Fourth Saturday of Souls of Great Lent

The commemoration of the departed on Saturday reflects an ancient association: Saturday is the day the Church has set aside for remembering faithful Orthodox Christians departed this life, in part because Christ lay dead in the Tomb on Saturday. On these appointed days the Divine Services carry special hymns added to commemorate the departed, and a memorial service — the panikhida (Church Slavonic) or mnemosynon (Greek) — typically follows either Saturday morning's Divine Liturgy or Friday evening's Vespers.

The placement of three such commemorations on the second, third, and fourth Saturdays of Great Lent arises from the structure of the Lenten typikon: because the Divine Liturgy is not served on the weekdays of the Fast, these Saturdays are designated for the fuller liturgical services by which the departed are honored. On weekdays throughout Great Lent, when no competing feast day occurs, only a brief memorial form called the lity may be conducted; the full commemoration is reserved to the Saturdays.

The offering of kolyva that accompanies these days has deep roots. The word derives from the Ancient Greek kollybos. The 12th-century canonist Theodore Balsamon credited Saint Athanasius of Alexandria with originating kolyva as a ritual food during the reign of Emperor Julian the Apostate, and the practice is understood to have passed from an earlier pagan observance — the panspermia ceremony of the Anthesteria festival — into Christian liturgical use in Byzantium.

These commemorations were observed historically across Orthodox regions, including island communities such as Imvros, which indicates they were long-standing elements of Church tradition rather than modern innovations. The OCA calendar identifies the Lenten Soul Saturdays as Memorial Saturdays and confirms all three — the second, third, and fourth Saturdays of the Fast — as formal commemorations.

Through the Soul Saturdays the Church expresses the conviction that prayer and good works benefit the departed. The various prayers for the dead have as their purpose praying for the repose of the departed, comforting the living, and reminding the living of their own mortality and the brevity of this earthly life. In this way the day is directed both toward those who have fallen asleep and toward those who remain.

During Great Lent the Church increases its prayer for the dead, which serves a twofold end: it reminds the believer of his own mortality and so deepens the spirit of penitence, and it calls him to the Christian obligation of charity in praying for the departed. The memorial services carry an air of penitence about them and are served more frequently during the four fasting seasons, aligning these commemorations with Lent's broader emphasis on repentance, fasting, and spiritual cleansing.

The kolyva offered on these days gives visible form to the Church's hope. Made of boiled wheat, it draws on the symbolism of the grain, which expresses the association between death and life — between that which is planted in the ground and that which emerges — mirroring the Orthodox belief in resurrection and eternal life. Shaped into a mound resembling a grave, it is blessed by the priest and eaten as a memorial by all present.

As the last of the Lenten Soul Saturdays, this day gathers up the Fast's remembrance of the departed before Holy Week: the celebration of memorial services is forbidden from Holy Thursday through Bright Week, so the Church's structured Lenten intercession for the dead reaches its final expression here.

On the Soul Saturdays the Church adds special hymns for the departed to the Daily Office and to the Divine Liturgy, so that many of the hymns of these services are dedicated to the remembrance of those who have fallen asleep. The memorial service itself incorporates Psalms, litanies, hymns, and prayers, following the general structure of Matins, and typically concludes with the singing of 'Memory Eternal.'

Saturdays during Great Lent maintain modified fasting rules compared to the weekdays, permitting wine and oil that are otherwise restricted on Lenten weekdays. The Church's fasting discipline should be understood as descriptive of her general practice; particular application varies by typikon and jurisdiction.

Kolyva (boiled wheat) is prepared, brought to the memorial-service table, blessed by the priest, and eaten as a memorial by all present; it is customarily shaped into a mound resembling a grave, dusted with powdered sugar, marked with the deceased's initials, and crowned with a lit candle.

A memorial service — the panikhida (Church Slavonic) or mnemosynon (Greek) — is served for the departed, typically following Saturday morning's Divine Liturgy or Friday evening's Vespers.