Elder Paisios: On General Prayers for the Dead

- Elder, the dead who do not have people to pray for them, are they helped by those who pray generally for the dead?

- Of course they are helped. When I pray for all the reposed, I see in my sleep my parents, because they are at rest by the prayers I do. Whenever I have a Divine Liturgy, I do a general memorial for all the reposed. If sometimes I do not pray for the reposed, the reposed who are known to me appear before me. One relative of mine, who was killed in the war, I saw in front of me after the Divine Liturgy, during the time of the Memorial Service, because I didn't have him written with the names of the reposed, since he was memorialized during the Proskomide with the other fallen heroes. And you also during the Holy Prothesis, do not only give the names of the sick, but also those of the reposed, because the reposed have great need.

Saturday of Souls

Through the Apostolic Constitutions (Book VIII, ch. 42), the Church of Christ has received the custom to make commemorations for the departed on the third, ninth, and fortieth days after their repose. Since many throughout the ages, because of an untimely death in a faraway place, or other adverse circumstances, have died without being deemed worthy of the appointed memorial services, the divine Fathers, being so moved in their love for man, have decreed that a common memorial be made this day for all pious Orthodox Christians who have reposed from all ages past, so that those who did not have particular memorial services may be included in this common one for all. Also, the Church of Christ teaches us that alms should be given to the poor by the departed one's kinsmen as a memorial for them.

Saturday of Souls Before Pentecost

By Sergei V. Bulgakov

On the Saturday before Pentecost we commemorate all departed pious Christians, with the idea that the occasion of the coming of the Holy Spirit not only consists of the economy of the salvation of man, but that the departed also participate in this salvation. Therefore, the Holy Church, sending up prayers on Pentecost for the enlivening of all the living through the Holy Spirit, petitions for the grace of the Holy Spirit also for the departed, which they were granted while they were still living, and was the source of eternal blessedness, because "all souls are enlivened through the Holy Spirit".

The Significance of Today's Saturday of Souls

Today we remember all pious and Orthodox Christians who have fallen asleep in the Lord, and also recall the dread Day of Judgment. May Christ our God be merciful to them, and to us. 

Two Epistles (Acts 28:1-31, I Thess. 4:13-17) and two Gospels (JN 21:14-25, JN 5:24-30) are appointed to be read at Liturgy. The readings from Acts and the Gospel of St John, which began on Pascha, now come to an end. The book of Acts does not end, as might be expected, with the death of Sts Peter and Paul, but remains open-ended. 

In his article "With all the Saints," Fr Justin Popovich says that the Lives of the Saints are nothing less than a "continuation of the Acts of the Apostles." Just as the book of Acts describes the works of Christ which the Apostles accomplished through Christ, Who was dwelling in them and working through them, the saints also preach the same Gospel, live the same life, manifest the same righteousness, love, and power from on High. As we prepare for the Sunday of All Saints, we are reminded that each of us is called to a life of holiness. 

On this seventh Saturday of Pascha, St John Chrysostom's "Homily on Patience and Gratitude" is appointed to be read in church. It is also prescribed to be read at the funeral service of an Orthodox Christian.