The Trinity and the Trinity in Unity is Orthodox even until his last breath of confession. Be merciful to him the same, and even faith in Thee instead of deeds, and with Your saints, as if generously rest: there is no man who lives and does not sin. But Thou art One except for all sin, and Thy truth is truth forever, and Thou art the One God of mercies and generosity, and humanity, and we send glory to You, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and forever and forever and ever. Amen."

You might be interested:

"Today parenting!" is a phrase we hear several times a year. With God, everyone is alive, and the memory and prayer for our deceased relatives and friends is an important part of the Christian faith. We will talk about what kind of parental Saturdays are, about church and folk traditions of the days of special remembrance of the dead, about how to pray for the dead and whether it is necessary to go to the cemetery on parental Saturdays.

What is Parental Saturday

(and there are several of them in the church calendar) - these are the days of special commemoration of the departed. These days, a special commemoration of the dead Orthodox Christians is performed in Orthodox churches. In addition, according to tradition, believers visit graves in cemeteries.

The name "parental" most likely came from the tradition of calling the deceased "parents", that is, those who had gone to their fathers. Another version - "parental" Saturdays began to be called, because Christians prayerfully commemorated their deceased parents in the first place.

Among other parental Saturdays (and there are seven of them in a year), there are Ecumenical in which the Orthodox Church prayerfully commemorates all baptized Christians in general. There are two Saturdays: Myasopustnaya (a week before Lent) and Trinity (on the eve of the feast of Pentecost). The rest of the parental Saturdays are not ecumenical and are set aside specifically for the private commemoration of people dear to our hearts.

How many parental Saturdays in a year

In the calendar of the Russian Orthodox Church seven days of special remembrance for the dead. All but one (May 9 - Commemoration of the Dead Warriors) have a rolling date.

• Saturday 2nd week of Great Lent
• Saturday 3rd Week of Lent
• Saturday 4th week of Great Lent
• Radonitsa
• May 9 - Commemoration of the dead warriors
• Saturday Trinity
• Saturday Dimitrievskaya

What are universal parental Saturdays

Among other parental Saturdays (and there are seven of them in a year), Ecumenical Saturdays are singled out, on which the Orthodox Church prayerfully commemorates all baptized Christians in general. There are two such Saturdays: Meat Day (one week before Lent) and Trinity Saturday (on the eve of Pentecost). On these two days, special services are performed - ecumenical requiems.

What are universal memorial services

On parental Saturdays, the Orthodox Church performs ecumenical or parental requiems. Word "dirge" Christians call the funeral service, at which believers pray for the repose of the dead, ask the Lord for mercy and forgiveness of sins for them.

What is a memorial service

memorial service in Greek means "all-night". This is a funeral service, where believers pray for the repose of the dead, ask the Lord for mercy and forgiveness of sins for them.

Universal (meat-empty) parental Saturday

Meat-Peace Saturday (Universal Parental Saturday) This is the Saturday the week before the start of Lent. It is called Meat-Saust because it falls on Meat-Saust Week (the week before Maslenitsa). It is also called the Small Maslenitsa.

On this day, Orthodox Christians commemorate all the baptized deceased from Adam to the present day. In the temples, an ecumenical memorial service is served - "The memory of all the departed Orthodox Christians from the age, our father and brethren."

Trinity parent Saturday

Troitskaya- this is the second ecumenical parental Saturday (after Meat Empty), on which the Orthodox Church prayerfully commemorates all baptized Christians in general. It falls on the Saturday preceding the feast of the Trinity, or Pentecost. On this day, believers come to churches for a special ecumenical memorial service - "The memory of all the departed Orthodox Christians from the age, our father and brethren."

Parental Saturdays of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th weeks of Great Lent

During Lent according to the Charter funeral commemorations are not performed(requiem litanies, litias, memorial services, commemoration of the 3rd, 9th and 40th days after death, magpies), therefore the Church has allocated three special days when you can prayerfully remember the dead. These are the Saturdays of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th weeks of Lent.

Radonitsa

Radonitsa, or Radunitsa, is one of the days of special commemoration of the dead, which falls on Tuesday after St. Thomas Week (second week after Easter). On Fomino Sunday, Christians remember how after the risen Jesus Christ descended into hell and conquered death, and Radonitsa, directly connected with this day, also tells us about the victory over death.

On Radonitsa, according to tradition, the Orthodox go to the cemetery, and there, at the graves of their relatives and friends, they glorify the Risen Christ. Radonitsa, in fact, is called so precisely by the word "joy", the joyful news of the Resurrection of Christ

Commemoration of the departed warriors - May 9

The commemoration of the departed warriors is the only day of special commemoration of the departed in the year, which has a fixed date. This is May 9, the day of victory in the Great Patriotic War. On this day, after the liturgy, a memorial service is served in churches for the soldiers who gave their lives for their Motherland.

Dimitriev parental Saturday- Saturday before the day of memory of the Holy Great Martyr Demetrius of Thessalonica, which is celebrated on November 8 according to the new style. If the day of memory of the saint also falls on Saturday, the previous one is still considered parental.

Dimitri's parental Saturday became a day of special commemoration of the dead after the victory of Russian soldiers in the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380. First, on this day, those who died on the Kulikovo field were commemorated, then, over the centuries, the tradition changed. In the Novgorod chronicle of the 15th century, we read about Dimitriev's parental Saturday already as a day of commemoration of all the dead.

Funeral commemoration on parental Saturday

On the eve of parental Saturday, i.e Friday evening, in orthodox charms a great memorial service is being served, which is also called the Greek word "parastas". On Saturday itself, in the morning, they serve the Divine Liturgy for the dead, after it - a common memorial service.

For the parastas or for the divine liturgy for the dead, you can submit a note of repose with the names of the dead close to your heart. And on this day, according to the old church tradition, parishioners bring food to the temple - “for the canon” (or “for the eve”). These are lenten products, wine (cahors) for the celebration of the liturgy.

Why bring food "on the eve"?

Answered by Archpriest Igor FOMIN, Rector of the Church of the Holy Prince Alexander Nevsky at MGIMO:

Bringing food to the temple - "on the eve" - ​​is an ancient practice of performing common trizn, that is, commemoration of the dead. According to tradition, the parishioners of the temple gathered a large common table in order to remember together the dead people close to their hearts. Now the products that believers bring and put on a special table are then used for the needs of the parish and to help poor people whom the parish takes care of.

It seems to me that it is a good custom to help the needy or lighten the burden of people who serve in the temple (of course, these are not only clergymen, but also candlesticks and all those who, by the will of the heart, help in the House of God for free). Bringing food to the temple, we both serve our neighbor and commemorate our dead.

Prayer for the dead

Give rest, Lord, to the souls of your departed servants: my parents, relatives, benefactors (their names) and all Orthodox Christians, and forgive them all sins, free and involuntary, and grant them the Kingdom of Heaven.

It is more convenient to read the names from the commemorative book - a small book where the names of living and deceased relatives are recorded. There is a pious custom to keep family commemorations, reading which both in home prayer and during church services, Orthodox people commemorate many generations of their deceased ancestors by name.

Prayer for the Lost Christian

Remember, Lord our God, in the faith and hope of the life of the eternal reposed of your servant, our brother (name), and like a Good and Humanitarian, forgive sins, and consume iniquity, weaken, leave and forgive all his voluntary sins and involuntary, deliver him eternal torment and the fire of Gehenna, and grant him the communion and enjoyment of Your eternal good, prepared for those who love You: even more and sin, but do not depart from You, and unquestionably in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Your God in the Trinity glorified, faith, and the Unit in the Trinity and the Trinity in Unity, Orthodox even until his last breath of confession. Be merciful to him the same, and faith, even in Thee instead of deeds, and with Your saints, as if Generous rest: there is no man who lives and does not sin. But Thou art One except for all sin, and Thy truth, truth forever, and Thou art the One God of mercies and generosity, and love of mankind, and to Thee we send glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and forever, and forever and ever. Amen

Widower's Prayer

Christ Jesus, Lord and Almighty! In contrition and tenderness of my heart, I pray to You: give rest, Lord, to the soul of Your departed servant (name) in your heavenly kingdom. Lord Almighty! You have blessed the matrimonial union of husband and wife, when you said: it is not good to be a single man, we will make him an assistant for him. You sanctified this union in the image of the spiritual union of Christ with the Church. I believe, Lord, and I confess that you have blessed you to combine and me with this holy union with one of Your servants. Thy good and wise will deigned to take away from me this Thy servant, and gave it to me, as a helper and companion of my life. I bow before this Thy will, and I pray to Thee with all my heart, accept this prayer of mine for Thy servant (name) and forgive her, if you have sinned in word, deed, thought, knowledge and ignorance; love the earthly more than the heavenly; more about the clothes and adornment of his body, he cares more than about the enlightenment of the clothes of his soul; or even more carelessly about your children; if you grieve someone by word or deed; if you scold your neighbor in your heart, or condemn someone or something else from such evil deeds.
Forgive her all this, as good and philanthropic: as if there is a person who will live and not sin. Do not enter into judgment with Your servant, as Your creation, do not condemn me by her sin to eternal torment, but have mercy and mercy according to Your great mercy. I pray and ask Thee, Lord, grant me strength for all the days of my life, without ceasing to pray for the departed Thy servant, and even before the death of my belly, ask her from Thee, the Judge of the whole world, for the remission of her sins. Yes, as you, O God, put on her head a crown from an honest stone, crowning her here on earth; so crown me with Your eternal glory in Your Heavenly Kingdom, with all the saints rejoicing there, and together with them forever sing Your all-holy name with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Widow's Prayer

Christ Jesus, Lord and Almighty! You are crying consolation, orphans and widows intercession. Thou didst say: Call upon Me in the day of thy affliction, and I will destroy thee. In the days of my sorrow, I resort to You and pray to You: do not turn Your face away from me and hear my prayer, brought to You with tears. You, Lord, Lord of all, deigned to combine me with one of Your servants, in which we should have one body and one spirit; You gave me this servant, as a partner and protector. Thy good and wise will deigned to take this Thy servant away from me and leave me alone. I bow before this Thy will and resort to Thee in the days of my sorrow: quench my sorrow about being separated from Thy servant, my friend. If you took him away from me, not taken from me by Your mercy. As if you once took two mites to the widow, so accept this prayer of mine. Remember, O Lord, the soul of your departed servant (name), forgive him all his sins, voluntary and involuntary, if in word, if in deed, if in knowledge and ignorance, do not destroy him with his iniquities and do not give him eternal torment, but according to Your great mercy and according to the multitude of Your bounties, weaken and forgive all his sins and commit it with Thy saints, where there is no sickness, no sorrow, no sighing, but endless life. I pray and ask Thee, Lord, grant me all the days of my life not to stop praying for Your departed servant, and even before my departure, ask You, the Judge of the whole world, for the abandonment of all his sins and his settlement in Heavenly abodes, even if you have prepared for those who love Tya. Like if you sin, but do not depart from You, and undoubtedly the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are Orthodox even to the last breath of confession; the same, his faith, even in Thee, instead of deeds, he is imputed: as if a person is not, who will live and not sin, You are one except for sin, and Your truth is truth forever. I believe, Lord, and I confess that You hear my prayer and do not turn Your face away from me. Seeing the widow, weeping greenery, having mercy, her son, to the burial of the bear, resurrected you: so having mercy, calm my sorrow. As if you opened the doors of Your mercy to Your servant Theophilus, who departed to You, and forgave him his sins through the prayers of Your Holy Church, listening to the prayers and alms of his wife: I pray to You, accept my prayer for Your servant and bring him into eternal life. Like you are our hope. You are God, to have mercy and save, and we send glory to You with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Prayer of parents for the dead children

Lord Jesus Christ, our God, Master of life and death, Comforter of those who mourn! With a contrite and touched heart, I resort to You and pray to You: remember. Lord, in Your Kingdom, Your departed servant (your servant) my child (name) and make him (her) eternal memory. You, Lord of life and death, have given me this child. Thy good and wise will was pleased to take it away from me. Blessed be thy name, Lord. I pray to Thee, Judge of heaven and earth, with Thy infinite love for us sinners, forgive my departed child all his sins, voluntary and involuntary, even in word, even in deed, even in knowledge and ignorance. Forgive, Merciful, and our parental sins, may they not abide on our children: we know, as if we have sinned against Thee by a multitude, we have not kept a multitude, we have not done it, as thou hast commanded us. But if our deceased child, ours or his own for the sake of guilt, was in this life, working for the world and his flesh, and not more than You, the Lord and your God: if you love the delights of this world, and not more than Your Word and Your commandments, if you betrayed sweetness of life, and not more than repentance of our sins, and in intemperance, vigil, fasting and prayer have betrayed oblivion - I pray you earnestly, forgive me, O good Father, my child, all such sins of his, forgive and weaken, if you do something else evil in this life . Christ Jesus! You resurrected the daughter of Jairus by the faith and prayer of her father. You healed the daughter of a Canaanite wife by faith and the petition of her mother: hear my prayer, and do not despise my prayer for my child. Forgive me, Lord, forgive all his sins and, having forgiven and cleansed his soul, take away eternal torment and instill with all Your saints, who have pleased You from time immemorial, where there is no sickness, no sorrow, no sighing, but endless life: as if there is a person who He will live and will not sin, but Thou art the only one except for all sin: yes, whenever you have to judge the world, my child will hear Your most exalted voice: come, blessed of My Father, and inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Like you are the Father of mercies and bounty. You are our life and resurrection, and we send glory to You with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and forever and forever and ever. Amen.

Children's prayer for deceased parents

Lord Jesus Christ our God! You are the guardian of the orphans, the grieving refuge and the weeping comforter. I am running to you, orphan, groaning and crying, and I pray to You: hear my prayer and do not turn Your face away from the sighing of my heart and from the tears of my eyes. I pray to You, merciful Lord, quench my grief about separation from the one who gave birth and raised (who gave birth and raised) me as my parent (my matter), (name) (or: with my parents who gave birth and raised me, their names) -, his soul (or: her, or: theirs), as if departed (or: departed) to Thee with true faith in Thee and with firm hope in Thy philanthropy and mercy, receive into Thy Kingdom of Heaven. I bow before Your holy will, it has already been taken away (or: taken away, or: taken away) be with me, and I ask you, do not take away from him (or: from her, or: from them) Your mercy and mercy. We know, Lord, as You are the Judge of this world, punish the sins and wickedness of the fathers in children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, even up to the third and fourth generation: but also have mercy on the fathers for the prayers and virtues of their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. With contrition and tenderness of the heart, I pray Thee, merciful Judge, do not punish the deceased with eternal punishment (deceased unforgettable) for me your servant (Your servant), my parent (my mother) (name) but let him go (her) all his sins (her) voluntary and involuntary, word and deed, knowledge and ignorance created by him (by her) in his life (her) here on earth, and according to Your mercy and philanthropy, prayers for the sake of the Most Pure Theotokos and all the saints, have mercy on him (Yu) and deliver eternal torment. You, merciful Father of fathers and children! Grant me, all the days of my life, until my last breath, do not stop remembering my deceased parent (my deceased mother) in your prayers, and beseech Thee, the righteous Judge, and make him (Yu) in a place brighter, in a cool place and in a place of peace, with all the saints, from which all sickness, sorrow and sighing will run away. Gracious Lord! Receive this day about your servant (your) (name) this warm prayer of mine and give him (her) your recompense for the labors and cares of my upbringing in faith and Christian piety, as if he had taught (taught) first of all lead me to you, your Lord, in reverence to pray to you, to trust in you alone in troubles, sorrows and illnesses and keep your commandments; for his welfare (her) about my spiritual success, for the warmth they bring (by her) prayers for me before you and for all the gifts they (by her) asked to me from Thee, repay him (her) By your mercy. With your heavenly blessings and joys in your eternal kingdom. You are the God of mercies and generosity and philanthropy, You are the peace and joy of Your faithful servants, and we send glory to You with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and forever and forever and ever. Amen

Do I need to go to the cemetery on parental Saturday?

Archpriest Igor FOMIN, rector of the Church of the Holy Right-Believing Prince Alexander Nevsky at MGIMO, answers:

The main thing is not to go to the cemetery instead of serving in the temple. Our prayer is much more important to our deceased relatives and close people than visiting the grave. So try to feel the service, listen to the hymns in the temple, turn your heart to the Lord.

Folk traditions of parent Saturdays

In Russia, the folk traditions of commemorating the dead people were somewhat different from the church ones. Ordinary people went to the graves of their relatives before the big holidays - on the eve of Maslenitsa, the Trinity (Pentecost), the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos and the day of memory of the Holy Great Martyr Demetrius of Thessalonica.

Most of all, the people revered Dmitrievskaya parental Saturday. In 1903, Emperor Nicholas II even issued a decree on the performance of a special memorial service for the soldiers who fell for the Fatherland - "For the faith, the tsar and the Fatherland, who laid their lives on the battlefield."

In Ukraine and Belarus, the days of special commemoration of the dead were called "Grandfathers". There were up to six such "Grandfathers" a year. The people superstitiously believed that on these days all deceased relatives invisibly join the family memorial meal.

Radonitsa was called “Joyful Grandfathers”, this day was very loved by the people, because they went to the graves of loved ones with the happy news of the Resurrection of Christ. There were also Pokrovsky, Nikolsky Grandfathers and others.

Metropolitan Anthony of Surozh. Sermon for the Commemoration of Orthodox Soldiers Who Died on the Battlefield

We are accustomed in our life that for every need, for every occasion, we turn to God for His help. And for our every call, for every cry of anguish, suffering, fear, we expect the Lord to intercede for us, protect, comfort; and we know that He does this all the time and that He showed His ultimate concern for us by becoming a Man and dying for us and for us.

But sometimes it happens in the life of our world that God turns to man for help; and this happens all the time, but often barely noticeable, or completely unnoticed by us. God constantly turns to each of us, asking, praying, persuading us to be in this world, which He loved so much that He laid down our lives for it, to be His living presence, to be His living care, sighted, good-acting, attentive. He tells us: no matter what we do good for any person, we do it for Him, calling us to be, as it were, in His place.

And sometimes He calls some people to a more personal service to Him. In the Old Testament we read about prophets: the prophet Amos says that a prophet is a person with whom God shares His thoughts; but not only in thoughts, but also in His deeds. Remember the prophet Isaiah, who in a vision contemplated the Lord looking around and saying: Whom shall I send? - and the prophet stood up and said: Me, Lord!.

But now, among the prophets, among the people who served God with an undivided heart, with all the great strength of the soul, there is one whose memory we commemorate today and whom Christ called the greatest among those born on earth.

And indeed, when you think about his fate, it seems that there is no fate more majestic and more tragic. His whole fate was in not being, so that in the consciousness and in the vision of people, the Only One Who is: the Lord would rise.

Remember the first thing that is said about him in the Gospel of Mark: He is a voice crying in the wilderness… He is only a voice, he is already so indistinguishable from his ministry that he has become only God's voice, only an evangelist; as if he, as a man of flesh and blood, a man who can yearn, and suffer, and pray, and seek, and ultimately stand before the coming death - as if this person does not exist. He and his calling are one and the same; he is the voice of the Lord, resounding, thundering in the wilderness of men; that desert where souls are empty - because there were people around John, and the desert remained unchanged from this.

And further. The Lord Himself says about him in the Gospel that he is the Friend of the Bridegroom. A friend who loves the bride and groom so deeply, so deeply that he is able, forgetting himself, to serve their love, and to serve so that he will never be superfluous, never be there even when he is not needed. He is a friend who is able to protect the love of the bride and groom and stay out, the keeper of the secrets of this love. Here, too, is the great mystery of a man who is able, as it were, not to become in order for something greater than him to be.

And then he talks about himself in relation to the Lord: I need to decrease, come to naught, in order for Him to grow ... It is necessary that they forget about me, and remember only about Him, so that my students turn away from me and leave, like Andrei and John on the banks of the Jordan, and they followed Him with an undivided heart only: I live only so that I would not be!.

And the last - the terrible image of John, when he was already in prison, when the ring of death was narrowing around him, when he no longer had a way out, when this colossally great soul hesitated ... Death was coming upon him, the life in which he had no nothing of his own: in the past there was only the feat of renunciation of oneself, and ahead is darkness.

And at that moment, when the spirit wavered in him, he sent his disciples to ask Christ: Are you the one whom we expected? If He - then it was worth dying alive in his youth; if He - then it was worth decreasing from year to year, so that he would be forgotten and only the image of the Coming One would increase in the eyes of people; if He - then it was worth and now to die the last death, because everything for which he lived is fulfilled and accomplished.

But suddenly He is not the one?. Then everything is lost, youth is ruined, the greatest strength of mature years is ruined, everything is ruined, everything is meaningless. And even more terrible that this happened, because God seemed to have deceived: God, who called him into the wilderness; God who took him away from the people; God, who inspired him to the feat of self-dying. Has God deceived, and life has passed, and there is no return?

And so, sending the disciples to Christ with the question: Are You the One? - he does not receive a direct, comforting answer; Christ does not answer him: Yes, I am the One, go in peace!. He only gives the prophet the answer of another prophet that the blind see, that the lame walk, that the dead are raised, that the poor preach the gospel. He gives the answer from Isaiah, but does not add His own words - nothing but one formidable warning: Blessed is he who will not be offended by Me; go tell John...

And this answer reached John in his dying expectation: believe to the end; believe without asking for signs, or testimonies, or proofs; believe, because you heard inside, in the depths of your soul, the voice of the Lord, commanding you to do the work of a prophet ... Others can somehow lean on the Lord in their sometimes greatest feat; God supports John only in that he commanded him to be the Forerunner and in order to show the utmost faith, confidence in invisible things.

And that's why it takes our breath away when we think about him, and that's why, when we think about a feat to which there is no limit, we remember John. That is why of those who were born among men by natural birth and ascended miraculously by grace, he is the greatest of all.

Today we celebrate the day of the beheading of his head. We are celebrating… We used to understand the word “celebrate” as “joy”, but it means “to be idle”. And you can stay idle because joy will overwhelm your soul and it’s no longer up to ordinary things, but it may happen that your hands dropped from grief and horror. And this is today's holiday: what will you take up in the face of what we have heard today in the Gospel?

And on this day, when our hands fall before the horror and majesty of this fate, the Church calls us to pray for those who are also in horror, and trembling, and bewilderment, and sometimes died in despair: they died on the battlefield, died in dungeons, died the lonely death of a man. After you venerate the cross, we will pray for all those who laid down their lives on the battlefield so that others may live; bowed to the ground so that another would rise. Let us remember those who, not only in our time, but from millennium to millennium, died a terrible death, because they knew how to love, or because others did not know how to love - let us remember all, because the Lord's love encompasses all, and it is necessary for all, praying, the great John, who went through the whole tragedy of the sacrifice of dying and death to the end without a single word of consolation, but only according to the powerful command of God: “Believe to the end, and be faithful to the end!” Amen.

Metropolitan Anthony of Surozh. About death

I have a peculiar attitude to death, and I would like to explain why I treat death not only calmly, but with desire, with hope, with longing for it.

My first vivid impression of death is a conversation with my father, who once said to me: “You must live in such a way that you learn to expect your death the way a groom expects his bride: wait for her, long for her, rejoice in advance about this meeting and meet her reverently, affectionately. The second impression (of course, not immediately, but much later) is the death of my father. He died suddenly. I went to him, to a poor room at the top of a French house, where there was a bed, a table, a stool, and a few books. I entered his room, closed the door and stood. And such silence enveloped me, such a depth of silence, that I remember exclaiming aloud: “And people say that there is death!. What a lie! Because this room was full of life, and such a fullness of life that I had never met outside it, on the street, in the yard. That is why I have such an attitude towards death and why I experience the words of the Apostle Paul with such force: For me, life is Christ, death is gain, because as long as I live in the flesh, I am separated from Christ ... But the apostle adds further words that make me also very impressed. The quote is not exact, but this is what he says: he wholeheartedly wants to die and be united with Christ, but adds: "However, you need me to stay alive, and I will continue to live." This is the last sacrifice that he can make: everything he aspires to, what he hopes for, what he does, he is ready to put aside, because others need him.

I have seen a lot of death. I worked as a doctor for fifteen years, five of which were in the war or in the French Resistance. After that, I lived for forty-six years as a priest and gradually buried a whole generation of our early emigration; so I saw death a lot. And it struck me that the Russians are dying peacefully; Western people more often with fear. Russians believe in life, go into life. And this is one of the things that every priest and every person should repeat to himself and to others: we must not prepare for death, we must prepare for eternal life.

We know nothing about death. We do not know what happens to us at the moment of death, but we know at least a rudimentary what eternal life is. Each of us knows from experience that there are some moments when he no longer lives in time, but in such fullness of life, such exultation, which belongs not just to the earth. Therefore, the first thing we must teach ourselves and others is to prepare not for death, but for life. And if we talk about death, then we can only talk about it as a door that will open wide and let us enter into eternal life.

But dying is still not easy. Whatever we think about death, about eternal life, we do not know anything about death itself, about dying. I want to give you one example of my experience during the war.

I was a junior surgeon in a front-line hospital. We had a young soldier about twenty-five years old, my age, dying. I came to him in the evening, sat next to him and said: “Well, how do you feel?” He looked at me and said, "I'm going to die tonight." “Are you scared to die?” “It’s not scary to die, but it hurts me to part with everything that I love: with my young wife, with the village, with my parents; and one thing is really scary: to die alone. I say, "You won't die alone." - "So how?" - "I'll stay with you." - “You can’t sit with me all night ...” I replied: “Of course I can!” He thought and said: "Even if you sit with me, at some point I will no longer be aware of this, and then I will go into the darkness and die alone." I say, “No, not at all. I will sit next to you and we will talk. You will tell me everything you want: about the village, about the family, about childhood, about your wife, about everything that is in your memory, in your soul, what you love. I will hold your hand. Gradually it will become tiresome for you to talk, then I will talk more than you. And then I will see that you start to doze, and then I will speak more quietly. You close your eyes, I will stop talking, but I will hold your hand, and you will periodically shake my hand, knowing that I am here. Gradually, your hand, although it will feel my hand, will no longer be able to shake it, I myself will begin to shake your hand. And at some point you will no longer be among us, but you will not leave alone. We will make the whole journey together.” And so hour after hour we spent that night. At some point, he really stopped squeezing my hand, I started shaking his hand so that he knew that I was here. Then his hand began to grow cold, then it opened, and he was no longer with us. And this is a very important point; it is very important that a person is not alone when he goes into eternity.

But it also happens differently. Sometimes a person is sick for a long time, and if he is then surrounded by love, care, it is easy to die, although it hurts (I will also talk about this). But it is very scary when a person is surrounded by people who are just waiting for him to die: they say, while he is sick, we are prisoners of his illness, we cannot move away from his bed, we cannot return to our life, we cannot rejoice in our joys; he, like a dark cloud, hangs over us; how he would die as soon as possible... And the dying person feels it. This may take months. Relatives come and coldly ask: “Well, how are you? nothing? Do you need something? do not need anything? OK; you know, I have my own business, I'll come back to you. And even if the voice does not sound cruel, the person knows that he was visited only because he had to visit, but that his death is eagerly awaited.

And sometimes it's different. A person dies, dies for a long time, but he is loved, he is dear; and he himself is also ready to sacrifice the happiness of being with a loved one, because this can give joy or help to someone else. Let me now say something personal about myself.

My mother had been dying of cancer for three years; I followed her. We were very close, dear to each other. But I had my own work - I was the only priest of the London parish, and besides, I had to go to Paris once a month for meetings of the Diocesan Council. I didn’t have money to make a phone call, so I came back thinking: will I find my mother alive or not? She was alive - what a joy! what a meeting! .. Gradually, she began to fade away. There were moments when she would ring the bell, I would come, and she would say to me: “I feel sad without you, we will stay together.” And there were moments when I myself was unbearable. I went up to her, leaving my affairs, and said: “It hurts me without you.” And she consoled me about her dying and her death. And so we gradually went into eternity together, because when she died, she took with her all my love for her, everything that was between us. And there were so many between us! We lived almost all our lives together, only the first years of emigration lived apart, because there was nowhere to live together. But then we lived together, and she knew me deeply. And somehow she told me: “How strange: the more I know you, the less I could say about you, because every word that I would say about you would have to be corrected with some additional features.” Yes, we reached the moment when we knew each other so deeply that we could not say anything about each other, but we could join life, dying and death.

And so we must remember that everyone who dies in a position where any kind of callousness, indifference or desire “finally it would end” is unbearable. A person feels it, knows it, and we must learn to overcome all dark, gloomy, bad feelings in ourselves and, forgetting about ourselves, think deeply, peer, get used to another person. And then death becomes a victory: O death, where is your sting?! O death, where is your victory? Christ is risen, and not one of the dead is in the tomb...

I want to say something else about death, because what I have already said is very personal. Death surrounds us all the time, death is the fate of all mankind. Now wars are going on, people are dying in terrible suffering, and we must learn to be calm in relation to our own death, because in it we see life, eternal life emerging. Victory over death, over the fear of death lies in living deeper and deeper into eternity and bringing others to this fullness of life.

But before death there are other moments. We do not die immediately, we do not simply die out bodily. There are very strange occurrences. I remember one of our old women, such Maria Andreevna, a wonderful little creature who once came to me and said: “Father Anthony, I don’t know what to do with myself: I can’t sleep anymore. Throughout the night, images of my past rise in my memory, but not bright, but only dark, bad, tormenting images. I turned to the doctor, asked him to give me some kind of sleeping pill, but sleeping pills do not remove this haze. When I take sleeping pills, I can no longer separate these images from myself, they become delusional, and I feel even worse. What should I do?" I then said to her: “Maria Andreevna, you know, I don’t believe in reincarnation, but I believe that it is given to us by God to experience our life more than once, not in the sense that you will die and return to life again, but in the sense that what is happening to you right now. When you were young, you, within the narrow limits of your understanding, sometimes did wrong; and by word, and by thought, and by action, they denigrated themselves and others. Then you forgot it and at different ages continued, to the best of your understanding, to act similarly, again, to humiliate, desecrate, defame yourself. Now, when you no longer have the strength to resist the memories, they emerge, and each time they emerge, they seem to say to you: Maria Andreevna, now that you are over eighty years old, almost ninety - if you were in the same position that you are now I remember when you were twenty, thirty, forty, fifty years old, would you have acted as you did then? If you can look deeply into what was then, into your state, into events, into people and say: no, now, with my experience of life, I could never say this murderous word, I could not do that how I did! - if you can say this with all your being: with your thought, and your heart, and your will, and your flesh, - it will leave you. But other, more and more other images will come. And every time the image comes, God will put the question before you: is this your past sin or is it still your present sin? Because if you once hated some person and did not forgive him, did not reconcile with him, then the sin of that time is your present sinfulness; it has not departed from you and will not depart until you repent.”

I can give another example of the same kind. I was once summoned by the family of one of our dilapidated old women, a bright, bright woman. She was obviously supposed to die that same day. She confessed, and finally I asked her: “Tell me, Natasha, have you forgiven everyone and everything, or do you still have some kind of thorn in your soul?” She replied: “I have forgiven everyone except my son-in-law; I will never forgive him!" I said to this: “In this case, I will not give you a permissive prayer and will not partake of the Holy Mysteries; you will go to the judgment of God and will answer before God for your words. She says: "After all, I will die today!" - “Yes, you will die without prayer of permission and without communion, unless you repent and reconcile. I'll be back in an hour," and left. When I returned an hour later, she greeted me with a radiant look and said: “How right you were! I called my son-in-law, we explained, reconciled - he is now on his way to me, and I hope we will kiss each other to death, and I will enter eternity reconciled with everyone.

Parental Saturdays are of great importance in the life of Orthodox believers. These days are intended to commemorate the dead and cleanse the soul.

In the Orthodox calendar for 2018 you will find all the main holidays that are celebrated by the Russian Orthodox Church. Parental Saturdays, marked in it, are a way to honor the memory of the forefathers who gave us life, as well as all those who died for the Orthodox faith.

Not every Parents Saturday falls on the sixth day of the week. Those that "fall" on the Sabbath days are usually called Ecumenical.

Ecumenical Parental Saturdays in 2018

Opens the list Meatless Saturday, which will be celebrated February 10. On this day, all relatives who have completed their earthly journey are commemorated. For the living, this holiday is a reminder of the mortal life that must be spent cultivating an immortal soul in purity and good intentions.

Trinity Parents Saturday will take place before the church feast of the Holy Trinity, and its date is 26 of May. On the fiftieth day after the Resurrection of the Lord, all the dead are commemorated without exception, including those who passed away voluntarily or went missing.

Parental Saturdays of Great Lent

These Saturdays are distinguished by the fact that after the festive church liturgy, the faithful remain for a memorial service, in which their deceased relatives are mentioned. The priests are given notes in advance with the names of those for whose souls they want to pray.

First Saturday will take place during the second week of Great Lent, and its date is March, 3rd.

Second Saturday marked in the 2018 church calendar 10th of March, and its time is the third week of fasting.

Third Saturday will take place March 17. It is final and takes place during the fourth week of fasting.

Private parenting days in 2018

Such days exist only in the practice of the Russian Church, and at this time you have the opportunity to pray for the souls of people who have found peace in Heaven.

May 9 at the solemn liturgy, the Russian people bow their heads in reverence for the fallen soldiers who gave their lives during the Great Patriotic War. Tears of joy interspersed with universal sorrow for the millions of the fallen, who showed exceptional valor and courage.

April 17 Radonitsa is celebrated, which follows exactly on the ninth day after Easter.

11 September serve a memorial service for Orthodox soldiers who laid down their heads during the battle for the Faith, the Tsar and the Fatherland.

the 3rd of November comes Dimitriev parental Saturday. She refers us to the exploits of Dmitry Thessalonica, who died a great martyr.

These Orthodox holidays show us the meaning of human life. During church services, everyone understands that worldly life is short and can end at any moment, while the immortal soul will continue to exist and will be responsible for all our deeds.

Pray to the Higher Powers to help you avoid hardships and problems on the path of life. Take time daily for spiritual development, which not only cleanses the soul, but also attracts good things to life. We wish you health and happiness, and do not forget to press the buttons and

04.01.2018 01:07

Orthodox Christians know a lot about the miraculous properties of prayers. Remembering the deceased, they help to cleanse his soul...

The Orthodox Church sets aside special days to commemorate the dead. They are called parent Saturdays. There are five Saturdays for the remembrance of deceased relatives and two special ecumenical Saturdays. Few people imagine what exactly needs to be done at this time: either go to the cemetery, or go to church. What a parental Saturday is, I was told by a churched relative. I did not know what days to commemorate relatives, how to do it correctly, what to bring to church for service. Many believers do not know this either, so I decided to talk about the tradition in detail in my article.

In the Ten Commandments, honoring parents is given a special place. The Orthodox Church teaches reverence not only for living parents, but also for the departed. This is due to the belief that the souls of the dead need our prayerful intercession, because only the living can be heard by God and the saints.

What is the difference between parental Saturdays and ecumenical ones? On parental Saturdays we commemorate our deceased relatives, and on ecumenical Saturdays we pray for the entire Orthodox world.

funeral prayers

What is the significance of the prayer for the dead for the soul of the deceased? After his death, a person cannot influence his fate, repent of his sins and change something. Therefore, the dead need our prayerful help, receiving God's blessing from every candle placed in their memory and the funeral prayer read. This is not just a tribute to the memory of the deceased, but a feasible help to his soul.

Especially in need of prayer support are sinful souls who did not have time to repent during their lifetime. Relatives can beg God for mercy and indulgence for them, prayers and petitions will certainly be taken into account at the terrible judgment.

Worship in the church

On parental Saturdays, you must take part in the liturgy in the church. You need to come to the service in advance in order to have time to leave a note with the names of the deceased, who will be remembered by the priest in prayer. Next, you should buy candles to put on the eve before the Holy Crucifixion. The candlestick for funeral candles has a square shape and stands near the Crucifixion.

If you do not know the words of the prayer for the dead, you can say the following words:

Treats are left on the memorial table: gingerbread, rice, sweets, apples. It is also customary to distribute refreshments to other people in memory of the deceased. Many parishioners leave money in churches, making feasible donations. If parental Saturday falls during Great Lent, then Lenten products are brought to the memorial table and Cahors is left.

Vodka and other strong alcoholic drinks are not put on the funeral table, Cahors is church wine.

On memorial days, they also order a memorial service for the dead. After the liturgy, parishioners visit the churchyard to honor the memory of relatives at the graves. It is very important not to forget to visit the graves of relatives, regularly clean them of leaves and grass, paint the gate and change the flowers in the vases.

memorial days

Since memorial Saturdays are timed to coincide with transitional Orthodox holidays, they fall at different times. Therefore, you can find out the dates of Saturdays in the Orthodox calendar for the current year. Memorial days fall on:

• Meatless Saturday;
• Trinity Saturday;
• Dmitrievskaya Saturday;
• Great post.

These dates are intended to commemorate all believers, including their relatives. These are six special days (3 commemoration Saturdays fall on Great Lent), when it is necessary to ask for mercy from God and intercede for the deceased. Among them, Trinity and Meatfare Saturdays are revered as ecumenical.

On the ninth of May, all those who died in the Great Patriotic War are remembered.

Saturdays to remember relatives fall on the eve of fasting:

• Christmas;
• Petrova;
• Uspensky.

At this time, they commemorate the deceased relatives, distribute alms. The Orthodox Church has a negative attitude towards drinking alcohol during the commemoration of the dead, and it is also not necessary to leave commemorations on the graves.

On the eve of Saturday, on Friday, a Great Requiem Service (Parastas) is held, on Saturday a Requiem Service is served, and after it a general Requiem Service is served. You should know that the memorial service is an all-night service, not a daytime one.

Trinity memorial day

This is a time of commemoration of all the deceased Orthodox. A special feature of this day is a prayer for unrepentant sinners whose souls are in hell. After the service, believers visit the graves of their relatives, bring flowers and birch twigs, and arrange a memorial meal (eggs, pancakes, kutya). It is customary to distribute alms and leave donations for the church.

On parental Saturdays, suicides cannot be commemorated, except for Trinity.

What are the restrictions these days? A lot of people think they can't work. However, the Church Fathers do not forbid doing the necessary housework, it is not recommended only to do hard dirty work. Also, you can not drink alcohol and indulge in outright sin (fight, swear, wish others harm).

Myasopustnaya

Great parental Saturday on the eve of Great Lent refers to ecumenical commemorations. At this time, all the Orthodox dead are commemorated. This is one of the fundamental memorial days, because many Christians could be buried without repentance and the Orthodox funeral rite.

On this day, Orthodox believers can taste meat dishes for the last time. Great Lent begins next Sunday.

The history of Myasopustnaya goes back to ancient times, when the first Christians remembered brothers and sisters tortured by pagans. Many of the martyrs for the faith were not buried in a worthy manner, so the living offered prayers to heaven for them.

This Sabbath, you can intercede for those who died suddenly without repentance. God gives a chance to acquire the Kingdom of God to such souls who did not have time to find eternal grace in the days of earthly life.

Radonitsa

This parental Saturday falls on the ninth day after the Resurrection of Christ. There is no specific date for Radonitsa, as it is tied to Easter. Radonitsa in Orthodoxy is considered a special memorial day and is considered the Easter of the Dead. The living congratulate the deceased on Easter, because it is on this day that the resurrection of the dead is expected. Women cook kutia, bake pancakes and paint eggs red.

Radonitsa is considered a bright holiday, so a good mood should remain after it.

Dmitrievskaya

This day of commemoration falls on the eve of November 8, it was established by Dmitry Donskoy after the victory at the Kulikovo field. Every year, Orthodox believers remember those who died on the battlefield, because in those days more than 250,000 Russian soldiers died. Over time, Dmitrievskaya Saturday became a universal commemoration of all believers who suffered for the Orthodox faith. Dmitrievskaya Saturday completes the annual cycle of memorial days.

Saturdays of Great Lent

In Great Lent, three parental Saturdays are held, falling on the second, third and fourth weeks. On these memorial days, the Orthodox can take a personal part in the universal prayer for the deceased.

Questions

How to spend the evening of parental Saturday, is it possible to do household chores? In the evening, a person can do the usual things, the church does not impose any prohibitions. If someone told you that you can not clean the house or work, then this is a superstition.

The Church Fathers do not approve of a strong seal and longing for the dead.

Is it permissible to baptize a baby on parental days? There is no ban on accepting the Sacrament of Baptism on any day of the year, so you can safely baptize a child on memorial dates.

How to properly serve a memorial table in the house on Radonitsa? Be sure to put an additional cutlery for the deceased, and put eggs, cookies, sweets on the windowsill. On a plate for the deceased, they put a spoonful of food from all the plates and left this dish on the table until morning. Previously, a bath was heated for the deceased and a clean towel was left. It is believed that the deceased can come and wash away their sins with water.

Is it necessary to visit the cemetery on memorial days? The Church Fathers teach that it is more important to take part in the Divine Liturgy than to go to the cemetery. If it is not possible to attend the liturgy, you can offer prayers at home.