Bloodless sacrifice to God in the Orthodox Church. Bloodless sacrifice prayer for health

Religious reading: a bloodless sacrifice, a prayer for health to help our readers.

In the Orthodox Church there is such a thing as a bloodless sacrifice for health. In this article, we will understand what it is. A bloodless sacrifice is the bringing of wine and bread as a gift to the Lord as a sign of his mercy to the entire human race and as a sign of forgiveness for the sins of all people. The Holy Spirit sanctifies the gifts brought into the true Body and Blood of Christ, with which believers then partake.

The bloodless sacrifice was called among the Jews "Mincha", it differed from the sacrifices in that it was not required to kill the animal. You can order a bloodless sacrifice just before the service in the church.

In the days of the Old Testament, it was customary to attach sacrifices to prayers - today this custom has somewhat changed. The role of a "sacrifice to God" is performed by the Holy Communion - this is bread and wine, which miraculously "turn" during the service into the flesh and blood of Christ. A candle can also be a victim.

Notes “On health” and “On repose” must be put in a candle box - this is a counter in the church where books, icons and other Christian paraphernalia are sold. The believer, submitting a note, pays money - however, this is not a price in the economic sense of the word, this is a kind of donation for the needs of the temple.

“Health” is not only physical health, but also the state of a person’s soul, as well as his material well-being. If we pray to God for the health of the person who has harmed us, this does not mean at all that we wish the enemy to sin further. On the contrary, we want God to change this person so that he is in harmony with the whole world and treats his neighbor kindly. There were many cases when one of the warring people entered his name and the name of his enemy in the notes on health, and even the long-term enmity ceased.

There is another type of notes - "On the repose." These notes are intended to commemorate people who are no longer with us. It is customary to pray for the living, but we must pray in the same way for the dead, who continue to live a spiritual life in the afterlife. Christ is one, both for the living and for the dead.

There are people who, before their death, did not have time to take communion and repent, it is for them, like no one else, that the prayers of their living relatives are needed.

The Mystery of the Offering

The sacrament itself and preparations for it are held during the proskomidia (part of the liturgy). Proskomedia is an offering. In ancient times, Christians brought wine and bread to the temple for the liturgy. Proskomedia also symbolizes the birth of Jesus Christ. The sacrament itself is performed secretly from believers on the altar, since the birth of Christ was secret and unknown.

For the sacrament, the clergy use five special prosphora - in other words, sacrificial bread, from which, after the rite of prayer, they cut out the middle in the form of cubes. Each cube symbolizes the Lamb. All prosphora are placed on a round dish, it is called diskos.

The first prosphora symbolizes the manger in which the Savior was born, it serves for communion and is called the Lamb. The second prosphora symbolizes the Mother of God and is placed on the left side of the paten. The third prosphora is divided into nine equal parts, they symbolize the saints, prophets, martyrs, unmercenaries, saints, John the Baptist, Joachim and Anna, as well as the one who conducts the liturgy. This prosphora is called nine. It fits in rows of three particles on the right side of the Lamb. The fourth prosphora symbolizes the living Patriarchs, bishops and priests. The fifth prosphora symbolizes the dead priests, the creators of the Temples. They are laid out on the diskos in the following order, first the living ones, and then the dead ones.

After the clergyman takes out the prosphora filed by the faithful, it is then that they begin to read the submitted notes about the health of the living and the repose of the dead. After reading the note, the priest breaks off a piece of prosphora, and with the words: “Remember, Lord (name written on paper)!”

Particles pulled out of our prosphora are also folded onto a diskos, thereby symbolizing the Church of Christ, and the connection between God, His saints, who piously live on earth and the dead. This action is the liturgy.

It should be understood that the action of a bloodless sacrifice is not a cleansing from sins, since the only cleansing is sincere repentance. Liturgy is done to receive the grace of the Lord.

Sorokoust about health

For the spiritual help of an Orthodox Christian in our Church, there are many requirements and services. One of the very popular prayer appeals to God is the magpie for health. What is it and how does it differ from any other prayer?

What is magpie

Sorokoust is a special church commemoration performed at the request of an Orthodox Christian. Its essence lies in the fact that for 40 days, every time a liturgy is served, the priest in the altar takes out a piece of prosphora for each person whose name is given on the magpie.

Further, all the removed particles are immersed in the Chalice with the Blood of Christ, over which a special prayer is read with a request to wash away the sins of each person who was commemorated. At the end of the service, the cup with these particles is taken out for communion, and the parishioners partake of one of the greatest miracles bestowed on mankind - the Body and Blood of Christ.

Important. Such a commemoration in the altar, followed by communion, is the most complete involvement of a person in church worship.

Since each time at the liturgy a bloodless sacrifice is offered in the altar, symbolizing Christ's sacrifice for the entire human race, participation in this sacred rite is of great spiritual significance.

Very often, novice Christians have a question why such a prayer is performed exactly 40 days, and not some other period of time. The fact is that 40 days is a symbolic time period in the Christian doctrine.

We know from the Gospel that Jesus Christ, having gone into the desert, fasted and prayed for precisely this period of time; many holy ascetics performed their prayer vigils also for 40 days; after the death of a person, his soul is tested for exactly 40 days, after which its fate is determined. All this indicates that the 40-day prayer really has a special meaning and special meaning.

When a magpie is ordered for health, it means not only the physical health of the listed people. Any prayer is aimed, first of all, at the salvation of a person’s soul, therefore, all petitions to the Lord must be commensurate with their spiritual benefit. The health of the soul is understood as its cleansing from sins, the desire of a person for a charitable life, the struggle with his passions. Without such painstaking work, all prayers and custom requests will be meaningless, because the Lord God cannot help a person without his free will.

How and when to order magpies for health

As a rule, it is customary to indicate no more than 10 names in one note. Names are usually written in the genitive case. For example, the text of a note might look like this:

Also, for each name, it is proposed to make a monetary donation for the maintenance of the temple. A donation can be either a fixed amount or at the discretion of the parishioners, depending on the procedures established in a particular church.

For a deeper understanding of the essence of magpie, it is worth knowing who you can submit notes about. Following strict church canons, this prayer work is performed only for members of the Church of Christ. And they are people who lead Christian and church life, participate in divine services and, what is especially important, in the Sacraments. So, according to church canons, a person who, without a serious reason, missed three liturgies in a row, is considered to have fallen out of church fellowship and church life.

Since, after removing the particles from the prosphora, they are then transformed into the Body of Christ, the sins of this person are symbolically atoned for by Christ's sacrifice on the cross. But if the person whose name is given for commemoration does not want to be saved and does not strive for it, the sacrifice of Christ turns out to be meaningless. The Lord God cannot save a person without his personal desire and strong-willed effort to correct his life.

Attention. In view of the foregoing, church canons require that only churched Christians be submitted for the 40-day commemoration of the names. But modern life makes its own adjustments, and if you strictly follow all the canons, then only a few will remain in the church. Of course, one should strive for the canons as an ideal, but also make allowances for the weaknesses of modern people. Therefore, almost everything is now allowed for commemoration at Magpie, the main rule is that a person must be baptized in the Orthodox Church.

Since we never know in what ways the Lord leads a person, it may well turn out that such a submitted note for magpie will become a small start that will truly lead a person to the temple and to God.

Misconceptions and myths about magpies

The wide distribution of church trebs has led to the fact that they have become the object of various delusions, and sometimes even deliberate blasphemous use. You need to carefully monitor your life and in no case allow an irreverent attitude to any church prayer.

So, there is a strong belief among the people that if you order a magpie in three churches, then the effect of it will be stronger. Sometimes you can still find a recommendation to order trebu in seven temples. Such a pursuit of an external rite is more like some kind of magical action than an Orthodox prayer.

Indeed, the Gospel says that "Where two or three are gathered in My Name, there I am in the midst of them." It is on these words of our Lord Jesus Christ that the experience of Church conciliar prayer is based. And the commemoration of the same person on the altar of several temples at once is of great spiritual significance. But at the same time, one should not forget that in Christianity the form is never more important than the inner meaning.

When ordering a magpie in one or more churches, it is worth remembering that church prayer does not at all cancel personal repentance and striving for God. Only if the person himself makes efforts to change his way of life, if he strives to live like a Christian, then he will benefit from submitting notes to the temple.

Another common misconception associated specifically with the magpie is a prayer for enemies. Indeed, the Lord commanded us to pray for our enemies and offenders and honor them with our virtues. But very often there is an opinion that if you order a magpie about the health of your enemy, then all the evil caused to a person will return to him with a boomerang. Those. church treba in this case is used as a kind of instrument of revenge. Of course, such an attitude is unacceptable. It is necessary and possible to pray for enemies only by forgiving them and not holding evil in your heart. Moreover, it is impossible to ask the Lord for retribution for the offenses inflicted.

And finally, it is worth mentioning the deliberate blasphemy when using prayers. Very many sorcerers and magicians, of which there are now a great many, specifically use Orthodox prayers or paraphernalia in their practices. This can mislead uninformed Christians - if a person prays and has icons at home, then he is Orthodox. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Therefore, people who practice various occult or magical rites should be avoided, even if they use icons or calls to visit the temple. Such practices are not only not beneficial, but can very seriously damage a person’s soul, and the consequences will have to be redeemed for the rest of their lives.

The power of church prayer

The power of church prayer

Believers resort to it, submitting notes about health and repose.

However, the fact is that home prayer, as a rule, does not have the same power as church prayer. Believers pray together in the temple, the Lord Himself is invisibly present and acting there. Church prayer is such a prayer about which Christ said: “Truly, I also say to you that if two of you agree on earth to ask for any deed, then whatever they ask, it will be for them from My Father in Heaven, for where there are two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:19-20).

As in the Old Testament times, sacrifices were added to prayers, and now in churches, in addition to prayer, the Bloodless Sacrifice is performed - Holy Communion, bread and wine, which are transformed during the liturgy into the Flesh and Blood of Christ. Church prayer has special power also because it is ascended by a priest specially appointed to perform the sacraments, to offer prayers and sacrifices to God for people.

"About health" and "About repose"

Notes are served in a candle box - this is the name of the counter in the temple, where you can buy candles, books, and so on. The money that we pay by submitting a note is not a price in the commercial sense of the word, but our donation to the temple of God. In principle, if you do not even have twenty or thirty rubles (as much is supposed to be given for prayers, in particular, in Moscow churches), then for the sake of Christ one note with one name can be accepted for free. But still, this is not the amount that even the poorest person can occasionally donate to the church.

A church memorial note is a list of the names of the living or deceased Christians whom we wish to remember in church prayer. In the notes submitted for remembrance, they write the names of only those who are baptized in the Orthodox Church!

Notes can only be of two kinds: "On health" and "On repose." Some explanation is needed here.

The fact is that the concept of “health” includes not only physical health, but also a state of spiritual and material well-being. For example, here is a case that a certain parishioner told the priest father Oleg Netsvetaev: “I could not find a job for a very long time, serious difficulties began in the family. Wherever I tried to get a job, but no luck. And in the church, the rector offered to serve a moleben to the Mother of God in front of the icon of the Quick Listener. Mo Leben served. And in the very near future, I unexpectedly managed to find a job, and a very suitable one! After that, I always submit notes for both Liturgy and prayer services. And often help comes!

It must also be understood that when we pray for the health of a person who has done us a lot of evil, this does not mean at all that we wish him to continue sinning safely. No, we pray to God that He will change his aspirations, make our enemy become in harmony with God and begin to treat others kindly.

There are many cases when one of the warring parties entered the name of his ill-wisher in a note of health next to his name - and the hostility ceased.

The second kind of notes - "On the repose", for the prayerful remembrance of the dead. As we pray for the living, so we must pray for the dead. They continue to live a spiritual life invisible to us before the eyes of God. We, who live on earth, constitute one Church with those who have departed from us, one body, having one Head - Jesus Christ: “For to this end Christ died, and rose again, and came to life, that he might have dominion over both the dead and the living” (Rome 14, 8-9). Many before death did not have time to be vouchsafed the sacrament of repentance and Holy Communion. Only prayers, especially church ones, and our good deeds done in memory of the dead, can alleviate their plight.

In most churches, parishioners today are offered ready-made forms for a note “On health” and “On repose”, in which it remains only to enter the names of those whom you want to remember in church prayer.

And here are a few more rules:

- If there is no such practice in the church you are visiting and the note must be written on a regular piece of paper, then first place an eight-pointed Orthodox cross at the very top. Then write - as if as a title - "On health" or "On repose."

– The note should contain no more than 5-10 names. If you want to commemorate many of your relatives and friends, submit several notes.

– Names should be written in the genitive case (to answer the question “who?”).

- First, if there are many commemorators in the note, the names of the clergy are written, and with an indication of their rank (for example, Bishop Alexy, Priest Alexander), then write your name, your relatives and all other lay people whom you want to remember.

How to properly submit a note of health or repose

Priest at the altar

What is a commemoration book and a church note “On health” and “On repose”

A church note filed "On Health" or "On Repose" is a relatively recent phenomenon.

In those families where the traditions of Orthodox piety are respected, there is a commemoration book, a special book in which the names of the living and the dead are written down and which is served during the service for commemoration. Books of commemoration can still be purchased in churches or Orthodox book stores.

A commemoration book is a record for the memory of posterity about the ancestors who lived on earth, which makes the commemoration book an important book for every Christian and makes one treat it with respect. Memorials are kept clean and tidy, near household icons. A church note, in essence, is a one-time commemoration book and requires the same respect for itself.

A note submitted without the image of a cross, written in a sloppy, illegible handwriting, with many names, testifies to a lack of understanding of the sacred importance and high purpose of recording the names of the living and the dead for their commemoration.

Meanwhile, commemoratives and notes, both in their appearance and in their use, can be called liturgical books: after all, they depict a holy cross, they are brought into the altar, read during the Divine Liturgy before the Holy Throne.

What is the advantage of praying for our relatives and friends in the temple

Prayer at home, as a rule, does not have such a grace-filled power as common, corporate prayer, that is, the prayer of the Church.

Church prayer is that prayer about which the Lord said: “Truly, I also say to you that if two of you agree on earth to ask for any deed, then whatever they ask, it will be for them from My Father in Heaven, for where there are two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:19-20).

Believers gather in the temple for joint prayer. God Himself mysteriously dwells in the temple. The temple is the house of God. In the temple, the priests offer the Most Holy Bloodless Sacrifice. Even in the Old Testament times, prayers were accompanied by the sacrifice of animals in order to cleanse from sins and propitiate God.

In the Church of the New Testament, animal sacrifice does not exist, for "Christ died for our sins" (1 Cor. 15:3). “He is the propitiation for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:2).

He sacrificed His Most Pure Blood and Flesh for all and established at the Last Supper to perform, in remembrance of Him, offering under the guise of bloodless gifts - bread and wine - His Most Pure Flesh and Blood for the remission of sins, which is done in churches on the Divine liturgy.

Just as in the Old Testament sacrifices were added to prayers, so now in churches, in addition to prayer, the Most Holy Bloodless Sacrifice - Holy Communion is offered up. Church prayer has special power also because it is ascended by a priest specially appointed to perform sacred rites, to offer prayers and sacrifices to God for people.

“I have chosen you and appointed you,” the Savior says to His Apostles, “so that ... whatever you ask of the Father in My name, He will give you” (John 15, 16).

The rights given by the Lord to the apostles and the duties and powers assigned to them, they transferred to the successors appointed by them: bishops and presbyters, bequeathing to them both power, and the right, and an indispensable duty, first of all ... “to make prayers, petitions, supplications, thanksgiving for all people” ( 1 Timothy 2:1).

That is why the holy Apostle James says to Christians: “Is any of you sick, let him call for the presbyters of the Church, and let them pray over him” (James 5:14). The holy righteous John of Kronstadt recalled how, while still a young priest, an unfamiliar woman asked him to pray for the success of one of her deeds.

I don’t know how to pray,” Father John answered humbly.

Pray, - the woman continued to ask. - I believe that through your prayers the Lord will help me.

Father John, seeing that she placed such great hopes on his prayer, became even more embarrassed, again asserting that he did not know how to pray, but the woman said:

You, father, just pray, I ask you as best you can, and I believe that the Lord will hear.

Father John began to commemorate this woman at the Liturgy. After some time, the priest met her again, and she said:

Here you are, father, just prayed for me, and the Lord sent me through your prayers what I asked.

This incident affected the young priest so much that he understood the full power of priestly prayer.

Health note

Who needs and can be commemorated in notes

In the notes submitted for commemoration, the names of only those who are baptized in the Orthodox Church are written.

The concept of "health" includes not only health, the physical condition of a person, but also his spiritual state, material well-being. And if we pray for the health of a person who has done a lot of evil, this does not mean that we pray that he will continue to be in the same state - no, we pray to God to change his intentions and inner disorder, made it so that our ill-wisher or even enemy began to be in harmony with God, with the Church, with those around him.

This note should write down everyone to whom we wish health, salvation and prosperity.

The Word of God teaches that everyone needs to pray not only for themselves, but also for others: "Pray for one another" (James 5:16). It is upon this common prayer for one another that the Church is built.

In imperial Russia, all prayers began with the name of the Sovereign Emperor, on whose “health” the fate of not only Russia, but also of every family, every Orthodox depended. Now we must first write the name of our Patriarch, and after him - the Archpastor, His Grace Bishop, appointed by God as a spiritual ruler, who cares and brings prayers and sacrifices to the Lord for the flock entrusted to him.

This is what many Christians do, this is what Holy Scripture teaches: “First of all, I ask you to make prayers, petitions, intercessions, thanksgiving for all people, for kings and for all those in authority, in order to lead us a quiet and serene life in all piety and purity, for this is good and pleasing to our Savior God, who wants all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:1-4).

Then the name of your spiritual father is written, the priest who instructs you, cares about the salvation of your soul, prays to the Lord for you: “Remember your leaders” (Heb. 13:7).

Then the names of the parents, their own name, the names of their family members, relatives and relatives are written. Everyone should pray for the health and well-being of his family: “If anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever” (1 Tim. 5:8).

For your family and relatives, write the names of your benefactors. If they have done good to you, then you should also wish and pray for the good and good of the Lord for them, so as not to remain indebted to them: “give everyone their due ... Do not remain indebted to anyone except for mutual love; for he who loves another has fulfilled the law” (Rom. 13:7-8).

Finally, if you have an ill-wisher, an offender, an envious person, or even an enemy, enter his name for prayerful remembrance, according to the commandment of the Lord: (love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who offend you and persecute you ”(Matt. 5, 44).

Prayer for enemies, for those who are at war is a great power to end hostility and establish peace. The Savior Himself prayed for the enemies. There are many cases when one of the warring parties entered the name of his ill-wisher in a note of health next to his name - and the hostility ceased, the former enemy became a well-wisher.

In it we write the names of deceased relatives, acquaintances, teachers, well-wishers, everyone who is dear to us.

As we pray for the living, so we should pray for the dead - and not only for our closest relatives, but also for our entire family, for all those who did good to us in earthly life, helped, taught.

The dead, although they have departed from us, although they remain in the flesh in the earth, and in soul with the Lord, have not disappeared, continue to live a spiritual life invisible to us before the eyes of God, since the Lord Himself says in the Holy Gospel: “God is not the God of the dead but alive, for with Him all are alive” (Luke 20:38).

We believe that our deceased relatives, and we often do not know the names of many of them, pray for us, their descendants.

We, who live on earth, make up one Church with those who have departed from us, one body having one Head - the Lord Jesus Christ. “Do we live - we live for the Lord; if we die, we die to the Lord; therefore, whether we live or die, we are always the Lord's. For to this end Christ also died, and rose again, and came to life, that he might have dominion over both the dead and the living” (Rom. 14:8-9).

Our unity and communion with the dead is especially felt during fervent prayer for them. It produces an extremely deep effect and impression on the soul of the one who prays, proving the actual communion of the soul of the one who prays with the souls of those for whom the prayer is offered.

How is the commemoration of the living and the dead performed in the Church at the proskomedia?

How is the offering of the Sacrifice performed in the temple according to our notes?

Preparation for Her begins during the proskomedia.

Proskomedia is a part of the liturgy during which bread and wine are prepared for the sacrament.

Translated from Greek, this word means "bringing" - the ancient Christians themselves brought bread and wine to the temple, which were necessary for the liturgy.

The proskomidia, symbolizing the birth of Jesus Christ, is performed in the altar secretly for the believers who are in the temple - just as secretly, unknown to the world, the birth of the Savior took place.

For proskomedia, five special prosphora are used.

From the first prosphora, after special prayers, the priest cuts out the middle in the form of a cube - this part of the prosphora is given the name Lamb. This prosphora, "lamb", relies on a paten, a round dish on a stand, symbolizing the manger in which the Savior was born. The lamb prosphora actually serves for Communion.

From the second prosphora, "Mother of God", the priest takes out a part in honor of the Mother of God. This particle is placed on the diskos on the left side of the Lamb.

Nine particles are taken out of the third prosphora, “nine-fold”, in honor of the saints: John the Baptist, prophets, apostles, saints, martyrs and saints, unmercenaries, Joachim and Anna and the saint whose name the liturgy is celebrated. These taken out particles are placed on the right side of the Lamb, three particles in a row.

After that, the clergyman proceeds to the fourth prosphora, from which they take out particles about the living - about the Patriarch, bishops, presbyters and deacons. From the fifth prosphora, particles are taken out about the deceased - the Patriarchs, the creators of temples, bishops, priests.

These removed particles are also placed on the paten - first for the living, lower - for the dead

Then the priest removes the particles from the prosphora given by the faithful.

At this time, commemorations are read - notes, commemoration books, which we filed in a candle box for proskomedia.

After reading each name indicated in the note, the clergyman takes out a particle of prosphora, saying: “Remember, Lord, (the name we wrote is indicated).”

These particles taken out according to our notes are also placed on the diskos together with the particles taken out from the liturgical prosphora.

This is the first commemoration, invisible to those who pray, of those whose names are written in the notes we submitted.

So, the particles taken out according to our notes lie on the diskos, next to the particles taken out from special liturgical prosphora.

This is a great, holy place! The particles lying in this order on the diskos symbolize the entire Church of Christ.

“On the proskomedia, it is figuratively represented as gathered around the Lamb, who takes away the sins of the world, the whole Church, heavenly and earthly ... What a close connection is between the Lord and His saints, between Him and those who piously live on earth and those who died in faith and piety: remember what a close connection is between us and the saints and the dead in Christ, and love everyone as members of the Lord and your members - writes the holy righteous John of Kronstadt about the particles taken out of the prosphora and laid on the paten. - In what closeness to each other are both celestials and earth dwellers, and the Mother of God and all the saints, and all of us, Orthodox Christians, when the divine, worldly, heavenly, universal Liturgy is celebrated! My God! What a delightful, life-giving fellowship!”

Many believe that the particles offered for the living and the dead are a cleansing sacrifice for our sins.

It's a delusion. One can be cleansed from sin only by repentance, correction of life, mercy, good deeds.

The particles taken out of the prosphora given by us are not sanctified into the body of the Lord; when they are taken out, there is no remembrance of Christ's suffering: during the offering of the Holy Lamb, during the pronouncement of “Holy to the Holy,” these particles do not rise for the mysterious exaltation to the cross with the flesh of the Savior. These particles are not given in communion with the Flesh of the Savior. Why are they brought? So that through them the believers, whose names are written in our notes, receive grace, sanctification and remission of sins from the cleansing sacrifice offered on the Throne.

A particle taken out of our prosphora, reclining near the most pure Body of the Lord, being brought into the chalice, drunk with Divine blood, is completely filled with shrines and spiritual gifts and bestows them on the one whose name is exalted. After all the communicants have partake of the Holy Mysteries, the deacon puts into the chalice the particles about the saints, about the living and the dead, lying on the paten.

This is done so that the saints, in the closest union with God, rejoice in heaven, while the living and the dead, whose names are indicated in the notes, having been washed by the most pure blood of the Son of God, receive remission of sins and eternal life.

This is also evidenced by the words uttered at the same time by the priest: "Wash away, Lord, the sins of those who are remembered here, by Your Honorable Blood."

That is why it is necessary to commemorate the living and the dead precisely in the Church, at the liturgy - after all, it is here that the cleansing of the sins we commit every day takes place by the Blood of Christ. The sacrifice offered by our Lord Jesus Christ on Golgotha ​​and offered daily during the Liturgy on the Holy Throne is a complete and completely exhaustive payment for our debt to God - and only it, like fire, can consume all his sins in a person.

What is an order note

In some churches, in addition to the usual notes on health and repose, they accept custom-made notes.

The ordered mass of health with a prayer service differs from the usual commemoration of health in that, in addition to removing a particle from the prosphora (which occurs during the usual commemoration), the deacon publicly reads the names of those who are commemorated at litanies, and then these names are repeated by the priest before the throne.

But the commemoration by registered note does not end there either - after the end of the liturgy, a prayer is offered for them at a prayer service.

The same thing happens at a custom mass for the repose with a memorial service - and here, after removing the particles with the names of the deceased, the deacon publicly pronounces their names at litanies, then the clergyman repeats the names in front of the altar, and then the deceased are commemorated at the memorial service, which occurs after the end of the liturgy .

Shrike- This is a prayer service that is performed by the Church daily for forty days. Every day during this period, particles are removed from the prosphora.

“The Magpies,” writes St. Simeon of Thessalonica, - are performed in remembrance of the ascension of the Lord, which happened on the fortieth day after the resurrection, - and with the aim that he (the deceased), having risen from the tomb, ascended to the meeting (that is, to meet - ed.). Judges, was caught up in a cloud, and so it has always been with the Lord.”

Sorokousts are ordered not only for repose, but also for health, especially for the seriously ill.

A prayer service is a special Divine service in which they ask the Lord, the Mother of God, the saints to send down mercy or thank God for receiving blessings. In the temple, prayers are performed before and after the Liturgy, as well as after Matins and Vespers.

Public prayers are performed on the days of temple holidays, on the New Year, before the beginning of the teaching of the youths, during natural disasters, in the invasion of foreigners, during epidemics, in rainlessness, etc.

Other prayers belong to private worship and are performed at the request and needs of individual believers. Often during these prayers there is a small consecration of water.

A note for a prayer service begins with an indication to which saint a prayer service is offered, it is written, whether he is healthy or repose. Then the names of those for whom prayer singing will be offered are listed.

When you submit a note for a prayer service, tell the minister whether you are ordering a water-blessed prayer service - in this case, a small consecration of water is performed, which is then distributed to believers - or the usual one, without blessing water.

You can order a commemoration of the living or the dead for a month, for half a year, for a year.

In some churches and monasteries, notes for eternal remembrance are accepted. If you submitted a registered note, then the names written on the notes are pronounced at prayer shortly after the reading of the Gospel.

At the end of the Gospel, a deep (that is, intensified) litany begins - a common cry to God, three times "Lord, have mercy!"

The deacon calls: “Rtsem (that is, yes, let’s say, we will pray, speak) everything from the bottom of our hearts, and from all our thinking, retsem!”

In two petitions, we earnestly ask the Lord to hear our prayer and have mercy on us: “Lord, Almighty, God of our fathers, pray (that is, pray to You), hear and have mercy. “Have mercy on us, God…”

All those in the temple ask for the Patriarch, for the bishop, for the clergy brotherhood (the parable of the church) and for all “our brothers in Christ”, for authorities and the army ... The Church prays for mercy (so that the Lord has mercy on us), for life, peace, health, salvation, visitation (that is, so that the Lord visits, does not leave with his graces), forgiveness, forgiveness of the sins of the servants of God to the brethren of this holy temple.

In the last petition of the august litany, the deacon strenuously calls to pray for those who bear fruit and do good in this holy and all-honourable temple, those who labor (for the temple), those who sing, and those who are coming, expecting great and rich mercies from God. Those who bear fruit and do good are believers who bring to the temple everything necessary for Divine services (oil, incense, prosphora, etc.), who donate money and things for the splendor of the temple, for the maintenance of those who work in it.

On certain days, the special litany is followed by a special litany for the dead, in which we pray for all our deceased fathers and brothers, we ask Christ, our immortal King and our God, to forgive them all their sins, voluntary and involuntary, to repose them in the villages of the righteous and, recognizing, that there is no person who has not sinned in his life, we implore the Lord to grant our departed the Kingdom of Heaven, where all the righteous rest.

During the litanies, the deacon pronounces the names of those listed in the registered note and invokes God's blessing on them, while the priest reads prayers.

Then the priest says a prayer before the Throne, loudly naming the names from the notes.

The custom of reading notes with names during special litanies dates back to ancient, apostolic times - "the deacon commemorates diptychs, that is, the commemorator of the departed." Diptychs are two tablets made of paper or parchment, folded like the tablets of Moses. On one of them, the names of the living were written for reading during the sacred rite, on the other, the names of the dead.

Why Pray for the Dead

Our relationship with our neighbors does not end after their death. Death interrupts only visible communication with them. But in the Kingdom of Christ there is no death, and what we call death is the transition from temporal life to eternal life.

Our prayers for the departed are a continuation of our relationship with our neighbors. We, who believe that our deceased did not die, also believe that the Most Merciful Lord, through our prayer, will forgive the souls who died, albeit in sins, but with faith and hope for salvation.

The Church is a living organism, in the words of the Apostle Paul, the Body, the Head of which is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

Not only believers living on earth belong to the Church, but also those who died in the right faith.

A living, organic unity must take place between the living and the dead, because even in a living organism all members are connected with each other, each performs something for the life of the whole organism.

Our duty is to take care of those members of the Church who have ended their earthly existence, and through our prayer to alleviate the condition of the departed.

Many before death did not have time to be vouchsafed the sacrament of repentance and Holy Communion, and died an unexpected or violent death. The deceased can no longer repent themselves, give alms. Only the offering of the Bloodless Sacrifice for them, the prayers of the Church, almsgiving and doing good for them can alleviate their afterlife.

The commemoration of the dead is primarily a prayer for them - at home, and especially church, combined with the bringing of a bloodless sacrifice at the divine liturgy.

“When all the people and the sacred face stand with the recompense of hands, and when a terrible sacrifice is set before us, how can we not beseech God, asking for the dead?” - St. John Chrysostom writes.

But besides praying for the departed, we must show mercy in every possible way and do good deeds, because “almsgiving delivers from death and can cleanse every sin” (Tov. 12:9).

St. John Chrysostom advises: “He who almost died in alms and good deeds: for alms serve to deliverance from eternal torment.”

The Monk Athanasia, saying that “if the souls of the departed are sinful, then for the good deeds of the living in memory of them they receive remission of sins from God,” adds: “if they are righteous, then charity for them serves to save the benefactors themselves.”

Therefore, it is necessary that prayer and the Bloodless Sacrifice be offered for our departed as often as possible.

Offering a Bloodless Sacrifice for the dead eases their lot, even if they were already in hell, for the Bloodless Gifts offered for sacrifice are transubstantiated into the Flesh and Blood of Christ, so that He Himself is sacrificed for our salvation.

How to commemorate the dead

The custom of commemorating the dead is found already in the Old Testament Church. The Apostolic Ordinances mention the commemoration of the dead with particular clarity. In them we find both prayers for the departed during the celebration of the Eucharist, and an indication of the days on which it is especially necessary to commemorate the departed: the third, ninth, fortieth, annual.

Thus, the commemoration of the departed is an apostolic institution, it is observed throughout the Church, and the liturgy for the departed, the offering of the Bloodless Sacrifice for their salvation, is the most powerful and effective means of asking the departed for the mercy of God.

Church commemoration is performed only for those who were baptized in the Orthodox faith. Memorial services for suicides, as well as for those who are not baptized in the Orthodox faith, are not performed. Moreover, these persons cannot be commemorated at the liturgy. The Holy Church lifts up unceasing prayers for our departed fathers and brothers at every divine service, and especially at the liturgy.

But besides this, the Holy Church creates at certain times a special commemoration of all fathers and brothers in the faith who have passed away from time immemorial, who have been honored with a Christian death, as well as those who, having been overtaken by sudden death, were not sent to the afterlife by the prayers of the Church. The requiems performed at the same time are called ecumenical. On Saturday meat-fare, before the cheese week, on the eve of the memories of the Last Judgment, we pray to the Lord that He would show His mercy to all the departed on the day when the Last Judgment comes.

On this Saturday, the Orthodox Church prays for all those who have died in the Orthodox faith, whenever and wherever they live on earth, whoever they are in terms of their social origin and position in earthly life.

Prayers are offered for people "from Adam to this day who have died in piety and right faith."

Three Saturdays of Great Lent - Saturdays of the second, third, fourth weeks of Great Lent - were established because during the presanctified liturgy there is no such commemoration as is done at any other time of the year. In order not to deprive the dead of the saving intercession of the Church, these parental Saturdays were established. During Great Lent, the Church intercedes for the departed, so that the Lord forgives their sins and resurrects them into eternal life.

On Radonitsa - Tuesday of the second week after Pascha - the joy of the Resurrection of the Lord is shared with the departed, in the hope of the resurrection of our departed. The Savior Himself descended into hell to preach victory over death and brought the souls of the Old Testament righteous from there. From this great spiritual joy, the day of this commemoration is called "radonitsa", or "radonitsa".

Trinity parent Saturday- on this day, the Holy Church calls us to commemorate the dead, so that the saving grace of the Holy Spirit cleanses the sins of the souls of all from the age of our departed forefathers, fathers and brothers and, interceding for the gathering of all in the Kingdom of Christ, praying for the redemption of the living, for the return of the captivity of their souls , asks "to give rest to the souls of those who have departed in the place of cooling, as if not the dead will praise Thee, O Lord, whoever is below in hell of confession will dare to bring Thee: but we, the living, bless Thee and pray, and we bring prayers and sacrifices to Thee for our souls."

Demetrius parental Saturday - on this day, a commemoration is made of all Orthodox killed soldiers. It was established by the holy noble prince Dimitry Donskoy at the suggestion and blessing of St. Sergius of Radonezh in 1380, when he won a glorious, famous victory over the Tatars on the Kulikovo field. Commemoration takes place on the Saturday before Demetrius Day (October 26, old style). Subsequently, on this Saturday, Orthodox Christians began to commemorate not only the soldiers who laid down their lives on the battlefield for their faith and fatherland, but together with them for all Orthodox Christians.

The commemoration of the deceased soldiers is performed by the Orthodox Church on April 26 (May 9, according to a new style), on the feast of the victory over Nazi Germany, and also on August 29, on the day of the Beheading of John the Baptist.

It is imperative to commemorate the deceased on the day of his death, birth and name day. The days of commemoration should be spent decorously, reverently, in prayer, doing good to the poor and loved ones, in thinking about our death and future life.

The rules for submitting notes "On repose" are the same as for notes "On health".

“On litanies, the newly-departed or significant builders of the monastery are more often commemorated, and then no more than one or two names. But the proskomedia is the most important commemoration, for the parts taken out for the dead are immersed in the blood of Christ and the sins are cleansed by this great sacrifice; and when the memory of one of your relatives happens, you can submit a note and commemorate the litanies, ”wrote St. Macarius of Optina in one of his letters.

How Often Should You Submit Memorial Notes?

The prayer of the Church and the Most Holy Sacrifice attract the mercy of the Lord upon us, purifying and saving us.

We always, both during life and after death, need God's mercy towards us. Therefore, it is necessary to be honored with the prayers of the Church and the sacrifice of the Holy Gifts for us or our loved ones, the living and the dead, as often as possible, and always on those days that are of particular importance: on the birthday, baptism day, name day of both your own and members of your family.

Honoring the memory of the saint, whose name we bear, we thereby call our patron to prayer and intercession before God, because, as the Holy Scripture says, the fervent prayer of the righteous can do much (James 5, 16).

Be sure to submit a note of remembrance on the birthdays and christening of your child.

This should be carefully monitored by mothers, for caring for a child is a holy duty.

Whether sin draws us to itself, whether some passion seizes us, whether the devil tempts us, whether despair or inconsolable sorrow befalls us, trouble, need, illness visited us - in such cases, the prayer of the Church with the offering of the Bloodless Sacrifice serves as the surest means of deliverance, strengthening and consolation.

Memo to those wishing to submit a note on the living and the dead

1. Notes must be submitted before the start of the Liturgy. It is best to submit memorial notes in the evening or early in the morning, before the start of the service.

2. Entering the names of the living and the dead, remember them in the process of writing with a sincere desire for their good, from a pure heart, trying to remember the one whose name you enter - this is already a prayer.

3. The note should contain no more than five to ten names. If you want to commemorate many of your relatives and friends, submit several notes.

4. Names should be written in the genitive case (to answer the question "who?").

The names of the bishops and priests are indicated first, and their dignity is indicated - for example, “about the health” of Bishop Tikhon, Abbot Tikhon, Priest Yaroslav, then write your name, your relatives and friends.

The same applies to the notes "about the repose" - for example, Metropolitan John, Archpriest Michael, Alexandra, John, Anthony, Elijah, etc.

6. All names must be given in church writing (for example, George, not Yuri) and in full (for example, Alexander, Nikolai, but not Sasha, Kolya)

7. The notes do not indicate surnames, patronymics, ranks and titles, degrees of kinship.

8. A child under 7 years old is referred to in the note as an infant - baby John.

9. If you want, in notes on health, before the name, you can mention “sick”, “warrior”, “traveling”, “prisoner”. They do not write in notes - “suffering”, “embittered”, “needy”, “lost”.

10. In the notes “On the Repose”, the deceased is referred to as the “newly deceased” within 40 days after death. It is allowed in the notes “On the Repose” to write before the name “killed”, “warrior”, “memorable” (the day of death, the name day of the deceased).

Notes for a prayer service or memorial service, which are performed after the end of the liturgy, are submitted separately.

Notes on Health and Peace

Christ at Holy Mass?

ANSWER:
During the Holy Mass we celebrate the memory of the Sacrifice of Christ. But this memory is not just a memory of what happened in the past. When we, for example, remember the passed exam, then at that moment we do not pass it again and do not answer the same questions again, we do not expect grades with trepidation. We are talking about an event from the past, which becomes relevant only in our thoughts and memory, but it does not occur in the present.

The situation is quite different with the Eucharistic Sacrifice. When we commemorate the Sacrifice of Christ, three things happen. First, as in the exam example, we are reminded of a fact that happened in history. Secondly, during the Mass this fact is not simply resurrected in memory, but it is actualized, again appears before us and is accomplished. But not in the sense that this sacrifice is being made again, but in the fact that the same Sacrifice that Christ brought is being made, but it is being made here and now, for us. Thus, the Sacrifice on the Cross and the Holy Mass are the same Sacrifice, only on the Cross it was offered once and for all in history, and on the Mass this sacrifice is actualized for each of us, in every era. And the third meaning of the memory of Christ's Sacrifice is communion with the grace emanating from this event, which happened then, in the era of Christ. Saint Paul writes about it this way: “As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26). The word "proclaim" here designates precisely the event in which the believer participates. To proclaim the Death of the Lord means to be present at it, to be a witness of the Paschal Event, in which this Sacrifice is offered to God for the life of the world. The Holy Mass commemorates on our altars the Sacrifice offered on the Cross, and each of us standing in the temple is like the Virgin Mary and the Apostle John at the foot of the Cross. During the Eucharistic Sacrifice, the atoning Passion of the Lord is actualized on our altars. The Lord Himself is present – ​​and present not only spiritually, but also materially, in the Most Holy Gifts.

If we realize in all depth the meaning of the Holy Mass, then it will never seem monotonous to us, we will never be able to perceive it as a kind of duty. Saint Padre Pio, when asked about the Mass, answered: “It is a meeting at Golgotha.” When asked with what feelings a Christian should participate in the Liturgy, the Italian ascetic said: "With the feelings of the Virgin Mary and St. John." Communion of the Mysteries of Christ during the Mass is the source of the greatest sanctifying, redeeming, grace-filled power that we ourselves receive and which we are called to share with the whole world.

With regard to the memory of the Sacrifice of Christ in theology, such words are used as "updating" or "representation". The word "renewal" sometimes used can be misleading, since Christ died on the Cross only once, as the writer of Hebrews repeatedly reminds us: "He did it once, sacrificing himself"; “Christ, once having offered Himself as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many, will appear a second time not for the cleansing of sin, but for those who are waiting for Him for salvation.”

All our meetings with Jesus Christ are meetings with Jesus resurrected from the dead, glorified, sitting at the right hand of the Father. In the Eucharist we do not pretend that the Lord dies again and then rises again. We meet with the Resurrected Christ, in whom all the work of His life is present, from conception to Ascension. In the Eucharist all His redemptive works are made synchronous. In this sense, having the opportunity to participate in the Eucharist, we receive the same grace as all the contemporaries of Jesus, who were fortunate enough to communicate with Him personally. In the Eucharist, all redemptive deeds of Jesus Christ are made not only synchronous in relation to each other, but also synchronous in relation to our life. This is reflected in the words of transubstantiation: "This is my body, which is given for you"; "This is My Blood, which is shed for you for the remission of sins." His Passion and Death in these words are synchronous to each of us. When we participate in the Holy Bloodless Sacrifice of Christ, we are called to feel like the main actors, witnesses of the Death and Resurrection of the Lord, who desired to make this event synchronous for each person.

Eucharist(Greek ευχαριστια - thanksgiving) there is a sacrament in which the bread and wine of the offering are transmuted by the Holy Spirit into the true Body and true Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, and then believers partake of them for the closest union with Christ and eternal life. This sacrament therefore consists of two separate moments:

• the transubstantiation, or transubstantiation, of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of the Lord
• communion of these Holy Gifts.

It has names: Eucharist; the Lord's Supper; Lord's Meal; Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ. The body and blood of Christ in this sacrament are called the Bread of heaven and the Cup of life, or the Cup of salvation; holy Mysteries; bloodless sacrifice. The Eucharist is the greatest sacrament of Christianity.

The pre-establishment of the sacrament.

Prior to the first celebration of this sacrament at the Last Supper, Christ promised it in His discourse about animal bread on the occasion of feeding five thousand people with five loaves. The Lord taught: I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world (John 6:51). The Jews apparently took the words of Christ literally. They began to say among themselves: how can He give us His Flesh to eat? And the Lord did not tell the Jews that they misunderstood Him, but only with even greater power and clarity continued His speech in the same sense: truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink His Blood, you will not have own life. Whoever eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My Flesh is truly food, and My Blood is truly drink. Whoever eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood abides in Me, and I in him (John 6:53-56). Then Christ adds: The Spirit gives life, the flesh profits nothing: the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. With this remark, Christ does not require an understanding of His discourse about animal bread in a "figurative" sense. “There are some of you who do not believe,” He immediately adds. With these words, the Savior Himself indicates that His words are difficult for faith: how will believers eat His Body and drink His Blood? But He confirms that He speaks of His actual Body. His words about His Body and Blood are “spirit and life”: they testify that a) the one who partakes of them will have eternal life and will be resurrected for the Kingdom of Glory on the last day, and b) that the one who partakes of them enters into the closest communion with Christ. His words are not about living according to the flesh, but about living according to the Spirit. “Taste the Heavenly Bread and the Cup of Life and see how good the Lord is,” we hear at the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts. This communion is important not for satisfying physical hunger, as was the case when eating manna in the wilderness, when feeding five thousand, but it is important for eternal life.

The establishment of the Sacrament and its celebration in the apostolic time. - While the Savior's foreknowledge of the future establishment of the Sacrament of the Eucharist is given in the Gospel of John, the very establishment of the sacrament is expounded by the three evangelists - synoptics Matthew, Mark and Luke, and then repeated by the apostle Paul. In the Gospel of Matthew in the twenty-sixth chapter it is said: And while they were eating, Jesus took bread and, having blessed, broke it, and giving it to the disciples, said: Take, eat: this is my body. And taking the cup and giving thanks, he gave it to them and said: drink all of you from it, for this is My Blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins (Matthew 26:26-28). The same is in the Gospel of Mark, in the fourteenth chapter.

In the Gospel of Luke in the twenty-second chapter: And taking bread, and giving thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying: This is my body, which is given for you; do this in remembrance of me. Likewise the cup after supper, saying: This cup is the New Testament in my blood, which is shed for you (Luke 22:19-20). The same as in the Evangelist Luke, we read from the Apostle Paul: I received from the Lord Himself what I also conveyed to you, that the Lord Jesus on that night in which he was betrayed, took bread and, having given thanks, broke it and said: take, eat , this is my body, which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of me. Also the cup after supper, and said, This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this as soon as you drink, in remembrance of Me (1 Cor. 11:23-25).

This sacrifice must be performed until He comes (1 Cor. 11:26), as the Apostle Paul instructs, that is, until the Second Coming of the Lord. And indeed, the Eucharist has been accepted by the Church from the first days as the greatest sacrament, its establishment is preserved with the greatest diligence and goodwill, it is performed and will be performed until the end of the world.

In the Holy Mysteries Christ is wholly present

“We believe that in every part, down to the smallest particle of the laid bread and wine, there is not any separate part of the Body and Blood of the Lord, but the Body of Christ, always whole and in all parts one, and the Lord Christ is present in His Essence, that is, with the Soul and Deity, as perfect God and perfect man. Therefore, although at the same time there are many sacred rites in the universe, there are not many bodies of Christ, but one and the same Christ is truly and truly present, His one Body and one Blood in all the individual churches of the faithful. And this is not because the Body of the Lord, which is in Heaven, descends on the altars, but because the showbread, prepared separately in all churches and, after consecration, changed and offered, becomes one and the same with the Body that exists in Heaven. For the Lord always has one Body, and not many in many places. That is why this Sacrament, according to the general opinion, is the most wonderful, comprehended by faith alone, and not by the speculations of human wisdom, the vanity and madness of the search for the Divine is rejected by this Holy and from above determined for us Sacrifice. .

The Eucharist is not a repetition of the Sacrifice of the Cross, but the offering of the sacrificial Body and Blood, once raised by the Redeemer to the Cross, "always eaten and never dependent." Therefore, the Calvary Sacrifice and the Eucharist are inseparable from each other and actually constitute one Sacrifice, but nevertheless, they are different. The Eucharist is a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving. The clergyman, who makes a bloodless sacrifice, according to the order of the Liturgy of St. Basil the Great and St. John Chrysostom, before the consecration of the gifts, remembers in his secret prayer the great deeds of God, glorifies and thanks God in the Holy Trinity for the appeal of man from non-existence, for the many-sided care of him after the fall and for the economy of his salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ. Similarly, all the Christians present in the temple at these holy moments, glorifying God, cry out to Him: We sing to You, we bless You, we thank You, Lord ...

The Eucharist is also a propitiatory sacrifice for all members of the Church. Teaching His Body to the disciples, the Lord said of him, “Broken for you,” and, teaching His Blood, added, “Shed for you and for many, for the remission of sins.” That is why, from the beginning of Christianity, a bloodless sacrifice was made for the remembrance and forgiveness of the sins of both the living and the dead. This is evident from the rites of all Liturgies, beginning with the Liturgy of the holy Apostle James, and this sacrifice itself is often directly called in them the sacrifice of propitiation.

The Eucharist is a sacrifice that most intimately unites all the faithful into one body in Christ. Therefore, after the transubstantiation of the Holy Gifts, as before at the proskomedia, the clergyman commemorates the Most Holy Lady Theotokos and all the saints, adding: visit us with their prayers, O God, and then proceeds to commemorate the living and the dead (the whole Church of Christ). The Eucharist is also a pleading sacrifice: for the peace of the churches, for the well-being of the world, for the authorities, for those in weakness and labor, for all who require help - and from everyone and for everything.

In the Sacrament of the Eucharist, bread and wine are changed into the true Body and Blood of Christ.

In the Sacrament of the Eucharist - at the very time when the clergyman, invoking the Holy Spirit on the gifts offered, blesses them with a prayer to God the Father - bread and wine are really changed into the Body and Blood by the influx of the Holy Spirit. After this moment, although our eyes see the bread and wine at the holy table, but in the very being, invisible to the eyes of the senses, this is the true Body and true Blood of the Lord Jesus, only under the "kinds" of bread and wine.

This truth is expressed in the “Epistle of the Eastern Patriarchs” in the following words: “We believe that in this sacred service our Lord Jesus Christ is present, not symbolically, not figuratively, not by an excess of grace, as in other sacraments, not by one influx, as some Fathers said. about baptism, and not through the “penetration” of the bread, so that the deity of the Word “enters” into the bread offered for the Eucharist essentially, as the followers of Luther rather clumsily and unworthily explain: but truly and truly, so that after the consecration of bread and wine, bread is added , transubstantiates, transforms, transforms into the very true Body of the Lord, which was born in

A couple of weeks ago, I happened to meet an 86-year-old retired priest Georgy Edelstein. PhD in Philology, writer, philosopher. Since 1979, he has been a village priest in the Tula, Vologda and Kostroma regions. The last place of service was the Church of the Resurrection of Christ in the village of Karabanovo near Kostroma.

We talked about a lot. Upon learning that I had written a book about the children of priests, Father George exclaimed:

Who would write a book about mothers!

So there is already.

At these words, he shook his head sadly - not that. And he developed his idea: Russian history and literature have noted many examples of the feat of priestly service. But nowhere is there any mention of the fact that he served not alone, but with his family - with his wife and children. After all, almost every Orthodox priest is married (of course, we are not talking about monks or bishops). And this automatically led to the fact that the wife shared a difficult life with them.

The wives of the Decembrists did not appear by chance and did not form from scratch. They were by no means the first (and not the last) to follow their husbands into exile, determined to share the fate of their beloved "in sorrow and in joy." And hagiographic literature brought up this way: Xenophon and Mary, Chrysanthus and Daria, Claudius and Ilaria are always mentioned together.

Even about the wife of Archpriest Avvakum (a famous priest of the 17th century, whom the Old Believers revere as a saint), we know much more than about all the wives of our priests, ”Fr. George sighed sadly.

And he spoke about the twentieth century. When dozens, hundreds, thousands of priests were imprisoned and shot. But they did the same with their wives and mothers. And exiled too, and sometimes without children. The fate of those who were left in imaginary freedom turned out to be terrible - the wives and children of priests were persecuted as enemies of the people. This meant that it was impossible to get a job, they had to live from hand to mouth. It happened that families died of starvation in front of neighbors and former parishioners, fellow villagers, friends - helping meant being under the watchful eye of the authorities. And no one could ever be shown how she suffers, worries about her beloved husband and father of children who is sitting or killed.

Edelstein also mentioned those who were serving their sentences quite recently, already in my memory: the persecution of priests did not end with Stalin's death. Believing in God and resisting the system, which proclaimed his absence and exterminated people for believing in him, they continued to be politically unreliable, which by the standards of the USSR was a terrible crime.

Father Georgy read letters from the mothers of the inmates, called familiar names ... He spoke about what I, of course, knew, but did not attach importance to. This is what happens when you find yourself inside a certain reality: the brain begins to develop its own personal defense mechanisms and blocks seemingly obvious horrors.

I don’t know if I will ever have the opportunity to write a book, but now there is definitely enough material for an article. And these days, when we remember the royal martyrs, where half of the killed and tortured are women, it is most appropriate to talk about women's service to God and the Church. In particular, about serving through devotion to husbands-priests.

The first Christians, as I said above, did not hesitate to accept holy women into the ranks. Reading their lives, I unexpectedly discovered that Saint Natalia, who is mechanically commemorated on September 8 along with her husband Adrian, has her own separate life, and not common with her husband. And it especially emphasizes that Natalya is one of the bloodless martyrs, that is, she died not from torture or execution, but from spiritual wounds and heart suffering. Suffering for her husband Adrian, whom Natalya did not leave for a second all the days of torture. She prayed to God to give her husband the strength to endure the torture and prayed to her husband not to lose heart. And she died not from physical injuries, but from mental pain, but only after she found and buried the remains of her husband and the Christians who were executed with him: they were taken by someone from Nicomedia, where Adrian and Natalia lived.

In brackets, I note that the Christian Church knows another bloodless martyr - Sophia of Rome. The mother of three girls, Faith, Hope and Love, tortured for their faith before her eyes. But in general, a lot is known about female saints: reverends, martyrs, blessed ones.

It should be noted that in Russia, after the adoption of Christianity, quite soon their own glorified and canonized women appeared. First of all, the wives (sometimes children) of the canonized princes. There are some really outstanding personalities among them. Founder of monasteries, daughter of Prince George Vseslavich, Rev. Euphrosyne of Polotsk, wife of Prince Yaroslav the Wise Anna of Novgorod, daughter of Prince Mikhail of Chernigov martyred in the Horde Euphrosyne of Suzdal, wife of Prince Mikhail of Tverskoy, Rev. Anna Kashinskaya, Princess Juliana Vyazemskaya, who suffered for maintaining marital fidelity, wife of Prince Dmitry Donskoy Evdokia Moscow...

Nothing is known about some, such as, for example, Glyceria of Novgorod or Euphrosyne Shuiskaya, but the righteous Yuliana Lazarevskaya occupies an honorable place in female holiness in Russia. The fates, way of life, typology of the holiness of Russian ascetics have been studied in the most detailed way. Many scientific works are devoted to them, the writing of which was not difficult for a single reason: from the moment of the Baptism of Russia and the canonization of St. Olga and until the beginning of the 20th century, the Orthodox Church recognized 29 women as worthy to be revered as saints. One was canonized at the price of 36 male ascetics.

To verify this, it is enough to read the work "Ideal Images of Ancient Russia" by the linguist, folklorist, literary and art historian of the 19th century Fyodor Buslaev. In the chapter "Ideal Women's Characters of Ancient Russia" he listed "all the venerable women of Ancient Russia" with the exception of locally venerated ones (whose veneration exists within certain territories). Of these 29, only 5 women were not princesses or nuns. Needless to say, there is not a single wife of a priest or a warrior among them. At least the chef. But the princes did not go to war alone, they went to the Horde. And it is unlikely that the retinue accompanying the prince returned safe and sound. But of the wives of the rest of those who died for the faith and the fatherland, there is not a single glorified one. Even for the sake of an edifying example.

And yet I will return to the twentieth century. Furiously, fearfully, passionately and immeasurably high, he raised the bar, destroying everything and everyone in his path in the name of the great idea that there is no God. People were destroyed by tens, hundreds and, as it does not sound terrible, they were also canonized "wholesale". But not everyone.

I came across a 2013 report by Priest Alexander Mazyrin, a professor at PSTGU, which he read at the IV International Educational Intercession Readings in Helsinki. There, as expected, there are a lot of figures, analytics, and calculations. I will cite only those facts that made the strongest impression.

According to the results of the All-Union Census of 1937, "out of 44.9 million men, 14.1 million, that is, less than a third, were not afraid to call themselves Orthodox, and 27.6 out of 53.6 million women, more than half." The fate of many was sealed by this one answer alone. Fortunately, not everyone.

Fortunately, otherwise the Synodal Commission for Canonization would have to make decisions on tens of millions. However, it is not. During the period of chairmanship in the commission of Metropolitan Juvenaly of Krutitsy and Kolomna (from 1989 to 2011), 1866 ascetics of piety were canonized, including 1776 New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia. In the official calendar of the publishing house of the Moscow Patriarchate for 2013 (when Priest Alexander Mazyrin made a presentation) "the list of the Church-wide revered New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia included 1294 names, of which 141 were women. Together with the Cathedral of New Martyrs who suffered in Butovo, these numbers are increasing to 1580 and 181".

I doubt that the ratio has fundamentally changed over the past five years.

From studying the text of Mazyrin's speech, I turn to the report of Metropolitan Juvenaly of Krutitsy and Kolomna himself. I read about how closely the Commission for the Canonization of Saints studied the documents and how unbearably easy it was to find clergy for executions immediately after the revolution: not realizing what awaited them, they continued to "serve in churches in the same way as they served before the revolution, and the atheists were well aware of which of the priests had the greatest authority and who worked most zealously in the church field. It was they who were arrested and martyred in the first place "...

The report is long and detailed. Of course, not only about priests. For the most part, it deals with the canonization of the royal family. And I learn that, "in addition to the representatives of the House of Romanov, among the canonized martyrs and confessors of the twentieth century, there are six abbesses, five schema nuns, 38 nuns, 41 novices, 87 laywomen." About the wives of priests, about their feat - not a word. Perhaps they were on the "lay" list. Or they weren't.

I read about how Archpriest Philosopher Ornatsky lived and died - Metropolitan Yuvenaly mentioned him in his speech. Together with his three sons, the priest was shot in 1918. On the way, he read aloud the final farewell to the condemned. But if there were sons (caninized with their father), was there also a wife? This is Elena Nikolaevna Zaozerskaya, the daughter of Subdeacon Metropolitan Isidor. I understand that a month before the execution of Ornatsky, she was with her husband at the funeral of Archpriest Peter Skipetrov, who was married to her own sister Antonina. The father of Peter and Antonina had 13 children.

It has not yet been possible to find out how the sisters lived and how long they lived: in the biographies of their husbands, they are present exclusively as mechanisms for procreation. More attention is paid to the children of both New Martyrs. But given the possibilities of the commission to investigate the case (and if desired), they could become the same bloodless martyrs as Natalya of Nicomedia.

To date, I have managed to come across about five references to the presence of a wife in the life of a saintly husband (the sixth was Anna Petrovna, mother of the righteous Alexei Mechev, but she died 21 years before her husband’s death). Another 10 stories are collected on the Pravoslavie website. RU. No, not one of them is canonized, they are simply told about, their letters to their husbands and children are given.

There is quite a lot of information (compared to the rest) about how Maria Evgenievna Tokhtueva, the wife of the protodeacon, Hieromartyr Nikolai Vasilyevich, lived. But only starting from May 17, 1943, when her husband died in Pechorlag. “After the arrest of her husband, mother Maria Evgenievna continued to live with her children there, in Bolshevo, in a wooden church house-gatehouse, 50-100 meters from the Cosmodamian Church and on the way to the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord. Maria Evgenievna worked as a stoker in the church, baked prosphora, she carried out various assignments of the headman, went on various assignments to the Synod.In the gatehouse she arranged for the relatives of those who were baptized to spend the night, and in the kitchen, choristers arranged singing.During the war, one priest who served in Bolshevo lived in one of the rooms.Boys, sons of Protodeacon Nikolai ", helped in the altar. Little Vera was taken to sing in the church choir. The children of Protodeacon Nikolai Tokhtuev and Maria Evgenievna grew up as believers, church people. Matushka Maria Evgenievna died in July 1996. By 1999, three children of Protodeacon Father Nikolai survived : Eugene, Avenir and Vera".

The story of the spouses Vasily and Olga Muravyov is amazing. She is known as the schema-nun Seraphim, he was canonized in the rank of saints, to whom the Orthodox world prays as the elder Seraphim of Vyritsky. The couple were engaged in commerce and charity. At the beginning of the 20th century, Vasily Muravyov was one of the richest people in Russia. Both from childhood dreamed of monasticism, but the confessor told Vasily that he needed to get married. The couple had two children, but when their daughter died, they decided it was time to return to the idea of ​​leaving for a monastery. And after 30 years of marriage, both take the tonsure. In the late 1930s, the health of schemamonk Seraphim deteriorated so much that it was decided to transfer him from the monastery (the elder at that time was the confessor of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra) to the village. Mother until the end of her days looked after her husband: so they ended up together after the tonsure.

But one incident made a special impression on me. In Volhynia, in the village of Kopachevka, a lonely, quiet, modest woman, Alevtina Zakharchuk, lived for half a century. The villagers called her mother. But few people knew how accurate this “nickname” was: she was the wife of priest Sergiy Zakharchuk for 5 years, until in 1943 he was martyred in the Kholm region and was canonized in the assembly of the martyrs of Kholmsky and Podlyashsky (Polish Orthodox Church). They were friends since childhood, then fell in love with each other. And when he decided that he would become a priest, they left for Lithuania, where the consecration was performed. Alevtina remembered not only happy days, but also that on the night of the massacre of her husband, she went to her mother to pick up a new dress for the holiday from a seamstress. And Alevtina learned about the canonization of her husband from her neighbors. Nobody invited her, and even if they had called, there was no money for a trip, no passport. The living wife of the saint got only a little book with a description of her husband's martyrdom. According to her, Alevtina Zakharchuk always prayed to him, as her patron, a home saint.

I would like to end the conversation about the "unholy saints" with a story about one more mother. “My wife is an angel,” Archpriest John Sergiev wrote about his wife Elizabeth Konstantinovna (canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church as the holy righteous John of Kronstadt. Today he is one of the most famous and revered saints in Russia). No doubt, Elizaveta Konstantinovna really was an angel. Find out on the wedding night that the marriage would be formal, since her husband married her in order to become a priest (John did not want to live in a monastery, and monasticism was not practiced at the parish then, as was celibacy - unmarried priests, but not monks either).

Even for my Christian consciousness, this feat is unbearable. For Elizabeth Konstantinovna, it seems that it was also difficult to accept this attitude of the future saint: when persuasion ceased to help, she wrote to the Holy Synod. And he obliged Father John to live with his wife. But Sergiev firmly stood his ground, and the Synod had no mechanisms for managing a recalcitrant priest: by that time he had already become so famous that any punishment could cause strong discontent among the spiritual children of the elder.

Elizaveta Konstantinovna lived next to her husband for 53 years. It seems to me that this feat is at the same time a manifestation of the highest humility, true righteousness, and the highest love. And, of course, a bloodless victim.

In a word, worthy of consideration in the Canonization Commission.

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Believers gather in the temple for joint prayer. God Himself mysteriously dwells in the temple. The temple is the house of God. In the temple, the priests offer the Most Holy Bloodless Sacrifice. Even in the Old Testament times, prayers were accompanied by the sacrifice of animals in order to cleanse from sins and propitiate God. In the Church of the New Testament, animal sacrifice does not exist, for " Christ died for our sins» (). « He is the propitiation for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for the sins of the whole world.» ().
He sacrificed His Most Pure Blood and Flesh for all and established at the Last Supper the Sacrament of Holy Communion, the offering under the guise of bloodless gifts - bread and wine - of His Most Pure Flesh and Blood for the remission of sins, which is performed in churches at the Divine Liturgy.

Church prayer has special power also because it is ascended by a priest specially appointed to perform sacred rites, to offer prayers and sacrifices to God for people.
« I chose you and appointed you- says the Savior to His Apostles, - whatever you ask the Father in my name, he has given you» ().
The rights given by the Lord to the apostles and the duties and powers assigned to them, they transferred to the successors appointed by them: bishops and presbyters, bequeathing to them both power and right, and an indispensable duty above all ... "to make prayers, petitions, supplications, thanksgiving for all people"().
That is why the holy Apostle James says to Christians: Is any of you sick, let him call for the elders of the Church, and let them pray over him» ().

How Often Should You Submit Memorial Notes?

The prayer of the Church and the Most Holy Sacrifice draw upon us the grace of the Lord, which cleanses and saves us.
We always, both during life and after death, need God's mercy towards us.
Therefore, it is necessary to be honored with the prayers of the Church and the sacrifice of the Holy Gifts for us or our loved ones, the living and the dead, as often as possible, and always on those days that are of particular importance: on the birthday, baptism day, name day of both your own and members of your family.
Honoring the memory of the saint whose name we bear, we thereby call our patron to prayer and intercession before God, because, as the Holy Scripture says, much can the fervent prayer of the righteous().
Be sure to submit a note of remembrance on the birthdays and christening of your child.
This should be carefully monitored by mothers, for caring for a child is their sacred duty..
Whether sin draws us to itself, whether some passion seizes us, whether the devil tempts us, whether despair or inconsolable sorrow befalls us, trouble, need, illness visited us - in such cases, the prayer of the Church with the offering of the Bloodless Sacrifice serves as the surest means of deliverance, strengthening and consolation.

Memo for those wishing to submit a note on the living and the dead

1. Notes must be submitted before the start of the Liturgy. It is best to submit memorial notes in the evening or early in the morning, before the start of the service.
2. Entering the names of the living and the dead, remember them in the process of writing with a sincere desire for their good, from a pure heart, trying to remember the one whose name you enter - this is a prayer.
3. The note should contain no more than ten names. If you want to commemorate many of your relatives and friends, submit several notes.
4. Names should be written in the genitive case (to answer the question "who?").
The names of the bishops and priests (priests) are indicated first, and their dignity is indicated - for example, “about the health” of Bishop Tikhon, Abbot Tikhon, Priest Yaroslav, then write your name, your relatives and friends.
The same applies to the notes "about the repose" - for example, Metropolitan John, Archpriest Michael, Alexandra, John, Anthony, Elijah, etc.
5. All names must be given in church spelling (for example, Julia, not Julia) and in full (for example, Alexander, Nikolai, but not Sasha, Kolya),
6. The notes do not indicate surnames, patronymics, ranks and titles, degrees of kinship.
7. A child under 7 years old in a note can be indicated as an infant - baby John.
8. If you like, in health notes, you can mention “sick”, “warrior”, “traveling”, “prisoner” before the name. They do not write in notes - “suffering”, “embittered”, “needy”, “lost”.
9. In the notes “On the Repose”, the deceased is referred to as the “newly deceased” within 40 days after death. It is allowed in the notes “On the Repose” to write before the name “killed”, “warrior”, “memorable” (the day of death, the name day of the deceased).

Is it possible to write in the notes “For health” and “For the repose” of people for whom it is not known whether they were baptized?

The notes that are served at the altar for proskomidia list the people for whom the Holy Church offers the Bloodless Sacrifice at the liturgy. Therefore, it is assumed that all these people are not only baptized, but also recognize themselves as members of the Church.
If people are baptized, but do not live a church life (), then it is more appropriate to submit notes for them for commemoration when reading the Psalter.

How to write in notes the names of people whose names are not in the calendar?

The tradition of baptizing with the name "from the church calendar", i.e. according to the calendar - this is just a good Russian tradition, which does not exclude the commemoration of those Christians whose names do not correspond to it. There is even a special circular on this topic:

“The Moscow Patriarchate receives letters that draw attention to cases of refusal to liturgical commemoration and participation in the Sacraments in relation to those Orthodox believers who are baptized in other Local Orthodox Churches (for example, in the Bulgarian, Georgian, Romanian, Serbian, Finnish, etc. d.) with the naming of names that are not in the calendar of the Russian Orthodox Church.
In the traditions of some Local Churches, it is allowed at baptism to name babies with national names that are not found in the church monograms.
In connection with the foregoing, with the blessing of His Holiness, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, I remind you that no restrictions should be allowed in liturgical commemoration and admission to the Sacraments of the Church for believers bearing national names and baptized in other Local Orthodox Churches.
I ask you to convey this information to the abbots of the monasteries and parishes of the diocese entrusted to you.”