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February 21, 2010
Holy Cross Monastery: Prayers for the Departed

“The reposed are comforted not by weeping, but by prayer and almsgiving.”
- St. John Chrysostom

Dear in the Lord brothers and sisters,

The season of Great Lent is upon us: a time of repentance, prayer, and almsgiving, and it is also a time to think of offering prayers for our deceased loved ones, who no longer have the opportunity to repent for their sins. They are still alive, for "God is a God of the living, not of the dead," and have passed over to the next world, to await the General Resurrection and the Last Judgment. They also await and hope for our prayers. In the lives of the saints and the history of the Church, there are many examples of the deceased appearing to their benefactors and thanking them for their prayers.

The Church has appointed a "Universal Panihida" (a memorial service for the reposed "of all ages") to be served on the second, third, and fourth Saturdays of Great Lent. Also, in our monastery we serve a litiy for the reposed on weekdays, where we commemorate all the departed faithful.

We now invite you to submit for prayerful commemoration the names of reposed Orthodox Christians. For the duration of the Great Fast, all of these names will be prayerfully read at every Matins service for the departed, at every Universal Panihida, and at every Divine Liturgy. At the bottom of this page you will find a commemoration slip and a return envelope. Please write the names of reposed Orthodox Christians* and send the slip back to us, together with whatever offering of alms you are able to make on behalf of your loved ones. The Holy Church bears witness that both prayer and almsgiving are beneficial on behalf of the departed, who can no longer pray or perform works of virtue for themselves.

"Grant rest, O Lord, to the souls of Thy servants, in a place of green pasture, a place of repose, whence all sickness, sorrow and sighing are fled away. Pardon every sin committed by them in word, deed, or thought, in that Thou art a good God, the Lover of mankind; for there is no man that liveth and sinneth not, for Thou alone art without sin, Thy righteousness is everlasting, and Thy word is truth..."  

With love in Christ,

GEORGE
Bishop of Mayfield
Rector of Holy Cross Monastery

Click here to download the commemoration slip.
Donations can be mailed to:
Holy Cross Monastery
RR2 Box 2343
Wayne, WV 25570

Media Office of the Eastern American Diocese