Parastas is a special funeral service at Matins, it takes place on Friday, preceding the onset of the Ecumenical Parental Saturday (Meat-fare, on the eve of Great Lent, the second, third and fourth weeks of Lent, Trinity, before the birthday of the Church, the memory of the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles). These five cases are canonically established when parastasas are performed in Orthodox churches. All of them, as can be judged, fall on the first half of the calendar year, from February to June.
"Intercession" in Greek
This is exactly the meaning of the word, obscure to the neophyte. Parastas is, in fact, a petition to the Almighty on behalf of the departed, proclaimed by the mouth of the Church. The main difference of the especially solemn penetrating matins is the reading by the priest of the 17th kathisma of the Ps alter (the entire 118th psalm, divided by articles). Contentthis verse, which is erroneously considered "purely for the dead" - a confession of faith, sorrow for deviations from the Law given by the Creator, a request for mercy and indulgence for human infirmities. Remembering that "there is no man who lives and does not sin", and the believers present at the service on their own behalf, together with the choir, repeat the refrains "Save, save me" and "Blessed be the Lord."
Departed doesn't mean dead
Christian tradition considers three birthdays for each person: the first - the birth, the second, the main event - Holy Baptism and the third - the transition from the earthly vale, full of sorrows and illnesses, to Eternal Life. Death, personified in church hymns as a servant of hell defeated by the Resurrection of Christ, no longer has power over those believers who have passed into otherness through sleep. "Death, where is your sting, hell, where is your victory?" - this questioning contains the certainty that "with God all are alive." No wonder the days of memory of Christian saints fall exactly on the date of their assumption, return "home", to the Heavenly Creator from a long earthly journey.
Why the dead need our prayers
The Creator's love, even for a sinner, apostate from the right path, is touchingly depicted in the Gospel parable of the prodigal son. However, not everyone during their lifetime has time to return to their father's threshold, to complete the path of repentance, that is, to change for the better, return toprototype, revealed by the God-man - Christ. Some Death, having lost its indivisible power, but not losing its strength, catches on the road. Parastas is an opportunity to continue the path to eternal good through the prayers of the living for those who are waiting for the day of the last Judgment, not having the opportunity for further repentance. Orthodoxy affirms the possibility of changing for the better the afterlife of a person. The main means for this is Proskomidia - a commemoration by name at the Liturgy. The sacred bonds of love also allow us to do the deeds of faith - almsgiving, church and home prayers - to dedicate to God on behalf of the departed. Parastas for the dead is one of the most effective means of helping our loved ones.
The special meaning of parastas for our deceased relatives
Repeatedly one has to meet with the statements of adherents of various cults far from Orthodoxy: parastas is the prayer of the clan, which goes back to ancient pagan practices and replaces them. On what is this assertion based? At the Liturgy, the Orthodox proskomedia is named by name, prayer is offered for those of our relatives who are listed in the notes submitted at the beginning of the service. The pious tradition of knowing and passing on from generation to generation the names of one's kind has long been lost by many of us. Parastas is an opportunity to reach those depths of our genealogies, the memory of which has not been imprinted either in our minds or in family traditions, through intensified conciliar prayer. But the point here is not in "a special kind of mysteries." The main strength of church prayer is in its catholicity, in accordance with the words of the Savior: "Where two or three are gathered inMy name is there I am in the midst of them" (Matt. 18:20).
