How should names be written on slips submitted to the church, and how should names be mentioned in private prayer for the living and the departed? In church, names of non-Old Believers are entered into a separate list for the litany, but should their names also be mentioned separately in private prayer?

How should names be written on slips submitted to the church, and how should names be mentioned in private prayer for the living and the departed? In church, names of non-Old Believers are entered into a separate list for the litany, but should their names also be mentioned separately in private prayer? #

At every liturgy, the church offers prayers for the living and the departed. The slips with names submitted to the altar are for the priest to pray for the health or repose of those listed.

The Holy Fathers commanded us to pray for all living people—both members of the True Church and those of other faiths or even unbelievers. For believers, we pray that the Lord strengthens them in faith and piety, forgives their voluntary and involuntary sins, grants them physical health, and guides them to salvation. For non-believers and those of other faiths, we pray that the Lord brings them to the true faith and salvation. We are called to love all people, as the Lord commands in the Gospel.

For the departed, however, prayers should only be offered for those who died in unity with the Church of Christ, as others cannot repent or turn to Christ after death (this will be elaborated on below).

Prayers for the Living in Church

At the Proskomedia, when particles are removed from the prosphora, the priest should commemorate only those living in true faith and piety. For example, those living in unblessed cohabitations cannot be commemorated at the Proskomedia, just as they cannot partake of the Holy Mysteries. The Holy Fathers equate the Proskomedia to Holy Communion. However, during litanies and prayer services, it is permissible to pray for those who cannot be commemorated at the Proskomedia, as these prayers are not directly connected to the sacrament of the Eucharist, which is reserved for the “worthy” and the faithful.

Prayers for the Living at Home

At home, prayers for the living can include all relatives and loved ones in a single list. Among some Priestless Old Believers, there is a newly invented practice of replacing “Thy servant” (раба Твоего), referring to God’s servants, with “Thy creation” (создание Твое) when praying for those not of their faith. This innovation is absent in our Church, as all of God’s creation is subject to His will, and every person is God’s servant—either obedient or disobedient, as St. John Chrysostom notes, even regarding Pharaoh who opposed Moses and the Israelites:

“The Lord hath prepared His throne in the heavens; and His kingdom ruleth over all.”
(Psalm 102:19)

Prayers for the Departed

For those baptized in the true faith but who died without repentance, or who fell into heresy or unbelief, prayers may be offered to St. Paisius the Great, who received the grace from God to alleviate the posthumous state of such souls through his prayers. A canon to this saint may be read, or prayers accompanied by bows or prostrations (the number of prostrations is at one’s discretion; according to an oral tradition, one canon may be prayed with 300 bows, equivalent to three lestovkas).

For non-Orthodox relatives who have passed away, prayers may be offered to the martyr Uar (Varus), either by reading his canon or through bows and prostrations.

St. Theodore the Studite permitted private prayers for the repose of non-Orthodox relatives but strictly forbade mentioning their names in public church prayers:

“Each may pray for such individuals in their soul and give alms on their behalf.”

The Old Believer Synod of Bishops in September 1912 addressed this issue, issuing the following resolution:

“The Holy Synod, gathered in the Holy Spirit in the reigning city of Moscow, in the Church of the Nativity of Christ, on September 24, 1912, having heard the petition of Christians from the Podoinikov community regarding the commemoration of their relatives who died in Priestless Old Belief, decreed: they may pray for them in church in general prayer as follows: ‘Our forefathers, fathers, brothers, and relatives according to the flesh, and all Orthodox Christians’; and in private prayer, they may pray for them in accordance with the instructions of St. Theodore the Studite in his 219th letter.”

This resolution should also be considered when deciding whether to pray for the repose of not only Priestless Old Believers but also others who died outside the communion of the Orthodox Old Believer Church. Additionally, the life of St. Macarius the Great tells us that when the liturgy commemorates deceased Christians, even the souls of non-Christian departed receive some comfort in their spiritual prisons.

As St. Theodore the Studite instructed, almsgiving on behalf of the departed is a beneficial practice, and this applies equally to prayers for the living.

—Archpriest Vadim Korovin.