How to pray for the deceased: necessary prayers, timing, reading rules and texts

general information

In the case when a person has died, an experienced priest can tell you how to pray. Offering prayer makes a person an active participant in the salvation of the soul that has departed from the mortal body. A person, appealing to higher beings, creates a reason to treat the deceased better, more mercifully. The need for this prayer is explained by the fact that the soul, having been torn away from the mortal body, is deprived of the opportunity to independently do something that could appease the highest divine essence. And then those who are still alive come to the rescue. Their petitions change their future fate in the other world.

It is equally important to know how to pray correctly for the dead, and from the point of view of the future salvation of the soul of those who still live in our mortal world. Every prayer is an attempt by those living on our planet to be saved after death. Sacred texts, invocations and prayers that a person offers, tune his spiritual essence into rhythm with heaven.

A person moves away from the mortal and vain, leaving everything short-term beyond the threshold of his attention. When praying, a person is immersed in the feeling and memory of death, which means he is saved from any evil. By regularly offering prayers, a person receives enough strength to eliminate arbitrary sins from his reality. In addition, they help the grieving person acquire patience, become more generous, and experience joy. Prayer is what makes the period of grief easier to endure, since it gives hope for a bright future outside our mortal world.

Liturgy

Any prayer for someone who has died gives a living person the opportunity to fulfill the commandment voiced by Christ, namely, to begin preparing for departure to another world at any moment in life. Raising her words, a person simultaneously remembers that those who have passed away on the other side of existence also pray, but for the future of those who still remain in the mortal body. Special help comes from the prayers of the deceased, if they are blessed in eternity. A popular option is a church note. You can ask for health if the person has been given a Christian name. Petitions for repose can only be made if a person has been baptized in a church.

So, how should you pray for the deceased? During the liturgy, you can submit a note. You can do this during the first part of the event. Notes with names are submitted to the proskomedia. For every name mentioned in such a paper, a piece of prosphora intended specifically for this purpose is given. Then these particles are dipped in the blood of Christ, while at the same time offering prayer speeches in which they beg for the remission of sins, asking the divine essence to forgive the person.

The end of a person's life. How to pray for a dying person.

How to pray for a dying person.

At the end of a person’s life, when he departs from this world, a special canon is read over him - a collection of songs and prayers, compiled according to a certain rule. “Canon” is a Greek word that means “rule.” In the Orthodox prayer book this canon is called: “Canon of prayer for the separation of the soul from the body.” It is read “on behalf of a person who is separated from his soul and cannot speak” (speak), and is often called the prayer of departure (prayer). Here are a few troparia (prayer-petitions) from this touching canon, given in translation into Russian: “My lips are silent, and my tongue says nothing, but my heart speaks, because, consuming it, the fire of contrition flares up inside me and calls in unspeakable words You, Most Holy Virgin" (canto 6); “The night of death, gloomy, moonless, befell me unprepared; it lets me, unprepared, go on a long, terrible journey. May Your mercy accompany me, O Lady” (canto 7); “Seeing the near end of my life, remembering the obscene (placeless) thoughts, actions (deeds) of my soul, I am fiercely (mercilessly) stung by the arrows of my conscience. But You, All-Pure One, having mercifully bowed to my soul, be my intercessor (for me) before the Lord” (canto 9).

How to read the canon over a dying person.

Prayers and petitions preceded by notes: “priest” (priest), “prayer spoken by the priest” or “therefore the priest begins” - are not read by the laity. We begin to read the canon with the initial prayers, sometimes briefly indicated in the prayer book: Trisagion. According to Our Father. Lord, have mercy (12 times). The canon is then read in the order indicated. There are nine songs in the canon (the second song is not read). Each song contains short troparia prayers (appeals to God, the Most Holy Theotokos). The chorus indicated in the 1st song is read before them. Before the Irmos (the first prayer of each song), the chorus is not read. If before the beginning of the troparion there is “Glory”, then it should be read: “Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit”, if “And now” - “And now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen". At the end of the canon they read the prayers: It is worthy to eat. Trisagion. According to Our Father. Glory, even now. Lord, have mercy (three times).

Why is the waste report read?

At the moment of death, a person experiences a painful feeling of fear and longing. According to the testimony of the holy fathers, a person becomes afraid when the soul is separated from the body; The first three days outside the body are especially difficult for the soul. When leaving the body, the soul meets the Guardian Angel given to it at Holy Baptism, and the spirits of evil (demons). The sight of the latter is so terrible that the soul rushes and trembles at the sight of them. Relatives and friends of the dying person need to be courageous in order to say goodbye to their loved one, try to soften with prayer not so much the physical, but the mental suffering, and make it easier for the soul to leave the body.

What to expect?

In general, the priest, explaining whether it is possible to pray for an unbaptized deceased, limits the grieving relatives: in the church it is allowed to pray only for those who have been baptized in its bosom. If a person has been dissolute in life, this excommunicates him from the church, even if the person has been baptized and no one has officially excommunicated him. It is not easy to count on salvation in such a situation.

Church prayers will not give salvation to someone who, while alive, made no effort. To count on a bright afterlife, you need to do on your own during the period of mortal existence everything that you would like to receive from your loved ones after death. Saint Gregory spoke on this topic at one time. He said that the outcome is much better for the one who is free, especially in comparison with those who, being chained, are trying to find freedom.

By asking the holy father how to pray for the soul of the deceased, you can find out that the best and most effective prayers offered for someone who was a good Christian in his mortality. Such a person rested in peace with holy powers, despite sin (after all, only God does not have it). Church prayer, performed in memory of the deceased, good deeds - all this allows you to incline the divine essences in favor of the deceased, so that the soul is cleansed of sins.

An appeal to the Creator and ascension on the part of ordinary people is the result of a person’s life. For example, if a person behaved badly during his lifetime, his relatives read prayers only on strictly specified days, following customs and nothing more, and after the 40th day, almost no one remembers the deceased in their prayers. A person who has accomplished a lot of good in his mortal body is mentioned in prayers for a long time. Accordingly, such a soul is more likely to be saved.

Question and answer

Where are the prayers for the deceased?
They can be found in the Orthodox prayer book.

What kind of prayer assistance does the Catholic Church provide to the souls of the departed?

During the octave of All Souls, which falls on the period from November 1 to 8, Catholic believers, having confessed, received communion, prayed for the Holy Father and visited the cemetery, can receive an indulgence, that is, complete forgiveness of punishment for sins. This indulgence is usually offered for the soul of the deceased. In addition, in a Catholic church you can order a Holy Mass for the repose of the deceased.

Do Protestants pray for the souls of the dead?

No, such prayers are not accepted in this branch of Christianity. It is believed that a person who has received Holy Baptism during life is thereby already saved after death.

The everlasting psalter

Based on the idea described above about why they pray for the dead, one can understand how important it is to do this not only on time, but also correctly. One of the options is the Indestructible Psalter. This prayer is offered so that a person will be healthy, and if he passes away, so that his soul may rest. For a long time, ordering just such a prayer has been one of the best ways to achieve true mercy for the deceased.

You can order such a prayer for yourself. As the holy fathers assure, a person will certainly feel that he is supported, his good intentions are approved by higher beings. Churches practice eternal remembrance. This is a rather expensive service, but many are firmly convinced that the results of such offering of prayers are much more significant than ordinary ones. If it is not possible to order eternal remembrance, prayer is requested for a short time or offered on your own.

Sometimes ordinary people come to the priest to find out how to pray for deceased relatives who were not buried in accordance with the rites of Orthodoxy. The Holy Father will explain the importance of ordering a funeral service. It doesn’t matter exactly when the person died; it is better to order this ritual later than not to do it at all. True, you first need to make sure that there are no stumbling blocks. A priest will not be able to conduct a full and effective ceremony if a person died of his own free will (suicide) or was not baptized in the bosom of the church.

There are many cases where relatives, wanting to offer prayers for the deceased, applied for a funeral service a few months after the person’s death or even a year later. If you need to request a funeral service in a few years, it is better to use the help of a monastery. There is a huge variety of evidence confirming how important this ritual is.

Dedicated to the spouses

The holy fathers know how to pray for deceased relatives. When you come to church for the first time, you should turn to the priest for help. The texts of the prayers are given below. They ascend to the Almighty.

When praying, a person turns to Christ. The person asks to repose the soul of the deceased spouse, to allow the deceased to unite with other faithful servants of the Lord. The name of the deceased must be mentioned. You should ask for repose for the deceased if the marriage union was sanctified by the church. This fact is also necessarily mentioned in the text of the prayer.

It is equally important to point out how good the deceased was in his mortal life. The one offering the prayers assures that he completely submits to the will of the Almighty and bows before him. In the prayer texts, the person addressing the higher powers asks to forgive the deceased (deceased) for the fact that during his lifetime a person used mortal and earthly things, and even loved them, since the one who passed on to another world was at the same time humane and behaved for the good of everyone. The task of the one offering the prayer is to beg the divine powers to have mercy on the deceased, to spare him and not subject him to eternal torment, but to take him to himself, into his Kingdom, where the soul will be surrounded by eternal divine glory.

What to do if someone close to you dies

The word “death” is not often used in Christianity. He exudes grave cold and hopelessness. More commonly used words are dormition, repose. Dormition is sleep, falling asleep. The body has fallen asleep in the sleep of death, but the soul is alive, the soul is awake. We pray for the newly deceased servant of God.

For Christians, death is only a transition to another level of existence, a departure to God. And a funeral for Christians is not a terrible farewell to a person who was and is now gone, but a farewell to another world for a loved one whose soul is immortal.

If you have experienced grief - a loved one has died, come to any church and contact a clergyman. Father will help you sort out unclear questions, tell you how to pray for the deceased, and explain how you can order a memorial.

After the death of a loved one, relatives will have to take care of many things. If possible, do everything yourself. If it’s too difficult on your own, let someone you know clean up and dress the deceased. And then you stay with the body, remember the deceased, your life together. Think, cry. Death must be accepted. Read the Psalter about the repose of the newly departed.

Order a funeral service for the deceased at the church. It is better if the coffin is simple. An expensive coffin sometimes serves as a kind of atonement for the guilt of relatives towards the deceased, which is fundamentally wrong. If there is such a feeling, it is better to calm it down by participating in the funeral service, burial, alms with obligatory prayers for repose. In the Russian Orthodox Church, it is customary to bury the dead in the ground, rather than cremate them. If for some reason you had to bury a loved one without a priest, come to the temple and talk to the clergyman. Surely the priest will resolve your perplexed question. As a rule, in such cases a memorial service is served.

After the burial, try to visit the cemetery more often. If you are an Orthodox Christian and the deceased was baptized, then you need to put a cross on the grave, and not some pagan symbol in the form of a monument. Thoughts about the frailty of life, the meaning of death and the life of the next century naturally come to the cemetery. At the grave of the deceased, it is easier to concentrate on the memory of him and pray for repose.

Do not forget that the deceased especially needs our prayers and reconciliation with him. According to Orthodox tradition, for the first three days after death, a person’s soul remains near the earth, visiting places familiar to it, as if remembering everything that the earth was for it. During these three days you need to be especially careful. You need to pray more than usual, to be focused in thought on all the complexity of your relationship with the deceased. As the ever-memorable Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh says, it is necessary to untie all the knots in the soul, you need to be able to say to the deceased from the very depths of your heart and your entire being: “Forgive me!” and also say: “I forgive you, go in peace.”

Be sure to remember deceased relatives during morning and evening prayers. Praying for the dead, we say: “Rest, O Lord, the soul of Your servant.” You can also pray in your own words. The Fathers of the Church advise: “...Try to pray deeply, sincerely, in your own words... just think about the dead, this will help both them and you...”.

Prayers for the dead performed during the Divine Liturgy are especially effective. You submit a note for the repose of the soul with the names of those for whom you ask the priest to pray. During the proskomedia, the priest takes out particles from the prosphora and prays for the repose of the deceased. This is the greatest thing we can do for the people dear to us who have died.

Never lose confidence that death, which for us is loss and separation, is birth into eternity, that it is the beginning and not the end; that death is a majestic, sacred meeting between God and the living soul, which finds completeness only in God.

What types of prayers are there for the dead?

The very first commemoration of the deceased is the reading of the canon about the exodus of the soul immediately after death. Then the Psalter is read over the body of the deceased person for as long as possible (ideally before burial).

The next service is the funeral service, which is performed once, immediately before the burial. As a rule, the funeral service is performed either in a church or in a cemetery over the body of the deceased. If the body of the deceased is missing for some reason, as an exception, a funeral service may be performed in absentia. But this issue, in any case, should be agreed with the priest.

There are also other prayers. These include a memorial service

- a small service during which we ask God to forgive the sins of the deceased and accept him into the Kingdom of Heaven. (It is memorial services that are served in cemeteries, when a priest is invited to visit the grave.)

The Church makes the main prayer for the repose of deceased Orthodox Christians at the Divine Liturgy, offering a bloodless sacrifice to God for them. To do this, before the start of the Liturgy (or the night before), you should submit notes to the church with their names (only baptized, Orthodox Christians can be entered). At the proskomedia, particles of repose are taken out of the prosphora, which at the end of the liturgy are lowered into the Holy Chalice with the prayer of the clergyman: “Wash away, O Lord, the sins of those remembered here by Thy Blood, by the prayers of Thy saints.”

Let us remember that commemoration at the Divine Liturgy is the greatest benefit for those who are dear to us.

Often magpies are ordered for the deceased.

This is the commemoration of the dead during the Liturgy, which will be performed for 40 days. Such a commemoration can be ordered for six months, a year and even... eternal. Eternal remembrance is the remembrance of a person, which will be performed in this temple as long as the temple stands.

It is imperative to pray for the departed on special days for the soul separated from the body. These are the 3rd, 9th, 40th days after death. On these days, as well as on the anniversary of death, you must come to church and pray for the deceased (order a commemoration during the Liturgy, order a memorial service), confess, and receive communion during the Liturgy.

How to pray for a person if he has not been baptized?

You can only pray for an unbaptized person yourself - at home or in church. The names of the unbaptized are not written in the notes submitted for commemoration. This does not mean that such a person is cursed, as one sometimes hears from ignorant people. It’s just that the Church prays during services only for its members, baptized people who wanted to be Christians, or those for whom their parents made this decision (if the person was baptized in infancy)!

Duration of mourning?

In the Orthodox tradition, they pray for the deceased as if they were newly deceased throughout the year. This is also the time to mourn. Although there are such losses that even after many years it is difficult to come to terms with the loss...

St. Theophan the Recluse, our compatriot and ascetic of the 19th century, once said: “Let’s cry for the deceased... But cry in a Christian way!” This means that our tears should not contain hopelessness and despair. This separation is not forever, but only for a while. In due time we will all meet beyond the threshold of this life. And when we pray for the deceased, by doing so we establish a connection with him, as if we extend a hand of support to him.

what to do with the things of the deceased?

In addition to prayer, it is useful for the soul of the deceased to give alms and distribute his clothes or other things before the fortieth day. It is at this time that he needs special help. The more merciful we are to people, the more merciful the Lord will be to us and will assign the deceased to a good place on the fortieth day, when a private judgment takes place, and where the person’s soul remains until the final Judgment Day. The Church rejects the burning of the things of the deceased, since this contradicts the commandment to love one's neighbor and is pure paganism. An exception may be decayed or damaged items or other household items, as well as cases of death from infectious diseases. If in doubt, you can always consult a clergyman.

We will all stand before God. And we will give Him an answer in how we lived. Before it’s too late, while we can still fix something, repent, change for the better, let’s take advantage of this opportunity. Because when we die, it will be impossible for us to fix anything.

(316184)

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Tradition and faith

Since ancient times, people have practiced various funeral rites. The roots of modern prayer are in ancient habits, ancient rules of worship. It is known that in ancient times a person who died while hunting a mammoth could count on a grave decorated with flowers and bones of the prey.

In antiquity, ancestors were considered patrons; the Chinese offered prayers to the deceased, asking them to bestow wisdom on those living in the mortal world. The Slavs made sacrifices on the altars of their ancestors. Today in our country the main religion is Orthodoxy. It prohibits the worship of the human spirit, but allows the offering of prayer for the soul of the deceased. If you ask a priest whether it is possible to pray for the unbaptized dead or not, he will answer in the negative. After repose, the soul can no longer ask higher powers for itself. Even those who still live in the mortal world cannot ask for someone who has not been baptized in the church.

It is worth noting that restrictions on asking for mercy are the foundation for the emergence of numerous rituals. It is precisely because of the impossibility of asking for oneself even before repose that a person must repent and prepare for departure to another world. A soul whose body has died can no longer speak. She can only wait in humility for a decision. Relatives, parents, children, spouses left in the mortal world can offer prayer to the divine forces, thereby bringing joy to the deceased, lightening their burden and improving the future of the eternal essence. It has long been said that a person is alive only as long as he exists in someone’s memory.

Orthodox Life

Our conversation with Bishop Theodosius (Snegirev) of Boyarsk, vicar of the Kyiv diocese, was about this.

– Your Eminence, you are in charge of the cemetery deanery of Kyiv, you instruct, conduct conversations with the clergy who carry out obedience in the cemeteries of the capital. Every day people leave this life; not a single person escapes this huge test. Christians believe in Eternal Life and look forward to the resurrection of the dead. But many people do not know how to cope with the loss of loved ones - parents, brothers, sisters, and sometimes children. They become depressed, grieve inconsolably, and lose the meaning of life. What would you advise them as a shepherd of the Church of Christ?

– Indeed, many people who have lost their loved ones cannot bear this tragedy of life and take it very hard. It is much easier for Christians in this regard. We believe that life does not end with death, because “God is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for with Him all are alive” (Luke 20:38). And our loved ones, having crossed the threshold of eternity, can settle in a place where there is no longer illness, sadness, or sighing, but endless life, life with God.

Nevertheless, the priest’s stereotyped reasoning on the topic “he is better there now than he was here, your relative is now in Heaven” cannot bring comfort to the grieving person if he is not religious, although he considers himself a believer. Worse, such “support” can only further upset and even irritate a person of little faith who is experiencing the loss of a loved one. And besides this, falsehood is often clearly heard in such support. Consolation does not sound sincere if the shepherd himself does not empathize with the grieving person, if he himself does not believe his words, but says them for show.

Therefore, the job of the shepherd is, with all the power of faith, with the power of words and his own prayerful experience of communication with God, to convince grieving relatives of the reality of the afterlife. Convince them of the reality that the deceased still exists, is aware of himself, remembers and understands everything. Moreover, in the first days after death he sees those whom he knew and loved. And at the same time, she now really needs their love and complicity. It's true. There is no need to deceive those who are grieving that supposedly everything is fine with the deceased “there”. As a rule, for most - not very good. But there is no reason to be despondent and despair, because everything can be fixed. As long as our relatives are alive, everything can be fixed! And if they really love the deceased, if they want to meet him again, then they will have to work hard for the departed loved one... Not only to erect a monument on the grave, but most importantly - to work hard in prayer, almsgiving, and correction of their own life. In this work, relatives will find great consolation and strengthening for themselves, and most importantly, they will help the deceased. And a prayerful flame of hope will warm up in your heart that someday we will definitely meet again.

The moment of death of a loved one is a turning point for any person. And the responsibility of the shepherd of the Church at this turning point is to ignite the fire of faith in the hearts of people, to help them survive the loss and become Christians themselves.

– What about suicides? Is it possible to pray for suicides and how?

– Suicide is a truly terrible act. The Lord has endowed us with various gifts and talents, which a person is free to dispose of himself. But people are not the stewards of the main gift - life. Our life and the time of its end should only be in the hands of God. Therefore, suicide is a serious and irreparable sin. According to church rules, a person who commits suicide is buried outside the church fence. Prayers are not offered for him in church, because he is no longer a participant in salvation, no longer a member of the Church. But nevertheless, the final judgment over the human soul belongs to God.

How to help a suicidal person? St. Theodore the Studite said that alms can be given for those outside the Church (for example, heretics). I will give an extensive quote on this topic from the correspondence of the Venerable Optina Elder Leonid. He consoled his student, whose father committed suicide: “Commit both yourself and the fate of your parent to the will of the Lord, all-wise, all-powerful. Do not test the fate of the Most High. Try to strengthen yourself with humility within the limits of moderate sadness. Pray to the All-Good Creator, thereby fulfilling the duty of love and filial duties like this: “Seek, O Lord, the lost soul of my father: if it is possible, have mercy. Your destinies are unsearchable. Do not make this prayer my sin. Thy holy will be done.” Pray simply, without testing, committing your heart to the right hand of the Most High. Of course, it was not God’s will for such a sad death of your parent; but now it is completely in the will of the Mighty One to cast both soul and body into the fiery furnace, who both humbles and exalts, dies and gives life, brings down to hell and exalts. Moreover, He is so merciful, omnipotent and loving that the good qualities of all earthly beings are nothing before His highest goodness. To do this, you should not be overly sad. You will say: “I love my parent, that’s why I grieve inconsolably.” Fair. But God, without comparison, loved and loves him more than you. This means that you can only leave the eternal fate of your parent to the goodness and mercy of God, who, if He deigns to have mercy, then who can resist Him?

Another Optina elder, the Monk Ambrose, 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, 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.”

– And if you dream about the dead, what does it mean and how to treat it?

– The saints of the Orthodox Church quite definitely and unequivocally teach that dreams cannot be believed, much less trusted. Our dreams, as a rule, have their source either in our human nature (fantasies of the dormant consciousness), or are born under the influence of evil spirits with evil intentions. Of course, in some rare cases, the Guardian Angel can, at the direction of God, influence the area of ​​human sleep. But are we able to determine with absolute certainty the source of our dreams? Therefore, in accordance with the patristic teaching, it is better not to pay attention to the dreamed image at all and not to remember it. If a person persistently dreams of one of his deceased relatives, and this confuses his soul, then, I think, such dreams can be regarded as a good reason to intensify the prayer for the repose of a loved one. You need to submit a note for the Liturgy, order a magpie, a memorial service, pray carefully for the deceased yourself, and even better, prepare for Confession and Communion. Whatever the source of such dreams: our grieving and restless memory or the encouragement of the Guardian Angel to pray for the deceased, our repentant prayer works can benefit both the deceased and our soul.

– Christmas days are coming. Is it possible to pray for the dead on Christmastide?

– The Lord brought Life to earth with His Christmas, and Life in abundance. That's what He said Himself. His gracious Life is especially felt by believers during the celebration of the Nativity of Christ. And although during the holidays and Christmas holidays, according to the Church Charter, commemoration of the dead is not performed in churches, in home prayer, of course, you can share the joy of this Life with the dead. Some of them there, beyond the grave, have already tasted this Life to the fullest and share it with us in their prayers to God for us. Someone, on the contrary, expects that our prayer to God will shed a ray of Life into their world. In any case, if we remember and love our relatives, if we want to meet them again, our memory of them in the days of festive joy should not upset us, but inspire hope in God’s mercy for everyone - both the living and the dead.

Interviewed by Sergey Geruk

Ask for help

If you ask a Protestant whether it is necessary to pray for the dead, the person will answer in the negative. In this religion, it is believed that immediately after death, the entity is judged according to its deeds and falls into the bosom of divine mercy. In Orthodoxy, opinions about the afterlife are slightly different. It is customary for us to think that those close to the deceased should ask the Lord, and also turn to God’s angels. This allows us to somewhat soften the fate of those who have passed on to another world. The hotter the prayer is offered, the stronger it is, the higher the chances of the newly deceased to receive the mercy of the divine essence, which means that the future of the soul will be bright and happy.

The prayer book contains a huge variety of texts. They are applicable in different cases. There are special ones for those who died suddenly and unpredictably. There are motives that are exalted for those who have passed away due to a tragic incident. There are texts dedicated to those who met their death in the war.

From the prayer book you can learn how to pray for a deceased baby, what texts need to be read if the child was born dead. It is simply impossible to give a complete list of various options; there are so many prayers. The task of the relatives is to study the prayer book in order to determine which prayers are suitable for the current situation, and to use them when turning to higher powers.

About those who died without permission

Until recently, a person who died by his own hand was rejected by Christianity. Just recently a new canon appeared. It was called “On the unauthorized belly of those who died.” As you can see from the name, it is dedicated to those who have committed suicide. Previously, prayers for such persons were not allowed. No circumstances could be the reason for making requests to divine powers. The holy fathers in the church today will not ask for God’s mercy to someone who himself caused his own death, who died by his own hand. The Church, however, allows cell prayer, that is, the making of requests for the deceased at home. Suicide is a great sin in the understanding of any church. It is simply impossible to pray for him, he is so big. And yet, the relatives of the deceased can offer their prayers to higher powers in order to at least slightly soften their fate in the afterlife.

Parents and children

Children should ask how to pray for deceased parents. Religion entrusts them with the obligation to pray for the deceased older generation. There are quite a lot of prayers. Some are specifically for children making a request for their departed parents.

There are also those in which the supplicant asks for all Christians who died in Orthodoxy. The texts ask to remember the one who passed away from life, the one who served the Lord all his life. During the ascension of the invocation, it is necessary to bow to the divine essence.

Parents must be mentioned by name in places in the prayer text intended for their insertion. Here they ask you to remember all your “relatives in the flesh.” By offering such a prayer, they pray to higher powers to give pleasure to the deceased, to grant endless life. Asking for their deceased parents, children beg to have mercy on them, appealing to God as a Lover of Mankind. Three times they ask the Lord to forgive the sins of those who have passed into another world and to give him hope of resurrection. Three times we ask for eternal memory to all those who died in the Orthodox faith.

Asking the Lord to grant eternal life and pleasure to their deceased parents, children at the same time pray for the satisfaction of their sorrows. The priest, explaining how to pray for deceased parents, will definitely talk about the need for correct appeal to divine powers.

Prayer is offered to Jesus, who comforts those who cry, protects the orphans, and gives refuge to those who are immersed in grief. Offering prayers, they appeal to divine mercy, pointing to the virtues of children as a reason to have mercy on their parents. When asking the divine powers to grant happiness and tranquility in the afterlife, children necessarily say that God is the Father for everyone, and all people are his children, which means that he must understand especially well why the offspring pray so much for a bright future for their mothers and father. When praying, one addresses higher powers as “Merciful Lord.” Be sure to include in the text the words that God is the only one on whom petitioners can rely, hoping to beg for happiness for the deceased.

Healthy and sick

Is it necessary to pray for the dead who during their lifetime suffered a long illness due to which they died? The Orthodox religion allows such prayers, moreover, it approves of them. If you turn to the prayer book, you can find special texts for such cases. There are two options for prayers. Both are dedicated to those who have passed away due to a long illness. In their prayers, relatives must mention the name of the one who died. The person praying turns to the Lord, saying that it was by his will that the deceased served the higher powers through his sufferings and illnesses, becoming part of the Passion of Christ. Relatives, turning to higher powers, ask them to honor the deceased with participation in the glory of Christ.

When offering prayer, they ask you to accept the prayer for the one who has died. Turning to higher powers, they beg to forgive the sins of the one who is praying and to help the deceased relative of the one praying. In addition, they cry for assistance in the fight against the devil’s machinations, asking for deliverance from troubles and illnesses, as well as other evils.

The person praying promises to live righteously, despite the fact that any mortal people are unworthy. He offers a prayer for the deceased, asking to be merciful to him and to the one praying, who will glorify the One Lord with his whole life.

How to read prayers for the deceased

The action of prayer is compared to opening a door through which the grace of Christ enters the soul. Therefore, prayer performed with attention and reverence purifies the person praying and has a healing effect on the soul of the deceased.

The effectiveness of prayer for the deceased directly depends on whether the one praying himself lives according to the commandments of Christ, whether he is ready for “strain of the body and sorrow of the heart,” without which, as the Holy Fathers wrote, all prayer will have no soul.

Saint Theophan directly stated that church commemoration alone without the prayers of family and friends does not have the proper power: “If none [of those close to you] breathes from the soul, then the prayer service will crackle, but there will be no prayer for the sick person. The same is the proskomedia, the same is the mass... It doesn’t even occur to those serving the prayer service to hurt their souls before the Lord for those who are remembered at the prayer service... And where can they all get sick?!”

About the teachers

Holy fathers can help those whose mother has died. The priests explain how to pray in such a situation using a prayer book. Prayers can be offered for mentors in similar ways.

If these people were important for the person turning to the divine powers, then educators are to some extent equal to parents in the perception of another world. Accordingly, when asking higher powers to grant them happiness and spare them from punishment, a person uses the same texts that were created for appeals in the name of parents. True, in this way you can only ask for those who were truly important to the person, who raised him. You can use a separate prayer. The prayer book contains a special text of appeal to higher powers, used if you need to beg the Lord to be merciful with your mentor.

About the rules

You can learn how to pray for the deceased by turning to the recommendations and advice of the holy fathers. The general rules for raising petitions to divine powers are known. In general, prayers are offered while at home or visiting a cemetery. At home, you can pray to the Lord every evening, when the time comes to commemorate the deceased in accordance with Orthodox rites. If a person died no more than 40 days ago, you can offer prayers dedicated to him every day during the day, when other texts are read. If a person has free time and has such an opportunity, he needs to read the Canon, created specifically for the commemoration of the deceased.

It is customary to offer prayers to the Lord every time you visit a cemetery. Some simply make the sign of the cross and briefly greet. Church authorities have limited special parenting days. At these moments, it is imperative to visit the cemetery, decorating each grave with holiday relics, and also remembering how to pray for the deceased.

Attributes include dyes, willow branches, and Easter. You cannot visit burial sites on the Resurrection of Christ. On this day, the dead are raised from their place of eternal rest by divine forces. They come to visit the family to have a meal in honor of Easter. It is allowed to christen in absentia and congratulate in advance on the approaching bright day. A good time to visit burial sites is Tuesday of the week that begins after Easter. In Orthodoxy it is called Bright Week.

The science and art of alleviating the suffering of the patient in the last days of life

Even in ancient times, people tried to help and support each other during illness and in anticipation of impending death. The dying man was surrounded by an atmosphere of mystery and solemnity. Illness and death are and always will be an inevitable part of the human experience. The maturity of that society is judged by how a society cares for children, the elderly and the dying. In order to alleviate the suffering of an incurable patient, including a dying one, palliative care (and hospice care as its component for providing care at the end of life) was born.

Palliative care is comprehensive medical and social care for patients diagnosed with an active (in the presence of symptoms requiring active medical intervention) incurable progressive disease at a stage when all possibilities for special/radical treatment have been exhausted. The main goal of such assistance is to improve the quality of life of the patient and his family, which is achieved through active identification, careful assessment and symptomatic treatment of pain and other manifestations of the disease, as well as providing psychological, social and spiritual support to both the patient and his loved ones. The principles of palliative care can be implemented at earlier stages of the disease in combination with other treatment methods [1–7].

A decisive condition for the development of palliative care is the creation of the conditions necessary to recognize the importance of the very idea of ​​holistic care for the incurable sick and dying. It is imperative that society, including patients and their families, understand the importance of palliative care and are aware of its capabilities.

It should be noted that the new Federal Law of the Russian Federation No. 323-FZ of November 21, 2011 “On the fundamentals of protecting the health of citizens in the Russian Federation” for the first time in the history of domestic healthcare recognizes the need to develop palliative care in the country. “Palliative medical care,” the law says, “is a set of medical interventions aimed at relieving pain and alleviating other severe manifestations of the disease, in order to improve the quality of life of terminally ill citizens” (Article 36) [8]. Palliative medical care, in accordance with the law, is recognized for the first time as one of the types of medical care provided to the population. The law states that palliative care “... is provided by medical professionals trained to provide such care” (Article 36), and also about (Article 80). With the adoption of the new law, new opportunities are opening up for the development of palliative care in the regions of the country.

As the initiator of the emergence of a new direction, WHO proclaims the basic principles according to which palliative care:

• affirms life and considers death a natural, logical process;
• has no intention of extending or shortening its lifespan;
• tries to provide conditions for as long as possible so that the patient can lead an active lifestyle;
• offers assistance to the patient's family during his serious illness and psychological support during the period of bereavement;
• uses an interprofessional approach to meet all the needs of the patient and his family, including the organization of funeral services, if required;
• improves the patient’s quality of life and can also positively influence the course of the disease;
• with sufficiently timely implementation of measures in combination with other treatment methods, it can prolong the patient’s life [2].

Palliative care consists of two large components - alleviation of the patient’s suffering throughout the entire period of illness (in parallel with radical treatment) and assistance (medical, psychological, social, spiritual) in the last months, days and hours of life. It is precisely the care of the patient at the end of life in Russia that has received and still receives very little attention. It would be wrong to assume that a dying patient only needs care. In fact, there are professional subtleties of the art of alleviating the suffering of a patient that only a trained doctor and nurse can solve.

Currently, in a number of countries, “care (for the patient) at the end of life,” or hospice care (end-of-life care), is identified as an independent area of ​​palliative care. The leading component in this direction is the formation of a special philosophy, the organization of psychological support for the patient and his family. Therefore, it is often said that palliative care and hospice as one of the forms of palliative care is not just a medical institution, it is a philosophy.

Unfortunately, doctors and nurses are not taught the art of assisting the dying. Dying patients are still ignored, medical care remains inaccessible to them, and all care falls on the shoulders of relatives and friends.

However, we must remember that some symptoms cause significant suffering to dying patients. Knowledge of basic methods for relieving symptoms in patients in the last days of life is one of the main professional requirements for a doctor of any specialty. However, simply knowing how to manage symptoms is not enough. To provide effective care to dying patients, a doctor must have a good understanding of this field of activity, as well as have the ability to communicate, make decisions and build relationships with people.

The choice of tactics to alleviate the suffering of a dying person begins, as in any section of clinical practice, with a comprehensive assessment of the patient’s condition. It is necessary to actively identify problems that may cause suffering to the patient. Such an assessment forms the basis not so much for finding solutions to individual problems, but for determining treatment goals. The assessment process can be therapeutic in itself. It enables the patient to feel that he is seen as an individual and treated with compassion.

Since symptoms are inherently subjective, the gold standard for assessment is the patient's own description of sensations and experiences. There are proven methods for assessing symptoms that can help the doctor imagine how the patient perceives a particular symptom (for example, its severity, etc.). When deciding whether to conduct diagnostic tests, one should evaluate their feasibility from the point of view of the ability to alleviate the patient’s suffering. There is no need to carry out complex diagnostics just for the sake of completing the examination standard.

Most people in the terminal stage of life experience pathological changes in affective and cognitive functions, and a range of emotions and fears arise. The fear of losing control over oneself, of being abandoned, of becoming a burden, the fear of pain and other physical suffering is often so strong that the patient has a desire to hasten the approach of death. Therefore, when talking with a patient, it is necessary to assess his emotional status, to catch signs of depression, anxiety and impaired cognitive function, since these problems can and should be corrected [9, 10].

It must be remembered that in the last days of the patient’s life, some medications should be discontinued, the use of which does not make any sense and only disrupts the patient’s comfort and may even aggravate his condition. In the last 48 hours of life, medications such as antibiotics, vitamins, iron supplements, hormones, cardiotonics, laxatives, hypoglycemic agents, diuretics, and antihypertensives can be discontinued. You can continue to administer painkillers, anticonvulsants, anticholinergics, antiemetics, and tranquilizers if necessary. That is, the patient should be provided with maximum peace, absence of pain and symptomatic relief of other painful symptoms.

There is a spiritual side to every person's life. As studies show, regardless of what is included in the concept of spirituality - a religious meaning or an individual idea of ​​​​the meaning and mystery of life, the essence of being, patients are willing to talk about their spiritual problems. Although this type of assistance is usually provided by a priest, the physician must be aware that often spiritual problems can manifest themselves in the form of physical, mental or social suffering.

The physician must be able to make a preliminary assessment of the patient's social and practical needs. Unresolved relationship problems, unsettled financial, legal and practical matters can be a source of mental suffering for the patient. Since many families often spend their entire savings on treatment and care for the sick, sometimes losing their source of income, it is important to know what the patient's financial situation is. It is necessary to think about organizing practical assistance: even the most impeccable treatment plan may not give the desired results if you do not take care of the purely everyday problems of everyday life.

In the last days and hours of life, a number of physiological changes occur in the body. Each of them, if you do not understand its essence, can become a cause for alarm and make a depressing impression on relatives.

Weakness and fatigue. As the body's functions decline, the patient's weakness and fatigue increase. The patient may refuse habitual physical activity; in this case, he should not be forced to move. At this stage, most anti-fatigue medications can be discontinued. If joint movement is restricted, joint stiffness or pain may occur. Prolonged pressure on the same area of ​​skin, especially over bony prominences, increases the risk of skin ischemia and pain. The patient needs to make a comfortable bed with pillows so that there is less need to turn around.

Stop eating and drinking. In the last days of life, patients, as a rule, completely lose their appetite and stop drinking [11, 12]. The relatives are very worried about this. However, experts believe that dehydration in the last hours of life does not cause suffering and can stimulate the release of endorphins and anesthetic substances, which improve the patient’s well-being [13–16]. In this case, low blood pressure and weak pulse are often associated with the dying process rather than dehydration. A patient who cannot stand up does not experience dizziness. With careful hygienic care of the oral cavity, nasal cavity and eye mucosa, there is no need to fear that the patient is thirsty.

In the presence of peripheral edema or ascites, excess water and salts accumulate in the patient's body, so dehydration does not occur, although the intravascular volume of fluid may be reduced due to hypoalbuminemia. Sometimes parenteral solutions are prescribed - intravenously or subcutaneously, especially if treatment of delirium is necessary.

It should be noted that parenteral fluid administration in the last days of life can have an adverse effect, which is very often underestimated by doctors. Parenteral administration of excessive amounts of fluid, especially with significant hypoalbuminemia, can lead to overload of the circulatory system with the development of peripheral edema and/or pulmonary edema, cause increased shortness of breath, cough and increased secretion of the glands of the oral cavity and tracheobronchial tree. In addition, intravenous drips cause inconvenience to the patient, especially if he is exhausted and his veins are poorly defined.

Loss of ability to swallow. If the patient cannot swallow, stop giving food and medications by mouth. Warn family members and caregivers about the dangers of aspiration. To reduce the secretion of saliva and other secretion products, scopolamine or hyoscine butyl bromide can be prescribed [17]. These medications will minimize or eliminate the noisy "bubbling" sound when breathing due to mucus buildup in the throat and trachea. Suctioning fluid from the oropharynx is often ineffective because the secretions are usually beyond the reach of the catheter. Prolonged attempts to suck out mucus can only disturb a previously calm patient and agitate nearby family members.

Neurological changes. Neurological changes associated with the dying process are caused by a number of simultaneously occurring irreversible processes. The presence or absence of such changes determines the severity of the dying process and is called by some authors the “road” to death (Fig.). Most patients follow the “ordinary road,” which is characterized by a gradual decline in consciousness, followed by coma and then death [18].

Agonical delirium. The first signal that the patient has to go along the “difficult road” to death may be the appearance of delirium with agitation. Such patients often experience confusion (disorientation), anxiety, and agitation; Sometimes there is an inversion of the sleep-wake cycle. For families and caregivers who do not understand what is happening, the sight of agonal delirium with agitation can be very distressing.

If delirium is not recognized or measures are not taken to eliminate it, then family members are likely to remember a terrible death “in terrible agony”, which, in their opinion, was probably provoked by the prescription of drugs. This will make a difficult impression on relatives, even if all previous medical care was organized flawlessly.

It is necessary to try to determine the causes of delirium and stop them. However, if the patient is in his final hours and there are other signs of the dying process, treatment should be aimed at relieving the symptoms associated with agonal delirium in order to reassure the patient and his loved ones.

When a patient's agitation and restless behavior are accompanied by groans and grimaces, this is often interpreted as evidence of physical pain [19]. However, it must be borne in mind that in the last hours of life, uncontrollable pain rarely develops or intensifies. A sign of pain may be a tense forehead, in particular the appearance of deep wrinkles on it. Terminal anxiety is distressing for conscious patients and probably also for semi-conscious patients.

If it is difficult to assess a patient who is unconscious and the doctor thinks the patient is in pain, opioids may be tried. But it must be remembered that with low renal clearance, opioids can accumulate and aggravate delirium. If a trial dose of opioids does not relieve agitation or worsens delirium by increasing agitation or precipitating myoclonic seizures, treatment should be prescribed to control symptoms associated with delirium.

Benzodiazepines are widely used to treat agonal delirium because they have anxiolytic, amnestic, and antiepileptic properties and relax skeletal muscles [19].

Pre-dissolved lorazepam for oral administration can be applied to the buccal mucosa, increasing the dose until the desired effect is obtained. It must be remembered that in some patients benzodiazepines have a paradoxical effect, causing agitation. According to some authors, antipsychotic drugs, haloperidol and chlorpromazine, do not provide adequate sedation and can lead to increased muscle tone and the appearance of convulsions [20].

Diazepam 5–10 mg may be given orally, rectally (in suppositories or by injection through a rectal tube), or intravenously (if a venous catheter is in place for other reasons), as this drug is poorly absorbed after intramuscular or subcutaneous injections. It should be given 6–12 hours later and the dose titrated to effect.

Midazolam has the advantage that it can be given by continuous subcutaneous infusion and can also be mixed in the same syringe with morphine. The usual starting dose of midazolam is 2.5–10 mg subcutaneously over 2 hours or 10–20 mg daily.

Tazepam can be administered rectally at home (in the form of temazepam capsules for oral administration). To achieve the effect in the capsules, it is recommended to first make a hole with a needle [21].

If treatment with benzodiazepines does not produce the desired result, phenobarbital should be prescribed. Start with 60–120 mg, subcutaneously every 4–8 hours, gradually increasing the dose. Once an effective dose has been achieved, the drug can be given as a continuous subcutaneous infusion, but should not be mixed with morphine or other drugs.

Terminal tachypnea. Terminal tachypnea makes a depressing impression on relatives and other patients, although the person himself is already unconscious. In particularly weakened patients, death rattles may appear against the background of respiratory movements, caused by the movement of secretions in the pharynx, trachea and large bronchi. It is believed that death rattles do not cause concern to an unconscious patient.

When terminal tachypnea occurs, it is necessary to place the patient in a side-lying position and explain the essence of what is happening to relatives and reassure them. Drugs that suppress mucus secretion are most often used as drug therapy. The drug of choice is hyoscine butyl bromide (20 mg once, then 20 mg/24 hours subcutaneously).

Weakening of the sphincters in the last hours of life can lead to urinary and fecal incontinence. Urine drainage with a catheter and the use of absorbent diapers help to minimize linen changes and hygiene procedures. However, with minimal urine output, this is not always necessary; it is often enough to use diapers. It is very important to keep the patient’s skin clean, and hygiene procedures should be carried out regularly.

The use of absorbent linen (diapers, urinary pads and absorbent diapers) will help minimize tissue injury and the need for frequent changes of linen, which will help ensure peace of mind for the patient and significantly facilitate the work of those caring for him.

The development of oligo- or anuria in the last days of life does not require examination or therapy unless it is associated with pain or increasing shortness of breath.

If those around you do not understand what is happening, what the patient’s condition is, they may be depressingly affected by the fact that the patient’s eyes are constantly open. With severe exhaustion, the volume of retrobulbar fiber decreases, and the eyeball sometimes sinks into the orbit so deeply that the eyelids are not long enough to close and close the conjunctiva completely. In this case, it is necessary to maintain the moisture of the conjunctiva using eye ointments or saline.

If a patient dies at home, then the patient’s relatives must be explained that the process of dying is as individual as the process of birth. It is impossible to predict the exact time of death and exactly how everything will happen. Tell loved ones that people facing death experience a number of similar symptoms, regardless of the type of illness.

As death approaches, certain physical and emotional symptoms appear: drowsiness and severe weakness appear and progress day by day, periods of wakefulness decrease, energy wanes; the nature of breathing changes: periods of rapid breathing are replaced by stops; Appetite worsens, the person drinks and eats less than usual, then completely refuses food and water. The urine becomes dark brown or dark red, the intestines stop emptying, or, on the contrary, involuntary stool occurs. Hearing and vision change - they do not just get worse, but on the contrary, a person can hear and see things that others do not notice. Body temperature changes; it can be elevated or, conversely, very low.

As death approaches, a person ceases to show interest in the outside world and individual details of everyday life.

If the dying person you care about sees or hears something or someone that you don't, you should agree with them—acknowledge what they see or hear. Denying these experiences can upset the dying person. Talk to the person, even if he is in a coma, hold his hand. It is known that dying people can hear even when they are in a deep coma. There is an example that people who came out of a coma said that they could hear everything that was happening while unconscious.

Principles of communication with a dying person. It is impossible to alleviate the condition of a dying person only with the help of medicines. No less important, and perhaps most important, is communication with the patient, treating him as a living person who hears and feels, needs your presence and participation until the very end. Therefore, when communicating with a dying person:

• be always ready to help;
• be patient;
• give him the opportunity to speak out, be able to actively listen;
• say a few comforting words, explain to the patient that the feelings he is experiencing are completely normal;
• be calm about his anger and dissatisfaction;
• Avoid misplaced optimism.

A dying patient needs to feel protected. He wants to be reassured, to be told that he will not suffer at the moment of dying. We need to help the patient cope with fear. We need to talk to him about his fears. You cannot pass over this topic in silence on the grounds that you cannot make him healthy again.

It is necessary to ask, listen and try to understand how the patient feels, help him finish earthly affairs, promise to fulfill his last will if he did not have time to do something himself. It is important for the patient to know that everything possible is being done for him. He should not feel isolated, should not feel that something is being hidden from him. False promises of recovery should not be used as a way to avoid talking to the patient about difficult topics.

The main help for the patient consists in constant communication with him, in living together the last period of his earthly life. A trusting relationship should be established with the patient. He must know that at the moment of death he will not be left alone and that someone will help him live through this period. In itself, our presence at the bedside of a seriously ill or dying person can have a calming effect.

The patient must be confident that he will be helped to relieve pain and other painful sensations at the time of death. Many patients need physical contact with loved ones at the time of death. They ask to be held by the hand, put a hand on their forehead, hugged, etc.

In order to help the patient cope with fear, it is necessary to be able to listen; understand non-verbal language; be able to provide emotional support; communicate with the patient openly and confidentially; treat him with compassion and respect; answer questions honestly; do not inspire unrealistic hopes; provide an opportunity to ask questions; understand the patient's needs; take into account and try to satisfy his mental, social and spiritual needs; anticipate difficulties and be prepared to overcome them.

In conclusion, I would like to quote the words of Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh: “If I knew, if you knew that the person you are talking to could be about to die and that the sound of your voice, the content of your words, your movements, your attitude towards him , your intentions will be the last thing he will perceive and take into eternity - how carefully, how carefully, with what love we would act!.. Experience shows that in the face of death all resentment, bitterness, and mutual rejection are erased. Death is too great next to what should be insignificant even on the scale of temporary life” [22].

Literature

1. Doyle D., Hanks G., MacDonald N. Introduction. Oxford textbook of Palliative Medicine. 1993. P. 3.
2. WHO Definition of Palliative Care. WHO, 2007. URL: https://www.who.int/cancer/palliative/definition/en/.
3. Vvedenskaya E. S., Sokolova E. G., Petrushov P. K. Palliative care: content that determines approaches to the formation of services and patient populations // Rosmedportal.com, electronic scientific and practical journal. 2012, vol. 3, p. 136–144.
4. Vvedenskaya E. S. Palliative care: being with the patient to the end. Nizhny Novgorod: Publishing House NGMA, 2011.
5. Vvedenskaya E. S. Palliative care is an innovative direction of modern healthcare. In the book: Current problems of chemistry, biology and medicine. Krasnoyarsk: Scientific and Innovation Center, 2011. Book. 3. pp. 5–26.
6. Eckert N.V., Novikov G.A., Khetagurova A.K., Sharafutdinov M.G. Methodological recommendations for organizing palliative care. M.: MMA im. I. M. Sechenov. 2008. 58 p.
7. Recommendations Rec. (2003) 24 of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to member states on the organization of palliative care. M.: Medicine for quality of life. 2005. 30 p. URL: https://pallcare.ru/ru/images/user/Ryskversion3.pdf (Date of access: 10/01/2011).
8. Federal Law of the Russian Federation of November 21, 2011 No. 323?FZ “On the fundamentals of protecting the health of citizens in the Russian Federation” URL: https://www.minzdravsoc.ru/docs/laws/104 (Date of access: 02/09/2012).
9. Singer PA, Martin DK, Kelner M. Quality end-of-life care: patient's perspectives // JAMA. 1999, 281: 163–168.
10. Vachon M.L., Kristjanson L., Higginson I. Psychosocial issues in palliative care: the patient, the family, and the process and outcome of care // J Pain Symptom Management. 1995, 10: 142–150.
11. Bruera E., Fainsinger RL Clinical management of cachexia and anorexia. In: Oxford Textbook of Palliative Medicine 2 Edition Oxford University Press, Oxford, England 1998, 548.
12. Billings JA Comfort measures for the terminally ill: Is dehydration painful? // J Am Geriatr Soc. 1985, 33: 808–810.
13. Ellershaw JE, Sutcliffe JM, Saunders CM Dehydration and the dying patient // J Pain Sympt Manage. 1995, 10: 192–197.
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15. Musgrave DR Terminal dehydration: to give or not to give intravenous fluids? // Cancer Nursing. 1990, 13: 62–66.
16. Twycross RB, Lack SA Therapeutics in terminal cancer, Churchill Livingstone3 Edition. 1990, 134–136.
17. Frank D. Ferris, Charles F. von Gunten, Linda L. Emanuel. Ensuring competency in end-of-life care: controlling symptoms // BMC Palliative Care. 2002, 1: 5.
18. Ferris FD, von Gunten CF, Emanuel LL Competency in end of life care: The last hours of living // J Palliat Med. 2003; 6:605–613.
19. Shuster JL Delirium, confusion, and agitation at the end of life // J Pall Med. 1998, 1: 177–186.
20. Twycross R., Lichter I. The terminal phase. In: Oxford Textbook of Palliative Medicine. 2 Edition (Edited by: Doyle D., Hanks GWC, MacDonald N.). Oxford University Press, Oxford, England, 1998, 987–988.
21. Palliative care for cancer patients. Textbook edited by Professor G. A. Novikov and Academician of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Professor V. I. Chissov, M.: OOD “Medicine for Quality of Life”, 2006.
22. Surozhsky A. Life. Disease. Death, Publisher: Foundation “Spiritual Heritage of Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh”, 2010, 96 p.

E. S. Vvedenskaya, Candidate of Medical Sciences

GBUZNO "Center for the Prevention and Control of AIDS and Infectious Diseases", Nizhny Novgorod

Contact information about the author for correspondence

The Importance of Prayer

The importance of knowing how to pray for the deceased cannot be underestimated. Of course, when a person dies, his memory can be immortalized with a luxurious monument, a specially designated place in the cemetery. You can arrange numerous and magnificent funerals. However, all this is material, which means it is not important to the soul that has flown to another world. The only thing that can affect the spiritual aspects is offering prayers to the divine forces.

By saving the soul of the deceased, a person thereby grants salvation to the family. Only the petition of the living can become a source of mercy for the deceased. By praying for the newly deceased, a person puts himself in harmony with higher powers, becomes closer to the heavenly and spiritual, and is distracted from vanity and temporality, from the transient that surrounds us in this world. Prayer is one of the ways to secure a future for yourself outside the mortal world and save yourself from arbitrary sin.

If you know how to pray at home for the deceased (the general rules are described above), if you regularly offer such words for your deceased loved one, you can thereby position your soul for the outcome. One of the key Christian commandments is the readiness to depart at an unpredictable moment in time. By regularly praying for the departed, a person thereby makes such a transition more predictable and familiar for himself, which means he can come to terms with it in advance. If a departed person has found eternal bliss and in the next world offers prayers for someone still living with us, such appeals are especially highly valued, since they help more than all others.

What benefit do the prayers of the living bring to the soul of the deceased?

According to the teachings of the Church, it is extremely important to pray for a recently deceased Orthodox Christian precisely in the first forty days from the time of death, since during this period the temporary location of his soul in heaven or hell is determined, until the Last Judgment.

After death, a Christian can no longer alleviate his lot on his own. It can only be changed by the prayers of family and friends, commemoration at the liturgy, and the distribution of alms with a request to remember the person.

The funeral service is a special rite, which, according to Christian doctrine, frees the deceased from earthly sins and directs his soul to eternal life.

Funeral service

The story is told about how a deceased monk who had many unconfessed sins was buried in the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery. After a while, the abbot and the inhabitants of the monastery saw in their dreams how their negligent brother was tormented in hell. The monks began to pray for the sinner, and in the new visions that came to them, his face brightened and became peaceful. Through the prayers of the brethren, the sins of the deceased were forgiven, and he entered the heavenly abode.

Should and can

Orthodox canons, rules on how to pray for the deceased, indicate remembering the deceased in prayers as a duty and obligation of every person who has converted to Orthodoxy. Church canons require that prayers be offered especially responsibly and carefully, regularly and zealously in the first 40 days after the death of a person.

A widow must pray for her deceased spouse, children must offer petitions in the name of their parents. If a loved one has died, a true Orthodox Christian will commemorate the deceased daily in his appeals to the divine powers. Names are read using a memorial book created specifically for this purpose. This is the name given to a small book containing the names of all relatives who have died and are still living in their mortal bodies. There is a pious Orthodox custom according to which a family memorial is held. A person, turning to divine powers, must read the names of all his relatives, even if they lived several generations ago. Thanks to such books, people can even remember those of their relatives who died many years, decades, centuries ago.

If you ask the holy father how to pray for the deceased before the 40th day, the priest will advise you to offer prayers at home. They are considered the most effective. But after this moment, at home, prayers to divine powers have practically no result and you need to contact the church.

At home, until the 40th day, you can make petitions both for those for whom it is allowed to pray in the church, and for those who are not accepted in it (such as suicides). Not every text can be read within the walls of an Orthodox institution, but any prayer can be offered while at home. If a person was not baptized and died, you can pray for him at home. The official church refuses requests for such a deceased person. For prayer to produce results, you need to concentrate on the ritual and monitor your intentions as much as possible. It is equally important to reproduce the exact text of the prayer. You cannot be distracted or make changes to your liking. Neither the time of the ceremony, nor the text of the address, nor the nuances of the ceremony can be adjusted.

Home prayers for the deceased and notes given in church

If the preparation of the body of the deceased for an Orthodox funeral is carried out at home, then during ablution the “Trisagion” or “Lord, have mercy” is read. Then they dress the deceased in clean, if possible new clothes, light a lamp or candle, which will burn the entire time the body is in the house, and read the canonical “Sequence on the departure of the soul from the body,” and then the Psalter for the deceased with intense prayers for newly deceased.

If a person died outside the home and the body was transported to the morgue, then “Sequence on the departure of the soul from the body” is read in the red corner in front of the icons, and then proceed to the Psalter for the deceased.

On the very day of death, one must also take care of the church commemoration of the deceased. It is best to order Sorokoust. To do this, in the church, on the piece of paper “On repose”, “Sorokoust” is written at the top, and in the line below - the name of the deceased in the genitive case. According to this note, the deceased will be remembered at the Divine Liturgy for 40 days.

After the funeral service on the third day, relatives and friends read the Canon about the deceased. The Psalter for the departed is also traditionally read. There are rules for reading inside the Psalter itself; it says what to read, how and when to remember the deceased.

Important Rules

Priests know how to pray for the deceased after 40 days. Religious rules recommend offering prayers for the deceased after this day as often as possible. Be sure to come here on days that are established by religious rites as intended for commemoration. It would not be superfluous to use the help of priests at any other moments when there is an opportunity to come to church in order to pray for the departed.

There is a special evening rule. Appeals to divine powers shortly before going to bed are necessary so that every person regularly thinks about death. It so happens that ordinary people, lost in everyday life, do not remember at all the moment of departure to another world. Knowing how to pray for the deceased at home until the 40th day, knowing how to offer evening prayers daily even after this period, the person comes to terms with the thought of impending death. None of our contemporaries knows what will happen tomorrow or the next day, no one knows when the time will come to leave this mortal world. By observing the ritual of prayer every night, you can prepare for the moment of the exodus, no matter what day it falls on.

The end of a person's life

How to pray for a dying person?

How to read the canon over a dying person?

Why is the waste report read?

How to pray for a dying person? At the end of a person’s life, when he departs from this world, a special canon is read over him - a collection of songs and prayers, compiled according to a certain rule. “Canon” is a Greek word that means “rule.”

In the “Orthodox Prayer Book” this canon is called as follows: “The canon of prayer to our Lord Jesus Christ and the Most Pure Theotokos Mother of the Lord at the separation of the soul from the body of every faithful believer.” This canon is read “on behalf of a person who is separated from his soul and cannot speak” (speak); it is usually called the prayer of departure (prayer).

Here are a few troparia (prayer-petitions) from this touching canon, given in translation into Russian.

“My lips are silent, and my tongue says nothing, but my heart speaks: because, consuming it, the fire of contrition flares up inside me and calls on You with ineffable words, Most Holy Virgin” (canto 6).

“The night of death, gloomy, moonless, has come upon me unprepared; it lets me through, unprepared for the long, terrible journey: may Thy mercy accompany me, O Lady” (canto 7).

“Seeing the near end of my life, remembering the obscene (inappropriate) thoughts, actions (deeds) of my soul, I am fiercely (mercilessly) stung by the arrows of my conscience. But You, All-Pure One, having mercifully bowed to my soul, be my intercessor (for me) before the Lord” (canto 9).

How to read the canon over a dying person? Prayers and petitions preceded by notes: “priest” (priest), “Prayer spoken by the priest,” or “Therefore the priest begins,” are not read by the laity.

The canon is preceded by the reading of the initial prayers, briefly indicated in the prayer book: Trisagion. Holy Trinity... Our Father... Lord, have mercy (12 times). Next, the canon is read in the order indicated in the prayer book. There are nine songs in the canon. The second song is not read. Each of the songs contains short troparia prayers (appeals to God, the Most Holy Theotokos). The chorus is read before them (see song 1). Before the Irmos (the first prayer of each song), the chorus is not read. If before the beginning of the troparion there is “Glory:”, then it should be read: “Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit”, if “And now:” – “And now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen".

At the end of the canon they read prayers: It is worthy to eat..., Trisagion. Most Holy Trinity... Our Father... Glory, and now: Lord, have mercy. (Three times).

Why is the waste report read? At the moment of death, a person experiences a painful feeling of fear and longing. According to the testimony of the holy fathers, a person is afraid when the soul is separated from the body: the first three days outside the body are especially difficult for the soul. When leaving the body, the soul meets the Guardian Angel given to it at Holy Baptism, and the spirits of evil (demons). The sight of the latter is so terrible that the soul rushes and trembles at the sight of them.

The canon is read by relatives or friends over a dying person to make it easier for the soul to leave the body.

Relatives and friends of the dying person need to be courageous so that, after saying goodbye to their loved one, they try to alleviate not so much physical as mental suffering through prayer.

About the most important things and more

By learning from a priest how to pray for the deceased for up to 40 days, you can hear about the importance of the Divine Liturgy. The process is accompanied by a sacrifice to the divine powers without blood. When the liturgy ends, the funeral service begins. The ritual is carried out at the eve - a table with candlesticks, on which a crucifixion is depicted. The ceremony is necessary to remember the deceased. Arriving at church, a person leaves an offering, which is used for church needs.

When figuring out how to pray for the deceased for up to 40 days, do not forget about the magpie. This service must be ordered by contacting the Orthodox Church. It is considered one of the most important for the deceased. Sorokoust is a liturgical Orthodox rite that begins when a person leaves the mortal world and ends on the 40th day. When the magpie ends, you can order a new performance of this ritual. Long funeral arrangements can be ordered for six months at a time or even for a whole year.

The simplest option for remembering the deceased is a candle lit for the repose.

About children

Sometimes parents are forced to turn to priests for help to find out how to pray for a deceased child who was not baptized. Traditionally, the baptism ceremony is carried out 40 days after birth. Throughout this period, it is believed that the mother and her child are protected by one Angel. The rite of baptism allows the child to receive his own guardian. If it so happens that the child has died without having had time to experience the rite of baptism, it is necessary to pray for him especially sincerely, strongly, and zealously. Any true Christian feels a heaviness in his soul, realizing that someone has died outside the bosom of the church. To ensure that the afterlife of such a soul is as calm as possible, heartfelt prayers are offered.

In churches, transmitting requests indicating the name of an unbaptized deceased is strictly prohibited. Priests, telling how to pray for the unbaptized dead, indicate the possibility of offering petitions to divine powers only at home or in the cemetery. If a person has not entered the church fold, he cannot be mentioned by the holy fathers. The more significant the soul becomes to the person who mentions it in prayer at home.

If you ask how to pray for the unbaptized dead, a knowledgeable person will probably recommend making requests to Saint Uar. There is a special canon. The saint devoted himself to prayers for the unfortunate who were unable to enter the fold of the Orthodox Church. By sincerely turning to this martyr, you can make the afterlife of the soul easier.