Holy Souls Saturdays

[marywarfield]

Looking to incorporate more devotion to the Holy
Souls into our Lenten life. My family is Roman but
in homeschool here we study both Western and Eastern.
Could those Easterners here give me more background,
reasonings, and traditions on Holy Souls Saturdays?

Thank you.

 

[Vico]

In the Byzantine typikon, on Meatfare Sunday, the day before the Sunday of the Last Judgement, there is a universal commemoration of the dead called First All Souls Saturday. Four other commemorations of the dead are on the second, third, and fourth Saturdays of the Great Fast and on the Saturday before Pentecost Sunday.

To God, we commend those that departed before us now awaiting the Last Judgement. On these Saturdays there is a strong sense of the bond of mutual love linking the members of the Church alive or dead. Death is no obstacle for those who believe in the risen Christ since all are alive in Him. We are conscious of the need to pray insistently on the behalf of our faithfully departed brothers and sisters.