Commemoration of deceased warriors

The reverent attitude towards the memory of soldiers who died on the battlefields, following the ancient Slavs, passed on to their descendants - Orthodox believers Thus, Radonitsa, on which it is customary to commemorate the dead, has pagan roots In honor of the holiday, the Slavs remembered their ancestors who had gone to the world of Navi and asked them for advice and help Since ancient times, on these and other days, the Christian Church commemorates soldiers who died for the Fatherland and faith on the battlefield For this purpose, the Orthodox calendar has special dates - Dimitrievskaya and Intercession Saturdays According to church regulations, commemoration of deceased soldiers is also carried out on May 9, Victory Day In memory of all those who died during the difficult years of the Great Patriotic War, a liturgy and a small funeral service are served Believers place candles on the central candlestick or at any icon, depending on the saint or saint they want to address In 2022, prayers for health for those participating in the special operation in Ukraine were added to the tradition of remembrance In the Russian Orthodox Church, the tradition of services in honor of soldiers who died on the battlefield appeared in the 14th century After the Battle of Kulikovo Field in 1380, Dmitry Donskoy arrived at the monastery of the Life-Giving Trinity to Sergius of Radonezh on September 8 The prince thanked the elder and other monks for their prayers for the Russian victory over the Tatars and ordered funeral services to be served for all those who died in the Battle of Mamaeva This is how the tradition of annually commemorating deceased soldiers on Dimitrievskaya Saturday arose In 1903, it was officially consolidated by a decree of Nicholas II, who ordered annual commemoration of soldiers who died “for the Faith, the Tsar and the Fatherland” On October 13, 1552, under Ivan the Terrible, Kazan was captured and the khanate of the same name was liquidated The commemoration of the Orthodox soldiers who died during the assault and those who fell during other periods of the war with the Tatars fell on the Feast of the Intercession of the Holy Virgin Initially, the custom was considered local, but over time it spread from Kazan to other dioceses It was decided to serve the requiem annually on the Saturday after the Intercession of the Holy Mother of God In 1689, by decrees of Ivan V and Peter I, the names of soldiers who died on the battlefield during the Crimean campaign appeared in synodics Before this, the names of three Kazan martyrs - John, Stephen and Peter - were included in church collections After the battles of the Russian state in 1769 with the Ottoman Empire and Poland on the Day of the Beheading of the head of St John the Baptist began to commemorate “Orthodox soldiers and all who laid down their lives for the faith and fatherland” The number of funeral services in the Church Charter increased Since 1995, May 9 began to be considered not only Victory Day, but also a solemn date for commemorating all those who died on the battlefields during the Great Patriotic War There is nothing surprising in this decision of the church, because During the war, she actively collected funds for the defense of the country from the enemy For 5 years from 1941 to 1945 priests and believers donated more than 200 million rubles to the needs of the army So, with the money of parishioners, a tank column named after them was formed Dmitry Donskoy and the squadron of Alexander Nevsky Commemoration of deceased soldiers is held on May 9 in all churches of the country and foreign parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church In the morning, at the end of the liturgy, they serve a memorial service for the soldiers who died defending their homeland, and hold thanksgiving prayers, visit cemeteries and lay flowers on the graves of veterans