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Psychosavato
This year Psychosavato is on March 9th, March 16th and March 23rd 2013
Services will begin at 9:30 am
Traditionally the Orthodox remember the dead on a Saturday, the day Christ lay in his tomb. Four times a year parishioners assemble to pray for all their deceased loved ones. These general memorial services, known as Saturday of Souls (Psychosavato) take place the two Saturdays that precede the beginning of Great Lent, the First Saturday of Great Lent, and the Saturday before the Feast of Pentecost. There is a popular belief that departed souls come back to earth at Easter and return the day after Pentecost.
If you would like to offer prayers for the deceased, write their first name(s) on a slip of paper – (forms and envelopes for Psychosavato are available in the Narthex or the church office) - and the priest will read the list toward the end of the service. Submit names only once for the first three consecutive Saturdays as the names are read even if you are not present. You may want to bring a small bowl or platter of kollyva. A few parishioners also bake prosforo.
Following the service all the kollyva is combined, symbolizing the mixing of souls in heaven. Parishioners share the kollyva and greet each other with, "O Theos na tous anapafsi" (May God forgive the souls of the dead).
Taken from A Guide to Greek Traditions and Customs in America, by Marilyn Rouvelas