Despite the ambiguous attitude of the church towards the lost souls, prayer for the unbaptized dead also works. Many clergy say that any person is worthy of the protection of the Lord.

However, it is known that the church rejects unbaptized souls, as such, forbidding ordering liturgies for a deceased person who refused to enter the bosom of Orthodoxy. You can only take the opportunity to read a private prayer for the deceased, being outside the influence of the church.

It is possible to offer prayers for the unbaptized dead to anyone who wants to give them a well-deserved rest in another world.

By praying for the departed soul, you provide support not only for the dead, but also for yourself. The power of prayer allows you to diminish the degree of grief for a worthy person who occupied a significant place in your life.

Scientists also note the need to offer prayers. According to one of existing theories, prayer has a special effect on the consciousness of everyone who reads it, due to the presence of a special combination of sounds. Neuro-linguistic programming discovers the amazing properties of prayers for an unbaptized soul, used for centuries by thousands of people.

On the Internet you can read great amount real cases when, thanks to prayers, the fate of unbaptized people really improved, who then appeared with gratitude in dreams to close person who lifted her up. It happens that the deceased appear in a dream and ask their loved ones to pray for them in order to find peace. You shouldn't be afraid of this. If you also have such dreams, do not refuse the deceased: this is the least that you can do for him.

Pray to our God for the lost

But to whom should we pray for the souls of the departed who have not received Orthodox baptism? The clergy note that it is possible to pray for the unbaptized not only to the saints, but even to the Lord our God. Offered prayers will surely reach the addressee, because everyone who has lived righteously earthly life, has the right to God's forgiveness and patronage.

You can even pray for people who have apostatized from the faith, who have converted to another religion, or who originally represented it. By the way, in the Orthodox Church there is still no consensus on whether to consider Catholics as baptized Christians or not.

There are many legends about the holy martyr Uare, the patron saint of the lost. According to church sources, he once appeared to a believer named Cleopatra, declaring that he had asked for the forgiveness of the sins of all her dead ancestors. Hence, Christians began to ask Uar for forgiveness of sins for the unbaptized dead.

During his lifetime, Ouar was famous for many good deeds. Possessing the opportunity to help the unfortunate Christians who were imprisoned for their faith, he tried in every possible way to alleviate their plight.

Heaven help everyone

It is possible and necessary to offer prayers for the unbaptized dead, because the soul of the deceased is easier when she is commemorated at the icon. And let it be an icon at the home altar, for the deceased it does not matter.

There are prayers:

For those who are not baptized to God:

Prayer of Leo of Optina

Seek, O Lord, the lost soul of my father: if it is possible to eat, have mercy! Your destinies are unsearchable. Do not put me in the sin of this prayer of mine. But Thy holy will be done.

For unbaptized souls to the holy martyr Uar:

Prayer to the Holy Martyr Uar

“Oh, holy martyr Uare, venerable, with zeal for the Lord Christ, we kindle, you confessed the Heavenly King before the tormentor, and now the Church honors you, as if glorified from the Lord Christ with the glory of Heaven, Who has given you the grace of great boldness towards Him, and now stand before Him with the Angels , and in the highest you rejoice, and see the Holy Trinity clearly, and enjoy the light of the Beginning Radiance: remember our relatives and languor, who died in ungodliness, accept our petition, and as Cleopatra, the unfaithful generation freed you from eternal torment with your prayers, so remember the figurines buried contrary to God, who died unbaptized (names), try to ask them for deliverance from eternal darkness, so that with one mouth and one heart we will praise the Most Merciful Creator forever and ever. Amen."

The power of faith - works under any circumstances

The church forbids ordering liturgies for the unbaptized, however, those who wish can use the power of private prayer said outside the church. But be careful: there is an opinion that the unbaptized have made their choice, and prayers for their souls, addressed to the great martyrs, can harm yourself.

Offer a prayer service when you yourself want it.

Words must fully comply with your desires, only then they will come true. In addition, one more condition must be strictly observed - Faith. The presence of sincere faith can work real miracles, granting peace to the unbaptized dead and living on Earth.

Video: Prayer for the unbaptized dead

Not a single priest wanted to bury him - How, a suicide, and even unbaptized? And this one, about which Anna heard, thought and thought and agreed. Nothing, he says that he is not baptized. We will baptize him in absentia and at the same time immediately give him a drink.
Olesya Nikolaeva. "Mene, tekel, fares"

Archpriest Konstantin Bufeev

About hazing service to the martyr Uar

In a report at the diocesan meeting of Moscow in 2003, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II noted: “Recently, the veneration of the holy martyr Huar has become more widespread. Chapels are built in his honor, icons are painted. From his life it follows that he had a special grace from God to pray for unbaptized dead people. During the time of militant atheism in our country, many people grew up and died unbaptized, and their believing relatives want to pray for their repose. Such private prayer has never been forbidden. But in church prayer, at divine services, we commemorate only the children of the Church who have communed with her through the Sacrament of Holy Baptism.

Some pastors, guided by mercenary considerations, perform a church commemoration of unbaptized people, accepting a lot of notes and donations for such a commemoration and assuring people that such a commemoration is tantamount to the Sacrament of Holy Baptism. People with few churches have the impression that it is not necessary to accept Holy Baptism or to be a member of the Church, it is enough just to pray to the martyr Huar. Such an attitude towards the veneration of the holy martyr Uar is unacceptable and contradicts our church doctrine.

The Primate of the Russian Church rightly pointed out that important canonical violation, which, unfortunately, has recently become quite common.

However, it is not the life of the holy martyr Uar that gives grounds for those distortions of Orthodox piety that the Patriarch spoke about. No one prays for the pagans, resorting to the help of the prophet Jonah, although the shipbuilders asked him: rise up and pray to your God, for God save us, let us not perish ().

For this anti-canonical practice, unfortunately, there is a textual basis in the latest editions of the liturgical Menaia.

So, on October 19, two services were given to the martyr Huar - the statutory and non-statutory. The first one (pointed to by the Typicon) is composed quite habitually and traditionally. The holy martyr is glorified together with the prophet Joel. The main motive of the divine service can be expressed by the troparion of the canon: give me your prayers us resolution of sins hagiography fix, ware"(Canto 9, p. 469).

The second service - which the Typicon does not mention at all - begins with a rather unconventional and pretentious title: " Another service, vigilant, to the holy martyr Huar, he was already given the grace to pray for the dead Cleopatra's ancestors, who were not able to receive holy Baptism " .

Regarding this name, the following should be noted.

Firstly, it is not just a service in honor of such and such God's saint, as it always happens in the Menaion, but a certain goal is declared, as if the most important task: to glorify Uar precisely as prayer book for the unbaptized "Cleopatra Ancestors".

For comparison, suppose someone wanted to compile a new alternative service "The feast of the Beheading of the honest head of John the Baptist, to whom grace has already been given to heal from a headache"- on the grounds that, they say, the prayer of the Forerunner helps with pain in the head. Or someone would compose a new service "Prelate Nicholas, to him was given the grace of deliverance, to grant the governors an unrighteous death, to accept those who have." Although the Church sings with such words (Akathist, ikos 6th) of the Miracle Worker of Myra, this does not give grounds to make this single episode from the life of St. Nicholas decisive in the content and title of the service to the saint. In the same way, the title of the service should not have impoverished the abundance of gifts of the glorious martyr and miracle worker Uar.

Secondly, it should definitely be said that the name of this second, hazing service contains, if not a direct lie, then an unsubstantiated and unfounded statement: there is no evidence that Blessed Cleopatra (Comm. on the same day, October 19) has relatives were unbaptized. It is likely that a pious and zealous Christian wife was raised by believing Christian parents. Life of St. Uara gives no reason to suspect Cleopatra's relatives of unbelief and paganism. It would be necessary to declare this, having at least some facts testifying to their wickedness.

Let's remember what life says. After the martyrdom of Uar, Cleopatra secretly stole his body and, instead of her deceased husband, took "... the relics of Saint Uar, brought them, like some kind of jewel, from Egypt to Palestine and in her village, called Edra, which was located near Tabor, she laid with her ancestors" . After some time, Saint Ouar appeared in a dream to Cleopatra and said: “Or do you think that I did not feel anything when you took my body from a pile of cattle corpses and laid me in your room? Do I not always listen to your prayers and pray to God for you? And first of all, I begged God for your relatives, with whom you laid me in the tomb, so that their sins would be forgiven them.

Thirdly, even if we assume that among Cleopatra's relatives there were people who were not baptized and did not believe in Christ, they, by the Providence of God, ended up in a crypt, consecrated by the grace emanating from the relics of St. Ouar: “The earth is on it, your most patient body, wise, lies, divinely sanctified”(Canon, Song of the 9th statutory service, p. 469). God is all-powerful even to resurrect the dead from touching the relics of His saints, as was the case with the holy prophet Elisey: throwing her husband in the tomb of Eliseov, and in the fall, the body of a man is dead, and touched by the bone of Eliseov, and revived, and rose to his feet ().

True, no one has yet come up with the idea of ​​creating a new service “To the prophet Elisha, to him was given the grace to raise the dead to their feet”.

Let us also note that if there were unbaptized relatives in the family crypt, neither Cleopatra herself prayed for their salvation to Christ, nor did she ask the holy martyr Uar for prayers about this. The martyr carried out his intercession before the Lord, standing before the throne of the Almighty, and not at all consulting with those living on sinful earth.

Consider the content of the liturgical text hazing services to the martyr Uar according to the Menaion.

The stichera on "Lord, I have called" of small vespers assert about St. Ouar, as if “whose prayers forgive the dead pagans Lord Christ" . « Unfaithfulness the dead are delivered and from the places of hell are freed by the prayers of Uar the martyr " .

From such a more than dubious thesis follows the following first timid petition: “Accept our pity, martyr, and remember in the darkness and canopy of death the sitting condemned, even relatives from us, and pray to the Lord God to fulfill our petitions for them” .

At the Great Vespers in stichera on "Lord, I have cried," this theme is developed with great boldness: “begged Christ God of all to have mercy on our relatives, Faith and Baptism not reached have mercy on them and save our souls" .

At the end of the stichera, there is a "glorifier" of more than half a page, which contains such "real screams": "Remember... Faith and Baptism of the Holy Orthodox did not reach, but taco in perplexity, as in contradiction, deceived and all-differently fallen, hear, great martyr, real cries, and beg to give forgiveness to those oppressed, and absolution, and deliverance from the sorrowful ” .

The theme of begging for the unbelievers and the unbaptized is intensified in the stichera “on lithium”.

“…Remember our relatives… alienated by heterodoxy dead, infidels and unbaptized, and pray to Christ God to grant them forgiveness and remission " .

« Even for non-Orthodox pleading who have died for many years ... and now pray diligently, martyr, to deliver from the gates of hell and from the sorrows of liberation of the unchanging, like ... the salvific offspring of not accepting and alienating the Orthodox faith, hasten, therefore, to ask them from Christ God for forgiveness and forgiveness, and great mercy " .

In the "slavnik" the stichera "on the verse" again asserts about Cleopatra that "This takes on its own infidels relatives, by the prayers of the glorious martyr, they were delivered from the bitterness of eternal torment. This gives the compiler of the canon the basis for the prayerful invocation: “In the same way, our parents and neighbors, pityingly, bake even faith and baptism of the saint alienated... ask Christ God to cry for their change, and from the darkness of endless merciful deliverance " .

The verse on the 50th psalm contains a petition: “... deliver our infidels relatives and forefathers and all, we pray for them, from fierce and bitter languor" .

In the canon of the service, the theme of prayerful intercession to the martyr Uaru for the unbaptized is intensified by the appeal to Samaya Mother of God pray for all, without exception, unbaptized and non-Orthodox dead.

“Deliver with your warm prayers from fierce torment infidels ours and unbaptized relatives ... and give them deliverance and great mercy "(Bogorodichen sedalen, c. 479) .

“... Intercede relentlessly for mercy to Your merciful Son and Master, hedgehog have mercy and forgive the sin of heterodoxy dead relative of ours"(Canto 9, p. 484).

Not only Holy Mother of God, but also the angelic ranks move to pray for the unbelievers: “Move the face of the holy Powers of Heaven with you to prayer, martyr, and do a miraculous deed ... unfaithfully dead ancestor and hedgehog with them remembered hedgehog to grant them from the Lord forgiveness and great mercy "(Canto 3, p. 478.

The canon offers other saints as allies and helpers to the martyr Uar:

“For thou hast listened to Thy saints, Lord, have mercy on unfaithful dead, even today we bring Ty to prayer, but for the sake of their petitions, generous non-Orthodox deceased» (Canto 8, p. 483). This petition is noteworthy, since it obliges not one martyr Uar, but a whole council of holy saints of God to ask for the salvation of the unbaptized: “The Lamb of God, having redeemed us with His Most Pure Blood, Hearing the prayer of Feklino and the blessed Gregory, Methodius with many and Macarius receiving petition, and joy, and deliverance malevolent having given to the dead, and Chrysostom to pray for these, write up, accept ubo, Vladyka, with these glorious War and prayers them remembered from us, forgive and have mercy "(Canto 8, p. 483).

The Holy Fathers acted in full accordance with the apostolic teaching: What communion with righteousness and lawlessness, or what communion of light with darkness, what agreement of Christ with Belial, or what part will I return with the unfaithful, or what combination of the Church of God with idols? ().

The Metropolitan wrote: “Our prayers can act directly on the souls of the deceased, If only they died in the right faith and with true repentance, i.e. in communion with the Church and with the Lord Jesus: because in this case, despite the apparent distance from us, they continue to belong with us to the same body of Christ. He quotes from Rule 5 of the VII Ecumenical Council: “ There is a sin unto death when some, sinning, remain uncorrected, and ... cruelly rise up for piety and truth ... in such people there is no Lord God, unless they humble themselves and become sober from their fall". In this regard, Vladyka Macarius remarks: “Those who die in mortal sins, in impenitence and out of communion with the Church are not honored with her prayers, according to this apostolic commandment.”

The rulings of the Local Council of Laodicea expressly forbid prayer for living heretics: It is not proper to pray with a heretic or a renegade» (Rule 33). " Should not accept holiday gifts sent from Jews or heretics, below celebrate with them» (Rule 37). The same Council of Laodicea forbids members of the Church to pray for the dead buried in non-Orthodox cemeteries: “ To the cemeteries of all heretics, or to the so-called martyr places among them, may the churchmen not be allowed to go for prayer, or for healing. And those who walk, if they are faithful, be deprived of the fellowship of the Church for some time» (Rule 9). In interpreting this Rule, the bishop noted: This rule The Council of Laodicea forbids an Orthodox person, or, as the text says “ecclesiastical”, anyone belonging to the Church, to visit such heretical places for the sake of prayer and worship, since otherwise he can be suspected of inclination to one or another heresy and not be considered Orthodox by conviction. .

In the light of this, the ancient and widespread tradition of separating Orthodox cemeteries from others - German, Tatar, Jewish, Armenian - becomes clear. After all, the funeral prayer in cemetery churches and chapels is performed, according to the Service Book, about « lying here and everywhere Orthodox» . Per "Here lying Gentiles" The church does not pray.

Likewise, the Church does not pray for suicides. rule Saint Timothy of Alexandria, given in the Book of Rules, forbids the church commemoration of those persons who “he will raise his hands on himself or throw himself down from a height”: “About such an offering is not befitting, for there is a suicide”(Answer 14). Saint Timothy even warns the presbyter that such cases “must certainly test with all diligence, lest it fall under condemnation”.

It is noteworthy that while the Holy Fathers forbid praying for living and dead heretics, they positively resolve the issue of the possibility church prayer for the apostates, due to weakness and cowardice, who could not stand the test during the persecution: “either those who suffered in prison and were overcome by hunger and thirst, or outside the prison at the judgment seat, tormented by gouging and beating, and finally overcome by the weakness of the flesh.” "For those- decides saint, - when some, by faith, ask for the offering of prayers and petitions, it is righteous to agree with him.(See: Rulebook, rule 11). This is motivated by the fact that "compassion and condolences to those who weep and lament for those overcome in the feat ... it is not at all harmful to anyone"[Ibid].

Church canonical Rules do not allow the opportunity to pray for heretics and pagans, but declare them anathema and thereby deprive both during life and after death of prayerful communion with the Catholic Apostolic Church.

The only case of liturgical intercession for the unbaptized is prayers and litanies for the catechumens. But this exception only confirms the rule, since the catechumens are precisely those people whom the Church does not consider to be strangers in faith, since they have expressed a conscious desire to become Orthodox Christians and are preparing for holy Baptism. At the same time, the content of the prayers for the catechumens obviously applies only to the living. There are no prayer rites for deceased catechumens.

He wrote: “There should be no doubt that the prayers of St. Churches, saving sacrifice and alms benefit the dead - but only those who before death lived in such a way that after death all this could be useful to them. For for those who have lost faith aided by love, and without communion in the sacraments in vain neighbors do deeds of that piety, which they did not have in themselves when they were here, not accepting or in vain accepting the grace of God and treasure themselves not mercy, but wrath. So, they do not acquire new merit for the dead when they do something good for them known, but only derive consequences from the beginnings they have previously laid down.

In Russian Orthodox Church The Holy Synod for the first time allowed in 1797 Orthodox priests, accompanied in certain cases by the body of the deceased non-Orthodox, to confine themselves only to singing Trisagion. The "Handbook of the clergy" states: " Forbidden burial of infidels according to the rite of the Orthodox Church; but if a non-Christian of the Christian confession dies and “there is no priest or pastor of either the confession to which the deceased belonged, or another, then the priest of the Orthodox confession is obliged to lead the corpse from the place to the cemetery according to the rules indicated in the code of church laws,” according to which the priest should the deceased „“ to escort from the place to the cemetery in robes and stole and lower it into the ground while singing the verse: Holy God"(Decree of the Holy Synod of August 24, 1797)" .

In this regard, the saint remarks: “According to the rules of the Church, it would be fair if the Holy Synod did not allow this. In allowing this, he used indulgence and showed respect to the soul, which bears the seal of baptism in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. There is no right to demand more.”

The handbook also explains the following: Obligation for an Orthodox priest to bury a non-Christian of the Christian confession is conditioned by the absence of the spiritual person of other Christian confessions, which the Orthodox priest must be convinced of before he fulfills the request for the burial of a non-Christian (Tserkovnyi vestnik. 1906, 20).

The Holy Synod, in a ruling dated March 10–15, 1847, decided: 1) at the burial of military officials Roman Catholic, Lutheran and Reformed confessions Orthodox clergy may, by invitation, perform only that, which is said in the decree of the Holy Synod on August 24. 1797 (escort to the cemetery with singing Trisagion. - holy K.B.); 2) Orthodox clergy has no right to sing those who died according to the rank of the Orthodox Church; 3) the body of a deceased non-Christian confession cannot be brought before burial to the Orthodox Church; 4) regimental Orthodox clergy for such ranks cannot perform house requiems and include them in the church commemoration(Case of the Archives of the Holy Synod of 1847, 2513)" .

Such a norm of piety, which forbids the burial of the heterodox, was observed everywhere in all local Orthodox Churches. However, in the middle of the 19th century, this provision was violated.” In 1869, Patriarch Gregory VI of Constantinople established a special rite for the burial of the deceased non-Orthodox, which was also adopted by the Hellenic Synod. This order consists of the Trisagion, the 17th kathisma with the usual refrains, the Apostle, the Gospel and a small dismissal.

In the very acceptance of this rite, it is impossible not to see a departure from the patristic tradition. This innovation was carried out among the Greeks in parallel with the adoption of the new, published in Athens in 1864, the so-called "Typicon of the Great Church of Constantinople", the essence of which was to reform and reduce the statutory worship. The spirit of modernism, which is shaking the foundations of Orthodoxy, urged to compose similar rites in the Russian Orthodox Church. As noted by the archpriest, “just before the revolution, the Petrograd Synodal Printing House printed a special pamphlet in Slavonic font “The service of the deceased non-Orthodox”. This rite is also indicated to be performed instead of a memorial service, with the omission of the prokimen, the Apostle and the Gospel.

This “offering of the non-Orthodox dead” itself appeared in our Church as a manifestation of the revolutionary-democratic and renovationist mentality that captivated the minds of other theologians and clergy at the beginning of the 20th century. His text cannot be justified from the ecclesiastical canonical standpoint. The text of this "Chinese Order" in the Ribbon contains a number of absurdities.

So, for example, at the beginning of the Order it says: "For some reason blessed guilt, it will be fitting for an Orthodox priest to bury the body of the deceased non-Orthodox» . We have already shown above that church canons are no "Blessed Guilt" are not allowed here.

After the usual prayerful beginning, the "Application" cites Psalm 87, which contains, in particular, the following words: The food is to tell who is in the tomb, Your mercy, and Your truth in perdition; food will be known in darkness, your wonders, and your righteousness in the land of oblivion(). If you clarify that the Church Slavonic word food means “is it really”, the Psalm will become a rebuke to those who read it over the non-Orthodox dead.

This is followed by Psalm 119, which sings walking in the law of the Lord(). The saint, in his interpretation of this Psalm, cites the patristic judgment: “Not those blessed who stain themselves with sin in the corruption of the age, but those who blameless in the way, and walk in the law of the Lord." .

In fairness, it should be noted that in the editions of the Trebnik of the last ten or fifteen years, this "Ordinance" is no longer printed.

From the point of view of the Orthodox traditional attitude to the issue under consideration, the position of the monk Mitrofan, who published the book “The Afterlife” in 1897, should be considered correct. Let's take a few quotes from it.

"Our St. The Church prays for the departed thus: “God give rest, O Lord, to the souls of Thy servants who have reposed in the faith and hope of resurrection. God give rest to all Orthodox Christians.” This is who the Church prays for and with whom she is in inseparable union and communion. Consequently, there is no union and communion with dead non-Christians and non-Orthodox... For a true Christian, except for suicide, no kind of death terminates the union and communion with the living - with the Church ... The saints pray for him, and the living pray for him, as for a living member of a single living body.

“Let us ask if all those who are in hell can be delivered through our prayers? The Church prays for all the dead, but only the dead in true faith will surely be delivered from the torments of hell. The soul, while in the body, is obliged to take care of its future life itself, must earn it so that after the transition to the afterlife, the intercession of the living could bring relief and salvation to it.

“The sins that constitute blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, that is disbelief, bitterness, apostasy, impenitence, and the like, make a man eternally lost, and so dead the intercession of the Church and not alive will not help, because they lived and died out of communion with the Church. yes about those Church already and does not pray» .

Here the author obviously has in mind the words of the Gospel: If he speaks a word against the Son of man, he will be released to him; and whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be released to him either in this age or in the next(). From these words of the Savior, many naturally concluded that, in principle, remission of sins is possible even after the death of the sinner. The Metropolitan notes in this connection: About those who died with blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, or, which is the same, in mortal sin, and unrepentant The church does not pray, and that is why, as the Savior said, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be released to a person either in this age or in the next.

Reverend did not allow open commemoration at the liturgy of the departed iconoclast heretics.

Let us cite a number of sayings of the Holy Fathers, in which they, calling for prayer for the dead, did not allow it to be performed by the Church for those who died outside of Church communion - heretics and unbaptized.

: "The whole Church observes this, as given from the Fathers, so that pray for those who died in the communion of the body and blood of Christ when they are remembered in due time at the very sacrifice.

saint: “This is a very charitable and useful thing - to perform with the divine and glorious sacrament commemoration of the dead in the right faith» .

Reverend: “The mystics and self-beholders of the Word, who conquered the circle of the earth, the disciples and divine Apostles of the Savior, not without reason, not in vain and not without benefit, established to perform with terrible, pure and life-giving mysteries commemoration of the faithful dead» .

Saint John Chrysostom: “When all the people and the holy cathedral stand with outstretched hands to heaven, and when a terrible sacrifice is presented: how can we not propitiate God, praying for them (the dead)? But this about those only who died in faith» .

On the commemoration of the non-Orthodox in home prayer

In the words we quoted at the beginning of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy at the Moscow diocesan meeting in 2003, it was noted that only private, domestic prayer is allowed and has always been allowed for the unbaptized, but “at the service we commemorate only the children of the Church who have communed with her through the Sacrament of Holy Baptism.” This division into ecclesiastical and private prayer is essential.

The capital work "On the commemoration of the departed according to the Charter of the Orthodox Church" was compiled by the new martyr, Bishop Kovrov. In the section “Canon to the Martyr Uar on deliverance from torment in the heterodoxy of the dead,” he writes: “ Ancient Russia with all the severity of her attitude towards the dead, she found it possible to pray not only for the conversion of the living to the true faith, but also for deliverance from the torment of the non-belief of the dead. At the same time, she resorted to the intercession of the holy martyr Huar. In the old canons there is a special canon for this case, completely different from the canon found in the October Menaion under the 19th day.

However, this section, as well as the sections “Prayer for unbaptized and stillborn babies” and “Prayer for suicides”, Vladyka Athanasius places in Chapter IV - “Commemoration of the Dead at home prayer". He rightly writes: At home prayer with the blessing of the spiritual father, even those who cannot be commemorated in church services can be commemorated. “The commemoration of the departed, out of humility and for the obedience of the Holy Church, transferred to our home cell prayer, will be more valuable in the eyes of God and more gratifying for the departed than committed in the temple, but with violation and neglect of the charters of the Church.”

At the same time, about the statutory public worship, he notes: All funeral services are precisely defined in their composition, and the time when they may or may not be performed is precisely appointed. And no one has the right to transgress these limits established by the Holy Church.

So, in a church assembly headed by a priest or bishop, there is no way to legally pray for the unbaptized (as well as for non-Orthodox and suicides). It should be noted that the treatise of Bishop Athanasius deals with both the statutory divine service and the services according to the Trebnik (the service of the funeral service, memorial services). At the same time, in the first three chapters there is no mention of the service to the martyr Uar. It is noteworthy that Vladyka himself writes at the beginning of Chapter IV: “We have touched all various cases when the Holy Church permits or herself calls, sometimes strenuously calls to prayer for the departed. But all the hitherto listed cases of commemoration of the dead are performed with the priest. Thus, the rite of the vigilant hazing service to the martyr Huar, which we have considered, cannot be recognized either by the Orthodox liturgical text or the rite of the Orthodox Treasury.

Many Holy Fathers spoke about the possibility of private commemoration in home prayer of those dead who cannot be commemorated in a church meeting.

Reverend found it possible for such people to commemorate only secretly: “is it only every in your soul prays for such and does alms for them.”

Reverend Elder, not allowing church prayers for those who died outside the Church (suicides, unbaptized, heretics), he bequeathed to pray for them in private like this: “Seek, Lord, the lost soul of my father: if it is possible to eat, have mercy. Your destinies are unsearchable. Do not put this prayer of mine in sin, but Thy holy will be done.

Reverend Elder wrote to one nun: church rules commemorate a suicide should not be in church and sister and family can pray for him secretly how Elder Leonid allowed Pavel Tambovtsev to pray for his parent. Write out this prayer... and give it to the unfortunate relatives. We know many examples that the prayer transmitted by the elder Leonid calmed and comforted many and turned out to be valid before the Lord.

The testimonies of the Holy Fathers we have cited force us, in full agreement with the words of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II, to raise in our Church the question of abolishing from the annual liturgical circle the hazing vigil service to the martyr Huar, which is not provided for by the Typicon, as contrary to canonical church norms.

In all likelihood, only the canon to the martyr Uar (but, of course, not the following of the "All-Night Vigil") is possible in special cases "some kind of blessed guilt" recommend for home cell prayer for deceased non-Orthodox relatives with a mandatory ban read this canon Orthodox churches and chapels for public worship and services.

Literature

1. , prep. Collection of letters to monastics. Issue. II. Sergiev Posad, 1909.

2. Athanasius (Sakharov), Bishop. On the commemoration of the dead according to the Charter of the Orthodox Church. SPb., 1995.

3. Bulgakov S.N. Handbook for a clergyman. M.: 1993.

4. , holy Lives of the Saints. October. 1993.

5. Journal of the Moscow Patriarchy. 2004, no. 2.

6. Macarius (Bulgakov), Met. Orthodox dogmatic theology. T. II. SPb., 1857.

7. Menaion. October. M.: Ed. Moscow Patriarchy, 1980.

8. Mitrofan, monk. Afterlife. SPb., 1897; Kyiv, 1992.

9. Nefedov G., prot. Sacraments and Rites of the Orthodox Church. Part 4. M., 1992.

10. , bishop. Rules of the Orthodox Church with interpretations. Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra, 1996.

11. Missal. M.: Ed. Moscow Patriarchy, 1977.

12. Trebnik. Part 3. M.: Ed. Moscow Patriarchy, 1984.

13. Theodore Studite, Rev. Creations. T. II. SPb., 1908.

14. , holy Interpretation of Psalm 118. M., 1891.

15. , prot. Canon law. M., 1996.

1) Questions are answered by the clergy and teachers of the Kazan Theological Seminary.

About prayer for the unbaptized.

The commemoration of unbaptized people is not performed at the Proskomedia and at public worship.

Unfortunately, very often people come to church and with tears in their eyes ask if it is possible to remember the dead unbaptized relatives. The Church does not pray for the unbaptized, since these people during their lives did not enter the saving fence of the Church. Unbaptized people are dead members cut off from the whole body of the Church. One can only regret them, but it is already impossible to cure them.

One often hears reproaches that the Church acts cruelly towards the dead unbaptized, and among them there are very good and kind people. So what got in the way good people become members of the Church? Probably, everyone had reasons, but the basis of everything is disbelief in God. And this disbelief, the soul took with it to the afterlife, where it no longer acquires new qualities.

At the same time, the Church does not forbid personal, home prayer for loved ones who died unbaptized, but only at home! Naturally, the one who prays needs to be baptized Orthodox himself and take a blessing from the priest to pray for an unbaptized relative.

The prayer for the unbaptized is based on an incident that happened in Optina Hermitage. One day, a student approached the Opinsky Elder Leonid (+1841) with a question whether it was possible to pray for a dead suicidal father, and how. To which the elder replied: “Surrender both yourself and the fate of the parent to the will of the Lord, all-wise and all-powerful. Pray to the Blessed Creator, thereby fulfilling the duty of love and the duties of sons, in the spirit of the virtuous and wise, as follows: “Seek, Lord, the lost soul of my father: if it is possible to eat, have mercy! Your destinies are unsearchable. Do not put me in the sin of this prayer of mine. But Thy holy will be done. Following the example of this prayer, one can pray for the unbaptized, as well as for non-Orthodox or baptized, but apostates from the faith.

The fact that the unbaptized can receive some relief through prayer is known from the life of St. Macarius of Egypt. One day, Saint Macarius, meeting in the desert the skull of a deceased pagan priest, entered into a conversation with him. The monk prayed very much for the departed, and therefore desired to know the effect of prayers. "When you pray for the dead," answered the skull, "we feel some consolation." This incident gives us hope that our prayers for the unfortunate, who died unbaptized, will bring them some consolation.

Don't forget about this effective means to alleviate the fate of the dead, as alms, which in these cases takes on special significance.

The merciful Lord allowed one of His saints to intercede before Him for the souls of the departed non-Orthodox. This holy martyr Uar, who died for Christ in 307. Once, in a vision to blessed Cleopatra, the saint told her that for her good deeds, he begged God to forgive the sins of all her dead pagan relatives. Since then, Orthodox Christians have been praying to the martyr Uar for intercession before the Lord for their relatives and friends who died unbaptized into the Orthodox faith.

Prayer to the Holy Martyr Uar

Oh, holy martyr Uare, venerable, we kindle with zeal for the Mistress of Christ, you confessed the Heavenly King before the tormentor, and you suffered zealously for Him, and now the Church honors you, as glorified from the Lord Christ with the glory of Heaven, Who has given you the grace of great boldness to Him, and now stand before Him with the Angels, and rejoice in the Highest, and see clearly the Holy Trinity, and enjoy the light of the Beginning Radiance, remember our relatives and languor, who died in ungodliness, accept our petition, and like Cleopatra, the unfaithful race of Your prayers freed you from eternal torment , so remember the fir-trees buried contrary to God, who died unbaptized, trying to ask them for deliverance from eternal darkness, so that with one mouth and one heart we will praise the Most Merciful Creator forever and ever. Amen.

http://kazan.eparhia.ru/talks/ask/?id=10722&print=1
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2) Priest Valentin Ulyakhin, doctor economic sciences, has been serving in the Church of the Holy Trinity on Pyatnitskaya for many years. This temple is also notable for the fact that every week a prayer service for St. mch. Uaru - prayers are raised to the Lord for the dearest who died unbaptized. It is hard to imagine how heavy the burden of human grief rests on the shoulders of a priest. But Father Valentin has an affectionate, encouraging word for everyone.

In the Holy Trinity Church on Pyatnitskaya Street in Moscow there is an icon of the martyr Uara, where every Saturday they pray for relief from the fate of the dead unbaptized, people come from afar, from the outskirts of vast Russia, because this is the only church in Moscow where, with the blessing of His Holiness the Patriarch, a prayer service to the martyr is performed Huaru. There is a canon to the martyr Uaru, there are prayers that have their own history. There are people who doubt the possibility of praying for the unbaptized. Moreover, sometimes one can come across in the press the opinion that it is impossible in any case to pray for the unbaptized. From a formal point of view, we cannot and should not pray for the unbaptized, we can neither sing a funeral service, nor commemorate them at requiems, and in no case commemorate them at a proskomedia. But surprisingly, in the Sacred Tradition, the life of the martyr Uar nevertheless gives such an opportunity to pray to Uar for the unbaptized.

The relics of Uar were found by a certain lady Cleopatra, who built a temple over his relics and prayed for her unbaptized dead son, and the Lord Himself came to her along with Uar, thus on a mystical level it was certified that her prayer reached the Lord, and the Lord eased the fate her unbaptized son.

They often come to the Trinity Church to pray for the unbaptized, and they pray with tears. Sometimes you ask, “Do you pray with such zeal, do you have any consolation after this prayer?” And many people tell me that in a thin light sleep the souls of the unbaptized come, communicate with their relatives, ask them to pray and say that the prayer is heard by God, that it becomes easier for them. And this is exactly what the canon to the martyr Uar is about, that there is an opportunity to alleviate the lot of the unbaptized, and this is confirmed by practice. There were times when they didn't know baptized person or not, and then the soul came and reported that baptism was and can be performed according to the charter. This applied in particular to many soldiers who died and were thought to be unbaptized. But they were baptized before the war by monks who secretly lived in those years in Soviet Russia. And when they inquired from distant, distant relatives, it really turned out that the person was baptized. Such cases also happen repeatedly.

When people of different classes, different ranks gather, they are all, as it were, equal in one thing - in their love for those who gave them life. And turning to Christ, accepting the sacrament of the Church, preparing for this sacrament, and some for the first time cross the threshold of the temple to pray for their unbaptized relatives, they may never have come if the Lord had not called them through his martyr Uara. And so they go to the temple and in the prayer of Uaru open their souls, they come to know the love of God, it becomes easier for them. And they are already making their difficult path to God, they are becoming churched. And now the parish of the Trinity Church on Pyatnitskaya Street is ¾ of those people who began their churching with a prayer to the martyr Uar for the unbaptized. This confirms that the Lord Himself blesses. Indeed, canonically we cannot pray, but Holy Tradition has allowed it. And Sacred Tradition has no less, and even greater value than Holy Scripture. Orthodox accept Holy Tradition as a source Holy Scripture. And the practice of prayers to the martyr Uar confirms that this prayer is saving, saving, first of all, for the living and those who cross the threshold of the temple. And they are led by love, love for their relatives. But God is love, which means that God leads them, which means that the Lord Himself blesses them.
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The tradition of the Church brings to us many testimonies of the efficacy of prayer for unbaptized people who do not belong to the Church.

Once Rev. Macarius of Egypt was walking through the desert and saw a human skull lying on the ground. When the reverend touched it with a palm stick, the skull gave a voice. The old man asked:

"Who are you?" The skull replied, "I was a pagan priest of the idolaters who lived in this place." He also said that when St. Macarius, having mercy on those who are in eternal torment, prays for them, then they receive some consolation. “How far the sky is from the earth, how much fire is under our feet and over our heads,” the skull said again, “We stand in the middle of the fire, and none of us is placed so as to see our neighbor. But when you pray for us, each sees the face of the other somewhat. That is our joy."

After the conversation, the elder buried the skull in the ground.

For people who died without holy baptism or belonged to another denomination or faith, we cannot pray for Divine Liturgy and perform funeral services for them in the Church, but no one forbids us to pray for them in our personal home prayers.

Those. during the Liturgy it is generally impossible to pray for the unbaptized, neither out loud, nor even to oneself, because at this time the bloodless Eucharistic Sacrifice is offered, and it is offered only for members of the Church. Such commemoration is allowed only during a memorial service, to oneself, and never at the Liturgy.

The Monk Lev of Optina, consoling his spiritual son Pavel Tambovtsev, whose father tragically died outside the Church, said:

“You shouldn't be overly sad. God without comparison more than you loved and loves him. So, it remains for you to 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.

The great elder gave Pavel Tambovtsev a prayer, which, with a few changes, can also be said for the unbaptized:

« Have mercy, O Lord, on the soul of your servant(name), who departed into eternal life without Holy Baptism. Your destinies are unsearchable. Do not put me in the sin of this prayer of mine. But Thy holy will be done"

This prayer may well be used when reading the Psalter for the departed, reading it at each "Glory".

Another holy Optina elder, the Monk Joseph, later said that there is evidence of the fruits of this prayer. It can be read at any time (during the day repeatedly). Mentally, you can create it in the temple. Helps feasible alms given for the deceased to those in need. It is good to pray to the Mother of God, reading the rosary " Virgin Mary, rejoice... "(how much strength allows: from 30 to 150 times a day). At the beginning and at the end of this rule, one must ask the Mother of God to help the soul of the deceased.

The Orthodox Church testifies that there is a Christian saint who has a special grace to pray for those who have died unbaptized. This is a victim in the III century. St. martyr War. There is a canon to this saint, in which the main content is a request to St. the martyr to pray for the unbaptized. This canon and the prayer of St. Martyr Uar is read instead of those funeral prayers that the Church offers for the baptized.

Relatives of the deceased (especially children and grandchildren - direct descendants) have great opportunity affect the afterlife of the deceased. Namely: to show the fruits of spiritual life (to live in the prayerful experience of the Church, to participate in the Holy Sacraments, to live according to the commandments of Christ). Although the one who departed unbaptized did not manifest these fruits himself, but his children and grandchildren, he also participates in them as a root or a stem.

And I also want to say: loved ones should not lose heart, but do everything possible to help, remembering the mercy of the Lord and knowing that everything will be finally determined at the Judgment of God.

How to pray for the unbaptized?

The tradition of the Church brings to us many testimonies of the efficacy of prayer for unbaptized people who do not belong to the Church.

Once Rev. Macarius of Egypt was walking through the desert and saw a human skull lying on the ground. When the reverend touched it with a palm stick, the skull gave a voice. The elder asked: "Who are you?" The skull replied, "I was a pagan priest of the idolaters who lived in this place." He also said that when St. Macarius, having mercy on those who are in eternal torment, prays for them, then they receive some consolation. “How far the sky is from the earth, how much fire is under our feet and over our heads,” the skull said again, “We stand in the middle of the fire, and none of us is placed so as to see our neighbor. But when you pray for us, each sees the face of the other somewhat. That is our joy." After the conversation, the elder buried the skull in the ground.

For people who died without holy baptism or belonged to another denomination or faith, we cannot pray at the Divine Liturgy and perform funeral services for them in the Church, but no one forbids us to pray for them in our personal prayers at home.

The Monk Lev of Optina, consoling his spiritual son Pavel Tambovtsev, whose father tragically died outside the Church, said: “You should not grieve excessively. God without comparison more than you loved and loves him. So, it remains for you to 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. The great elder gave Pavel Tambovtsev a prayer, which, with a slight change, can be said for the unbaptized: “Have mercy, Lord, on the soul of Your servant (name), who has departed into eternal life without Holy Baptism. Your destinies are unsearchable. Do not put me in the sin of this prayer of mine. But Thy holy will be done."

This prayer may well be used when reading the Psalter for the departed, reading it at each "Glory".

Another holy Optina elder, the Monk Joseph, later said that there is evidence of the fruits of this prayer. It can be read at any time (during the day repeatedly). Mentally, you can create it in the temple. Helps feasible alms given for the deceased to those in need. It is good to pray to the Mother of God, reading the rosary “Virgin Mother of God, rejoice ...” (how much strength allows: from 30 to 150 times a day). At the beginning and at the end of this rule, one must ask the Mother of God to help the soul of the deceased.

Relatives of the deceased (especially children and grandchildren - direct descendants) have a great opportunity to influence the afterlife of the deceased. Namely: to show the fruits of spiritual life (to live in the prayerful experience of the Church, to participate in the Holy Sacraments, to live according to the commandments of Christ). Although the one who departed unbaptized did not manifest these fruits himself, but his children and grandchildren, he also participates in them as a root or a stem.

And I also want to say: loved ones should not lose heart, but do everything possible to help, remembering the mercy of the Lord and knowing that everything will be finally determined at the Judgment of God.