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Memorial

On this webpage, you can order a memorial service in the monasteries of the Holy Mount Athos.

During the memorial service, the deceased Christians are being prayerfully commemorated. Seeking for God's mercy, the forgiveness of sins and a blessed eternal life for the departed is prayed for during such services.

It is important to understand the significance of prayers for the departed: the living can pray for themselves, participate in the sacraments of confession and communion, and receive forgiveness of sins. However, the deceased no longer have this opportunity, so they depend on our prayers. While on earth, we can intercede for our departed by performing memorial services and almsgiving in their memory. We are the only hope for the departed to obtain forgiveness and inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. According to the accounts of the holy fathers, fervent prayer for the departed can lead them out of hell.

Memorial services may be performed only for members of the Church, that is, those who were united with Christ through the sacrament of Baptism in the Eastern Orthodox Church; others are prayed for at home or at the cemetery. In addition to the service on the day of death, memorial services are served after the burial, usually on the 3rd, 9th, and 40th days after death, as well as on birthdays, name days, and the anniversaries of death. However, following the wish of the relatives, memorial services can also be performed on other days.

In terms of time, the memorial service lasts longer than the Lity. The service includes the reading of the entire memorial canon and lasts for at least one hour. Therefore, the memorial service is of great benefit for the salvation of the departed soul.

The calendar below indicates the dates on which memorial services can be performed. It also specifies days when memorial services are not served and days that are already booked because only one memorial service can be performed in one Athonite cell on a given day.

Athos St. John the Theologian Kalyve of Katounakia Skete

Suggested donation amount 60.00€

Athos Kalyve of the Holy Unmercenaries (Monastery of St. Paul)

Suggested donation amount 60.00€

Days When Memorial Services are Not Held

  1. On the 12 days from the Nativity of Christ to Theophany (Epiphany)
  2. On the first week of the Great Lent
  3. On the last week of the Great Lent (the Holy Week)
  4. On the Bright Week (the first seven days of Easter)
  5. On the Twelve Great Feasts:
    • Lord’s Feasts
      • The Nativity of Christ (December 25)
      • The Baptism of Christ (January 6)
      • The Presentation of Jesus at the Temple (Candlemas) (February 2)
      • The Transfiguration of Jesus (August 6)
      • The Exaltation of the Cross (September 14)
      • The Entry into Jerusalem (the Sunday before Easter)
      • The Ascension of Christ (forty days after Easter)
      • Pentecost (fifty days after Easter)
    • Theotokos Feasts:
      • The Nativity of the Theotokos (September 8)
      • The Presentation of the Theotokos (November 21)
      • The Annunciation (March 25)
      • The Dormition of the Theotokos (August 15)
  6. On the Great Feasts:
    • Intercession of the Theotokos (October 1)
    • Circumcision of Christ (January 1)
    • Nativity of St. John the Baptist (June 24)
    • Feast of Saints Peter and Paul (June 29)
    • Beheading of St John the Baptist (August 29)

There are other divine services for the commemoration of the departed. In addition to memorial services, the Church performs so-called ecumenical or parental services in memory of the deceased. These are held on special days known as Parental Saturdays. It is customary to bring food for such services; everything placed on the memorial table is considered an almsgiving in prayerful memory of our departed loved ones.

In everyday life, memorial services performed on commemoration days such as Meatfare Saturday, the Second, Third, and Fourth Saturdays of Great Lent, and the Saturday before Pentecost, are often referred to as parental services. While such services do not have a specific common name in the Typikon, the term "Parastas" is also commonly used to describe them. Thus, Parastases, Parental Saturdays, ecumenical or parental memorial services are one and the same; it’s just that different names are used in different geographic areas.

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