When the unbaptized dead are remembered. Prayer to the martyr Uar for the weakening of the eternal torment of those who died unbaptized

The loss of loved ones is always a great grief. Relatives want to see the person off on his last journey with all honors. After a funeral, it is customary for Orthodox Christians to hold a wake. In addition to the funeral table, you need to visit church and order a prayer service. You can remember the deceased at any time, but according to church customs, the commemoration of the deceased should take place nine days, forty days, six months after death, a year.

Is it possible to hold a wake before the date of death, what kind of wake to celebrate?. According to the Charter of the Orthodox Church, the commemoration of the deceased should not take place before the time of death. Therefore, it is impossible to remember in advance. There are days on which it is obligatory to celebrate.

In addition to the listed days, you need to visit the temple throughout the year, read a prayer for repose, give alms, and distribute food to the needy.

According to the church charter, every believer needs to know about funeral services for 1 year and the rules for holding them. This is due to the fact that the soul must find a place and not rush between heaven and earth. If it is not possible to hold a wake on the date of death, then a later memorial can be held. If this day falls on a Monday, you can move it to the next Sunday. There are other rules of remembrance.

Commemoration of the dead in Orthodoxy presupposes constant remembrance of a person. It is especially good if the words are spoken out loud. Anyone can contact the church to order a prayer service, but it is better if close relatives do it: dad, mom or children.

When commemorating at dinner, you need to put a glass of water on the table, covered with bread. This is intended for the deceased. Usually people are not invited to funerals; everyone comes according to at will. Whatever you want can be on the table. But there must be kutia - church porridge, with which the commemoration begins. You can cook the food that the deceased loved.

When contacting church ministers, relatives of the deceased ask whether it is possible to remember the deceased on his birthday. You can commemorate, the period of commemoration is not limited. On your birthday, you can visit the grave, put flowers and candles. In church, order a prayer for the repose of the soul.

How to remember an unbaptized person

After the birth of a child, usually on the 40th day of his life, a baptism ceremony is performed. But it also happens that a child was not baptized in childhood; he himself did not make a decision about baptism in his life. In this case, the person has not united himself with the church, and everything remains at the discretion of the Lord. An unbaptized person is not commemorated in church and mass is not ordered for him. The funeral is held in the circle of relatives and friends. You can bring flowers and candles to the grave, but they don’t say prayers here. A proper memorial is a guarantee that the deceased will be well in the next world..

The Orthodox Church calls all Christian believers to constant prayer. Of course, most often we pray for people close to us, relatives, friends. But there are situations when a person in need of prayer help has not been baptized in the Orthodox Church. What then should be the prayer for the unbaptized living and deceased?

The importance of the Sacrament of Baptism for a person

The priest at the altar offers a bloodless sacrifice, symbolically representing the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. At this time, pieces are taken from the prosphoras for each name submitted for commemoration. These particles are then sent to the Chalice and become a great shrine - the Body of Christ.

Read about church rules:

If a person deliberately avoids baptism, then Christ’s sacrifice for him becomes meaningless. That is why, in order to participate in the Sacrament of Communion, and indeed in the fullness of the Liturgy, it is necessary to be baptized in church.

But what should we do if a person close to us, whose fate we care about, turns out to be unbaptized? He cannot be commemorated in church, but there are no obstacles to purely personal prayer. At home, in front of the home iconostasis, we can pray for all the people close to us, even if they have not been baptized.

Prayer for unbaptized babies

Prayer for children who have just recently been born and have not yet had time to be baptized also has its own characteristics. There is a tradition of baptizing children after the 40th day of birth, but in fact, the baby can be baptized as soon as it is born. So, if the mother had a difficult birth and the child is in danger, it is very advisable to baptize the baby as soon as possible. In many maternity hospitals and children's hospitals you can freely invite a priest, and in some places there are even functioning churches on the territory of the medical institution.

Child Baptism

If the family decides to baptize the baby later, then all the time before the Sacrament is performed, they pray for the child in close connection with the mother. It is believed that at this time the mother and baby have one Guardian Angel for two, and only after Baptism does the child have his own.

You can pray for such children in church, but only the note indicates not the individual name of the baby, but the name of the mother with the note “with the child.” For example, if the mother’s name is Maria, then the note should be submitted as follows: “On the health of God’s servant Mary and her child.” After Baptism, you can write in a note the name of the child himself with the postscript “baby”.

First prayer to the Mother of God for children

O Most Holy Lady Virgin Theotokos, save and preserve under Your shelter my children (names), all youths, young women and infants, baptized and nameless and carried in their mother’s womb. Cover them with the robe of Your motherhood, keep them in the fear of God and in obedience to their parents, pray to my Lord and Your Son to grant them what is useful for their salvation. I entrust them to Your maternal supervision, for You are the Divine Protection of Your servants.

Mother of God, introduce me to the image of Your heavenly motherhood. Heal the mental and physical wounds of my children (names) caused by my sins. I entrust my child entirely to my Lord Jesus Christ and Your, Most Pure, heavenly protection. Amen.

Prayer for the unbaptized dead

It is difficult for any Orthodox Christian to realize that someone close to him has died without becoming a full member of the Church of Christ. There is no point in becoming despondent; God’s Providence exists for such people as well. But sincere heartfelt prayer will help the soul of a deceased person, even if he did not have time to deeply know God.

Other articles about prayer for the repose:

Have mercy, O Lord, on the soul of Your servant (name), who passed into eternal life without Holy Baptism. Your destinies are unsearchable. Do not make this my prayer a sin for me. But Thy holy will be done.

Important! As is the case with people still living, notes with the names of unbaptized people cannot be submitted in church for commemoration.

The reason is the same - a person during his life, for one reason or another, did not have time to enter the Church of God. It is all the more important for such a soul that there is a person who remembers the deceased in his personal prayer at home. After all, the whole Church prays for baptized people at every liturgy, but only those who take on this burden in personal work pray for the unbaptized.

What kind of prayers to read for the unbaptized dead

In Orthodox worship there is a special service - a requiem - during which all deceased Orthodox Christians from time to time are remembered. You can only submit notes about those who have managed to come to God and His Holy Church in their lives. However, this does not mean that everyone else should be left without prayerful remembrance.

Icon of the Holy Martyr Huar

Most often, they pray to the martyr Uar for the repose of the souls of unbaptized people. There is a specially compiled canon for this saint, who lived in the 3rd century and spent his entire life begging for those unfortunates who remained outside the protection of the Church of Christ. To this day, a sincere appeal to this ascetic brings great relief to souls after death.

Troparion, tone 4

Through the army of the saints, the passion-bearer who suffered legally, in vain, you showed your strength courageously. And having rushed to the passion of your will, and to die lustfully for Christ, who have accepted the honor of the victory of your suffering, Ouare, pray for our souls to be saved.

Kontakion, tone 4

Having followed Christ, the martyr Uare, having drunk His cup, and having been bound with the crown of torment, and rejoicing with the Angels, pray unceasingly for our souls

Prayer

Oh, venerable holy martyr Uare, kindled with zeal for the Lord Christ, you confessed the Heavenly King before the tormentor, and you suffered earnestly for Him, and now you stand before Him with the angels, and rejoice in the highest, and see clearly the Holy Trinity, and enjoy the light of the Beginning Radiance , remember also our relatives in languor, who died in wickedness, accept our petition, and just as Cleopatrine freed the unfaithful family from eternal torment with your prayers, so remember the people who were buried against God, who died unbaptized, trying to ask for deliverance from eternal darkness, so that all with one mouth and With one heart let us praise the Most Merciful Creator forever and ever. Amen.

Separately, for stillborn or unbaptized babies, you can pray with the prayer of Metropolitan Grigoir of Novgorod or Hieromonk Arseny of Athos. If such a misfortune occurs in a family, and a child dies before receiving the Sacrament of Baptism, then special prayer support is needed both for his soul and for his parents and family. In prayer and trust in God's Providence for each person, it will be easier to survive loss and grief.

Prayer of Metropolitan Gregory of Novgorod and St. Petersburg

Remember, O Lord who loves mankind, the souls of the departed servants of Your babies, who in the womb of Orthodox mothers died accidentally from unknown actions or from a difficult birth, or from some carelessness, and therefore did not receive the holy sacrament of Baptism! Baptize them, O Lord, in the sea of ​​Your bounties and save them with Your ineffable goodness.

It should be remembered that prayer is always work. And personal prayer without the support of the church is special work. Therefore, if we undertake to beg unbaptized people close to us, we must be prepared for various temptations and obstacles along this path. And only with God’s help and humility can this path be overcome.

Is it possible to pray for the unbaptized living?

The tradition of the Church brings to us a lot of evidence about the effectiveness of prayer for unbaptized people who do not belong to the Church.

One day Rev. Macarius of Egypt walked through the desert and saw a human skull lying on the ground. When the monk touched him with a palm stick, the skull spoke. The elder asked: “Who are you?” The skull replied: “I was a pagan priest of the idolaters who lived in this place.” He also said that when St. Macarius, having mercy on those who are in eternal torment, prays for them, then they receive some consolation. “As far as the sky is from the earth, there is as much fire under our feet and above our heads,” the skull said again, “We stand in the middle of the fire, and none of us is positioned so as to see our neighbor. But when you pray for us, each one sees the other’s face somewhat. This is our joy." After the conversation, the elder buried the skull in the ground.

For people who died without holy baptism or belonged to another denomination or faith, we cannot pray on Divine Liturgy and perform funeral services for them in the Church, but no one forbids us to pray for them in our personal home prayers. Those. During the Liturgy, you cannot pray at all for the unbaptized, neither out loud, nor even silently, because at this time the bloodless Eucharistic Sacrifice is offered, and it is offered only for members of the Church. Such remembrance is allowed only during a memorial service, silently, and never at the Liturgy.

The Venerable Leo of Optina, consoling his spiritual son Pavel Tambovtsev, whose father tragically died outside the Church, said: “ You shouldn't be overly sad. God, without comparison, loved and loves him more than you. This means that you can only leave the eternal fate of your parent to the goodness and mercy of God, Who, if He deigns to have mercy, then who can resist Him?" The Great Elder gave Pavel Tambovtsev a prayer, which, with some modifications, can be said for the unbaptized:

“Have mercy, O Lord, on the soul of Your servant (name), who passed into eternal life without Holy Baptism. Your destinies are unsearchable. Do not make this my prayer a sin for me. But Thy holy will be done."

This prayer can be used when reading the Psalter for the departed, reading it at every “Glory”.

Sedlec Ossuary in Kutna Hora (Czech Republic)

Another holy Optina elder, St. Joseph, later said that there is evidence of the fruits of this prayer. It can be read at any time (repeatedly throughout the day). You can also do it mentally in the temple. Alms given to those in need for the deceased help. It is good to pray to the Mother of God, reading the rosary “Virgin Mother of God, rejoice...” (as much as your strength allows: from 30 to 150 times a day). At the beginning and at the end of this rule, one must ask the Mother of God to help the soul of the deceased.

The Orthodox Church testifies that there is a Christian saint who has the special grace to pray for those who have died unbaptized. This is a victim in the 3rd century. St. Martyr Uar. There is a canon for this saint, in which the main content is a request to St. martyr to pray for the unbaptized. This canon and the prayer of St. Martyr Uar is read instead of those funeral prayers that the Church offers for the baptized.

Those close to the deceased (especially children and grandchildren - direct descendants) have a great opportunity to influence the afterlife fate of the deceased. Namely: to show the fruits of spiritual life (to live in the prayer experience of the Church, to participate in the Holy Sacraments, to live according to the commandments of Christ). Although the one who departed unbaptized did not himself show these fruits, but his children and grandchildren, he, too, is involved in them as a root or trunk.

And I would also like to say: loved ones should not lose heart, but do everything possible to help, remembering the mercy of the Lord and knowing that everything will be finally determined at the Judgment of God.

Priest Pavel Gumerov

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The prayer for the unbaptized is based on an incident that occurred in Optina Hermitage. One day, a student turned to the Optina Elder Leonid (in the schema Leo, who died in 1841) in inconsolable grief over his deceased suicidal father, asking whether and how he could pray for him. To which the elder replied: Submit both yourself and the fate of your parent to the will of the Lord, wise and almighty. Pray to the Most Good Creator, thereby fulfilling the duty of love and filial duties, according to the spirit of the virtuous and wise:

Seek, O Lord, the lost soul of my father: if possible, have mercy! Your destinies are unsearchable. Do not make this my prayer a sin for me. But Thy holy will be done.

With this prayer you can pray at home about relatives who arbitrarily took their own lives, but given the certain spiritual danger described earlier, in order to perform home prayer, you must definitely take a blessing from the priest.

From the patristic heritage there are known cases when, through the intense prayer of loved ones, the fate of the souls of suicides was alleviated, but in order to achieve this, one must perform a feat of prayer.

Following the example of this prayer, you can pray for the unbaptized (those who have passed into eternal life unenlightened by the Orthodox faith), as well as those who have been baptized, but have apostatized from the faith (those who have departed into eternal life in apostasy from the Holy Orthodox Church).

In this instruction for every Christian who is in a similar position, there is a lot of comfort, calming the soul in surrendering oneself and the deceased to the will of God, always good and wise. And the fact that the unbaptized can receive some relief through prayer is known from the conversation of the Monk Macarius of Egypt with the skull of a pagan priest. The monk prayed a lot for the departed and therefore wanted to know the effect of his prayers. When you pray for the dead, the skull answered, “we feel some kind of consolation.” This incident gives us hope that our prayers for the unfortunate who died unbaptized will bring them some consolation. We should not forget about such an effective means of alleviating the fate of the dead as alms, which in these cases acquires special significance.

It is a great sin not to accept the Savior and to reject the Orthodox faith, but the merciful Lord allowed one of His saints to intercede before Him for the souls of the non-Orthodox deceased. This saint is the martyr Uar, who accepted death for Christ in 307. Once, in a vision of blessed Cleopatra, the saint told her that for her good deeds he begged God to forgive the sins of all her deceased pagan relatives. Since then, Orthodox Christians have turned to the martyr Uar in prayer to intercede with the Lord for their relatives and friends who died not baptized into the Orthodox faith.

Prayer to the holy martyr Huar

Oh, venerable saint of the martyr Uara, we kindle with zeal for the Lord Christ, you confessed the Heavenly King before the tormentor, and for Him you suffered zealously, and now the Church honors you, as you are glorified by the Lord Christ with the glory of Heaven, Who has given you grace have great boldness towards Him, and now you stand before Him with the Angels, and in the Highest Rejoices, and clearly see the Holy Trinity, and enjoy the light of the Infinite Radiance, remembering our relatives in languor, who died in wickedness, accept our petition, and like Cleopatrine, you freed the unfaithful race from eternal torment with Your prayers So remember those who were buried against God, who died unbaptized, trying to ask for deliverance from eternal darkness, so that with one mouth and one heart we may praise the Most Merciful Creator forever and ever. Amen.

In a report at the diocesan meeting of Moscow in 2003, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II noted: “In Lately The veneration of the holy martyr Huar is becoming increasingly widespread. Chapels are built in his honor and icons are painted. From his life it follows that he had special grace from God to pray for unbaptized dead people. During the times of militant atheism in our country, many people grew up and died unbaptized, and their believing relatives want to pray for their repose. Such private prayer was never prohibited. But in church prayer, during divine services, we remember only the children of the Church who have joined it through the Sacrament of Holy Baptism.

Some abbots, guided by mercantile considerations, perform church commemorations of unbaptized people, accepting a lot of notes and donations for such commemoration and assuring people that such commemoration is tantamount to the Sacrament of Holy Baptism. People with little church life get the impression that it is not necessary to accept Holy Baptism or be a member of the Church, it is enough just to pray to the martyr Uar. Such an attitude towards the veneration of the holy martyr Huar is unacceptable and contradicts our church teaching.”

The Primate of the Russian Church rightly pointed out that important canonical violation, which, unfortunately, has recently become quite common.

However, it is not the life of the holy martyr Huar that provides the basis for those distortions of Orthodox piety that the Patriarch spoke about. No one prays for the pagans, resorting to the help of the prophet Jonah, although the shipmen asked him: Arise and pray to your God, for God will save us, and let us not perish(Jonah 1, 6).

Unfortunately, there is a textual basis for this anti-canonical practice in the latest editions of the liturgical Menaion.

Thus, on October 19, two services are given to the martyr Uar - statutory and non-statutory. The first (which the Typikon points to) is composed quite habitually and traditionally. The holy martyr is glorified together with the prophet Joel. The main motive of the service can be expressed by the troparion of the canon: “ give with your prayers us resolution of sins, lives correction, Ware"(Canto 9, p. 469).

The second service - which the Typikon does not mention at all - begins with a rather unconventional and pretentious name: “ Another service, vigil, was given to the holy martyr Huar, to whom was given the grace to pray for the dead of Cleopatraine’s ancestors, who were not worthy to receive holy Baptism.” .

The following should be noted about this name.

Firstly, not just a service is presented in honor of such and such a saint of God, as is always the case in the Menaion, but a certain goal is declared, as if a super task: to glorify Uar precisely as prayer book for the unbaptized "Cleopatrine's ancestors".

For comparison, suppose someone wanted to create a new alternative service “on the feast of the Beheading of the venerable head of John the Baptist, to whom was given the grace to heal from headaches”- on the grounds that, they say, prayer to the Forerunner helps with headaches. Or someone would create a new service “To St. Nicholas, he was given the grace of deliverance to grant the governors unrighteous death to those who had it.” Although the Church sings with these words (Akathist, Ikos 6) of the Miracle Worker of Myra, this does not give grounds to make this single episode from the life of St. Nicholas decisive in the content and title of the service to the saint. In the same way, the title of the service should not impoverish the abundance of talents of the glorious martyr and wonderworker Uar.

Secondly, it should definitely be said that the title of this second, non-statutory service contains, if not an outright lie, then an unsubstantiated and unfounded statement: there is no evidence that Blessed Cleopatra (comm. on the same day, October 19) has relatives were unbaptized. It is likely that a pious and zealous Christian wife was raised by believing Christian parents. Life of St. Uara gives no reason to suspect Cleopatra's relatives of unbelief and paganism. This should be stated with at least some facts indicating their wickedness.

Let us remember what life says. After the martyrdom of Huar, Cleopatra secretly stole his body and, instead of her deceased husband, took “... the relics of Saint Huar, brought them, like some kind of jewel, from Egypt to Palestine and in her village called Edra, which was located near Tabor, she laid them with her ancestors.” . After some time, Saint War appeared in a dream to Cleopatra and said: “Or do you think that I did not feel anything when you took my body from the pile of cattle corpses and laid me in your room? Don’t I always listen to your prayers and pray to God for you? And first of all, I prayed to God for your relatives, with whom you laid me in the tomb, so that their sins would be forgiven."

Thirdly, even if we assume that among Cleopatrine’s relatives there were people who were not baptized and did not believe in Christ, by the Providence of God they ended up in a crypt, consecrated by the grace emanating from the relics of Saint Uar: “The earth on which your most patient body, wise, lies, sanctified by the Divine”(Canon, Song of the 9th statutory service, p. 469). God is omnipotent even to resurrect the dead from touching the relics of His saints, as was the case with the holy prophet Elisha: I cast down my husband in the tomb of Elisse, and the man's body fell dead, and I touched the bone of Elisse, and he came to life, and stood up on his feet.(2 Kings 13:21).

True, it has not yet occurred to anyone to create a new service “To the prophet Elisha, to whom was given the grace to raise the dead to their feet”.

Let us also note that even if there were unbaptized relatives in the family crypt, neither Cleopatra herself prayed to Christ for their salvation, nor did she ask the holy martyr Huar for prayers about this. The martyr carried out his intercession before the Lord, standing before the throne of the Almighty, and not at all consulting with those living on the sinful earth.

Let us consider the content of the liturgical text hazing services to the martyr Uar according to Menaea.

The verses on “Lord, I cried” of Little Vespers assert about Saint Uar that “Through his prayers the dead forgive pagans Lord Christ" . « Unvernia the dead are delivered and freed from the places of hell through the prayers of Uara the Martyr.” .

From this more than dubious thesis follows the following first timid request: “Accept our pity, martyr, and remember in the darkness and the shadow of death those condemned who are sitting on our behalf, and pray to the Lord God to fulfill our petitions for them.” .

At Great Vespers in the stichera on “Lord, I have cried,” this theme is developed with great boldness: “Entreat Christ God to show all kindness to our relatives, not having achieved faith and Baptism, have mercy on them and save our souls" .

At the end of the stichera there is a “slavnik” of more than half a page, which contains such "real screams": “Remember... Orthodox faith and Baptism of the saint who have not achieved, but in bewilderment, as in contradictions, deceived and fallen in every way, hear, great martyr, these cries, and beg to give forgiveness, and remission, and deliverance from the sorrowful to those who have been oppressed.” .

The theme of begging for unbelievers and the unbaptized is intensified in the stichera “at litia.”

“...Remember our relatives... even alienated by heterodoxy deceased, unfaithful and unbaptized, and pray to Christ God to grant this forgiveness and remission." .

« A plea for the non-Orthodox, who have died for many years... and now pray diligently, martyr, to deliver from the gates of hell and to free the imperishable ones from sorrow, like... having not accepted the saving generation and alienated the Orthodox faith, hasten therefore to ask from Christ God forgiveness and remission, and great mercy.” .

In the “slavnik” the stichera “on the poem” again states about Cleopatra that “This is finding its unfaithful relatives, through the prayers of the glorious martyr, were delivered from the sorrow of eternal torment.” This gives the compiler of the canon the basis for the prayer appeal: “In the same way, our parents and their neighbors, pityingly, care even more faith and baptism of the saint alienated... ask Christ the God for their change, and merciful deliverance from endless darkness.” .

The stichera for Psalm 50 contains the petition: “...deliver our unfaithful relatives and ancestors and all for whom we pray, out of fierce and bitter languor.” .

In the canon of the service, the theme of prayerful intercession to the martyr Huar for the unbaptized is strengthened by an appeal never found in other known church texts with the same petition to the Mother of God Herself to beseech all, without exception, the unbaptized and heterodox dead.

“Deliver Your warm prayers from fierce torment unfaithful ours and unbaptized relatives... and grant them deliverance and great mercy"(Bogorodichen sedalen, p. 479) .

“... Intercede relentlessly for mercy to Your merciful Son and Master, to have mercy and forgive the sin of heterodoxy our deceased relatives"(Canto 9, p. 484).

Not only Holy Mother of God, but the angelic ranks are also moved to pray for the infidels: “Move the face of the holy Heavenly Powers with you to prayer, martyr, and do a wonderful thing... dead wrong ancestor and those remembered with them, grant this from the Lord forgiveness and great mercy."(Canto 3, p. 478.

The canon offers other saints as allies and assistants to the martyr Uar:

“For thou hast listened to Thy holy One, O Lord, to have mercy on unfaithful dead, and even today we bring them to prayer, and for the sake of their petitions, please non-Orthodox deceased» (Canto 8, p. 483). This petition is noteworthy, since it obliges not just the martyr of Uar, but a whole council of holy saints of God to ask for the salvation of the unbaptized: “The Lamb of God, who redeemed us with His Most Pure Blood, Hearing the prayer of Feklino and Blessed Gregory, Methodius with many and Macarius received the petition, and I will give joy and deliver evil having given to the dead, and having raised up Chrysostom to write about these prayers, accept therefore, O Master, with these glorious Uar and prayers their remembered from us, forgive and have mercy"(Canto 8, p. 483).

Bishop Athanasius (Sakharov) noted that the prayer of St. Gregory the Dvoeslov for King Trajan and the prayer of St. Methodius of Constantinople with the Council of Fathers for King Theophilus are mentioned here - so these were prayers not “for the pagans” or “for heretics,” but “for the king” , according to the apostolic commandment to pray for the king and for everyone in power are(1 Tim. 2:2). The prayers of the other saints of God mentioned in the canon obviously belong to the category of “private” and not “public”.

Almost all the troparions of the canon, as well as the Lamp, contain the same petition « ...faith, and Baptism of alienated dead our relatives and everyone... grant forgiveness and great mercy"(Canto 5, p. 481).

The service is crowned by the stichera “on praise”, where the following appeals occur as a refrain:

“...Please forgive him those who died heterodox» .

“...Pray to Him to send mercy dead in unbelief» .

The last seal of the “praiseworthy” stichera is the half-page “slavnik”, containing, in particular, the following appeals: “...Remember the memories of our grandfathers and great-grandfathers, and those honored with them , those buried against God, those who died unbaptized. For these slaughter, come before Christ our God... and strive to ask for deliverance from eternal darkness.” .

On canonical inadmissibility
church commemoration of non-Orthodox

Canonical consciousness ancient Church absolutely did not allow prayerful communication with heretics, Jews and pagans. This ban on prayer communication applied to both the living and the dead. As Archpriest Vladislav Tsypin rightly noted, “deceased Christians remain members of the Church, and therefore the Church offers its prayers for them as well as for its living members,” therefore, “The Church can, of course, perform funeral services only for those who belong only to it.”

This can be clearly shown by comparing the above quotes from the non-statutory canon to the martyr Uar with the church canon from the service of Trinity Parental Saturday, placed in the Colored Triodion. In this liturgical sequence, literally every song of the canon notes that the Church commemorates only baptized Orthodox people who ended their earthly life in faith and piety.

“Let us all pray to Christ, who creates memory today from the age of the dead, that I may deliver from the eternal fire , in faith departed, and hope of eternal life» (Song 1).

“You see, you see, for I am your God, having established the limits of life with righteous judgment, and accepting everything into incorruption from aphids, departed in the hope of eternal resurrection» (Song 2).

“O Christ, the sea of ​​turbid life that has floated into the imperishable life of yours, vouchsafe a haven of refuge, nourished by Orthodox life» (Canto 3).

“Fathers and forefathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers, from the first and even to the last, in goodness of the deceased and good faith, remember our Savior"(Canto 4).

“The ever-scorching fire, and the dark darkness, the gnashing of teeth, and the endlessly tormenting worm, and deliver us from all torment, our Savior, all truly dead» (Canto 5).

“From the ages you have received faithful to God“O every human race, grant us the honor of praising You forever with those who serve You.”(Canto 6).

“At Your terrible coming, O Generous One, set Your sheep at the right hand, Orthodox Ti in the life of the Christ, and those who come to You"(Canto 7).

“Having first broken the shadow of death, having risen like the sun from the grave, create the sons of Your resurrection, O Lord of glory, all died in faith, forever"(Canto 8).

“Every age, old people, and young babies, and children, and milk that is pissing, male and female nature, God rest yourselves, which you have received faithful» (Canto 9).

In the Theotokos troparions of this service, in contrast to the non-statutory service to the martyr Uar, the Church requests intercession from the Most Pure Virgin Mary only for the faithful: “A sealed source of living streams, you appeared to the Virgin Mother of God, having given birth to the Lord without a husband, immortality faithful give water to drink forever"(Canto 8).

Lengthy and detailed petitions for the departed are read according to the Rule at Vespers on the Day of the Holy Spirit - especially in the third kneeling prayer placed in the Colored Triodion. But even in this all-encompassing prayer, only Orthodox Christians are mentioned: “Hear us praying to You, and give rest to the souls of Your servants, our fathers and our brothers who have fallen before us, and other relatives in the flesh, and all our own in the faith, of whom we create memory now“For in You is the dominion of all, and in Your hand do You contain all the ends of the earth.”.

According to the Service Book, commemoration is performed at the Proskomedia "about everyone in hope of resurrection eternal life and Your fellowship of the departed Orthodox» . The rite of the Eucharistic canon of the liturgy of St. John Chrysostom contains the following words : “We also bring this verbal service to You about others in the faith of those who died... and about every righteous soul in faith deceased", as well as the request: "And remember all the departed about the hope of resurrection eternal life". At the Liturgy of St. Basil the Great, the primate prays in a similar way: “May we find mercy and grace with all the saints from the ages who have pleased You... and with every righteous spirit in faith deceased", and finally: “And remember all those who have fallen before about the hope of the resurrection of eternal life» . About non-believers neither St. John Chrysostom, nor St. Basil Great prayers did not exalt, remembering the words of the Gospel: He who has faith and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not have faith will be condemned(Mark 16:16).

The Holy Fathers acted in full accordance with the apostolic teaching: What kind of communion between truth and lawlessness, or what kind of communion between light and darkness, what kind of agreement between Christ and Belial, or what part will I return with the infidel, or what kind of laying down of the Church of God from idols?(2 Cor. 6, 14-16).

Metropolitan Macarius (Bulgakov) wrote: “Our prayers can act directly on the souls of the deceased, If only they died in the right faith and with true repentance, i.e. in communion with the Church and with the Lord Jesus: because in this case, despite the apparent distance from us, they continue to belong with us to the same body of Christ.” He cites an excerpt from Rule 5 of the VII Ecumenical Council: “ There is a sin leading to death when some, having sinned, remain uncorrected, and... stiff-neckedly rebel against piety and truth... the Lord God is not in such, unless they humble themselves and become sober from their fall into sin." In this regard, Bishop Macarius notes: “Those who died in mortal sins, in unrepentance and outside communion with the Church are not worthy of her prayers, according to this apostolic commandment.”

The decrees of the Laodicean Local Council clearly prohibit prayer for living heretics: “ It is not proper to pray with a heretic or renegade"(Rule 33). " One should not accept holiday gifts sent from Jews or heretics, nor should one celebrate with them."(Rule 37). The same Council of Laodicea prohibits members of the Church from prayerfully commemorating the dead buried in non-Orthodox cemeteries: “ Let the church members not be allowed to go to the cemeteries of all heretics, or to the so-called places of martyrdom, for prayer or for healing. And those who walk, even if they are faithful, will be deprived of church communion for a certain time"(Rule 9). In his interpretation of this Rule, Bishop Nikodim (Milash) noted: “ This rule The Council of Laodicea prohibits the Orthodox, or, as the text says, “the church members,” everyone belonging to the Church, from visiting such heretical places for the sake of prayer and worship, since otherwise he may be suspected of an inclination towards one or another heresy and not be considered Orthodox by conviction.” .

In light of this, the ancient and widespread tradition of separating Orthodox cemeteries from others - German, Tatar, Jewish, Armenian - becomes clear. After all, the funeral prayer in cemetery churches and chapels is performed, according to the Service Book, about « lying here and everywhere Orthodox» . Behind "here lie the Gentiles" The church doesn't pray.

Likewise, the Church does not pray for suicides. Rule Saint Timothy of Alexandria, given in the Book of Rules, prohibits church commemoration of those persons who “he will raise his hands against himself or throw himself down from on high”: “An offering is not appropriate for such a person, for he is a suicide”(Answer 14). Saint Timothy even warns the presbyter that such cases “I must certainly test it with all care, lest I fall under condemnation.”.

It is noteworthy that while the Holy Fathers prohibit praying for living and dead heretics, they positively resolve the issue of the possibility of church prayer for apostates who, due to weakness and cowardice, could not stand the test during persecution: “either those who suffered in prison and were overcome by hunger and thirst, or outside prison at the judgment seat, tormented by planing and beating and finally overcome by the weakness of the flesh.” "For those- decides Saint Peter of Alexandria,—when some by faith ask for offerings of prayers and petitions, it is righteous to agree with him.”(See: Rule Book, Rule 11). This is motivated by the fact that “to show compassion and condolences to those who cry and groan for those who have overcome heroic deeds... is not in the least harmful to anyone”[Ibid].

Church canonical Rules do not allow the possibility of praying for heretics and pagans, but declare to them anathema and thus they are deprived, both during life and after death, of prayerful communion with the Catholic Apostolic Church.

The only case of liturgical intercession for the unbaptized is prayers and litanies for the catechumens. But this exception only confirms the rule, since the catechumens are precisely those people whom the Church does not consider strangers in the faith, since they have expressed a conscious desire to become Orthodox Christians and are preparing for holy Baptism. Moreover, the content of the prayers for the catechumens obviously applies only to the living. There are no prayer rites for deceased catechumens.

St. Augustine wrote: “There should be no doubt at all that the prayers of St. Churches, saving sacrifices and alms benefit the dead, but only those who lived before death in such a way that after death all this could be useful to them. For for those who have departed without faith promoted by love, and without communication in the sacraments in vain their neighbors perform deeds of that piety, the guarantee of which they did not have in themselves when they were here, not accepting or accepting in vain the grace of God and hoarding for themselves not mercy, but anger. So, they do not acquire new merits for the dead when those they know do something good for them, but only draw consequences from the principles they previously laid down.”

In the Russian Orthodox Church, the Holy Synod for the first time allowed in 1797 Orthodox priests, when accompanying the body of a deceased non-Orthodox person in certain cases, to limit themselves only to singing Trisagion. The “Handbook of Priests and Church Ministers” states: “ Prohibited burial of the Gentiles according to the rite of the Orthodox Church; but if a non-Christian confession dies and “there is no priest or pastor of either the confession to which the deceased belonged or another, then a priest of the Orthodox confession is obliged to escort the corpse from the place to the cemetery according to the rules specified in the code of church laws,” according to which the priest should the deceased should be escorted from the place to the cemetery in vestments and stole and lowered into the ground while singing the verse: Holy God"(Decree of the Holy Synod of August 24, 1797)".

Saint Philaret of Moscow notes in this regard: “According to church rules, it would be fair if the Holy Synod did not allow this either. In allowing this, he used condescension and showed respect to the soul that had on itself the seal of baptism in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. There is no right to demand more."

The handbook also explains the following: “ Obligation for an Orthodox priest to bury a non-Christian Christian confession is determined by the absence of clergy of other Christian confessions, in which Orthodox priest and must make sure before he fulfills the request for the burial of a non-Christian (Church Bulletin. 1906, 20).

The Holy Synod, in its resolution of March 10-15, 1847, decided: 1) at the burial of military officials Roman Catholic, Lutheran and Reformed confessions Orthodox clergy may, by invitation, do only that, what is said in the decree of the Holy Synod on August 24. 1797 (accompanied to the cemetery with singing Trisagion. - priest K.B.); 2) Orthodox clergy has no right to perform the funeral service those who died according to the rites of the Orthodox Church; 3) the body of a deceased non-Christian cannot be brought into the Orthodox Church before burial; 4) regimental Orthodox clergy according to such ranks cannot perform house funeral services and include them in church commemoration(Case of the Archives of the Holy Synod of 1847, 2513)".

This standard of piety, which prohibits funeral services for non-Orthodox people, was observed everywhere in all local Orthodox Churches. However, in the middle of the 19th century, this provision was violated.” Patriarch Gregory VI of Constantinople in 1869 established a special rite of burial for the deceased non-Orthodox, which was also adopted by the Hellenic Synod. This rite consists of the Trisagion, the 17th kathisma with the usual refrains, the Apostle, the Gospel and the small dismissal."

In the very adoption of this rite one cannot help but see a deviation from the patristic tradition. This innovation was carried out among the Greeks in parallel with the adoption of a new so-called “Typikon of the Great Church of Constantinople”, published in Athens in 1864, the essence of which was to reform and reduce the statutory worship. The spirit of modernism, shaking the foundations of Orthodoxy, encouraged the creation of similar orders in the Russian Orthodox Church. As Archpriest Gennady Nefedov noted, “just before the revolution, the Petrograd Synodal Printing House printed a special brochure in Slavic script, “Service of Order for the Deceased Non-Orthodox.” This rite is indicated to be performed instead of a requiem, with the omission of the prokemna, the Apostle and the Gospel."

This very “Service over the deceased non-Orthodox” appeared in our Church as a manifestation of the revolutionary-democratic and renovationist mentality that captivated the minds of other theologians and clergy at the beginning of the 20th century. Its text cannot be justified at all from a church-canonical position. The text of this “Service of Order” in the Trebnik contains a number of absurdities.

So, for example, at the beginning of the “Sequence of Orders” it is said: "For some reason blessed guilt, it is opportune for an Orthodox priest to perform the burial of the body of the deceased non-Orthodox» . We have already shown above that there are no church canons "blessed wines" not allowed here.

After the usual prayerful beginning, the “Service of Order” cites Psalm 87, which contains, in particular, the following words: Food is the story of Thy mercy in the grave, and Thy truth in destruction; Your wonders will be known in darkness, and Your righteousness will be known in the forgotten land(Ps. 87, 12-13). If we clarify that the Church Slavonic word food means “is it really”, the Psalm will become a reproof for those who read it over the non-Orthodox dead.

Following this is Psalm 118, praising walking in the law of the Lord(Ps. 119:1). Saint Theophan the Recluse, in his interpretation of this Psalm, cites a patristic judgment: “Not those blessed ones who stain themselves with sin in the corruption of the age, but those who be blameless in your journey and walk in the law of the Lord.” .

In fairness, it should be noted that in the editions of the Trebnik of the last ten to fifteen years this “Sequence of Orders” is no longer published.

From the point of view of the Orthodox traditional attitude to the issue under consideration, the position of the monk Mitrofan, who published the book “Afterlife” in 1897, should be considered correct. Let's give a few quotes from it.

"Our St. The Church prays for the departed as follows: “Rest, O Lord, the souls of Your servants who have reposed in the faith and hope of the resurrection. May God rest all Orthodox Christians.” This is for whom the Church prays and with whom she is in inextricable union and communion. Hence, there is no union and communion with dead non-Christians and non-Orthodox... For a true Christian, except for suicide, no kind of death dissolves the union and communion with the living - with the Church ... The saints pray for him, and the living pray for him, as for a living member of a single living body.”

“Let us ask, can everyone in hell be liberated through our prayers? The Church prays for all the dead, but only the dead in true faith will certainly receive liberation from hellish torment. The soul, while in the body, is obliged to take care of its future life in advance, it must deserve that upon its transition to the afterlife, the intercession of the living can bring it relief and salvation.”

“Sins that constitute blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, that is, disbelief, bitterness, apostasy, unrepentance and the like, make a person eternally lost, and intercession of the Church to such dead and not at all alive will not help, because they lived and died outside of communion with the Church. Yes about those Church already doesn't pray» .

Here the author obviously has in mind the words of the Gospel: If anyone speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; and whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven him either in this age or in the next(Matt. 12:32). From these words of the Savior, many naturally concluded that, in principle, remission of sins is possible even after the death of a sinner. Metropolitan Macarius (Bulgakov) notes in this regard: “ About those who died with blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, or, what is the same, in mortal sin, and unrepentant The church doesn't pray, and that’s why, as the Savior said, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven to man, either in this age or in the next.”

Venerable Theodore Studit did not allow open commemoration at the liturgy of the deceased heretical iconoclasts.

Let us cite a number of statements by the Holy Fathers in which, while calling for prayer for the dead, they did not allow it to be performed in the Church for those who died outside church communion - heretics and the unbaptized.

St. Augustine: “The whole Church observes this as handed down by the Fathers, so that pray for those who have died in the communion of the body and blood of Christ when they are remembered in due time at the sacrifice itself.”

Saint Gregory of Nyssa: “This is a very godly and useful deed - to perform a divine and glorious sacrament commemoration of the dead in the right faith» .

Venerable John of Damascus: “The mysteries and self-seers of the Word, who conquered the earthly circle, the disciples and divine Apostles of the Savior, not without reason, not in vain and not without benefit, established to perform terrible, pure and life-giving mysteries remembrance of the faithful departed» .

Saint John Chrysostom: “When all the people and the sacred cathedral stand with their hands stretched out to heaven, and when a terrible sacrifice is presented: how can we not appease God by praying for them (the dead)? But this about those only who died in faith» .

On the commemoration of non-Orthodox
in home prayer

In the words we quoted at the beginning His Holiness Patriarch Alexy at the Moscow diocesan meeting in 2003, it was noted that only private, home prayer is and has always been allowed for the unbaptized, but “during divine services we remember only the children of the Church who have joined it through the Sacrament of Holy Baptism.” This division between church and private prayer is essential.

The major work “On the Commemoration of the Dead according to the Charter of the Orthodox Church” was compiled by the New Martyr Athanasius (Sakharov), Bishop of Kovrov. In the section “Canon to the martyr Uar on deliverance from the torment of the dead in other faiths,” he writes: “ Ancient Rus' with all the severity of her attitude towards the dead, she found it possible to pray not only for the conversion of the living to the true faith, but also for deliverance from the torment of the dead in other faiths. At the same time, she resorted to the intercession of the holy martyr Huar. In the ancient canons there is a special canon for this case, completely different from the canon placed in the October Menaion under the 19th.”

However, this section, as well as the sections “Prayer for unbaptized and stillborn babies” and “Prayer for suicides”, Bishop Athanasius places in Chapter IV - “Remembrance of the Dead at home prayer" He rightly writes: “ At home prayer with the blessing of the spiritual father, even those who cannot be remembered at church services can be commemorated.” “The commemoration of the departed, out of humility and for obedience to the Holy Church, transferred to our home cell prayer, will be more valuable in the eyes of God and more gratifying for the departed than done in church, but with violation and neglect of Church statutes.”

At the same time, he notes about statutory public worship: “ All funeral services are precisely defined in their composition, and the time when they can or cannot be performed is also precisely appointed. And no one has the right to transgress these limits established by the Holy Church.”

So, in a church congregation headed by a priest or bishop, there is no way to legally pray for the unbaptized (as well as for the non-Orthodox and suicides). Let us note that the treatise by Bishop Athanasius deals with both the statutory divine service and the services according to the Trebnik (funeral service, memorial service). Moreover, in the first three chapters there is no mention of service to the martyr Uar. It is noteworthy that the Lord himself writes at the beginning of Chapter IV: “We touched everyone various cases when the Holy Church allows or itself calls, sometimes strenuously calls for prayer for the departed. But all the previously listed cases of commemoration of the dead are performed with the priest.” Thus, the rite of vigil and non-statutory service to the martyr Uar, which we have considered, cannot be recognized either by the Orthodox liturgical text or by the rite of the Orthodox Breviary.

Many Holy Fathers spoke about the possibility of private commemoration in home prayer for those dead who cannot be remembered in a church meeting.

Venerable Theodore the Studite found it possible for such commemoration to be only secret: “unless every in my soul prays for such people and does alms for them.”

Reverend Elder Lev Optinsky, not allowing church prayer for those who died outside the Church (suicides, unbaptized, heretics), he commanded to pray for them privately like this: “Seek, Lord, the lost soul of my father: if it is possible, have mercy. Your destinies are unsearchable. Do not make this my prayer a sin, but Thy holy will be done.”

Venerable Elder Ambrose of Optina wrote to one nun: “According to church rules, remembering a suicide should not be in church, and his sister and relatives can pray for him privately how Elder Leonid allowed Pavel Tambovtsev to pray for his parent. Write out this prayer... and give it to the family of the unfortunate person. We know many examples that the prayer conveyed by Elder Leonid calmed and consoled many and turned out to be valid before the Lord.”

The testimonies of the Holy Fathers we have cited force us, in full agreement with the word of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II, to raise in our Church the question of abolishing from the annual liturgical circle the non-statutory vigil service to the martyr Uar, not provided for by the Typikon, as contrary to canonical church norms.

In all likelihood, only the canon to the martyr Uar (but, of course, not the following “ All-night vigil") is possible in special cases "some for the sake of blessed wine" recommend for home cell prayer for deceased non-Orthodox relatives with mandatory prohibition read this canon in Orthodox churches and chapels for public services and services.

LITERATURE

1. Ambrose of Optina, Rev. Collection of letters to monastics. Vol. II. Sergiev Posad, 1909.

2. Afanasy (Sakharov), bishop. On the commemoration of the dead according to the Charter of the Orthodox Church. St. Petersburg, 1995.

3. Bulgakov S.N. A reference book for the clergyman. M.: 1993.

4. Demetrius of Rostov, saint. Lives of the Saints. October. 1993.

5. Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate. 2004, No. 2.

6. Macarius (Bulgakov), Metropolitan. Orthodox dogmatic theology. T. II. St. Petersburg, 1857.

7. Menaia. October. M.: Publishing house. Moscow Patriarchate, 1980.

8. Mitrofan, monk. Afterlife. St. Petersburg, 1897; Kyiv, 1992.

9. Nefedov G., prot. Sacraments and rituals of the Orthodox Church. Part 4. M., 1992.

10. Nicodemus (Milash), bishop. Rules of the Orthodox Church with interpretations. Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra, 1996.

11. Missal. M.: Publishing house. Moscow Patriarchate, 1977.

12. Breviary. Part 3. M.: Publishing house. Moscow Patriarchate, 1984.

13. Theodore the Studite, Rev. Creations. T. II. St. Petersburg, 1908.

14. Theophan the Recluse, saint. Interpretation of Psalm 119. M., 1891.

15. Tsypin V., prot. Canon law. M., 1996.