In a report at the diocesan meeting of Moscow in 2003, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II noted: “Recently, the veneration of the holy martyr Huar has become more widespread. Chapels are built in his honor, icons are painted. From his life it follows that he had a special grace from God to pray for unbaptized dead people. During the time of militant atheism in our country, many people grew up and died unbaptized, and their believing relatives want to pray for their repose. Such private prayer has never been forbidden. But in church prayer, at divine services, we commemorate only the children of the Church who have communed with her through the Sacrament of Holy Baptism.

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

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

However, it is not the life of the holy martyr Uar that gives grounds for those distortions of Orthodox piety that the Patriarch spoke about. No one prays for the pagans, resorting to the help of the prophet Jonah, although the shipbuilders asked him: rise up and pray to your God, for God save us, let us not perish(Jonah 1, 6).

For this anti-canonical practice, unfortunately, there is a textual basis in the latest editions of the liturgical Menaia.

So, on October 19, two services were given to the martyr Huar - the regular and non-statutory. The first one (pointed to by the Typicon) is composed quite habitually and traditionally. The holy martyr is glorified together with the prophet Joel. The main motive of the divine service can be expressed by the troparion of the canon: give me your prayers US resolution of sins hagiography fix, ware"(Canto 9, p. 469).

The second service - which the Typicon does not mention at all - begins with a rather unconventional and pretentious title: " Another service, vigilant, to the holy martyr Huar, he was already given the grace to pray for the dead Cleopatra's ancestors, who were not able to receive holy Baptism " .

Regarding this name, the following should be noted.

Firstly, not just a service in honor of such and such a saint is presented, as is always the case in the Menaion, but a certain goal is stated, as if the most important task: to glorify Uar precisely as prayer book for the unbaptized "Cleopatra Ancestors".

For comparison, suppose someone wanted to compile a new alternative service "The feast of the Beheading of the honest head of John the Baptist, to whom grace has already been given to heal from a headache"- on the grounds that, they say, the prayer of the Forerunner helps with pain in the head. Or someone would compose a new service "Prelate Nicholas, to him was given the grace of deliverance, to grant the governors an unrighteous death, to accept those who have." Although the Church sings with such words (Akathist, ikos 6th) of the Miracle Worker of Myra, this does not give grounds to make this single episode from the life of St. Nicholas decisive in the content and title of the service to the saint. In the same way, the title of the service should not have impoverished the abundance of gifts of the glorious martyr and miracle worker Uar.

Secondly, it should definitely be said that the name of this second, hazing service contains, if not a direct lie, then an unsubstantiated and unfounded statement: there is no evidence that Blessed Cleopatra (Comm. on the same day, October 19) has relatives were unbaptized. It is likely that a pious and zealous Christian wife was raised by believing Christian parents. Life of St. Uara gives no reason to suspect Cleopatra's relatives of unbelief and paganism. It would be necessary to declare this, having at least some facts testifying to their wickedness.

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

Thirdly, even if we assume that among Cleopatra's relatives there were people who were not baptized and did not believe in Christ, they, by the Providence of God, ended up in a crypt, consecrated by the grace emanating from the relics of St. Ouar: “The earth is on it, your most patient body, wise, lies, divinely sanctified”(Canon, Song of the 9th statutory service, p. 469). God is all-powerful even to resurrect the dead from touching the relics of His saints, as was the case with the holy prophet Elisey: throwing her husband in the tomb of Eliseov, and in the fall, the body of a man is dead, and touched by the bone of Eliseov, and revived, and rose to his feet(2 Kings 13:21).

True, no one has yet come up with the idea of ​​creating a new service “To the prophet Elisha, to him was given the grace to raise the dead to their feet”.

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

Consider the content of the liturgical text hazing services to the martyr Uar according to the Menaion.

The stichera on "Lord, I have called" of small vespers assert about St. Ouar, as if “whose prayers forgive the dead pagans Lord Christ" . « Unfaithfulness the dead are delivered and from the places of hell are freed by the prayers of Uar the martyr " .

From such a more than dubious thesis follows the following first timid petition: “Accept our pity, martyr, and remember in the darkness and canopy of death the sitting condemned, even relatives from us, and pray to the Lord God to fulfill our petitions for them” .

At the Great Vespers in stichera on "Lord, I have cried," this theme is developed with great boldness: “begged Christ God of all to have mercy on our relatives, Faith and Baptism not reached have mercy on them and save our souls" .

At the end of the stichera, there is a "glorifier" of more than half a page, which contains such "real screams": "Remember... Faith and Baptism of the Holy Orthodox did not reach, but tacos in perplexity, as in contradictions, deceived and all-differently fallen, hear, great martyr, real cries, and beg to give forgiveness to those oppressed, and absolution, and deliverance from the sorrowful ” .

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

“…Remember our relatives… alienated by heterodoxy dead, infidels and unbaptized, and pray to Christ God to grant them forgiveness and remission " .

« Even for non-Orthodox pleading who have died for many years ... and now pray diligently, martyr, to deliver from the gates of hell and from the sorrows of liberation intransient, like ... the salvific offspring of not accepting and alienating the Orthodox faith, hasten, therefore, to ask them from Christ God for forgiveness and forgiveness, and great mercy " .

In the "slavnik" the stichera "on the verse" again asserts about Cleopatra that "This takes on its own infidels relatives, by the prayers of the glorious martyr, they were delivered from the bitterness of eternal torment. This gives the compiler of the canon the basis for the prayerful invocation: “In the same way, our parents and neighbors, pityingly, bake even faith and baptism of the saint alienated... ask Christ God to cry for their change, and from the darkness of endless merciful deliverance " .

The verse on the 50th psalm contains a petition: “... deliver our infidels relatives and forefathers and all, we pray for them, from fierce and bitter languor" .

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

“Deliver with your warm prayers from fierce torment infidels ours and unbaptized relatives ... and give them deliverance and great mercy "(Bogorodichen sedalen, c. 479) .

“... Intercede relentlessly for mercy to Your merciful Son and Master, hedgehog have mercy and forgive the sin of heterodoxy dead relative of ours"(Canto 9, p. 484).

Not only Holy Mother of God, but also angelic ranks moving forward to pray for the unbelievers: “Move the face of the holy Powers of Heaven with you to prayer, martyr, and do a miraculous deed ... unfaithfully dead ancestor and hedgehog with them remembered hedgehog to grant them from the Lord forgiveness and great mercy "(Canto 3, p. 478.

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

“For thou hast listened to Thy saints, Lord, have mercy on unfaithful dead, even today we bring Ty to prayer, but for the sake of their petitions, generous non-Orthodox deceased» (Canto 8, p. 483). This petition is noteworthy, since it obliges not one martyr Uar, but a whole council of holy saints of God to ask for the salvation of the unbaptized: “The Lamb of God, having redeemed us with His Most Pure Blood, Hearing the prayer of Feklino and the blessed Gregory, Methodius with many and Macarius receiving petition, and joy, and deliverance malevolent having given to the dead, and Chrysostom to pray for these, write up, accept ubo, Vladyka, with these glorious War and prayers their remembered from us, forgive and have mercy "(Canto 8, p. 483).

Bishop Athanasius (Sakharov) noted that the prayer of St. Gregory the Dialogist for Tsar Trajan and the prayer of St. Methodius of Constantinople with the Father’s Cathedral for Tsar Theophilus are mentioned here - so these were prayers not “for the pagans” or “for heretics”, but “for the king” , according to the apostolic commandment to pray for the king and for all those who are in power(1 Tim. 2:2). The prayers of the rest of the saints of God mentioned in the canon obviously belong to the category of “private”, and not “public”.

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

The service is crowned with stichera “in praise”, where such appeals meet as a refrain:

“... Forgive him for forgiveness who died heterodox» .

“... His prayers send mercy dead in disbelief» .

The last seal of the "praiseful" stichera is a half-page "slavnik" containing, in particular, the following appeals: “... Remember the memories, I will take out our grandfathers and great-grandfathers, and even with them , the trees are anti-Godly buried, the dead are not baptized. For these, therefore, stand before Christ God ... and try to ask them for deliverance from eternal darkness ” .

On Canonical Inadmissibility
church commemoration of non-Orthodox

Canonical Consciousness ancient church absolutely did not allow prayerful communication with heretics, Jews and pagans. Such a ban on prayer communication applied to both the living and the dead. As Archpriest Vladislav Tsypin rightly noted, “deceased Christians remain members of the Church, and therefore the Church lifts up its prayers for them as well as for its living members,” therefore “The Church can, of course, bury only those who belong only to her.”

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

“Let us all pray to Christ, creating memory today from the age of the dead, that I will deliver the eternal fire , in the faith of the deceased, and the hope of eternal life» (Canto 1).

“You see, you see, as if I am your God, who set the limits of life with a righteous judgment, and accept everything into incorruption from aphids, deceased in the hope of eternal resurrection» (Canto 2).

“The ever-present sea of ​​life that swam over Christ, in the incorruptibility of your life, vouchsafe a haven of shelter, Orthodox life fed» (Canto 3).

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

“The ever-burning fire, and the dark darkness, the gnashing of teeth, and the endlessly tormenting worms, and save our Savior from all torment, all true dead» (Canto 5).

“From the ages you have received faithful God, every human race, vouchsafe forever with the servants of Thee to glorify Thee "(Canto 6).

“In Your terrible coming, Bountiful, place Your sheep at the right hand, Orthodox Ty in life served Christ, and reposed in Thee"(Song 7).

“Crushing the shadow of death first, shining like the sun from the tomb, create the sons of your resurrection, Lord of glory, all the dead in faith, for ever"(Canto 8).

“Every age, old men, and young babies, and children, and milk, masculine and feminine, God rest, Thou hast accepted true» (Canto 9).

In the troparia of the Mother of God of this service, in contrast to the haunting service to the martyr Ouar, the Church asks for intercession from the Blessed Virgin Mary only for the faithful: “Jets of a living spring, sealed, appeared to the Virgin Mary, without a husband, for the Lord was born, immortality true give water to drink for ever"(Canto 8).

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

According to the Missal, a commemoration is performed at the proskomedia about everyone in resurrection hope eternal life and Your fellowship with those who have fallen asleep Orthodox» . The order of the Eucharistic canon of the liturgy of St. John Chrysostom contains the following words : “We still bring Thee this verbal service about others in the faith of the dead... and about every righteous Spirit in faith deceased" and also a request: And remember all the dead about the hope of the resurrection eternal life". At the liturgy of St. Basil the Great, the primate prays in this way: “May we find mercy and grace with all the saints who have pleased You from the beginning ... and with every righteous spirit in faith deceased", and finally: And remember all those who have died before about the hope of the resurrection of eternal life» . About unbelievers, neither St. John Chrysostom, nor St. Basil the Great did not offer prayers, remembering the words of the gospel: whoever has faith and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not have faith will be condemned(Mark 16:16).

The Holy Fathers acted in full accordance with the apostolic teaching: What communion with righteousness and lawlessness, or what communion of light with darkness, what agreement of Christ with Belial, or what part will I return with the unfaithful, or what combination of the Church of God with idols?(2 Corinthians 6:14-16).

Metropolitan Macarius (Bulgakov) wrote: “Our prayers can act directly on the souls of the deceased, If only they died in the right faith and with true repentance, i.e. in communion with the Church and with the Lord Jesus: because in this case, despite the apparent distance from us, they continue to belong with us to the same body of Christ. He quotes from Rule VII, 5 Ecumenical Council: « There is a sin unto death when some, sinning, remain uncorrected, and ... cruelly rise up for piety and truth ... in such people there is no Lord God, unless they humble themselves and become sober from their fall". In this regard, Vladyka Macarius remarks: “Those who die in mortal sins, in impenitence and out of communion with the Church are not honored with her prayers, according to this apostolic commandment.”

The rulings of the Local Council of Laodicea expressly forbid prayer for living heretics: It is not proper to pray with a heretic or a renegade» (Rule 33). " Should not accept holiday gifts sent from Jews or heretics, below celebrate with them» (Rule 37). The same Council of Laodicea forbids members of the Church to pray for the dead buried in non-Orthodox cemeteries: “ To the cemeteries of all heretics, or to the so-called martyr places among them, may the churchmen not be allowed to go for prayer, or for healing. And those who walk, if they are faithful, be deprived of the fellowship of the Church for some time» (Rule 9). In interpreting this Canon, Bishop Nikodim (Milash) noted: “This Canon of the Council of Laodicea forbids an Orthodox or, as the text says “church”, anyone belonging to the Church, to visit such heretical places for the sake of prayer and worship, since otherwise it is possible be suspected of being prone to this or that heresy and not be considered Orthodox by conviction.

In the light of this, the ancient and widespread tradition of separating Orthodox cemeteries from others - German, Tatar, Jewish, Armenian - becomes clear. After all prayer for the dead in cemetery churches and chapels, according to the Service Book, about « lying here and everywhere Orthodox» . Per "Here lying Gentiles" The church does not pray.

Likewise, the Church does not pray for suicides. rule Saint Timothy of Alexandria, given in the Book of Rules, forbids the church commemoration of those persons who “he will raise his hands on himself or throw himself down from a height”: “About such an offering is not befitting, for there is a suicide”(Answer 14). Saint Timothy even warns the presbyter that such cases “must certainly test with all diligence, lest it fall under condemnation”.

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

Church canonical Rules do not allow the opportunity to pray for heretics and pagans, but declare them anathema and thereby deprive both during life and after death of prayerful communion with the Cathedral Apostolic Church.

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

Blessed Augustine wrote: “There should be no doubt that the prayers of St. Churches, saving sacrifices and alms benefit the dead, but only those who before death lived in such a way that after death all this could be useful to them. For for those who have lost faith aided by love, and without communion in the sacraments in vain neighbors do deeds of that piety, which they did not have in themselves when they were here, not accepting or in vain accepting the grace of God and hoarding for themselves not mercy, but wrath. So, they do not acquire new merit for the dead when they do something good for them known, but only derive consequences from the beginnings they have previously laid down.

In the Russian Orthodox Church, the Holy Synod for the first time allowed in 1797 Orthodox priests, accompanied in certain cases by the body of the deceased non-Orthodox, to confine themselves only to singing Trisagion. The "Handbook of the clergy" states: " Forbidden burial of infidels according to the rite of the Orthodox Church; but if a non-Christian of the Christian confession dies and “there is no priest or pastor of either the confession to which the deceased belonged or another, then the priest of the Orthodox confession is obliged to lead the corpse from the place to the cemetery according to the rules indicated in the code of church laws,” according to which the priest should the deceased „“ to escort from the place to the cemetery in robes and stole and lower it into the ground while singing the verse: Holy God"(Decree of the Holy Synod of August 24, 1797)" .

St. Philaret of Moscow remarks in this connection: “According to the rules of the Church, it would be fair if the Holy Synod did not allow this. In allowing this, he used indulgence and showed respect to the soul, which bears the seal of baptism in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. There is no right to demand more.”

The handbook also explains the following: Obligation for an Orthodox priest to bury a non-Christian of the Christian confession is conditioned by the absence of the spiritual person of other Christian confessions, which the Orthodox priest must be convinced of before he fulfills the request for the burial of a non-Christian (Tserkovnyi vestnik. 1906, 20).

Holy Synod in the decision of March 10-15, 1847, it was decided: 1) at the burial of military officials Roman Catholic, Lutheran and Reformed confessions Orthodox clergy may, by invitation, perform only that, which is said in the decree of the Holy Synod on August 24. 1797 (escort to the cemetery with singing Trisagion. - holy. K.B.); 2) Orthodox clergy has no right to sing those who died according to the rank of the Orthodox Church; 3) the body of a deceased non-Christian confession cannot be brought before burial to the Orthodox Church; 4) regimental Orthodox clergy for such ranks cannot perform house requiems and include them in the church commemoration(Case of the Archives of the Holy Synod of 1847, 2513)" .

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

In the very acceptance of this rite, it is impossible not to see a departure from the patristic tradition. This innovation was carried out among the Greeks in parallel with the adoption of the new, published in Athens in 1864, the so-called "Typicon of the Great Church of Constantinople", the essence of which was to reform and reduce the statutory worship. The spirit of modernism, which is shaking the foundations of Orthodoxy, urged to compose similar rites in the Russian Orthodox Church. As noted by Archpriest Gennady Nefedov, “just before the revolution, the Petrograd Synodal Printing House printed a special pamphlet in Slavic font “The service of the deceased non-Orthodox”. This rite is also indicated to be performed instead of a memorial service, with the omission of the prokimen, the Apostle and the Gospel.

This “offering of the non-Orthodox dead” itself appeared in our Church as a manifestation of the revolutionary-democratic and renovationist mentality that captivated the minds of other theologians and clergy at the beginning of the 20th century. His text cannot be justified from the ecclesiastical canonical standpoint. The text of this "Chinese Order" in the Ribbon contains a number of absurdities.

So, for example, at the beginning of the Order it says: "For some reason blessed guilt, it will be fitting for an Orthodox priest to bury the body of the deceased non-Orthodox» . We have already shown above that church canons are no "Blessed Guilt" are not allowed here.

After the usual prayerful beginning, the "Application" cites Psalm 87, which contains, in particular, the following words: The food is to tell who is in the tomb, Your mercy, and Your truth in perdition; food will be known in darkness, your wonders, and your righteousness in the land of oblivion(Ps. 87:12-13). If you clarify that the Church Slavonic word food means “is it really”, the Psalm will become a rebuke to those who read it over the non-Orthodox dead.

This is followed by Psalm 119, which sings walking in the law of the Lord(Ps. 118:1). St. Theophan the Recluse, in his interpretation of this Psalm, cites the patristic judgment: “Not those blessed who stain themselves with sin in the corruption of the age, but those who blameless in the way, and walk in the law of the Lord." .

In fairness, it should be noted that in the editions of the Trebnik of the last ten or fifteen years, this "Ordinance" is no longer printed.

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

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

“Let us ask if all those who are in hell can be delivered through our prayers? The Church prays for all the dead, but only the dead in true faith will surely be delivered from the torments of hell. The soul, while in the body, is obliged to take care of its future life itself, must earn it so that after the transition to the afterlife, the intercession of the living could bring relief and salvation to it.

“The sins that constitute blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, that is disbelief, bitterness, apostasy, impenitence, and the like, make a man eternally lost, and so dead the intercession of the Church and not alive will not help, because they lived and died out of communion with the Church. yes about those Church already and does not pray» .

Here the author obviously has in mind the words of the Gospel: If he speaks a word against the Son of man, he will be released to him; and whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be released to him either in this age or in the next(Matthew 12:32). From these words of the Savior, many naturally concluded that, in principle, remission of sins is possible even after the death of the sinner. Metropolitan Macarius (Bulgakov) remarks in this connection: About those who died with blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, or, which is the same, in mortal sin, and unrepentant The church does not pray, and that is why, as the Savior said, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be released to a person either in this age or in the next.

Reverend Theodore the Studite did not allow open commemoration at the liturgy of the departed iconoclast heretics.

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

Blessed Augustine: "The whole Church observes this, as given from the Fathers, so that pray for those who died in the communion of the body and blood of Christ when they are remembered in due time at the very sacrifice.

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

Saint John of Damascus: “The mystics and self-beholders of the Word, who conquered the circle of the earth, the disciples and divine Apostles of the Savior, not without reason, not in vain and not without benefit, established to perform with terrible, pure and life-giving mysteries commemoration of the faithful dead» .

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

On the commemoration of the non-Orthodox
in home prayer

In the words we cited at the beginning His Holiness Patriarch Alexy at the Moscow diocesan meeting in 2003, it was noted that only private, home prayer is allowed and has always been allowed for the unbaptized, but "at the service we commemorate only the children of the Church who have communed with it through the Sacrament of Holy Baptism" . This division into ecclesiastical and private prayer is essential.

New Martyr Athanasius (Sakharov), Bishop of Kovrov, compiled the fundamental work “On the Commemoration of the Dead According to the Rules of the Orthodox Church.” In the section “Canon to the Martyr Ouar on deliverance from the torment of the non-belief of the dead,” he writes: “Ancient Russia, with all the severity of its attitude towards the dead, found it possible to pray not only for the conversion of the living to the true faith, but also for deliverance from the torment of the non-belief of the dead. At the same time, she resorted to the intercession of the holy martyr Huar. In the old canons there is a special canon for this case, completely different from the canon found in the October Menaion under the 19th day.

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

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

So, in a church assembly headed by a priest or bishop, there is no way to legally pray for the unbaptized (as well as for non-Orthodox and suicides). Let us note that the treatise of Bishop Athanasius deals with both the statutory divine service and the services according to the Trebnik (the service of the funeral service, panikhida). At the same time, in the first three chapters there is no mention of the service to the martyr Uar. It is noteworthy that Vladyka himself writes at the beginning of Chapter IV: “We have touched all various cases when the Holy Church permits or herself calls, sometimes strenuously calls to prayer for the departed. But all the hitherto listed cases of commemoration of the dead are performed with the priest. Thus, the rite of the vigilant hazing service to the martyr Huar, which we have considered, cannot be recognized either by the Orthodox liturgical text or the rite of the Orthodox Treasury.

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

Reverend Theodore the Studite found it possible for such people to commemorate only secretly: “is it only every in your soul prays for such and does alms for them.”

Venerable Elder Lev of Optina, not allowing church prayers for those who died outside the Church (suicides, unbaptized, heretics), he bequeathed to pray for them in private like this: “Seek, Lord, the lost soul of my father: if it is possible to eat, have mercy. Your destinies are unsearchable. Do not put this prayer of mine in sin, but Thy holy will be done.

Venerable Elder Ambrose of Optina wrote to one nun: church rules commemorate a suicide should not be in church and sister and family can pray for him secretly how Elder Leonid allowed Pavel Tambovtsev to pray for his parent. Write out this prayer... and give it to the unfortunate relatives. We know many examples that the prayer transmitted by the elder Leonid calmed and comforted many and turned out to be valid before the Lord.

The testimonies of the Holy Fathers we have cited force us, in full agreement with the words of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II, to raise in our Church the question of abolishing from the annual liturgical circle the hazing vigil service to the martyr Huar, which is not provided for by the Typicon, as contrary to canonical church norms.

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

LITERATURE

1. Ambrose Optinsky, Rev. Collection of letters to monastics. Issue. II. Sergiev Posad, 1909.

2. Athanasius (Sakharov), Bishop. On the commemoration of the dead according to the Charter of the Orthodox Church. SPb., 1995.

3. Bulgakov S.N. Handbook for a clergyman. M.: 1993.

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

5. Journal of the Moscow Patriarchy. 2004, no. 2.

6. Macarius (Bulgakov), Met. Orthodox dogmatic theology. T. II. SPb., 1857.

7. Menaion. October. M.: Ed. Moscow Patriarchy, 1980.

8. Mitrofan, monk. Afterlife. SPb., 1897; Kiev, 1992.

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

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

11. Missal. M.: Ed. Moscow Patriarchy, 1977.

12. Trebnik. Part 3. M.: Ed. Moscow Patriarchy, 1984.

13. Theodore Studite, Rev. Creations. T. II. SPb., 1908.

14. Theophan the Recluse, St. Interpretation of Psalm 118. M., 1891.

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

The prayer for the unbaptized is based on an incident that happened in Optina Hermitage. One day, a disciple in inconsolable grief about his dead suicidal father turned to the Optina Elder Leonid (in schema Leo, who died in 1841), asking if it was possible to pray for him and how. To which the elder replied: Surrender both yourself and the fate of the parent to the will of the Lord, all-wise and all-powerful. Pray to the Blessed Creator, thereby fulfilling the duty of love and the duties of filial, in the spirit of the virtuous and wise, as follows:

Seek, O Lord, the lost soul of my father: if it is possible to eat, have mercy! Your destinies are unsearchable. Do not put me in the sin of this prayer of mine. But may Thy holy will be done.

This prayer can pray at home about relatives who arbitrarily took their own lives, but given the certain spiritual danger described earlier, in order to perform a home prayer, it is necessary to take a blessing from the priest.

From the patristic heritage, there are cases when, through the intense prayer of loved ones, the fate of the souls of suicides was alleviated, but in order to achieve this, it is necessary to accomplish a prayerful feat.

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

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

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

Prayer to the Holy Martyr Uar

O holy martyr Uare, venerable, with zeal for the Lord Christ we inflame, Thou didst confess the Heavenly King before the tormentor, and Thou didst suffer earnestly for Him, and now the Church honors thee, As we glorify Him from the Lord Christ with the glory of Heaven, even as a gift to you, the grace of Nemune commanded and now stand before Him with the Angels, and rejoice in the Highest, and see clearly the Holy Trinity, and enjoy the light of the Infinite Radiance, remember our relatives and languor, who died in ungodliness, accept our petition, and like Cleopatra, the unfaithful generation of your prayers from eternal torment freed you , so remember the pilgrimages buried contrary to God, who died unbaptized, trying to ask Him for deliverance from eternal darkness, so that with one mouth and one heart we will praise the most merciful Creator forever and ever. Amen.

Cold does not create the truth of God

I myself grew up in an environment where there were no believers, literally none! Only my nanny went to church, but no one took this nanny seriously. After the death of my parents, I was baptized and did not even ask the question: is it possible to pray for the unbaptized dead? My parents were baptized, but I knew that they were just as unbelieving as their unbaptized friends. And the second - the same good people as my parents! How could a property, in the presence of which, so to speak, the heart of my parents did not participate, could make their afterlife brighter than those of friends who did not possess this property? They explained to me that notes cannot be submitted for the unbaptized, and I immediately understood this (I remember how I immediately accepted it), but in my prayer for the dear deceased unbelievers, I never made a distinction: baptized or not.

A mystery without hope

The Church teaches that the souls of the dead need our prayers. The Last Judgment differs from the so-called private judgment on the soul of a deceased person in that it Last Judgment her fate could get better- it can be "prayed". An impression from the period of my neophyte life stuck in my memory: the story of the mother of a priest about her friend, whose son committed suicide. Burdened with such terrible grief, the woman prayed tirelessly for her son for twenty whole years, and one day her relatives heard her exclaim in her room: “She prayed!” I thought then: “How does she know that everything is all right now? She only felt that it became easy on her soul. And then he thought: “And how else could she be notified? Why not trust her?" This story and my confidence in it often came to my mind later on, and I came to the conclusion that if the soul of a suicide can be prayed for, then it should be even more so for the souls of the unbaptized, as I thought.

The most famous case of the effectiveness of prayer for the deceased unbaptized is found in various books, is mentioned in various teachings and in the Synaxari of the Meat-Feast Sabbath. It is also cited by Father Seraphim Rose, who is distinguished by strict exactingness, in the book “The Soul After Death” (The Offering of an Orthodox American. Collection of Works of Father Seraphim Platinsky. M., 2008. P. 196). We are talking about how St. Gregory the Dialogist was heard in prayer for the soul of Emperor Trajan. The saint was touched by Trajan's good deed and prayed with tears for the pagan emperor, so that his life says that Trajan was (as if in hindsight) "baptized with the tears" of a prayer book. It is worth remembering, however, that St. Gregory was told at the same time: “Do not ask for any other pagan!”. From what? - it's worth thinking about. But be that as it may, there is no reason not to trust the above-mentioned story about St. Gregory and Emperor Trajan. “Although this is a rare case,” comments Hieromonk Seraphim (Rose), “but it gives hope to those whose loved ones died outside the faith.”

The bitterness of experiencing for loved ones who did not accept Christ has the ultimate expression in the Apostle Paul in his epistle to the Romans: “I speak the truth in Christ, I do not lie, my conscience testifies to me in the Holy Spirit, that great sorrow for me and unceasing torment to my heart: I desired I would myself be excommunicated from Christ for my brothers, my relatives according to the flesh ”(Rom. 9.1-3) - if only they were saved. It happens that in prayer for an unbelieving, non-church person dear to you, you want to exclaim: “Lord! You know him! Isn't this, and this, and this not from You with him, precious before You? You ask for his conversion, but he dies just like that, a side of the Church, and sometimes even unbaptized. And now what?

Martyr War

Saint Ouar was an officer in the Roman army, the head of one of the cohorts stationed in Alexandria. He suffered for Christ in 307 AD. The tormentors threw the body of Uar into the place where they dumped the corpses of animals. A pious widow named Cleopatra found his body and, with the help of slaves, brought it to her house, where she buried it. A few years later, when the persecution subsided, Cleopatra decided to return to her homeland, to Palestine. Under the pretext that she was carrying out the body of her husband, a military leader, she carried out the body of the holy martyr Huar. She did not want the Alexandrian Christians to resist, so she did so. At home, in the village of Edra, not far from Tabor, Cleopatra re-buried the holy remains in the same tomb where her ancestors were buried. Every day she came to the tomb, put candles and burned incense. Following Cleopatra, her countrymen began to venerate the tomb of the martyr Uar and, through prayers to him, receive healing for themselves and their loved ones. The only son of Cleopatra, John, reached the age of 17 and was supposed, under the patronage arranged by his mother, to receive a good place in the imperial army. At the same time, the widow was busy building a temple over the tomb of Saint Ouar and decided not to send her son to the army until the construction was completed. After the consecration of the built temple and the celebration of the first liturgy in it, Cleopatra fell down at the tomb with an ardent prayer to the saint for the upcoming career of her son. Then she arranged a rich feast and served the guests herself. During the feast, John suddenly fell ill and died at night. The inconsolable widow rushed to the tomb of the holy martyr Uar with bitter reproaches, and right at the tomb, from fatigue and great sorrow, she fell asleep for a short time. “In a dream, Saint Ouar appeared before her, holding her son by the hand; both of them were as bright as the sun and their clothes were whiter than snow; they had golden belts and crowns on their heads, beauty inexpressible,” says Dimitry of Rostov. In response to reproaches, the martyr Ouar told the widow that he had begged forgiveness of sins for her relatives, with whom she laid him in the tomb; her son was taken into the heavenly host ...

After spending another seven years in service at the tomb of the holy martyr, in which she also buried her son, Cleopatra reposed in the Lord.

Such, in the briefest summary, is the life of the holy martyr Uar and the pious Cleopatra. Based on the fact that Saint Ouar begged forgiveness of sins for Cleopatra's relatives, many of whom, obviously, could not be Christians, according to the established church tradition, it is believed that this saint is endowed with special grace to pray for those who died unbaptized. The canon to the holy martyr Uar in the "Green Menaion" is permeated mainly with this thought.

Comfort experience

For many years, from a sad occasion to a sad occasion, I happen to be at a prayer service to the holy martyr Huar in the church Life-Giving Trinity on Pyatnitskaya street. This temple is visible in the distance to the left, as soon as you get off at Pyatnitskaya from the Novokuznetskaya metro station. This is the only place in Moscow where a moleben to the martyr Uar, with an earnest petition for the repose of unbaptized relatives and "knowns", is served rigorously every Saturday after the liturgy; it begins, therefore, between half past nine and nine in the morning.

There are priests who are categorically negative about such a prayer service, and it cannot be said that they have no reason for this - see below. On the contrary, there are inspired admirers of the martyr Uar and ardent prayer books for those who died outside the body of Christ. There are also those who treat this issue benevolently and judiciously: recognizing the tradition and urgent need of Orthodox believers in turning to the martyr Huar, they eschew any inspired excess in this prayer work.

According to the former, what is acquired in prayer to St. Huaru consolation does not mean anything! You never know, they say, from where we can get consolation for our imperfect feelings, it quite happens “from the left”. In the abstract, this remark is true. But there is a certain “quality” of spiritual comfort, familiar to every church believer, in which, it seems to me, it is hardly possible to make a mistake: purity, confirmed by experience, do not fake! For those who are negatively inclined, of course, this is not an argument, but, thank God, in Orthodoxy one can look differently and remain faithful to what is verified by the heart.

A lot of people gather for a prayer service, however, it happens in different ways: sometimes not so much, and sometimes it’s crowded. There are always people at the same time, from the mere sight of which the heart bleeds, you can’t say otherwise. Dejected, pale, weighed down by inescapable bitterness. I remember one time in particular. There were probably thirty people in attendance. And such a general feeling was noticeable before the prayer service, as if each of the gathered dear to him deceased person either ended his life by suicide, or the Church blasphemed with all his might. It seemed that in what hung in the air, one could simply “burn out”. A prayer service began, familiar petitions, exclamations - and slowly it began to become different ... nothing special, no sudden "airing", but just differently, easier. And then even easier and more. And suddenly it became, in the end, quite easy, joyful! I looked at the faces around me: different faces! It only happens in the Church. Only with the living communion of the Church Militant with the Church Triumphant is such an inconspicuous and such a sure victory over the “prince of the power of the air” possible.

living testimony

N.A., a parishioner of one of the Moscow churches, a middle-aged woman who came to the faith in the early 1980s, when her youngest son Andryusha was four years old, a little more, tells about the victory of St. Huar “in the air”. He kept getting sick, coughing all the time, nothing helped, and one good friend who became a priest told his mother: “You try everything folk remedies. Try this too: give communion to Andryusha. And try to take communion more often, once a week.” The "remedy" helped, the child recovered, and the mother came to faith. And then she went to work in the Church. It grieved her that her husband remained unbelieving. And there's nothing to be done: respect supposedly his free choice. What about children? And he himself? ON THE. did not want to calm down, but no one could help her.

It's been about a year since N.A. turned to the faith, and then one priest blessed her to pray for the conversion of her husband to the martyr Ouar: to read the canons to him, both life, and the one about the deceased unbaptized (there was, of course, for whom to pray). Church literature was then so bad that it is even hard to imagine now. ON THE. rewrote the canons from the pre-revolutionary menaia, and began to read them every day.

Great Lent soon began. ON THE. already knew about possible temptations, and, indeed, strangers on the streets of Moscow began to deliver them to her this way and that way. Drunkards climbed, for example, sometimes rude, sometimes with hugs. And suddenly - calm. Canons N.A. she reads, but nothing “such” happens, although she has already read it twenty times in the “calm”. She says to herself: “Why am I talking? Maybe I'm already reading in vain, since nothing happens? That same evening she regretted her careless question. Andryusha suddenly woke up, jumped up on his bed and shouted: “Open, open the window as soon as possible - such a stench! such a stink!" The daughter ran in from the next room, opened the window, although neither she nor N.A. did not smell any bad smell. Felt only the five-year-old Andryusha. He sat down on the bed and says: “Here - he pointed to his left - a small “he” appeared, nasty and as if in a crown, but this is not a crown at all. And then - he pointed opposite - the martyr Uar appeared (although Andryusha had not heard from his mother about Uar), and rays emanated from him, which began to fall into "that one." "That" wriggled, wriggled, but the beam suddenly hit, and then "he" burst, and it smelled bad, very bad! Mom did not immediately calm him down, finally, the boy fell asleep soundly, and when he woke up the next morning, he immediately said: “What a nasty dream I had last night!” We would not call it that, but it was difficult for a child!

Husband N.A. in the same year he was baptized, and after a while, in an incurable illness, he received his martyr's crown.

Why so strict?

At the prayer service to the martyr Huar in the church on Pyatnitskaya Street N.A. does not happen, but he will not say a bad word about that prayer service. She was blessed to read the canons to the martyr Uar only in private, and she reads in private. It must be said that the Monk Confessor Saint Athanasius (Sakharov) in his well-known book “On the Commemoration of the Dead According to the Charter of the Orthodox Church” writes about prayer for the unbaptized only in Chapter 4 “Commemoration of the Dead at Home Prayer”, in the section “Commemoration at Home Prayer non-Orthodox”, as well as in the next section “Canon to the Martyr Uar on deliverance from the torment of the non-Christian of the dead”, where, by the way, it is also said that the tradition of turning to the martyr Uar with a prayer for the unbaptized dead is a very ancient tradition. Like St. Athanasius, many pastors consider it permissible only to pray in private for those who were outside the Church. Why so strict?

Think about it and ask yourself: “What does strict mean? What would you like? Are you forbidden to go to the Huaru prayer service on Pyatnitskaya? Not prohibited. Priests say just what they think, they think the way they think. Would you like to have a prayer service to the martyr Uar in every church? So it's you who "build" everyone internally. And the Church holds on to freedom, goodwill and sobriety. This is not about indifference to the fate of those who died unbaptized. It is only about the fact that for those who make up the body of Christ the most precious thing is Christ. Imagine with what a "justified feeling of indignation" those whom Christ called "the dead" learned that the son did not come to his father's funeral! And if he came, he would sincerely forget Christ. So here. Extra sincere bitterness about those who are indifferent to Christ, contributes to the development of feelings, behind which faith will begin to double ... Scratch, and not faith anymore, but humanism ... Even in compassion for the unfortunate, you can lose Christ Himself. Do you remember? “You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have Me” (Matthew 26:11). And even more so, you can lose Him in thoughts about the beyond, in desires related to the unknown, if in these thoughts and these desires you forget about faith, and indulge in compassion alone.

From a humanistic point of view, there is nothing higher than compassion, and it should be - for everyone ... But if it is "higher" than Christ (for example, as in Ivan Karamazov - in the chapter "Riot"), then it becomes untrue and fraught with disastrous. Compassion Radishchev (his look "around") served as the seed of the revolution. Through compassion, Prince Myshkin died and contributed significantly, albeit involuntarily, to the deaths of other heroes of the novel. Compassion is one of the best feelings, and it would be insulting to say that one should not “succumb” to it. But all too often, strong sincere feelings are the very rivers and the very winds that “lean” on the house of our faith.

Another thing is heartache for a dear person, living or deceased, pain that you can present in prayer to God. The faith of this person or his unbelief, his estrangement from the Church is the secret of his heart, known only to the One Who knows the measure of our cunning and our truth. But if you yourself do not value your belonging to the Church, if you do not feel like a member of it, if you do not notice the qualitative difference in being baptized or not being baptized, this does not mean that there is no such difference, and that you can stray into a general lad ("the main thing is to be a good man”) and almost demand from God that He arrange everything to satisfy your “good feelings”. He won't do that. Bewilderment and bitterness (sometimes to the point of resentment) - this is all from unbelief, from the inability to give God that which is only in His control. And you "shut your door and pray to your Father who is in the secret." And He will reward you with silence.

inexplicable joy

We meet different people in life. Among them there are those whom we remember with special gratitude and special warmth. I had a friend at work, a little older than me, who in two months, “out of the blue”, died suddenly of cancer, and that was already twenty years old. She is buried in the Donskoy cemetery, and when I am there, I definitely go to her. And as soon as I find myself on her grave, I feel (almost always like this) - joyfully! I, so to speak, "can not do anything." In this Elena was ... irresistible friendliness. She will say cheerfully to the student: “What did you write to me here?” and show him his wild stupidity. And he will send it, and put a deuce, without succumbing to anything. And the friendliness will be preserved to the fullest. Everyone loved her. And suddenly the Lord took it. As soon as she (at the end of "perestroika") began to be interested in religion, to read books, and she died unbaptized. And, although I didn’t doubt for a second and don’t doubt her bright afterlife, and with whom (besides my parents) I would like to meet “there”, it’s with her, but I remember her one of the first when I turn to Saint Huar. And I feel that this is so necessary, this is so right, and this is more true than my (however reliable for me) impressions.

Trust in a saint

The point is not only that everything should be right and that everything should be done - in relation to people dear to us - that can be done by us. In Christ Jesus "has power", according to the words of the Apostle Paul, only "faith working through love" (Gal.5.6). Love for the deceased, dear to us, does not allow us to calm down and, so to speak, to leave "mechanically" his fate to God, we do everything that can be done by us from the heart. And how good it is that there is a saint to whom our petition can be “entrusted”! how good it is that there is a church tradition that allows us to resolve such a difficult and so touching question!

For the sake of truth, one cannot fail to say that among the zealots of the purity of the Orthodox faith, there are those who deny not only the legitimacy of the prayer service on Pyatnitskaya Street, but also the very appeal to the martyr Huar with a prayer for the unbaptized, even to the point of doubting the interpretation of his life. So, the priest Konstantin Bufeev in the article “On hazing service to the martyr Huar” (“ Holy Fire» N12) states that "there is no reason to suspect Cleopatra's relatives of infidelity and paganism." Further, Priest Konstantin proposes to bring episodes from the lives of other saints to the point of absurdity and, for example, compose a service to the prophet Elisha, “ grace was given to him to raise the dead to their feet.” Witty, you will not say anything, and even - poisonously. But, like cold, poisonousness does not create the truth of God. There is also no reason to consider the Cleopatra ancestors as believers in Christ, but there is a tradition of praying to Huaru, and the tradition, as already mentioned, is ancient.

Following it, trusting the Church, trusting the holy martyr, we gain experience that increases faith, for we are not left without certificates. We do not receive any confirmation that now the afterlife of those whom we care for has become bright, but we gain confidence that the Lord has completely taken over our care, and, therefore, everything will be right.

Once a classmate called me, who came from the funeral of her workmate (unbaptized), in a complete decline of feelings, almost in despair - this is how she experienced the unexpected death of her friend (in a car accident). I tell her: “So the church of Cyril and Athanasius is not far from you. There is an icon of the martyr Uar, go and pray to him.” She called me two hours later: the minus of her exclamations changed to a plus. For her, this was the evidence of faith that the apostle John speaks of: “He who believes on the Son of God has the testimony in himself” (1 John 5:10). For me, on the one hand, there was nothing surprising in this, and on the other hand, of course, there was also evidence here, confirmation of what I already knew well. We cannot live without the Church, and we cannot live without communion with each other, which confirms our innermost experience. By the way, in the Church of Saints Cyril and Athanasius (in Afanasvesky Lane not far from Kropotkinskaya), a prayer service to the martyr Uar is performed on Wednesday evening, if there is no pre-holiday evening service.

God is all alive

And everything is alive. I was very fond of taking exams together with that Lena, whom I spoke about above. Each time she told me that she would start the exam herself and added (I remember the gesture with her palm): "It's okay if you're late." And now, at the wall of the Donskoy Monastery, in deep peace, which is so distinctly present in this cemetery, I look at her photograph, and although so many years have passed, I don’t feel at all that I am “very late” ... Here somehow everything is different. The grief was yesterday, but the good is forever.

Many clergy say that any person deserves the attention and protection of the Almighty, whether he is a deeply believing Christian, or not a baptized person at all.

Usually in the church they will not let you pray or order a liturgy for a non-believer or a suicide. But you can pray outside the holy temple for the deceased. Saying a prayer for your deceased loved one You alleviate his suffering and yours.

You can pray for the dead not only to the Saints, but also to the Lord himself, you will be heard in any case. Most often, such prayers are offered to the Holy Martyr Uar.

During his lifetime, Ouar was a cowardly person, he was afraid of pain, he sinned, but secretly believed in the Almighty. He secretly penetrated to the martyrs, who were tortured because of Christ, and helped them.

He even wanted to join their ranks and accept the same torments that they did, but cowardice did not allow him to do this. But at one point he still dared to accept the torment. He died from grievous wounds, in torment, and his body was given over to be torn to pieces.

He was buried by the widow Cleopatra, and began to pray to him every day, then many people began to do the same. Asking for help from the Saint, they received healing, some said that he appeared to them in reality. Many asked him to protect their deceased loved ones who were not Christians, and after dreams of the dead relatives came to these people and thanked them.

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Prayer for the Unbaptized

We all know that it is impossible to pray for people who have not accepted Christ, Orthodoxy, and are not related to the church. It is forbidden to do this in a church, you cannot order a memorial service, you cannot bury the deceased, but you yourself can ask the Almighty, through Saint War, to save the soul of the deceased.

Suicides, as well as unbaptized people, are not buried in church. Suicide is considered a great sin, and it is believed that the person who committed this act went against the Lord.
The text of this prayer is the same as that of the prayer for the unbaptized.

Origin of prayer

His disciple turned to the priest, he asked if he could pray and ask for repose for the soul of his late father, who himself took his own life. To which they answered that he, as a son, should ask for help to his father, he should try to make sure that the soul of his father does not suffer and does not wander around the land that is not at rest.

How to read a prayer correctly?

The soul of a person who during his lifetime was not connected with the Almighty, did not belong to the Orthodox Church, renounced the faith or committed suicide, has no place in Heaven. You cannot send to heaven the soul of someone who during his lifetime was not a believer and did not respect the laws of the church.

But, nevertheless, their relatives and friends pray for these people, who respect the laws of the church and believe in the Lord, will the soul find peace in this case? Simple people can't know the answer to this complex issue. Everything is decided by the Almighty, but no one knows what he will do with the soul.

Praying for the deceased, one should only hope that the Almighty will have mercy on him, repose his soul and save him from eternal torment.

Offer your prayers, ask the Almighty to save your soul from torment, you can use your own words, you can read special prayers, but the most important thing is that your prayers and requests come from the heart, so that you really want to help the deceased.

Before you start reading prayers, it’s best to go to church and talk to the priest, tell him about what kind of person he was during his life, tell him about his sins, about his good deeds, if it’s a suicide, then tell him why the person decided take your own life. Father will help you and tell you how it will be better, tell you how difficult it will be for you, tell you how to do everything right.

About prayer for the unbaptized.

1) Questions are answered by the clergy and teachers of the Kazan Theological Seminary.

About prayer for the unbaptized.

The commemoration of unbaptized people is not performed at the Proskomedia and at public worship.

Unfortunately, very often people come to church and with tears in their eyes ask if it is possible to remember the dead unbaptized relatives. The Church does not pray for the unbaptized, since these people during their lives did not enter the saving fence of the Church. Unbaptized people are dead members cut off from the whole body of the Church. One can only regret them, but it is already impossible to cure them.

One often hears reproaches that the Church acts cruelly towards the dead unbaptized, and among them there are very good and kind people. So what kept good people from becoming members of the Church? Probably, everyone had reasons, but the basis of everything is disbelief in God. And this disbelief, the soul took with it to the afterlife, where it no longer acquires new qualities.

At the same time, the Church does not forbid personal, home prayer for loved ones who died unbaptized, but only at home! Naturally, the one who prays needs to be baptized Orthodox himself and take a blessing from the priest to pray for an unbaptized relative.

The prayer for the unbaptized is based on an incident that happened in Optina Hermitage. One day, a student approached the Opinsky Elder Leonid (+1841) with a question whether it was possible to pray for a dead suicidal father, and how. To which the elder replied: “Surrender both yourself and the fate of the parent to the will of the Lord, all-wise and all-powerful. Pray to the Blessed Creator, thereby fulfilling the duty of love and the duties of sons, in the spirit of the virtuous and wise, as follows: “Seek, Lord, the lost soul of my father: if it is possible to eat, have mercy! Your destinies are unsearchable. Do not put me in the sin of this prayer of mine. But Thy holy will be done. Following the example of this prayer, one can pray for the unbaptized, as well as for non-Orthodox or baptized, but apostates from the faith.

The fact that the unbaptized can receive some relief through prayer is known from the life of St. Macarius of Egypt. One day, Saint Macarius, meeting in the desert the skull of a deceased pagan priest, entered into a conversation with him. The monk prayed very much for the departed, and therefore desired to know the effect of prayers. "When you pray for the dead," answered the skull, "we feel some consolation." This incident gives us hope that our prayers for the unfortunate, who died unbaptized, will bring them some consolation.

We should not forget about such an effective means to alleviate the fate of the dead as alms, which in these cases takes on special significance.

The merciful Lord allowed one of His saints to intercede before Him for the souls of the departed non-Orthodox. This holy martyr Uar, who died for Christ in 307. Once, in a vision to blessed Cleopatra, the saint told her that for her good deeds, he begged God to forgive the sins of all her dead pagan relatives. Since then, Orthodox Christians have been praying to the martyr Uar for intercession before the Lord for their relatives and friends who died unbaptized into the Orthodox faith.

Prayer to the Holy Martyr Uar

Oh, holy martyr Uare, venerable, with zeal for the Mistress of Christ we kindle, you confessed the Heavenly King before the tormentor, and you zealously suffered for Him, and now the Church honors you, as if glorified from the Lord Christ with the glory of Heaven, Who has given you the grace of great boldness to Him, and now stand before Him with the Angels, and rejoice in the Highest, and see clearly the Holy Trinity, and enjoy the light of the Beginning Radiance, remember our relatives and languor, who died in ungodliness, accept our petition, and like Cleopatra, the unfaithful race of Your prayers from eternal torment freed you , so remember the fir-trees buried contrary to God, who died unbaptized, trying to ask them for deliverance from eternal darkness, so that with one mouth and one heart we will praise the Most Merciful Creator forever and ever. Amen.

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2) Priest Valentin Ulyakhin, Doctor of Economics, has been serving in the Church of the Holy Trinity on Pyatnitskaya for many years. This temple is also notable for the fact that every week a prayer service for St. mch. Uaru - prayers are raised to the Lord for the dearest who died unbaptized. It is hard to imagine how heavy the burden of human grief rests on the shoulders of a priest. But Father Valentin has an affectionate, encouraging word for everyone.

In the Holy Trinity Church on Pyatnitskaya Street in Moscow there is an icon of the martyr Uara, where every Saturday they pray for relief from the fate of the dead unbaptized, people come from afar, from the outskirts of vast Russia, because this is the only church in Moscow where, with the blessing of His Holiness the Patriarch, a prayer service to the martyr is performed Huaru. There is a canon to the martyr Uaru, there are prayers that have their own history. There are people who doubt the possibility of praying for the unbaptized. Moreover, sometimes one can come across in the press the opinion that it is impossible in any case to pray for the unbaptized. From a formal point of view, we cannot and should not pray for the unbaptized, we can neither sing a funeral service, nor commemorate them at requiems, and in no case commemorate them at a proskomedia. But surprisingly, in the Sacred Tradition, the life of the martyr Uar nevertheless gives such an opportunity to pray to Uar for the unbaptized.

The relics of Uar were found by a certain lady Cleopatra, who built a temple over his relics and prayed for her unbaptized dead son, and the Lord Himself came to her along with Uar, thus on a mystical level it was certified that her prayer reached the Lord, and the Lord eased the fate her unbaptized son.

They often come to the Trinity Church to pray for the unbaptized, and they pray with tears. Sometimes you ask, “Do you pray with such zeal, do you have any consolation after this prayer?” And many tell me that in the subtle light sleep the souls of the unbaptized come, communicate with their relatives, ask them to pray and say that the prayer is heard by God, that it becomes easier for them. And this is exactly what the canon to the martyr Uar is about, that there is an opportunity to alleviate the lot of the unbaptized, and this is confirmed by practice. There were times when they did not know whether a person was baptized or not, and then the soul came and reported that the baptism was and it was possible to sing it according to the charter. This applied in particular to many soldiers who died and were thought to be unbaptized. But they were baptized before the war by monks who secretly lived in those years in Soviet Russia. And when they asked distant distant relatives, it really turned out that the person was baptized. Such cases also happen repeatedly.

When people of different classes, different ranks gather, they are all, as it were, equal in one thing - in their love for those who gave them life. And turning to Christ, accepting the sacrament of the Church, preparing for this sacrament, and some for the first time cross the threshold of the temple to pray for their unbaptized relatives, they may never have come if the Lord had not called them through his martyr Uara. And so they go to the temple and in the prayer of Uaru open their souls, they come to know the love of God, it becomes easier for them. And they are already making their difficult path to God, they are becoming churched. And now the parish of the Trinity Church on Pyatnitskaya Street is ¾ of those people who began their churching with a prayer to the martyr Uar for the unbaptized. This confirms that the Lord Himself blesses. Indeed, canonically we cannot pray, but Holy Tradition has allowed it. And Sacred Tradition has no less, but even greater significance than Sacred Scripture. Orthodox accept Sacred Tradition as the source of Sacred Scripture. And the practice of prayers to the martyr Uar confirms that this prayer is saving, saving, first of all, for the living and those who cross the threshold of the temple. And they are led by love, love for their relatives. But God is love, which means that God leads them, which means that the Lord Himself blesses them.
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