A Message from His Grace Bishop George,
Abbot of the Hermitage of the Holy Cross,
regarding the Saturdays of the Dead
and the Lenten Commemoration of the Departed

The reposed are comforted not by weeping, but by prayer and almsgiving. -St. John Chrysostom

The season of Great Lent is quickly approaching, a time of repentance, prayer, and almsgiving, and it is also a time to think of offering prayers for our deceased loved ones, who no longer have the opportunity of repenting for their sins. They are still alive, "for God is a God of the living, not of the dead" and have passed over to the next world, to await the General Resurrection and the Last Judgment. They also await and hope for our prayers. In the lives of the saints and the history of the Church, there are many examples of the deceased appearing to their benefactors and thanking them for their prayers.

The Church has appointed a "Universal Pannykhida" (a memorial service for the reposed "of all ages") to be served on the Saturday before the Sunday of the Last Judgment (Feb. 6th this year) and on the second, third and fourth Saturdays of Great Lent. Also, in our monastery we serve a litya for the reposed on weekdays where we commemorate all the departed faithful.

We now invite you to submit for prayerful commemoration the names of reposed Orthodox Christians. For the duration of the Great Fast, all of these names will be prayerfully read at every Matins service for the departed, at every Universal Pannykhida, and at every Divine Liturgy. Below you will find a pdf copy of a commemoration slip. Please write the names of reposed Orthodox Christians* and send the slip to us, together with whatever offering of alms you are able to make on behalf of your loved ones. The Holy Church bears witness that both prayer and almsgiving are beneficial on behalf of the departed, who can no longer pray or perform works of virtue for themselves.

"Grant rest, O Lord. to the souls of Thy servants, in a place of green pasture, a place of repose, whence all sickness, sorrow and sighing are fled away. Pardon every sin committed by them in word, deed, or thought, in that Thou art a good God, the Lover of mankind; for there is no man that liveth and sinneth not, for Thou alone art without sin, Thy righteousness is everlasting, and Thy word is truth..."

+George, Bishop of Mayfield

Download commemoration slip (pdf)

Download our January 2010 Newsletter (pdf)

*Please note: When writing your names please use proper and full Christian names and not diminutives ("Peter" not "Pete", "Alexander" not "Sasha") and proper clerical and monastic titles (e.g. "Priest" or "Archpriest," Monk, Nun, or Novice not just "Father," "Mother," or "Brother"). Additionally, the familiar terms for the wife of a cleric such as Matushka or Presvytera are not formal titles and should not be included.

You may return the slips to the monastery at the following address:

Hermitage of the Holy Cross
RR 2, Box 2343
Wayne, WV 25570