Prayer for the unbaptized dead

You can and should pray at home for loved ones of the unbaptized deceased.
In this way, you will help your relatives become closer to the Lord in the heavenly villages and improve their lot in eternal life. The Lord will send you relief in sorrow and peace of mind. Requiem service, magpie, litia are church prayers, but they cannot be offered for the unbaptized. This is not a conspiracy to change your life. This is the prayer of the Church, through which the Lord gives you gracious help and shows you the true path. Pray for yourself and silently for the unbaptized. It is better to attend morning Liturgies more often, when they will remember you or your loved one, and receive communion.

Prayer for the departed and services in church about him will not “cleanse the energy.” Prayer is turning to God here and now. The Church will pray for God’s help for you, for God’s will to act in your life. After all, the devil acts without our consent, simply coming to people who are not protected by prayer and the Church Sacraments. Ordering a memorial service does not have to be kept secret. On the contrary, you can tell your loved ones about this and come to the temple to pray together.

What happens after death

If a person completely rejected the Lord during his lifetime, there is no need to pray for him too hard. There were cases when the dead appeared and asked not to pray for them. In any case, talk to the priest, he will advise what to do in a particular situation. But it happens that people respect the faith, show a desire to be baptized, but simply do not have time to do so. Then you can and should pray.

Each soul after death goes to a private trial, which will take place on the 40th day after death. It is believed that prayers for the unbaptized dead help the soul of the deceased go through aerial ordeals and ways to even alleviate his fate. On the very day of death you can:

read 17 kathisma - psalms and necessary prayers for repose;
perform the secular rite of lithium at the cemetery;
light a candle in the temple and pray.

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It is not possible to order a memorial service or church memorial. This is done because during his lifetime the person himself did not express a desire to belong to the Church and rejected God.

Prayer for the unbaptized departed to the Lord God Jesus Christ

The truth is that often people who have firmly decided to be baptized, or who have been baptized but decide to begin a spiritual life, are attacked by demons. This is expressed in a bad mood and irritability, sudden irritability in loved ones, and transport breakdowns. These are real actions of dark spirits. Do not be afraid in any case: you are on the right path, and they are only trying to prevent you from coming under the protection of the Lord.

“O Lord and our God, do not forget Your servant (name) who died in faith and hope for eternal life. You are the Good and Loving Lord of all people, you forgive sins and destroy lies, forgive and forget all his sins and mistakes, accidental and intentional, deliver him from eternal torment and hellish flames, give him the sacrament and joy of Your eternal joys prepared for everyone, those who love you. Even if he sinned, he did not depart from You, he believed without doubt in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, the Holy Trinity, You, the Lord in the Holy Trinity, the One and Glorified, and until his last breath he confessed the Holy Trinity Orthodoxy. Be merciful to him, reward him at least for faith instead of works, rest with all Your saints, as a Generous God: after all, there is no person who has lived life and not sinned. You, Lord, He is Sinless, Your truth is the Truth in all ages, only You are the God of mercy and generosity, May we all, living and dead, give eternal glory to You, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen".

Prayer for the departed

It is a great grief for every family if their relatives do not die a natural death, but commit suicide. As you know, the clergy do not perform funeral services for such people, so they are left without remission of worldly sins. Since, according to church canons, suicide is considered a very great sin. But what should the relatives of such deceased people do? After all, it very often happens that a person commits suicide against his own will.

In such cases, clergy recommend that relatives read a prayer for the unbaptized dead. As can be seen from the very name of the petition, it is also pronounced in the event of the death of the unbaptized. Despite some prohibitions of the church and non-compliance with church canons, remember that the mercy of the Mother of God and Jesus Christ is limitless. Everyone can pray for unbaptized people using cell prayer. True, it can only be read at home. Such forgiveness is not read at Liturgies.

As a rule, prayers are offered to Saint Uar for the deceased and living unbaptized people. Quite a few chapels have already been built in his honor. He also has an icon. From the life of the saint it is known that he had special grace from the Almighty to offer prayer for the unbaptized dead. At a time when atheism flourished in our country, many people grew up and died unbaptized.

Also read: Prayer to the Lord for protection and help

But despite this, their believing relatives want to pray for their repose. This kind of “private” prayer has never been prohibited either by church canons or by clergy.

Prayer for the unbaptized deceased to Uaru Martyr

The death of parents and relatives, friends and loved ones is a tragedy that everyone has to go through sooner or later. It is important to go through the period of grief, allowing sadness into your heart, but not allowing despair to consume you. Faith in God and eternal life after death helps a person with this. You can even pray for the unbaptized. It is known that the holy martyr Uar helps in intercession for the unbaptized dead. The Lord will make your sadness for your unforgettable loved ones bright when you turn to Him in prayer at home or by ordering a prayer service in the temple of the martyr Uar. You cannot order a prayer service for the unbaptized, but you can simply order a prayer service for the martyr Uar in the church. You can pray for forgiveness of the sins of an unbaptized deceased, for help for him beyond the grave.

Every Orthodox Christian should understand the importance of prayer for the deceased. After all, our relatives and friends who have left us can no longer change their fate after death, and only we, the living, can help them with prayer! Traditionally, even for the unbaptized, they give alms to the poor and alms in the church circle “for the temple,” mentally praying: “Rest, O Lord, the soul of your departed servant (servant) ...”

Oh, holy martyr Uar! Through the efforts of preaching about the Lord Christ, we kindle you, you confessed the Heavenly King before the tormentor, and suffered zealously for Christ, and now the Church honors you as glorified by the Savior Himself in Heavenly glory and praying for those who are not baptized. He gave you, holy martyr Uar, the grace of great boldness towards Him, and now you stand at the throne of God with the Angels, and rejoice, and see clearly the Holy Trinity, and enjoy the light of the Beginning Radiance. We ask, holy martyr Uar, understand the yearning of our relatives who died without baptism, accept our petition, and just as Cleopatrine freed the unbaptized family from eternal torment with your prayers, so remember those buried who died unbaptized, ask for deliverance from darkness for them, so that all in one word and with one heart we praised the Most Merciful Creator forever and ever. Amen.

Prayers for unbaptized dead people

The Church has an ambiguous attitude towards lost souls. But there, nevertheless, there is a real prayer to the Lord for such people. And many clergy even declare that every person has the right to ask for God’s protection.

The best article for you, go to: Prayer to Archangel Michael for protection from enemies, from evil forces and people

However, we must remember that the church prohibits ordering liturgies and funeral services for lost souls. You can only read a private prayer for the deceased. At the same time, being outside the influence of the church.

By praying for a deceased soul, you not only support the deceased, but also yourself. After all, as you know, prayer allows you to pray for sadness, grief for a worthy person who was an important part of your life.

Useful information: What prayers to read after the death of a person

Why do they pray to the martyr Uar for the unbaptized dead?

With God, everyone is alive—every Christian knows this.
This means that we need to pray not only for the living, but also for the dead. But why then don’t the Church commemorate the unbaptized? Who is the martyr Uar and why do they pray to him for non-believers? As life experience shows, for many, the path to the temple begins after encountering illness, sorrow, and even the loss of relatives. When a loved one is no longer around, the question arises: “What can I do for him?” How to survive the pain of loss?

Answers and comfort can truly be found in church. After all, every Christian believes that life does not end with earthly boundaries. After physical death, a person’s soul does not cease to exist. And after the second coming of Christ, it will be determined exactly what each person deserves. The Kingdom of Heaven awaits some, while pitch darkness awaits others.

But no one knows when Christ will come to earth in glory to judge everyone. Until this time, you can still influence the final decision. How? Prayers for the departed.

But what these prayers will look like depends on what kind of life the deceased spent on earth.

Cell prayer of Leo Optina

But relatives or friends can offer personal prayer for the unbaptized and those of other faiths. How? With love and trust in God. It is worth asking the Lord to show mercy to people who have never learned the true meaning of life, who are lost in the darkness of unbelief.

Elder Leo of Optina offered cell prayer for the dead outside of Orthodoxy. The text of this petition is filled with hope for God’s will:

Seek, O Lord, the lost soul of my father: if it is possible, have mercy. Your destinies are unsearchable. Do not make this my prayer a sin, but Thy holy will be done.

They pray to Saint War for the unbaptized: truth or myth?

Recently, the prayer to the martyr Uar for the unbaptized and even suicides has also gained particular popularity.

Its adherents believe that supposedly Saint Uar, to whom the pious Christian Cleopatra zealously prayed for her dead pagan relatives, begged the Lord for the salvation of the departed. But where is the truth and where is fiction? Let's try to figure it out.

Martyr Uar is by no means a fictional character. He was a warrior from the time of Emperor Maximin - one of the famous persecutors of Christianity - and a secret Christian. Therefore, at night he visited the imprisoned Christians. One day he visited seven teachers and turned to them with a request to pray for him, since he was not yet so firm in faith as to confess Christ before his martyrdom.

Shortly after this, one of the teachers fell ill and died. Then the martyr Uar decided to “replace” him and suffer with the rest. The saint died from severe torture, but never renounced God.

One pious widow, seeing his faith and suffering, decided to hide the relics of the martyr in her home. She and her son repeatedly prayed to the saint.

When the persecution of Christians stopped, she decided to return from Egypt to Palestine. In order to take the relics of the saint with her, she said that these were the remains of her husband, who was a military leader. So she managed to transport the holy relics and place them in the same place where the tomb of her ancestors was.

Together with her son, Cleopatra prayed every day at the tomb. Other Christians followed her. Through the prayers of the martyr Uar, they received healing and relief from illnesses.

It is necessary to build a temple for the saint - the widow conceived and began to implement her plan. Her son John helped her in everything. Together with the bishops and a meeting of Christians, they transferred the remains of the righteous man to a new tomb, near which Cleopatra fervently prayed for herself and her son. She dreamed of the boy becoming a warrior. But she asked the martyr Uar to help her son choose a path in life.

After this, John, who was already 17, died suddenly of a fever.

The woman was in complete despair and even began to grumble against the martyr - how could he allow this to happen? But the saint appeared to her and said that John really had the better path. If on earth he had to become a warrior and serve the earthly king, then in the Kingdom of God he serves the Heavenly King. The happy son asked his mother not to suffer, because he, together with the Angels, served the Lord.

After this, Cleopatra buried her son next to the saint, distributed her property and prayed all her time in the built temple, near the relics of the martyr Huar.

As we see, in the life of the saint there is not a single word that the widow prayed for her pagan relatives. She prayed only for her son. But he was by no means a pagan. If John, together with his mother, built a temple for the saint and prayed at the relics, then could he be an unbeliever?

Unfortunately, the beautiful story that Saint Uar begged Cleopatra’s relatives, who were pagans and during their lifetime chose the path of renunciation of God, remains just a story that inspires prayer for the unbaptized.

Is it possible to “beg” an unbaptized person?

If Saint Uar did not beg the pagans, then how should we approach prayer for the unbaptized and people of other faiths? Is there any point at all in praying for those who did not strive for God during their lifetime?

Let's pay attention to two nuances:

God gave every person free will. And if someone does not believe in God and does not want to be with Him after death, then the Lord does not act by force. He respects a person's choice, no matter what negative consequences it may have.
Even in the prayer itself to the martyr Uar it is said that it weakens the eternal torment of the unbaptized, but does not “guarantee” him paradise.

After all, what is the Kingdom of Heaven? This is not some foreign resort, not a paradise where palm trees grow and birds sing, no one does anything, everyone enjoys the beauty of nature, the taste of fruits and enjoy life. The Kingdom of Heaven is union with God, being with Him and the righteous who themselves wanted to be with God.

For the soul of one who during his lifetime did not want to be with God, his stay in the Kingdom of Heaven will not be at all as sweet as for the righteous. And is it possible to “send to heaven” someone who during his lifetime did not make any efforts, but if his relatives pray so fervently for him?

The question is controversial. But a person is not able to answer it. God decides that. Not some formidable judge, but the Merciful Lord. How He will treat the deceased, unbaptized person, for whom loved ones are praying, no one can say for sure.

One should rely only on His mercy and sincerely pray for the unbaptized. Not only to the martyr Huar, but also to other saints, the Most Holy Theotokos, the Merciful and Loving God. In your own words, texts from the prayer book, or as suggested by Lev Optinsky.

But before that, it’s better to consult with a priest, tell us about the life of the person for whom you want to pray. An experienced clergyman will give advice and warn about difficulties and temptations.

Archpriest Dimitry Smirnov speaks about prayer for the unbaptized deceased:

Complete collection and description: prayer for the unbaptized deceased for the spiritual life of a believer.

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:

Rules of behavior in churchIs it possible to be late for serviceThe arrangement and decoration of the temple

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.