Sakurtkhi

Sakurtkhi is a table prepared in memory of a departed person, which a priest blesses. At this time prayers are read for the repose of the souls of the departed, a candle is lit, incense is offered and holy water is sprinkled.

Sakurtkhi is made on the days of the commemoration of the departed. These days are the Saturday of Meatfare week and the three Saturdays of Great Lent (the 2nd, the 3rd and the 4th), and the day before Pentecost (it is also called Soul Saturday). Besides these, sakurtkhi is made on the days of the birth and of the death of the departed.

Of course, the soul of the departed does not partake of the food; it is filled with grace by the prayers offered during the sakurtkhi, by the feeding of the poor from the table prepared in the departed's name, and by the giving of alms.

For the sakurtkhi kolivo, or tsandili, is always prepared. This tradition has an interesting history: Julian the Apostate, the emperor of Constantinople, denied Christ and turned to idolatry. He knew that in the first week of Great Lent the faithful kept the fast especially strictly and repented of their sins. Julian ordered the prefect of the city to defile the food sold in the market with the blood of sacrificial animals every day throughout the week. The emperor's order was carried out. St Theodore Tiron (who had suffered for Christ many years before) appeared to Eudoxius, Archbishop of Constantinople, told him that the food was defiled with the blood of what had been offered to idols, and advised that instead of it they should take kolivo — wheat boiled with honey. The Christians got wheat, boiled kolivo and ate it all the week. So they escaped the defiling (the breaking) of the fast. Since then the Saturday of the first week of Great Lent is held to be the day of the commemoration of St Theodore.

Besides the tsandili, there should be on the table bread, wine, oil and such dishes as the relatives of the departed wish to prepare. In a time of fasting only Lenten dishes are blessed, while outside the fast a non-Lenten table may be prepared as well.

Sometimes the sakurtkhi is made at home: a candle is lit, incense is carried round, and with wine the memorial words for the departed are said. This is not enough. The sakurtkhi is called sakurtkhi precisely because it is blessed, and only a priest performs the blessing. At this time a panikhida is served, and the priest in God's name sends forgiveness to the soul of the departed. A layman cannot do this.

After the blessing the sakurtkhi is for the most part left in the church, and part of it is given out to those who serve in the church and part to the poor. At the time of the sakurtkhi an offering is often made in the departed's name as well, as far as one is able.

In some villages there is no church, and it is hard for the relatives of the departed to take the sakurtkhi every time to the church of a neighbouring village, especially in winter. It will be good if such people enter the name of their recently departed relative in the forty-day commemoration of some church, so that the priest may commemorate them for 40 days. They can also give alms in the departed's name, and themselves live in the Church and do good.