Gifts for the Departed
25 October 2012The alms we offer are an important gift for our departed ones. Especially when we offer that which they laboured for and earned in their earthly lives.
Anything we give, on their behalf, to our impecunious brothers and sisters goes the credit side of their account in the celestial bank.
Bread, wine, oil, candles and incense all benefit the deceased. Because these are offered for the celebration of the Divine Liturgy, they are atonement on behalf of the souls of the departed. So we can often make loaves for our departed ones and take them to church for the Liturgy. There was a God-fearing woman once who used to make a loaf every week for her deceased father-in-law. Her husband, who was not a great believer in such things, came home hungry from work one day and, seeing the fresh bread, ate it. That night he had a strange dream. He saw lots of people gathered in one place, eating and enjoying themselves. Off to the side he saw his late father, looking upset. “Why aren’t you eating with the others, father”, he asked. “What can I eat, son, when you’ve already eaten my food?”.
Source: Εις μνημόσυνον αιώνιον και ανάμνησιν, Αντιπροσωπευτικά κείμενα πατρός Ευέλθοντος (For eternal memory and remembrance, Representative texts of Fr. Evelthon), Thessaloniki, December 2011.
