Today is Anna's birthday. Happy birthday, sweetie! Many years!
It is also the fortieth day of my Grandma Christine's repose:
For forty days the newly departed is prayed for by the priest at the Liturgy, and particles of the prosphora sent up to him are placed in the chalice, the rest being cut up and shared by the sisters, who then remember her prayerfully. It is a custom to serve a pannikhida on the ninth day, and more importantly on the fortieth, when, by popular belief, the soul is conducted to the habitation prepared for it, where it will stay until the Dread Judgment.
May Grandma's memory be eternal. (See also St. John the Wonderworker's sermon, Life After Death.)
Posted by Clifton at October 19, 2005 08:26 AM | TrackBack