Parental Saturdays at Easter Lent. Saturdays of Great Lent. Dmitrievskaya parental Saturday

Parental Saturdays are days of special commemoration of the departed, when with our prayers we can provide great help to our relatives and friends who have passed away from earthly life. Five of them are reserved for the commemoration of deceased relatives, two more and the requiems performed at the same time are called ecumenical. Parental Sabbaths involve the observance of certain rules that all believers should be aware of.

The Deep Meaning of Parental Saturday

Please note that hard liquor, such as vodka or cognac, is not accepted as a donation.

If desired and possible, you can order a memorial service, and after prayers are completed, you are allowed to visit the cemetery, put the grave in order, replace the flowers, thereby showing that you keep the memory of a loved one.

How to spend the rest of the day on parental Saturday and can I clean up? Archpriest Alexander Ilyashenko for the online publication Pravoslavie i Mir answers this question as follows: the ban on cleaning the house on this day is nothing more than superstition, of course, you need to start the day with visiting the temple, praying, visiting the cemetery, and after if necessary, you can perform the usual household chores.

Another important question that worries believers is whether it is possible to baptize a child on parental Saturday? Hegumen Alexy (Diocese of Vladivostok) and other priests of the Russian Orthodox Church resemble a simple rule - you can baptize a child on all days without restrictions.

For the period of Lent in 2019, the following parental Saturdays fall:

• March 23 - Parent ecumenical Saturday of the second week of Great Lent
• March 30 - Parent ecumenical Saturday of the third week of Great Lent
• April 6 - Parent ecumenical Saturday of the fourth week of Great Lent.

P.S. Prayer for the deceased is the sacred duty of every Christian. A great reward and great consolation awaits the one who, through his prayers, will help his departed neighbor receive the forgiveness of sins.

Parental Saturdays in 2019 are days of special remembrance for the departed. At this time in Orthodox churches make a special commemoration of departed Christians, and believers visit the graves of their departed relatives in cemeteries. There are seven parent Saturdays in the church calendar throughout the year.

Special days of commemoration of the dead began to be called parental Saturdays because, first of all, they remembered their deceased parents, and then other deceased relatives and other close people. According to another version, the name was formed because it was once customary to call the deceased parents, that is, "departed to their fathers."

Universal Parent Saturdays

If we are talking about the universal parental Saturday, it is understood that all baptized Christians are commemorated. Seven days before the beginning of Great Lent, the Meat-Passing Ecumenical Saturday is celebrated. Meat Saturday is called because it falls on the week of the same name, which is also called the Small Maslenitsa. This is the first parent saturday in March.

On the eve of the feast of Pentecost, the Trinity Ecumenical Saturday is celebrated. On Trinity Saturday, all baptized Christians are also remembered in prayers. On these days, special ecumenical requiems are performed. They serve a memorial service "The memory of all the departed Orthodox Christians from the age, our father and brethren."

Five Other Parent Saturdays

Radonitsa or Radunitsa falls on Tuesday after St. Thomas' week, that is, the second week after Christ's Bright Resurrection. The main theme of this day is the victory of the risen Christ over death. On this day, according to tradition, believers visit the cemetery and glorify the resurrected Son of God at the graves of deceased relatives.

On May 9, on the day of victory in the Great Patriotic War, a memorial service is served in churches for the many soldiers who gave their lives for the salvation of the Motherland. Many families have lost someone close in this terrible and long war. Therefore, this day is commemorated as everyone dead soldiers, thanks to the feat of which the a great victory, and their loved ones who died during the war.

Dimitri's parental Saturday is also associated with hostilities that only took place several centuries earlier. We are talking about the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380. Initially, soldiers who died during a large-scale battle were commemorated on this day.

Later this day was transformed into the day of commemoration of all the dead, which is indicated in the Novgorod chronicle of the 15th century. It is known that in 1903, Emperor Nicholas II issued a decree ordering a memorial service in memory of the soldiers who died for the Motherland "For faith, the tsar and the Fatherland, who laid their lives on the battlefield."

In 2019, Orthodox parental Saturdays are celebrated in the following order:

• March 16 - Saturday meat-fare
• March 23 - Saturday of the 2nd week of Great Lent
• March 30 - Saturday of the 3rd week of Great Lent
• April 6 - Saturday of the 4th week of Great Lent
• May 7, Tuesday - Radonitsa, church-wide commemoration of the dead
• May 9 - Commemoration of the deceased soldiers
• May 26 - Saturday Trinity
• November 3 - Saturday Dimitrievskaya

Features of parental Saturdays

On the days of ecumenical parental Saturdays, memorial services are performed, funeral services, during which believers read prayers for their deceased relatives, asking God for forgiveness of sins for them. According to the charter, during the parental Saturdays of the second, third and fourth during Great Lent, they do not perform funeral commemorations, that is: funeral litanies, litias, memorial services, commemorations of the 3rd, 9th and 40th day after death, magpies. These days are specially set aside so that believers can pay tribute to the memory of loved ones.

On the Friday evening on the eve of parental Saturday, a great memorial service (parastas) is served in the temples. to the funeral Divine Liturgy you can send notes with the names of your deceased relatives. On this day, according to ancient tradition, it is customary to bring to the temple lean foods and Cahors for the celebration of the liturgy. Wine and fasting products brought to the temple on Friday are called brought "on the eve."

In the old days, it was customary for believing parishioners to bring Lenten dishes for a common table in the temple, where it was possible to commemorate dead relatives dear to the heart. This tradition has been preserved, only on a smaller scale.

Lenten products and Cahors are left on a special table in the temple. This food is used for the needs of the temple and for the transfer to poor people who are under the care of one parish or another.

Often, believers are faced with a choice - to visit the grave of a relative on parental Saturday or to come to the temple for a service. The clergy are more inclined to believe that sincere prayer is much more important for the souls of your loved ones, which can be performed during a special service. Therefore, it is recommended to give preference to visiting the temple.

You can read a prayer for the departed: “God rest the souls of your departed servants: my parents, relatives, benefactors (their names) and all Orthodox Christians, and forgive them all sins, voluntary and involuntary, and grant them the Kingdom of Heaven.”

How to celebrate Memorial Day

Before you go to the temple, write down on a piece of paper the names of all the deceased relatives and other close people whom you would like to mention while reading the prayer. Earlier in Christian families there was a very important tradition - from generation to generation to write down the names of all deceased relatives. This is how family memorials were formed, which were used during the reading of prayers for the dead.

On the days of special commemoration of the departed, it is very important to think for yourself about what death is, perhaps to rethink own life and relationships with loved ones, try to reconcile in all contentious issues.

Metropolitan Anthony of Surozh speaks very accurately and succinctly about the issue of the relationship between life and death. For fifteen years he worked as a military doctor, and after forty-six years he was a priest. Here is one of his quotes: “Russians believe in life, go into life. And this is one of the things that every priest and every person should repeat to himself and to others: we must not prepare for death, we must prepare for eternal life.

Children's prayer for deceased parents

Lord Jesus Christ our God! You are the guardian of the orphans, the grieving refuge and the weeping comforter. I am running to you, orphan, groaning and weeping, and I pray to You: hear my prayer and do not turn Your face away from the sighing of my heart and from the tears of my eyes. I pray to You, merciful Lord, quench my grief about separation from my parent who gave birth and raised (who gave birth and raised) me (my mother), (name) (or: with my parents who gave birth and raised me, their names) - his soul ( or: her, or: theirs), as if departed (or: departed) to Thee with true faith in Thee and with firm hope in Thy philanthropy and mercy, receive into Thy Kingdom of Heaven. I bow before Your holy will, it has already been taken away (or: taken away, or: taken away) be from me, and I ask You not to take away from him (or: from her, or: from them) Your mercy and mercy. We know, Lord, as You are the Judge of this world, punish the sins and wickedness of the fathers in children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, even up to the third and fourth generation: but also have mercy on the fathers for the prayers and virtues of their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. With contrition and tenderness of the heart, I pray to Thee, merciful Judge, do not punish with eternal punishment the deceased unforgettable (departed unforgettable) for me Your servant (Your servant), my parent (my mother) (name), but forgive him (her) all his sins ( her) free and involuntary, in word and deed, by knowledge and ignorance created by him (her) in his (her) life here on earth, and according to Your mercy and philanthropy, prayers for the sake of the Most Pure Mother of God and all the saints, have mercy on him (s) and eternal spare the pain. You, merciful Father of fathers and children! Grant me, all the days of my life, until my last breath, do not stop remembering my deceased parent (my deceased mother) in my prayers, and beg Thee, the righteous Judge, and put him (s) in a bright place, in a cool place and in a place of peace, with all the saints, all sickness, sorrow and sighing will flee from here. Gracious Lord! Receive this day about Your servant (Your) (name) this warm prayer of mine and give him (her) Your recompense for the labors and cares of my upbringing in faith and Christian piety, as if he taught (taught) me first of all lead Thee, your Lord, in reverently pray to You, trust in You alone in troubles, sorrows and illnesses and keep Your commandments; for his (her) well-being about my spiritual success, for the warmth that he (she) brings prayers for me before You and for all the gifts that he (she) asked me from You, reward him (her) with Your mercy. With your heavenly blessings and joys in your eternal kingdom. You are the God of mercies and generosity and philanthropy, You are the peace and joy of Your faithful servants, and we send glory to You with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and forever and ever. Amen.

P.S. Death is an inevitability that each of us will face at one time or another. And from right attitude the position of a person both in earthly life and after death depends on this question. Metropolitan Anthony recalls that it is very important not to commit such a common sin as indifferent or with ostentatious care, insincere attitude towards a dying relative.

On the days of commemoration of the dead, you will mentally play these moments again and again: when you could spend a few more minutes with a loved one, and not refer to employment and daily important things, you could give him more heartfelt warmth, but did not.

These days are important both for the dead, whom living relatives can help with their sincere prayers, and for the living themselves, who, preserving the memory of the family, can grow spiritually and take care not only of earthly, but also of eternal life.

From this article you will find out what date Orthodox parental Saturdays will be in 2019. You will also learn about the meaning of this Ecumenical worship.

Parental Saturdays in 2019

Often these special days of commemoration of the dead are called "universal parental Saturdays." This is not true. There are two ecumenical commemorative Saturdays: Meat-Feast (on the Saturday preceding the Week of the Last Judgment) and Trinity (on the Saturday preceding the feast of Pentecost, or also called the holiday Holy Trinity- the birthday of the Church of Christ).

The main meaning of these “ecumenical” (common for the entire Orthodox Church) funeral services is in prayer for all the Orthodox who have died, regardless of their personal closeness to us. This is a matter of love, not dividing the world into friends and foes. The main focus these days is on all those who are united with us by the highest kinship - kinship in Christ, and especially those who have no one to remember.

Parental Saturdays in 2019 fall on the following dates:

• – March 2, 2019.
• Saturday of the 2nd week of Great Lent - March 23, 2019.
• Saturday of the 3rd week of Great Lent - March 30, 2019.
• On Saturday of the 4th week of Great Lent - April 6, 2019 - the pre-feast of the Annunciation, therefore, the funeral service is not performed.
• Commemoration of the dead warriors– May 9, 2019.
• Radonitsa– May 7, 2019.
• – June 15, 2019.
• – November 2, 2019.

• Parental Saturdays in 2020 fall on the following dates:

  • Universal parental Saturday (meatless)– February 22, 2020.
  • Saturday of the 2nd week of Great Lent - March 14, 2020.
  • Saturday of the 3rd week of Great Lent - March 21, 2020.
  • Saturday of the 4th week of Great Lent - March 28, 2020.
  • Commemoration of the dead warriors– May 9, 2020.
  • Radonitsa– April 28, 2020.
  • – June 6, 2020.
  • – October 31, 2020.

• Parental Saturdays in 2021 fall on the following dates:

  • Universal parental Saturday (meatless)– March 8, 2021.
  • Saturday of the 2nd week of Great Lent - March 27, 2021.
  • Saturday of the 3rd week of Great Lent - April 3, 2021.
  • Saturday of the 4th week of Great Lent - April 10, 2021.
  • Commemoration of the dead warriors– May 9, 2021.
  • Radonitsa– May 11, 2021.
  • – June 19, 2021.
  • – November 6, 2021.

For preferential commemoration personally to us dear people there are other parent Saturdays. First of all, these are the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Saturdays of Great Lent, and besides them, the parental Saturday established in the Russian Orthodox Church, which was originally intended to commemorate the soldiers who fell in the Battle of Kulikovo, but gradually became a common memorial day .

This memorial service falls on the Saturday preceding the memory of St. vmch. Demetrius of Thessalonica - patron saint of Prince. Dmitry Donskoy, at whose suggestion, after the Battle of Kulikovo, an annual commemoration of the soldiers was established. But over time, the memory of the soldiers-liberators was supplanted in the public mind, which is very regrettable, and Dimitri's memorial Saturday turned into one of the "parents' days."

Why "parental"? After all, we commemorate not only our parents, but also other people, often not connected with us by any family ties? By different reasons. First of all, not even because parents, as a rule, leave this world ahead of their children (and therefore, too, but this is not the main thing), but because in general our primary duty of prayer is for our parents: of all people whose temporary earthly life is over, we first of all owe those through whom we received this gift of life - our parents and grandparents.

However, at the same time, it is also interesting when parental Saturday comes, what kind of day it is, what are its features.

Actually in Orthodox calendar we can find not one, but as many as 8 memorial days. Each of them has its own name and features, which are described in detail below.

There are several answers to the question of when parental Saturday will come this year:

1. The universal parental Meatfare Saturday is celebrated on March 2.
2. During Great Lent, three parental Saturdays fall at once - on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th weeks (i.e. March 23, 30 and April 6).
3. And then there is a break associated with the celebration of Easter. The next day is Radonitsa (it is often called parental), which falls on May 7, 2019.
4. Then they remember all the fallen who fought for the Motherland during the Great Patriotic War, i.e. May 9.
5. After that, the dead are commemorated on the day of Trinity Saturday - June 15.
6. Then they salute all the fallen soldiers for the Tsar and the Fatherland on September 11th.
7. The last parental Saturday is celebrated on November 2, 2019 (it is called Dmitrievskaya).

The dates of these days are closely connected with the most important church events (Lent, Easter and feast). Therefore, all dates are rolling - they change from year to year. The only exception is May 9, which, for obvious reasons, is celebrated only on this date.

What is Parental Saturday

It is also interesting to understand what parental Saturday is - after all, in fact, the memorial day can fall on other days of the week (although in most cases it is the 6th day).

There are several versions of this. At least two of them deserve attention:

1. First of all, the Bible describes the creation of the world in 6 days, after which God rested from all his days and called it the Sabbath ( long time it was she who was the 7th day of the week, not Sunday). The state of rest harmonizes well with the mood of a person who wants to remember the deceased. There is no place for fuss in such a delicate issue, and it is better to postpone routine matters for later.
2. And there is also an opinion that the very word Saturday literally means “intercession” (translated from ancient Greek). And in this case, too, everything falls into place: commemorating the dead, people try to intercede for the deceased before God. That is why it is customary to pray intensely for an immortal soul that has left our world, and also to distribute alms in order to provide spiritual assistance to the deceased.

Special Days of Remembrance

When talking about the nearest or any other parental Saturday, it is important to consider which day in question. Commemoration dates are different meaning- for example, in the Orthodox Church, the deceased are intensely remembered on special 5 days:

• Universal Meatfare parental Saturday.
• 2, 3 and 4 parental Saturdays of Great Lent.

These days it is customary to serve a funeral service for all the departed Orthodox, and not just for parents. Of course, this does not mean that it is forbidden to remember them on other days.

It's just that these 5 dates in the year are the most significant and large-scale to remember. Moreover, Meat and Trinity Saturdays are ecumenical - ecumenical memorial services are served in churches in memory of all the baptized who have already gone to another world.

Private parenting days

And these days, according to the church charter, do not appear as memorial days, however, services are still held - and it is in three Orthodox churches:

• Russian;
• Bulgarian;
• and Serbian.

These days include:

1. The main date is Radonitsa (it always falls on the second Tuesday after Easter), which is celebrated this year (2019) - May 7th. Traditionally, it is customary to visit the church and then go to the cemetery to clean up the grave. But leaving food there, and especially vodka, and even taking alcohol yourself is highly discouraged.
2. May 9 is not only Victory Day, but also a day of mourning. We remember all the victims of the monstrous and terrible war. Memorial services are also served in churches, so each person can perform a prayer for the dead and give alms.
3. Another private day is September 11th. The history of this date goes back to the distant 18th century, when Empress Catherine the Great issued a decree to commemorate those who died in Russian-Turkish war. It is customary to pay the last tribute to all Orthodox soldiers.
4. Also, these dates include Dmitrievskaya (Dimitrievskaya) parental Saturday (this year November 2, 2019), which is dedicated to the day of memory of the Great Martyr Demetrius of Thessalonica. It is interesting that the tradition has developed since the time of Dmitry Donskoy, who commemorated his fallen comrade after the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380.

Saturdays of small fasts

Finally, there are three more memorable days - these are Saturdays that come on the eve of memorable fasts:

• Christmas;
• Petrova;
• Uspensky.

On such days, you can also remember the deceased person - pray for him and give alms.

Thus, if we talk about whether or not today is a memorial parental Saturday, you should immediately turn to church calendar. There are indeed many days for the memory of loved ones, and the most important thing is to remember a person and pay tribute to him.

It is best to go to the temple, and then clean up the grave. But the use of vodka, leaving products on the grave is highly undesirable.

Parental Saturdays of Great Lent- days when love and warmth for the souls of deceased loved ones are especially manifested. According to the calendar, they fall on March 23 and 30, as well as on April 6. On this day, believers pray for dear and close to their hearts, so that the Lord does not leave them without their prosperity.

Since this year the last parental Saturday of Great Lent falls on the eve of the great feast of the Annunciation, it is cancelled.

Although, with the modern rhythm of life, everyday worries and routine, once kind and warm feelings for those we love seem to be erased. Regardless of how a person treats church holidays, whether he is a believer or not, in any case, you need to gratefully honor and remember your loved ones. That is why parental Saturdays are special days of the greatest respect and reverence for each other.

Rules for memorial days

The rules for all memorial days are practically the same. These days it is customary to attend churches, in particular, memorial services. Believers take with them fast food, as a donation to the funeral table. They are distributed to all those in need: the poor and the needy. In addition to the church, on parental Saturdays, it is customary to visit cemeteries and commemorate deceased loved ones. It is considered a great sin to drink alcohol in a cemetery. The surest thing that can be done for the dead is to pray for the repose of the soul.

From the article, you learned that the calendar has exactly eight days of commemoration of the deceased, and now it is known what numbers the main days in 2019 fall on. By the way, in some regions of Russia, the Radonitsa holiday was equated with a day off, which once again indicates that parental Saturdays are important days when we pay tribute to the memory of relatives and friends.