Prayer for the departed unbaptized people. Prayer for the unbaptized departed

15.10.2019

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How to pray for the unbaptized?

The tradition of the Church brings to us a lot of evidence of the effectiveness of prayer for unbaptized people who do not belong to the Church.

Once upon a time, St. Macarius of Egypt walked through the desert and saw a human skull lying on the ground. When the monk touched him with a palm stick, the skull gave a voice. The elder asked: "Who are you?" The skull replied, "I was a pagan priest of the idolaters who lived in this place." He also said that when St. Macarius, having compassion on those who are in eternal torment, prays for them, then they receive some consolation. “As far as heaven is from earth, for so many fires under our feet and above our heads,” the skull said again, “We stand in the midst of the fire, and none of us is positioned so as to see our neighbor. But when you pray for us, each one sees the other's face somewhat. This is our joy. " After the conversation, the elder betrayed the skull to the ground.

The Monk Leo of Optina, comforting his spiritual son Pavel Tambovtsev, whose father died tragically outside the Church, said: “You must not be overly sad. God, without comparison, more than you, loved and loves him. This means that you have to leave the eternal fate of your parent to the goodness and mercy of God, who, if he deigns to have mercy, then who can resist Him. " The great elder gave Pavel Tambovtsev a prayer, which, having slightly changed, can be said for the unbaptized: “Have mercy, Lord, the soul of Your servant (name), who passed into eternal life without Holy Baptism. Your destinies are unsearchable. Do not put this prayer of mine into sin. But Thy holy will be done. "

This prayer may well be used when reading the Psalter for the departed, reciting it at each "Glory".

Another holy Optina elder, the Monk Joseph, later said that there is evidence of the fruits of this prayer. It can be read at any time (several times during the day). Mentally, you can create it in the temple. Feasible alms, given for the deceased to the needy, helps. It is good to pray to the Mother of God, reading on the rosary "Virgin Mary, rejoice ..." (as much as the strength allows: from 30 to 150 times a day). At the beginning and at the end of this rule, one must ask the Mother of God to help the soul of the deceased.

The loved ones of the deceased (especially children and grandchildren - direct descendants) have a great opportunity to influence the afterlife of the deceased. Namely: to reveal the fruits of spiritual life (to live in the prayer experience of the Church, to participate in the Holy Sacraments, to live according to the commandments of Christ). Although he who departed unbaptized did not himself reveal these fruits, but his children and grandchildren, he also participates in them like a root or a trunk.

And I also want to say: loved ones should not lose heart, but do everything possible to help, remembering the mercy of the Lord and knowing that everything will be finally determined at the Judgment of God.

The tradition of the Church brings to us a lot of evidence of the effectiveness of prayer for unbaptized people who do not belong to the Church.

Once upon a time, St. Macarius of Egypt walked through the desert and saw a human skull lying on the ground. When the monk touched him with a palm stick, the skull gave a voice. The elder asked: "Who are you?" The skull replied, "I was a pagan priest of the idolaters who lived in this place." He also said that when St. Macarius, having compassion on those who are in eternal torment, prays for them, then they receive some consolation. “As far as heaven is from earth, for so many fires under our feet and above our heads,” the skull said again, “We stand in the midst of the fire, and none of us is placed so as to see our neighbor. But when you pray for us, each one sees the other's face somewhat. This is our joy. " After the conversation, the elder betrayed the skull to the ground.

For people who died without holy baptism or belonged to another confession or faith, we cannot pray at the Divine Liturgy and perform funeral services for them in the Church, but no one forbids us to pray for them in our personal prayers at home. Those. during the Liturgy it is generally forbidden to pray for the unbaptized, neither aloud, nor even silently, because at this time the bloodless Eucharistic Sacrifice is offered, and it is offered only for the members of the Church. Such a commemoration is allowed only during the requiem, silently, and never at the Liturgy.

The Monk Leo of Optina, comforting his spiritual son Pavel Tambovtsev, whose father died tragically outside the Church, said: “ You shouldn't be overly sad. God, without comparison, more than you, loved and loves him. Hence, it remains for you to leave the eternal fate of your parent to the goodness and mercy of God, who, if he deigns to have mercy, then who can resist Him". The great elder gave a prayer to Pavel Tambovtsev, which, having slightly changed, can be said for the unbaptized:

“Have mercy, Lord, on the soul of Thy servant (name), who passed into eternal life without Holy Baptism. Your destinies are unsearchable. Do not put this prayer of mine into sin. But Thy holy will be done. "

This prayer may well be used when reading the Psalter for the departed, reciting it at each "Glory".

Ossuary of Sedlec in Kutná Hora (Czech Republic)

Another holy Optina elder, the Monk Joseph, later said that there is evidence of the fruits of this prayer. It can be read at any time (several times during the day). You can mentally create it in the temple. Feasible alms, given for the deceased to the needy, helps. It is good to pray to the Mother of God, reading on the rosary "Virgin Mary, rejoice ..." (as much as the strength allows: from 30 to 150 times a day). At the beginning and at the end of this rule, one must ask the Mother of God to help the soul of the deceased.

The Orthodox Church testifies that there is a Christian saint who has a special grace to pray for the dead unbaptized. This is a victim in the III century. St. martyr Uar. There is a canon for this saint, in which the main content is a request to St. to the martyr to pray for the unbaptized. This canon and the prayer of St. to the martyr Uaru are read instead of those funeral prayers that the Church offers for the baptized.

Priest Pavel Gumerov

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Cold does not create the truth of God

I myself grew up in an environment where there were no believers, literally not a single one! 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 deceased? My parents were baptized, but I knew they were just as much unbelievers as their unbaptized friends. And the latter are just as 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 that of friends who did not possess this property? They explained to me that it was forbidden to submit notes 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 That Doesn't Drain Hope

The Church teaches that the souls of the dead need our prayers. The Last Judgment differs from the so-called private judgment over the soul of a deceased person in that its fate is could get better- it may turn out to be “ground”. An impression from the period of my neophyte was engraved in my memory: the story of a priest's mother about her acquaintance, whose son committed suicide. Weighed down by such a terrible grief, the woman tirelessly prayed for her son for twenty whole years, and one day her relatives heard her exclaim in her room: "I prayed for it!" I thought then: “How does she know that everything is all right now? After all, she only felt that it became easy on her soul. " And then I thought: “How else could she be notified? And why not trust her? " This story and my confidence in it often recalled to me later, and I came to the conclusion that if the soul of a suicide can be prayed for, then all the more this should apply to the souls of the unbaptized, so 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 meat-swallow Sabbath synaxaris. He is also cited by Father Seraphim Rose, distinguished by his strict exactingness, in his book "The Soul After Death" (The Offering of an Orthodox American. A collection of works by Father Seraphim Platinsky. Moscow, 2008. S. 196). It is about how Saint Gregory Dvoeslov 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 retroactively) “baptized with tears” by 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? - this is worth thinking about. But, be that as it may, there is no reason not to trust the above story about St. Gregory and the Emperor Trajan. “Although this is a rare case,” comments Hieromonk Seraphim (Rose), “it gives hope to those whose loved ones died outside the faith.”

The bitterness of feelings for those close to us who did not accept Christ has its ultimate expression in the Apostle Paul in his epistle to the Romans: I would myself be excommunicated from Christ for my brothers, relatives of me according to the flesh ”(Rom. 9.1-3) - if only they would be saved. It so happens that in prayer for your dear unbeliever, non-church person you want to exclaim: “Lord! You know him! Is this, and this, and this not from You with him, precious before You? " You ask for his conversion, and he dies, outside the Church, and sometimes unbaptized. Now what?

Martyr Uar

Saint Ouar was an officer in the Roman army, the commander of one of the cohorts stationed in Alexandria. He suffered for Christ in 307 C.E. The torturers threw Huar's body in the place where they dumped the corpses of animals. A pious widow named Cleopatra found his body and, with the help of slaves, transferred 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 the body of the holy martyr Uar. She did not want to be opposed by the Alexandrian Christians, 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, lit candles and performed incense. Following Cleopatra, her fellow countrymen began to venerate the tomb of the martyr Uar and, through prayers to him, receive healings for themselves and their loved ones. The only son of Cleopatra, John, reached the age of 17 and had to, under the patronage arranged by his mother, get a good place in the imperial army. At the same time, the widow was busy building a temple over the tomb of St. Huar and decided not to give 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 to the tomb with a fervent prayer to the saint about the forthcoming career of her son. Then she made 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, fell asleep for a short time. “In a dream, Saint Uar appeared before her, holding the hand of her son; they were both as bright as the sun, and their clothes were whiter than snow; they wore golden belts and crowns on their heads, unspeakable beauty ”- says Dimitri of Rostov. In response to the reproaches, the martyr Uar told the widow that he had begged forgiveness of sins for her relatives, with whom she had laid him in the tomb; her son was taken into the heavenly army ...

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 is, in the most brief summary, the life of the holy martyr Uar and the pious Cleopatra. Based on the fact that Saint Uar begged for forgiveness of sins to 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 a special grace to pray for those who died unbaptized. The canon to the holy martyr Uar in the "green menaea" is permeated mainly with this very thought.

Consolation experience

For many years, from a sad occasion to a sad occasion, it has happened to me to attend a prayer service to the holy Martyr Uar in the Church of the Life-Giving Trinity on Pyatnitskaya Street. This temple is visible in the distance on the left, as soon as you leave the Pyatnitskaya metro station "Novokuznetskaya". This is the only place in Moscow where a prayer service to the martyr Uar, with a zealous petition for the repose of unbaptized relatives and "known" ones, is strictly served every Saturday after the liturgy; it thus begins between half past nine and nine in the morning.

There are priests who have a categorically negative attitude to such a prayer service, and it cannot be said that they have no grounds for this - see below. There are, on the contrary, inspired admirers of the martyr Uar and fervent prayer books for those who died outside the body of Christ. There are also those who treat this issue favorably and judiciously: recognizing the tradition and the vital need of Orthodox believers to turn to the martyr Uar, they shun any inspired excess in this prayer matter.

According to the first thought, what is gained in prayer to St. Uaru consolation does not mean anything! You never know, they say, where we can get consolation for our imperfect senses, it quite happens “from the left”. In the abstract, this is a fair comment. But there is a certain “quality” of spiritual consolation, familiar to every church believer, in which, it seems to me, it is hardly possible to make a mistake: purity, proven by experience, you will not fake! For those with a negative attitude, this, of course, is not an argument, but, thank God, in Orthodoxy you can look differently and remain faithful to what is verified by the heart.

There are a lot of people going to the prayer service, however, it happens in different ways: sometimes not so many, and sometimes it is crowded. There are always people at the same time, from just one glance at whom the heart bleeds, you cannot say otherwise. Dejected, pale, burdened with inescapable bitterness. I remember one time in particular. There were probably thirty people. And there was such a noticeable general feeling before the prayer, as if a deceased person had either ended his life by suicide for each of those gathered, or had blasphemed the Church as much as he could. It seemed that in what was hanging in the air, one could simply "get burned". A prayer service began, familiar petitions, exclamations - and little by little it began to become different ... nothing special, no sudden "airing", but just different, easier. And then even easier and more. And suddenly it became, in the end, quite easy, joyful! I looked at the faces around: other faces! This only happens in the Church. Only with a lively communion of the Church militant with the Church triumphant is such an inconspicuous and such a sure victory over the "prince who dominates the air" possible.

Living testimony

NA, a parishioner of one of the Moscow churches, a middle-aged woman who came to faith in the early 1980s, when her youngest son Andryusha was four years old, a little more, tells about the victory of Saint Uar "in the air". He was still ill, coughing all the time, nothing helped, and one good friend who became a priest told his mother: “You’re trying everything with folk remedies. Try this: part of Andryusha. And try to partake him more often, once a week. " The "remedy" helped, the child recovered, and the mother came to faith. And then she went to the Church to work. It upset her that her husband remained an unbeliever. And there is nothing you can do: respect him, they say, his free choice. What about children? And he himself? ON. did not want to calm down, but no one could help her.

About a year has passed since N.A. turned to the faith, and now one priest blessed her to pray for her husband's conversion to the martyr Uaru: to read the canons to him, both the life of the life, and the one about the deceased unbaptized (there was, of course, someone to pray for). It was so bad with church literature then that it is even difficult to imagine now. ON. rewrote the canons from the pre-revolutionary menaea, and began to read them every day.

Great Lent began soon. ON. already knew about possible temptations, and, indeed, strangers on the streets of Moscow began to deliver them this way and that way. Drunkards climbed, for example, sometimes rude, sometimes with hugs. And suddenly - a lull. The canons of N.A. reads, but nothing "such" happens, although I have already read twenty times in the "lull". She says to herself: “Why am I jabbering? Maybe I’m already reading in vain, since nothing is happening? ”. 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 stench! " My daughter ran from the next room, opened the window, although neither she nor N.A. did not smell any bad smell. Only five-year-old Andryusha felt. He sat down on the crib and said: “Right here - he pointed to his left - a little“ he ”appeared, disgusting and as if wearing a crown, only it was not a crown at all. And then - he pointed to the opposite - the martyr Uar appeared (although Andryusha had not heard from his mother about Uare), and rays emanated from him, which began to fall into “that one”. "That" wriggled, wriggled, but the beam suddenly hit, and "he" then burst, and it smelled badly, very badly! " Mom did not immediately reassure him, finally, the boy fell fast asleep, and when he woke up in the morning, he immediately said: "What a nasty dream I had tonight!" We would not call it that, but it was difficult for the child!

N.A.'s husband in the same year he was baptized, and after a while he accepted, in an incurable disease, his martyr's crown.

Why is it so strict?

At a prayer service to the martyr Uar in the church on Pyatnitskaya street N.A. does not happen, but he will not say a bad word about that prayer. She was blessed to read the canons to the martyr Uaru only in private, and she reads in private. It must be said that the Monk Confessor St. Athanasius (Sakharov) in his famous book "On the Remembrance of the Dead according to the Rule of the Orthodox Church" writes about prayer for the unbaptized only in Chapter 4 "Remembrance of the Dead at Home Prayer", in the section "Remembrance at Home Prayer non-Orthodox ", as well as in the next section" Canon to the Martyr Huar about deliverance from torment in the other faith of the dead, "which, by the way, tells that the tradition of turning to the martyr Huar with a prayer for the departed unbaptized 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 is it so strict?

Think about it and ask yourself: “What does it mean strictly? What would you like? Are you forbidden to go to the prayer service to Uaru on Pyatnitskaya? Not prohibited. Priests just say what they think, think the way they think. Would you like to have a prayer service to the martyr Uar in every church? So it is you who “build” everyone internally. And the Church adheres to freedom, benevolence 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, Christ is the most precious thing. Imagine with what "just feeling of indignation" those whom Christ called "the dead" learned that their son had not come to his father's funeral! And if I came, I would sincerely forget Christ. So it is here. Superfluous 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, 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 transcendental spheres, in desires related to the unknown, if in these thoughts and these desires you forget about faith, and indulge in one compassion.

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's - in the chapter “Rebellion”), then it becomes untrue and fraught with disaster. Radishchev's compassion (his gaze “surrounds”) served as the seed of the revolution. Through compassion, Prince Myshkin died and contributed significantly, albeit involuntarily, to the death of other heroes of the novel. Compassion is one of the best feelings, and it would be offensive to say that you shouldn't say you shouldn't “give in” to it. But all too often strong sincere feelings are the very rivers and the very winds that "overwhelm" the house of our faith.

Another thing is heartache for a dear person, living or deceased, pain that you can present prayerfully to God. The faith of this person or his unbelief, his detachment from the Church is the secret of his heart, known only to the One who knows the measure of our guile 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 a qualitative difference in being baptized or not, this does not mean that there is no specified difference, and that you can get lost in a common harmony (“the main thing is to be a good person”) 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) are all from unbelief, from the inability to give God what is in His only knowledge and is. And you "shut your door and pray to your Father who is in 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 work acquaintance, a little older than me, who, in two months, “out of the blue,” suddenly died 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 at her grave, I feel (almost always so) - joyful! I, so to speak, "can not do anything." In this Elena there was ... irresistible friendliness. She will tell the student cheerfully: "What did you write to me here?" and show him his wild stupidity. And he will send it away, and will bet a deuce, without yielding to anything. And the friendliness will be fully preserved. Everyone loved her. And suddenly the Lord took it away. She had just (at the end of "perestroika") become interested in religion, read books, and she died unbaptized. And, although I did not doubt and do not doubt her bright afterlife fate and with whom (besides her parents) I would like to meet “there” is her, I am one of the first to remember her when I turn to Saint Uar. And I feel that this is so necessary, this is so right, and this is truer than my (even if it is as 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 - what can be done by us. In Christ Jesus, according to the words of the Apostle Paul, only “faith working through love” (Gal.5.6) “has power”. Love for the dear to us, the deceased, does not allow us to calm down and, if I may say so, to leave “mechanically” his fate to God, we do everything from our hearts that can be done by us. 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 makes it possible to resolve such a difficult question that touches us so vividly!

For the sake of truth, one cannot but 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 Uar with a prayer for the unbaptized, up to doubts about the interpretation of his life. Thus, the priest Konstantin Bufeev in his article "On non-statutory service to the martyr Uaru" ("Holy Fire" No. 12) states that "there is no reason to suspect Cleopatrina's relatives of unbelief and paganism." Further, Priest Constantine 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, “ He has also been given the grace to bring the dead to his feet. " Witty, you won’t say anything, and even poisonous. But, like cold, poisonousness does not create the truth of God. There is also no reason to consider Cleopatrina's ancestors to be believers in Christ, but there is a tradition of prayer to Uaru, and the tradition, as already mentioned, is ancient.

By following it, trusting the Church, trusting the holy martyr, we gain experience that multiplies faith, for we do not remain without certificates. We do not receive any confirmation that now the afterlife fate of those for whom we have care has become bright, but we gain confidence that the Lord has completely taken our care upon Himself, and, therefore, everything will be right.

One day I received a call from a classmate who came from the funeral of her workmate (unbaptized), in complete decay, almost in despair - this is how she experienced the unexpected death of her friend (in a car accident). I tell her: “So you have the church of Cyril and Athanasius nearby. 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, it was the testimony of faith about which the Apostle John speaks: “Whoever believes in the Son of God has a testimony in himself” (1 John 5.10). For me, on the one hand, this was not surprising, but on the other, of course, there was also evidence, confirmation of what I already knew well. We cannot live without the Church and cannot live without communication with each other, confirming 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 War is performed on Wednesday evening, if there is no pre-holiday evening service.

God has everyone alive

And everything is alive. I really loved taking exams together with that Lena, which I talked about above. Each time she told me that she would start the exam herself and added (I remember a hand gesture): "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 do not feel at all that I am “very late” ... Here somehow everything is different. The grief was yesterday, but the good - forever.

In his speech at the Diocesan Assembly of Moscow in 2003, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II noted: “Lately, the veneration of the holy Martyr Uar has become more and more widespread. Chapels are built in his honor, icons are painted. It follows from his life that he had a special grace from God to pray for unbaptized dead people. During the times of militant atheism in our country, many people grew up and died unbaptized, and their believing relatives want to pray for their repose. This kind of private prayer has never been forbidden. But in church prayer, during divine services, we remember only the children of the Church who have joined her through the Sacrament of Holy Baptism.

Some abbots, guided by mercantile considerations, perform the 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 of little church get the impression that it is not necessary to accept Holy Baptism or to be a member of the Church, it is enough just to pray to the martyr Uar. 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 widespread phenomenon.

However, it is not the life of the holy martyr Uar that provides a basis for those distortions of Orthodox piety, about which the Patriarch spoke. 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, that God save us, that we do not perish(Jonah 1, 6).

Unfortunately, there is a textual basis for this anti-canonical practice in the latest editions of the Liturgical Menaia.

So, on October 19, two services are given to the martyr Uaru - statutory and non-statutory. The first (to which the Typicon points out) is composed quite familiarly 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 with your prayers US permission of sins, lives correction, Huare "(Canto 9, p. 469).

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

With regard to this name, the following should be noted.

Firstly, not just a service in honor of such and such a saint of God is presented, as it always happens in the Menaion, but a certain goal is declared, as it were, a super task: to glorify Huar exactly as prayer book for the unbaptized "Cleopatrina progenitors".

For comparison, suppose that someone would like to compose a new alternative service "The feast of the Beheading of the honest head of John the Baptist, he was given the grace to heal from headaches"- on the grounds that, they say, prayer to the Forerunner helps with pain in the head. Either someone would compose a new service "Saint Nicholas, he has been given the grace of quick deliverance to grant the governors an unjust death to those who have them." Although the Church glorifies (Akathist, Ikos 6) the Miracle-worker of Myra with such words, 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, it would not be necessary to impoverish the abundance of gifts of the glorious martyr and miracle worker Uar in the name of the service.

Secondly, it should be definitely said that the name of this second, non-statutory service contains, if not an outright lie, then an unproven and unfounded statement: there is no evidence that Blessed Cleopatra (commemorated on the same day, October 19) has relatives were unbaptized. It is likely that a godly and zealous Christian wife was raised by believing Christian parents. The life of St. Huara does not give any reason to suspect Cleopatrina's relatives of unbelief and paganism. This should have been declared if there was at least some evidence of their wickedness.

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

Thirdly, even if we assume that among Cleopatrina's relatives there were unbaptized people who 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 Saint Uar: "The earth is on her, your most patient body, wise, lies, Divinely sanctified"(Canon, Canto 9 of the Statutory Service, p. 469) God is omnipotent even to resurrect the dead from touching the relics of His saints, as was the case with the holy prophet Elisha: Throwing down her husband in Elisse's tomb and in the fall, the body of a man is dead, and I will touch Elisse's bone, and come to life, and vosta on my feet(2 Kings 13, 21).

True, no one has yet thought of composing a new service. "The prophet Elisha, he was given the grace to bring the dead on his feet".

Let us also note that even 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 Huar for this prayer. 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 a sinful earth.

Consider the content of the liturgical text non-statutory services to the martyr Uar for the Minea.

The stichera on "Lord, Cry" of Little Vespers assert about Saint Uar, as if “He forgives the dead with his prayers pagans Lord Christ " . « Infidels the dead are delivered and freed from the places of hell 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 shade of death the condemned sitting, even relatives of us, and pray the Lord God to fulfill our petitions for them." .

At the great Vespers in the stichera on "Lord, I have cried out," this theme develops with great boldness: “Pray Christ God for all sorts of prejudice to our relatives, faith and Baptism not reaching, have mercy on them and save our souls " .

At the end of the stichera there is a more than half-page "glavnik", which contains such "Real screams": "Remember ... faith and Baptism of the Holy Orthodox, not attaining, but so in bewilderment, as if in contradictions, deceived and all differently fallen, hear, great martyr, the real cries, and beg to grant forgiveness to those oppressed, and absolution, and deliverance from sorrowful ones " .

The theme of begging for the unbelievers and the unbaptized is intensified in the stichera "on the litiya".

“... Remember our relatives ... even alienated deceased, unfaithful and unbaptized and pray to Christ God to grant them forgiveness and forgiveness " .

« Hedgehog for non-Orthodox pleading, who have died for many years ... and now pray diligently, martyr, to deliver from the seclusion of hell and from the enduring grief of freedom, like ... the salvific product of non-acceptance and alienated Orthodox faith, hasten to ask for forgiveness and forgiveness, and great mercy, from Christ God. " .

In the "glavnik" the sticheron "on the verse" again asserts about Cleopatra that "This is gaining its own unfaithful relatives, through the prayers of the glorious martyr, are delivered from the sorrow of eternal torment. " This gives the compiler of the canon a basis for a prayer proclamation: “The same, our parents and neighbors are the same, pityingly, we bake even faith and baptism of the holy alienated... ask Christ God for their change, and endless merciful deliverance from darkness " .

The stichera on the 50th psalm contains a petition: “... save our unfaithful relatives and ancestors and all, for them we pray, from lutago and bitter yearning " .

In the canon of the service, the theme of a prayer intercession to the martyr Uaru for the unbaptized is reinforced by the appeal never found in other well-known church texts to the Mother of God herself to pray for all, without exception, the unbaptized and heterodox dead.

“Deliver with Your warm prayers from fierce torment unfaithful our and unbaptized relatives ... and grant them deliverance and great mercy "(Theotokos sedalen, p. 479) .

“... Intercede relentlessly for mercy to your merciful Son and Lord, to have mercy and forgive the sin of heterodox our dead relative "(Canto 9, p. 484).

Not only the Most Holy Theotokos, but also the angelic ranks move up to prayer for the infidels: “Bring the face of the holy Forces of Heaven with you to prayer, martyr, and do the deed wonderfully ... wrongly dead the ancestor and the hedgehog remembered with them, grant this from the Lord forgiveness and great mercy "(Canto 3, p. 478.

The canon offers other saints as allies and assistants to the martyr Uaru:

“Yako listened to Thy saint, O Lord, to have mercy on unfaithful dead, and today we bring Ti to prayer, but their petitions for the sake of obshedrishi heterodox deaths» (Canto 8, p. 483). This petition is noteworthy, since it obliges not one martyr Uar, but a whole council of the holy saints of God to ask for the salvation of the unbaptized: “The Lamb of God, redeemed us with His Most Pure Blood, hearing the prayer of Theklino and Blessed Gregory, Methodius with many and Macarius the reception of the petition, and I will delight and deliver evil having given to the dead, and Zlatoustago praying for these, erecting, erecting, receive ubo, Vladyka, with these glorious Uara 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 Dvoeslov for Tsar Trajan and the prayer of St. Methodius of Constantinople with the Father's Cathedral for Tsar Theophilos are mentioned here - so these were not prayers "for the pagans" or "for heretics", but "for the king." to pray according to the apostolic commandment for the king and for all others like him in power are(1 Tim. 2, 2). The prayers of the rest of the saints of God mentioned in the canon are obviously classified as "private" and not "public."

Almost all troparions of the canon, as well as in the Luminary, contain the same petition. « ... faith, and Baptism of alienated death our relatives and all ... grant forgiveness and great mercy "(Canto 5, p. 481).

The service is crowned with stichera "on praises", where the following proclamations are met with a refrain:

"... Beg him to forgive him too dead is heterodox» .

“... Beg him to send mercy dead in disbelief» .

The last seal of the "praised" stichera is a half-page "glavnik" containing, in particular, the following proclamations: “... Remember the remembered I will take out our grandfathers and great-grandfathers, and even with them honored , spruce trees are against the gods buried, dead unbaptized... For these ubo stand before Christ God ... and begging to ask them to get deliverance from eternal darkness " .

On canonical inadmissibility
church commemoration of non-Orthodox

The canonical consciousness of the ancient Church absolutely did not allow for prayer communication with heretics, Jews and pagans. Such a ban on prayer communication applied to both the living and the dead. As Archpriest Vladislav Tsypin justly noted, “departed Christians remain members of the Church, and therefore the Church offers her prayers for them as well as for her living members”, therefore “The Church can, of course, only serve 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 Trinity parental Saturday service, placed in the Colored Triodion. In this liturgical sequence, literally in every canon song it is noted that the Church remembers only baptized Orthodox people who ended their earthly life in faith and piety.

“Let us all pray to Christ, creating memory this day from the age of the dead, may I deliver the eternal fire , in the faith of the dead, and the hope of eternal life» (Song 1).

“You see, you see, as I am your God, who set up the limits of life with righteous judgment, and accept all things from aphids. dying in the hope of eternal resurrection» (Canto 2).

“The sea that floated to Christ, in the incorruptible life of your life, make a refuge to come, Orthodox life nourished» (Canto 3).

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

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

“From time immemorial you have received faithful god, every human race, grant to the servants of Ty to glorify Thee forever. "(Canto 6).

“At Thy terrible coming, Abundant, set the right hand of Thy sheep, Orthodox Ti in the life of the service Christ, and submitting to you "(Canto 7).

“Having first smashed the shade of death, having shone like the sun from the grave, sons of Thy resurrection, O Lord of glory, all dead in faith, forever "(Canto 8).

“Every age, elders, and young babies, and children, and living milk, masculine and feminine, God rest, thou hast accepted loyal» (Canto 9).

In the Theotokos' troparions of this service, in contrast to the non-statutory service to the martyr Uaru, the Church asks intercession from the Most Pure Virgin Mary only for the faithful: "The jets are a living source sealed, you appeared to the Virgin Mary, without a husband for the Lord giving birth, immortality loyal give water to drink forever "(Canto 8).

Extensive and detailed petitions for the departed are read according to the Rite 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-embracing prayer, only Orthodox Christians are mentioned: “Hear us praying to Thee, and rest the souls of Thy servants, who first fell asleep, our father and our brethren, and others related in the flesh, and all our own in faith, about them and memory we create now as in You are all the power, and in Your hand you will contain all the ends of the earth ".

According to the Service Book, a commemoration is performed at the proskomedia "About everyone in hope of resurrection eternal life and your fellowship of the departed Orthodox» ... The rite of the Eucharistic canon of the liturgy of St. John Chrysostom contains the following words : "We also bring Ti this verbal service about his ilk in the faith of the deceased... and about every righteous Dus in faith deceased ", as well as a petition: "And remember all the dead about the hope of resurrection eternal life "... At the liturgy of St. Basil the Great, the Primate prays in the following way: “Let us find mercy and grace with all the saints who have delighted You from time immemorial ... and with every righteous spirit in faith deceased ", and finally: "And remember all the departed 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: those who do not have faith and are baptized will be saved, but those who do not have faith will be condemned(Mk. 16, 16).

The Holy Fathers acted in full accordance with the teaching of the Apostles: Some communion with righteousness and lawlessness, or some communion with the light of darkness, some agreement of Christ with the veliar, or some part I will return with the unfaithful, or some addition of the Church of God with idols?(2 Cor. 6: 14-16).

Metropolitan Makarii (Bulgakov) wrote: “Our prayers can act directly on the souls of those who have passed away, 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 cites an excerpt from Rule 5 of the VII Ecumenical Council: “ There is a sin to death, when some, sinning, remain in incorrection, and ... with a stiff-eyed rise up to piety and truth ... the Lord God is not in such, unless they humble themselves and become sober from their fall". In this regard, Vladyka Macarius notes: "Those who have died in mortal sins, in impenitence and outside communion with the Church do not merit her prayers, according to this apostolic commandment."

The decrees of the Laodicean Local Council unequivocally prohibit 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 Laodicean Council prohibits members of the Church from praying commemoration of the dead buried in non-Orthodox cemeteries: “ To the cemeteries of all sorts of heretics, or to places of martyrdom so called by them, may the church not be allowed to go for prayer or for healing. And those who walk, even if they are faithful, be deprived of the communion of the Church for a certain time"(Rule 9). In his interpretation of this Rule, Bishop Nicodemus (Milash) noted: “This rule of the Laodicean Council prohibits the Orthodox, or, as the text says,“ ecclesiastical, ”everyone belonging to the Church, to attend such heretical places for prayer and worship, otherwise to suspect a tendency towards this or that heresy and not to consider it Orthodox by conviction. "

In light of this, the ancient and ubiquitous tradition of separating Orthodox cemeteries from others - German, Tatar, Jewish, Armenian - becomes understandable. After all, the funeral prayer in cemetery churches and chapels is performed, according to the Service Book, oh « lying here and everywhere Orthodox» ... Per "Here lying gentiles" The church doesn't pray.

Likewise, the Church does not pray for suicides. The rule Saint Timothy of Alexandria, given in the Book of Rules, prohibits the church commemoration of those persons who "He will raise his hands on himself or overthrow himself from a height": "About such it is not appropriate to be and an offering, for there is a suicide"(Answer 14). Saint Timothy even warns the presbyter that such cases "Must certainly test with all diligence, so that it does not 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 of church prayer for apostates who, due to weakness and cowardice, did not stand the test during persecution: "Or those who suffered in prison and conquered by hunger and thirst, or outside the prison in the judgment seat of those tortured, by planing and beating, and finally overcome by the weakness of the flesh." “For those,- decides Saint Peter of Alexandria,—when some by faith ask for offerings of prayers and petitions, it is righteous to agree with him "(see: Book of rules, rule 11). This is motivated by the fact that "Compassion and condolences to those crying and lamenting about those overcome in heroism ... it is not in the least harmful for anyone"[Ibid.].

Church canonical Rules do not allow the opportunity to pray for heretics and pagans, but declare to them anathema and thereby deprives, both during life and after death, of prayer communion with the Catholic 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 as strangers by 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 refers only to the living. There are no prayer ranks for the deceased catechumens.

Blessed Augustine wrote: “There should be no doubt that the prayers of St. Churches, salvific sacrifices and alms are beneficial to 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 departed without faith, promoted by love, and without communication in the sacraments in vain the deeds of that piety are performed by the neighbors, of which they did not have a pledge in themselves when they were here, not accepting or in vain accepting the grace of God and treasuring themselves not mercy, but anger. So, not new merits are acquired for the dead when the well-known do something good for them, but only derive the consequences from the principles they had previously set. "

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 be limited only to singing Trisagion... The "Handbook of the clergy" states: " Forbidden burial of the Gentiles according to the rite of the Orthodox Church; but if a nonbeliever of the Christian confession dies and there is no "priest or pastor of either the confession to which the deceased belonged," then the priest of the Orthodox confession is obliged to lead the corpse from the place to the cemetery according to the rules specified in the set of church laws ", according to which the priest follows to escort the deceased from the place to the cemetery in vestments and epitracheli and lower them into the ground while singing the verse: Holy god"(Decree of the Holy Synod of August 24, 1797)".

In this connection, Saint Philaret of Moscow remarks: “According to church rules, it would be just if the Holy Synod did not permit this either. In resolving this, he used condescension and showed respect for the soul that 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 Gentile Christian confession is conditioned by the absence of the clergyman of other Christian confessions, of which the Orthodox priest must be convinced before fulfilling the request for the burial of a Gentile by him (Church Bulletin. 1906, 20).

The Holy Synod, in a ruling dated March 10-15, 1847, decided: 1) at the burial of military ranks Roman Catholic, Lutheran and Reformed confessions the Orthodox clergy may, upon invitation, do only that, which is said in the decree of the Holy Synod on Aug. 24. 1797 (to accompany to the cemetery with singing Trisagion. - priest K.B.); 2) Orthodox clergy has no right to funeral those who died according to the ordinance of the Orthodox Church; 3) the body of a deceased non-Christian of the Christian confession cannot be brought into the Orthodox Church before burial; 4) regimental Orthodox clergy for such ranks cannot perform house funerals and include them in church commemoration(File of the Archives of the Holy Synod 1847, 2513) ".

This norm of piety, which prohibits 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. ”Patriarch Gregory VI of Constantinople in 1869 established a special rite for the burial of the deceased non-Orthodox, which was also adopted by the Greek Synod. This rite 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 rank one cannot but see a deviation from the patristic tradition. This innovation was carried out by the Greeks in parallel with the adoption of a new one, 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, undermining the foundations of Orthodoxy, prompted similar rites to be drawn up in the Russian Orthodox Church. As Archpriest Gennady Nefedov noted, “just before the revolution, a special brochure in Slavic type was printed in the Petrograd Synodal printing house“ Order of the deceased non-Orthodox ”. This rite is also indicated to be performed instead of the requiem, with the omission of the prokimn, the Apostle and the Gospel. "

This very "Order of the deceased non-Orthodox" 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 at all from the position of the church-canonical. The text of this "Order of Order" in the Book contains a number of absurdities.

So, for example, at the beginning of the "Order of the Order" it is said: "If for some blessed guilt, the Orthodox priest will be invited to perform the burial of the body of the deceased non-Orthodox» ... We have already shown above that the church canons are not "Blessed guilt" are not allowed here.

After the usual prayer beginning, "Order of Order" cites Psalm 87, which contains, in particular, the following words: Food is the story of someone in the grave, Thy mercy, and Thy truth in perdition; food will be known in darkness Thy wonders, and Thy righteousness in the land of oblivion(Psalm 87: 12-13). If you clarify that the Church Slavonic word food means "really, really", the Psalm will become a reproof to the reader reading it over the non-Orthodox dead.

This is followed by Psalm 119, which praises walking in the law of the Lord(Psalm 119: 1). Saint Theophan the Recluse in his interpretation of this Psalm gives the patristic judgment: “Not those blessed ones 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 " .

For the sake of fairness, it should be noted that in the editions of the Trebnik of the last ten to fifteen years this "Order of Order" is no longer published.

The position of the monk Mitrofan, who published the book "Afterlife" in 1897, should be considered correct from the point of view of the traditional Orthodox attitude to the issue under consideration. Here are some quotes from it.

“Our St. The Church prays for the departed thus: “Rest, O Lord, the souls of Thy servants who have passed away in the faith and hope of the resurrection. Rest, Lord, all Orthodox Christians. " This is for whom the Church prays and with whom she is in indissoluble union and communion. Hence, there is no union and communion with dead non-Christians and non-Orthodox... For a true Christian, apart from suicide, no kind of death breaks 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 who are in hell can be liberated through our prayers? The church prays for all the dead, but only the dead in true faith will certainly receive release from hellish torments. The soul, being in the body, is obliged and itself to take care of its future life in advance, it must deserve so that upon the transition to the afterlife, the intercession of the living could bring it relief and salvation. "

“Sins that are blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, that is disbelief, bitterness, apostasy, unrepentance and the like, make a person eternally lost, and so dead the intercession of the Church and not at all alive will not help, because they lived and died outside of communion with the Church... Yes about those Church already and does not pray» .

Here the author obviously means the words of the Gospel: If he speaks a word against the Son of man, it will be released to him; and whoever speaks of the Holy Spirit, will not be released to him either in this age or in the future(Matthew 12:32). From these words of the Savior, many naturally concluded that, in principle, forgiveness of sins is possible even after the death of the sinner. Metropolitan Makarii (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 Church does not pray and that is why, as the Savior said, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven a person, neither in this age, nor in the future. "

Reverend Theodore the Studite did not allow open commemoration at the liturgy of the departed heretic iconoclasts.

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 in the church for those who died outside of church communion - heretics and unbaptized.

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

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

Venerable John Damascene: “The Mysteries and Self-Seers of the Word, who conquered the earthly circle, the disciples and divine Apostles of the Savior, not without reason, commemoration of the faithful departed» .

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

Commemoration of non-Orthodox
in home prayer

In the words of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy quoted at the beginning at the Moscow Diocesan Assembly in 2003, it was noted that only private, home prayer is allowed and always allowed for the unbaptized, but “during the divine service we remember only the children of the Church who joined her through the Sacrament of Holy Baptism.” This distinction between church and private prayer is essential.

The major work "On the Commemoration of the Dead According to the Statute of the Orthodox Church" was compiled by the New Martyr Athanasius (Sakharov), Bishop of Kovrov. In the section “Canon to the Martyr Uaru about deliverance from torment in the disbelief of the dead,” he writes: “Ancient Russia, with all its severity 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 torment in the disbelief of the dead. In doing so, she resorted to the intercession of the holy martyr Uar. In the old canons there is a special canon for this case, completely different from the canon, which is located in the October Mena under the 19th number. "

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 at church services can be commemorated. " "The remembrance of the dead, through humility and for obedience to the Holy Church, transferred to our home private prayer, will be more valuable in the eyes of God and more comforting for the dead than what was done in the church, but with violation and disregard of the Church's statutes."

At the same time, about the statutory public worship, he notes: “ Everything the funeral successions 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 meeting headed by a priest or bishop, there is no way to legally pray for the unbaptized (as well as for non-Orthodox and suicides). Note that the treatise of Bishop Athanasius deals with both the statutory divine service and the services according to the Trebnik (rite of the funeral service, requiem). Moreover, in the first three chapters, there is no mention of the service to the martyr Uaru. It is noteworthy that Vladyka himself writes at the beginning of Chapter IV: “We have touched of all various cases, when the Holy Church permits or herself calls, sometimes intensely calls for prayer for the departed. But all the above-mentioned cases of commemoration of the departed are performed with a priest. " Thus, the considered by us order of the vigil non-regulation service to the martyr Uaru cannot be recognized either by the Orthodox liturgical text or by the order of the Orthodox Trebnik.

Many Holy Fathers have spoken about the possibility of private commemoration in home prayer of those who have died who cannot be remembered in the church meeting.

Reverend Theodore the Studite found it possible for such a commemoration only secret: “unless every in my soul prays for such people and does alms for them. "

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

Venerable Elder Ambrose of Optina wrote to one nun: “According to church rules, to remember the suicide in church should not, and sister and family can pray for him in private how Elder Leonid allowed Pavel Tambovtsev to pray for his parent. Write out this prayer ... and give it to the family of the unfortunate man. We are aware of many examples that the prayer transmitted by Elder Leonidas calmed and comforted many and turned out to be true before the Lord. "

The testimonies of the Holy Fathers cited by us compel, 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 non-statutory vigil service to the martyr Uaru, which is not provided for by the Typicon, as contradicting canonical church norms.

In all likelihood, only the canon of the martyr Uar (but, of course, not a follow-up to the "All-night vigil") is possible in special cases "Some for the sake of blessed guilt" recommend for home private prayer for dead non-Orthodox relatives with mandatory prohibition to read this canon in Orthodox churches and chapels at public services and services.

LITERATURE

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

2. Afanasy (Sakharov), bishop. On the commemoration of the departed 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 Patriarchate. 2004, no. 2.

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

7. Menaion. October. Moscow: Ed. Moscow Patriarchate, 1980.

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

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

10. Nicodemus (Milash), bishop. The rules of the Orthodox Church with interpretations. Holy Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius, 1996.

11. Service book. Moscow: Ed. Moscow Patriarchate, 1977.

12. Trebnik. Part 3. M .: Publishing house. Moscow Patriarchate, 1984.

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

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

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

The tradition of the Church brings to us a lot of evidence of the effectiveness of prayer for unbaptized people who do not belong to the Church.

Once upon a time, St. Macarius of Egypt walked through the desert and saw a human skull lying on the ground. When the monk touched him with a palm stick, the skull gave a voice. The elder asked:

"Who are you?" The skull replied, "I was a pagan priest of the idolaters who lived in this place." He also said that when St. Macarius, having compassion on those who are in eternal torment, prays for them, then they receive some consolation. “As far as heaven is from earth, for so many fires under our feet and above our heads,” the skull said again, “We stand in the midst of the fire, and none of us is positioned so as to see our neighbor. But when you pray for us, each one sees the other's face somewhat. This is our joy. "

After the conversation, the elder betrayed the skull to the ground.

Those. during the Liturgy it is generally forbidden to pray for the unbaptized, neither aloud, nor even silently, because at this time the bloodless Eucharistic Sacrifice is offered, and it is offered only for the members of the Church. Such a commemoration is allowed only during the requiem, silently, and never at the Liturgy.

The Monk Leo of Optina, comforting his spiritual son Pavel Tambovtsev, whose father died tragically outside the Church, said:

“You shouldn't be overly sad. God, without comparison, more than you, loved and loves him. This means that you have to leave the eternal fate of your parent to the goodness and mercy of God, who, if he deigns to have mercy, then who can resist Him. "

The great elder gave a prayer to Pavel Tambovtsev, which, having slightly changed, can be said for the unbaptized:

« Have mercy, Lord, the soul of Thy servant(name), who passed into eternal life without Holy Baptism. Your destinies are unsearchable. Do not put this prayer of mine into sin. But Thy holy will be done "

This prayer may well be used when reading the Psalter for the departed, reciting it at each "Glory".

Another holy Optina elder, the Monk Joseph, later said that there is evidence of the fruits of this prayer. It can be read at any time (several times during the day). Mentally, you can create it in the temple. Feasible alms, given for the deceased to the needy, helps. It is good to pray to the Mother of God, reading on the rosary “ Virgin Mary, rejoice… ”(As much as the strength allows: from 30 to 150 times a day). At the beginning and at the end of this rule, one must ask the Mother of God to help the soul of the deceased.