Requiem service is a venerable tradition in the Armenian Orthodox Church, where we remember and pray for the souls of our departed loved ones. In the Armenian Church we believe that with the resurrection of Christ the barrier between the living and the dead has been vanished, since by His Resurrection Christ conquered death. The Church of those who have fallen asleep in Christ is as real and actual as of those who live on this earth. This is why our church teaches us that not only can we pray for those who have departed but they can also pray for us and intercede on our behalf until the second coming of Christ when all will stand before the Righteous Judge.
In the Armenian Orthodox Church the most common times for Requiem Service are on the 7th and/or 40th Day following a death, on the occasion of the 1st year anniversary, as well as the Mondays following the 5 Tabernacle Feasts of our Church. On these days the loved ones and friends of the deceased gather together for a requiem prayer with the conviction that death is not simply the end but rather a passing into a new reality, where the immortal soul of man enters into another position, a place where there is no sickness and pain.
During the requiem service the faithful participate with the singing of hymns, then the gospel is read for the soul of the departed, and at the end of the service the priest recites the prayer “Christ, Son of God” during which he mentions the name of the departed ones asking from the “forbearing and compassionate” Son of God, to remember and have mercy on them.
