Weekend Update 2/27
Remembering the Departed
Here in Orthodox Land, we just wrapped up the first week of Great Lent. One of the most poignant aspects of this season is what we call the Saturdays of Souls.
What we do on those Saturdays is pray for the Departed—for everyone who has died. Actually, we pray for the dead on each and every Saturday of the year, but during the spring and early summer the Church sets aside several Saturdays for folks to offer specific prayers for their friends and loved ones.
And when we say we pray for the dead, we get pretty specific: in the hymns for those services, we intercede for folks who were killed in natural disasters and wars and accidents; we pray for people who died as a result of disease and old age and addiction.
We don’t romanticize those losses or sanitize the physical reality of death. We sing about heartbreak and chant about decay.
But those services are also some of the most hopeful of the entire liturgical calendar—and just like every other aspect of life in our parish, those Saturdays have a direct connection to our temple project.
There’s a line in one of the longer hymns that we sing at those services that perfectly expresses that connection. Because when we pray for those who have died, we ask that they, along with us, will be “reshaped in that pristine beauty.”
In other words, we’re asking that, through the mercy of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, all of us—the living and the dead—will be transformed into the image and likeness of the Most Holy Trinity, and that, together, we will make manifest the Beauty of the Kingdom, a Beauty that is untouched by the terrors and tragedies of this world.
And only a fully adorned temple that is going to last for centuries will be able to truly communicate the glorious promise of that vision.
Remembering All the Departed
But as we noted a while back, that vision doesn’t just include our fellow human beings. As Orthodox Christians, we believe that “no creature we love is ever, ultimately, lost.”
That’s why, in our new temple, there will be space in the Calming Room and the Narthex to memorialize the dog whose collar we still keep on the doorknob in the washroom and the horse whose photograph still hangs in a stall out in the barn and the cat we buried in a clearing that we still visit whenever we camp out in that particular state park.
We don’t remember those creatures on the Saturdays of Souls (though I don’t know a priest worth his salt who hasn’t whispered to a grieving child, “Sure. You can light a candle for your dead gerbil.”), but none of those animals are overlooked in the love of the Most Holy Trinity, either in this life or the next (“…not a sparrow falls to the ground without your Father’s leave”), so it’s only fitting that we memorialize them in a temple dedicated to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
“So, what are those kinds of memorials going to cost?”
Gee, we thought you’d never ask.
I mean, we’ve always been totally up-front about what we’re doing with this Substack: we’re raising money to build that new temple, so the pricing is going to reflect not only the cost of having the image painted on the wall by a master iconographer, but also a contribution to our Building Fund.
Here’s the breakdown:
Small Animals (fish, hamsters, mice, birds, snakes): $5,000
Medium-Sized Animals (cats, dogs): $10,000
Large Animals (ponies, horses, sheep, cattle, bears): $15,000
And, sure, that’s a lot of money, but we’re talking about images that are still going to be here in 2626.
That means 600 years from now, the love of the golden retriever who lay next to you on the bed as you were going through chemo will still be remembered.
And, yes, this is a limited offer.
We’re not trying to put any moves on you here; we just want to be honest: there’s only going to be so much space in the Calming Room and the Narthex, so, if you even think this is something you’d like to be a part of, get in touch with us soon.
But, of course, there are also lots of other ways to remember the departed and to support us.
For example, you’re welcome to join us on the two Saturdays of Souls that still remain on our parish calendar. We’ll be offering those services on March 14 and on May 30. On both of those Saturdays, we will offer Orthros at 6am and Divine Liturgy at 8am, and you can intercede for your friends and family members as we pray for our loved ones.
You can also join with us in offering The Akathist for a New Temple (PDF/video) or purchase some of our cool merch. You can upgrade to a paid subscription or just make a direct donation to our Building Fund.
And while you’re thinking through all those options, we’re gonna go All-Out Gospel with the incomparable Clara Ward singing about the Kingdom, and what it’s going to be like when we have all been “reshaped in that pristine beauty” (and, speaking of moves, if you ever wondered where James Brown and Tina Turner learned theirs, just watch the video all the way through).