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[As part of the republication of the Menaion 2018–2019] from the October volume, “Ina service to the martyr Uar” was removed, which has an Old Believer non-priest origin and is based on a dubious tradition about the grace of the martyr to beg the unbaptized, which is not confirmed by the ancient sources of his life, primarily Greek.
Source: Publishing House of the Moscow Patriarchate.
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Archpriest Konstantin Bufeev
In his report at the diocesan meeting of Moscow in 2003, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II noted: “Recently, the veneration of the holy martyr Huar has become increasingly widespread. Chapels are built in his honor and icons are painted. From his life it follows that he had 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. Such private prayer was never prohibited. But in church prayer, during divine services, we remember only the children of the Church who have joined it through the Sacrament of Holy Baptism.
Some abbots, guided by mercantile considerations, perform church commemorations of unbaptized people, accepting a lot of notes and donations for such commemoration and assuring people that such commemoration is tantamount to the Sacrament of Holy Baptism. People with little church life get the impression that it is not necessary to accept Holy Baptism or 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 Huar is unacceptable and contradicts our church teachings” [5, p. 23–24]
The Primate of the Russian Church rightly pointed out that important canonical violation, which, unfortunately, has recently become quite common.
However, it is not the life of the holy martyr Huar that provides the basis for those distortions of Orthodox piety that the Patriarch spoke about. No one prays for the pagans, resorting to the help of the prophet Jonah, although the shipmen asked him: Arise and pray to your God, for God will save us, so that we do not perish (Jon. 1:6).
Unfortunately, there is a textual basis for this anti-canonical practice in the latest editions of the liturgical Menaion.
Thus, on October 19, two services are given to the martyr Uar - statutory and non-statutory. The first (which the Typikon points to) is composed quite habitually and traditionally. The holy martyr is glorified together with the prophet Joel. The main motive of the service can be expressed by the troparion of the canon: “Give us through your prayers the resolution of sins, the correction of life, Uare” (Song 9, p. 469).
The second service - which the Typikon does not mention at all - begins with a rather unconventional and pretentious name: “Another service, vigil, to the holy martyr Huar, who was given the grace to pray for the dead of Cleopatraine’s ancestors, who were not worthy to receive holy Baptism” [7, p. 469].
The following should be noted about this name.
Firstly, not just a service is presented in honor of such and such a saint of God, as is always the case in the Menaion, but a certain goal is declared, as if a super task: to glorify Uar precisely as a prayer book for the unbaptized “Cleopatrine ancestors”.
For comparison, let’s assume that someone would like to create a new alternative service for “the feast of the Beheading of the venerable head of John the Baptist, to whom was given the grace to heal from headaches” - on the grounds that, they say, prayer to the Forerunner helps with headaches. Or someone would compose a new service “to St. Nicholas, to whom was given the grace of deliverance to grant the governors an unrighteous death to those who had it.” Although the Church sings with these words (Akathist, Ikos 6) of the Miracle Worker of Myra, this does not give grounds to make this single episode from the life of St. Nicholas decisive in the content and title of the service to the saint. In the same way, the title of the service should not impoverish the abundance of talents of the glorious martyr and wonderworker Uar.
Secondly, it should definitely be said that the title of this second, non-statutory service contains, if not an outright lie, then an unsubstantiated and unfounded statement: there is no evidence that Blessed Cleopatra (comm. on the same day, October 19) had unbaptized relatives. It is likely that a pious and zealous Christian wife was raised by believing Christian parents. Life of St. Uara gives no reason to suspect Cleopatra’s relatives of unbelief and paganism. This should be stated with at least some facts indicating their wickedness.
Let us remember what life says. After the martyrdom of Huar, Cleopatra secretly stole his body and, instead of her deceased husband, took “... the relics of Saint Huar, brought them, like some kind of jewel, from Egypt to Palestine and in her village called Edra, which was located near Tabor, she laid them with her ancestors” [4, p. 439]. After some time, Saint War 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? Don’t I always listen to your prayers and pray to God for you? And first of all, I prayed to God for your relatives, with whom you laid me in the tomb, so that their sins would be forgiven” [4, p. 441].
Thirdly, even if we assume that among Cleopatra’s relatives there were people who were not baptized and who did not believe in Christ, they, by the Providence of God, found themselves in a crypt, sanctified by the grace emanating from the relics of Saint Uar: “The earth on which your most patient body, wiser, lies, divinely sanctified” (Canon, Canto of the 9th statutory service, p. 469). God is omnipotent. even to raise the dead from touching the relics of His saints, as was the case with the holy prophet Elisha: I cast down a man in Elisha’s tomb and the body of a man fell dead, and I touched Elisha’s bone and came to life and rose to his feet (2 Kings 13:21).
No one, however, has yet thought of composing a new service to “the prophet Elisha, to whom was given the grace to raise the dead to their feet.”
Let us also note that even if there were unbaptized relatives in the family crypt, neither Cleopatra herself prayed to Christ for their salvation, nor did she ask the holy martyr Huar for prayers about this. The martyr carried out his intercession before the Lord standing before the throne of the Almighty, and not at all consulting with those living on the sinful earth.
Let us consider the content of the liturgical text of the non-statutory service to the martyr Uar according to Menaea.
The verses on “Lord, I cried” of Little Vespers state about Saint Uar that “with his prayers the Lord Christ forgives the dead pagans” [7, p. 469]. “The dead are delivered from infidelity and freed from the places of hell through the prayers of Uara the Martyr” [7, p. 469].
From such a more than dubious thesis follows the following first timid petition: “Accept our pity, martyr, and remember in the darkness and the shadow of death those condemned, even our relatives, and pray to the Lord God to fulfill our petitions for them” [7, p. 470].
At Great Vespers in the stichera on “Lord, I have cried,” this theme is developed with great boldness: “beg Christ the God of all to show mercy to our relatives who have not achieved faith and Baptism, to have mercy on them and save our souls” [7, p. 471].
At the end of the stichera there is a “slavnik” of more than half a page, which contains the following “real cries”: “Remember... the faith and Baptism of the saint who has not achieved Orthodoxy, but in perplexity, as well as in contradictions, deceived and fallen in every way, hear, great martyr, these cries, and beg to give to those oppressed by him forgiveness, and remission, and deliverance from the sorrowful” [7, p. 472].
The theme of begging for unbelievers and the unbaptized is intensified in the stichera “at litia.”
“...Remember our relatives... those who died alienated by heterodoxy, those who were unfaithful and unbaptized, and pray to Christ God to grant them forgiveness and remission” [7, p. 472, 473].
“Already a plea for the non-Orthodox, who have died for many years... and now pray diligently, O martyr, to deliver from the gates of hell and to free from sorrow the imperishable ones, who... have not accepted the saving generation and have been alienated from the Orthodox faith, hasten then to ask them from Christ God for forgiveness and remission, and great mercy" [7, p. 473].
In the “slavnik” the stichera “on the poem” again states about Cleopatra that “this unfaithful relatives find themselves, through the prayers of the glorious martyr they are delivered from the sorrow of eternal torment.” This gives the compiler of the canon the basis for a prayerful appeal: “In the same way, our parents and their neighbors, pityingly, care for the faith and baptism of the saint who are alienated... to ask Christ God, I cry, for their change, and for merciful deliverance from endless darkness” [7, p. 474, 475].
The stichera for Psalm 50 contains the petition: “... deliver our unfaithful relatives and ancestors and all for whom we pray from fierce and bitter languor” [7, p. 477].
In the canon of the service, the theme of prayerful intercession to the martyr Huar for the unbaptized is strengthened by an appeal never found in other known church texts with the same petition to the Mother of God Herself to beseech all, without exception, the unbaptized and heterodox dead.
“Through Your warm prayers, deliver our unfaithful and unbaptized relatives from fierce torment... and grant them deliverance and great mercy” (Theotokos Sedalen, p. 479).
“... Intercede unceasingly for mercy to Your merciful Son and Lady, to have mercy and forgive the sin of heterodoxy among our deceased relatives” (Song 9, p. 484).
Not only the Most Holy Theotokos, but also the angelic ranks are moved to pray for the unfaithful: “Move the face of the holy Powers of Heaven with you to prayer, O martyr, and do a wonderful work... for the unfaithfully deceased ancestor and those remembered with them, grant forgiveness and great mercy from the Lord” (Song 3, p. 478.
The canon offers other saints as allies and assistants to the martyr Uar:
“For Thou didst listen to Thy saints, O Lord, to have mercy on the unfaithful dead, and even today we bring Thee to prayer, so that for the sake of their petitions You may be gracious to those who died heterodoxically” (Song 8, p. 483). This petition is noteworthy, since it obliges not just the martyr of Uar, but a whole council of holy saints of God to ask for the salvation of the unbaptized: “The Lamb of God, who redeemed us with His Most Pure Blood, heard the prayer of Feklino and Blessed Gregory, Hearing the prayer of Methodius with many and Macarius, and giving joy and deliverance to the evil-believers to the dead, and Chrysostom for these pray write erected, accept therefore, Master, with these glorious Uar and their prayers remembered from us, forgive and have mercy” (Song 8, p. 483).
Bishop Athanasius (Sakharov) noted that the prayer of St. Gregory the Dvoeslov for King Trajan and the prayer of St. Methodius of Constantinople with the Council of Fathers for King Theophilus are mentioned here - so these were prayers not “for the pagans” or “for heretics,” but “for the king,” according to the apostolic commandment to make prayers for the king and for everyone in power. (1 Tim. 2:2). The prayers of the other saints of God mentioned in the canon obviously belong to the category of “private” and not “public”.
Practically all the troparions of the canon, as well as the Luminary, contain the same petition “... of faith and Baptism for our alienated relatives who have died and to all... to grant forgiveness and great mercy” (Song 5, p. 481).
The service is crowned by the stichera “on praise”, where the following appeals occur as a refrain:
“...Pray for forgiveness from those who died heterodoxically” [7, p. 485].
“...Pray to Him to send mercy to those who died in unbelief” [7, p. 485].
The last seal of the “praiseworthy” stichera is a half-page “slavnik”, containing, in particular, the following appeals: “...Remember our grandfathers and great-grandfathers, who were remembered with great ease, and those who were revered with them, those who were buried against God, who died unbaptized. For these people, present yourself to Christ God... and strive to ask them for deliverance from eternal darkness" [7, p. 486].
* * *
The canonical consciousness of the ancient Church absolutely did not allow prayerful communication with heretics, Jews and pagans. This ban on prayer communication applied to both the living and the dead. As Archpriest Vladislav Tsypin rightly noted, “deceased Christians remain members of the Church, and therefore the Church offers its prayers for them as well as for its living members,” therefore, “The Church can, of course, perform funeral services only for those who belong only to it” [15, p. 322].
This can be clearly shown by comparing the above quotes from the non-statutory canon to the martyr Uar with the church canon from the service of Trinity Parental Saturday, placed in the Colored Triodion. In this liturgical sequence, literally every song of the canon notes that the Church remembers only baptized Orthodox people who ended their earthly life in faith and piety.
“Let us all pray to Christ, who has created remembrance of the dead this day from time immemorial, that by eternal fire I may deliver those who have fallen asleep in faith and the hope of eternal life” (Song 1).
“You see, you see, how I am your God, who established the limits of life with righteous judgment, and accepted all who have fallen asleep in the hope of eternal resurrection into incorruption from aphids” (Song 2).
“Christ, the sea of turbid life that has swam, into the imperishable life of yours, vouchsafe a refuge for those nourished by the Orthodox life” (Song 3).
“Fathers and forefathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers, from the first and even to the last, in good faith and good faith, remember our Savior” (Song 4).
“The ever-scorching fire, and the dark darkness, the gnashing of teeth, and the endlessly tormenting worm, and deliver all torment, O our Savior, all who are truly dead” (Song 5).
“From time immemorial, thou hast received, faithful God, every human race, grant unto thee forever, together with those who serve Thee, to glorify Thee” (Song 6).
“At Your terrible coming, O Generous One, set Your sheep at Your right hand, having served Christ Orthodoxy in Your life, and having come to You” (Song 7).
“Having first broken the shadow of death, having risen like the sun from the grave, create sons of Your resurrection, O Lord of glory, all who have died in faith forever” (Song 8).
“Of all ages, old men, and young babies, and children, and wet milk, male and female, God rest Him, which thou hast received faithfully” (Song 9).
In the Theotokos troparia of this service, in contrast to the non-statutory service to the martyr Uar, the Church asks intercession from the Most Pure Virgin Mary only for the faithful: “A sealed stream of living spring, you appeared to the Virgin Mother of God, having given birth to the Lord without a husband, you watered the faithful with immortality with water forever” (Song 8).
Lengthy and detailed petitions for the departed are read according to the Rule at Vespers on the Day of the Holy Spirit - especially in the third kneeling prayer placed in the Colored Triodion. But even in this all-encompassing prayer, exclusively Orthodox Christians are mentioned: “Hear us praying to You, and give rest to the souls of Your servants, our fathers and our brothers who have fallen before us, and others who are related in the flesh, and all of our own in the faith, and of them we create a memory now, for in You is the power of all, and in Your hand you contain all the ends of the earth.”
According to the Service Book, at the proskomedia commemoration is made “of all in the hope of the resurrection of eternal life and Your communion for the Orthodox departed.” The rite of the Eucharistic canon of the liturgy of St. John Chrysostom contains the following words: “We also offer to You this verbal service for those who have fallen asleep in the faith... and for every righteous soul who has died in the faith,” as well as the petition: “And remember all those who have fallen asleep in the hope of the resurrection of eternal life.” At the Liturgy of St. Basil the Great, the primate prays in a similar way: “May we find mercy and grace with all the saints from the ages who have pleased You... and with every righteous spirit who has passed on in faith,” and in conclusion: “And remember all those who have fallen before us about the hope of the resurrection of eternal life.” About non-believers neither St. John Chrysostom, nor St. Basil the Great did not offer prayers, remembering the words of the Gospel: whoever has faith and is baptized will be saved, and whoever does not have faith will be condemned (Mark 16:16).
The Holy Fathers acted in full accordance with the teachings of the Apostles: What communion of righteousness and lawlessness, or what communion of light with darkness, what agreement between Christ and Belial, or what part will I return with the infidel, or what undoing of the Church of God from idols? (2 Cor. 6:14–16).
* * *
Metropolitan Macarius (Bulgakov) wrote: “Our prayers can act directly on the souls of the deceased, if only they died in the right faith and with true repentance, i.e. in communion with the Church and with the Lord Jesus: because in this case, despite the apparent distance from us, they continue to belong with us to the same body of Christ” [6, p. 456]. He cites an excerpt from Rule 5 of the VII Ecumenical Council: “There is a sin leading to death when some, having sinned, remain uncorrected, and... stiff-neckedly rebel against piety and truth... the Lord God is not in such, unless they humble themselves and become sober from their fall.” In this regard, Bishop Macarius notes: “Those who died in mortal sins, in unrepentance and outside communion with the Church are not worthy of her prayers, according to this apostolic commandment” [6, p. 450].
The decrees of the Laodicean Local Council clearly prohibit prayer for living heretics: “It is not proper to pray with a heretic or renegade” (Canon 33). “One must not accept holiday gifts sent from Jews or heretics, nor celebrate with them” (Rule 37). The same Council of Laodicea prohibits members of the Church from prayerfully commemorating the dead buried in non-Orthodox cemeteries: “Let the church members not be allowed to go to the cemeteries of all heretics, or to the places of martyrdom that they call so-called, for prayer or for healing. And those who walk, even if they are faithful, will be deprived of church communion for a certain time” (Rule 9). In his interpretation of this Rule, Bishop Nikodim (Milash) noted: “This rule of the Laodicean Council prohibits the Orthodox, or, as the text says, “church members,” everyone belonging to the Church, from visiting such heretical places for the sake of prayer and worship, since otherwise he can be suspected of an inclination towards one or another heresy and not be considered Orthodox by conviction” [10, p. 86].
In light of this, the ancient and widespread tradition of separating Orthodox cemeteries from others - German, Tatar, Jewish, Armenian - becomes clear. After all, the funeral prayer in cemetery churches and chapels is performed, according to the Service Book, for “the Orthodox who lie here and everywhere.” The Church does not pray for “the Gentiles who lie here.”
Likewise, the Church does not pray for suicides. The rule of St. Timothy of Alexandria, given in the Book of Rules, prohibits the church commemoration of those persons who “raise their hands against themselves or cast themselves down from on high”: “It is not fitting for such an offering to be made, for he is a suicide” (Response 14). Saint Timothy even warns the presbyter, who “must certainly test such cases with all care, lest he fall under condemnation.”
* * *
It is noteworthy that while the Holy Fathers prohibit 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 withstand the test during persecution: “either those who suffered in prison and were overcome by hunger and thirst, or outside prison at the judgment seat, tormented by planing and beating and finally overcome by the weakness of the flesh.” “For such,” St. Peter of Alexandria decrees, “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 “sympathy and condolences with those who cry and groan for those who have overcome the feat... is not in the least harmful to anyone” [Ibid.].
Church canonical Rules do not allow the possibility of praying for heretics and pagans, but declare anathema to them and thereby deprive them, both during life and after death, of prayerful 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 strangers in the faith, since they have expressed a conscious desire to become Orthodox Christians and are preparing for holy Baptism. Moreover, the content of the prayers for the catechumens obviously applies only to the living. There are no prayer rites for deceased catechumens.
Blessed Augustine wrote: “There should not be any doubt that the prayers of St. Churches, saving sacrifices and alms benefit the dead, but only those who lived before death in such a way that after death all this could be useful to them. For those who have departed without faith, promoted by love, and without communion in the sacraments, the deeds of that piety are performed by their neighbors in vain, the guarantee of which they did not have in themselves when they were here, not accepting or accepting in vain the grace of God and hoarding for themselves not mercy, but wrath. So, the dead do not acquire new merits when those they know do something good for them, but only draw consequences from the principles they previously laid down” [6, p. 457].
In the Russian Orthodox Church, the Holy Synod for the first time in 1797 allowed Orthodox priests, when accompanying the body of a deceased non-Orthodox person in certain cases, to limit themselves only to the singing of the Trisagion. The “Handbook for Priests and Clerics” states: “The burial of people of other faiths according to the rites of the Orthodox Church is prohibited; but if a non-Christian confession dies and “there is no priest or pastor of either the confession to which the deceased belonged or another, then a priest of the Orthodox confession is obliged to escort the corpse from the place to the cemetery according to the rules outlined in the code of church laws,” according to which the priest should “conduct the deceased from the place to the cemetery in vestments and stole and lower him into the ground while singing the verse: Holy God.” (Decree of the Holy Synod of August 24, 1797)” [3, p. 1346].
Saint Philaret of Moscow notes in this regard: “According to church rules, it would be fair if the Holy Synod did not allow this either. In allowing this, he used condescension and showed respect to the soul that had on itself the seal of baptism in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. There is no right to demand more” [3, p. 1347].
The reference book also explains the following: “The obligation for an Orthodox priest to bury a non-Christian confession is determined by the absence of clergy of other Christian denominations, which an Orthodox priest must be convinced of before he fulfills the request for the burial of a non-Christian (Church Bulletin. 1906, 20).
The Holy Synod, in a resolution dated March 10–15, 1847, decreed: 1) when burying military officials of the Roman Catholic, Lutheran and Reformed confessions, the Orthodox clergy can, by invitation, perform only what is stated in the decree of the Holy Synod on August 24. 1797 (to be escorted to the cemetery with the singing of the Trisagion - Priest K.B.); 2) the Orthodox clergy does not have the right to perform funeral services for such deceased persons according to the rites of the Orthodox Church; 3) the body of a deceased non-Christian cannot be brought into the Orthodox Church before burial; 4) regimental Orthodox clergy, according to such ranks, cannot perform house funeral services and include them in church commemoration (Case of the Archives of the Holy Synod of 1847, 2513)” [3, p. 1346].
This standard of piety, which prohibits funeral services for non-Orthodox people, 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 of burial for the deceased non-Orthodox, which was also adopted by the Hellenic Synod. This rite consists of the Trisagion, the 17th kathisma with the usual refrains, the Apostle, the Gospel and the small dismissal" [9, p. 28].
In the very adoption of this rite one cannot help but see a deviation from the patristic tradition. This innovation was carried out among the Greeks in parallel with the adoption of a new so-called “Typikon of the Great Church of Constantinople”, published in Athens in 1864, the essence of which was to reform and reduce the statutory worship. The spirit of modernism, shaking the foundations of Orthodoxy, prompted the creation of similar orders in the Russian Orthodox Church. As Archpriest Gennady Nefedov noted, “just before the revolution, the Petrograd Synodal Printing House published a special brochure in Slavic script, “Service of Order for the Deceased Non-Orthodox.” This rite is indicated to be performed instead of a requiem, with the omission of the prokemna, the Apostle and the Gospel" [9, p. 29].
This very “Service over 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. Its text cannot be justified at all from a church-canonical position. The text of this “Service of Order” in the Trebnik contains a number of absurdities.
So, for example, at the beginning of the “Service of Order” it is said: “If for the sake of a certain blessed guilt, it will be opportune for an Orthodox priest to perform the burial of the body of a deceased non-Orthodox” [12, p. 342]. We have already shown above that the church canons do not allow any “blessed guilt” here.
After the usual prayerful beginning, the “Service of Ceremony” cites Psalm 87, which contains, in particular, the following words: Who will tell the story of Thy mercy in the grave, and Thy truth in destruction; Thy wonders will be known in darkness, and Thy righteousness in forgotten lands (Ps. 87:12-13). If we clarify that the Church Slavonic word food means “is it really possible,” the Psalm will become a denunciation of those who read it over the non-Orthodox dead.
After this, Psalm 119 is given, praising those who walk in the Law of the Lord (Ps. 119:1). Saint Theophan the Recluse, in his interpretation of this Psalm, cites a patristic judgment: “Not those blessed who stain themselves with sin in the corruption of the age, but those who are blameless in their path and walk in the Law of the Lord” [14, p. 12].
In fairness, it should be noted that in the editions of the Trebnik of the last ten to fifteen years this “Sequence of Orders” is no longer published.
From the point of view of the Orthodox traditional attitude to the issue under consideration, the position of the monk Mitrofan, who published the book “Afterlife” in 1897, should be considered correct. Let's give a few quotes from it.
"Our St. The Church prays for the departed as follows: "Rest, O Lord, the souls of Thy servants who have reposed in the faith and hope of the resurrection. Rest, O Lord, all Orthodox Christians." This is for whom the Church prays and with whom she is in inextricable union and communion. Consequently, there is no union and communion with the dead non-Christians and non-Orthodox... For a true Christian, except suicide, no kind of death dissolves the union and communion with the living - with the Church... The saints pray for him, and the living also pray for him, as for a living member of a single living body.”
“Let us ask, can everyone in hell receive liberation through our prayers? The Church prays for all the dead, but only those who die in true faith will certainly receive liberation from hellish torment. The soul, while in the body, is obliged to take care of its future life in advance, it must deserve that upon its transition to the afterlife, the intercession of the living can bring it relief and salvation.”
“Sins that constitute blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, that is, unbelief, bitterness, apostasy, unrepentance and the like, make a person eternally lost, and the intercessions of the Church and the living will not help such dead people at all, because they lived and died outside of communion with the Church. Yes, the Church no longer prays for such people” [8, p. 52, 133, 134].
Here the author obviously has in mind the words of the Gospel: If anyone speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; and whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the next (Matt. 12:32). From these words of the Savior, many naturally concluded that, in principle, remission of sins is possible even after the death of a sinner. Metropolitan Macarius (Bulgakov) in this regard notes: “The Church does not pray for those who died with blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, or, what is the same, in mortal sin, and who did not repent, and that is why, as the Savior said, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven to a person either in this age or in the future” [6, p. 451].
The Monk Theodore the Studite did not allow open commemoration at the liturgy of the deceased heretical iconoclasts [13, p. 634].
Let us cite a number of statements by the Holy Fathers in which, while calling for prayer for the dead, they did not allow it to be performed in the Church for those who died outside church communion - heretics and the unbaptized.
Blessed Augustine: “The whole Church observes this as a tradition from the Fathers, to pray for those who have died in the communion of the body and blood of Christ, when they are remembered in due time at the very sacrifice” [6, p. 455].
Saint Gregory of Nyssa: “This is a very godly and useful thing - to commemorate those who have died in the right faith with the divine and glorious sacrament” [6, p. 453].
St. John of Damascus: “The mysteries and self-seers of the Word, who conquered the earthly circle, the disciples and divine Apostles of the Savior, not without reason, not in vain and not without benefit, established the commemoration of the faithful departed in terrible, pure and life-giving mysteries” [6, p. 453].
Saint John Chrysostom: “When all the people and the sacred cathedral stand with their hands stretched out to heaven, and when a terrible sacrifice is presented: how can we not appease God by praying for them (the dead)? But this is only about those who died in faith” [6, p. 455].
* * *
In the words of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy, which we cited at the beginning, at the Moscow diocesan meeting in 2003, it was noted that only private, home prayer is and has always been allowed for the unbaptized, but “at the service we remember only the children of the Church who have joined it through the Sacrament of Holy Baptism” [5, p. 24]. This division between church and private prayer is essential.
The major work “On the Commemoration of the Dead according to the Charter of the Orthodox Church” was compiled by the New Martyr Athanasius (Sakharov), Bishop of Kovrov. In the section “Canon to the martyr Uar on deliverance from the torment of the dead in other faiths,” he writes: “Ancient Rus', with all the severity of its attitude towards the dead, found it possible to pray not only for the conversion of the living to the true faith, but also for deliverance from the torment of the dead in other faiths. At the same time, she resorted to the intercession of the holy martyr Huar. In the ancient canons there is a special canon for this case, completely different from the canon placed in the October Menaion under the 19th” [2, p. 202].
However, Bishop Athanasius places this section, as well as the sections “Prayer for unbaptized and stillborn babies” and “Prayer for suicides” in Chapter IV - “Commemoration of the deceased at home prayer.” He rightly writes: “At home prayer, with the blessing of the spiritual father, even those who cannot be remembered at church services can be commemorated.” “The commemoration of the departed, out of humility and for obedience to the Holy Church, transferred to our home cell prayer, will be more valuable in the eyes of God and more gratifying for the departed than done in church, but with violation and neglect of Church statutes” [2, p. 201, 205].
At the same time, about the statutory public worship, he notes: “All funeral services are precisely defined in their composition, and the time when they can or cannot be performed is precisely appointed. And no one has the right to transgress these limits established by the Holy Church” [2, p. 195].
So, in a church congregation headed by a priest or bishop, there is no way to legally pray for the unbaptized (as well as for the non-Orthodox and suicides). Let us note that the treatise by Bishop Athanasius deals with both the statutory divine service and the services according to the Trebnik (funeral service, memorial service). Moreover, in the first three chapters there is no mention of service to the martyr Uar. It is noteworthy that the Bishop himself writes at the beginning of Chapter IV: “We have touched upon all the various cases when the Holy Church allows or itself calls, sometimes strenuously calls for prayer for the departed. But all the previously listed cases of commemoration of the dead are performed with the priest” [2, p. 195]. Thus, the rite of vigil and non-statutory service to the martyr Uar, which we have considered, cannot be recognized either by the Orthodox liturgical text or by the rite of the Orthodox Breviary.
Many Holy Fathers spoke about the possibility of private commemoration in home prayer of those dead who cannot be remembered in a church meeting.
The Monk Theodore the Studite found only secret commemoration possible for such people: “unless everyone in his soul prays for such people and does alms for them” [13, p. 634].
The Venerable Elder Leo of Optina, not allowing church prayer for those who died outside the Church (suicides, unbaptized, heretics), bequeathed to pray for them privately like this: “Seek, Lord, the lost soul of my father: if it is possible, have mercy. Your destinies are unsearchable. Do not make this my prayer a sin, but Thy holy will be done" [2, p. 204].
The Venerable Elder Ambrose of Optina wrote to one nun: “According to church rules, a suicide should not be commemorated in church, but his sister and relatives can pray for him privately, just as Elder Leonid allowed Pavel Tambovtsev to pray for his parent. Write out this prayer... and give it to the family of the unfortunate person. We know many examples that the prayer conveyed by Elder Leonid calmed and consoled many and turned out to be valid before the Lord” [1, p. 106].
The testimonies of the Holy Fathers we have cited force us, in full agreement with the word 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 Uar, not provided for by the Typikon, as contrary to canonical church norms.
In all likelihood, only the canon of the martyr Uar (but, of course, not the following of the “All-Night Vigil”) can in particular cases “for the sake of blessed wine” be recommended for home cell prayer for deceased non-Orthodox relatives with the obligatory prohibition of reading this canon in Orthodox churches and chapels at public services and services.
1. Ambrose of Optina, Rev. Collection of letters to monastics. Vol. II. Sergiev Posad, 1909.
2. Afanasy (Sakharov), bishop. On the commemoration of the dead according to the Charter of the Orthodox Church. St. Petersburg, 1995.
3. Bulgakov S.N. A reference book for the clergyman. M.: 1993.
4. Demetrius of Rostov, saint. Lives of the Saints. October. 1993.
5. Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate. 2004, No. 2.
6. Macarius (Bulgakov), Metropolitan. Orthodox dogmatic theology. T. II. St. Petersburg, 1857.
7. Menaia. October. M.: Publishing house. Moscow Patriarchate, 1980.
8. Mitrofan, monk. Afterlife. St. Petersburg, 1897; Kiev, 1992.
9. Nefedov G., prot. Sacraments and rituals of the Orthodox Church. Part 4. M., 1992.
10. Nikodim (Milash), bishop. Rules of the Orthodox Church with interpretations. Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra, 1996.
11. Missal. M.: Publishing house. Moscow Patriarchate, 1977.
12. Breviary. Part 3. M.: Publishing house. Moscow Patriarchate, 1984.
13. Theodore the Studite, Rev. Creations. T. II. St. Petersburg, 1908.
14. Theophan the Recluse, saint. Interpretation of Psalm 119. M., 1891.
15. Tsypin V., prot. Canon law. M., 1996.