Commemoration of the Reposed in the Orthodox Liturgical Tradition
How can we help our loved ones who have
departed this life? Hieromonk Job (Gumerov) talks about the commemoration of
the dead.
According
to Orthodox teaching, through the prayers of the Church the dead can receive
relief or freedom from their punishments beyond the grave. “Anyone who wishes
to show his love for those who have died and give them real help can do this in
the best way by praying for them, and especially by commemoration at the
Liturgy, when a particle removed [from the prosphora, or communion bread] for
the living and the dead is immersed in the Blood of the Lord with the words, ‘O
Lord, take away the sins of those whom we commemorate here by Thy precious
Blood, through the prayers of Thy saints’” (St. John [Maximovich], Life afer
Death.)
In
keeping with this the Church has established special services:
1. Prayers commemorating the dead at Divine
Liturgy (at the proskomedia, after the sanctification of the Holy Gifts, and at
the litany for the dead).
2. Pannikhidas and litias.
3. Reading of the Psalter.
In order
of significance, the commemoration at the proskomedia and after the
sanctification of the Holy Gifts stands above the rest. The outstanding expert
in Church service rubrics St. Athanasius (Sakharov) writes, “The commemoration
of the living and the reposed at the proskomedia and after the sanctification
of the Gifts, albeit unspoken, for its significance, power, and effectiveness
cannot be compared with any other commemoration prayers—prayers for the living,
Pannikhidas, or any other pious labors in memory of the living or the dead. It
cannot be compared with spoken commemoration at the same Liturgy at the great
and augmented litanies (which are allowed in some places) and at the special
litanies for the reposed” (On the commemoration of the dead according to the
rubrics of the Orthodox Church).
At every
proskomedia, one of the prosphora used in the service (the fifth, in the
Russian practice) is offered particularly for the dead. It is necessary to
regularly give lists of names at the proskomedia. We can also order daily
commemorations at the Liturgy for forty days, a half-year, or a year.
The
Church has established special commemorative Saturdays, which have been named
ancestor Saturdays: Before Meatfare Sunday (that is, before the fast-free
Cheesefare week), before the feast of the Holy Trinity (Pentecost), before the
day of St. Demetrios of Thessalonica, and on the second, third, and fourth
Saturdays of Great Lent. Every Orthodox Christian should strive to fulfill his
duty before his parents and other departed relatives and submit lists of names
at the Liturgy and Pannikhida served on these days. “Pannikhida” (Greek:
pan—“all” and nikh—“night”) literally means “all night service”. This name is
given to the prayer service for the reposed because its composition resembles a
part of the All-Night Vigil service, and also because in the early days of the
Church, during the time of persecutions, it was served at night, like the
All-Night Vigil. Any [Orthodox] person can order a Pannikhida for his departed
relatives. This is most often ordered on days that are special for the reposed
persons (their name days or anniversary of their day of death).
Sometimes
people want to know why we [at Sretenky Monastery] ask not to submit long
lists. This is only because the serving priest’s possibilities are very
limited. He has to commemorate hundreds and hundreds (on feast days over a
thousand) names at the proskomedia, which lasts only 30–40 minutes. During this
time he must also commemorate those names written in the church’s synodic
(commemoration books for the living and the dead). If he were to commemorate
them all at the litany, it would take up a third of the Liturgy, which would
disrupt the good order of the service. Those who wish to commemorate their
relatives can do so themselves during the time that the priest is serving the
proskomedia by reading their own commemoration books. The brother of St. Nikon
(Belyaev), John, when he was a novice with St. Barsanuphius, recalled that in
the Optina Skete of St. John the Forerunner there were huge commemoration books
in which were entered the names of benefactor and their families for many
decades. Strictly according to the rule, in the altar there would be only the
serving priest, a hierodeacon, and a sexton. The elders blessed all the
brothers to read the commemoration books not in the altar but in the church,
while the proskomedia was being served. He writes that earlier he would submit
lists of names, but later he also began reading them during the proskomedia. So
also can any person in church read commemoration lists that were not submitted
due to the large number of names. We have to believe that the merciful Lord,
Who sees our circumstances, will accept this prayerful request for the living
and the dead. We can also read our prayer books while the priest or deacon is
pronouncing the litany for the living and the dead.
From deep
antiquity there has also been the tradition of commemorating at home. Those who
want to fulfill their duty before their reposed relatives can regularly read
the Psalter. Some read a kathisma every day, others with a specific regularity.
The commemoration of the living and the dead is also a part of the Morning
Prayer rule.
Close
relatives of the reposed (especially children and grandchildren, i.e, immediate
family) have the great opportunity to help their departed ancestors—to manifest
fruits of spiritual life (to live in the prayerful experience of the Church,
participate in the holy Sacraments, to live according to Christ’s
commandments). Although our ancestor may not have grown these fruits
themselves, but their children and grandchildren did, they (the departed
ancestors) are participants in these fruits as the root or trunk of the tree.
Just how great this help is even for relatives who lived outside the Church we
know from the letters of St. Ambrose of Optina to Count Alexei P. Tolstoy. A mullah
was baptized in his house church. The great elder wrote on this occasion, “The
baptism of this mullah, the conversion to Christianity of the Lezgin [a nation
in the Caucasus Mountains] Assan, the reception into the Church of an
Abyssinian, and several similar examples has given us the thought that God also
honors various tribes and peoples with various errors relative to the one true
Divinity; because although it happens rarely, from almost all existing tribes
in different times people have converted to true Christianity… This means that
if out of the darkness of impiety one has turned to the Lord, then this is
sufficient for the Lord; and for the sake of this one convert, He will honor
the whole generation [i.e., lineage] that produced him” (Collected Letters
[Moscow, 1995], 7).
“The lot
of the departed is not considered decided until the general Last Judgment.
Until then, we cannot consider anyone as finally judged; and on the basis of
this we pray, convinced in our hope in God’s immeasurable mercy!” (St. Theophan
the Recluse, Collected Letters, v. 6, letter 948).
By Hieromonk Job (Gumerov)
Source: http://www.pravoslavie.ru/101172.html
