On Dimitri Memorial Saturday, Metropolitan Alexander Held a Panikhida at the Church of the Representation of the Metropolitan District in Moscow

November 2, 2024 – Dimitri Memorial Saturday. Traditionally, the Saturday closest to the commemoration of Saint Demetrius of Thessalonica (November 8) was originally dedicated to the prayerful remembrance of warriors who fell in the Battle of Kulikovo. Over time, Dimitri Saturday became a day for the commemoration of all departed Orthodox Christians.

Following the Divine Liturgy at the Church of Saints Faith, Hope, Love, and Sophia in Miusy Square—the Representation of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan in Moscow—Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan conducted a panikhida for all “Orthodox Christians who have reposed from ages past until this day.”

Praying at the service were the keyholder of the church, Hieromonk Antony (Drobyazko), clergy, staff members of the Representation, and parishioners.

During the panikhida, special prayers were offered for the parents of the Head of the Metropolitan District—the ever-memorable Gennadiy Fyodorovich and Anastasia Mikhailovna (November 2 being the anniversary of her birth).

At the end of the memorial service, Metropolitan Alexander addressed the gathered faithful with an archpastoral message on the significance of remembering the departed.

“The Church possesses the great power, granted by God, to change the fate of its departed members. We bring notes with beloved names to the church, earnestly praying for the forgiveness of voluntary and involuntary sins of our ‘relatives and loved ones who lived before us and have reposed.’ We offer prosphoras, from which particles are taken at the beginning of the Liturgy, during the Proskomedia at the holy altar. During the Divine Service, a significant spiritual moment occurs—all these particles are immersed in the chalice with the Most Pure and Life-Giving Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, as the prayer is pronounced: ‘Wash away, O Lord, the sins of all who have been remembered here by Thy Precious Blood, through the prayers of Thy saints.’ Our relatives, close ones, and those named in the memorial notes receive grace, sanctification, and remission of sins through the Unbloody Sacrifice offered upon the Altar. Those righteous ones to whom God, in His special providence, has revealed the mysteries of the afterlife bear witness that the souls of the departed are filled with the greatest consolation and unspeakable joy when the Church prays for them and the Unbloody Sacrifice of the Holy Eucharist is offered.” – From the sermon of Metropolitan Alexander.