On Saturday before the Sunday of the Last Judgment, the Seraphim-Diveyevo monastery, along with all other Orthodox churches, held prayer services to the Lord for all Orthodox Christians who died from here to eternity, so that they could be vouchsafed worthy to stand at the right hand of the Righteous Judge.

At panikhida services held after the early and late-morning Divine Liturgy services in the Trinity and Annunciation Cathedrals, the clergy, sisters, and parishioners of the monastery also prayed for those who found sudden death in foreign lands, in the seas and impassable mountains, on cliffs and precipices, who perished from hunger, at the time of war, from fire or cold. Prayers were raised for the poor and the infirm and all those “who have not received the due psalms and hymns of remembrance.”

The Holy Church reminds us today about our imminent death and the impending trial at the Last Judgment Seat, and at the same time, She hastens us to cheer up those praying with the words, “Christ is risen!” Thus begins the fourth verse of praise of a Saturday before Meatfare Sunday. How joyful it is to hear about the risen Lord long before Pascha on the day of remembrance of the departed! In this – the confirmation of our faith and the good news to the departed, for “death is destroyed, and hell is plundered along with it, and Christ, Who was crucified and rose again, reigns supreme.”