People ignorant of the Christian tradition believe that it is impossible to pray for the unbaptized. But this is a big misconception, since the souls of unbaptized people are just as in need of salvation as the souls of Orthodox Christians. Indeed, dedicating prayer to people living or dead who have not received the Sacrament of Baptism or who belong to another faith or denomination is prohibited at the Divine Liturgy. The fact is that an unbaptized person is not a full member of the church, and therefore has no right to take part in the Divine Liturgy. By the way, previously unbaptized people did not even have the right to enter the church further than the vestibule, and, although today such strict restrictions have been lifted, still unbaptized people cannot take part in the Divine service on an equal basis with the baptized. It is also prohibited to perform funeral services held in the temple for unbaptized people. However, no one is forbidden to dedicate their prayers to unbaptized people, said, for example, in front of the home iconostasis. Christian traditions testify to the effectiveness of prayer for people who have not known the Sacrament of Baptism. This was stated by many reverend church fathers, elders and priests.
Is it possible to pray for unbaptized people?
Baptism belongs to the category of great church sacraments. After it, a person can consider himself a full member of the church. When a believer receives a pectoral cross, then, by accepting it, he agrees to follow the teachings of Christ and shows his intention to walk through life in accordance with the laws of the Lord. It is believed that after baptism, the seal left by original sin is washed away from the believer’s soul.
Those who refuse baptism on principle are not members of the church. They have no right to count on support, do not have the opportunity to turn to the Lord through the church, and therefore cannot be heard.
But situations often arise in which relatives and friends want to pray for unbaptized people. This is a common practice that requires clarification.
As for turning to the Lord at home regarding those who do not have a cross, there are no restrictions. Any person has the right to say words of prayer, ask for health, instructions or blessings. In this case, the person praying has the right to count on help.
The main church rule is that the unbaptized cannot be mentioned during the Divine Liturgy. There are no other restrictions.
The importance of the Sacrament of Baptism for a person
Baptism is one of the seven Sacraments of the church, and without exaggeration it can be called fundamental. The spiritual life of an Orthodox Christian is impossible unless he sooner or later receives church baptism. Why is it so important for a person and what does it give?
First of all, baptism makes a person a full member of the Church of Christ. By accepting the Sacrament, a person confesses faith in the crucified Jesus Christ and shows his intention to follow Him in life. In addition, in this Sacrament, the seal of original sin, which is inherent in each of us, is washed away from a person.
Baptism in the Jordan River
The rite of baptism with water itself dates back to Gospel times. Thus, the Forerunner of the Lord John baptized the people in the Jordan River. It was there that Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself received the Sacrament during His earthly life.
About other Orthodox sacraments:
- Sacrament of wedding
- Sacrament of Confession
Thus, we can say that by accepting this Sacrament, a person becomes open to God’s grace and can boldly follow Christ in the fullness of church life.
Features of prayer for unbaptized living people
If a person for some reason does not accept the Sacrament of Baptism, he cannot be a full member of the church. This is expressed, first of all, in the opportunity to participate in the Divine Liturgy.
Interesting! Some time ago, unbaptized people could not enter the temple beyond the vestibule, and also had to leave the Divine service in a certain part of it.
Today, such a strict restriction has been lifted, but still an unbaptized person cannot participate in worship as an equal.
Liturgy
The main feature of prayer for unbaptized people is that they cannot be remembered at the Divine Liturgy.
The priest at the altar offers a bloodless sacrifice, symbolically representing the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. At this time, pieces are taken from the prosphoras for each name submitted for commemoration. These particles are then sent to the Chalice and become a great shrine - the Body of Christ.
Read about church rules:
If a person deliberately avoids baptism, then Christ’s sacrifice for him becomes meaningless. That is why, in order to participate in the Sacrament of Communion, and indeed in the fullness of the Liturgy, it is necessary to be baptized in church.
But what should we do if a person close to us, whose fate we care about, turns out to be unbaptized? He cannot be commemorated in church, but there are no obstacles to purely personal prayer. At home, in front of the home iconostasis, we can pray for all the people close to us, even if they have not been baptized.
Prayer for unbaptized babies
Prayer for children who have just recently been born and have not yet had time to be baptized also has its own characteristics. There is a tradition of baptizing children after the 40th day of birth, but in fact, the baby can be baptized as soon as it is born.
So, if the mother had a difficult birth and the child is in danger, it is very advisable to baptize the baby as soon as possible.
In many maternity hospitals and children's hospitals you can freely invite a priest, and in some places there are even functioning churches on the territory of the medical institution.
Child Baptism
If the family decides to baptize the baby later, then all the time before the Sacrament is performed, they pray for the child in close connection with the mother. It is believed that at this time the mother and baby share one Guardian Angel, and only after Baptism does the child have his own.
You can pray for such children in church, but only the note indicates not the individual name of the baby, but the name of the mother with the note “with the child.” For example, if the mother’s name is Maria, then the note should be submitted as follows: “On the health of God’s servant Mary and her child.” After Baptism, you can write in a note the name of the child himself with the postscript “baby”.
First prayer to the Mother of God for children
O Most Holy Lady Virgin Theotokos, save and preserve under Your shelter my children (names), all youths, young women and infants, baptized and nameless and carried in their mother’s womb.
Cover them with the robe of Your motherhood, keep them in the fear of God and in obedience to their parents, pray to my Lord and Your Son to grant them what is useful for their salvation.
I entrust them to Your maternal supervision, for You are the Divine Protection of Your servants.
Mother of God, introduce me to the image of Your heavenly motherhood. Heal the mental and physical wounds of my children (names) caused by my sins. I entrust my child entirely to my Lord Jesus Christ and Your, Most Pure, heavenly protection. Amen.
Prayer for the unbaptized dead
It is difficult for any Orthodox Christian to realize that someone close to him has died without becoming a full member of the Church of Christ. There is no point in becoming despondent; God’s Providence exists for such people as well. But sincere heartfelt prayer will help the soul of a deceased person, even if he did not have time to deeply know God.
Other articles about prayer for the repose:
Have mercy, O Lord, on the soul of Your servant (name), who passed into eternal life without Holy Baptism. Your destinies are unsearchable. Do not make this my prayer a sin for me. But Thy holy will be done.
Important! As is the case with people still living, notes with the names of unbaptized people cannot be submitted in church for commemoration.
The reason is the same - a person during his life, for one reason or another, did not have time to enter the Church of God. It is all the more important for such a soul that there is a person who remembers the deceased in his personal prayer at home. After all, the whole Church prays for baptized people at every liturgy, but only those who take on this burden in personal work pray for the unbaptized.
What kind of prayers to read for the unbaptized dead
In Orthodox worship there is a special service - a requiem - during which all Orthodox Christians who have died from time to time are remembered. You can only submit notes about those who have managed to come to God and His Holy Church in their lives. However, this does not mean that everyone else should be left without prayerful remembrance.
Icon of the Holy Martyr Huar
Most often, they pray to the martyr Uar for the repose of the souls of unbaptized people. There is a specially compiled canon for this saint, who lived in the 3rd century and spent his entire life begging for those unfortunates who remained outside the protection of the Church of Christ. To this day, a sincere appeal to this ascetic brings great relief to souls after death.
Prayers for the unbaptized living and deceased
The misconception that it is impossible to pray for those who have not been baptized is often found among Orthodox believers. But that's not true. Everyone's souls need salvation, and only those who pray for their family and friends can help them.
Prayer services dedicated to deceased unbaptized people deserve special attention. Most often they turn to the martyr Uar, who is called the patron saint of the souls of the lost. This is a holy righteous man who, during his lifetime, prayed for the repose of the unbaptized and asked the Lord to protect their souls.
Prayer for an unbaptized child and infant
One of the biggest tragedies in life is the loss of your own child. If the baby did not have time to be baptized while he was alive, then parents often have a question: is it possible to pray for him. Unfortunately, you cannot order a service in church, but it must be done at home.
The Lord gives every mother the hope that, over an indefinite period of time, she will be able to achieve for her deceased baby the right to be reborn for eternal life.
Prayer text
Saint Nicholas the Pleasant, hear our prayer and pray to the Lord for us. We repent of all our sins and bring to you the sick baby (name). Grant him complete healing, protect him from all illnesses and quench our spiritual sorrow. I believe in the power of our Almighty Lord. In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit I pray. Amen.
Does the church allow the commemoration of the unbaptized?
If a person during his lifetime was not worthy to receive the Sacrament of Baptism, he does not belong to the Church of Christ. This is a generally accepted rule, there are no exceptions to it. The deceased did not become a Christian; it is impossible to commemorate the unbaptized in church. They are not spoken about in memorial services, Liturgy, and notes are not submitted for proskomedia. This is explained by the fact that God gives people freedom of choice and action. If during his lifetime he did not want to become a Christian, he cannot be forcibly “dragged” into the Kingdom of Heaven. Posthumously and during lifetime people are not converted to Christianity by force. The canons do not prohibit private prayers or the appeal of relatives to God in church.
Priests do not pray for the unbaptized or people of other faiths. It makes no difference whether the deceased person was an atheist, a Muslim, or a Jew - mentioning him in the temple is prohibited.
There are similar requirements in the Muslim religion and Judaism.
Infants who died before baptism and stillborn children are not remembered in divine services. They are pure, they have not had time to sin in worldly life, they have nothing to answer to before God. The Orthodox Church has adopted the rite of commemorating deceased unbaptized infants. This prayer is not a way to ease the lot of a child’s soul, but a consolation for parents, a way of communicating with a deceased child.
Prayers for unbaptized dead children and adults
You can pray for children or adults at home using all the attributes of worship. Such a sincere request will certainly help the soul of a deceased person find a path to the light. This is how they address the Lord: “I will give rest to the soul of the deceased.” For adults they pray, turning to the holy martyr Uar; for infants, you can ask Metropolitan Giorgiy of Novgorod or Hieromonk Arseny of Athos.
“Oh, venerable holy martyr Uare, kindled with zeal for the Lord Christ, you confessed the Heavenly King before the tormentor, and you suffered earnestly for Him, and now you stand before Him with the angels, and rejoice in the highest, and see clearly the Holy Trinity, and with the light of the Beginning Radiance Having enjoyed yourself, remember also our relatives in languor, who died in wickedness, accept our petition, and just as Cleopatrine freed the unfaithful race from eternal torment with your prayers, so remember those who were buried against God, who died unbaptized, trying to ask them for deliverance from eternal darkness, so that all with one mouth and with one heart let us praise the Most Merciful Creator forever and ever. Amen".
Separately, you can pray for stillborn or unbaptized babies with the prayer of Metropolitan Gregory of Novgorod or Hieromonk Arseny of Athos. If such a misfortune occurs in a family, and a child dies before receiving the Sacrament of Baptism, then special prayer support is needed both for his soul and for his parents and family. In prayer and trust in God's Providence for each person, it will be easier to survive loss and grief.
“Remember, O Lord who loves mankind, the souls of Your departed servants, the infants who in the womb of Orthodox mothers died accidentally from unknown actions or from a difficult birth, or from some carelessness, and therefore did not receive the holy sacrament of Baptism! Baptize them, O Lord, in the sea of Your bounties and save them with Your ineffable goodness.”
Is it possible to remember an unbaptized person when reading the Psalter?
Question: “Is it possible to remember an unbaptized person in the Psalter? After all, the Psalter says: “O Lord, give rest to the souls of your fallen servants...” But if he is unbaptized, that means he is not a slave. So it's impossible? Isn't this a sin?
Archpriest Dimitry Smirnov answers:
- No, it’s not a sin. Every person in his life has done something for the Lord, because every person, even if he is not only unbaptized, but also of a different faith, has ideas about God, albeit distorted. And in the name of God he did something, so in this part he is also a servant of God.
Regardless of whether a person professes the right faith or the wrong one, he is still a child of God. But we cannot remember an unbaptized person at the proskomedia, because this is precisely the business of the church. And we can remember while reading the Psalter or simply pray during our house rules.
God is pleased with our love for a person and our selfless prayer, because prayer for the deceased is always selfless.
Archpriest Alexander Berezovsky: “In the church they often ask to remember people who are not church members, and even those who are very far from it, but we remember them as “servants of God.” After all, such a person is not a servant of God? Or is this just a formality?
Archpriest Dimitry Smirnov: – This is a form. When our ranks were created, almost the entire population of Russia belonged to the church. For our people, the church was not just something important, but the main thing in life.
Of course, in this veneration of God there was a lot of pagan and magical mixed in, because, unfortunately, man is completely saturated with superstition. And - to this day.
But no matter how low a person falls, the image of God is still preserved in him, although this image is clouded by sins, false ideas, and so on.
And praying is always good. And praying is not a sin at all. Prayer becomes a sin only in one case: when we pray that our neighbor’s cow will die or that the neighboring village will burn down.
When we desire something ungodly in prayer, then yes, such a prayer is unacceptable to God! Moreover: with such prayer we heap burning coals on our heads.
And to pray for admonition, for salvation, for forgiveness of sins - all this is always a godly deed.
Archpriest Alexander Berezovsky: – One of the psalms is directly compiled from such “wishes”: “So that you...” And so this is from the heart!
Archpriest Dimitry Smirnov: – Yes. But we must not forget that this psalm was created by King David in the Old Testament era. He is, of course, a great prophet and much of what he said became real prophecy because he was led by the Spirit of God. But at the same time, in the environment in which he lived, revenge or murder were the most common occurrences.
He himself, in order to take possession of the woman he desired, destroyed her husband in the most vile way. Then, of course, he repented, but what he did was pure meanness! Therefore, we must understand that he lived in a non-Christian era. He couldn’t even know anything about it - he acted like everyone else.
You can even say, like a small child: “I want and I will!” Not realizing that this is meanness. And this happens often.
Prayer for deceased unbaptized parents
Another problem that acutely confronts the relatives and friends of a deceased person is remembering deceased unbaptized parents in prayer. The generation raised during the Soviet Union for a long time denied the very idea of the sacrament of baptism. Therefore, many of the older generation die without knowing the joy of confession and absolution.
Orthodox Christians are advised to remember their unbaptized deceased parents in home prayer. It is best to establish a separate morning rule for yourself, when at the end of each address there are 2 prayers: for the living and the dead.
If we are talking about the unbaptized living, then, as a rule, they ask for help here and now. For the dead, they ask for absolution and relief from the afterlife.
Prayer for a deceased father
Lord Jesus Christ our God! You are the keeper of the unfortunate, the refuge of the grieving and the comforter of the weeping. I, unfortunate one, turn to You, groaning and crying, and I pray to You: hear my prayer and do not turn Your face away from the groans of my heart and from the tears of my eyes. I pray to You, merciful Lord, satisfy my grief over separation from my parent (name), who gave birth and raised me, and accept his soul, as having gone to You with true faith in You and with firm hope in Your philanthropy and mercy, into Your Heavenly Kingdom . I bow before Your holy will, according to which (he) was taken from me, and I ask You, do not just take Your mercy and compassion from him. I know, Lord, that You are the Judge of this world, you humble the sins and iniquities of the fathers in children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, even to the third and fourth generation, but you also have mercy on the fathers for the prayers and virtues of their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. With contrition and sadness of heart, I pray to You, merciful Judge, do not forever punish Your deceased servant, my unforgettable by me, my parent (name), but forgive him all his sins, voluntary and involuntary, in word and deed, consciously and out of ignorance, committed by him in his life here on earth, and according to Your mercy and love for mankind, through the prayers of the Most Pure Mother of God and all the saints, have mercy on him and deliver him from eternal torment. You, merciful Father of fathers and children! Grant me, all the days of my life, until my last breath, to constantly remember my deceased parent in my prayers, and to beg You, the righteous Judge, to place him in a bright place, in a pleasant place and in a quiet place, with all the saints, from where all torment, sorrow and groaning have departed. Dear Lord! Accept today my fervent prayer for Thy servant (name) and give him Thy reward for his labors and care for my upbringing in faith and Christian piety, as he who taught me first of all to know You, my Lord, to pray to You in reverence, to trust in You alone in troubles, sorrows and illnesses and keep Your commandments; for his kind concern for my spiritual prosperity, for the fervent prayers he offered for me before You and for all the gifts he asked for me from You, reward him with Your mercy, Your heavenly blessings and joys in Your eternal Kingdom. For You are the God of mercies, compassion, and love for mankind, You are the peace and joy of Your faithful servants, and we send up glory to You with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and always and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
Prayer for the deceased mother
Lord Jesus Christ our God! You are the keeper of the unfortunate, the refuge of the grieving and the comforter of the weeping. I, unfortunate one, turn to You, groaning and crying, and I pray to You: hear my prayer and do not turn Your face away from the groans of my heart and from the tears of my eyes. I pray to You, merciful Lord, satisfy my grief over separation from my mother (name), who gave birth and raised me, and accept her soul, as having gone to You with true faith in You and with firm hope in Your philanthropy and mercy, into Your Heavenly Kingdom . I bow before Your holy will, according to which (she) was taken from me, and I ask You, do not just take away Your mercy and compassion from her. I know, Lord, that You are the Judge of this world, you humble the sins and iniquities of the fathers in children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, even to the third and fourth generation, but you also have mercy on the fathers for the prayers and virtues of their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. With contrition and sadness of heart, I pray to You, merciful Judge, do not forever punish Your deceased servant, unforgettable by me, my mother (name), but forgive her all her sins, voluntary and involuntary, in word and deed, consciously and out of ignorance, committed by her in her life here on earth, and according to Your mercy and love for mankind, through the prayers of the Most Pure Mother of God and all the saints, have mercy on her and deliver her from eternal torment. You, merciful Father of fathers and children! Grant me, all the days of my life, until my last breath, to constantly remember my deceased mother in my prayers, and to beg You, the righteous Judge, to place her in a bright place, in a pleasant place and in a quiet place, with all the saints, from where all torment, sorrow and groaning have departed. Dear Lord! Accept today my fervent prayer for Thy servant (name) and give her Thy reward for my labors and care for my upbringing in faith and Christian piety, as she taught me first of all to know You, my Lord, to pray to You in reverence, to trust in You alone in troubles, sorrows and illnesses and keep Your commandments; for her kind concern for my spiritual prosperity, for the prayers she fervently brought for me before You and for all the gifts she asked me from You, reward her with Your mercy, Your heavenly blessings and joys in Your eternal Kingdom. For You are the God of mercies, compassion, and love for mankind, You are the peace and joy of Your faithful servants, and we send up glory to You with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and always and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
How to help the soul of an unbaptized person to rest
You can remember an unbaptized deceased in home prayer, asking for mercy for his soul. The Lord is merciful, His mercy is limitless. Loving relatives still have hope that the deceased person will receive forgiveness.
No one knows how the fate of such souls is decided, but they can be consoled by giving alms, helping the suffering and the poor. This is also the way to commemorate the Orthodox dead. Theodore the Studite called for secret prayers for the unbaptized deceased, doing good deeds in memory of them, and giving alms.
Home prayer can be canonical or in your own words. The main thing is that it comes from the heart, is sincere and filled with faith.
Perhaps God will hear such an appeal, forgive the deceased’s sins and errors, and help the unbaptized.
If a person led a righteous life, was planning to accept Baptism, but did not have time to do so, you can order a secular lithium at the cemetery, and read Psalms 17 of Kathisma on the day of death. Relatives should consult with a spiritual mentor, ask to talk about temptations, rules of remembrance.
