When close person has not yet crossed the threshold of eternity, his relatives are trying in every possible way to show signs of attention and offer all possible help. This reveals the duty of fulfilling love for one’s neighbor, which is a mandatory responsibility in the Christian faith. But man is not eternal. There comes a moment for everyone. However, this transition from one state of personality to another should not be marked by leaving behind the memory of. A person is alive as long as he is remembered. It is a religious duty to organize memorial dinners in memory of all who knew the latter during his lifetime.
The semantic meaning of 9 days after the death of a person
According to Orthodox doctrine, the human soul is immortal. This is confirmed by practice in Christian tradition. Church Tradition teaches that for the first three days after death, the soul remains on earth in those places that were especially loved by it. Then she ascends to God. The Lord shows the soul the heavenly abodes in which the righteous are blissful.
The personal self-consciousness of the soul is touched, it marvels at what it sees, and the bitterness from leaving the earth is no longer so strong. This happens over six days. Then the angels ascend the soul again to worship God. It turns out that this is the ninth day, on which the soul sees its Creator for the second time. In memory of this, the Church establishes a wake, at which it is customary to gather in a narrow family circle. Commemoration is ordered in churches, prayers are offered to God for the pardon of the deceased. There is a statement that there is no one who has lived and not. Also semantic meaning The number nine is the Church’s memory of the corresponding number of angelic ranks. It is the angels who accompany the soul, showing it all the beauties of paradise.
The fortieth day is the time of private judgment of the soul
After nine days, the soul is shown the hellish abodes. She observes all the horror of incorrigible sinners, feels fear and awe of what she sees. Then for a day he again ascends to God for worship, only this time a private judgment of the soul also takes place. This date is always considered the most important in the afterlife of the deceased. There is no tradition of transfer, no matter what day they fall on.
The soul is judged for all its deeds, committed by man during life. And after this, the place of her stay until the second coming of Christ is determined. It is especially important these days to pray and give alms in memory of a relative or friend who has left this world. A person asks God for mercy, the opportunity to grant a blessed fate to a deceased person.
The number 40 has its own meaning. Back in Old Testament it was prescribed to preserve the memory of the deceased for 40 days. In New Testament times, semantic analogies can be drawn with the Ascension of Christ. So, it was on the 40th day after His resurrection that the Lord ascended to heaven. This date is also a memory of what human soul after death he goes again to his Heavenly Father.
In general, holding a wake is an act of mercy towards living people. Lunch is offered as alms in memory of, and other rituals are performed that testify to a person’s faith in the immortality of the soul. This is also the hope for the salvation of each individual person.
In the Orthodox tradition, the 40th day after a person’s death has a certain meaning for his soul. But still, many people are concerned about what 40 days after death means. The fortieth day has a special meaning: for people who believe in God, this is a certain border that forever separates life on earth from eternal life. A person’s soul remains on earth for up to 40 days after death, and then leaves the earth. For religious people 40 days after death are more tragic than the death itself.
Soul in the fight for heaven or hellFrom days 9 to 40, the human soul goes through many obstacles, which, according to Orthodox beliefs, are called aerial ordeals. From the moment a person dies, until the third day his soul remains on earth and can go anywhere.
What happens 40 days after death?
On the 40th day after the soul goes through the ordeal, is in heaven and ends up in, where it sees all the torment and horrors awaiting sinners in hell, it will have to appear before the Lord for the third time. It is then that the fate of the soul will be decided. That is, where the soul will go and will remain until the Last Judgment, in heaven or hell.
It is for this reason that the 40th day for the church and relatives of the deceased is considered the last boundary, after which the soul goes either to demons or to angels.
What do you do on the 40th day after death?
It is very important to pray on this day, but also on previous ones. Prayer is the simplest and the right way ask the Almighty to be merciful and give a fair verdict.
Along with prayer, relatives can make a sacrifice in the name of saving the soul of the deceased: renounce any sin for a while. For example, stop drinking alcohol or watching TV. For the deceased, such a refusal will only benefit him and bring him comfort.
Another important tradition for 40 days after death is the wake and you need to know how to properly remember the deceased.
So, people who believe in God should be present at the wake during the dinner. 40 days are celebrated with simple and lean food, without fancy dishes. There is no need to spend money on pleasing your guests. On the funeral table there should be a main dish symbolizing the rebirth of the soul - kutia. Before starting on other dishes, every person present at the table must eat at least one, or preferably several spoons of kutya.
Under no circumstances should a wake be a reason for a joyful and long-awaited meeting of relatives and friends, because this is not a feast or a social event. Of course, for 40 days after death, you cannot sing songs, have fun or joke at the table.
It is necessary to closely monitor the course of events. It happens that on the memorial 40 days people who have not met gather around the table for a long time. 
And at the moment when everyday conversations begin, instead of remembering the deceased and talking about him, you need to end.
For 40 days after death, you must go to the cemetery and bring flowers and a candle with you. When flowers are laid on the grave of the deceased for 40 days, this is considered a sign of respect and a demonstration great love to him, it also speaks of the severity of the loss.
When preparing for the fortieth day, relatives should, first of all, think about the deceased and his soul, and not about the menu, flowers, etc. things like that. It is necessary to correctly approach the fact that the deceased must be respected first of all, and only then think about the guests and their comfort.
Even in works of scientific content related to exact sciences It is not difficult to find disagreements in theories and exceptions to accepted rules, and in matters of faith and religion, there are more than enough differences in interpretations and explanations of traditions. Thus, finding the only correct remembrance of 9 and 40 days after death simply does not exist. Below you will find answers given by various representatives spiritual world, and also interesting facts and very important tips.
Version of representatives of the Sretensky Monastery
Why is the 9th day celebrated after death?
On the ninth day, the deceased is remembered in order to honor the 9 ranks of angels, who, being servants of the King of Heaven and our representatives to Him, intercede with Him for pardon of the deceased person. It is believed that from the third to the ninth day, the soul of the deceased resides in the heavenly abodes, where it:
- She forgets her former sorrow that she had to leave her body and the ordinary world.
- She realizes that she served God so little while on earth, she reproaches herself for this and grieves.
On the ninth day, the Lord sends Angels to bring the soul to worship. Before the throne of the Lord God, the soul trembles and is in great fear. At this time, the Holy Church, in prayers for the deceased, asks the Almighty to make a decision to accept the soul of her child. From days 9 to 40, the soul goes to hell, where it observes the torment of sinners who do not deserve forgiveness, and trembles with fear. That is why it is so important to spend the ninth day in remembrance and prayers for the deceased.
Why is the 40th day after death celebrated?
The history and tradition of the Church say that 40 days is the period necessary for the soul to prepare to accept help and the Divine gift from the Heavenly Father. The number 40 appears repeatedly in church traditions:
- After a 40-day fast, Prophet Moses talked with the Lord on Mount Sinai and received the tablets of the law.
- On the 40th day, Jesus Christ ascended to heaven after His Resurrection.
- The Israelites wandered for 40 years before reaching the promised land.
Church representatives took all the facts described above into account and decided to hold a memorial on the 40th day after death. With their prayers they help the soul to ascend the holy mountain of Heavenly Sinai and see the Lord God, achieve bliss and find itself in the company of the righteous in heavenly villages.
In 9 days, after worshiping the Lord, the Angels show the soul hell, in which the souls of unrepentant sinners suffer in torment. On the 40th day, coming to the Lord for the third time (the first time the soul comes on the 3rd day), the soul receives a sentence: a place is assigned in which it will remain until the Last Judgment. This is precisely why church commemorations and prayers are so important on this day; they help to atone for sins and allow the purified soul to enter Paradise with the saints.
Useful information
How do you count 9 days from the date of death?
People often make the mistake of starting from next day after death. In fact, the countdown time should be the day on which the deceased left this world, even if this happened late in the evening (before 12:00). Thus, if a person died on December 2, then December 10 will become ninth day after death. Adding numbers mathematically (December 2 + 9 days = December 11) and starting counting from the next day after death is incorrect.
On the ninth day you can remove the veils from the mirrors.
On the ninth day after the death of the deceased, you can remove the veils from the mirrors in the house (in all except the bedroom of the deceased). It is noteworthy that hanging mirrors is a non-Orthodox tradition. These are echoes of an old Russian belief, which says that in the mirrors the soul of the deceased can get lost and not find the way to the next world.
On the ninth day, the wake should be modest.
Alcohol at a feast is optional, and according to the popular opinion of primordially religious people, it is a completely unnecessary attribute. In table conversation one should remember good deeds and good deeds of the deceased. It is believed that every good word spoken about the deceased will be credited to him.
Hegumen Fedor (Yablokov) about the commemoration: Remembrance must be prayerful. This is often forgotten, reducing wakes to a feast, and wakes without sincere commemoration of the deceased have no meaning. Drinking at funerals and wakes is not only unnecessary, but also harmful for the deceased. There should be no alcohol on the table at all, or minimum quantity. Taking alcohol or drugs in these cases is not a tradition, it is an attempt by a godless person to hide, to escape from reality. There is no need to fill the entire table with dishes; the table should be modest. When gathering for a wake, people gather for prayer, for the prayerful remembrance of the deceased, and not in order to arrange a holiday of gluttony. An obligatory dish according to tradition is kutya, over which a special prayer must be read. For 40 days, you must avoid any mourning events; you can come to the memorial in any strict, non-seductive clothing.
Archimandrite Augustine (Pidanov) on traditions and superstitions: Nowadays, you can often come across superstitions skillfully disguised as traditions. Superstition is indifference, vanity, and a meaningless attitude towards faith. Firstly, some superstitions contradict the concepts and traditions of faith, and secondly, some superstitions simply do not leave time for faith in our lives. For example, at first glance, there is nothing wrong with a person covering a mirror. But a person burdens all his thoughts with the need to remember to cover the mirrors, not finding time to pray for the souls of loved ones. There shouldn't be any booze on the table, and don't be afraid that anyone will judge you. Everything depends only on you, whether you organize a wake for the deceased or a drinking party for the sake of relatives and friends.
Archimandrite Augustine (Pidanov) about the funeral service: The funeral service is nothing more than a prayer service, approved by the church as a farewell and farewell to guide people to another world. Many people mistake a funeral service for a ritual or tradition. In the process of carrying out the ritual, people try to make the incomprehensible understandable, but in fact, behind the form of the funeral service there is much more important and greater value for both the soul of the deceased and the living. To find answers to questions related to leading Christians to last path, you should contact the clergy directly. Only in this way can you avoid mistakes and conduct the funeral service, bringing greatest benefit the soul of the deceased, without wasting time on superstitions.
