Universal parental Saturday - what should be done and how to remember the deceased relatives? In Russia, there are certain days that are intended to commemorate the dead

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

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

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

funeral prayers

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

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

Worship in the church

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

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

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

Vodka and other strong alcoholic drinks they don’t put it on the memorial table, Cahors is a church wine.

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

memorial days

Because Memorial Saturdays timed to transition Orthodox holidays, then they fall into different dates. Therefore, you can find out the dates of Saturdays in Orthodox calendar for the current year. Memorial days fall on:

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

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

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

Saturdays to remember relatives fall on the eve of fasting:

• Christmas;
• Petrova;
• Uspensky.

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

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

Trinity memorial day

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

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

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

Myasopustnaya

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

On this day, Orthodox believers can taste for the last time meat dishes. IN next sunday Lent is already beginning.

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

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

Radonitsa

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

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

Dmitrievskaya

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

Saturdays of Great Lent

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

Questions

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

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

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

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

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

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

What is Parental Saturday

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

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

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

How many parental Saturdays in a year

In the calendar of the Russian Orthodox Church there are seven days of special commemoration of the departed. All but one (May 9 - Commemoration of the Dead Warriors) have a rolling date.

Meat-Peace Saturday (Universal Parental Saturday)

Saturday 2nd week of Great Lent

Saturday 3rd Week of Lent

Saturday 4th week of Great Lent

Radonitsa

Saturday Trinity

Saturday Dimitrievskaya

Parental Saturdays in 2019

The 4th week of Great Lent is canceled in 2019, as it falls on April 6, the eve of the Feast of the Annunciation.

What are universal parental Saturdays

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

What is inSelena requiems

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

What is a memorial service

Panikhida translated from Greek means " all-night." This a funeral service at which believers pray for the repose of the dead, ask the Lord for mercy and forgiveness of sins for them.

Universal (meat-empty) parental Saturday

Saturday meat-fare (Ecumenical parental Saturday) is the Saturday a week before the start of Lent. It is called Meat-Saust because it falls on Meat-Saust Week (the week before Maslenitsa). It is also called the Small Maslenitsa.

On this day, Orthodox Christians commemorate all the baptized dead, a universal memorial service is served in churches - “The memory of all the deceased Orthodox Christians from the age, our father and brethren,” is served.

Trinity parent Saturday

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

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

During the weekdays of Great Lent, therefore, the main liturgical commemoration of the dead is also performed less often. In order not to deprive the dead of prayer representation for them, the Church established three special days for praying for them during Great Lent. These are the Saturdays of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th weeks of Lent. What is important here is the fact of being able to personally attend the Liturgy and pray for the departed. That is, it is not easy to submit a note of repose or order a magpie so that they are commemorated in the temple for forty days or forty Liturgies. Or not to ask someone to pray for their loved ones. But there is an opportunity to personally take part in prayer.

Radonitsa

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

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

Commemoration of the departed warriors - May 9

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

Dmitrievskaya parental Saturday

Demetrius parental Saturday - Saturday before the day of memory of the Holy Great Martyr Demetrius of Thessalonica, which is celebrated on November 8 according to the new style. If the day of memory of the saint also falls on Saturday, the previous one is still considered parental. In 2017, Dmitrievskaya parental Saturday was postponed to October 28 (due to the coincidence with the feast of the Kazan Icon Mother of God November 4).

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

Funeral commemoration on parental Saturday

On the eve of parental Saturday, that is, on Friday evening, a great requiem service is served in Orthodox harmas, which is also called the Greek word "parastas". On Saturday morning, they serve a funeral Divine Liturgy, after it - a common memorial service.

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

Why bring food "on the eve"?

Meets p

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

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

Prayer for the dead

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

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

Prayer for the Lost Christian

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

Widower's Prayer

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

Widow's Prayer

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

Prayer of parents for the dead children

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

Children's prayer for deceased parents

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

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

Meets p Rotopriest Igor FOMIN, Rector of the Church of the Holy Prince Alexander Nevsky at MGIMO:

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

Folk traditions of parent Saturdays

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And indeed, when you think about his fate, it seems that there is no fate more majestic and more tragic. His whole destiny was to not to be, so that the only one who eat: Lord.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Metropolitan Anthony of Surozh. About death

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The teaching of the Orthodox Church about the soul says that death is not the end of earthly life, but only a transition to another world. With God, everyone is alive - that is why the Church constantly prays not only for its living members, but also for all the deceased. To show how important the role of memorial prayers is, we list the main points of their presence in worship:

1) prayers for repose are performed in the Church daily(at the liturgy, during memorial services);

2) according to the church charter, each of the seven days of the week is dedicated to a specific event and has its own characteristics of worship. Saturday is dedicated to the memory of the saints and all deceased Christians;

3) private commemoration of the dead is performed on the 3rd, 9th and 40th days after death, as well as on the anniversary. Every year memorial services for relatives are ordered for a name day or on the birthday of the deceased;

4) the days of general church commemoration are called parent Saturdays. Two of the six parent Saturdays (Myasopustnaya and Trinity) are called ecumenical, as they are completely devoted to prayer for the deceased at all times and have an exceptional liturgical order.

Throughout the year, the number of prayers for the dead varies from the smallest on pre-holiday and feast days to the largest on ecumenical parental Saturdays, which almost entirely consist of prayers for the dead.

What are Parents' Saturdays?

The days of special commemoration in the Orthodox Church are called Parental Saturdays. This name is explained by the fact that on these days Christians pray for the repose of their parents (this word should be understood more broadly - grandfathers, great-grandfathers and all ancestors of their kind (grandparents)), as well as all the deceased Orthodox Christians. People these days visit cemeteries, take care of the graves, order requiem services in churches, or perform divine services over the graves on their own - in a secular rite (reading lithium).

Universal Parent Saturdays

The Saturdays before Maslenitsa and the Spiritual Day (Pentecost) are the days when all Orthodox Christians are called to intense prayer for the departed members of the Church—familiar and unfamiliar, far and near.

Meatless Saturday precedes the Week (Sunday), in which the Church remembers the Last Judgment and prays purely for all the dead. This commemoration of all the dead Orthodox people in general speaks of the unity of the Church, whose body consists of the souls of not only the living, but also the dead, united in Christ.

Trinity Saturday is associated with the descent of the Holy Spirit on the fiftieth day after the Resurrection of Christ. This event is one of the key to understanding the doctrine of salvation. The Holy Spirit that descended on the apostles is for all mankind a testimony of the presence of God next to people, a promise of salvation. It is believed that the Apostolic Church was formed on the day of Pentecost.

The rite of worship of the two ecumenical Saturdays is composed in a special, exceptional way: some prayers said on this day are not present in any other services. If the memory of the saints falls on this day, then it is transferred to the next day. If a patronal or twelfth feast falls, the funeral service is performed in a separate part of the church - the tomb, or passes to the previous Saturday or Thursday.

It should be noted that, first of all, during the ecumenical Saturdays, all Orthodox Christians who have died from the century are commemorated, and already in the second place, directly our relatives. However, in order to enable people to pray more personally and zealously for their relatives, in addition to commemoration at Matins and Vespers, a great memorial service is also performed. What is the difference between these memorials? If Matins and Vespers are performed according to an exceptional order specially drawn up for these two days and is comprehensive, then during the memorial service, prayers are said that are more general in content and are also used in other circumstances (for example, the canon from ordinary Saturday funeral services). Another important difference is that in the morning the commemoration is performed without specifying specific names, but for all "forefathers, father and brothers ...", and at the memorial service it takes place according to church synodics and personal commemoration books.

Saturdays of Great Lent

Deliberate (special) commemoration of the dead is also performed on Saturdays of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th weeks of Great Lent. These Sabbaths are a kind of replenishment of the fact that there is practically no liturgical commemoration during Lent. The listed Saturdays are also called parent Saturdays, but their rites are not of such a special nature as in the case of Trinity and Meat-Feast Saturdays, therefore the parental Saturdays of Great Lent are not called ecumenical.

Another difference is that on ecumenical Saturdays, the commemoration of all the dead in all the ages of human existence comes to the fore, and on Lenten Saturdays, the main role is still given to prayers for deceased relatives (performed during Matins and Vespers). A separate ecumenical memorial service is not served on this day. Parental Saturdays of Great Lent are distinguished from ecumenical ones by the fact that these days the glorification of the saints is not canceled, and if Saturday coincides with the Annunciation, patronal feast or polyeleos, then the funeral service is not transferred to another day, but simply omitted.

Private parenting days

Some days of commemoration are found only in the practice of the Russian Orthodox Church. These include Dimitrievskaya Saturday, Radonitsa, May 9 (the memory of those killed in the Great Patriotic War) and September 11 (Memorial Day Orthodox warriors, established by decree of Empress Catherine II, is performed irregularly).

Dimitrievskaya Saturday

According to legend, this day was approved by the Right-Believing Prince Dimitry Donskoy on Saturday before the day of memory of his patron saint, the Great Martyr Demetrius of Thessalonica (October 26) - in the year of the Battle of Kulikovo (1380). Then the prince for the first time ordered to serve in the monastery St. Sergius Radonezhsky funeral service in memory of the soldiers who fell on the Kulikovo field.

Over time, the connection of this day with its historical origin has weakened, and today Dimitrievskaya Saturday is a memorial parental Saturday, without a particular correlation with the events of 700 years ago.

Radonitsa

Radonitsa is perhaps the most famous (even in non-church circles) day of commemoration of the dead. On this day, a state holiday is always declared so that all people (both believers and secular) have the opportunity to visit their native graves.

The date of the Radonitsa is a rolling one - depending on the date of Easter. Most often, it is scheduled for Tuesday (if it does not coincide with important holidays) of St. Thomas Week (the second week after Easter).

The establishment of such a special day of remembrance is associated with Great Lent. The fact is that during Lenten weeks very often a deliberate commemoration of the dead (which is always performed on the 3rd, 9th and 40th days) cannot be performed due to the peculiarities of the Lenten liturgical charter. Therefore, by the end of Lent, a lot of unserved requiems accumulate, which are transferred to the first day, when you can perform a full liturgy and memorial service. Such a day is Radonitsa.

Since Radonitsa always coincides with the afterfeast, there are no special prayers for the dead on this day either at the liturgy, or at matins and vespers. Memorial prayers are present only at Midnight Office, and a great memorial service is also served after Vespers.

Superstitions related to death and commemoration

Surprisingly, but true: in the world of victorious science, where people often question all world religions, the so-called folk omens or superstition.

The etymology of the word "superstition" speaks for itself: vain faith, faith in something empty, non-existent.

Since death for any person is a topic surrounded by many secrets and questions, the same number of various superstitions are attracted to it, like a magnet. Thus, numerous prejudices associated with the organization of commemorations are very common. Often a real feast is arranged for the deceased with a large number of various dishes and alcohol. However, church people should understand that the commemoration is organized mainly in order to show mercy to the people who were present at the funeral service. The living need food, but the soul of the deceased needs prayers.

Absolutely meaningless and all signs related directly to memorial meal. Some especially superstitious people believe that wake food should not be taken home because it "possesses negative energy." This statement is an unfounded superstition. The food was prepared in order to feed people, and if it remains, it can and should be distributed.

A lot of superstitions are associated with the preparation for the funeral. Often one has to observe how mirrors are hung in the house (so as not to accidentally see the dead person in them), the chairs on which the coffin stood are turned over (so that the living do not sit on them) and many similar things. As believing Christians, we must in every possible way eradicate such pagan prejudices in the surrounding society, explain to people the complete senselessness of such actions.

Absurd and at the same time ineradicable is the tradition of bringing food or sweets to the cemetery, as well as leaving a glass of vodka “for the dead”. Is it worth talking about all the absurdity of such customs? The soul, which no longer has a material shell, does not need anything material, including food. To honor the memory of our loved ones, we can take care of their graves, keeping them clean and tidy. We can bring flowers and wreaths to the cemetery. But the most important thing we can do is to minister over the grave of a lithium, to ask the Lord to remember the deceased.

There is no place for magic in Christianity. The purpose of the Christian life is to purify one's own soul. The purpose of his death is to unite with God in the Kingdom of Heaven. Unlike everyday superstitions and prejudices, every religious action has a lofty goal. We must firmly remember this and distinguish one from the other.

Dates of Parental Saturdays and Days of Remembrance for the Dead in 2019

In the Orthodox calendar, there are many dates and memorable events that cannot be attributed to holidays, but, nevertheless, believers, paying tribute to traditions, strictly observe them.

These dates include parental Saturdays - the days when it is supposed to visit the graves of deceased relatives, pray at home or in the temple and light a candle for the repose of their souls. Moreover, the term “parental” does not always mean that only parents should be honored. It can be any relatives, members of the family, and even, alas, children who have died untimely.

Almost all parental Saturdays are not tied to any specific date, because everything except Dmitrievskaya and Victory Day depend on Easter, and Easter is a moving holiday. Therefore, all funeral days must be checked against church calendar because they are different every year. And only May 9 is the only commemoration day with a fixed non-transferable date. Of course, this is not always Saturday, but memorial services are always held in churches on this day in honor of fallen soldiers, officers and civilians.

Dates of Parents' Saturdays and Memorial Days

2018

The dead are commemorated three times during Lent. So in 2018 it was

• February 10 - meat-fare parental Saturday

Saturdays of Great Lent

• March, 3rd
• 10th of March
• March 17

Other memorial days

• May 9 (set date)
• April 17 (also not Saturday, but the day of remembrance on Radonitsa)
• May 26 - Trinity Saturday
• November 3 - Dimitreiv Saturday

2019

• March 4

Saturdays of Great Lent

• March 23
• March 30
• April 6

Other memorial days

• May 7 - Radonitsa
• May 9 - non-transferable date
• June 15 - Trinity Saturday (Ecumenical Saturday)
• November 2 - Demetrius Saturday

2020

• February 24 - Ecumenical Meat-Feast Saturday

Days of Remembrance for Great Lent

• March 14th
• March 21
• March 28

Other Parent Saturdays

• April 28 - Radonitsa (Ecumenical Saturday)
• May 9 - the traditional day of remembrance with a specific date
• June 6 - Trinity Saturday
• October 31 - Dimitriev parental Saturday

Why are they commemorated on Saturdays?

By old testament Saturday was a day of festive rest, according to the New Testament - from the day of earthly rest, Saturday began to personify the day of joy in the Kingdom of Heaven. This is the day when sins are forgiven and forgiven, and therefore it was Saturday that became the most suitable for commemorating the departed. Of course, these are not all Saturdays in a row, but only those that are associated with some historical events that took place in the annals.

Characteristics of all parent Saturdays

The tradition of "Saturday" commemorations has evolved over the centuries. Each of them has a historical basis. Myasopustnaya and Trinity are called Ecumenical, and the rest are commemoration days. Their difference lies in the historical basis. On Ecumenical Saturdays, not only relatives are commemorated, but also all the deceased Christians who died in different eras.

Meatless Saturday

It falls on the 1st century of the Christian era, when still persecuted Christians commemorated their brothers who suffered for their faith - tortured, executed and not buried as it should be. Meatless Saturday falls before Sunday, when the Orthodox are reminded of and falls a week before the start of Lent. According to legend, at the Last Judgment, every Christian will be rewarded for his earthly deeds, both now living and already dead, and the Church on this day patronizes all the dead and prays for the salvation of their souls.

Trinity Saturday

Pretty too ancient custom, which arose in the era of very early Christianity - in the apostolic age. They commemorated all the departed children of God. Trinity Saturday falls on the eve of the Descent of the Holy Spirit to earth. It is believed that the house-building of a person, in which the deceased also participate, has ended. This is perhaps the most revered Saturday in all Orthodox history. Many legends and superstitions are associated with it, and they all agree on one thing - we pray for the repose of the souls of the dead, and they help us, guide and protect us.

Dimitrievskaya Saturday

This is the last memorial day of the year and was established in the middle of the 16th century. Popular rumor firmly connected this day with the victory in the Battle of Kulikovo, conferring the merit of a memorial day on the right-believing Prince Dmitry Donskoy, as if he had asked Sergius of Radonezh to hold a memorial service for the fallen soldiers.

Whether it is true or not is a moot point, but on this day all the soldiers who have ever died on the battlefields, all those who died for other reasons, are commemorated. In addition, it was set on the eve of the day of the Great Martyr Demetrius of Thessalonica, which became another reason to call the autumn parental Saturday Demetrius.

Radonitsa

This is not Saturday, but Tuesday and is celebrated after Easter week. It turns out that on the 9th day. Easter is a holiday of the living, and it is not supposed to go to the cemetery, but it was necessary for the dead to inform about the resurrection of the Son of God. Therefore, on the 9th day, people went to the cemetery with good news - hence the name - Radonitsa. The funeral service on Radonitsa is not held.

May 9 Victory Day

This is already the latest history and the day of commemoration of the fallen soldiers became quite recently, in 1994. The only day with a fixed non-moving date, regardless of what day of the week it falls on. Litia for the dead are always held in temples.

Parental Saturdays of Great Lent

These memorial days are not ecumenical. The usual daily commemorations are not performed, but the dead are given salvation on the second, third and fourth Saturdays of Great Lent.

This time is not only abstinence from fast food, but also the purification of the soul, thoughts, the time when you need to pray even harder, the time of repentance and doing good. Right now, during the period of spiritual achievement, it is very important to be filled with love not only for those who are now alive, but also for those who have left this world.

So certain days gradually developed, on which it was necessary to remember the dead with prayer.

The Deep Meaning of Parental Saturdays

Worthy to remember those who have gone to another world - this is an expression of love and respect for loved ones. After all, we do not stop loving them even after death, this is the whole essence of Christian teaching - love for one's neighbor - and first of all - for parents.

Respect for father and mother is formed from an early age, and an adult and mature person comes to understand and realize the fifth commandment - "Honor your father and mother."

In other words - respect, honor and love your parents, and your children will also respect and love you. Therefore, first of all, one should remember the deceased parents, and then all the relatives and friends who went to the Kingdom of Heaven.

On ecumenical Saturdays, all the dead are commemorated - acquaintances, strangers, those who died on the battlefields or as a result of the elements or an accident, killed and even missing.

What to do on Parents' Saturdays

It is believed that first of all you need to visit the cemetery - this is not entirely correct. First of all, you need to visit the church, defend the service, read a prayer, put a candle.

And for the souls of the dead, this is much more important than visiting their last earthly refuge. But, of course, it is impossible to completely exclude visiting the cemetery - you need to put the grave in order, sweep or weed, clean the fence and remember a loved one with a kind word.

The meal should be very modest, lean, and it is better to refuse alcohol. In the temples, it is impossible to arrange snacks, and even more so, it is impossible to drink any alcohol. The temple is a place of prayer and reunion with God.

If you can’t visit either the church or the cemetery, then you need to pray at home in front of the icon and photograph of the deceased, but the main thing here is not the surroundings, but the sincerity of the prayer.

How to visit the temple on parental Saturdays

If you want to commemorate deceased relatives, then before the service, you must submit notes to the priest with the names of the deceased. The names are written by those that were given at baptism, always full and in genitive case. If this is your first time coming to such a service, then just ask how and what to do, and either parishioners or ministers will definitely help you.

According to church traditions, the day begins on the evening before, therefore, before parental Saturday, a memorial service is held in the evening, and in the morning - a liturgy for the repose. It is considered right to bring any lenten products to the temple - bread, cereals, wine. Of course, they should not be spoiled or open.

Products are a kind of bloodless sacrifice that should be presented. After the service, the consecrated products are distributed to all who need them. When leaving the service, you can give alms to the poor or donate money for the needs of the temple. It is possible and beneficial to give away unwanted clothes and shoes to the poor. And this is good not only for them, but also for you, your soul and your well-being.

Very often, the days of commemoration of Christians are called "ecumenical Saturdays", which is fundamentally wrong. Despite the fact that these events take place alternately, there is a significant difference between them. Let's try to figure it out.

Parent Saturdays in the Orthodox Christian tradition are known as the days of commemoration of the departed Christians, and above all parents and other relatives.

Russian Orthodox Church identifies five parental Saturdays: meat-fare and Trinity, which are usually called Ecumenical, since these days all the dead Christians are commemorated. And also three Parental Saturdays of Great Lent, when the Orthodox pray only for the repose of their ancestors.

In the sacrament of ecumenical and parental services, an extraordinary sacral meaning is hidden. Offering prayer to all the departed, we do not divide Christians into friends and foes, but show boundless mercy and special Christian unity.

© Sputnik / Kirill Kallinikov

Private Parent Saturdays

There are also so-called private memorial Saturdays in Russian Orthodoxy, which are associated with memorable dates in national history and are celebrated only in our country. There are four in total:

• Commemoration of the deceased soldiers or the day of commemoration of all those who died during the Great Patriotic War- May 9
• Radonitsa or the day of the general church commemoration of the dead - April 17
• The Day of Remembrance of Orthodox Warriors, established by Catherine II - September 11
• Demetrius Saturday or Memorial Day of the Great Martyr Demetrius of Thessalonica - November 3

Parental Saturdays of Great Lent

In March 2018, the Orthodox celebrate three special commemoration days each week of Great Lent. The nearest Parents' Saturday is celebrated on March 17, the fourth week of Great Lent.

On memorial Saturdays, Christian services are held according to a special charter, and after a full Liturgy, ecumenical memorial services are performed.

What to eat on Mother's Saturday

According to tradition, our ancestors on Parental Saturday set the table with kutya - a lean dish of honey and wheat. It is clear that no one uses wheat anymore, so it can be replaced with rice. To prepare kutia, simply boil rice and add honey and sugar syrup to it. The finished dish is allowed to decorate with dried fruits.

What to do on Parents' Saturday

On the next Parents' Saturday, which falls on March 17, you need to visit the graves of relatives and put them in order. In the evening, all Orthodox go to church for a service, where they pray for their departed loved ones and ask God to grant them peace in the next world.

After the service, it is necessary, as far as possible, to distribute alms to those in need. It is believed that in this way a person can remember the deceased loved ones, whom it is not customary to remember in Christianity. These include suicides, abortion victims, or the unbaptized.

What Not to Do on Parents' Saturday

Tears are not welcome on this day, so it is better for believers to refrain from unnecessary grief and simply pray for their relatives.

It is important to remember that Parental Saturday is not a reason for a feast. Alcoholic beverages and lavish "wake" are strictly prohibited.

Refusing to help if you can provide it is strictly condemned.

You can not quarrel, indulge in despondency or raise your voice to anyone. In general, it is useful to adhere to this rule on other days as well.

You can do household chores, but at an easy pace, without straining.