Akathist for the Help of the Souls of the Departed
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, through the prayers of Thy most pure Mother and of all the saints, have mercy on us. Amen.
Glory to Thee, our God, glory to Thee.
O Heavenly King, Comforter, Spirit of Truth, who art everywhere present and fillest all things with Thy grace, Treasury of good things and Giver of life: come and abide in us, and cleanse us from every stain, and save our souls, O Good One.
Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us. (Thrice, with three small bows)
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, both now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
O Most Holy Trinity, have mercy on us; O Lord, deliver us and release us from our sins; O Master, pardon our iniquities, for Thy name’s sake.
Lord, have mercy. (Thrice)
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, both now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.
Lord, have mercy. (Twelve times)
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, both now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
O come, let us worship and fall down before God our King. (Prostration) O come, let us worship and fall down before Christ, our King and God. (Prostration) O come, let us worship and fall down before Christ Himself, our King and our God. (Prostration)
Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy great mercy; and according to the multitude of thy compassions blot out my transgression. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I am conscious of mine iniquity; and my sin is continually before me. Against thee only have I sinned, and done evil before thee: that thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged. For, behold, I was conceived in iniquities, and in sins did my mother conceive me. For, behold, thou lovest truth: thou hast manifested to me the secret and hidden things of thy wisdom. Thou shalt sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be purified: thou shalt wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow. Thou shalt cause me to hear gladness and joy: the afflicted bones shall rejoice. Turn away thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit in my inward parts. Cast me not away from thy presence; and remove not thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of thy salvation: establish me with thy directing Spirit. Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and ungodly men shall turn to thee. Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation: and my tongue shall joyfully declare thy righteousness. O Lord, thou shalt open my lips; and my mouth shall declare thy praise. For if thou desiredst sacrifice, I would have given it: thou wilt not take pleasure in whole-burnt-offerings. Sacrifice to God is a broken spirit: a broken and humbled heart God will not despise. Do good, O Lord, to Sion in thy good pleasure; and let the walls of Jerusalem be built. Then shalt thou be pleased with a sacrifice of righteousness, offering, and whole-burnt-sacrifices: then shall they offer calves upon thine altar.
O Thou who by Thine incomprehensible providence hast prepared the world for eternal delight, who in the depth of Thy dispensations knowest the bound, the order and the ordering of each man’s life: do Thou, O Lord, forgive all their transgressions to those who have departed from the ages; set them in the joy and light of the righteous; receive into the Father’s embrace those who flee to Thee, and hear us who keep their memory and sing:
O Lord, ineffable Love, remember Thy departed servants and handmaids.
When Thou didst send to earth, O Lord, Thine only-begotten Son, who delivered from perdition the drowned Adam and the men who had perished before, Thou didst make life without end shine forth for us by His Cross and Resurrection; wherefore, hoping in the abyss of Thy mercies and awaiting Thine incorruptible kingdom, we ask Thee to bestow it on the departed, and we entreat Thee: grant joy to the souls of the departed who suffered in this life from afflictions and pains; make them worthy to have their sighs and sorrows stilled; take them, O Lord, into Thy bosom, as a mother taketh her children, and say to them: “Your sins are forgiven you.” Receive them, O Lord, into Thy blessed and quiet haven, that they may ever rejoice in Thy divine glory.
O Lord, ineffable Love, remember Thy departed servants and handmaids.
To the venerable Macarius, made wise by radiance beyond measure, a heathen’s skull cried out: “When ye make prayer, even the heathen tormented in hell are comforted.” O wondrous power of Christian prayers, whereby even those in the nether world are relieved for a moment, when we cry out for all the earth: Alleluia.
The venerable father Isaac the Syrian once said: “A heart filled with mercy for men, for beasts and for every creature crieth out at all times with tears and prayer, that they may be kept and cleansed.” So we all also cry boldly to the Lord for those who have departed from the ages: grant us, O Lord, the burning gift of prayer for the departed; remember, O Lord, all who charged us, unworthy as we are, to remember them in our prayers; forgive them the sins they themselves have forgotten; remember, O Lord, those buried without prayer, and receive into Thy dwelling those who died a sudden death through unlooked-for sorrow or earthly joy.
O Lord, ineffable Love, remember Thy departed servants and handmaids.
We are guilty of the sorrow of the world, as ones of many sins; for by the fall into sin the blessedness and beauty of God’s creatures were shattered. O Thou who art the greatest among all who suffered innocently, Christ our God, who alone hast power to forgive sins, forgive now also those who have died in Orthodoxy all the sins they committed, and bestow on this earth Thy first-created good order, that all may cry together: Alleluia.
O joyful Light, Redeemer of the whole world, behold, we hear from the Cross Thy cry raised up for Thine enemies: “Father, forgive them.” Looking upon Thy forgiveness, we boldly entreat our heavenly Father for the bringing to understanding of Thine enemies, and we cry to Thee: forgive us also, O Lord, who have shed innocent blood and thereby filled the path of this our temporal life with sorrow, and built our well-being upon our neighbours. Punish not, O Master, our persecutors who wickedly slander us, and repay with Thy mercy those who in their ignorance repaid Thee with reproach and contempt. Behold, may this holy prayer, offered for their bringing to understanding, prosper through this mystery of the offering.
O Lord, ineffable Love, remember Thy departed servants and handmaids.
Save, O Lord, all the Orthodox who have died in torments, the slain, those buried alive, all whom water hath covered and whom war, earthquake, pestilence, famine and consuming fire have struck down, those torn apart by beasts, reptiles and birds, and those frozen by the cold, and all who ended their lives by falling from a height: establish, O Lord, their souls in Thine eternal place of joy, that they may bless Thee, our most merciful God, and cry: Alleluia.
To all who went down to the grave in youth, wounded by the thorns of this temporal life, render in the bounty of Thy mercy the abyss of Thy love, O Lord; and grant Thy reward to all who died of heavy toil; set them in the delight of Paradise — youths and maidens — and make them worthy of the gladness of the supper of Thy Son. Be a Comforter, O Lord, to the parents who grieve for their departed children; give rest to the souls of those who died without heirs, for whom there is none to raise a prayer to Thee, the Creator of the world. Therefore we entreat Thee: by the radiance of Thy great mercy blot out their sins.
O Lord, ineffable Love, remember Thy departed servants and handmaids.
As a sign of endless understanding and repentance, O Lord, death hath been given us. By the dread flash of its lightning the vanity of this temporal life is laid bare, when our fleshly passions and torments fall silent, when the rebellious mind is humbled, and when each man, drowned in sin and made hopeless, on the bed of death confesseth Thine eternal being and cries to Thy mercy: Alleluia.
O Father of all consolation, who enlightenest us with the sun, sweetenest us with fruits and gladdenest us with the beauty of the world: we believe that Thy mercy, wherewith Thou hast mercy on us sinners every day, will never fail in our life to come; but we grieve for those who with lawlessness and fury defile Thy holy things. Work upon them also, O Lord, Thy will that bringeth to understanding and leadeth to repentance; and we entreat Thee, O Lord: quench the flame of their sins in the abyss of Thy mercy.
O Lord, ineffable Love, remember Thy departed servants and handmaids.
Dreadful is the darkness of a soul parted from God, the gnawing of conscience, the gnashing of teeth, the unquenchable fire and the sleepless worm. I tremble at such a recompense, and as for myself I entreat Thee for them, O Lord: may our song be to them a cooling dew: Alleluia.
Thy light hath shone upon those who sat in darkness, O Christ our God — upon those who sat in hell and under the shadow of death; for when Thou didst descend into hell, Thou didst lead forth all the souls of the righteous there who had not denied Thee. Look now also upon these souls who have died in Orthodoxy, and may Thy love be to them not a consuming fire but the coolness of Paradise.
O Lord, ineffable Love, remember Thy departed servants and handmaids.
Help with Thy right hand, O Lord, those who care for Thy departed servants and handmaids, and give them zeal for prayer, that they may remember the souls of Thy departed servants and handmaids, do good works and labour for them, crying: Alleluia.
The catholic Church of our Lord Jesus Christ unceasingly, day by day, raiseth in this world prayer for the souls of the departed; for since the sins of the world were cleansed by the Blood of the Lord, the souls of those who died in Orthodoxy hope to pass from death to life and from earth to heaven, to the altar of God. Have mercy on them, O Lord, through the intercessions of the Theotokos and of all Thy saints, who cry to Thee unceasingly day by day. Accept, O Lord, our supplications and alms offered for them, as a remembrance of the God-pleasing deeds they have done.
O Lord, ineffable Love, remember Thy departed servants and handmaids.
This temporal world is a common grave. Behold, everywhere is the dust and ash of our fathers and brethren, O Christ our God, the only Lover of mankind: forgive their transgressions to Thy Orthodox servants and handmaids who have departed from the ages, that together they may cry to Thee: Alleluia.
The day cometh as a burning furnace, all-consuming, that last day of the great and dread judgement, when the secrets of each shall be revealed and the books of conscience opened. “Be ye reconciled to God,” crieth the apostle Paul, “be reconciled, before that day of dread judgement cometh.” Strengthen us, O God, that by the tears of us the living we may help the souls of those who died in Orthodoxy; and may the sound of the angel’s trumpet at the hour of the last judgement be to them the good tidings of salvation; make them worthy of Thy joyful mercy; crown with glory, O Lord, those who died in Orthodoxy, and cover in Thy goodness the transgressions of their weaknesses. O Lord, who knowest all who call upon Thee by Thy name, remember Thy monks, the blessed pastors and their flocks, who have departed to Thee.
O Lord, ineffable Love, remember Thy departed servants and handmaids.
Pray in this swiftly passing time, every minute, every moment that bringeth us nearer to eternity; for every new pain and every new grey hair telleth us of the corruptibility of our flesh and stirreth us to seek that eternal kingdom, where there is no pain, no sorrow, no grief, no sighing, but the joyful hymn: Alleluia.
As the leaves fall from a tree from time to time, so the days of our life grow fewer with the passing of time, when the gaiety of youth fades, the lamp of joy is quenched and the loneliness of old age cometh, for kinsfolk and friends depart. Where are ye, O youths who kept feast?! Silent are their graves, but their souls dwell in Thy right hand. Let us understand their awaiting in the immaterial dwelling. O Lord, who art the sun most radiant, warm and enlighten the souls of those who died in Orthodoxy, and make us worthy of a joyful meeting in heaven, that together we may magnify Thee. Grant them again the purity of infancy and the carefree days of youth, and may the feast of Pascha be to them life eternal.
O Lord, ineffable Love, remember Thy departed servants and handmaids.
Our tears have flowed upon the graves of our kinsfolk; in hope we entreat Thee and with expectation we cry to Thee: command us, O Lord, concerning the forgiveness of their sins, and reveal all this to our souls by Thy mystical revelation, that we may cry to Thee: Alleluia.
When I consider the past path of our life, I behold the multitude of men who have departed from the ages until now, and their God-pleasing deeds, and I cry to Thee: make worthy of Thy glory in heaven, O Lord, my parents and those near to me, who kept watch at the pillow of my childhood, who fed me and brought me up. Glorify, O Lord, before the holy angels all who proclaimed to me the word, the goodness and the righteousness of salvation, and taught me by their holy life. Sweeten their life, O Lord, for like manna from heaven it was sent to me in my sorrows; reward, O Lord, all benefactors and those who pleased Thee, and save them.
O Lord, ineffable Love, remember Thy departed servants and handmaids.
O death, where is thy sting? Where is thy darkness and thy former terror? Henceforth thou art longed for by the righteous, as one who uniteth them inseparably with God. O great stillness of the mystical Sabbath! For “we have a desire to depart and to be with Christ”, according to the word of the apostle; wherefore we too, who see death as the path that leadeth to eternity, cry aloud: Alleluia.
The dead shall arise, and they that are in the graves, and the righteous shall rejoice, for they shall rise incorruptible, glorified in light. O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord: “Behold, I will bring upon you the breath of life, and put skin upon you, and put My spirit in you, and ye shall live, and ye shall know that I am the Lord.”
They shall arise, who from the ancient times were redeemed by the Son of God and set free by His death, upon whom the light of the Resurrection hath shone; open now for them also, O Lord, the depths of Thy perfection, Thou who didst give them light by the sun and the moon, that they may behold the unwaning light of Thy Godhead.
O Lord, ineffable Love, remember Thy departed servants and handmaids.
This corruptible flesh and blood of ours cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Wherefore, while we are in the flesh, we are separated from the kingdom of Christ our God; and though we die, we shall live, if we are counted worthy of that eternal life; for in place of our corruptible flesh we must put on incorruption, and in place of the mortal we must put on immortality, that we may sing in the life of the unwaning light: Alleluia.
We await the meeting with the Lord; we await the dawning light of the Resurrection; we await the rising from the graves of our kinsfolk and those near to us; we hope for their quickening in most reverent beauty; we keep the forefeast of the coming change of all creation, and we cry to our Creator: O Lord, who in Thy goodness didst create all things — and behold, they were very good — Thou who art the Cleanser and Raiser of us who are drowned in the abyss of sin: grant the kingdom to the souls of those who died in Orthodoxy in the new life; make them shine in the heavens as luminaries; be to them, O divine Lamb, a day without evening; and grant us also, O Lord, to be united to their unending joy and with them to keep the Pascha of incorruption.
O Lord, ineffable Love, remember Thy departed servants and handmaids.
O Father without beginning and most merciful, who, willing the salvation of all lost men, didst send them Thy Son and pour out upon them Thy life-giving Spirit: have mercy on, forgive and save our kinsfolk and those near to us, and all who have departed from the ages, and look upon us sinners, that with them we may cry to Thee, our Saviour God, the hymn of victory: Alleluia.
When Thou didst send to earth, O Lord, Thine only-begotten Son, who delivered from perdition the drowned Adam and the men who had perished before, Thou didst make life without end shine forth for us by His Cross and Resurrection; wherefore, hoping in the abyss of Thy mercies and awaiting Thine incorruptible kingdom, we ask Thee to bestow it on the departed, and we entreat Thee: grant joy to the souls of the departed who suffered in this life from afflictions and pains; make them worthy to have their sighs and sorrows stilled; take them, O Lord, into Thy bosom, as a mother taketh her children, and say to them: “Your sins are forgiven you.” Receive them, O Lord, into Thy blessed and quiet haven, that they may ever rejoice in Thy divine glory.
O Lord, ineffable Love, remember Thy departed servants and handmaids.
O Thou who by Thine incomprehensible providence hast prepared the world for eternal delight, who in the depth of Thy dispensations knowest the bound, the order and the ordering of each man’s life: do Thou, O Lord, forgive all their transgressions to those who have departed from the ages; set them in the joy and light of the righteous; receive into the Father’s embrace those who flee to Thee, and hear us who keep their memory and sing:
O Lord, ineffable Love, remember Thy departed servants and handmaids.
O God of spirits and of all flesh, who for our sake didst endure crucifixion and death, who didst despoil the power of hell and raise with Thee the men who had died before; O God our Saviour, who rulest over the living and the dead and didst make all things in wisdom; who didst send us the prophets to announce Thy coming, whose glory the apostles preached, while others enlightened the heathen by baptism, and Thy martyrs received the crown of martyrdom and offer supplication to Thee — with them we also cry:
Give rest, O God, to the souls of Thy servants and handmaids who have departed to Thee in faith; give them rest in the dwelling of the living, where there is no pain, sorrow or sighing; cleanse them, as Thou art the Lover of mankind, and deliver from eternal punishment our fathers and forefathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers, from the first-born to the last, monastics and laymen, youths and maidens, those who died in caves and deserts, who fell asleep in pain and without pain, in joy and in grief; give rest in mercy, O Christ the Saviour, to those who trusted in Thee, and to those torn apart by beasts and cattle, those slain by frost, hail, snow and rains, by torrents and landslides, and those whom the earth hath covered; blot out, O Master, the debts of all tribes and peoples who in every age have sinned against Thee; blot them out, O Saviour, and make them worthy to stand without condemnation before Thy throne.
When Thou judgest all who stand naked before Thy face; when by the last trumpet of Thine angels Thou soundest the resurrection of life for all the faithful; at Thy dread Second Coming set with those on the right hand, O Deliverer, those who served Thee in this world in Orthodoxy and have departed to Thee with zeal, and grant them an acceptable and good defence.
Make worthy of Thy kingdom, O Lord, all who were created in Thine image and have fulfilled Thy life-giving commandments, through the intercessions of Thy most pure Mother and of all Thy saints. Amen.
It is truly meet that we should magnify thee, O Theotokos, who art ever-blessed and all-immaculate and the Mother of our God. Thee, more honourable than the Cherubim, and beyond compare more glorious than the Seraphim, who without corruption gavest birth to God the Word, the only Theotokos, we magnify in song.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, both now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
Lord, have mercy. (Thrice)
O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, through the prayers of Thy most pure Mother, of our venerable and God-bearing fathers and of all the saints, have mercy on us. Amen.
