Saturday is the day which the Church has set aside for the commemoration of faithful Orthodox Christians departed this life in the hope of resurrection to eternal life. Since the Divine Liturgy cannot be served on weekdays during Great Lent, the second, third, and fourth Saturdays of the Fast are appointed as Soul Saturdays when the departed are remembered at Liturgy.
In addition to the Liturgy, kollyva (wheat or rice cooked with honey and mixed with raisins, figs, nuts, sesame, etc.) is blessed in church on these Saturdays. The kollyva reminds us of the Lord’s words, “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:24). The kollyva symbolizes the future resurrection of all the dead. As Saint Simeon of Thessalonica (September 15) says, man is also a seed which is planted in the ground after death, and will be raised up again by God’s power. Saint Paul also speaks of this (I Cor. 15:35-49).
It is customary to give alms in memory of the dead in addition to the prayers we offer for their souls. The angel who spoke to Cornelius testifies to the efficacy of almsgiving, “Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God” (Acts 10:4).
Memorial services for the dead may be traced back to ancient times. Chapter 8 of the Apostolic Constitutions recommends memorial services with Psalms for the dead. It also contains a beautiful prayer for the departed, asking that their voluntary and involuntary sins be pardoned, that they be given rest with the Patriarchs, Prophets, and Apostles in a place where sorrow, suffering, and sighing have fled away (Isaiah 35:10). Saint John Chrysostom mentions the service for the dead in one of his homilies on Philippians, and says that it was established by the Apostles. Saint Cyprian of Carthage (Letter 37) also speaks of our duty to remember the martyrs.
The holy Fathers also testify to the benefit of offering prayers, memorial services, Liturgies, and alms for the dead (Saint John Chrysostom, Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, Saint John of Damascus, etc.). Although both the righteous and those who have not repented and corrected themselves may receive benefit and consolation from the Church’s prayer, it has not been revealed to what extent the unrighteous can receive this solace. It is not possible, however, for the Church’s prayer to transfer a soul from a state of evil and condemnation to a state of holiness and blessedness. Saint Basil the Great points out that the time for repentance and forgiveness of sins is during the present life, while the future life is a time for righteous judgment and retribution (Moralia 1). Saint John Chrysostom, Saint Gregory the Theologian, and other patristic writers concur with Saint Basil’s statement.
By praying for others, we bring benefit to them, and also to ourselves, because “God is not so unjust as to forget your work and the love which you showed for His sake in serving the saints...” (Heb. 6:10).
Forefeast of the Annunciation
The Feast of the Annunciation to the Most Holy Theotokos is celebrated on one day March 25, exactly nine months before the Nativity of Christ. There is one day of Prefeast (March 24), followed by the Feast itself. On March 26, we celebrate the Synaxis of the Archangel Gabriel.
Because the Feast of the Annunciation falls during Great Lent, there is no Postfeast of the Feast.
Venerable Zachariah the Recluse
Saint Zachariah the Recluse of Egypt because of his concern for the poor and homeless was called “to the outcast.” In the printed Menaion he is known as “our Monastic Father Zachariah,” and so he has been identified erroneously with Saint Zachariah the Monk.
Saint Artemon, Bishop of Seleucia
Saint Artemon, Bishop of Seleucia, was born and lived in Seleucia of Pisidia (Asia Minor). He was pious and virtuous, therefore when the holy Apostle Paul (June 29) came to Seleucia, he established Saint Artemon as the first bishop of this city, since he was the most worthy. Saint Artemon wisely nourished the flock entrusted to him and won glory as a comforter of the poor and oppressed. Saint Artemon died in great old age.
[In the ancient Slavonic Lives of the Saints “Seleucian” was written as “Seleoukinian” or “Seleunian.” However, in several of the Greek memorials the bishop was also called Solunian (i.e., of Thessalonica). Saint Artemon (or Menignus) was listed in the MENAIA as Seleucian or Solunian. In the second half of the eighteenth century, these two names were mistakenly applied to various persons.]
Venerable Zachariah the Ascetic of the Kiev Caves
Saint Zachariah the Faster of the Caves was an ascetic in the Far Caves in the thirteenth-fourteenth centuries. He fasted so strictly that he ate nothing baked nor boiled, and he consumed only greens once a day at the setting of the sun. Demons trembled at the mere mention of his name.
Often the monk saw angels, with which he deserved to live in Heaven.
Martyr Stephen of Kazan
The Holy Martyr Stephen of Kazan was a Tatar. For more than twenty years, he suffered from a weakness of the legs. After the capture of Kazan by Ivan the Terrible (1552), he believed in Christ and received healing. The saint was baptized by Archpriest Menignus of the Moscow cathedral, who had brought a letter from Metropolitan Macarius to the Russian army.
After the Russian army withdrew from Kazan, the Tatars chopped the martyr Stephen into pieces, scattered his body and plundered his house, because he remained faithful to Christ.
Martyr Peter of Kazan
The Holy Martyr Peter of Kazan was a newly-baptized Tatar who suffered because he converted to Christianity from Islam.
After the Russian army left Kazan, the inhabitants dragged Peter from his home by force, and addressed him by his former Moslem name, hoping that he would deny Christ. But to all flattery and persuasion Saint Peter answered, “My father and mother is God Who is glorified in Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. If you believe in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, then you are my family. I was named Peter in holy Baptism, and I will not answer to the name by which you address me.”
Seeing that he would remain steadfast in the Faith, his family had him tortured. He endured fierce torments, but he did not cease to confess the Name of Christ, saying, “I am a Christian.” The holy martyr was buried in Kazan on the site where the church of the Resurrection of Christ later stood, at the Zhitny-Grain marketplace.
For the Lives of the holy martyrs Stephen and Peter of Kazan see: “Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate,” 1977, No. 9, p. 79-80.
Icon of the Mother of God of “the Uncut Mount” or “Clouded Mountain”
About 250-300 years ago1 this icon was in one of the men’s monasteries of Tver and the Superior gave it to Cosmas Volchaninov in gratitude for his fine work in the Monastery church. The Icon was passed down from generation to generation, but an irreverent grandson of Cosmas took the darkened Icon and put it in the attic. His daughter-in-law had to endure many insults from her husband and his relatives. In desperation, she decided to commit suicide in a deserted bath-house. On her way there a monk appeared to her and said, “Where are you going, you unhappy woman? Go back, pray to the Theotokos of "The Clouded Mount," and you will live well, and in peace.”
The distressed woman returned home and revealed everything to her family, not concealing what she had intended to do. They searched for the monk, but they did not find him. No one saw him but her. This occurred on the eve of the Feast of the Annunciation to the Most Holy Theotokos.
They found the Icon in the attic, cleaned off the dirt, and put it downstairs, in a place of honor. In the evening, the parish priest served an All-night Vigil before the Icon. From that time, a Vigil was served in the house every year on this day.
For more than 150 years the Icon remained in the Volchaninov family. Katherine, the daughter of Basil, the last of the Volchaninov line, married George Ivanovich Konyaev, taking the Icon of the Mother of God with her as a precious inheritance. Molebens and All-night Vigils were served in the Konyaev house on March 24 and November 7 (perhaps this was the day when the Icon was brought from the monastery to the house of Cosmas Volchaninov).
In 1863, near a cemetery church of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God, it was decided to build a chapel in honor of Saint Tikhon and Saint Makarios of Kalyazin (March 17). The owner of the Icon, George Konyaev (who died in 1868 at the age of 97) wanted to donate the Icon of the Mother of God to the church. He asked the clergy to build another chapel for the wonderworking Icon of the Mother of God of "The Clouded Mountain.”
He also said, “I feel the very best place for it is in the temple of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God, since formerly the place on which the church was built was called a Mount, because it was the highest place in the city. The inhabitants took their possessions to the Mount and saved themselves from ruin during a flood. Let the 'Clouded Mountain' Icon remain here on the Mount with your blessing, and may all who are buried here be protected by her mercy.” On July 15, 1866 the Icon was transferred into the new chapel, which was consecrated by Bishop Anthony of Staritsk the following day.
For three centuries before the Revolution, the "Clouded Mount" Icon of the Mother of God repeatedly worked several miracles. She was taken into the homes of pious citizens, and children were brought to her to be healed. Copies of the Icon were made, which also turned out to be miraculous.
According to the recollection of Father John Bogoslovsky, from the village of Buylovo, his mother brought him to the wonderworking Icon several times when he was a child. He had severe pain in his eyes, and every time he was anointed with oil from a lamp hanging before her Icon, he obtained relief, then finally the disease left him. Grateful worshippers adorned the Icon with a a silver riza, and later the riza was gilded. Unfortunately, the Icon disappeared after the Smolensk church was closed.
The memory of the "Clouded Mount" Icon did not fade, however. In 1993, with the blessing of Archbishop Victor of Tver and Kashin, a copy of the "Clouded Mount" Icon was painted, and veneration of the Icon resumed. The "Clouded Mount" Icon of the Mother of God is commemorated three times a year: on July 16, in honor of the consecration of the altar; on March 24 in honor of the Icon's first miracle; and on November 7 according to ancient custom. Now there is a venerated copy of the Icon in the Ascension Cathedral at Tver.
In the Icon, the Most Holy Theotokos is depicted standing on a semicircular elevation. In her right hand is a small mountain, the "stone cut out of a mountain without hands" (Daniel 2:44), on top of which a domed church with crosses. On her left arm the Divine Child blesses with His right hand. There is a crown on the head of the Mother of God.
We pray before this Icon when faced with desperate situations; when it seems that everyone around us opposes us; and for the correction of errant or fallen relatives.
1 This account is based on Eugene Poselyanin's book The Mother of God (published in 1914), and other sources.
