The Benefit to the Souls of the Departed from Commemoration at the Liturgy
January 29
(The account of Saint Gregory the Dialogist concerning a monk who died under penance and was forgiven after thirty days of commemoration.)
By Archpriest Victor Guryev
January 29
(The account of Saint Gregory the Dialogist concerning a monk who died under penance and was forgiven after thirty days of commemoration.)
By Archpriest Victor Guryev
For the souls of those who have died in faith, but did not have time to bring forth fruits worthy of repentance, the prayers offered for them are salvific—prayers performed with faith in remembrance of their benefaction, and especially the offering for them of the bloodless sacrifice of the Body and Blood of Christ. Concerning the special propitiatory power of the bloodless sacrifice for the departed, Saint Cyril of Jerusalem says: “Very great benefit will accrue to the souls for whom supplication is made, when the holy and awesome sacrifice is set forth” (Mystagogical Catechesis, V, 9). Saint John Chrysostom teaches the same: “Let us not grow weary,” he says, “in helping those who have departed and in offering prayers for them, for there lies before us a common purifying sacrifice for the whole world… And without doubt it is possible to obtain for them forgiveness through the gifts offered for them and through being named together with them” (Homily 41 on 1 Corinthians). Finally, examples also confirm this teaching. Here is one of them.
“There was,” says Saint Gregory the Dialogist, “a monk who, falling mortally ill, told his own brother that gold was hidden by them in his cell. It should be noted that the monastery in which he lived was cenobitic, and its rule was such that all things were to be held in common by the brethren, and no one had the right to consider anything his own, much less to conceal it. Others among the monks learned of the monk’s deed, and then it was reported to me as the superior. In order that the monk might feel the weight of his sin and repent of it, I forbade the brethren to visit him. And after his death, so as to deter others in the future from a similar sin, I ordered that he be buried outside the monastery cemetery and that the gold he had concealed be thrown onto his grave. Everything was carried out.
But after thirty days had passed since his death, I was seized with great compassion for him. Thinking that he was suffering in the afterlife, I began to seek a way to alleviate his condition and resolved upon the following. Summoning the steward, I ordered him to serve thirty memorial Liturgies for the departed monk, and I also commanded everyone to offer common prayer for him. This my arrangement proved exceedingly beneficial for the departed. On the very day when the last, thirtieth, Liturgy was celebrated for him, he appeared to his own brother and said: ‘Until now, brother, I have suffered cruelly and terribly; but now I am well, and I am in the light.’ The brother of the deceased reported his vision to the monks, and they were all convinced that the departed had been delivered from torment because of the saving sacrifice offered for him.”
Therefore, brethren, with faith in the great and boundless merits of the Lord who suffered and died for us, remember as often as possible in prayer yourselves, and ask the ministers of the altar to commemorate before the throne of God, during the offering of the bloodless sacrifice, your departed brethren. The beneficent power of this sacrifice extends, as you see, even beyond the bounds of this world, and it will surely grant relief and rest to the souls of those whom you commemorate. Amen.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
