When you can and cannot go to the cemetery. Commemoration of the departed on Easter days

On the eve of the celebration of Great Easter, we will discuss the roots and reasons for the emergence of the tradition of visiting the cemetery on this day

Visiting the cemetery on the day of the great holiday of Easter has long become a familiar tradition for us. However, Christianity lacks any instructions or even recommendations on this matter. Let's try to understand the roots of this custom.

First of all, let's go back to the times medieval Russia. As is known from the history course, administratively Russian Empire divided into parishes. In the parishes, most of the administrative units were villages, in which the peasantry lived, constituting the absolute (more than 80%) majority of the population. Distinctive feature Russian villages was the absence of Christian churches in them. They were located exclusively in villages.

Another feature of the Russian and Eastern European “outback” was and remains the almost complete absence of prepared roads for movement at any time of the year. As a result, graveyards began to appear near the temples - cemeteries, where peasants buried their deceased relatives and loved ones after the body was delivered to the temple for funeral services.

In a similar way, peasants from surrounding villages gathered at the village temple for the night Easter service. Here it is worth remembering that in April the European part of Russia turned into a complete impassability, and visiting the temple twice - on Holy Saturday and on Easter for ordinary people turned into an impossible task. But families went to the temple and brought with them food for consecration - Easter cakes, Easter eggs, eggs. Therefore, it became a custom to attend services on Easter. Families wrapped food in cloth scarves, put on festive clothes and set off on the road.

What did our ancestors do after the end? night service? Returning home in the dark and through mud, as they say now, is not an option. Therefore, people did the simplest and most logical thing in such a situation - they went to the cemetery to remember the dead. Scarves turned into makeshift tablecloths, people settled down next to the graves and thus whiled away the night before going home. It was both safe and practical, and over the years grew into something of a folk tradition.

After the victory October Revolution The era of atheism has arrived in Russia. Almost everything was eradicated and forgotten Christian traditions and holidays. Churches were closed, priests were subjected to repression and persecution. However, the Bolsheviks did not prohibit visiting cemeteries, and the habit of doing this on Easter was miraculously preserved in our memory, despite all the prohibitions of the socialist era. We all remember very well the spring Easter trips with Easter cakes to the cemetery, during which the graves were “recovered” and commemorated kind words deceased relatives. True, they naturally had nothing to do with the Easter service.

This is how our custom of visiting cemeteries on Easter arose, despite the fact that there is no particular need for this. The roads have become better rural population has diminished, transport has become accessible, there are no church regulations, and we still visit the cemetery and improve the graves on the day of Great Easter - according to a tradition sanctified by time and the difficult years of our history.

By the way, let us recall that Orthodox Easter in 2015 it is celebrated on April 12, and the Catholic Great Day is celebrated on April 2.

Answered by priest Alexey Alekseev

Traditionally, people go to the cemetery after Easter for Radonitsa. This is the day special commemoration of the dead, which takes place on Tuesday after Easter week (9th day after Easter).

The bright holiday of Easter was preceded by Lent, during which the remembrance of the dead during divine services was performed only on Saturday and Sunday services. And in order not to deprive the dead of daily commemoration during the Liturgy, the Church established days of special prayer for them - Saturdays of the second, third and fourth weeks of Lent. After Easter, the first day when memorial services for the dead are served is Radonitsa.

On this day, believers try to attend services in the temple and come to the cemetery to pray for their deceased relatives.

The word Radonitsa itself is consonant with the word “joy”. The most important thing continues Christian holiday– Easter, everyone around rejoices at the Resurrection of Christ and His victory over death. And therefore, remembering our loved ones in prayers on this day, we must, first of all, rejoice with them about the Risen Savior, who descended into hell and brought the righteous out of there.

The question is often asked: is it possible to go to a cemetery on Easter? Regardless of how we feel about church holidays, whether we are believers or not, we need to gratefully honor and remember our deceased loved ones.

However, on the bright holiday of Easter, which in 2019 is celebrated on April 28, there is no tradition of visiting the graves of deceased relatives.

Is it possible to go to the cemetery on Easter?

Throughout Easter week ( Holy Week) in churches they do not hold funeral services, do not light candles for the repose and do not remember the dead. People who die at this time are buried in a special way.

The Orthodox Church does not bless believers to visit the burial places of the dead on Easter day. IN church calendar private and general days of remembrance of the dead have been established. Commemoration takes place in churches mainly on Saturdays.

Days of special general remembrance of the dead are called “parental Saturdays.” In the church Orthodox calendar there are eight such days a year.

These are Meat Saturday, Trinity Saturday, Demetrius Saturday, the Beheading of John the Baptist, days of remembrance in Great Lent (the second, third and fourth Saturdays from the beginning of Lent) and Radonitsa.

At this time, commemoration of the dead is performed in churches.

When explaining why you can’t go to a cemetery on Easter, you need to remember that the Holiday Christ's Resurrection, otherwise called the Easter of the Lord, is the brightest day for Orthodox Christians. At this time, it is customary to rejoice and not indulge in despondency.

Easter is, first of all, joy about the future life, the salvation of people, the triumph of life over death.

To be fair, it must be said that the tradition of going to the cemetery on Easter appeared in Soviet years, when many temples were closed. In those days, people were deprived of spiritual communication and removed from the church.

Then the custom developed to visit the graves of relatives on this day. On Easter, people visited their deceased relatives and friends in order to somehow celebrate the holiday and get closer to it.

Now that churches are open and believers can go to Easter services, it is better to go to the cemetery on other days. For example, on Radonitsa, when, according to tradition, the church commemorates the dead.

Radonitsa is celebrated on Tuesday of the second week after the resurrection of Christ (on the ninth day after Easter). On this day, people tidy up the graves of the deceased and treat their friends with sweets so that they, in turn, also remember the deceased.

Commemoration of the dead on Easter days - how is it carried out? Is this approved Orthodox Church? Archpriest Alexander Ilyashenko will answer these questions.

Commemoration of the departed at Easter

Archpriest Alexander Ilyashenko, rector of the Church of the All-Merciful Savior b. Sorrowful Monastery, Chairman of the Editorial Board of the site:

- this is the most main holiday per year. The Church, taking into account the psychology of people, separates days of celebration and days of sadness. The joyful rejoicing that the Church communicates to believers at Easter is separated from the mood of sadness that accompanies the remembrance of the dead.

Therefore, on Easter Day you are not supposed to go to the cemetery and perform funeral services. If someone dies, and death on Easter is traditionally considered a sign of God’s mercy, then the funeral service is performed according to the Easter rite, which includes many Easter hymns.

To visit the cemetery, the Church appoints a special day - Radonitsa (from the word joy - after all, the Easter holiday continues) and this holiday is celebrated on the Tuesday after Easter week. On this day, a funeral service is served and believers visit the cemetery to pray for the departed, so that Easter joy will be passed on to them.

They began to visit cemeteries on Easter only in Soviet era when the temples were closed. People who felt the need to gather and share joy could not go to churches, which were closed, and went to the cemetery on Easter instead of going a week later. The cemetery seemed to replace a visit to the temple. And now that churches are open, so this Soviet-era tradition cannot be justified, it is necessary to restore church tradition: be in church on Easter Day and celebrate the joyful holiday, and go to the cemetery on Radonitsa.

We must remember that the tradition of leaving food and Easter eggs on graves is paganism, which was revived in the Soviet Union when the state persecuted the right-wing faith. When faith is persecuted, severe superstitions arise.

The souls of our departed loved ones need prayer. From a church point of view, the ritual when they place vodka and black bread on the grave, and next to it a photograph of the deceased, is unacceptable: this, speaking modern language– a remake, because, for example, photography appeared a little over a hundred years ago: this means that this tradition is new.

As for commemorating the dead with alcohol: any kind of drunkenness is unacceptable. IN holy scripture the use of wine is permitted: “Wine makes glad the heart of a man” (Psalm 103:15), but warns against excess: “Do not get drunk with wine, for there is fornication in it” (Eph. 5:18). You can drink, but you can't get drunk. And I repeat again, the deceased need our fervent prayer, our pure heart and a sober mind, alms given for them, but not vodka.

How are the dead remembered on Easter?

On Easter, many people visit the cemetery where the graves of their loved ones are located. Unfortunately, in some families there is a blasphemous custom of accompanying these visits to the graves of their relatives with wild drunken revelry. But even those who do not celebrate pagan drunken funeral feasts at the graves of their loved ones, so offensive to every Christian feeling, often do not know when Easter days it is possible and necessary to remember the dead.
The first commemoration of the dead takes place on the second week, after St. Thomas Sunday, on Tuesday.
The basis for this commemoration is, on the one hand, the remembrance of the descent of Jesus Christ into hell, connected with the Resurrection of St. Thomas, and, on the other, the permission of the Church Charter to carry out the usual commemoration of the dead, starting with St. Thomas Monday. According to this permission, believers come to the graves of their neighbors with the joyful news of the Resurrection of Christ, hence the day of remembrance itself is called Radonitsa.

How to properly remember the dead?

Prayer for the departed is the greatest and most important thing we can do for those who have passed on to another world.
By by and large, the deceased does not need either a coffin or a monument - all this is a tribute to traditions, albeit pious ones.
But forever living soul The deceased experiences a great need for our constant prayer, because she herself cannot do good deeds with which she would be able to appease God.
That is why prayer at home for loved ones, prayer in the cemetery at the grave of the deceased is the duty of everyone Orthodox Christian.
But commemoration in the Church provides special help to the deceased.
Before visiting the cemetery, you should come to the church at the beginning of the service, submit a note with the names of your deceased relatives for commemoration at the altar (it is best if this is a commemoration at the proskomedia, when a piece is taken out of a special prosphora for the deceased, and then as a sign of washing away his sins will be lowered into the Chalice with the Holy Gifts).
After the Liturgy, a memorial service must be celebrated.
The prayer will be more effective if the one commemorating on this day himself partakes of the Body and Blood of Christ.
It is very useful to donate to the church, give alms to the poor with a request to pray for the departed.

How to behave in a cemetery?

Arriving at the cemetery, you need to light a candle and perform lithium(this word literally means intense prayer. To perform the rite of litia in commemoration of the dead, a priest must be invited. A briefer rite, which a lay person can also perform, is given in the “Complete Orthodox Prayer Book for Lay People” and in the brochure “How to Conduct in a Cemetery”, published by our publishing house).
Then clean up the grave or simply remain silent and remember the deceased.
There is no need to eat or drink in a cemetery; it is especially unacceptable to pour vodka into a grave mound - this insults the memory of the dead. The custom of leaving a glass of vodka and a piece of bread at the grave “for the deceased” is a relic of paganism and should not be observed in Orthodox families.
There is no need to leave food on the grave; it is better to give it to the beggar or the hungry.

using materials from the site zavet.ru

Is it possible to go to a cemetery on Easter? This is a question that concerns many people. The answer to it is unanimous - it is impossible. And all because Easter is the main thing church holiday, which believers are looking forward to. He clearly proves that life has conquered death. Jesus Christ did this first. And every person who follows him already has eternal life.

On this day they do not remember the dead, but rejoice and celebrate a bright holiday. There are no funeral services for Easter. A trip to the cemetery on the Resurrection of Christ is considered a sin. Because this holiday, which is the first in a series of forty holidays, you need to spend it with your family and loved ones. Easter is a holiday of the living.

Visiting a cemetery on Easter: the history of the custom

Some people even today have a desire to go to a cemetery on Easter. This tradition appeared in Soviet times. The fact is that visiting the cemetery on Easter was not practiced before the 1917 revolution. In those days, people went to church to defend the service. Villagers sometimes had to travel a long way to get to the temple. Churches at that time were built mainly near cemeteries, and therefore, after the service, believers also visited the graves of their ancestors. They cleaned up the churchyard and remembered old times.

With the arrival Soviet power Most of the churches were destroyed, and visiting the survivors was severely punished. That’s when believers decided to visit cemeteries on Easter. Nobody prohibited such visits. This tradition has especially taken root in villages and villages.

Today, priests publicly announce that one should not go to the cemetery on Easter. After all, there are specially designated areas for this, for example, parents' Saturdays.

Easter is a bright holiday that celebrates the resurrection of Christ from the dead. Therefore, it is important to think about the good and enjoy everything we have. After all, the fact that Jesus was resurrected proves that there is no death, but only a transition to eternal life.

When to go to the cemetery - before or after Easter?

You can go to the cemetery until Easter. There are special days for this – parent’s Saturdays. During Lent there are three. On any of these days you can visit the graves of your ancestors.

After Easter, people also go to the churchyard on a specially designated day, which falls on the Tuesday after Easter week. Before visiting the cemetery, priests recommend going to church and praying for deceased relatives, and only after that going to the graveyard.

How to properly remember the dead?

Prayer for the departed is the most important thing we can do for those who have passed on to another world. By and large, a deceased person does not need a coffin, a cross, or a monument - all this is a tribute to tradition. The eternally living soul of the deceased experiences a great need for constant prayer. After all, she can no longer do good deeds with which she could appease God. That is why the duty of any Orthodox Christian is to pray at home for the deceased, and to pray in the cemetery at the grave.

Commemoration in the Church provides special assistance. Before going to the cemetery, you should visit the temple. Come to the beginning of the service, submit a note with the names of the deceased for commemoration at the altar. After the Liturgy, it is necessary to serve a memorial service.

The prayer will be more effective if the one commemorating himself receives communion on this day. You can also give alms to the poor, asking them to pray for the deceased.

How to behave in a cemetery?

Arriving at the cemetery, you need to light a candle and once again pray for the deceased. A good custom is to invite a priest to the grave to serve the funeral litia.

The grave needs to be cleaned up. Remember the good moments from the life of the deceased. Most people leave candy and cookies on graves. The priests argue that there is no need to do this and that it is better to distribute food to the poor.

Video: Is it possible to go to the cemetery on Easter: what does the church say?