Tag: All Souls’ Saturdays (SOROKOUSTY)

All Souls

There are 5 All Soul’s Saturdays. 2, 3, and 4 were on Saturdays during the Great Fast on days that had no other commemoration (e.g. the Miracle of Theodore and Akathistos). This is due to the liturgical law that fasting periods are more conservative and retain ancient customs. Saturday, the day our Lord was in the tomb was a day for remembering the departed, and that has persisted until the present in Lent.

The All Souls’ Saturday before Meatfare Sunday was due to the Church Year. Meatfare Sunday was the Gospel of the Last Judgment and, in a way, concluded the regular cycle of Gospel beginning with Pascha and lasting until the next Great Fast (beginning with Cheesefare Sunday). It was natural, therefore, to remember the departed as we pray for all before the final and last judgment. The fifth All Souls’ Saturday the day before Pentecost does not have clear origins. Some have said that it is the Christianization of the pagan feast of Rosalia, which remembered virgins who have died a violent death. Their souls were locked in trees and were released on this feast day.

The Christians generalized this into a general feast for all the departed. Some find this controversial, since the ideology is that Christians owe nothing to pagans. We have no concrete evidence one way or the other. It might be connected with All Saints, which in the Byzantine Church was the Sunday after Pentecost, but this does not explain the one week delay. At any rate, though Pentecost is the Christian feast of the 50th day, corresponding directly to the Jewish feast of the Mt. Sinai covenant (note the Upper Room), it was also called Rusalka (in Slavonic) since it happened closely to the pagan feast.

The All Saints feast was originally “All Martyrs,” namely those who died a violent death in witness to Christ. Rome originally celebrated it at the same time as the Byzantines, but moved it to November 1, the Dedication of the Pantheon, the pagan temple made into the Christian Church of the All Saints. In our faith and worship, though, this all has a clearly Christian meaning.

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Second Saturday of All Souls

Today is the 2nd All Souls Saturday. The Divine Liturgy will be offered at 9:00 a.m. Remembering our beloved dead at the Divine Liturgy on these All Souls’ Saturdays is a supreme act of Love and Justice.

At every Divine Liturgy, we saying the profession of the Nicene Creed, “I expect the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.” Our saying that our deceased loved one has “fallen asleep”, is a biblical echoing of the words of Jesus, who said of his friend Lazarus, when he was about to raise him from the tomb after four days: “our friend, Lazarus, is asleep ” (John 11:11).

Finally, one of the spiritual works of mercy is praying for the dead. That is, we ask for the Lord’s continued care for our loved ones. See 2 Maccabees 38-46.

BYZANTINE CATHOLIC PRAYER FOR THE DECEASED

(Attributed to St. John Chrysostom)

O God of all spiritual and corporeal be­ings,
You trampled death, broke the power
of Satan and granted life to the whole world.

Now, O Lord, grant also rest to the soul of
Your departed servant N. in a place of light,
freshness, and peace, where there is no
pain, sorrow, or mourning.

As a gracious God and loving mankind, forgive him (her)
every transgression committed by him (her)
in word, deed, or thought, since there is no
man alive who has not sinned. You alone
are without sin and Your justice is everlast­ing
justice, and Your word is always the truth.

For You are the resurrection, the life and
the rest of Your departed servant N., O
Christ our God, and we render glory to You,
together with Your Eternal Father, and Your
most Holy, gracious, and life-giving Spirit,
now and ever and forever. Amen.

Final All Souls Saturday (SOROKOUSTY)

The final All Souls Saturday –Sorokousty– will be on June 4, at 9:00 a.m. The Divine Liturgy with the prayers for the dead will be prayed.

There are 5 All Soul’s Saturdays. 2, 3, and 4 were on Saturdays during the Great Fast on days that had no other commemoration (e.g., the Miracle of Theodore and Akathistos). This is due to the liturgical law that fasting periods are more conservative and retain ancient customs. Saturday, the day our Lord was in the tomb was a day for remembering the departed, and that has persisted until the present in Lent.

The All Souls’ Saturday before Meatfare Sunday was due to the Church Year. Meatfare Sunday was the Gospel of the Last Judgment and, in a way, concluded the regular cycle of Gospel beginning with Pascha and lasting until the next Great Fast (beginning with Cheesefare Sunday). It was natural, therefore, to remember the departed as we pray for all before the final and last judgment.

The fifth All Souls’ Saturday the day before Pentecost does not have clear origins. Some have said that it is the Christianization of the pagan feast of Rosalia, which remembered virgins who have died a violent death. Their souls were locked in trees and were released on this feast day. The Christians generalized this into a general feast for all the departed. Some find this controversial, since the ideology is that Christians owe nothing to pagans. We have no concrete evidence one way or the other. It might be connected with All Saints, which in the Byzantine Church was the Sunday after Pentecost, but this does not explain the one week delay.

At any rate, though Pentecost is the Christian feast of the 50th day, corresponding directly to the Jewish feast of the Mt. Sinai covenant (note the Upper Room), it was also called Rusalka (in Slavonic) since it happened closely to the pagan feast. The All Saints feast was originally “All Martyrs,” namely those who died a violent death in witness to Christ. Rome originally celebrated it at the same time as the Byzantines, but moved it to November 1, the Dedication of the Pantheon, the pagan temple made into the Christian Church of the All Saints. In our faith and worship, though, this all has a clearly Christian meaning.

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Parish announcements

Christ is among us!

This week vigil light is offered by the Sokhan Family in memory of Yaroslava Kalynec.

If you would like to have a Confession, Holy Communion or prayer of the sick at your house or nursing home, please call the rectory at 203-865-0388.

St. Michael’s Parish invites you to come to our traditional Ukrainian Christmas PROSFORA on Sunday, January 30, 2022 at noon. The cost is $25 per diner. Tickets may be purchased from January 23 to January 30. This event can be postponed or canceled if the CDC guidelines change.

SOROKOUSTY will be celebrated during Lent in All Souls’ Saturdays, February 19, March 12, 19, 26 and June 4. Please take a book found in the entrance of the church, fill it out, place it in envelope, and drop it in the collection basket. Let us remember all our loved ones who have gone to their heavenly reward. Eternal Memory!

A container is in our church vestibule for non-perishable food. This collection will be taken every week or twice per month. Father Iura will distribute the food to those in need. Thank you for your generosity.

Sorokousty– All Souls’ Saturdays 2021

During the Great Lent there are special services held for the deceased members of a parish. These requiem services, known as “Sorokousty”, involves the reading of the individual names of deceased family members of parishioners.

Kindly provide Father Iura with the names of your deceased loved ones whom you wish to have remembered in our prayers.

Sorokousty will be celebrated on All Souls’ Saturdays: February 6th, February 27th , March 6th, March 13th, and May 22nd . Please take your book found in the entrance of the church, fill it out, place it in envelope, and drop it in the collection basket.

If you need a new book, ask Father Iura.

The Soul Saturday before Holy Pentecost

***Nota Bene: Divine Liturgy this morning at 9:00 a.m.

****Father will be praying for the souls (blessing the graves) this weekend at the cemeteries: All Saints this morning beginning at 11am and tomorrow at St Lawrence at 12:30pm.

On this day, the Saturday before Holy Pentecost, we celebrate a memorial for all those who have fallen asleep since the ages in true worship and in the hope of everlasting life. The Holy Fathers established that on this Saturday that precedes Holy Pentecost, we observe the memory of all people who throughout the centuries died in the right faith, just as they ordered that this be observed on the Saturday before Meatfare Sunday. They did this moved by their love for mankind, so that all who for whatever reason did not have the usual benefit of individual memorial services might be included in this common memorial. According to tradition, the Fathers of the Church received this injunction concerning the memorial services from the Apostles, who themselves taught that the memorials performed on behalf of the reposed bring great benefit to those who have fallen asleep. (See Apostolic Injunctions, 8.42)

The Holy Fathers specified that we perform them today, because tomorrow we shall welcome the All-Holy Spirit and shall fervently be entreating the Lord for ourselves, that He send us His All-Holy Spirit to illumine us and strengthen us in the fear of God and in keeping the commandments and to guide us in obtaining eternal life. We shall also be praying for the deceased, that He give them rest in His lovely and longed-for dwellings. In praying for the dead, on the one hand, we show our love for our deceased fathers and brothers, and, on the other hand, we become more keenly aware of the vanity of this world, and thus we receive great benefit to our souls.

For nothing rouses the slothful to repentance better than the recollection of death. And nothing else brings us the recollection of death as well as the memory of our loved ones who have slept the eternal sleep. O Master Christ, grant repose in the dwelling places of the righteous to the souls of those who have preceded us in slumber, and have mercy on us and save us, for You alone love mankind. Amen. (Synaxarion of the Lenten Triodion and Pentecostarion, edited by Fr. David (Kidd) and Mother Gabriella (Ursache), HDM Press, River Junction, Michigan, 1999, pp. 228-229.)

This may have been a “Christianization” of a pagan custom. Spring was a time of release of the souls of children or maidens who had committed suicide or met a violent death. During rusalki these spirits were treated with pity and wreaths of flowers were offered to them. This feast was called rosalia in Latin and anthesteria in Greek and became associated with Pentecost because it was a spring feast. (George P. Fedotov, The Russian Religious Mind, Vol. I (Belmont, Massachusetts: Nordland Publishing Co.,1985), 18.)

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All Souls Saturday

Everlasting life, promised in Holy Communion, is a central teaching of our faith. In the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, which we recite in every Divine Liturgy and also frequently in the Divine Praises, says, “I expect the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.” It is interesting that here we say, “I expect” rather than “I believe.” This is because this life beyond death is not only a matter of faith but also a matter of hope. And both faith and hope are virtues beyond human power alone, but need also the grace of God. In a way, we do not understand this life beyond death, probably we can that just as a child in the womb does not understand what it is to live in the world.

Death is the breakdown of our secular time and space to eternity and boundlessness. We are as yet unable to comprehend or understand this. Jesus taught it would be different, “At the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like the angels in heaven. (Matthew 22:30), and St. Paul cautions us, “So also is the resurrection of the dead …. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body” (1 Corinthians 15:42.44). We do have analogous ways of thinking about death, when we pray in the Liturgy, “Grant rest, O Lord, to the souls of your departed servants in a place of light, joy and peace where there is no pain, sorrow, nor mourning.” We must be humble in our concepts of death, but still live in hope, for Jesus also said, “‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living” (Matthew 22:32). We also know that we will continue to be human, that is, have a body, as St. Paul says, a “spiritual body,” which we foresee already in our Lord’s resurrection. What is also undeniable is that we can pray for the dead, for no one of us dies already perfect, but we need to be purified of sin to be in the presence of the thrice-holy God.

The communion of saints tells us that we are one in Christ, and that we can pray for one another, and in this way not only help release our brothers and sisters in Christ but also ourselves from the bonds of sin. The souls of the faithful departed were always remembered on Saturday in our liturgical worship, because Saturday was the day that our Lord rested from all his works, after his death on the cross and before his glorious resurrection, for which we also hope.

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All Souls’ Saturdays (SOROKOUSTY)

requiem candlesAll Souls’ Saturdays (SOROKOUSTY), February 18, March 11, 18, April 1, and then in Eastertime on June 3.
The Divine Liturgy is offered at 8:30 a.m.
 
Please give Father Iura the names of your deceased loved one. Place it in envelope.
 
Let us remember all our loved ones who have gone to their heavenly reward. Eternal Memory!
 
Note Well: The word Ukrainian word “Sorokousty” means “forty mouths” (sorok = forty; ust = mouth). Originally, this was a prayer service offered by forty mouths or by forty priests. Historically, families would honor their deceased by holding services for them in the cathedrals on the 3rd, 9th and 40th day after their death —with 40 priests celebrating the services. Today, Sorokousty is the service that honors the deceased and is offered during Lent.