by H.E. Metropolitan Apostolos of New Jersey
The Saturday of Souls is not merely a “day of remembrance”, but a confession of faith that the Church is one Body that transcends the limits of death. The living and the departed share in the same divine grace, because “God is not the God of the dead, but of the living”.
Prayer for the departed expresses this communion of love and the certainty that death does not sever ecclesial relationship.
The Church prays for the repose of souls not as a “magical act”, but as a supplication to the mercy of God.
The Saturday of Souls emphasizes that salvation is a gift of divine philanthropy; that repentance and the healing of the human person have an eternal horizon; and that the final criterion is the Resurrection and the Judgment of Christ, where everything is illumined by His love.
Saturday is a day of rest and remembrance of the departed, with its culmination in Holy Saturday.
Kollyva (the seed that “dies” in order to bear fruit) are an image of the Resurrection: death is not an end, but a passage to incorruption.
Saint John Chrysostom stresses that prayer and almsgiving for the departed are not in vain; the Church performs them “not in vain”, but in faith that God acts salvifically on their behalf.
In the liturgical tradition of Saint Basil the Great, the commemoration of the living and the departed is clearly distinguished within the same Eucharistic anaphora, showing that all belong to the same hope.
Saint Gregory the Theologian speaks of the mystery of death in the light of the Resurrection, underscoring that the Church’s remembrance of the departed is a confession of faith in the final restoration.
Saint Maximus the Confessor, with his theology of the “recapitulation” of all things in Christ, helps us see that the whole creation, the living and departed, move toward their final transfiguration.
My Beloved,
the Saturday of Souls is an act of love toward those who have fallen asleep; a confession of faith in the Resurrection; a witness of hope that no one is lost from the memory of God.
We do not “change” God through our prayers; we open our hearts to His mercy and affirm that the Church already lives, even now, the unity of heaven and earth.
