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Grant Rest, O Lord, to the Souls of your Servants

Once St. Silouan the Athonite asked a fellow ascetic, “Should I pray for the dead?” He sighed and gave this response: “’Were It possible I would pray everyone out of hell, and only then would my soul be easy and rejoice.’ As he spoke, he made a gesture with his arms as if he were gathering up sheaves of corn in a field, and tears streamed from his eyes.”

(St. Silouan the Athonite, p 468)

In these upcoming weeks of Triodion and Lent, we will also enter the field of prayer. Our labors will not be just for ourselves, but for the whole church, including those who have gone before us into the mysterious realm of eternity. In the love of the one body of Christ, we pray for the departed and they pray for us. And if they are not able to pray for us, that is all the more reason to pray for them. “Inasmuch as ye have done unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto Me.” (Matt. 25:40)

We pray for departed souls throughout the year, but it is intensified and amplified in the approaching season. The first Soul Saturday comes the day before the Sunday of the Last Judgment. We beg for mercy for those who have gone before us, in part, because we also desire to be treated with mercy on the Day of Judgment. “With the measure you mete, it will be measured to you.” (Mark 4:24)

In the year 842, the last iconoclast emperor, Theophilos, breathed his last. He was a fierce persecutor of the defenders of icons, and was responsible for imprisoning, torturing, banishing, and killing many holy men and women. But Theophilos had a saintly wife, the Empress Theodora (commemorated Feb 11). St. Theodora mourned his passing and prayed ardently for his repose. She knew he was suffering bitterly for the sins of his life.

Just before Lent, she, the Patriarch Methodios (commemorated June 14), and a host of holy men restored the veneration of icons to the church. But while they were all together, rejoicing in God's mercy, she asked them to join her in prayer for her departed husband. They at first refused, but they were won over by her tears and pleading, for on his deathbed the Emperor had repented, venerated icons, and confessed his error.

These assembled holy men, many of whom had been actively persecuted by Theophilos, fasted, supplicated God, and held all-night vigils throughout the first week of Great Lent. At the end of the week, it was revealed to them through dreams and signs that Christ had released Theophilos from his torments.

This triumph of forgiveness was a triumph of joy for all who took part. God's love, working through St. Theodora and the others prevailed and saved Theophilos. In great joy, the Empress, Patriarch and assembled faithful processed with the icons and gave us the Sunday of Orthodoxy tradition (First Sunday of Great Lent).

This narrative pictures the union of our repentance with prayer for the departed. We purify ourselves during the five weekdays of Lent, and then we offer ourselves and our prayers on behalf of the departed souls. Even Lazarus Saturday and Great and Holy Saturday have this implicit significance for departed souls as we focus on Christ's defeat of death and His descent into Hades.

The Soul Saturdays are part of a larger liturgical pattern of prayers for the departed.

  • On the day of a person's repose, a memorial service is served.
  • The funeral follows within the next few days.
  • On the third day, another memorial service is offered in honor of the Trinity who gives being to the soul.
  • On the ninth day, the memorial is offered so that the soul may dwell with the nine ranks of angels.
  • On the fortieth day, the memorial is held in view of Christ's ascension on the fortieth day, and we pray that the deceased maybe united with Christ in the heavenly Kingdom.
  • Once again in honor of the Trinity, the memorial is held at the three-month anniversary as well as the six month and nine-month anniversary.
  • The one-year memorial is then observed.
  • In conjunction with the above, it is also important for the name of the deceased to be submitted for commemoration during the Divine Liturgy.

The above liturgical pattern also reflects a healthy grieving cycle. We give the grief of death its due, but not in unrelenting fashion. The tapering off of the services coincides with the allaying of our grief and the resumption of normal activities.

Memorial services may or may not be accompanied by kollyva. St. Symeon of Thessalonica explains the significance of Kollyva as follows: “The kollyva is offered because man is also a seed and like a fruit from the earth. And like a seed sown in the earth he will be raised up again by God's might.” (Synaxaristes, Triodion volume, p. 81)

Often the psalter is read on behalf of the departed soul. Other prayers may be said, alms given, or other good deeds performed in the name of the departed soul.

St. John Chrysostom gives us this encouraging word to pray for departed souls.

Help him, as far as possible, not by tears, but by prayers and supplications and alms and offerings. For not unmeaningly have these things been devised, nor do we in vain make mention of the departed in the course of the divine Mysteries, and approach God in their behalf, beseeching the Lamb Who is before us, Who taketh away the sin of the world; - not in vain, but that some refreshment may thereby ensue to them… Yea, it is by the ordinance of the Spirit that these things are done. For in truth one body are we all, though some members are more glorious than others; and it is possible from every source to gather pardon for them, from our prayers, from our gifts in their behalf, from those whose names are named with theirs. Why therefore dost thou grieve? Why mourn, when it is in thy power to gather so much pardon for the departed? (Synaxaristes, Triodion volume, p 86)

We are members of each other so let us pray for one another that we may be healed (cf. James 5:16). Let us be merciful as our Father in heaven is merciful. He desires to help the departed souls through our prayers. And as we focus the rays of prayer on ourselves and everyone, both the living and the departed, may we harvest an abundance of joy in the Lord.

 

 
 
 
 
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