Funeral service and burial of monks, abbots and archimandrites. The funeral service of monks and holy monks also has many statutory features that quite significantly change the order of this service. But for the reasons stated in the chapter “Funeral services for priests”, these

Death is not God's established law of life. The Creator created man for incorruptibility, but death entered the world through sin. After the fall of our first parents, death became the common lot of all people, the path of the whole earth (1 Kings 2:2). It is the last event of a person’s earthly life. For the righteous, the time of achievement ends, and the last opportunity to commit sins is taken away from the sinner. However, Christianity teaches that death is different. The Word of God calls the death of sinners fierce (Ps. 33:22), even if outwardly it was ordinary and calm. It is fierce because behind its gates fierce torment and endless sorrow begin. “When such calamities await sinners, what benefit will it be to them if they end their lives at home and on their bed? Just as there will be no harm to the righteous if they end their present life from the sword or iron and fire, when they have to go to eternal blessings. Truly the death of sinners is cruel. Such was the death of that rich man who showed contempt for Lazarus and, although he ended his life at home, on his bed, in the presence of friends, with his death, but, after leaving, he burned in fire and could not find there no consolation in the prosperity of this life" (St. John Chrysostom. Conversations on statues. 5. 1).

The death of any Christian who lived pleasing to God is not shameful, that is, without reproach. The death of His saints is honorable before the Lord (Ps. 116:6). Honest means honorable, with honor. In the prayer request it is also called peaceful, that is, at peace with God. In the Holy Bible, not only the life of the righteous passes before us, but also their blessed death: the death of the patriarchs, saturated with life (see: Gen. 25, 7; 35, 29; 49, 33), the mysterious death of Moses on Mount Nebo, from the top of which he saw the promised land (see: Deut. 34:1–7), the quiet death of David, who died in a good old age (1 Chronicles 29, 28), the martyrdom of the Apostle Stephen, who prayed for those stoning him: Lord! Do not count this sin against them (Acts 7:60). The Word of God gives special honor to those who were with God in the great battle of good and evil: blessed are the dead who die in the Lord; to her, says the Spirit, they will rest from their labors, and their works will follow them (Rev. 14:13).

Christianity is a religion of salvation. Therefore, the question of death is inseparable from the main question of every person - the achievement of eternal bliss in the Kingdom of Heaven. The Word of God speaks of life on earth as a blessing, therefore long life is understood as God's gift. Choose life, so that you and your descendants may live, love the Lord your God, listen to His voice and cleave to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may remain on earth (Deut. 30:19-20). However, the Bible values ​​longevity as a relative good. Life is valuable only when a person fulfills his destiny on earth determined by God, when he, following the will of God and fulfilling His commandments, turns earthly life into grace-filled, saving work and gradually prepares himself for the transition to eternal blissful life. And if he is spiritually mature for the Kingdom of Heaven, then not only does he not look at the duration of his life as something desirable, but, on the contrary, he wants to unite with the Lord, for, living in the body, we are like strangers in a foreign land. Our home, our Fatherland is not on earth, but in Heaven - where the Lord is. The Holy Apostle Paul writes to the Corinthians: ... being at home in the body, we are removed from the Lord - for we walk by faith and not by sight - then we are content and wish rather to leave the body and be at home with the Lord. And therefore we zealously strive, whether in or out, to be pleasing to Him; For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what he has done while in the body, whether good or bad (2 Cor. 5:6-10).

People who live by earthly interests are sometimes tempted by the death of a righteous man, not realizing that his death is good for him. The righteous man dies, and no one takes it to heart; and pious men delight from the earth, and no one will think that the righteous delight from evil. He goes to the world (Isa. 57: 1-2)

What bright hope emanates from the letter to St. Theophan the Recluse, who writes to his dying sister: “Farewell, sister! May the Lord bless your outcome and your path after your outcome. After all, you will not die. The body will die, and you will pass into the living world, alive, remembering yourself and recognizing the whole world around you ". Father and mother, brothers and sisters will meet you there. Bow to them, and convey our greetings to them, and ask them to take care of us. Your children will surround you with their joyful greetings. It will be better for you there than here. So do not be horrified when you see the approaching death: it is the door to you better life. Your Guardian Angel will receive your soul and lead it along the paths that God commands. Sins will come - repent of everyone and have strong faith that the Lord and Savior blots out all the sins of repentant sinners. Yours were also blotted out when you repented. Confirm this faith in yourself as quickly as possible and remain inseparably with it. Grant you, Lord, a peaceful outcome! A day or two - and you and I. Therefore, do not worry about those who remain. Farewell, the Lord is with you!"

The Lord, whom we not only believe, but also trust in everything, gives everyone the opportunity to prepare themselves by faith, good deeds, fulfilling the gospel commandments for this special day. Then every Christian can “meet death without fear, peacefully, shamelessly, not as a formidable law of nature, but as the paternal call of the immortal Heavenly Father, holy, blessed, to the land of eternity” (St. John of Kronstadt). We are not given bodily immortality. And endless life begins after death.

The Bible very clearly speaks of the prayerful assistance of the living to the departed. This example dates back to the Maccabean Wars:

Then Judah, taking with him an army, went to the city of Adullam, and since the seventh day was approaching, they purified themselves according to custom and celebrated the Sabbath. The next day those who were with Judas went, as duty required, to transport the bodies of the fallen and lay them along with their relatives in their fathers’ tombs. And they found from each of the dead, under their tunics, things dedicated to the idols of Jamnia, which the law forbade the Jews: and it became clear to everyone for what reason they had fallen. So everyone glorified the righteous Judge of the Lord, who reveals the hidden, and turned to prayer, asking that the sin committed would be completely blotted out; and the valiant Judas exhorted the people to guard themselves from sins, seeing with their own eyes what happened due to the fault of the fallen. Having collected up to two thousand drachmas of silver according to the number of men, he sent to Jerusalem to offer a sacrifice for sin, and acted very well and piously, thinking about the resurrection; for if he did not hope that those killed in battle would rise again, then it would be unnecessary and in vain to pray for the dead. But he thought that an excellent reward was in store for those who died in piety - what a holy and pious thought! Therefore, he offered a propitiatory sacrifice for the dead, that they might be freed from sin (2 Mac. 12:38-45).

The centuries-old experience of the Church testifies to the effectiveness of prayer for the dead. Church Tradition, the Works of the Holy Fathers, and the lives of saints have brought to us a huge amount of evidence of prayerful assistance to the departed.

We are connected to our departed through bonds of love and prayer. Not a single sigh of ours, offered with faith and love, is in vain. We need to pray for the departed and be saved, and then a meeting with them is inevitable.

Hieromonk Job (Gumerov).

I. Orthodox burial rite. Parting words for a dying Orthodox Christian.

The Holy Church prepares its children for the last journey of earthly life, admonishing them with the holy sacraments. Over the dying Orthodox person the sacrament of confession, unction and communion must be performed. It should be remembered that all these sacraments must be performed when the person is conscious. You can't put off your parting words until the last minute. If a person is seriously ill, you need to immediately call a priest to see him.

At death Orthodox Christian In order to facilitate the transition of his soul into eternity, the departure prayer is read - “The canon of prayer to our Lord Jesus Christ and the Most Pure Mother of God at the separation of the soul from the body of every true believer.” This canon is usually contained in a complete prayer book. If it is not possible to invite a priest to perform the funeral service, the prayer can be read by any Orthodox Christian, with the exception of the last prayer, which is read only by the priest.

If a dying person suffers for a long time and his soul cannot leave the body, the priest can perform another sequence: “The rite that occurs when the soul is separated from the body, when a person suffers for a long time.”

Sometimes it happens that over a person who has been dying for a long time, the funeral service or the “Canon of Prayer ...” is read more than once, especially if there is no clergyman nearby.

After the departure of the soul from the body, the priest performs the “Sequence of the departure of the soul from the body,” and the layman reads the Canon for the deceased from the prayer book or missal.

Preparation for burial

The body of a deceased Orthodox Christian must be prepared in a special way for placement in the grave. The body is washed with water as a sign that it must appear before God in purity and integrity. This should be done with soap, a sponge or a clean cloth. Then the deceased is dressed in clean, new clothes, as a sign that our bodies will be renewed upon resurrection on the day of the Last Judgment. Naturally, there should be a pectoral cross on the chest.

The washed and clothed body is placed on the table until the coffin is ready. The coffin and the body itself are sprinkled with holy water and it is placed in the coffin. Hands on the chest should be folded crosswise, as a sign of faith in Christ Crucified, the right hand is on top. Hands can be tied before being transferred to the Church if they fall apart. The eyes and mouth of the deceased must be closed. A special church aureole is placed on the forehead. A pillow is placed under the head. The entire body is covered with a funeral veil. Both the aureole and the veil can be purchased at the Church. An icon of the Savior or a crucifix is ​​placed in the hands. Sometimes the image is placed on the chest. It is unacceptable to place foreign objects in the coffin of the deceased: money, food, personal belongings, etc. This is gross superstition.

Before the body is taken out of the house, the deceased is placed with his feet towards the east under the holy icons. A lamp or candle should always be burning in the room.

Reading the Psalter for the deceased

There is a pious Orthodox custom of reading the Psalter over the body of a deceased layman, monk and deacon before his burial and after the funeral. The Gospel is read over the body of the bishop and priest. Reading the psalms is a prayer for the soul of the deceased and comforts the hearts of grieving relatives and friends.

This custom is very ancient and dates back to the first centuries of Christianity. The Chetya Menaion tells that the apostles spent three days singing psalmody at the tomb of the Mother of God.

The Psalter should be read over the body of the deceased while standing. You can sit down only if you are weak. It is very good when it is possible to read the vigilant Psalter over the body, day and night, before the day of burial. Due to the impossibility of reading directly over the deceased, relatives and friends of the deceased can agree and distribute the reading of the Psalter by hour at home.

During Easter week, the reading of the Psalter in Temples stops, but, nevertheless, the “Handbook of the Clergyman” (M., 1983, vol. 4, p. 462) contains the instruction: “there is no need to delay the reading of the Psalter over the deceased in the days of Bright weeks." It is only prescribed to add Easter chants after reading each kathisma.

The Psalter should be read like this: begin each kathisma with the words: “Come, let us worship...” and conclude with the Trisagion, “Our Father...”, then follow the troparia and the prayer prescribed for each kathisma. After each “Glory” the prayer “Remember, O Lord our God...” is read, placed at the end of the “Following the Exodus of the Soul” with the mention of the name of the deceased. Usually this sequence is contained in complete prayer books. The reading of the Psalter can be continued even after the burial of the deceased. Until the 40th day, the word “newly deceased” is added to the name of the deceased.

Carrying out the body

If possible, the removal of the body of the deceased is carried out with the participation of a priest. Before being taken out, the priest performs a funeral litia (from Greek - “intense prayer”). After the litany, the coffin with the body of the deceased is carried feet first into the Church for the funeral service.

Funeral service

The Orthodox Church, like a loving mother, cares for all her children, both living on earth and those who have already passed into eternity. At one Divine Liturgy, first the names of the living and then the deceased are remembered. For with God everyone is alive. Even on Easter Day, when there are no memorial services or funeral services, the dead are commemorated at the proskomedia. Even in those days of Great Lent, when the Liturgy is not served, we pray “For our former fathers and brothers.”

And, of course, a Christian’s transition to eternal life is also accompanied by comforting church prayers and chants. This rite is called burial or funeral service. This is like the last service of a person in the temple, among people close to him, farewell to them. And therefore, the funeral service takes place on the third day, for for three days the soul of the deceased is still with us, on earth, and on the third day it goes to God.

The funeral service should be performed (if possible) in the church. Why? This service is the last farewell of a person to the temple. After all, this is the place where every Orthodox Christian goes in his earthly life to pray and meet with the Lord. The temple is the house of God, but also the home for every Orthodox Christian.

The coffin with the body of the deceased is placed in the middle of the church. The deceased lies with his head to the west, and his face is turned to the east, towards the iconostasis. And this is no coincidence; he seems to be at his last service, surrounded by family and friends.

Everyone present should remember that the funeral service is not only a sacred act performed by the priest, but also a common prayer of all the relatives of the deceased that the Lord would forgive him all his voluntary and involuntary sins and accept his soul in peace. Therefore, the worshipers do not stand facing the coffin, but face east, towards the iconostasis. The candles they hold in their hands are a symbol of their fervent prayer for the deceased, directed upward to God. Candles must be held in the left hand in order to make the sign of the cross with the right.

At the beginning of the funeral service, the 17th kathisma is read. It especially emphasizes that during earthly life a person must prepare for eternity, walk along the paths of truth and the commandments of God. This also serves as a reminder to us, all living people, of constant attention to our souls, because death, as the proverb says, “is not far off, but behind us.” The last words of the 17th kathisma: “I have gone astray, like a lost sheep: seek Thy servant, for I have not forgotten Thy commandments,” sound as if from the face of the deceased himself: “Although I have sinned immeasurably before You, Lord, I am lost, confused, but I believe in Your mercy and love for me!”

The funeral canon, which the priest reads at the funeral service, is also filled with hope for the mercy of God for the deceased and calls for the prayerful help of the Mother of God and Sts. martyrs. The martyrs were not afraid to die for Christ and thereby showed that there is no need to be afraid of death, it unites us with God.

After the 6th song of the canon, the kontakion is sung: “With the saints, O Christ, rest the soul of Thy servant, where there is no sickness, no sorrow, no sighing, but endless life.” If a Christian has worked on earth for the sake of the Lord, endured illness, hardship, and deprivation with humility, we ask that his soul be infused with the holy ascetics, where there will no longer be sorrow and sorrow.

After the kontakion, the choir sings a chant called ikos, which tells that man, as created by God from the earth (“as you are earth and go back to earth”), must return back to the earth, that is, be buried. This is God's commandment given to Adam after the Fall. The Lord says that man will work in earthly life, “...until you return to the land from which you were taken” (Gen. 3.19)

And sin is committed by those people who commit the bodies of their dead to fire. This custom is incompatible with Orthodoxy. It is inherent in pagan religions, for example, Hinduism, where the body is considered the prison of the soul and must be destroyed.

For us, the body is the temple of the human soul and the body is carefully preserved for the day of the Last Judgment, where it will rise from the dust and unite with the soul. Therefore, the body of an Orthodox Christian cannot be burned.

When a deceased person is burned in a crematorium, there is not even a guarantee that the relatives will be given the exact ashes that remain from their deceased loved one.

At the funeral service, the letter of the Apostle Paul to the Thessalonians (1 Thess. 4:13-17) and the Gospel of John (John 5.25-30) are read.

These readings greatly console the souls of those mourning the death loved one. The Apostle Paul writes: Do not grieve like others who have no hope. If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, then God will also bring those who died in Jesus with Him." There is no death, it is defeated by the Risen Christ.

The Gospel of John tells us about the future resurrection of the dead on the day of God's judgment.

After reading the Gospel, the so-called “permissive prayer”, printed on a separate sheet, is read over the deceased. After reading, it is folded and placed in right hand deceased. Regarding this prayer, some have formed the completely wrong opinion that reading it resolves a person’s all his sins, regardless of whether he repented of them during his lifetime or not.

Here is what the “Handbook of a Clergyman” writes regarding this (M., 1983, Vol. 4, p. 484): “This prayer resolves only the prohibitions and penances that were imposed on the deceased for their previous sins, which they repented of during their lifetime before their confessor, but not those sins that they hid and for which they did not repent in the sacrament of Repentance. Therefore, this prayer cannot be considered equal in power to the permissive prayer of the sacrament of Repentance: “I forgive and give you permission...”" Repentance is a personal matter, we can only pray for forgiveness of the voluntary and involuntary sins of the deceased.

When the choir sings the touching stichera “Come, let us give our last kiss, brothers, to the deceased…” the rite of farewell to the deceased begins. We say goodbye to a person dear and close to us, we ask forgiveness for all the insults and troubles that we may have caused him in life and we dare to believe that, if the Lord grants, we will meet there, in eternity. You need to let a person go on his final journey, of course, by forgiving him with all your heart. In the face of eternity, all our grievances seem absurd and petty.

Everyone who says goodbye to the deceased, in turn, approaches the body from the right side, kisses the icon placed on the chest and the aureole on the forehead.

After bidding farewell to the deceased, the icon remains in the coffin. The custom of leaving the icon in the temple until the 40th day has no basis.

After farewell, the body and head are covered with a veil and the priest, in a cross shape, with the words “The Lord’s earth and its fulfillment, the universe and everyone living on it,” sprinkles it with earth. The coffin is closed with a lid, hammered and carried feet first out of the temple.

If a priest is present at the cemetery, a lithium is served before the burial. The deceased is placed in the grave facing east. An Orthodox cross is placed at the feet of the grave. When the coffin is lowered into the grave, the Trisagion is sung. Then everyone present takes turns throwing a handful of earth onto the coffin. The priest throws first.

Funeral (funeral meal)

After the burial rites are completed, relatives and friends of the deceased are invited to share a common meal in memory of the deceased.

The custom of a funeral meal comes from antiquity. The prophet Jeremiah writes that in memory of the departed, “bread was broken in sorrow, in consolation for the dead” (Jer. 16.7). The meal is offered to those present at the funeral to strengthen their strength after a difficult day in order to gather together to again pray for the deceased and remember him with a kind word.

The funeral table is also alms for the deceased, given on behalf of close relatives.

Unfortunately, you can often see how wakes turn into an ordinary drinking party, where most of those present generally forget why they have gathered here, where laughter and empty, idle conversations are heard.

The Christian funeral meal should be accompanied by prayer. After singing or reading the prayer “Our Father,” we should sing “Eternal Memory,” remembering that our duty towards the deceased does not end with the burial of the body. The memory of a loved one who has passed should last forever as long as we breathe. As many years of life as the Lord gives us, we must pray for our departed.

Kutya is placed in memory of the deceased. This is usually boiled wheat with raisins or rice. Usually kutia is taken to the Church for a funeral service, where the priest blesses it. Kutya is tasted before all dishes. The custom of placing a glass of vodka and a piece of bread on the table or under icons, supposedly for the deceased, is pagan, superstitious and unacceptable for Orthodox people. Alcoholic drinks should either be completely excluded or greatly limited so as not to give rise to inappropriate fun.

It is appropriate to sing church funeral hymns at the table.

During the first and last week of fasting, you should generally refrain from funerals. On fasting days, lenten food is prepared, and on meat-eating days, fast food is prepared.

Memorial days are the third, ninth and fortieth. Anniversary.

After the separation of the soul from the body, an independent life begins for it in the invisible world. The spiritual experience accumulated by the Church makes it possible to construct a clear and harmonious teaching about the afterlife of man.

A disciple of St. Macarius of Alexandria († 395) says: “When we walked through the desert, I saw two Angels who accompanied St. Macarius, one on the right side, the other on the left. One of them spoke about what the soul does in the first 40 days after death: “When on the third day there is an offering in the church, the soul of the deceased receives from the Angel guarding it relief from the grief that it feels from separation from the body; receives because praise and offerings in the Church of God have been made for her, which is why good hope is born in her. For for two days the soul, together with the Angels who are with it, is allowed to walk on the earth wherever it wants. Therefore the soul body loving, sometimes wanders around the house in which it was separated from the body, sometimes around the coffin in which the body is laid... And the virtuous soul goes to those places in which it used to do the truth. On the third day, He who rose from the dead on the third day - the God of all - commands, in imitation of His resurrection, to ascend to Heaven for every Christian soul to worship the God of all. So, the good Church is in the habit of making an offering and prayer for the soul on the third day. After worshiping God, He is commanded to show the soul the various and pleasant abodes of the saints and the beauty of paradise. The soul examines all this for six days, marveling and glorifying the Creator of all this - God. Contemplating all this, she changes and forgets the sorrow that she had while in the body. But if she is guilty of sins, then at the sight of the pleasures of the saints she begins to grieve and reproach herself, saying: woe is me! How I fussed in that world! Carried away by the satisfaction of lusts, I spent most of my life in carelessness and did not serve God as I should, so that I too could be rewarded with this goodness... After considering, over the course of six days, all the joys of the righteous, it is again lifted up by the Angels to worship God. So, the Church does well by performing services and offerings for the deceased on the ninth day. After the secondary worship, the Lord of all commands to take the soul to hell and show it the places of torment located there, the various sections of hell and various wicked torments... The soul rushes through these various places of torment for thirty days, trembling, so as not to be condemned to imprisonment in them. . On the fortieth day she again ascends to worship God; and then the Judge determines the proper place for her affairs... So, the Church acts correctly by making commemorations of the departed and those who have been baptized" (St. Macarius of Alexandria. A Word on the Exodus of the Souls of the Righteous and Sinners... Christian Reading. 1831. Part 43. pp. 123–31; How the soul spends the first forty days after leaving the body. - M., 1999. pp. 13–19). The great ascetic of our time, Saint John (Maksimovich), writes: “It should be borne in mind that the description of the first two days after death gives general rule, which by no means covers all situations... Saints who were not at all attached to worldly things, lived in constant anticipation of the transition to another world, are not attracted even to places where they did good deeds, but immediately begin their ascent to Heaven" (Blessed Saint John the Wonderworker. - M., 2003. P. 792).

There is also a pious custom to especially remember the deceased on the anniversary of his death, as well as on his birthday and name day. The most important thing to do on the days of commemoration of the deceased is to pray during the Divine Liturgy and submit a memorial for him at the service (write a note). On the days of remembrance of the dead, you can visit the cemetery and clean the graves.

Immediately after the death of a person, you need to order a memorial for him in the Church. The so-called Sorokoust is a commemoration at the Liturgy for 40 days. The commemoration can be ordered for a longer period: six months, a year, etc.

Doctrine of ordeals

The Orthodox Church gives great importance the teaching about aerial ordeals, which begin on the third day after the separation of the soul from the body. She passes through the airspace of the “outpost”, where evil spirits accuse her of her sins and strive to keep her as one akin to them. The holy fathers write about this (Ephraim the Syrian, Athanasius the Great, Macarius the Great, John Chrysostom and others). The soul of a person who lived according to the commandments of God and the statutes of the Holy Church painlessly passes through these “gates” and after the fortieth day receives a place of temporary rest. It is necessary for loved ones to pray in church and at home for the departed, remembering that until the Last Judgment much depends on these prayers.

According to St. John (Maximovich), the great ascetic of our time, the soul goes through ordeals on the third day after leaving the body: “At this time (on the third day) the soul passes through legions of evil spirits who block its path and accuse it of various sins, into which they themselves dragged it. According to various revelations, there are twenty such obstacles, the so-called ordeals, at each of which one or another sin is tortured; having gone through one ordeal, the soul comes to the next. And only having successfully passed all of them can the soul continue your path without being immediately cast into Gehenna. How terrible these demons and ordeals can be seen from the fact that the Mother of God Herself, when the Archangel Gabriel informed Her about the approach of death, prayed to Her Son to deliver Her soul from these demons, and in response In response to Her prayers, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself appeared from heaven to receive the soul of His Most Pure Mother and take Her to heaven.(This is visibly depicted on the traditional Orthodox icon of the Assumption.) The third day is truly terrible for the soul of the deceased, and for this reason it especially needs prayers.

Descriptions of ordeals in patristic and hagiographical texts follow the pattern of torture to which the soul is subjected after death, but individual experiences can vary significantly. Minor details such as the number of ordeals are, of course, secondary in comparison with the main fact that the soul is indeed subject to judgment soon after death ( private court), which sums up the invisible war that she waged (or did not wage) on earth against fallen spirits. The Orthodox Church considers the doctrine of ordeals so important that it mentions them in many services. In particular, the Church especially expounds this teaching to all its dying children. In the Canon for the Exodus of the Soul, read by a priest at the bedside of a dying member of the Church, there are the following troparia: “O Prince of the Air, a rapist, a tormentor, a champion of terrible paths and a vain examiner of these words, grant me permission to pass without restraint, departing from the earth” (canto 4); “Holy Angels commend me to sacred and honorable hands, O Lady, for having covered myself with those wings, I do not see the dishonorable and stinking and gloomy image of demons” (canto 6); “Having given birth to the Lord Almighty, cast away the bitter ordeals of the ruler of the world far from me, I always want to die, but I glorify You forever, Holy Mother of God” (canto 8). Thus, a dying Orthodox Christian is prepared by the words of the Church for the upcoming trials" (St. John. Life after death // Hieromonk Seraphim (Rose), Abbot Herman (Podmoshensky). Blessed Saint John, the Wonderworker. M., 2003. pp. 793–795) .

The disciple of St. John of San Francisco, Hieromonk Seraphim (Rose), writes in the most detail about the ordeals in the book “The Soul after Death: Modern “posthumous” experiences in the light of the teachings of the Orthodox Church” (there are many editions).

II. Church commemoration of the dead

The Holy Church, caring for its departed children, established special services:

1) Prayerful commemoration of the dead during the Divine Liturgy (at the proskomedia, after the consecration of the Holy Gifts and at the funeral litany). 2) Funeral services and litias 3) Reading the Psalter.

Above all, the most powerful and significant is the commemoration after the proskomedia and after the consecration of the Holy Gifts. An outstanding expert on the Divine Service Rules, Saint Athanasius (Sakharov), writes: “The commemoration of the living and the dead at the proskomedia and at the consecration of the Gifts, although unspoken, in its meaning, power and effectiveness cannot be compared with any other prayerful commemorations: health prayers, funeral memorial services. or any other pious deeds in memory of the living and the dead. It cannot be compared with a public commemoration at the same Liturgy at the great and special litanies (which is allowed in places) and at a special funeral litany" (On the commemoration of the deceased according to the Orthodox Charter Churches). At each proskomedia, one of the liturgical prosphoras (the fifth) is offered specifically for the dead.

Saint John of San Francisco (Maksimovich) writes: “Anyone who wants to show his love for the dead and give them real help can the best way make this a prayer for them and especially a remembrance at the Liturgy, when the particles taken for the living and the dead are immersed in the Blood of the Lord with the words: “Wash away, Lord, the sins of those who were remembered here with Your honest Blood, with the prayers of Your saints.”

In 1896, the glorification of Theodosius, Archbishop of Chernigov († 1696) took place. After 200 years, his body was found completely incorruptible. The obedience at the shrine with the holy relics was carried out by Hieromonk Alexy († 1917; now glorified as a locally revered saint), the future famous elder of the Goloseevsky monastery of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. He got tired and dozed off at the shrine. At this time, Saint Theodosius appeared and began to thank him for his work. Then he turned to Father Alexy with a request: “I ask you, when you serve the liturgy, remember my parents.” The saint named the names: priest Nikita and Maria. Before this, the names of the parents were not known from their lives. Later, while sorting through the archives of the monastery, where Archimandrite Theodosius was abbot, they found his personal memorial. The first to be recorded there were father and mother: priest Nikita and Maria. Hieromonk Alexy said to the saint who appeared to him: “How can you, saint, ask for my prayers when you yourself stand before the Heavenly Throne and give God’s grace to people?” Saint Theodosius replied: “The offering at the liturgy is stronger than my prayers.”

Saint John (Maksimovich) calls: “We cannot do anything better or more for the departed than to pray for them, remembering them at the liturgy. They always need this, especially in those forty days when the soul of the deceased follows the path to eternal settlements. Body then it feels nothing: it does not see the gathered loved ones, does not smell the smell of flowers, does not hear funeral speeches. But the soul feels the prayers offered for it, is grateful to those who offer them, and is spiritually close to them. O relatives and friends of the deceased! Do for them, what is needed and what is in your power, use your money not for the external decoration of the coffin and grave, but to help those in need, in memory of your deceased loved ones, at the Church, where prayers are offered for them. Be merciful to the deceased ", take care of their souls. The same path lies before you, and how we will then want to be remembered in prayer! Let us ourselves be merciful to the departed."

Days of special remembrance of the dead (parental Saturdays)

They are called parental because these days we pray, first of all, for all our baptized ancestors and grandparents, and if someone’s parents have already reposed in the Lord, then for them.

The Church has established six parental Saturdays:

Meat Saturday (before the resurrection of the Last Judgment). On this Sunday they eat meat before Great Lent and therefore it is also called “Meat Sunday”). This Saturday was established on the eve of the remembrance of the Last Judgment of God, and therefore we especially pray for the forgiveness of the sins of all deceased Orthodox Christians of all generations and ranks, and especially those who died a sudden death. After a sudden death, the custom of submitting notes for suicides in the Church is not allowed.

Trinity Saturday (before the feast of Pentecost, Trinity). This day is the birthday of the Christian Church and we remember not only its living members, but also all the children of the Holy Church who have departed in the faith. The deceased also participate in the general festive joy. The grace of the Holy Spirit is poured out on them, for “every soul is alive by the Holy Spirit.” St. Basil the Great says that on the day of Pentecost the Lord is especially pleased to accept prayers for the dead and even for “those kept in hell.”

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

On days of intense prayer and fasting, we also remember the departed. These Saturdays were also established because during Great Lent the full Liturgy is not always served and the dead cannot be remembered every day.

Also, recently it has been established on May 9 (New Style) to especially pray for deceased soldiers. Also, the warriors are especially commemorated on the day of the beheading of the Head of John the Baptist on August 29.

Saturday of Dimitrievskaya (before the day of remembrance of the Holy Martyr Demetrius of Thessalonica (October 26, Old Style). The establishment of the commemoration of the dead on this Saturday belongs to the Holy Blessed Demetrius of Donskoy, who, after the Battle of Kulikovo, commemorated the soldiers on the advice and blessing of the Venerable. Sergius of Radonezh established an annual commemoration before October 26.

Subsequently, on this day they began to commemorate not only the soldiers, but also all the deceased.

Every Orthodox Christian should strive to fulfill his duty to his parents and other departed relatives and on these days submit notes for the Liturgy and memorial service. Panikhida (Greek pan - all and nyx - night) literally means all-night service. This name is attached to prayer for the dead because in the early times of the Church, during persecutions, it was performed at night, like an all-night vigil. Anyone can order a memorial service for their deceased relatives. Most often it is ordered on special days for the deceased (name day, birthday, day of death).

If there is such an opportunity (for example, the cemetery is located near the church, you can ask the priest to serve a memorial service at the grave of the deceased. There is a custom on the days of remembrance of the dead to bring food to the temple. In common parlance this is called “bringing to the canon.” Food is brought as alms for the deceased, they are a sacrifice for the church community, and can also be distributed to the poor. Offerings are placed next to a table called a canon. Candles are placed on the canon in memory of the deceased.

It should be remembered that you cannot bring meat products to the temple.

Radonitsa. Is it possible to go to the cemetery on Easter?

Radonitsa is the first commemoration of the dead after Bright Easter Week. Most often it takes place on Tuesday (if there is no holiday) on Thomas Week. This tradition is Russian. Orthodox Christians in the Middle East and Greece do not have it. Saint Athanasius (Sakharov) writes: “The commemoration of the dead, known among us under the name Radonitsa, is performed on St. Thomas’s Week. Radonitsa owes its origin to the statutory injunction according to which, in Lent, the commemoration of the departed on the occasion of deliberate memorial days (3, 9 and 40 th), which cannot be performed in due time on the occasion of the Lenten service, is transferred to one of the next weekdays, on which not only a memorial service, but also a full liturgy can be celebrated. During Lent, such days are only Saturdays, and even then not all. During the last weeks of Lent and the week of Easter, many such memories of the departed always accumulate, which will need to be celebrated on the first weekday day, when there can be a full liturgy. This is Tuesday of St. Thomas Week, since on the eve of Monday after Vespers it is still impossible to perform a memorial service as it should be during a commemoration...

Holy Easter is the focus of the entire annual liturgical cycle. The Resurrection of Christ marks the victory over death and prefigures the general resurrection. Therefore, when we go to the cemetery on Easter, we discover not only spiritual insensitivity, but also a complete misunderstanding of the meaning of saving Christian teaching.

During the godless Soviet era, the custom of universal visiting of cemeteries on Easter began to be specially imposed on the Church. On Easter Day, special bus routes were established to cemeteries. This was done in order to distort the meaning of the bright day of the Resurrection of Christ in people’s minds. There are not even funeral services held on Easter; they are postponed to the next day.

Also, the deceased are not buried on Christmas Day. The joy of these two great holidays should not be overshadowed by anything.

At the cemetery

The grave of an Orthodox Christian should be crowned with a cross, which is placed at the feet of the deceased. Relatives and friends need to keep the burial site clean and tidy. It is permissible to plant flowers on the grave. You should not place stone monuments on graves or cover the grave with slabs. This custom is unorthodox.

When you come to a cemetery, you cannot “remember” the deceased with vodka and other alcoholic drinks, and it is especially blasphemous to pour vodka on the grave, this insults the memory of the deceased. Food and drinks should not be placed on the grave; dogs and cats can eat them.

Relatives can invite a priest to serve a memorial service at the grave. If it is not possible to invite the priest, you can sing the rite of the litia yourself, performed without a priest (see at the end of the book).

Funeral service in absentia

The practice of funeral services in absentia appeared when it was not possible to perform funeral services for those killed during the war in person, that is, to perform this rite over the body of the deceased. Nowadays there are times when we resort to funeral services in absentia. It should be remembered that an absentee funeral service is also a prayer of the priest and relatives of the deceased, only it is not performed over the body.

Relatives and friends must make every effort to ensure that the funeral service is performed as expected, in person and in church. And only if this cannot be done, perform the funeral service for the deceased in absentia.

III. A word of comfort to those grieving the death of a loved one

We can doubt anything: whether tomorrow will be cloudy or clear, whether we will be healthy or sick, whether we will be rich or poor, but there is no doubt about one thing: sooner or later we will all appear before God. Dying is “the way of all the earth.” But, knowing all this, when we lose loved ones, we still experience grief. And this is understandable and explainable by human nature. After all, even when we simply part with our loved ones for a while, we are sad, grieved, shed tears, especially when the last parting in earthly life is coming. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself, when He came to the house of His dead friend Lazarus, was grieved in spirit and shed tears, He loved him so much. But believers have a great consolation that helps them survive the death of loved ones - prayer for their departed. And this prayer is like a connection, like a thread that connects us and the world of people who have already passed away.

Anyone who loses a loved one asks the question: “What more can I do for my loved one?” And indeed, when our loved ones get sick, we rush to help, go to the hospital, buy food, medicine, if they are in some other trouble, we also help as much as we can. And this sympathy expresses our love and condolences for them.

But the deceased person no less, and even more, needs our care. “God is not the God of the dead, but of the living” (Matthew 22:31-32).

A person does not disappear as a person with brain death and cardiac arrest. In addition to the body (temporary shell), he has an eternal, immortal soul. And it is the soul that constitutes the essence of man. And we love (if we really love) our loved one not for the beauty of the body and physical strength, but for the qualities of the soul. Intelligence, kindness, character, love - all these are qualities of the soul of our loved one, what makes up his image. The body is a person’s clothing, it ages, gets sick, changes, irreversible processes occur. Sometimes, looking at the remains lying in a coffin, we cannot even recognize a familiar appearance in them, so the deceased changes. And the soul has no age, it is immortal. It’s not for nothing that they say: “he is young at heart,” but the man is already over 60.

Since our neighbor is immortal, he also needs our help and support there, beyond the boundaries of earthly life. So, what does he expect from us, and how can we help him? Nothing earthly, of course, no longer interests the departed. They don’t need expensive tombstones, magnificent funerals, etc. They need only one thing: our fervent prayer for the repose of their souls and the forgiveness of their voluntary and involuntary sins. The deceased himself can no longer pray for himself. Saint Theophan the Recluse says that the departed need prayers, “like a poor person needs a piece of bread and a cup of water.”

We must pray, repent of sins, and begin the sacraments of the Church in our earthly life, and it is given to us as preparation for eternal life, and when a person dies, the outcome of his life has already been summed up, he cannot in any way change it for the better. The deceased can only count on the prayers of the Church and those who knew and loved him during his lifetime. And through the prayers of relatives and friends, the Lord can change the fate of the deceased. This is evidenced by countless cases from church tradition and the lives of saints. An amazing incident is described in the ancient life of St. Gregory Dvoeslov. The saint had the boldness to pray for the repose of the cruel persecutor of Christianity - Emperor Trajan. But despite the fact that Trajan persecuted Christians (for he did not know what he was doing), he was a fair and merciful ruler and had great concern for his poor subjects. Saint Gregory learned that the emperor had protected a widow in distress, and took upon himself the feat of praying for him. It was revealed to him from God that his prayer was accepted. This example (and many others) is a great consolation and inspires us in our prayers for the departed. Even if the deceased was far from the Church, he can be pardoned through the fervent, tearful prayer of his loved ones. Another very important point: if the person who left us did not live a church life or we see that his life was far from the commandments of God, loving relatives should be especially attentive to their own soul. We are all interconnected with family and friends, like guests of a single organism: “If one member suffers, all the members suffer with it” (1 Cor. 12:26). If some organ is inactive, a person’s other senses become aggravated, other organs take on additional load and its functions.

And if our loved one did not have time to do something in spiritual life, we must make up for it for him. By this we will save our soul and bring great benefit to his soul. There is a military song about a deceased pilot, whose comrade says that he lives on earth “for himself and for that guy.” And our life for others, in memory of someone, can be expressed in our fervent prayer, in the acquisition of Christian virtues, in generous alms in memory of the deceased.

It often happens that people who very rarely went to church, lived a carefree, worldly life, having lost a loved one, come to church and become real Orthodox Christians. Their life changes completely; through sorrow they come to God. And, of course, they spend their entire lives praying for their deceased relatives. God works in mysterious ways.

Believers and people far from the Church perceive the loss of loved ones in completely different ways.

Sometimes you happen to attend the funeral of non-church people and observe what a painful sight it is. I once took part in the funeral service of a famous doctor, neurosurgeon and very good man. The Lord took him when he was still young, after a sudden, fleeting illness, at the peak of his medical activity. And so, when the funeral speeches of his colleagues began, one could observe what confusion and numbness the sacrament of death subjected non-church people to. Almost everyone considered it their duty to begin the word something like this: “What a terrible injustice, how early and suddenly the deceased left us, how much more he could have done,” etc. It is clear that such speeches cannot bring comfort to the relatives and friends of the deceased, rather, on the contrary, they will further aggravate their grief. Even if you don’t believe in anything, you can simply say kind, warm words to a friend and colleague. Why is this happening? Why are people so confused in the face of death and avoid even mentioning, even thinking about it in everyday life? From fear and uncertainty. Death scares them, they don’t know what awaits them, is there life there? Or do we live only here in the material world? How to prepare for death and relate to it for non-believers is a sealed secret. Even the usual wish for official speeches: “May he rest in peace,” is fraught with a hidden question: is this really all – a body in the ground and nothing else?

With the death of loved ones, people who are far from faith often fall into despair, despondency, and black melancholy. That's it, life is over, if my loved one is no longer there, he has ceased to exist, life no longer makes sense. This is not to say that believers do not mourn the death of loved ones, but they approach death completely differently. We know that a person lives forever, that death is only separation, his life continues, but in a different capacity. We know that we are connected to the deceased by bonds of prayer and love. We cannot say: “there was a man, and there is no man.” If we loved our neighbor during life, we continue to love him after death. “Love never fails,” says the Apostle Paul (1 Cor. 13:8). Whenever I have had to lose loved ones, I have always been left with a feeling of separation, not of an end. As if they had gone somewhere very far away, but not forever, not forever.

Excessive grief is also unacceptable because it not only destroys our own soul (despondency is one of the eight deadly sins), but also prevents us from praying for the departed. An emptiness, a vacuum, forms in the soul of a despondent person; he cannot do anything at all, much less pray. But our loved one so needs our help! And with despondency, depression, melancholy we will not only not help him, but perhaps we will bring suffering. For their sake, we must pull ourselves together, calm down as much as possible and put all our strength into prayer. Especially before the 40th day, a deceased person needs especially fervent prayers.

The human soul, leaving the body, experiences anxiety, fear, it is accustomed to living in its home for many years, it does not know what awaits it, where the Lord will determine it. After death, a person gives an answer for his entire life and here his future fate is determined. And right now it is especially important to support the soul of a loved one with commemoration at the Divine Liturgy, reading the Psalter, and the cell rule. Very often, the relatives of the deceased think that if they do not show their grief to others, everyone will think that they did not love the deceased and sometimes one can observe simply a heartbreaking sight with hysterics, lamentations and howls over the deceased. This is especially practiced in villages where the traditions of special mourners are still preserved. People drive themselves into complete frenzy. What kind of prayer is that? True grief, grief, as a rule, passes quietly and almost unnoticed by others. It happens that people who are too sad and cry for the deceased actually feel more sorry for themselves: how poor, unhappy and lonely they are now.

All these traditions we inherited from pagan rituals and, of course, are incompatible with Orthodoxy.

And we, Orthodox Christians, need to dissolve our grief with Christian hope that if we ourselves are saved and save our loved ones with our prayer, then we dare to believe that we will meet them there, in that other life. And if they reach the Kingdom of Heaven, they will definitely pray there for us.

When young people leave...

Why does the Lord take away a young, even very young person who has just begun life?

It's a mystery to us. Sometimes it opens slightly later, and sometimes it doesn’t. At first, it is very difficult to accept and accommodate this grief, especially for parents. But we must remember that the Lord does not send anyone sorrow that a person could not bear. God is All-Perfect Love and All-Perfect Wisdom. We know only our past, a little bit of the present, and the future is closed. And God is above time. He knows the fate of the world, and not just one person. “With the depth of wisdom, build everything humanely, and give what is useful to everyone, the only Creator, rest the souls of Your servant...” is sung at every memorial service for the deceased. And this chant expresses the faith that God, with the depth of His wisdom and love for mankind, arranges everything for the benefit of each person, even death.

The Lord calls a person when he reaches the limit of his life. And everyone has their own limit. God, in His omniscience, knows that man will no longer be able to do anything for his salvation.

The reasons why young people leave for eternal life can be different. This is what the book of the Wisdom of Solomon says about the death of the young man: “delighted, so that malice does not change his mind, or deceit deceives his soul. For exercise in wickedness darkens what is good, and the excitement of lust corrupts a gentle mind. Having achieved perfection in a short time, he fulfilled long years; for his soul was pleasing to the Lord, and therefore he sped out from the midst of wickedness. But people saw this and did not understand...” (Wis. Sol. 4. 11-14).

The life of Saint Blessed Cleopatra describes such a case. Saint Cleopatra carried the body of the martyr Huarus after his execution to her home and buried him there with honors. She had an only son, John, who received an honorary officer position. To the great sorrow of his mother, John died suddenly. Cleopatra, with bitter sobs, turned to the martyr Uar, begging him for the resurrection of her son. When Cleopatra saw Uar and her son, shining in bright clothes, in a vision, she realized that the Lord had accepted her son into the heavenly army and was comforted.

Sometimes the Lord sends death young man, knowing that he will not be able to resist the temptations of the sinful world and will perish in them. The family of one Moscow priest, who served even before the revolution, had a great misfortune: his wife was an unbeliever. They had a daughter, Maria, a wonderful child, like an angel in soul and character. At the age of 5, she did not leave her father a single step, accompanied him in all his prayers and persistently went to church with him. At the age of seven she fell ill with diphtheria in a transient form. Doctors said the girl was hopeless. Mother and father were in great sorrow. At the hour of death, in the dying spasm, the dying woman said to her mother: “Mom! Don’t ask God, and don’t wish for me to extend my life. I’ll burn in it,” and she died. At the moment of the exodus of the soul, the mother saw how her exact likeness separated from the body of the deceased, like lightning, and flashed towards Heaven. This moment was decisive in the priest’s wife’s conversion to God. She suddenly became a believer and such that after the death of her daughter she replaced her, constantly accompanying her husband to and from the temple. With him she participated in his home prayer, becoming a true companion of his life.

You can often observe how people who are far from the faith, who did not raise their children in Orthodoxy, lose them, come to God and then pray for their children all their lives. We can say that the children, by their death, brought their parents to church, and there they found consolation, began to save themselves and save the children with their prayers. After all, the proverb: “A mother’s prayer reaches from the bottom of the sea” can also be applied to funeral prayer. Not only from the bottom of the sea, but also from the bottom of hell, a tearful mother’s prayer can be obtained.

Everything that is sent to us from God, both sorrow and joy, serves our salvation. And often, even here in earthly life, after grief, the realization comes that this was how it should have been, although at first it can be very difficult to reconcile and accept something.

It is better for parents who have lost their children not to try to penetrate into the secrets of God’s providence and to transform their grief and sobbing into a fervent and tearful prayer to God for the repose of the souls of their beloved children.

Funeral service for the baby

The death of a baby is always a difficult ordeal for parents. A child, an infant, who has just come into this world, is already leaving them. Parents' hopes and aspirations are always associated with children, they are always very sorry even when they are sick, especially when death kidnaps them. But babies are not only our children - they are first and foremost children of God, and the Lord loves them more than we can love them.

When Mary and Joseph the Betrothed were looking for the lost Child Jesus, He found himself in the Jerusalem Temple. “Why did you look for Me? Or did you not know that I should be in what belongs to My Father? (Luke 2.42). So the baby goes to God, goes to His Heavenly Father, who will take care of him better than us.

For infants up to the age of seven, as pure, immaculate creatures, the usual funeral service is not performed. The rite of the infant's funeral does not contain any requests for forgiveness of the baby's sins, but is a farewell to the child and contains consolation to grieving parents: "Why do you cry for me as a child who has passed away; All those present are given the instruction: “We are not crying for a baby, but we are especially weeping for ourselves, who always sin.” “Do not weep for me, for crying is nothing worthy of beginnings. Weep more than yourselves who sin, relatives and friends.”

Babies are angels of God and are prayer books, representatives before the Throne of God for their parents. And when we remember the baby, praying for him, we do not remember him (he, being sinless, does not need forgiveness), but we remember ourselves.

Funeral services for babies

There are no special funeral services for infants in the breviary, however, the “Handbook of the Clergyman” advises performing them in relation to the funeral service for infants. After the usual beginning, Psalm 90 is read, then, without the great litany, directly Alleluia, the troparion “Depth of Wisdom” with the Theotokos. After it is Psalm 50 and the canon from the sequence of the infant burial with the refrain included in it. According to the 3rd canto, the litany from the same sequence and sedalen “Truly is vanity...” (with some changes), according to the 6th canto – kontakion and ikos, according to the 9th troparia (With the spirits of the righteous...”, a special litany, dismissal from followed by “The Burial of an Infant,” but with the omission of the words: “Possess the living and the dead...” and at the end: “Eternal memory.”

The fate of unbaptized babies

You can often hear a completely false opinion that unbaptized infants will not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. At the same time, it is usually said that they will remain in some middle place, avoiding hellish torment, but not achieving heavenly bliss. That is, in some formless, joyless kingdom of shadows. This theory has nothing to do with the teaching and tradition of St. Orthodox Church. To begin with, Orthodoxy does not know any “middle place.” The Holy Scripture speaks only about “eternal torment” for sinners and “eternal life” for the righteous. (Matt. 25:46). The teaching about the habitat of unbaptized infants comes from Catholicism. Unbaptized infants, according to this teaching, end up in a place called limbo, where they do not experience torment, but also do not enjoy the presence of God. However, modern Catholicism no longer adheres to this concept.

It is not surprising that Catholics developed the doctrine of limbo. After all, Catholicism is imbued with the spirit of jurisprudence. Unbaptized infants, according to Western teaching, are heirs of the original sin of Adam and Eve; it is not washed away from them in baptism, which means they are responsible for the sin of their ancestors, and the curse for it. But in Orthodoxy, original sin is called inclination to sin, that is, the general depravity of human nature after the fall of our ancestors, but not some kind of generational curse. Sin, like a hereditary disease, entered the human race. In baptism we receive the grace of God, help and weapons to fight sin, we put off the old, fallen man and put on the new. But baptism is given to us so that we, as warriors of Christ, fight sin and the devil in our earthly life, it is given as a weapon, as a means of correcting life.

But an infant who has not yet entered the world, who has no personal sins (for the rite of the infant’s funeral service nowhere contains requests for forgiveness of sins and pardon), cannot be punished simply because he is not baptized. For example, babies killed during abortions are also not baptized, but they were not even born, did not enter this world. Will they really not be worthy of the Kingdom of Heaven? Of course, the Lord will accept them to Himself, because they can even be called passion-bearers, innocently killed, like the 14 thousand Bethlehem babies (who, by the way, were also unbaptized). God's mercy, without any doubt, extends to unbaptized infants.

“And children are all the angels of God. The unbaptized, like everyone outside the faith, must be left to God’s mercy. They are not stepsons or stepdaughters of God. Therefore, He knows what and how to establish in relation to them. There is an abyss of God’s ways” 1) .

1) St. Theophan the Recluse.

Denial of salvation for unbaptized infants is a denial of God's mercy.

God created man with free will and even Almighty God cannot violate it. Man himself and only himself makes his choice: to follow Christ or to reject Him. And this is a necessary condition salvation, that is, personal choice, faith. “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved” (Matthew 16:16).

Babies have no choice, so how can God punish them for not being able to make their choice yet? But infants, both baptized and unbaptized, are children not only of earthly parents, but, first of all, children of God and “of such is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 19:14).

Lord rest the warriors!

At all times, people were needed to defend their Fatherland from enemies. The preaching of pacifism is alien to Christianity.

Defending your country, your brothers and sisters is the noblest cause. “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13), says the Lord.

Saint John the Baptist did not condemn the soldiers who came to him to be baptized, did not call on them to give up their work, but only told them: “do not offend anyone, do not slander and be content with your salary.” (Luke 3:14). That is: do your duty honestly.

And St. John the Baptist is the patron saint of Christian warriors. On the day of the beheading of his head, a commemoration of the soldiers was even established. There are a lot of soldiers and military men among the saints.

Saturday before the day of remembrance of St. Vmch. Demetrius of Thessaloniki, who was a military leader, is called Demetrius's parental Saturday and on this day the Church also prays for its soldiers.

Giving your life for your faith, for your country, for your comrades is a feat that not everyone is capable of. And therefore we believe that the soldiers who defended their Fatherland and people have the special mercy of God.

In war, in moments of danger, a person is especially close to God, he begins to feel the close presence of the Lord, and prays fervently. It is not for nothing that clergymen are so well received in army structures; they are welcome in units and divisions, because they help soldiers find faith and hope, which are so necessary on the battlefield and in difficult army life.

Our Russian army special; here people, despite everything: betrayal by politicians and high command, ridicule and the most difficult conditions, perform feats and show heroism.

Very often you can hear the question: “Why did Russia need this or that war? Was it necessary to get involved in all this? For example, the current war in Chechnya, which cannot end because it is beneficial for someone to continue it. Question this one is very difficult.

Of course, in modern warfare everything is decided by a very limited group of people. Most of the personnel are unaware of their plans. But those ordinary soldiers, those military leaders who are fighting there (really fighting, and not sitting in headquarters and signing papers), are doing a noble job, which is justified regardless of the outcome of the battle.

They protect and help their brothers survive, those people who are next to them, so that as many of our guys as possible return home to their wives and mothers, return alive and not maimed. And these soldiers and commanders every day lay down “their lives for their friends.” What we do matters not only, not so much for history, it matters whether our work will matter for eternity. And this is precisely what we should be guided by in all our actions.

Unfortunately, it often happens that the achievements and conquests that were achieved as a result of the war had no meaning later. For example, how much blood of Russian soldiers was shed for Crimea, which was then taken away from us with a simple stroke of a pen.

But without an army, without its warrior-defenders, Russia cannot exist. “Russia has no allies except its army and navy,” said Emperor Alexander II.

We must bow low to our soldiers and proclaim “Eternal memory to all those who fell on the battlefield” and “Many years of health and salvation to all living.”

Commemoration of warriors

A special funeral prayer for Orthodox soldiers is performed on Dimitrievskaya parental Saturday on August 29 (old style), on the day of the Beheading of John the Baptist. The Forerunner suffered for the truth as a good warrior of Christ. The commemoration was established in 1769 during the war with Turkey and Poland. After the Liturgy, a memorial service is celebrated for the soldiers who laid down their lives on the battlefield.

Also in 1994, the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church (December 29-4) established on Victory Day May 9 (April 26, Old Art.) the annual commemoration of the soldiers who laid down their lives for the faith and the Fatherland and all those who died suffering in the years of the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945

Is it possible to pray in the Church for people who are baptized, but not churchgoers, far from the faith?

You can often hear the opinion that it is impossible to perform funeral services for non-church people, far from the faith, and to pray for them in church.

The meeting of the human soul with eternity is always a mystery, which only God and the deceased himself know. What were the person's thoughts in the last hour, in last minute earthly life, we do not know. Perhaps he turned to God at the last moment of his earthly existence with the prayer: “Remember me, Lord, and have mercy.” How the thief repented while hanging on the cross.

Again, each person's degree of faith can vary greatly. Therefore, the general church practice is to perform funeral services for all baptized people (except for suicides) and pray for them at the service. For 70 years, the people of our country were cut off from spiritual traditions, became confused, and many never came to the Church. Even now the percentage of truly churchgoers is very small. Therefore, let us not be like some Old Believers who do not perform a funeral service for a person if he has not received communion for a year. It is necessary to show leniency towards human frailty.

Until the Last Judgment, no one's fate is finally determined. There are many examples in history when, through the prayers of the Church and loved ones, a person was delivered from eternal condemnation. The holy martyr Huar, appearing to Cleopatra, who had special care for his holy remains, told her that he had begged God to forgive the sins of her relatives. Saint Mark of Ephesus writes: “And there is nothing surprising if we pray for them, when, behold, some (saints) who personally prayed for the wicked were heard; for example, blessed Thekla with her prayers transferred Falconilla from the place where the wicked were kept; and the great Gregory the Double, as it is narrated, of King Trajan. For the Church of God does not at all despair in relation to such, and to all those who have fallen asleep in the faith, even if they were the most sinful, begs God for relief, both in general and private prayers for them."

How to pray for the unbaptized?

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 comfort. “As far as the sky is from the earth, so much fire is 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 ", then each sees the other's face somewhat. That 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 at the 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.

The Venerable Leo of Optina, consoling his spiritual son Pavel Tambovtsev, whose father tragically died outside the Church, said: “You should not 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 your goodness and the mercy of God, who, if He deigns to have mercy, who can resist Him.” The great elder gave Pavel Tambovtsev a prayer, which, having been slightly modified, can be said for the unbaptized: “Have mercy, O Lord, on the soul of Thy servant (name), who passed into eternal life without Holy Baptism. Thy destinies are unsearchable. Do not make me sin with this prayer of mine. But Thy holy will be done."

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

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 relatives of the deceased (especially children and grandchildren - direct descendants) have a great opportunity to influence the afterlife fate of the deceased. Namely: to reveal 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.

Is it possible to pray for suicides?

Any murder (even of oneself) is a violation of the most important commandment: “Thou shalt not kill” (see Ex. 20:13; Deut. 5:17). She expressed the most important theological truth that all people are God’s creations and constitute His property, which no one can encroach on. In the biblical and theological understanding, a person’s own life, like another person’s, does not belong to him. She is God's property. Therefore, a suicide is guilty of the sin of murder, with the only difference being that he can no longer repent. The killer has this opportunity. He who takes his own life ceases to be a living member of the Church. The attitude towards suicide in the Holy Scriptures is expressed in the words of St. Apostle Paul to the jailer: “Do not do yourself any harm” (Acts 16:28).

The Church does not bury a suicide and does not perform funeral services for them. But if a person committed suicide in a state of mental illness, a funeral service may be performed over him. To do this, relatives need to apply for permission from the ruling bishop.

Just as murder can be intentional or unintentional, so can suicide. This distinction is made in the 14th canon of St. Timothy of Alexandria:

"Question: If someone, being beside himself, raises his hands against himself, or throws himself down from a height: should there be an offering for such a being, or not?

“About such a clergyman must judge whether he truly, being out of his mind, did this. For often those close to the person who suffered from himself, wanting to achieve that there would be an offering and prayer for him, lie untruthfully and say that he was beside himself. Perhaps, as if he did this out of human resentment, or on some other occasion out of cowardice: and such an offering should not be made, for he is a suicide. Therefore, the clergyman must certainly test with all diligence, so that he does not fall under condemnation" (Rules of the Orthodox Church. Vol. II) .

Relatives and friends of suicides must themselves, in their cell (personal) prayers, pray for their unfortunate relative, in their own words ask God for mercy towards him. You can give alms in memory of him.

If a drinking person dies while very drunk, is it considered suicide?

No. Suicide is the deliberate taking of one's own life. It occurs in a state of despair, extreme despondency, wounded pride, loss of all meaning in life. The common spiritual basis for all manifestations of this mortal sin is unbelief and lack of hope in God. When a person died from severe intoxication, from a drug overdose, or died tragically due to extreme carelessness, he is not considered a suicide if he did not want to die. Spiritual life requires precise definitions. Nothing approximate should be allowed in estimates. Unfortunately, such statements do occur. They can only cause harm. Of course, it’s hard for family and friends when a person dies, overcome by passion. You need to pray intensely for such a person, because it is very difficult for him. But no one can deprive him of funeral services and church commemorations.

Life is one of God's greatest mysteries. Among the gifts given by God to man, it is the first and most valuable gift. Therefore, wasting this gift by shortening your life by satisfying passions, vicious habits, and an unhealthy lifestyle is a serious sin, and the Lord will punish you for this at the Judgment. A person should not be concerned with the desire for longevity, for times and timing are in the hands of God. He must only avoid sinful neglect of the Divine gift.

Life and death are in the hands of God

Is it possible to ask God for a quick death if it is really difficult (illness, life circumstances) and there is no way out?

A person should not ask for death. The timing of life is determined by God alone, who desires salvation for everyone and knows exactly when earthly life should end for a person. Holy Scripture instructs us to endure life's adversities and illnesses with patience in a Christian manner. This is the perfection of faith. According to the teachings of the holy fathers, in the fire of illnesses and sorrows, if they are endured in a Christian manner, sinful impurity is burned away, just as gold is purified in a crucible. The Holy Apostle James calls on us to strengthen ourselves by the examples of the righteous: “Take, my brethren, the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord as an example of suffering and long-suffering. Behold, we bring joy to those who endured. You have heard about the patience of Job and seen the end of [his] from the Lord, for the Lord is exceeding merciful and compassionate” (5:10–11).

Sometimes the enemy of our salvation, the devil, inspires us with thoughts (especially at the moment of grief) that there is no longer any hope of salvation due to the multitude of our sins, and the strength to endure earthly life has ended. Like everything that comes from the devil, it is a lie.

The techniques used by fallen demons are well studied by the holy fathers. At first, demons try in every possible way to dull the feeling of sin and draw them into it. When a sinful habit takes root, demons use their entire arsenal to drive a person to despair. For this purpose, they instill in him the idea that he cannot be saved. At this stage, they direct everything towards completely extinguishing hope. And if a person loses hope, then he loses his will. Then terrible and disastrous thoughts of suicide come. We must decisively get rid of this enemy’s obsession. Just as children, in a moment of danger, rush to their father or mother and cling to them in full hope of protection, one must resort to their Heavenly Parent with complete trust. Try with all your suffering hearts to accept the words of our Savior, which contain the sweetest hope: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick, go and learn what it means: I want mercy, and not sacrifice? For I came to call not the righteous, but sinners.” to repentance" (Matthew 9:12–13). Christianity is a religion of resurrection. No matter how our sins kill us, until our last breath there remains the opportunity to be saved. The history of Christianity contains countless examples.

Centuries of experience in spiritual life proves that if you decide to improve, the Lord will certainly provide help. We must always remember that hope is one of the three main Christian virtues. The holy righteous John of Kronstadt, who knew our sorrows and infirmities well, said: “Never despair of the mercy of God, no matter what sins you are bound by the temptation of the devil, but pray with all your heart with the hope of mercy, walk in the door of God’s mercy - and it will be opened to you ".

When you dream about the dead

Very often we hear from people who have lost a loved one that they begin to dream about the deceased. Great care must be taken here. The Holy Fathers strongly advised not to trust dreams. This is what Rev. writes. Ambrose of Optina: “There were examples that some, trusting all sorts of dreams, fell into the deception of the enemy and were damaged, which is why many of the saints forbid trusting dreams.”

The death of loved ones is a very strong shock and it is quite natural that we experience this event in a dream, in a dream our brain does not turn off, continues to work, and very often we dream of recently occurring events, but in a refracted, distorted form.

If you dream about the deceased, there can be only one piece of advice - to strengthen your prayers for them.

Of course, in Church Tradition there is a description of the appearances of the deceased, including in dreams, but we will not sin if we do not accept our dreams as a revelation of God and treat them with caution. The afterlife fate of the soul of a deceased person is closed to us, and this is the wisdom and mercy of God towards us. After all, if, for example, it is revealed to us about the deceased that he has already been saved, then we can weaken our prayer for him and fall into laziness. And if it is shown that he is in a place of torment, then we will fall into despondency and sadness.

IV. Life of the soul after death

One of the most striking evidence of afterlife is the testimony of people who have experienced clinical death. People who have experienced this state cannot help but believe in the immortality of the soul. Let not all of them become church people, but you definitely can’t call them atheists anymore. There are no atheists “there”. If a person saw his own body from above, saw how people pass through him, and he could not even address them, could observe what was happening in the next room (and, finally, many were given contact with the spiritual world) - can anyone remain indifferent after this? The experience of clinical death proves that the human body is not something independent and self-sufficient; without a soul it is nothing. Even the brain is not capable of thinking on its own - it is only a transmitter of the information, the impulses that the soul transmits to it. Doctors state complete brain death, but the person continues to think and see, only not with the eyes of the body, but with spiritual eyes, and describes in every detail what happened in the room.

Why do people experience clinical death? For the believer it is clear: “The Lord gives a sign that a person is not yet ready to meet God, he is invited to think about the most important questions, to change his life. Once a woman came to the Church of St. Nicholas at the Rogozhskoye cemetery in Moscow and said that, being in a state of clinical death, she heard a voice that told her to go to church, confess and take communion. Before that, she had never begun these Sacraments. Clinical death is also a sign, an admonition for all doubters, and for all of us that the teaching of the Church about the soul, immortality and reward after death is an immutable truth.

Reincarnation and the Bible's teaching on soul salvation

In our time of rampant occultism, when all bookstores are littered with books by the Roerichs, Blavatsky, Lazarev (Diagnostics of Karma) and others, one can increasingly hear the opinion that reincarnation (the doctrine of the transmigration of souls) does not contradict the Bible.

The biblical teaching about the purpose of life, future Judgment, posthumous reward and salvation has logical unity, consistency and theological completeness. It leaves no room for the idea of ​​transmigration of souls (reincarnation). Already in the first biblical book we encounter the words spoken by the Lord God to Adam: by the sweat of your brow you will eat bread until you return to the ground from which you were taken, for you are dust and to dust you will return (Gen. 3:19). Everything is completely clear. The same idea is present in the book of Job: If He turned His heart to Himself and took its spirit and its breath to Himself, all flesh would suddenly perish, and man would return to dust (Job 34:14-15). The idea that man on earth has only one life, which the Creator gave him, is extremely clear in the psalms: You return man to corruption and say: “Return, sons of men!” (Ps. 89:4); if you hide your face, they are troubled; if you take away their spirit, they die and return to their dust (Ps 103:29). The book of Ecclesiastes leaves no room for any speculation about the transmigration of souls: And the dust will return to the earth, as it was; and the spirit will return to God, who gave it (Eccl. 12:7).

The idea of ​​reincarnation is completely contrary to biblical teaching. And just as it is appointed for men to die once, and then judgment, so Christ, having once offered Himself as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many, will appear a second time, not [to cleanse] sin, but to those who wait for Him for salvation (Heb. 9:27- 28). The above quotation emphasizes the words that, both in the Old and New Testaments, form the theological core of the teaching about the life and death of man - to die once. The idea of ​​man as the image and likeness of God, of the uniqueness and uniqueness of each human individual runs through all the sacred books. The belief in his reincarnation into another human being is incompatible with this. And man dies and disintegrates; left, and where is he? (Job 14:10). For my years are coming to an end, and I am leaving on a path of no return (Job 16:22). What does this have in common with the teaching that claims that after death a person receives a new body in order to live another life, when the author of the biblical book says that after death he goes on a journey of no return? This thought is expressed many times by the righteous Job: The waters of the lake go away, and the river runs dry and dries up: so a man lies down and does not stand; until the end of heaven he will not awaken and rise from his sleep. Oh, if only You would hide me in the underworld and cover me until Your anger passes, set a time for me and then remember me! When a person dies, will he live again? (Job 14:11-14). It seems that modern Western supporters of the idea of ​​​​reincarnation have become so divorced from their Christian roots that they have never read the entire Bible, but only know those passages that interest them and in which they try in vain to see confirmation of their false idea. For a man departs to his eternal home, and mourners are ready to surround him in the street; - until the silver chain broke, and the golden band was torn, and the jug at the spring broke, and the wheel over the well collapsed. And the dust will return to the earth as it was; and the spirit returned to God, who gave it (Eccl. 12:5-7). It is a completely clear theological idea that after death a person immediately goes to another world (an eternal home), and not to another body.

Holy Scripture says quite definitely that the soul leaves the body after death and remains in an incorporeal state. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If life in the flesh [delivers] fruit for my work, then I don’t know what to choose. I am attracted by both: I have a desire to be resolved and to be with Christ, because this is incomparably better; but remaining in the flesh is more necessary for you (Phil. 1:21-24).

Sometimes you can hear that the Gospel story about Christ’s healing of a man born blind speaks of reincarnation. This story is described in the Gospel of John. The disciples asked the Lord about the man born blind: “Rabbi! Who sinned, he or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered: “Neither he nor his parents sinned, but this was so that the works of God might be revealed in him” (John 9:2-3).

Proponents of reincarnation especially emphasize the idea that a person blind from birth could have already sinned and is being punished for sin. This means he could have had some past lives.

This interpretation is typical example amateurism.

The students ask the Teacher whether he or his parents sinned, because at that time there was an opinion among the rabbis that a child from the very conception, already in the womb, has good or evil sensations and therefore can sin. Such ideas were reflected in rabbinic literature. So in Midrash Ha-Gadol to Gen. 25:32 says that Esau was born first because, while still in the womb, he threatened Jacob that he would kill his mother if he did not give up the birthright to him. These ideas may seem very strange, but something else is important here: they were circulated in Jewish society and it was what Jesus’ disciples had in mind when they asked the Teacher a question.

Supporters of the idea of ​​reincarnation also turn to the place from the Gospel where the Jews ask the great Prophet John the Baptist: what then? are you Elijah? He said no. Prophet? He answered: no (John 1:21). The absurdity of trying to see here an indication of the reincarnation of souls is obvious from the fact that the fiery prophet was taken alive to Heaven, and, therefore, did not die and never left his body. The Gospel directly speaks about St. John the Baptist: will come before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah (Luke 1:17), and not in some mythical reincarnation. Such questions arose because the Jews of that time believed that the ancient prophets could be resurrected by the Lord and appear among people. And everyone was seized with fear, and they glorified God, saying: great prophet rose up among us, and God visited His people (Luke 7:16). Herod Antipas accepted the Savior for the resurrected John the Baptist, others that Elijah appeared, and others that one of the ancient prophets was resurrected (Luke 9:8).

A complete refutation of attempts to find the idea of ​​​​reincarnation in the Holy Bible is the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. The beggar died and was carried by the Angels to Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. And in hell, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom (Luke 16:22-23). No transformations. Each of them died and ended up in the afterlife: it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment (Heb. 9:27).

The doctrine of reincarnation has no basis in evidence. In the world in which a person lives, there are no examples confirming the law of karma. This teaching is inconsistent with Christian ethics, common sense, and science. The reference to “memories of past existences” is refuted by psychology, which has studied false memory syndrome quite objectively.

An expression of the teaching of the Church on the uniqueness of man’s earthly life is the thought of the Holy Apostle Paul: And just as it is appointed for men to die once, and then to judge, so Christ, having once offered Himself as a sacrifice in order to take away the sins of many, will appear a second time not for the cleansing of sin, but for those who wait for Him for salvation (Heb. 9:27-28).

Mortal memory

The death of a loved one leaves no one indifferent. And every time we attend a funeral, we involuntarily think about the day of our own death. Usually a person does not bury loved ones very often. Maybe several times in my entire life. But people who constantly encounter death in their ministry: priests, doctors, police officers and others know how many very young people who have just entered adulthood pass into another world. If you walk through any cemetery, you can see how many young people lie there. Human life, as it is sung in the funeral hymn: “canopy and sleepiness.” Translated into Russian: “shadow and sleep,” ready to be interrupted at any moment. And if you don’t believe in the immortality of the soul, in the fact that a person lives forever, life becomes simply meaningless. What good is it to me if the dead do not rise? “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we will die” (1 Cor. 15:32), says the Apostle Paul.

But we know that the Lord created us for eternity and earthly life is an exam, a ticket to the future life. Everything that we do in earthly life, good or bad, will go with us there - to eternity. Whether we learn to love God or reject Him depends only on us. If we learn to build our relationship with the Lord here, then we will be with Him there too. And if we did not need God in our earthly life, if we lived here only in the interests of the material world, then the Lord will not be able to accept us to Himself. We made our own choice. How to live with God? Strive for Him, do not close the doors of your soul, your heart for Him. Live according to the commandments that He gave, repent of sins and unite with Him in the Holy Sacraments of the Church.

Eternity, infinity. And on the other side of the scale is our very short human life, which is given to us once. In order not to live it in vain, meaningless for salvation, spiritually wise people not only did not fear the day of death, but also constantly remembered it. “In all your deeds remember your end, and you will never sin” (Sir. 7:39), says Jesus the son of Sirach. Pious people of the past often had lithographs next to the Holy icons on the theme of the hour of death with the inscription: “No one can escape this...” This helped them think: what will today bring for eternity, if not to live it in vain?

One day the following happened in one family. The father told his children that he knew a day on which, having worked, one could become rich forever and then live without working. But he noticed that he had forgotten this day and therefore advised the children to work for a year to find the cherished day that would give them a carefree life. The children worked for a whole year, but they did not determine such a day and told their father about it. The father gave them credit for their work and advised them to divide the year into four parts - spring, autumn, winter and summer, to work and find such a day. The children worked again for a year, but again they did not find a day on which they could become rich forever. The father again rewarded them and said: “Divide the year into 12 months, work again and you will find this day.” The children fulfilled their father’s command, but again did not find the most important day. Then the father said to them: “The day that I showed you is the day of death, and that is why you did not find it, for it overtakes us very often and when we do not think about it at all. Therefore, we must work for the salvation of the soul every day.” and night and prepare for death."

The meaning of this parable can also be expressed in the words: “You need to start every day with the thought that nothing has yet been done for salvation and there will be no more another day.”

Litia performed by a layman when there is no priest

Through the prayers of the saints, our fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us. Amen.

Glory to Thee, our God, glory to Thee.

Heavenly King, Comforter, Soul of truth, Who is everywhere and fulfills everything, Treasure of good things and Giver of life, come and dwell in us, and cleanse us from all filth, and save, O Good One, our souls.

Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us. (Thrice)

Most Holy Trinity, have mercy on us; Lord, cleanse our sins; Master, forgive our iniquities; Holy One, visit and heal our infirmities, for Thy name's sake.

Lord have mercy. (Thrice) Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.

Our Father, who art in heaven! Hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, as it is in heaven and on earth. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our debts, just as we forgive our debtors; and do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

Lord have mercy. (12 times)

Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.

Come, let us worship our God the King (Bow).

Come, let us bow and fall down to Christ, our King God (Bow).

Come, let us bow and fall down to Christ Himself, the King and our God (Bow).

Living in the help of the Most High, he will settle in the shelter of the Heavenly God. Says the Lord: Thou art my intercessor, and my refuge, my God, and I trust in Him. For He will deliver you from the snare of the trap and from rebellious words, His blanket will cover you, and under His wing you hope: His truth will surround you with weapons. Do not be afraid from the fear of the night, from the arrow that flies during the day, from the thing that passes in darkness, from the cloak and demon of the midday. Thousands will fall from your country, and darkness will be at your right hand, but it will not come close to you: behold your eyes, and you will see the reward of sinners. For You, O Lord, are my hope, You have made the Most High your refuge. Evil will not come to you, and wound will not come close to your body. As His angel commanded you, keep you in all your ways. They will lift you up in their arms, but not when you dash your foot against a stone. Tread on the asp and the basilisk, and cross the lion and the serpent. For I have trusted in Me, and I will deliver; I will cover and because I have known My name. He will call to Me, and I will hear him; I am with him in sorrow, I will destroy him and glorify him; I will fill him with long days, and show him My salvation.

Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, glory to You, O God. (Thrice)

Troparion, tone 4: From the spirits of the righteous who have passed away, rest the soul of Your servant, O Savior, preserving it in the blessed life that belongs to You, O Lover of Mankind.

In Thy chamber, O Lord, where all Thy saints rest, rest also the soul of Thy servant, for Thou art the only Lover of mankind.

Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Thou art God, who descended into hell, and loosed the bonds of the bound, and give rest to Thy servant Himself and the soul.

And now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen. One Pure and Immaculate Virgin, who gave birth to God without a seed, pray for his soul to be saved.

With the saints, rest, O Christ, the soul of Your servant, where there is no sickness, no sorrow, no sighing, but endless life.

Thou art the One Immortal One, who created and created man, on earth we were created from the earth, and to the other earth we will go, as you commanded, Who created me and gave me: as you are the earth, and you will go to the earth, and even all men will go, a funeral lament creating a song : alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

We magnify You, the most honorable Cherub and the most glorious without comparison Seraphim, who gave birth to God the Word without corruption.

Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.

Lord, have mercy (Thrice), bless.

Through the prayers of the saints, our fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us. Amen.

Everlasting memory. (Thrice)

His soul will dwell in the good, and his memory throughout generation and generation.

Prayer for the deceased when reading the Psalter:

Remember, O Lord our God, in the faith and hope of the eternal life of Your departed servant, our brother (name), and as Good and Lover of mankind, forgiving sins and consuming untruths, weaken, forsake and forgive all his voluntary and involuntary sins, deliver him eternal torment and fire of Gehenna, and grant him the communion and enjoyment of Your eternal good things, prepared for those who love You: even if you sin, do not depart from You, and undoubtedly in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Your glorified God in the Trinity, Faith, and Unity in the Trinity and the Trinity in Unity, Orthodox even until his last breath of confession. Be merciful to him, and faith, even in You instead of deeds, and with Your saints, as You give generous rest: for there is no man who will live and not sin. But You are One besides all sin, and Your righteousness is righteousness forever, and You are the One God of mercies and generosity, and love for mankind, and to You we send glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and to the ages of ages.

Prayer by Rev. Leo of Optina for those who died outside the Church

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

Edition:

Job (Gumerov) hieromonk, Gumerov Pavel priest. Eternal memory: Orthodox burial rite and commemoration of the dead. – M.: Publishing house. Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, 2009.

About the burial

Posthumous fate of a person

Reading the Psalter for the Dead

Memorial service and funeral litias

Burial

Burial time

Funeral place

Funeral ranks

Funeral service for babies

Funeral service for clergy

Funeral rite for Easter

Seeing off the bodies of the deceased

Burial place

Funeral service in absentia

Cremation

Funeral meal

Remembrance of the Dead

And the dust will return to the ground as it was, and the spirit

will return to God who gave it.(Eccl. 12.7)

There comes a moment in the life of every person when the path of his earthly life ends, his physical existence ceases. Someone dies as a result of natural aging of the body, someone due to illness or an accident, someone is ready to consciously give their life for their ideals and beliefs. One way or another, regardless of age and position in society, death will befall any of us.

The law of death is common to all humanity, and humanity knows two truths about it: the first is that we will die, and the second is that it is unknown when. Death comes to a person when he has reached the limit of life, which is predetermined for him by the righteous judgment of God to accomplish the work destined for him. And the death of babies and children in general, as well as sudden death from an accident, seem completely senseless, terrible and incomprehensible to us.

Throughout earthly history, man has tried to penetrate the mystery of death. St. Anthony the Great once turned to God with the following prayer: “Lord! Why do some die young, while others live to a ripe old age?” And he received the following answer from God: “Anthony, pay attention to yourself! It’s not good for you to experience the ways of God.”

Despite the frightening inevitability of death and the unknown of its time, for an Orthodox Christian death is not a tragically hopeless fact. From the first days of its existence, the Church taught and teaches that our dead brothers are always alive with the Lord.

This is what St. writes. John Chrysostom about death: “Death is terrible and terrible for those who do not know the highest wisdom, for those who do not know the afterlife, for those who consider death the destruction of being; of course, for such, death is terrible, its very name is murderous. But we, by the grace of God, have seen the secret and unknown His wisdom and those who consider death to be transmigration should not tremble, but rejoice and be content. Because we leave this corruptible life and move on to another life, endless and incomparably better" (Conversation 83. Interpretation of the Gospel of John).

Thus, for a Christian, bodily death is only repose, a transition to a more perfect form of being. That is why ancient Christians celebrated not the day of physical birth, but the day of the death of the deceased. “We celebrate,” says Origen (c.185-254), “not the day of birth, but the day of death as the cessation of all sorrows and the driving away of temptations. We celebrate the day of death, because those who seem to be dead do not die.”

Likewise, instead of saying “died,” Christians said “born.” “This tomb,” reads one tombstone inscription found in the Roman catacombs, “was built by parents for their son Mercury, who lived 5 years and 8 months, and after that was born in the Lord in February.”

The theological meaning of such an attitude towards death is revealed in the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, of victory over death. The beginning of this victory is the death of Christ. Having accepted our nature, Christ became involved in death not only in order to unite with us to the end. Being the head of the new humanity, the new Adam, He enclosed us all in Himself, dying on the Cross. The love of Christ embraces us, reasoning this way: if one died for all, then all died (2 Cor. 5:14).

However, it is necessary that this death become an effective reality for every person. This is the meaning of baptism: it, as a sacrament, unites us with the crucified Christ - “those who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death” (Rom. 6:3). In Christ we die to everything through which the power of death was manifested in the world: we die to sin, to the old man, to the flesh, to “the elements of the world” (Col. 2:20). For man, death with Christ is therefore the death of death. In sin we were dead, but in Christ we are alive, “lived from the dead” (Rom. 6:13).

From this perspective, bodily death takes on a new meaning for a Christian. She is not simply an inevitable fate to be resigned to; a Christian dies for the Lord, just as he lived for Him. The hope for immortality and resurrection, coming from the depths of antiquity, found a solid foundation in the mystery of Christ. Thanks to our participation in the death of Christ, we not only now live a new life, but we are confident that “He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your dead bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you” (Rom. 8:11). In the resurrection we will enter the Kingdom of God, where “there will be no death” (Rev. 21:4).

Posthumous fate of a person

The afterlife even before the general resurrection is not the same for everyone. The souls of those who have died in faith and holiness are in a state of light, peace and anticipation of eternal bliss, while the souls of sinners are in a different position - in darkness, anxiety and anticipation of eternal torment. This state of the souls of the dead is determined at a private court, which is so called in contrast to the general Last Judgment because it occurs immediately after death, and because it only determines the fate of everyone, but does not prescribe full and final retribution. There is quite clear evidence from the Holy Scriptures that such a judgment is taking place. So St. Apostle Paul says: “It is appointed for man to die once, but after this comes judgment” (Heb. 9:27), that is, everyone must die and after death face judgment. It is clear that here we are not talking about the general Judgment at the second coming of Christ, when souls will appear together with resurrected bodies (2 Cor. 5:10; 2 Tim. 4:8). The Lord Himself in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus indicated that righteous Lazarus immediately after death he was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom, but the merciless rich man ended up in hell (Luke 16:22-23). And the Lord said to the repentant thief: “Truly I tell you, today you will be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43), that is, not at the time of the Second Coming, but today, immediately after death.

We have seen and know what happens to the human body after death; We don’t see what happens to the invisible soul, but from the Tradition of the Holy Church we know that for 40 days after death the soul remains in various states.

The exodus of the soul and what is happening around it at this time St. the fathers describe it as follows: “Good and evil angels will appear to the soul. The vision of the latter will confuse the soul to the extreme; it finds joy in the vision and protection of good angels. Then a person’s good deeds and a clear conscience serve as great help and joy. Then obedience, humility, good deeds and patience will help the soul and it, accompanied by angels, goes to the Savior in great joy. But the passionate, sin-loving soul is taken by evil spirits to hell for torment" (St. Theodore the Studite).

Two Angels once appeared to St. Macarius of Alexandria and said: “The soul of both a pious person and an impious one comes into fright and is frightened by the presence of terrible and formidable angels. She hears and understands the tears and sobs of the people around her, but cannot utter a single words, not a voice. She is embarrassed by the long journey ahead, new image life and separation from the body."

St. John of Damascus writes: “God will save the creation of His hands, excluding only those who clearly belong to the number of outcasts who have violated the right faith, so left-hand side the scales are too much on the right side. For God-enlightened men say that at the last breath, human affairs are, as it were, weighed on scales, and if, firstly, the right side takes precedence over the left, that person will obviously expire among the host of good Angels; secondly, if both are in balance, then without a doubt God’s love for mankind wins; thirdly, if the scales tip to the left, but not enough, then God’s mercy will fill the deficiency even then. These are the three Divine courts of the Lord: just, humane and most kind. Fourthly, when evil deeds gain great preponderance."

The Church especially highlights the 3rd, 9th and 40th days after death. The custom of commemorating on these days dates back to ancient times, although a general church institution appears in the 5th century in the 7th book of the apostolic decrees.

What do the 3rd, 9th, 40th days mean? St. Macarius of Alexandria conveys to us the following angelic revelation about the state of the souls of the dead in the first 40 days after death. “When the sacrament of death is performed and the soul is separated from the body, it, the soul, remains on earth for the first two days and, accompanied by Angels, visits those places in which it used to create truth. It wanders around the house in which it was separated from its body, and sometimes stays near the tomb in which her body rests. On the third day, in imitation of the Resurrection of Christ, which occurred on the third day, every Christian soul is supposed to ascend to heaven to worship God." That is why on this day we are in the habit of making offerings and prayers for the soul of the deceased. On the third day the body is consigned to the earth, and the soul must ascend to heaven: “And the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it” (Eccl. 12:7).

"...After worshiping God, the soul is commanded to show the various abodes of the Saints and the beauty of paradise. Walking and viewing the heavenly abodes continues for six days. The soul is surprised and glorifies the Creator of everything - God. Contemplating all this, it changes and forgets the sorrow that it had, being in the body. But if she is guilty of sins, then, at the sight of the pleasures of the saints, she begins to grieve and reproach herself for having spent her life in carelessness and not serving God as she should. After considering heaven, the soul on the ninth day (from its separation from the body ) again ascends to worship God... After the second worship, the Lord commands to show the soul hell with all its torments. The led soul sees the torment of sinners everywhere, hears crying, groaning, gnashing of teeth. For 30 days, the soul is led through the hellish compartments, trembling ", so as not to be condemned there to imprisonment. Finally, on the fortieth day after separation from the body, the soul ascends for the third time to worship God. And only now the righteous Judge determines for it a place appropriate for its deeds and earthly life... So , the relatives and friends of the deceased do well when on the third, ninth and fortieth day they order a memorial service in the Church for the deceased and mark these days with prayers and offerings.

In some places, both in the East and in the West, instead of the 9th and 40th days, commemorations were performed on the 7th and 30th days.

Commemoration on the 7th day corresponds to the Old Testament prescription: “Weeping for the dead for 7 days” (Sirach.22:11), “Joseph mourned for his father for 7 days” (Gen.50:10). Commemoration on the thirtieth day also had a basis in Old Testament practice. The children of Israel mourned both Aaron (Num. 20:29) and Moses (Deut. 31:8) for 30 days. Gradually, in the East, the 3rd, 9th, and 40th days were adopted for commemorating the dead, and in the West - the 7th and 30th.

Preparing the deceased for burial

Based on the belief in the bodily resurrection and treating the body as a temple of the soul, which is sanctified by the grace of the sacraments, St. From the very first times of its existence, the Church has shown special care for the remains of the dead and brethren in the faith. The historical description of the burial of the dead is given in the rite of burial of Jesus Christ, which corresponded to the Old Testament rite. Following the example of pious antiquity, the burial of the dead is still preceded by various symbolic actions performed in a certain order.

First, the body of the deceased is washed with water (see Acts 9:37: “It happened in those days that she fell ill and died; they washed her and laid her in the upper room”). The deceased is freed from clothes, the jaw is tied up and placed on a bench or on the floor, with a cloth laid down. A sponge is used for washing warm water and soap; Using cross-shaped movements, wipe all parts of the body three times, starting from the head. The bodies of deceased bishops and priests are not washed with water, but are wiped with a sponge soaked wood oil. This is not done by the laity, but by clergy (priests or deacons). After washing, the deceased is dressed in new, clean clothes, which expresses faith in the future renewal of the body after resurrection. At the same time, in the choice of clothing, compliance is observed with the title and ministry of the deceased, since everyone will have to give an answer at the future judgment not only as a Christian, but also as a performer of the specific earthly ministry that he performed. In the modern world, the correspondence of clothing to rank and service has been preserved only in the army and among the priesthood, therefore bishops and priests are clothed in sacred clothes, a cross is placed in their right hand, and the Gospel is placed on their chest. As a sign that the priest was “the performer of the mysteries of God, and especially the holy mysteries of the body and blood of Christ,” his face after death is covered with air (a special plate), which is not customary to lift. A censer is placed in the deacon's hand.

The washed and clothed body, which must have a cross on it (if preserved, a baptismal cross), is placed in a coffin, as if in an ark for preservation, face up. A Christian woman's head is covered with a scarf that completely covers her hair, and the ends do not need to be tied, but simply folded crosswise. Before laying in the coffin, the body and coffin are sprinkled with holy water. The lips of the deceased should be closed, the eyes closed, the hands folded crosswise on the chest, the right one over the left, as evidence of the faith of the deceased in the crucified Christ. The forehead is decorated with a crown as a reminder of the crown that the Apostle Paul desired, and which is prepared for all believers and those who lead a worthy Christian life. “And now there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all those who have loved His appearing” (2 Timothy 4:28). An icon or cross is placed in the hands of a deceased layman - evidence of faith in Christ. A deceased layman, in addition to ordinary clothes, is given a shroud - a white cover, reminiscent of the purity of baptismal clothing, and as a sign of the faith of the Church that the deceased is under the protection of Christ. A mantle is placed on the bishop's coffin, and the cover is placed on top of the mantle. Candles are lit at the coffin. One candlestick is placed at the head, another at the feet, and two on the sides of the coffin, depicting a cross. Candles, in this case, remind of the transition of the deceased from dark earthly life to true light.

Reading the Psalter for the Dead

In the Orthodox Church there is a pious custom - reading the Psalter for the deceased before burial and, in his memory, after burial. This custom has existed since ancient times and is based on the fact that the Holy Scriptures, both the Old (to which the Psalter refers) and the New Testaments, being the word of God, have prayer power.

Saint Athanasius of Alexandria wrote that the book of psalms is a mirror in which the sinful human soul with all its passions, sins, iniquities, and ailments is not only reflected in its present form, but also finds healing in the psalms.

The Book of Psalms is not a work of art that has come to us from the depths of centuries - although beautiful, it is alien and extraneous. On the contrary, the book of psalms is very close to us; it is a book about all of us and about every person.

“In my opinion,” wrote St. Athanasius, “in the book of psalms, the whole human life and mental dispositions and movements of thoughts are measured and described in words, and beyond what is depicted in it, nothing more can be found in a person. Is repentance and confession necessary? sorrow and temptation, whether someone is being persecuted or has been delivered from misadventures, has become saddened and confused and is enduring something similar to what was said above, or sees himself prospering while the enemy is brought into inaction, or intends to praise, thank and bless the Lord - there is something for all of this instruction in the divine psalms... Therefore, even now, everyone, pronouncing the psalms, let him be sure that God will hear those who ask with the psalm word.”

Reading the psalter for the departed undoubtedly brings them great consolation - both in itself, as reading the word of God, and as a testimony of love for them, and as a memory of them by their living brethren. It also brings great benefit to the deceased in that it is accepted by God as a pleasant propitiatory sacrifice for the cleansing of the sins of those remembered: just as any prayer, any good deed is accepted by Him.

There is a custom to ask clergy or people specially involved in this to read the psalter in memory of the departed, and this request is combined with giving alms for those remembered. But it is very important for those who remember to read the Psalter themselves. For those commemorated, this will be even more comforting, since it testifies to the great degree of love and zeal for them by their living brethren, who themselves personally want to work in their memory, and not replace themselves in work with others.

The Lord will accept the feat of reading not only as a sacrifice for those remembered, but also as a sacrifice for those who bring it, who work in reading. And, finally, those who read the psalter themselves will receive from the word of God both great edification and great consolation, which they are deprived of by entrusting this good deed to others, and most often without being present at it themselves. But alms can and should be given independently, regardless of the reading of the psalter, and its value in this latter case will, of course, be higher, since it will not be combined with the imposition of obligatory labor on the recipient, but will be given freely according to the commandment of the Savior, and therefore will accepted by the Lord as special alms.

Over the deceased bishop and priest, it is not the psalter that is read, but the Gospel, since in their ministry they were preachers of the Gospel word. Only the clergy read the Gospel over them.

Memorial service and funeral litias

Before and after burial, memorial services and lithiums are served for the deceased.

A requiem, translated from Greek as “all-night singing”, is a church service, which in its composition is an abbreviated rite of funeral service (burial). This rite also has this name because it is historically similar to Matins, one of the parts of the all-night vigil, since the first Christians, due to persecution of the Church, buried the dead at night. By performing a memorial service, the Church reminds all living how the souls of the departed ascend from the earth to the Judgment of God, how they stand at this Judgment with fear and trembling, confessing their deeds before the Lord.

Later, after the end of the persecution, the funeral service was singled out as an independent service, but its name remained the same. Litiya - in Greek litai, which means "intensified public prayer" - is a shortened form of requiem.

Burial

The funeral rite includes both the funeral service and the burial of the body of the deceased. Only those deceased whose bodies have undergone a medical examination and have a death certificate are buried.

Burial time

The funeral service and burial usually take place on the third day after death (the day of death is always included in the counting of days, i.e. for a person who died on Sunday before midnight, the third day will be on Tuesday). The exceptions are cases of death from any contagious disease, if there is a threat of spread of this disease between the living, and in case of extreme heat, leading to rapid decomposition of the corpse.

Regarding the time of day, in ancient Rus' there was a custom to bury the dead before sunset, and, moreover, when it was still quite high, because, as the Novgorod bishop Nifont (XII century) put it: “That is, the last one sees the sun until the future resurrection”; but there was and is not a direct prohibition on burying even after sunset, if there are objective reasons for this.

The burial of the dead is not performed on the first day of Holy Pascha and on the day of the Nativity of Christ until Vespers.

Funeral place

The funeral service can take place at home, in a church, in a cemetery chapel, in a mortuary chapel, or directly at the grave.

The funeral of the dead according to the proper rite is very important for the dead and for the living: it, being the last prayerful parting word of the Church to its children, with touching and touching chants, gives the correct outlet and direction for the grief of the living relatives and friends of the deceased. That is why it is desirable to solemnly and legally perform this rite in a church, which, perhaps, was built or restored, maintained, decorated thanks to the donations of a parishioner, and in which he, being alive, often received the only consolation in the sorrows of his earthly life, the sanctifying grace of the sacraments, experienced the joy of congregational prayer.

The body of the deceased is placed on stands in the center of the temple, always with the head to the west, feet to the east, that is, facing the altar. This is done because, firstly, not only the servants, but also the deceased himself prays for the repose of his soul, therefore his face should be turned to the east; secondly, according to the teachings of the Church, the deceased is brought to the church to pronounce a sentence on him about his fate in the afterlife, which is why his face should be turned to God, Who is invisibly present in the altar, on the throne; thirdly, the altar represents heaven, and the deceased cries out: “I will lift my eyes to heaven to You, the Word, spare me.” The coffin lid is left in the vestibule or in the courtyard. It is allowed to bring fresh flowers into the church. Candlesticks with lit candles are placed in a cross shape near the coffin. All worshipers have burning candles in their hands. A funeral kuti with a candle in the middle is placed on a separately prepared table near the coffin. The coffin, as a rule, remains open until the end of the funeral service (if there are no special obstacles to this).

Funeral ranks

In the Orthodox Church there are several rites of burial: the first is for the laity; the second - for infants under seven years of age; the third is for monks; the fourth is for priests; and the fifth - a special burial rite for Easter.

The funeral rite is colloquially called a funeral service due to the abundance of chants. It includes the reading of the Holy Scriptures, a prayer of permission, farewell to loved ones and the burial of the body.

The funeral service consists of many chants. They briefly depict the entire fate of man: for violating the Creator’s commandment by the first people, Adam and Eve, man again turns to the ground from which he was taken, but despite his many sins, he does not cease to be an image of the glory of God, and therefore the Holy Church prays to the Lord , by His ineffable mercy, forgive the deceased’s sins and honor him with the Kingdom of Heaven. The chants of the funeral rite depict a picture of the transition into eternity of a true believer soul, the bliss of the souls of the righteous who keep the law of the Lord, firm hope in the mercy of God and quiet prayers for mercy.

Then follow the New Testament troparia with the refrain “Blessed art thou, O Lord, teach me by Thy justification,” briefly but truly depicting the whole fate of man.

Next, a canon is sung, in which the Church addresses the martyrs with prayer, asking them to intercede for the deceased. Thus, the Church teaches us to look with the right gaze at real life, which is depicted as a stormy sea, constantly agitated, and death as a guide to a quiet haven. The clergy pray to God to rest the deceased with the saints, where there is no illness, no sorrow, no sighing, but endless life.

Then follow special funeral stichera composed by the Monk John of Damascus. This is a sermon about the vanity of everything that deceives us in the world and leaves us after death; this is the cry of man over the perishable treasures of life. “I cry and sob when I think about death and see our beauty lying in the tombs, created in the image of God: ugly, inglorious, without form...”

Then the Holy Scripture is read, which consoles us, revealing the wondrous secrets of the future transfiguration of the human body: “The time is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who have done good will come out into the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil into the resurrection of condemnation. .." (John 5:28-29).

After reading the Gospel, the priest aloud repeats the final permission for all sins that the deceased has repented of or that he forgot to confess due to weakness of memory, and also removes from him all penances and oaths that he may have fallen under during his life. However, this prayer does not forgive sins that were deliberately hidden during confession.

A sheet with the text of the prayer of permission is placed in the right hand of the deceased. The exception is infants, for whom the prayer of permission, for the reasons indicated below, is not read, but pronounced special prayer from the rite of burial of infants. The custom of giving this prayer to the dead in our Russia began in the 11th century, namely in the following case.

Prince Simeon, wishing to receive permission for his sins after death, just as he received during his life, asked the holy Venerable Theodosius of Pechersk, “may his soul bless him, as in his life, so in death,” and begged him to notify his blessing by writing .

The monk, deciding to give him this writing, subject to the observance of the Orthodox faith, sent him the priestly farewell words of prayer. Preparing for death, Prince Simeon bequeathed that this prayer of permission be placed in his hands. His wish was fulfilled.

From that time on, according to the testimony of the Monk Simon, Bishop of Vladimir, they began to place this prayer in the hands of all the dead after the funeral service. According to legend, Saint Alexander Nevsky, at his burial, when the words of the prayer of permission were heard, unexpectedly with his right hand, as if alive, he accepted this prayer from the hands of the priest who was performing the funeral service.

Funeral service for babies

Babies (children under seven years of age) who die after holy Baptism are given special care, as if they were immaculate and sinless creatures. This rite does not contain prayers for the remission of the sins of the deceased, but contains only a request to grant the soul of the departed infant the Kingdom of Heaven according to the immutable promise of the Lord: “...Suffer the children to come to Me and do not hinder them, for of such is the Kingdom of God” (Mark 10, 14). Although the baby did not perform any feats of Christian piety, but, having been cleansed in holy Baptism from his ancestral sin, he became the immaculate heir of the Kingdom of God. The rite of infant burial is replete with consolation to his grieving parents; the hymns testify to the faith of the Church that blessed infants, after their repose, become prayer books for those who love them and for everyone living on earth.

Funeral service for clergy

Bishops and priests have a special funeral service. A priest defrocked is buried in a secular manner. Deacons, although they dress like clergy, however, not yet being priests, perform funeral services according to the secular rite.

Funeral rite for Easter

The rite of burial on Holy Easter differs significantly from what is usually performed. On the glorious day Christ's Resurrection believers must forget about everything, even their own sins, and concentrate all their thoughts on the joy of the Resurrection of the Savior. On this day, as throughout Bright Week, there is no place for sobbing, for crying about sins, for fear of death. Everything of repentance and salvation is excluded from worship. Easter is a victorious remembrance of the trampling of death by the death of Christ, this is the most joyful and comforting confession of faith that life is given to “those in the graves.”

Of all the prayers and chants in the Easter rite of burial, only the funeral litanies remain; even the Apostle and the Gospel are read for the holidays. The prayer at the litany and the prayer of permission are preserved.

There is no special burial order for priests, monks and infants in our liturgical books for Easter, therefore it is assumed that on this day everyone has the same Easter funeral service.

Seeing off the bodies of the deceased

The farewell is preceded by farewell to the body of the deceased, which takes place after reading a prayer of permission.

The last kiss is performed while singing touching songs: “Seeing me lying silent and lifeless, all brothers, and relatives, and acquaintances, weep for me. Yesterday I talked with you, and suddenly the terrible hour of death overtook me; but come, all who love me, and kiss with the last kiss. I will no longer live with you or talk about anything; I go to the Judge, where there is no partiality: there the slave and the ruler stand together, the king and the warrior, the rich and the poor in equal dignity; each will be glorified by his deeds or will be ashamed. But I ask and beseech everyone: pray unceasingly for me to Christ God, so that I may not be brought down by my sins to a place of torment, but may I dwell in the light of life.”

When bidding farewell to the deceased, relatives and friends walk around the coffin with the body, kiss the icon lying in the coffin, and the aureole on the forehead of the deceased. After farewell, the icon should be taken from the coffin. You can keep it for yourself as a prayer memory, or give it to the temple. At the same time, one must mentally or out loud ask the person lying in the coffin for forgiveness for all the untruths that were committed against him during his life, and forgive him for what he himself was guilty of.

In the case when the funeral service takes place with the coffin closed, they kiss the cross on the lid of the coffin or the priest’s hand.

After farewell, the priest intersects the body. To do this, after farewell, when the body is already covered with a shroud, the priest sprinkles the body with earth in a cross shape with the words: “The Lord’s earth and its fulfillment, the universe and all who live on it.” Strictly according to the regulations, this is supposed to be done in the cemetery when lowering the coffin into the grave, but since this is often not possible, this is done in the same place where the funeral service is held. In the event that farewell to the deceased is performed, for some reason, not in a temple, but in a cemetery, then the priest gives the earth to the relatives, and they themselves pour it also crosswise onto the shroud-covered body of the deceased before closing the coffin with a lid, while reading Trisagion. This action is performed as a sign of submission to the divine command: “Thou art the earth, and to the earth thou shalt go.”

The removal of the body from the temple or from the house is carried out feet first. When taken out of the church, it is sometimes accompanied by the ringing of bells, which has no basis in church statutes, but, nevertheless, serves as an expression of Christian piety, notifying believers about the departure of the soul from the body and thereby calling them to prayer for the deceased.

According to the decree of the Holy Synod of 1747, priests are obliged to accompany the body of the deceased from home to the grave. In modern urban conditions, the implementation of this decree is practically carried out very rarely due to the remoteness of cemeteries and due to the heavy workload of priests. Therefore, farewells are usually limited to a symbolic procession with the singing of the Trisagion to the car in which the coffin will be transported.

Burial place

Burial must take place in specially designated cemeteries. The deceased is usually placed in the grave facing the east, since we also pray to the east in anticipation of the second coming of Christ, and as a sign that the deceased is moving from the west of life to the east of eternity. This custom was inherited by the Orthodox Church from ancient times. Already St. John Chrysostom speaks of the position of the deceased facing east in anticipation of the resurrection, as a custom that has existed since ancient times.

A cross is placed on the grave of the deceased. This custom first appeared around the third century in Palestine and especially spread after the establishment of the Christian faith under the Greek emperor Constantine the Great, who set an excellent example for his Christian subjects by placing a cross made of pure gold on the tomb of the Apostle Peter. This custom came to us from Byzantium along with faith. Already St. Vladimir brought the destroyers of grave crosses to church court.

The cross can be made of any material, but it must be of the correct shape

Practices vary regarding the location of the cross, but the cross should be placed at the feet of the buried person with the crucifix facing the face of the deceased, so that at the general resurrection of the dead, rising from the grave, he could look at the sign of Christ’s victory over the devil. Tombstones with crosses carved on them are also erected.

It is necessary to take care of maintaining the grave in good order and cleanliness, remembering the dignity of the human body as the temple of God, which must be resurrected, and also out of respect for the memory of the deceased. We have a huge number of examples from Holy Scripture about the reverent attitude towards graves.

The improvement of cemeteries and the construction of necropolises even today testify to reverence and respect for one’s history, and love “for the tombs of our fathers.” Or they expose the opposite when you see negligence and disorder in cemeteries.

Burial of sectarians, Old Believers, infidels, unknown, unbaptized and suicides

Old Believers and sectarians perform burial according to their customary rituals. If a person was Orthodox by birth and baptism, but subsequently deviated into schism, then the burial is performed according to the usual rite of the Orthodox Church, if before death he repented of his error and had a desire to join the Orthodox Church. An Orthodox priest can bury Old Believers according to the rite of burial of Christians of other faiths.

The burial of non-Orthodox people according to the rites of the Orthodox Church is prohibited, but if a non-Orthodox person of the Christian confession dies and there is no priest or pastor of the confession to which the deceased belonged, then a priest of the Orthodox confession is obliged to conduct the body to the cemetery. The participation of the priest in this case is limited to the following actions: the priest puts on sacred clothes, but does not perform a funeral litany, but only with the chant “Holy God” accompanies the body of the deceased to the grave, bypassing the Orthodox church. The body is lowered into the grave without proclamation of eternal memory. When performing such a burial, neither a crown nor a prayer of permission should take place.

The burial of the bodies of unknown people is currently taking place government services. But if there was a need for a Christian burial, then people about whom it is not known for certain that they were Christians should be carried out according to the rite established for non-Christians.

Stillborn and unbaptized infants are not buried according to the rites of the Orthodox Church, as they have not entered the Church of Christ.

Deliberate suicides are deprived of Christian burial. If suicide is committed deliberately and consciously, and not in a fit of mental illness, the Church recognizes it as equally grave sin, as well as taking the life of another (murder). The life of every person is the most precious gift of God, and the one who arbitrarily takes his own life blasphemously rejects this gift. This is especially important for a Christian, whose life is doubly a gift from God - both in its physical nature and in the grace of redemption.

Thus, a Christian who kills himself doubly insults God: as Creator and as Redeemer. Such an action can only be the fruit of complete despair and disbelief in Divine Providence, without whose will, according to the Gospel word, “not a hair will fall from the head” of a believer. And whoever is alien to faith in God and trust in Him is also alien to the Church, which looks at a free suicide as a spiritual descendant of Judas, who betrayed Christ. After all, having renounced God and been rejected by God, Judas “went and hanged himself.” Therefore, according to church laws, a conscious and free suicide is deprived of church burial and commemoration.

One should distinguish from suicides those who took their own lives through negligence (accidentally falling from a height, drowning in water, food poisoning, violating safety standards, etc.), as well as persons who committed suicide in an insane state. To bury a person who committed suicide in a state of insanity, written permission from the ruling bishop is required.

In the Orthodox Church, it is customary to classify as suicides those who died during robbery, that is, those who committed a bandit attack (murder, robbery) and died from their wounds and mutilations.

However, despite such a harsh attitude of the Church towards suicides and the prohibition of church commemoration, it does not prohibit praying at home for them. So the Optina elder Leonid, in the schema Leo, consoled and instructed one of his students (Pavel Tambovtsev), whose father committed suicide, with the following words: “Surrender both yourself and the fate of your parent to the will of the Lord, all-wise, all-powerful. Do not test the Most High. fate. Trying with humility to strengthen yourself within the limits of moderate sadness. Pray to the All-Good Creator, thereby fulfilling the duty of love and filial duties, read the prayer: “Seek, Lord, the lost soul of my father, if possible, have mercy. Your destinies are unsearchable. Do not make this my prayer a sin, but Thy will be done..."

Of course, it was not the will of God for such a sad death of your parent: but now it is completely in the will of the Mighty One to cast both soul and body into the fiery furnace, Who both humbles and exalts, dies and gives life, brings down to hell and raises up. Moreover, He is so merciful, omnipotent and loving that all the good qualities of all earthly beings are nothing before His highest goodness. For this reason, you should not be overly sad. You will say: “I love my parent, which is why I grieve inconsolably.” Fair. But God, without comparison, loved and loves him more than you. So all you have to do is submit 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?" Another Optina elder, Ambrose, wrote to one nun: "According to church rules, one should not remember a suicide in church, but a sister and his relatives can pray for him privately, just as Elder Leonid allowed Pavel Tambovtsev to pray for his parent. We know of many examples that the prayer conveyed by Elder Leonid calmed and consoled many and turned out to be effective before the Lord.”

About our domestic ascetic Schema nun Afanasia, it is said that she, on the advice of Blessed Pelagia Ivanovna of Diveyevo, fasted and prayed three times for 40 days, reading the prayer “Virgin Mother of God, rejoice” 150 times daily for her brother, who hanged himself while drunk, and received a revelation that through her prayer her brother was freed from torment.

Therefore, relatives of suicides should place their hope in God’s mercy and perform home prayer and not insist on a funeral service. Since the commemoration, out of humility and obedience to the Holy Church, transferred to home prayer, will be more valuable in the eyes of God and more gratifying for the departed than one performed in church, but with violation and neglect of the church charter.

Funeral service in absentia

Nowadays, it often happens that the temple is located far from the house of the deceased, and sometimes is completely absent in the area. In such a situation, one of the relatives of the deceased should order an absentee funeral service at the nearest church, if possible, on the third day. At the end of it, the priest gives the relative a whisk, a sheet of paper with a prayer of permission and earth from the funeral table. The prayer should be placed in the right hand of the deceased, the whisk should be placed on the forehead, and immediately before lowering the body into the coffin, earth should be scattered crosswise on the body covered with a sheet: from the head to the feet and from the right shoulder to the left.

But it also happens that the deceased is buried without a church farewell, and after a long time his relatives still decide to perform a funeral service for him. Then, after the funeral service in absentia, the earth is scattered in a cross shape on the grave, and the aureole and prayer are either burned and also scattered, or buried in the grave mound.

Unfortunately, many people now do not take the deceased to church due to increased transportation costs. But, of course, it is better to save on a funeral meal than to deprive the deceased of a funeral service.

Cremation

“You are dust, and to dust you will return” (Gen. 3:19) - God said to Adam after the Fall. The human body, created from the earth, must turn back into dust through natural decay. For hundreds of years in Rus', the deceased were buried only in the ground. In the 20th century, the method of burning bodies (cremation) was borrowed from the pagan East, which became very popular in big cities due to the overcrowding of cemeteries.

This custom is completely alien to Orthodoxy. For Eastern mysticism, the human body is a prison of the soul, which must be burned and thrown away after the soul is freed. The body of a Christian is like a temple in which the Lord lived during his lifetime and which will be restored after the resurrection. Therefore, we do not throw the deceased into the fiery abyss, but put them in an earthen bed.

However, sometimes Orthodox people also go for the cremation of the deceased, forced to do so by the incredible cost of a traditional funeral. It is difficult to throw a stone at those who do not have money for a funeral, but if there is an opportunity to avoid cremation, it should be used.

There is a superstition that people who are cremated cannot have a funeral service. This is wrong. The Church does not deprive its children of funeral prayers because of the method of burial. If the funeral service takes place before cremation (as it should be), then the icon must be removed from the coffin and the earth scattered over the coffin.

If the funeral service is held in absentia, and the urn is buried in the grave, then the earth crumbles on it in a cross shape. If the urn is placed in a columbarium, then the burial soil can be scattered on any Christian grave. The chaplet and the prayer of permission are burned along with the body.

Sometimes you hear a perplexed question: how will the bodies of those who were burned be resurrected? But on the one hand, the bodies of buried people decompose, and not every one of them remains incorrupt, and on the other hand, it is appropriate to remember that many saints suffered martyrdom precisely through burning, and to consider that because of this they were not resurrect means to doubt the omnipotence of God.

Funeral meal

There is a custom to organize a memorial dinner in memory of the deceased after his burial. This custom has been known for a very long time, and the symbolism of the dishes eaten gives it a religious character.

Before the meal, a lithium should be served - a short rite of requiem, which can be served by a layman. As a last resort, read Psalm 90 and the Lord’s Prayer. The first dish eaten at a wake is kutia (kolivo). These are boiled grains of wheat (rice) with honey (raisins). Eating them has a connection with the prayer for the departed soul and serves as symbols of this prayer. Grains serve as a symbol of resurrection, and honey is a symbol of the sweetness that the righteous enjoy in the Kingdom of God. According to the charter, kutya must be blessed with a special rite during a memorial service; if this is not possible, it must be sprinkled with holy water.

You should not remember the deceased with alcohol, since wine is a symbol of earthly joy, and a wake is an occasion for intense prayer for a person who may suffer seriously in the afterlife. You should not drink alcohol, even if the deceased himself liked to drink. It is known that “drunken” wakes often turn into an ugly gathering where the deceased is simply forgotten.

Remembrance of the Dead

The custom of remembering the dead is already found in the Old Testament Church (Num. 20:29; Deut. 34:8; 1 Sam. 31:13; 2 Macc. 12:45). This custom is also preserved in the Christian Church. The apostolic decrees testify with particular clarity to the commemoration of the dead. Here we find both prayers for the departed during the celebration of the Eucharist, and an indication of the days mentioned earlier: the 3rd, 9th and 40th.

In addition to private commemorations, the Church commemorates all those who have died in the Orthodox faith on the days of ecumenical parental Saturdays, on Saturdays of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th weeks of Lent, on Radonitsa, on Demetrius Saturday and August 29 (old style), on the day of the Beheading of the Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist of the Lord John.

The commemoration of the dead is especially intensified on two ecumenical parental Saturdays - Meat and Trinity. On Meat Saturday, prayer is intensified because on the following Sunday the Last Judgment is remembered, and the sons of the visible - earthly Church - preparing themselves to appear at this Judgment, ask for mercy from the Lord and for all the dead. And on the Saturday before Pentecost, the day on which the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles and gave them grace-filled strength for the gospel of the Kingdom of God, a prayer is offered that the dead also receive weakening and freedom and enter this Kingdom. The service these days is exclusively funeral.

Special funeral prayers on Saturdays of Great Lent were established to compensate for the fact that on future days of fasting there are no commemorations at the liturgy. Radonitsa has the same meaning - the first Tuesday after Antipascha (the week of St. Apostle Thomas). And since in Rus' our ancestors had the custom of spring commemorations even before the adoption of Christianity (“Naviy Day”), then on this day all the deceased are remembered. Christianity gave these commemorations a different character - joy in the risen Lord, which is why it is called Radonitsa. On this day, after the service, believers come to the cemetery and commemorate the dead with Christ, bringing with them painted eggs. Some eggs are left on the grave, perceiving the dead as alive and sharing their joy with them.

Three times a year, the Russian Orthodox Church commemorates soldiers:

May 9 (April 26, Old Style) is the day of remembrance of all those who died and tragically died during the Great Patriotic War;

On September 11 (August 29, Old Style), on the day of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist, the Orthodox soldiers who were killed on the battlefield (in war) for their faith and Fatherland are commemorated. In the “Rite of Remembrance” on this day it is said: “This day, in the consideration of the Forerunner of the Lord who suffered for the truth, is appropriate (accepted), so that on this day we can offer a universal prayer for those who suffered like that and who laid down their lives for the faith and the Fatherland.” It was established under Empress Catherine II (by decree of 1769, August 17), during the war with the Turks and Poles.

Dimitrievskaya Parental Saturday is the Saturday a week before the feast of the memory of the Great Martyr Demetrius of Thessaloniki on November 8 (October 26, Old Style), the Heavenly Patron of the Blessed Grand Duke Demetrius of Donskoy. Having won the victory on the Kulikovo field, Prince Dimitri performed a name commemoration of the soldiers who fell on the battlefield on the eve of his Angel Day. Since then, the Church commemorates on this day, called by the people Demetrius Saturday, not only the soldiers who died for the Fatherland, but also all deceased Orthodox Christians.

Prayer for all those who have previously died has great spiritual significance, a special hidden meaning. If Christians prayed only for their family and friends, then in their spiritual state they would not be far behind the pagans and sinners who greet their brothers and love those who love them (Matt. 5:46-47; Luke 6:32). In addition, there are also dying people for whom already in the first days of their transition to other world no one to pray to.

Remembrance of the dead has its own feedback. Those who have departed to another world (not only the righteous) remember those who struggle in the earthly Church and intercede for them. Even in the Old Testament there was faith in the help and intercession of all the departed. “Lord Almighty, God of Israel!” exclaimed the prophet Baruch. “Hear the prayer of the dead sons of Israel” (Bar.3:4). Obviously, this refers to the many dead, and not just the righteous.

In the parable of Lazarus, the dead rich sinner intercedes with the righteous Abraham on behalf of his living five brothers. If his intercession did not bring any benefit, it was only because his brothers were not able to hear the voice of God (Luke 16:19-31).

The Revelation of John the Theologian clearly states that the dead know about what is happening on earth and are not indifferent to its fate (Rev. 6:9-11).

In Orthodox prayer for those who have passed on to another world there is no hopeless melancholy, much less despair. The natural grief of separation for a person is weakened by faith in an ongoing mystical relationship. This is present in the entire content of funeral prayers. This is also revealed in sacred rites - abundant incense and the lighting of many candles, which we see in the hands of those praying, and on the eve - a rectangular candlestick with a small Crucifix, on which candles for repose are placed in the temple, and in offerings to commemorate the dead.

Attitude to non-church tradition

From the very beginning of its appearance in Rus', the Orthodox burial rite was accompanied by a number of superstitious customs from the pagan past. It is sad to see how modern people, who consider themselves Christians, but have only a minimal understanding of the hidden meaning of the burial rite, try to comply with certain superstitious customs.

The custom is to give vodka to everyone who comes to visit the deceased in the cemetery;

The custom is to leave a glass of vodka and a piece of bread for the deceased for 40 days. This custom is a manifestation of disrespect for the deceased and indicates a lack of understanding of the fact that for 40 days after death the soul is at the judgment of God and goes through ordeals;

The custom of hanging mirrors at the location of the deceased;

The custom of throwing money into the grave of the deceased;

There is a widespread superstition among the people that a prayer of permission placed in the hand of the deceased is an indisputable pass to the Kingdom of Heaven. In fact, the prayer is placed in the hand as a sign of visual confirmation to neighbors of the forgiveness of the sins of the deceased and his reconciliation with the Church.

All these customs have no basis in church rules, are rooted in paganism, distort the faith and contradict it, and therefore Orthodox Christians should not adhere to them.

In conclusion, we cite the wonderful words spoken about the burial by the Chief Prosecutor of the Holy Synod, K.P. Pobedonostsev: “Nowhere in the world, except Russia, has a funeral custom and ritual been developed to such deep, one might say, virtuosity, to which it reaches here ; and there is no doubt that this character reflected our national character, with a special worldview inherent in our nature. The features of death are terrible and disgusting everywhere, but we dress them with a splendid cover, we surround them with the solemn silence of prayerful contemplation. We sing a song over them , in which the horror of stricken nature merges with love, hope and reverent faith. We do not run from our deceased, we decorate him in the coffin, and we are drawn to this coffin - to peer into the features of the spirit that left its home; we worship the body and not we refuse to give him the last kiss. And we stand over him for three days and three nights with reading, with singing, with church prayer. Our funeral prayers are full of beauty and grandeur; they are long and are in no hurry to give the earth a body touched by corruption - and when you hear them It seems that not only is the last blessing pronounced over the coffin, but a great church celebration is taking place around it at the most solemn moment of human existence! How understandable and how kind this solemnity is to the Russian soul!”

As a supplement, we will give a number of instructive examples from the lives of Christian ascetics, showing that the ways of God are inaccessible to us, and that illness and death that befall someone do not always correspond to the degree of sinfulness or righteousness of a person. It happens that a righteous person sometimes dies a painful death, and a sinner, on the contrary.

Saint Athanasius the Great says: “Many righteous people die an evil death, but sinners die a painless, quiet death.” To prove this, he relates the following incident.

One hermit monk, famous for his miracles, lived with his disciple in the desert. One day a disciple happened to go to a city in which the ruler was evil and did not fear God, and he saw that this chief was being buried with great honor, and many people were accompanying his coffin. Returning to the desert, the disciple found his holy elder torn to pieces by a hyena and began to weep bitterly for the elder and pray to God, saying: “Lord, how gloriously did that evil ruler die, and why did this holy, spiritual elder suffer such a bitter death, being torn to pieces by a beast? "

When he was crying and praying, an angel of the Lord appeared to him and said: “Why are you crying about your old man? That evil ruler had one good deed, for which he was rewarded with such a glorious burial, and after moving to another life he has nothing more to expect , except for condemnation for a bad life. And your mentor, an honest old man, pleased God in everything, and, being adorned with all kindness, he, however, as a man, had one small sin, which was cleared by such death, forgiven, and the old man went to eternal life completely clean" (Prologue, July 21).

One day a man fell into the river and drowned. Some said that he died for his sins, while others said that such a death followed by chance. Blessed Alexander asked the great Eusebius about this. Eusebius replied: “Neither one nor the other knew the truth. If everyone received according to their deeds, then the whole world would perish. But the devil is not a judge of the heart. Seeing a person approaching death, he sets up nets of temptations for him to subject him to death : excites him to a quarrel or to another bad deed, great or small. Through his machinations, sometimes a person dies from a small blow or from another unimportant reason; or he puts in the thought of crossing a river during a flood or into another misfortune, without any need, trying to lead him into it. It happens that others are beaten without mercy, almost to death. Or they are wounded with a weapon, and they die; and sometimes they die from a light blow. If someone sets out on a long journey in the severe cold of winter with the obvious danger of freezing, then he himself will be the culprit of his own death. If he sets off in good weather and is suddenly caught on the road by bad weather, from which there is nowhere to hide, then he dies martyrdom. Or: if someone, relying on his strength and dexterity, wants to cross a fast and stormy river and drowns, he has undergone death of his own free will. If someone, seeing that the river is so bottomless, and others are crossing it safely, follows in their footsteps, and at this time the devil tramples his feet, or otherwise stumbles and drowns, then he will die a martyr’s death" (Prologue, 23 Martha).

In one Solunsky monastery, a certain virgin, having been tempted by the devil, could not stand it, went into the world and lived dissolutely for several years. Then, having come to her senses, she decided to reform and return to her former monastery to repent. But as soon as she reached the gates of the monastery, she fell and died. God revealed her death to one bishop, and he saw how the holy angels came and took her soul, and the demons followed them and argued with them. The holy angels said that she served us for so many years, her soul is ours. And the demons said that she entered the monastery out of laziness, so how can you say that she repented? The angels answered: God saw that with all her thoughts and heart she was inclined towards good, and therefore he accepted her repentance. Repentance depended on her good will, and God owns life. The demons left in disgrace (Prologue, July 14).

The Monk Athanasius of Athos became famous for his piety, holiness and miracles; but God, due to fates incomprehensible to us, appointed him an apparently unfortunate death, and revealed to him in advance that he and his five disciples would be crushed by the arch of the church building. Saint Athanasius spoke about this in hints in his last teaching to the brethren, as if saying goodbye to them, and, after the teaching, rising with five chosen disciples to the top of the building, he was immediately crushed by the collapsed building (Cheti-Minei, July 5).

St. John Chrysostom says: “God allows one to be killed, easing his punishment there, or stops his sinfulness, so that, continuing his wicked life, he does not accumulate greater condemnation for himself. And he does not allow another to die such that, taught by the execution of the first, he "I have become more moral. If those who are admonished do not correct themselves, it is not God who is to blame, but their carelessness."

Priest Alexander Kalinin. About the burial. Moscow St. Petersburg 2001

The funeral service for a child, especially an infant, is the most terrible task that a priest has to perform; there is nothing more difficult. Parental grief is so strong, you feel that, as a person who has not experienced this, you have no right to say anything. But you have a responsibility and you must try.

It seems to me that it is under no circumstances possible to talk about the sins of your parents, because they have asked themselves the question of their guilt a thousand times without you. They will look for their guilt in what happened for the rest of their lives and will never part with it. The pain may dull, but it will never go away.

The injustice of a fallen world

We understand that children die because sin is spread around, it has permeated everything. Like the people who lived in Pripyat and nearby - they were not to blame for the Chernobyl disaster, they were not involved and many did not work at this station, but the nightmare pierced everything around and everything turned out to be contaminated. In this sense, each of us is to blame. We saturate God's world with disobedience to God, with evil, for which the penalty is death. We commit sin and pay rent for it, we die.

But this also should not be discussed with parents mourning a deceased child. On the contrary, the priest needs to take pity on the parents and sympathize with them. Just tell them that they are not to blame. Remember the words of the prophet Jeremiah, who says that “In those days they will no longer say: “The fathers ate sour grapes, but the children’s teeth are set on edge,” but everyone will die for their own iniquity; whoever eats sour grapes will have his teeth set on edge” (Jer. 31:29–30). The Lord revealed through the prophet that children do not suffer for the sins of their parents.

In the death of a baby, there is all the injustice of this fallen world, all its nightmare, which is revealed and stands as a terrible question crying to heaven: “Lord, why do you allow this?”

There is probably no answer to this question here on earth. A person can find consolation when he understands that Christ entered into this suffering, He entered into all our suffering, taking it upon Himself. A person will love Christ and understand that Christ will be a consolation for him. Until a person knows Christ crucified, all words will be meaningless for him. Because the sinless one suffers. Because the one who dies is the one who himself did nothing wrong. Only understanding the suffering of the Sinless One can give consolation to a person.

Fear those who understand everything

Maybe sometimes children bear this cross so that their parents can be saved? But mothers and fathers who have lost a child don’t even need to talk about this, because hearing it is even worse. In order not to say what should not be said, the priest should imagine that his child died and he brought him to the funeral service, maybe give vent to his feelings, just cry.

Under no circumstances should you pretend to be a person who knows everything in the world. If you meet a person who knows why everything is happening and God’s will, and speaks confidently about it, then you need to run away from this person, even if he is a priest. Any normal person who loves the Lord will always say that he does not understand everything, this will be sincere and honest. There are things we don't understand here.

Suffering cannot be accepted by order

Recently there was a memory venerable elder Alexey Zosimovsky. As a young deacon, at the age of 27 he was widowed and left alone with a child. For what? No way! He agreed to this suffering, bore it, and therefore became a monk. You see, when we say “life-giving cross,” we are not just saying words. The Cross, when you accept it, creates Christian life in you, it creates life out of you from the dead. It is impossible to accept this suffering by order or by someone else's command. It takes many years to accept the cross and accept suffering. Moreover, such terrible suffering.

Any parent whose child is dangerously ill knows very well this feeling when you are ready to die ten times or get a disease ten times worse, just so that your child does not suffer.

Accepting this is a lot of work. Sorrow has come into a person’s destiny and a person must work hard to comprehend it in order to accept it. The prophet Jeremiah says: My wound is unbearable and my sorrow unbearable, but I say, truly this is my pain, I will bear it” (Jer. 10:19).

A person accepts suffering only personally; no one can fulfill this difficult task of God for him. Then, someday, he begins to understand the words of the Apostle Paul, Paul says: “But I do not want to boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Gal. 6:14). This is a man who was caught up to the third heaven, a man to whom Christ appeared, a man who performed so many miracles! Now his life is coming to an end, he looks back and says: “There is nothing that I can present to God as virtue, I cannot boast of anything to him, only the suffering of Christ!” In the terminology of the Apostle Paul, this is suffering accepted from the Lord. He says, “It has been given to us not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for Him” (Phil. 1:29).

It turns out that when we leave here, we, who cannot be compared with the Apostle Paul, will look back and say: “Lord, there was nothing truly pure in my life, even all my good deeds, they were somehow poisoned some kind of sin, but I can show You that You sent suffering into my destiny, and I accepted it, I tried. Maybe I grumbled for a long time, struggled for a long time, it was hard for me, but I accepted and carried it. Truly this is my sorrow and I will bear it. I'll show it to you."

Pray together

We believe that the Lord takes a person from fate when he is closest to Heaven. The Lord simply knows everything that will happen, and out of love he takes the person. But you don’t need to talk about this with suffering parents either.

You can talk to them about the fact that this sinless sufferer who went there is your great representative of prayers for your family, the one who will still welcome you into the Kingdom of God and who is now praying for you there. And at the funeral service just say: “Let’s pray.”

It is difficult to pronounce the funeral service for infants, because there are words that are spoken on behalf of the baby to the parents. It’s as if a baby says: “Don’t cry for me, everything is fine with me, I came to the Heavenly Father, everything is fine with me.” Reading these prayers in itself is like a great revelation.

The rite of the infant's funeral is completely different, we do not pray for the forgiveness of the child's sins, he has no sins. We ask the Lord to take him to Himself.

Maybe we should print out the canon and give it to our parents to read. When a person prays for the deceased, a meeting with his soul occurs in a mysterious way. He feels that the deceased is feeling better and that he himself is feeling a little better. Prayer eases grief.

How to help a dying person?

Death is the last earthly destiny of every person; after death, the soul, separated from the body, appears before God's judgment.

It's scary when a person dies and doesn't realize it. It is a great blessing if the relatives took care of the dying parting words and called the priest to the dying person (of course, not against his wishes) to perform the sacraments of Confession, Communion and Unction on him.

If the dying person has not been baptized, then, first of all, the sacrament of Baptism is performed on him. This is the best parting word for a soul preparing to embark on the road to eternity. These Sacraments are not performed on a person who is unconscious and unable to testify to his will.

Why is it read “waste”?

At the moment of separation of the soul from the body, according to the testimony of many who have experienced clinical death, a person experiences a feeling of languor. He sees unclean spirits, terrible in appearance, and hears their terrible voices.

Facilitates the transition to eternity by reading special church prayers over the dying - “The Canon of Prayer for the Exodus of the Soul”, which is written from the perspective of the dying person, but can be read by a priest or someone close to you.

If a person dies in a hospital, the canon can be read at home. The main thing is to support the soul with prayer in these most difficult moments for it.

Health is commemorated for those who have Christian names, and repose is remembered only for those baptized in the Orthodox Church.

Notes can be submitted at the liturgy:

For proskomedia - the first part of the liturgy, when for each name indicated in the note, particles are taken out of special prosphoras, which are subsequently lowered into the Blood of Christ with a prayer for forgiveness of sins

The first days after death

An ancient custom is the reading of the Psalter for the deceased. Divinely inspired psalms console the grieving hearts of the loved ones of the deceased and serve to help the soul separated from the body. It is not necessary to be near the deceased; you can read the Psalter anywhere and at any time.

Instead of the Psalter on Bright Week Traditionally, they read one of the books of the New Testament. Reading the Acts of the Holy Apostles is extremely beneficial and instructive; it contains both prayer for the deceased and consolation to relatives.

It is recommended to order the deceased as soon as possible sorokoust - prayerful commemoration in church during the Divine Liturgy for forty days in a row. If funds allow, order magpie in several churches or monasteries. In the future, the sorokoust can be renewed or immediately submitted a note for long-term commemoration - six months or a year.

This type of commemoration of the dead can be ordered at any hour - there are no restrictions on this either. During Great Lent, when the full liturgy is celebrated much less frequently, a number of churches practice commemoration in this way - in the altar, during the entire fast, all the names in the notes are read and, if the liturgy is served, then parts are taken out. You just need to remember that people baptized in the Orthodox faith can participate in these commemorations, just as in the notes submitted to the proskomedia, it is allowed to include the names of only baptized deceased.

Preparing the body for burial

The deceased is freed from clothes, the jaw is tied up and placed on a bench or on the floor, with a cloth laid down. For ablution, use a sponge, warm water and soap, using cross-shaped movements to wipe all parts of the body three times, starting with the head.

The washed and clothed body, which must have a cross on it (if preserved, a baptismal cross), is placed on the table face up. The deceased's lips should be closed, his eyes closed, his hands folded crosswise on his chest, the right one on top of the left.

A Christian woman’s head is covered with a large scarf that completely covers her hair, and its ends do not need to be tied, but simply folded crosswise.

The Crucifix is ​​placed in the hands (there is a special funeral type of Crucifix).

If the body is transferred to the morgue, then it is advisable to wash and dress the deceased before the funeral service personnel arrive.

The coffin is carried out of the house feet first with the singing of the Trisagion. The coffin is carried by relatives and friends, dressed in mourning clothes.

When and where is the funeral service held?

The funeral service and burial usually take place on the third day (in this case, the day of death itself is always included in the counting of days, i.e. for a person who died on Sunday before midnight, the third day will be on Tuesday). The funeral service can take place in a church, in a cemetery chapel, in a mortuary chapel, at home or in a cemetery.

How does the funeral service take place in the church?

Don't forget to take your death certificate to the temple. If for some reason the delivery of the coffin to the church is delayed, be sure to notify the priest and ask to reschedule the funeral service.

In the temple, the body of the deceased is placed on a special stand with its feet facing the altar, and candlesticks with lit candles are placed in a cross shape near the coffin. The coffin lid is left in the vestibule or in the courtyard. It is allowed to bring fresh flowers into the church. All worshipers have burning candles in their hands. A funeral kutya is placed on a separately prepared table near the coffin, with a candle in the middle.

Worshipers stand with lit candles. The coffin remains open until the end of the funeral service (unless there are special obstacles to this).

The indefatigable Psalter is read not only about health, but also about peace. Since ancient times, ordering a commemoration on the Everlasting Psalter has been considered a great alms for a departed soul.

It is also good to order the Indestructible Psalter for yourself; you will feel the support. And one more the most important moment, but far from the least important,
There is eternal remembrance on the Indestructible Psalter. It seems expensive, but the result is more than millions of times more than the money spent. If this is still not possible, then you can order for a shorter period. It's also good to read for yourself.

What does the “crown” on the forehead mean?

The body of the deceased is crowned with a “crown” with the image of Jesus Christ, the Mother of God and the Forerunner, and with the inscription “Trisagion”, thereby honoring the deceased as a winner who has ended his earthly life, preserved the faith and hopes to receive from the Lord Jesus the heavenly crown prepared for the faithful by the mercy of God and at the prayerful intercession of the Mother of God and the Forerunner

What do they pray for during a funeral service?

The funeral service consists of many chants. They briefly depict the whole fate of man: for the violation of the Creator’s commandments by the first people, Adam and Eve, man again turns to the ground from which he was taken, but despite the many sins, he does not cease to be an image of the glory of God, and therefore the Holy Church prays to the Lord , by His ineffable mercy, forgive the deceased’s sins and honor him with the Kingdom of Heaven.

At the end of the funeral service, after reading the Apostle and the Gospel, the priest reads a prayer of permission. With this prayer, the deceased is resolved (freed) from the prohibitions and sins that burdened him, which he repented of or which he could not remember in confession, and the deceased is released into the afterlife reconciled with God and his neighbors.

How to say goodbye to the deceased

After the prayer of permission accompanied by the singing of the stichera “Come, we will give the last kiss, brothers, to the deceased, thanking God...” a farewell to the deceased takes place. The last kiss marks the eternal union of believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. Relatives and friends of the deceased walk around the coffin with the body, bowing and asking forgiveness for involuntary offenses, kissing the icon on the chest of the deceased and the aureole on the forehead.

In the case when the funeral service takes place with the coffin closed, they kiss the cross on the lid of the coffin or the priest’s hand. At the end of the funeral service, the body of the deceased is escorted to the cemetery with the singing of the Trisagion. If the priest does not accompany the coffin to the grave, then the burial takes place where the funeral service took place - in a temple or at home. With the words “The Lord’s earth and its fullness (that is, everything that fills it), the universe and everyone who lives on it,” the priest sprinkles earth in a cross shape on the veiled body of the deceased. If, before death, unction was performed on the deceased, then the remaining consecrated oil is also poured crosswise onto the body.

The funeral service begins with the usual exclamation: “Blessed is our God always, now and ever, and unto ages of ages.” Then the Trisagion of Our Father is read. Lord have mercy 12 times. Glory to this day. Come, let us worship... Psalm 90: “He lives in the help of the Most High...”. In this psalm, before our spiritual gaze there is a gratifying picture of the transition into eternity of a truly believing soul along the mysterious path leading to the abodes of the Heavenly Father. In the symbolic images of asps, lions, skims and dragons, the psalmist expresses the ordeals of the soul along this path. But here the psalmist also depicted to us the Divine protection of the faithful soul of the deceased: “He will deliver you from the snare of the fowler, from the fatal plague; He will cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you will be safe; a shield and a fence is His truth.” The faithful soul says to the Lord: “My refuge and my defense, my God in whom I trust.”

What does a funeral service “guarantee”?

A funeral service, as such, is really not a ticket to heaven. Even the Prayer of Permission, read by the priest over the body, is by no means the forgiveness of all his sins, but only those that he realized, but did not bring to confession due to forgetfulness or lack of time.

How the coffin is lowered into the grave

The deceased is usually lowered into the grave facing the east, with the same thought with which it is customary to pray to the east - in anticipation of the coming of the Morning of Eternity, or the Second Coming of Christ, and as a sign that the deceased is moving from the West (sunset) of life to the East of eternity.

When the coffin is lowered into the grave, the Trisagion is sung. The cross can be made of any material, but it must be of the correct shape. He is placed at the feet of the deceased, with the Crucifix facing the face of the deceased - so that at the general resurrection of the dead, rising from the grave, he can look at the sign of Christ's victory over the devil. Tombstones with crosses carved on them are also erected.

The cross over the grave of a Christian is a silent preacher of blessed immortality and the coming resurrection.

How are babies buried?

A special succession is performed over dead infants who have received the sacrament of Baptism, as over sinless, immaculate creatures. It does not contain prayers for the remission of sins, but there are petitions to honor the baby with the Kingdom of Heaven according to the false promise of the Lord (Mark 10, 14).

Although the baby did not perform any feats of Christian piety, having been cleansed of original sin in holy Baptism, he became the immaculate heir of eternal life.

The rite of burial of infants is replete with words of consolation to grieving parents. His chants testify to the Church’s belief that blessed babies, after their death, become prayer books for all who loved them on earth. Funeral services according to this rite are performed for children under seven years of age.

Are funeral services performed for unbaptized and unborn babies?

Unbaptized babies, including unborn ones, are not given a funeral service. About the afterlife fate of such St. Gregory the Theologian said: “they will not be glorified and will not be punished by the righteous Judge... for not everyone who is not worthy of punishment is already worthy of honor, just as everyone who is not worthy of honor is already worthy of punishment.”

What is an absentee funeral service and in what cases is it performed?

Previously, the funeral service in absentia was allowed by the Church only in cases where the body of the deceased was unavailable for burial (fires, floods, wars and other emergency circumstances).

Now this phenomenon has become widespread, firstly, due to the lack of churches in many cities and villages; secondly, due to the high cost of transport and other funeral services, as a result of which the relatives of a deceased Christian decide to save on the funeral service

The latter is extremely regrettable, since it is better to refuse funerals, wreaths, tombstone, but make every effort and bring the body to the temple, as a last resort - call the priest home or to the cemetery. Nevertheless, the Church meets people halfway and, if necessary, performs an absentee funeral service, somewhat shortened compared to the usual one.

An absentee funeral service must be ordered before the funeral, remembering to take the death certificate to the church.

In the temple you will be given a whisk, a scroll of paper with the text of the prayer of permission, and a small bag of earth. As already mentioned, the whisk should be placed on the forehead of the deceased, the prayer should be placed in the right hand, and the earth should be scattered over the body in a cross shape - from the head to the feet and from the right shoulder to the left.

It happens that an absentee funeral service takes place some time after the funeral. Then the burial soil should be scattered over the grave, and the aureole and prayer should be buried into the grave mound to a shallow depth.

In an Orthodox church, it is customary to place candles for the repose of the dead in front of the Lord’s crucifix. Approaching the crucifix and the square candlestick (tetrapod) in front of it, you can light a candle from any burning candle located on the candlestick and place it in an empty cell.
At the same time, a believer should read at least a short prayer(not necessarily out loud): “Rest, O Lord, the soul of Your departed servant.”

On the contrary, those who deliberately light funeral candles “for the death” of the living incur the wrath of the Lord, because the grace of God that fills the “temples of the Living God” cannot serve spiritual abomination and uncleanness. Those who perform such sorcery and who believe in them live not according to the spirit, but according to the flesh. The Apostle Paul said about such people: “Those who live according to the flesh set their minds on carnal things, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on spiritual things. To be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace, because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for they do not submit to the law of God, neither indeed can they” (Rom. 8:5 - 7).

What happens to the soul after death?

For the first two days, the soul remains on earth and, with the angel accompanying it, visits those places that attract it with memories of earthly joys and sorrows, good and evil deeds. On the third day, the Lord commands the soul to ascend to heaven to worship Himself.

Then the soul, returning from the Face of God, accompanied by angels, enters the heavenly abodes and contemplates their indescribable beauty. So she remains for six days - from the third to the ninth. On the ninth day, the Lord commands the angels to again present the soul to Him for worship.

After the second worship of God, the angels take the soul to hell, and it contemplates the cruel torment of unrepentant sinners. On the fortieth day after death, the soul ascends for the third time to the Throne of the Lord, where its fate is decided - the place it has been awarded for its deeds is assigned.

From here it is clear that the days of intense prayer for the dead should be the third, ninth and fortieth days after death. These terms also have another meaning. The commemoration of the deceased on the third day is performed in honor of the three-day resurrection of Jesus Christ and in the image of the Most Holy Trinity. The prayer on the ninth day is a rendering of honor to the nine angelic ranks, who, as servants of the Heavenly King, petition for pardon for the deceased.

How to properly remember the dead?

In order to properly remember the deceased on a memorable day, you need to come to the temple at the beginning of the service and submit a funeral note with his name. Notes are accepted by request and for funeral services.

Proskomedia - first part Divine Liturgy. During it, the priest extracts small pieces from special prosphora bread, praying for the living and the dead (submitted in customized notes). Subsequently, after Communion, these particles will be lowered into the Chalice with the Blood of Christ during prayer : “Wash away, O Lord, the sins of those remembered here with Your honest Blood and the prayers of Your saints.”

Translated from Greek "requiem service" means "all-night singing". Even during the era of Roman persecution, nightly prayer for the dead became a custom.

The essence of the memorial service is the prayerful remembrance of the departed brothers and sisters, who, although they died faithful to Christ, did not completely renounce the weaknesses of the fallen human nature and took away their infirmities with them.

By performing a memorial service, the Church reminds all living how the souls of the departed ascend from the earth to the Judgment of God, how they stand at this Judgment with fear and trembling, confessing their deeds before the Lord.

Not daring to determine the posthumous fate of the deceased, which will become known only after the Judgment, the Church reminds us of Divine mercy and encourages us to pray for the dead, allowing our hearts to pour out in tears and petitions for a loved one.

The note should be titled “On Repose”, names should be written legibly, putting them in the genitive case (for example, Peter, Mary). For clergy, indicate their rank, in full or in an understandable abbreviation (for example, Metropolitan John, Deacon Vasily). Children under seven years of age are called infants; those who died before the fortieth day are newly deceased; on the anniversary of death - ever-memorable. Warriors are listed separately.

The simplest and most common way to sacrifice for the deceased is to buy a candle. Each temple has a kanun - a special candlestick in the form of a rectangular table with many cells for candles and a small crucifix. It is here that candles are placed with a prayer for repose; memorial services and funeral services in absentia are held here.

Why aren't all suicides given funeral services?

These are people who did not want to fully endure the trials meted out to them and independently encroached on what lies solely in the power of God - human life. In the same way, we are not supposed to perform funeral services for murderers if they have not repented of their deeds.

There are people who apparently committed suicide, but they still have funeral services. These are, firstly, mentally ill people who are not fully aware of their actions. Random suicides - i.e. those who did not calculate the dose of alcohol, drank poison by mistake, accidentally discharged a barrel into themselves while cleaning a weapon, fell out of a window, simply wanting to scare relatives or make a joke on friends, faking a suicide attempt, etc.