Today according to our Church calendar it is the Day of the Souls. We remember and pray for our beloved departed, both in the Church and at the Cemetery - over the graves.
The Holy Fathers specified that we perform Services for the reposed today, because tomorrow we shall welcome the All-Holy Spirit and shall fervently be entreating the Lord for ourselves, that He send us His All-Holy Spirit to illumine us and strengthen us in the fear of God and in keeping the commandments and to guide us in obtaining eternal life. We shall also be praying for the deceased, that He give them rest in His lovely and long-for dwellings.
In praying for the dead, on the one hand, we show our love for our deceased fathers and brothers and, on the other hand, we become more keenly aware of the vanity of this world, and thus we receive great benefit to our souls. For nothing rouses the slothful to repentance better than the recollection of death. And nothing else brings us to the recollection of death as well as the memory of our loved ones who have slept the eternal sleep.
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