Questions for the abbot / Prayer
How to pray for a newborn unbaptized child?
Dear Oksana, may the Lord help your newborn nephew and his mother, through the prayers of the blessed old lady Matrona.
I will add that it is possible (and in case of danger to life, it is necessary) to baptize the child in the hospital. To do this, you need to come to the nearest temple and invite a priest to the hospital. According to modern rules, a child should be allowed to be baptized even in intensive care, i.e. You can insist if hospital staff have any concerns. As a last resort - in case of mortal danger - Baptism can be performed by a layman, that is, any Orthodox Christian, including the mother of the child, and not only on a certain day from birth, but also a few minutes later. When sprinkling water on a person, we say: “The servant of God (name) is baptized in the name of the Father. Amen. And the Son. Amen. And the Holy Spirit. Amen". The rest of the prayers of the Sacrament of Baptism can then be read by the priest in the church when the danger has passed. But the Sacrament of Baptism is no longer repeated, because... this is a very real Baptism. After this, it will be necessary, when the danger has passed, to bring the child to the temple for the Sacrament of Confirmation, which can only be performed by a priest. You can pray for an unbaptized baby in your heart in your own words, not only to the blessed Matrona, but also to our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Mother of God, and all the saints. Believe that even the most “inept” prayer will be heard by the Lord. He responds not only to Church Slavonic texts compiled by saints, but also to the sighing of the heart of any person.
Is it possible to perform funeral services for unbaptized people and light candles for them?
The funeral service is one of the important, final sacraments for a person leaving earthly life, counted among the faith by Baptism. During the funeral service there is an alternation of stichera, canon, reading of the Apostle and the Gospel. And, since more than half of the prayers are sung, people talk about the “funeral service.” The ritual includes prayers to God, requests to accept the deceased into the Kingdom of Heaven as a believer and baptized person. The Savior said:
“Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”
That is, someone who is not baptized (not washed with holy water) will not be able to get into Heaven? If Paradise is just a place for the Orthodox, but not a place for non-believers. Of course, this applies only to religion...
Although, judge for yourself why a person should be converted to faith after death if he was far from it during his lifetime. Why ask for God's mercy from someone whom the deceased rejected during his lifetime or did not really believe in him.
Although on the other hand, depending on how you look at it. After all, the physical body remains on earth, everything is simple with it. And the soul goes to the heavenly world in order to come back to earth with a new body. After all, in our prayers are our requests and aspirations for the soul, for its repose and placement in the Kingdom of God. We ask not for the physical body, which no longer cares. So why don’t we ask the Creator for goodness for this unbaptized soul, who was unable to comprehend the secrets of the Universe only according to his own different idea. What's forbidden about this?
The holy ministers are unshakable; they do not recognize non-members of the Church and do not consider it acceptable to perform actions for unbaptized people. And most likely for them at this stage the body and soul are united and inseparable. And this is the right decision. Because the right to choose a person remains with him even after his death. There is no need to force anything on anyone. It is only important for you that your loved one leaves the earthly world according to all the rules of Orthodoxy.
But think about what faith in God is and what kind? A church is just a set of certain rules for a given type of religion. Another religion has its own rules... And the souls of all the dead fly into one world, do you really think that someone there sorts them into baptized or unbaptized?
