Third Saturday of Souls of Great Lent

The Lenten memorial Saturdays arose in part from a practical feature of the fast: the full Divine Liturgy is not served on the weekdays of Great Lent. Because Saturday is the day the Church has appointed for the commemoration of faithful Orthodox Christians who have departed this life, the second, third, and fourth Saturdays of the fast were designated as Memorial Saturdays on which the departed could be commemorated within the Liturgy.

During Great Lent the Church deliberately increases its commemoration of the deceased. This serves a double purpose: it reminds the believer of his own mortality, deepening the spirit of penitence, and it recalls the Christian obligation of charity expressed in prayer for the departed. On these designated Saturdays many of the hymns of the Daily Office and of the Divine Liturgy are dedicated to the remembrance of the departed.

The prayer of the Church for the dead is of ancient origin. Early Christians expressed their care for departed souls through charitable works and communal prayer; the Apostolic Constitutions recommended distributing a deceased person's possessions to the poor in their memory, and Fathers including John Chrysostom, Jerome, and Tertullian endorsed almsgiving for the repose of the departed. The same early tradition established memorial observances on the third, ninth, and fortieth days after a death and on the yearly anniversary.

The memorial prayer offered on these Saturdays takes the form of the Panikhida, whose Greek name is understood to refer to all the dead. Its outline resembles that of Matins and functions as a shortened funeral service, comprising Psalms, litanies, hymns and prayers, the Kontakion of the Departed, and the concluding singing of 'Memory Eternal.' Such services carry a penitential character and are held more frequently during the four fasting seasons of the year — Great Lent, the Nativity Fast, the Apostles' Fast, and the Dormition Fast — and typically follow the Divine Liturgy or Vespers.

Through the Soul Saturdays the Church teaches that the bond of love uniting Christians is not severed by death, and that the living may benefit the departed through prayer, almsgiving, and above all the offering of the Eucharist. St. Cyril of Jerusalem taught that prayers and the offering of the Bloodless Sacrifice for the repose of the departed's souls are of great benefit to them, while St. John Chrysostom emphasized that to mention the names of the departed in the mystery of the Eucharist brings much benefit to the souls of those remembered.

The placement of these memorials within Great Lent binds the commemoration of the departed to the season's own themes of penitence and mortality. In remembering the dead the believer is reminded of his own end, and the resulting sobriety deepens repentance; at the same time the obligation to pray for others draws the faithful out of themselves into the charity that the fast is meant to cultivate.

The offering of kolyva that accompanies the day carries the day's central hope. The dish of boiled wheat draws on the scriptural image of the buried grain that seemingly dies yet rises to new and greater life, and so signifies the bodily resurrection in incorruption. Shaped into a mound resembling a grave and crowned with a cross, and often bearing a lit candle recalling the light of Baptism, the kolyva sets forth in a single offering both the reality of death and the Christian confidence in the resurrection.

That Saturday itself carries this meaning: as the day on which Christ rested in the Tomb, it stands between the cross and the resurrection, making it fitting for the commemoration of those who now await, in the hope of the resurrection, their share in the risen life of Christ.

On the Lenten Memorial Saturdays many of the hymns of the Daily Office and of the Divine Liturgy are appointed to the remembrance of the departed. Within the Panikhida served on the day, the hymnody includes the Kontakion of the Departed and concludes with the singing of 'Memory Eternal' for those commemorated.

A Panikhida, the memorial service for the departed, is typically served following the Divine Liturgy.

Kolyva — boiled wheat sweetened with honey or sugar and mixed with such ingredients as sesame seeds, almonds, walnuts, cinnamon, pomegranate seeds, raisins, anise, and parsley — is blessed by the priest and consumed communally as a memorial after the service.

The kolyva is shaped into a mound resembling a grave, decorated with powdered sugar, and topped with a cross, sometimes with a lit candle set in the center to signify the light of Baptism.

The Lity, a brief prayer service for the departed, may be observed on weekdays of Great Lent when no competing feast day falls.

Kolyva, the liturgically blessed offering of boiled wheat central to Orthodox memorial practice, is used for the benefit of the departed as a form of commemoration. Its basic form is boiled wheat kernels sweetened with honey or sugar, to which are commonly added sesame seeds, almonds, walnuts, cinnamon, pomegranate seeds, raisins, anise, and parsley.

The custom is of great antiquity, with roots reaching back before Christianity to ancient Greek offerings of cooked seeds; the classical scholar Martin P. Nilsson noted the practice as an exceptional instance of the continuity of a cult usage traceable through the ages. In Christian use the offering appears at funerals across Greek, Romanian, Serbian, and other Orthodox traditions, at memorial services on the third, ninth, and fortieth days after death and on anniversaries, on the Soul Saturdays, and on Theodore Saturday, the first Saturday of Great Lent.

The complete cycle of Soul Saturdays in the Orthodox Church includes the Saturday of Meatfare Week before Great Lent; the second, third, and fourth Saturdays of Great Lent; Radonitsa on the Monday or Tuesday following St. Thomas Sunday; the Saturday before Pentecost; the Intercession Saturday before October 1; and Demetrius Saturday before October 26.

Jurisdictional variation exists across this cycle. The Bulgarian Church substitutes the feast of Saint Michael on November 8 for Demetrius Saturday; the Russian Church adds observances including Victory Day on May 9 and a warrior commemoration on September 11; and the Serbian Church keeps a commemoration near the conception of St. John the Baptist on September 23.