Funerals during Lent are carried out in the same way as on any other days. The funeral service is performed according to rank. Death in the Orthodox Church is called transition, dormition. That is, a person did not simply go into oblivion, did not disappear, turning into dust, but only moved into a new hypostasis of existence. But the fate of the deceased in the afterlife is also important for us. Therefore, we pray for his repose, . And after the burial, a wake takes place.
About commemorations in Lent
Usually commemorations are held three times, including during Lent. For the first time, a funeral coincides with a wake. Then we remember the deceased on the ninth and fortieth days. According to the teachings of the church, it is on these days that the “fate” of the deceased is decided. On these dates, relatives and friends should pray at the service in the temple. A memorial meal is organized at home. Of course, for Orthodox Christians, what is more important is not the table, but the memory of the departed. On the day of the memorial in Lent, you need to remember all the good deeds of a person, his earthly path, remember him with a kind word, and talk about his difficult life.
For some, such stories are commemoration in Lent will become instructive and help to gain faith, if the deceased person was an example of faith and virtuous life. The funeral table is also set so that all relatives and friends can gather together and pray for the deceased. There is a hidden meaning in this.
Funerals during Orthodox Lent
For believers, holding a funeral service during Lent is associated with certain rules. For example, before starting a meal, you should pray and read the ninetieth psalm. The whole event requires seriousness and respect for the memory of the deceased. At such a table, ambiguous jokes, sarcasm, and immoral stories are not allowed.
The meal at a wake, as a rule, begins with kutya. This dish is prepared in advance from rice or wheat, seasoned with honey and flavored with berries or fruit slices. Kutya is usually at a memorial service - a special service for the deceased. Every guest who comes to the funeral during Lent should taste kutya. The tradition of commemorating kutya has deep roots in church history. The grain prepared for kutya personifies the integrity of the soul, its immortality. Therefore, the table at a wake can be called symbolic.
No need to worry about generous treat, variety of dishes. People gather at funerals not for gluttony. Especially if the wake fell on weekdays during Lent. You can simply move the table to Saturday or Sunday so as not to violate the rules of dry eating on other days. The third day of commemoration in Lent is associated with the resurrection of Christ (he rose on the third day after death), the departed will also be resurrected into eternal life. The ninth day of the commemoration during Lent is associated with the veneration of the nine orders of angels, and the fortieth day of the commemoration is correlated with the Ascension of Jesus Christ.
If you have free time, then read
Text of Orthodox prayer to St. Andrei Rublev
O sacred head, reverend father, most blessed Abbot Andrew! Do not forget your poor to the end, but always remember us in holy and auspicious prayers to God: remember your flock, which you yourself shepherded, and do not forget to visit your children, pray for us, holy father, for your spiritual children, for you have the boldness to To the Heavenly King: do not keep silent to the Lord for us, and do not despise us, who honor you with faith and love: remember us unworthy at the Throne of the Almighty, and do not cease, for the grace has been given to you to pray for us. We do not imagine that you are dead: even though you have passed away from us in body, you remain alive even after death, do not depart from us in spirit, keeping us from the arrows of the enemy and all the charms of the demonic and the snares of the devil, our good shepherd. Even if your relics are always visible before our eyes, but your holy soul with the angelic hosts, with the disembodied faces, with the heavenly powers, standing at the throne of the Almighty, worthily rejoices, knowing that you are truly alive even after death, we fall down to you and We pray to you: pray for us to the Almighty God, for the benefit of our souls, and ask us time for repentance, so that we may pass from earth to heaven without restraint, from bitter ordeals, from demons of air princes and from eternal torment, may we be delivered from eternal torment, and may we be heirs of the Heavenly Kingdom with all the righteous, who from all eternity have pleased our Lord Jesus Christ: to Him belongs all glory, honor and worship, with His Beginning Father, and with His Most Holy and Good and Life-giving Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.
The second, third and fourth Saturdays of Great Lent are days of general remembrance of the dead.
IN saturday morning- the main church remembrance is served - the funeral Liturgy, where all deceased Christians are remembered, after which a general memorial service will be served.
Read below on how to properly remember the dead in church.
Tomorrow is Lenten Parents' Saturday again. This is not the first time I will go to this service to honor the memory of my dear departed and, of course, I know what these days of special remembrance in Lent—Parents’ Saturdays—mean. But does everyone know how important and necessary for our dear departed are our conciliar prayers for them on these very days?
The second, third and fourth Saturdays of Great Lent are days of general remembrance of all those who have fallen asleep in the Lord “in the hope of resurrection and eternal life.” According to the word of Jesus Christ, we must love our neighbors as ourselves, and in the prayerful memory of the departed, our greatest, completely unselfish and intimate love is manifested. And this love is very dear to the dead, because we bring them, the helpless, help.
During the days of Great Lent, the duty of every true believer is charity and mercy. Through them we show the Lord that we are also worthy of His mercy and beneficence. One of these acts, the most important for us, is the remembrance of the dead. By asking God for forgiveness for the sins of our loved ones, friends, and relatives during their earthly lives, we ourselves receive hope for the forgiveness of our own sins after death.
Another reason for the founding of parental Saturdays is that during these days of Great Lent, apart from Saturdays and Sundays, there are no liturgies, and the dead are, as it were, deprived of the benefits that commemoration during the liturgy brings them. Therefore, in replacement of the liturgy, the Church established a special prayer for the dead on Saturdays of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th weeks. The other Saturdays of Great Lent, dedicated to special memories, no longer have the name Parental and on them the commemoration of the dead is carried out according to the usual order.
It is on these three Lenten Saturdays that pious people, coming to church, pray with special zeal for their deceased relatives and friends, light candles for their repose, serve memorial services, give alms for the remission of their sins, thereby showing love for their neighbors.
Each of us needs to understand the full significance of commemorating the dead. A sinful person, falling into the afterlife and not worthy of the Kingdom of God, can no longer pray to the Lord for himself and for others. Only saints and especially pious people receive this opportunity. If here on earth he can confess his sins and receive forgiveness, then there he is deprived of this opportunity.
But think about it, do all people go into another world completely cleansed, do they confess all their sins to a priest, does everyone even have the opportunity to confess before death? What if someone, having sinned in a small way, forgot it and did not repent at confession? Or, out of false modesty, did he hide his sin? And then died suddenly? It turns out that there is no guarantee that a person will find peace in the next world. After all, even the smallest sin can prevent him from reaching heaven and doom him to eternal torment.
Therefore, memorial services and home prayer for the deceased are useful, as are good deeds done in their memory, alms or donations to the Church. But commemoration at the Divine Liturgy is especially useful for them. There were many apparitions of the dead and other events that confirmed how useful commemoration of the dead is. Many who died in repentance, but were unable to demonstrate it during their lifetime, were freed from torment and received peace.
Anyone who wants to show their love for the dead and give them real help can the best way make this a prayer for them and especially a remembrance at the liturgy, when the particles taken for the living and the dead are immersed in the Blood of the Lord with the words: “Wash, Lord, the sins of those who were remembered here with His honest Blood, with the prayers of Your saints.”
If we love our relatives in deed and not in words; If we really are Christians, whose law is love for our neighbor, we must pray for the souls of our family and friends, give alms for their salvation. It is only in our power to wash away the remaining sins from them and open the way for them to Paradise. And their commemoration is our direct and immediate responsibility.
Church commemoration of the departed on Mother's Saturday
To remember your deceased relatives in a church way, you need to come to church for a service. On Memorial Saturday, the funeral Divine Liturgy is celebrated, after which a general memorial service is served - your presence at the Liturgy and memorial service is required. Moreover, our dead are clear witnesses of whether we attended the service, prayed for them, or simply wrote off notes and paid off with candles.
For the church commemoration at the liturgy, the parishioners are preparing T notes commemorating the dead . In the note, in large, legible handwriting, the names of those commemorated are written in the genitive case (to answer the question “who?”).
It must be remembered that these notes can only include the names of those deceased who were baptized during their lifetime, i.e. were members of the Church. You can pray for the unbaptized at home or over their grave in the cemetery. Read about how to write a note correctly here.
On these days, candles are supposed to be placed not near icons, but near the Crucifixion, on a special table called “kanun.” The candle is our sacrifice to God and at the same time a symbol of our prayer. Therefore, when Christians light candles, they always at this moment ask God for the repose of their loved ones, naming the names of deceased relatives.
Another similar custom is connected with this custom: give alms to the poor with a request to pray for the departed.
IN Lately the opinion spread that beggars who beg for alms are almost the richest of us all. Well, if this bothers someone, you can easily find among your friends or neighbors a person who is sick, weak, lonely, and even living on a meager pension. Maybe it’s worth bringing such a person a bag of potatoes from the market in memory of your deceased parents... It seems to me that God will accept our prayer in this form. If only she were warm and sincere, not poisoned by proud self-approval. “Blessed are the merciful; for they will receive mercy” (Matt. 5:7).
In addition, it is customary to bring food to the temple as a donation. As a rule, bread, sweets, fruits, vegetables, etc. are placed on the canon. You can bring flour for prosphora, Cahors for the liturgy. You are not allowed to bring meat products.
Have you ever thought during mass, looking at the so-called eve table, on which candles are glowing for the repose of departed people? Quietly melting wax, slightly trembling lights somehow speak especially warmly and touchingly about people who have flown away from the earth, who have not been forgotten, who are prayed for, for whom those left without them and the people who loved them intercede. But what motivates us to pray for the dead? According to the word of Christ, we must love our neighbors as ourselves, and in the prayerful memory of them our love is manifested as completely unselfish and intimate, the greatest. And how dear this love is, bringing help to them, the helpless! And, on the contrary, how ruthless we are when we forget about them!
People who know the rituals of all religions unanimously assert that nothing can compare with Orthodox prayers for the afterlife of Orthodox Christians who have gone to God. Indeed, the grief of the Orthodox Church for her departed child is imbued with extraordinary warmth and unshakable hope. The Orthodox Church not only does not give up on its deceased member, but shows special care for him. The highest good that the Church provides to the deceased is remembering him at the proskomedia. The part that is taken out of the prosphora with the pronunciation of the name of a living or deceased person signifies the soul of that person. At the end of the liturgy, after the communion of the faithful, all these particles are poured into the chalice and are thus imbued with the life-giving Blood of Christ. The priest pronounces the words over them: “Wash away, Lord, the sins of those who were remembered here by Your honest Blood.” With this visible contact of parts of the prosphora with the Blood of Christ, there is an invisible contact of the soul of the person commemorated with the being of God. At the same time, bright souls feel a special joy - the same whether they are in the body or, at the end of earthly life, outside the body; evil souls - some anxiety from contact with the highest sphere from which they are so far; but still - tangible benefits. ( E. Poselyanin)
We must be ardent, we must be strong Orthodox, so that not only, perhaps, ourselves, but also those who are next to us, and on the other side of life. We shouldn’t be those who just go into church from time to time, light a candle, cross ourselves, fast, but don’t seem to be fasting; when he prays, and when he doesn’t pray, well, it doesn’t work out. No, my dears, life is too serious to be cold, to be warm, barely warm.
Before the beginning of Great Lent, before we take the first step towards Easter, the word of our love for all those who walked the path of life before us sounds under the arches of churches: “Rest, O Lord, the souls of your departed servants!” This is a prayer for everyone, for, in the wonderful words of Tsvetaeva, “there are only believers and non-believers here. All believers are there.” Now they all see what we only believe in, they see what they once forbade us to believe in. And, therefore, for all of them our prayerful sighing will be a precious gift.
“The week of the Last Judgment has come. The day before they commemorated deceased relatives in the church. At home they prepared kutya from grains - as a sign of faith in the resurrection from the dead. On this day, the church commemorated everyone “from Adam to this day who has fallen asleep in piety and faith” and sent out a special prayer for those “whom the water covered, those who died from battle, fire and earthquake, those killed by murderers, those killed by lightning, those killed by beasts and reptiles, from frost frozen...” And for those “even if you kill with a sword, or with a horse, if you strangle a stone, or with a finger of sprinkles; even killed by enchanted drink, poison, strangulation...” ( V. Nikiforov-Volgin.)
And we will come, we will definitely come, no matter what worries today. How else can we express our love for our loved ones who have passed on to another world? How can we not fall in prayer to the Lord for them, bending the knees of our hearts, when the deacon sings “Eternal Memory!” How can we not try to use everything possible to save their souls when we love them so much?! And don’t say that those “whom the water covered, who died from battle, fire and earthquake, who were killed by murderers...” are not our loved ones. We are all one. We are all connected. Have you ever thought during mass, looking at the so-called eve table, on which candles are glowing for the repose of departed people? Quietly melting wax, slightly trembling lights somehow speak especially warmly and touchingly about people who have flown away from the earth, who have not been forgotten, who are prayed for, for whom those left without them and those who loved them intercede. But what motivates us to pray for the dead? According to the word of Christ, we must love our neighbors as ourselves, and in the prayerful memory of them our love is manifested as completely unselfish and intimate, the greatest. And how dear this love is, bringing help to them, the helpless! And, on the contrary, how ruthless we are when we forget about them!
Lent- the most important and strict of all Orthodox fasts. Funerals during Lent take place on special days. These are parents' Saturdays: the second, third and fourth. Funerals of 9 and 40 days during this period move to the next Saturday or Sunday.
At this time, the liturgies of St. John Chrysostom or St. Basil the Great are held. Also suitable are the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Thursday and Saturday of Holy Week. You can submit a note of repose for the liturgy. You need to find out in the temple in advance whether it is possible to hold a memorial service on a particular day. If commemorations during Great Lent fall on the most strict weeks - the first, fourth and seventh, then on funeral dinner Only immediate family members are invited. You should not forget to pray for the repose and do good deeds in memory of the deceased, and give alms.
The Church does not prohibit the family and friends of the deceased from gathering. But it is worth remembering that, according to the rules, during Lent it is permissible to eat fish on the Annunciation and Palm Sunday. Vegetable oil is allowed to be added to food only on weekends and days of remembrance of the most revered saints. If among the invitees there are people who strictly adhere to fasting, you should take care of special Lenten dishes. The purpose of the funeral dinner is to strengthen the strength to perform prayer.
Traditionally Lenten table includes salted cucumbers, sauerkraut, peas, potatoes, porridge without butter and milk, raisins and nuts. Bagels, bagels, saiki and other breads.
Funerals in Lent: what dishes to serve?
Slavic peoples have been preparing kutia for funeral dinners for a long time. This is a very easy to prepare dish made from soaked and boiled wheat grains, raisins and honey. Later, wheat began to be replaced by rice. IN Lenten time pancakes, which are essential for wakes, are baked without eggs or milk. The taste does not suffer from this.
Compote – traditional drink. In ancient times it was called “uzvar” and was prepared from dried fruits and honey. Nowadays you can make compote from dried apricots or from frozen berries, such as cranberries with sugar or pickled lingonberries. There is no need to replace compote with juices or sparkling water.
Another important part of the meal is pies. Traditionally, they are given to all guests after dinner. Eggs are also not used for the dough. The filling can be onions, sorrel or mushrooms.
First meal
A good choice is to give preference to soups, of course, not on meat broth. You can add lentils or beans. Mushroom soup with dried bread it will be appetizing and pleasant to the taste, not inferior to the usual meat dish.
Second courses
Dishes with the addition of mushrooms can also be served as a main course. For example, stew potatoes with mushrooms or boil them and pour mushroom sauce, or replace potatoes with pasta. Vegetables added to rice will add flavor and make the dish more filling. It's easy to prepare, just like vegetarian pilaf. Soy cutlets or those made from cabbage or carrots are suitable. Breaded fried cutlets will be purchased great taste and will not yield to meat ones.
Soaked or salted vegetables, salads without meat and mayonnaise, vinaigrettes are served with first courses. Simple ones can be a side dish vegetable salads. Cucumbers with tomatoes, cabbage with cucumbers are good for snacks.
Christian funerals seem to continue prayers through eating food. Hosting a funeral dinner is considered alms from the family of the deceased person. Before starting, someone should read kathisma 17 from the Psalter over a burning church candle. Then the “Our Father” is read. At a funeral meal, only spoons are usually used. According to the canon, alcohol is prohibited during Lent, but nowadays they put vodka on the table, less often cognac or red wine. A glass of vodka, covered with a slice of black bread, is left on the edge of the table. Sometimes it remains untouched for 40 days.
During times Ancient Rus' They also prepared kanun (fullness) from beans with the addition of honey and sugar, as well as jelly. Today, the choice of dishes is left to the hostess, although during Lent it narrows a little. Don’t forget to distribute the leftovers to the guests at the end of the wake so that they can remember the deceased at home with those who did not come to the funeral dinner.
In the twenty-first century, wakes are more reminiscent of pagan funeral feasts, which were held by the ancient Slavs, who hoped that the richer and more magnificent the farewell to the deceased, the better he would live in another world. There were considerations of vanity, prestige, the financial condition of the relatives of the deceased, as well as ignorance of Orthodox traditions in this action.
Funerals on days 9 and 40 are very important. According to Orthodox canons, until the 9th day after death, angels show the soul Paradise, and after that they lead the soul to God, and this is how the showing of Paradise to the soul ends. After this, until the 40th day, the soul is shown hell, where, beholding the torment of sinners condemned to eternal torment, it is horrified and “cries bitterly for its deeds.”
Compliance with the norms in the Orthodox funeral meal requires that before it begins, one of the loved ones reads the 17th kathisma from the Psalter in front of a lit lamp or candle. Immediately before eating, read “Our Father...”
Kutya and funeral pancakes are required on the table.
Kutya
Traditional kutya is made from wheat grains, which are washed and soaked for several hours (or overnight), then boiled until tender. Boiled grains are mixed with honey, raisins, poppy seeds to taste. Honey can first be diluted in water in a ratio of 1/2 and wheat grains can be boiled in the solution, then the solution can be drained. Kutya from rice is prepared in the same way. Boiled fluffy rice, then add diluted honey or sugar and raisins (washed, scalded and dried) to it.
Butter pancakes
4 cups flour, 4 cups milk, 3 eggs, 100 g cream, 1 tbsp. spoon of sugar, 25-30 g of yeast, 2 tbsp. tablespoons butter, salt to taste. IN enamel pan add two glasses of flour, pour in two glasses of warm milk, having previously diluted the yeast in it, stir everything well and put in a warm place. When the dough has risen, add the remaining warm milk and flour to it and put it in a warm place again. When it rises again, add the whipped egg yolks, sugar, salt, melted butter. Mix well, add whipped cream and egg whites and mix again. Place the dough in a warm place for 15-20 minutes. After this, bake pancakes.
Sample dishes for a funeral meal:
Snacks and salads
Ham rolls with cheese and garlic
Compound
ham (preferably sliced) - 300 g,
processed cheese - 2 pcs (200 g) or hard cheese,
eggs (hard-boiled) - 3 pcs.
garlic - 2 cloves,
greenery,
mayonnaise
Preparation
Cut the ham (if not sliced) into thin slices
U boiled eggs Separate the yolks from the whites.
Grate the whites on a coarse grater.
Grate the yolks onto fine grater into another bowl.
Grate the processed cheese on a coarse grater.
Wash the greens, dry and finely chop.
Combine grated cheese, egg whites, herbs and garlic. Add mayonnaise and mix the filling well.
Place 1 dessert or tablespoon of filling on the edge of a slice of ham.
And roll it up.
Dip each roll in mayonnaise on both ends and roll in grated yolks.
Place the rolls on a platter lined with lettuce leaves and garnish with herbs.
Tomatoes stuffed with fish salad
Compound
tomatoes - 5-6 pcs,
eggs - 5 pcs,
canned fish in oil - 1 can (200 g),
greenery,
salt pepper
Preparation
Wash the tomatoes. Cut off the tops of the tomatoes and carefully scoop out the pulp with a teaspoon and place it separately.
Boil the eggs and grate them on a coarse grater (you can chop them finely), mix with the tomato pulp.
Mash the canned fish with a fork and season with mayonnaise (you can add a little finely grated cheese).
Salt, pepper and add herbs. Combine eggs and mashed canned food and mix well.
Salt the inside of the tomatoes and carefully fill with the filling with a teaspoon.
Place the finished tomatoes on a plate and garnish with herbs. You can place small handfuls of finely grated cheese on top of the tomatoes or garnish with green peas.
Eggplant appetizer with tomatoes and garlic
Compound
eggplants - 2 pcs.
tomatoes - 4-5 pcs,
garlic - 2-3 cloves,
cilantro or parsley,
salt,
pepper
Preparation
Wash the eggplants, dry and cut into circles, 0.5-0.7 mm thick.
Wash the tomatoes, dry and cut into circles.
Peel the garlic and pass through a garlic press or crush a clove of garlic, pressing it with the flat side of a wide knife, then chop finely.
Lightly salt and pepper the eggplant mugs.
On preheated vegetable oil Place the eggplants in a frying pan and fry over medium heat for 3-4 minutes (you should get a golden brown crust).
Turn the eggplants over and fry for another 3-4 minutes until done.
The fried mugs can be placed on a paper napkin to absorb excess oil.
Place the eggplants on a dish, alternating with tomato slices, sprinkle with garlic and herbs.
* This dish can be stored for several days in the refrigerator if you put it in a small saucepan in layers: eggplants, put tomato slices on top, sprinkle with salt, pepper, chopped garlic and herbs. Thus, continue to lay out vegetables, alternating layers. The eggplants will be soaked tomato juice, and the dish will be even tastier.
Sandwiches with sprats
Compound
half a white loaf
sprats (canned in oil) - 1 can
mayonnaise,
garlic - 1-2 cloves
pickled cucumbers - 2-3 pcs (you can use lemon instead of cucumbers),
greenery
Preparation
Cut the loaf into slices and fry each slice on both sides in vegetable oil.
Rub the fried loaf slices with garlic.
Grease each slice with mayonnaise and add a slice of pickled cucumber or a thin slice of lemon.
* you don’t have to rub each piece of loaf with garlic, but mix the garlic with mayonnaise, and then use this garlic mayonnaise spread bread slices
Place one or two sprouts on top and decorate with herbs.
Beet salad with garlic
Compound
beets - 2 pcs.,
garlic - 2 cloves,
cheese - 70-100 g,
mayonnaise,
salt,
walnuts, raisins or prunes - optional
Preparation
Wash the beets (do not peel), wrap each one in foil and bake in the oven at 180° ~60-80 minutes (depending on the size of the beets) or boil until tender.
Peel the boiled beets and grate them on a coarse grater.
Grate the cheese.
In a bowl, combine beets, garlic and cheese.
Season the salad with mayonnaise, add salt to taste and transfer to a salad bowl.
* If desired, you can add chopped walnuts, raisins or steamed and finely chopped prunes to the salad
Vegetable salad
Compound
bell pepper - 1 piece,
tomatoes - 2 pcs,
cucumbers - 1 piece,
canned corn,
vegetable oil,
salt,
pepper
Preparation
Wash the vegetables. Remove the skin from the cucumbers and cut into small cubes. Cut the tomato into cubes too. Place tomatoes and cucumbers in a salad bowl, add diced red bell pepper And canned corn. Season the salad with salt and pepper to taste, mix well and season with vegetable oil.
Salad “Spring freshness”
Compound
cucumber - 1 piece,
tomatoes - 1-2 pcs,
radishes - 4 pcs.
dill greens,
granular cottage cheese - 1 tablespoon,
natural yogurt - 1-2 tablespoons,
salt
Preparation
Wash and dry the vegetables.
Using a sharp knife, cut off the skin of the tomato and set it aside for rose decoration. Cut the tomatoes into strips.
Cut the cucumber into strips.
Cut the radishes into half circles or small slices.
Chop the greens.
Place the vegetables in a salad bowl, add salt and mix.
Add a little grainy cottage cheese to the salad and season natural yoghurt or sour cream.
The salad is prepared immediately before serving.
Vinaigrette with herring
Compound
herring - 1 pc.
potatoes - 2-3 pcs.
beets - 1 pc.
carrots - 1 pc.
head onions- 1 PC.
pickled cucumbers - 2 pcs.
vinegar - to taste
salt
pepper
green salad leaves.
Soak herring in strong tea, separate the fillet from the bones, cut small pieces. Boil potatoes, beets, carrots, cool, peel, cut into small cubes. Finely chop the cucumbers. Combine all ingredients, mix, season to taste with salt, pepper, vinegar, vegetable oil, garnish with lettuce leaves.
Olivie
Compound
boiled sausage (or boiled/fried poultry fillet) - 250g,
potatoes - 2-3 pieces,
pickled or pickled cucumbers - 2 pcs.
eggs - 4 pcs,
green peas - 0.5 cups,
boiled carrots (optional component) - 1 piece,
mayonnaise,
salt to taste
Preparation
Cut sausage or boiled chicken into cubes. Boiled potatoes, boiled carrots, boiled eggs, pickled or pickled cucumbers, cut into small cubes. Add green pea.
Mix everything and season the salad with mayonnaise.
Cabbage salad with crab sticks
Compound
cabbage - 300g,
crab sticks— 100g,
corn - half a jar (400 grams),
mayonnaise
Preparation
Wash and chop fresh cabbage. Finely chop the crab sticks.
Place shredded cabbage in a salad bowl (mash the cabbage a little with your hands to make it softer), add chopped crab sticks, half a jar of corn and season with mayonnaise. Mix the salad well and serve.
Hot dishes
Chicken legs stewed in sour cream
Legs 4 pcs
Sour cream – 250g
Tomato – 1 piece
Sweet pepper – 1 piece
Salt pepper
Cut the legs in half and fry in a frying pan, preferably without oil, until golden brown crust. Then put them in a bowl for stewing, pour in sour cream and cut the tomato and pepper into cubes, add salt and pepper. Cover the dish with a lid and low heat simmer until done
Cutlets baked with mushrooms and cheese
Compound
minced meat (pork + beef) - 500 g,
onions - 2 pcs.
White bread or loaf - 1-2 slices,
cheese - 100-150 g,
champignons - 150-200 g,
parsley,
garlic - 2 cloves,
mayonnaise or sour cream,
salt,
black pepper,
vegetable oil for frying
Preparation
Peel the onion and chop finely.
Peel the garlic and pass through a garlic squeezer or finely chop.
Grate the cheese.
Wash the champignons, dry and cut into slices.
Wash the greens, dry and chop.
In a frying pan heated with vegetable oil, over medium heat, fry the onion and garlic for 2-3 minutes.
Place half the fried onion in a bowl and set aside.
Add the champignons to the onions remaining in the pan and fry, stirring, for 8-10 minutes (if desired, you can fry the mushrooms until golden brown or just lightly fry). Salt and pepper.
Crumble yesterday's white bread without crusts or a bun, pour in milk and leave to swell. Squeeze the swollen bread well.
TO minced meat add squeezed bread, fried onions with garlic, herbs, salt, pepper, mix well and beat the minced meat several times, throwing the minced meat into a bowl or on the table.
Form the minced meat into round cutlets and fry on both sides until golden brown.
Place the cutlets on a baking sheet or in a baking dish.
Grease each cutlet with mayonnaise or sour cream and add a pile of fried mushrooms and onions.
Sprinkle cheese on top.
Bake at 180°C ~25 minutes.
Meat in French
Compound
pork - 400-500 g,
onions - 3-4 pcs,
hard cheese - 200-300 g,
mayonnaise - 400 g,
pepper,
salt,
greenery
Preparation
Wash the meat, dry it and cut it across the grain into layers 1 cm thick.
Beat each layer of meat well, add salt and pepper.
Peel the onion and cut into rings or half rings.
Grate the cheese on a coarse grater.
Place the meat on a greased baking sheet.
Place onion on top of the meat (not in a very thick layer).
Pour mayonnaise over the meat.
Sprinkle with grated cheese.
Bake for 25 minutes at 180°C.
Let the finished meat sit for 10-15 minutes. Serve hot, sprinkled with herbs.
Stuffed peppers
Compound
minced meat (pork + beef) - 400 g,
pepper - 7-10 pcs,
rice (dry) - 2-3 tablespoons,
onion - 1 piece,
carrots - 1 piece,
garlic 2 cloves,
tomato - 1-2 pcs,
parsley, dill,
tomato paste - 1 tablespoon,
sugar - 1/4 teaspoon,
vegetable oil for frying,
salt,
pepper
for tomato sour cream sauce
tomato paste - 2-3 tablespoons,
sour cream - 200 g,
water - 1-1.5 cups (more is possible)
Preparation
Wash the peppers, carefully cut out the seed box and rinse them again to remove the seeds.
In a saucepan or frying pan heated with vegetable oil, lightly fry the peppers on all sides and transfer them to a plate.
Prepare the filling:
Rinse the rice and boil until half cooked in salted water. Drain the water.
In a frying pan heated with vegetable oil, fry the onion for 3 minutes, add the carrots and fry, stirring occasionally, for 4-5 minutes.
In a large bowl, combine minced meat, rice and fried onions and carrots.
Wash the tomato, dry it and grate it on a coarse grater, discard the skin.
Wash the greens, dry and chop.
Add tomato mixture to the minced meat, tomato paste, herbs, garlic, salt, sugar, pepper and mix well.
Fill the prepared peppers with the resulting minced meat.
Place the peppers in a saucepan or other thick-walled container.
Prepare tomato-sour cream sauce:
Combine sour cream with tomato paste, dilute the sauce with water, salt and pepper.
Pour the resulting sauce over the peppers.
Cover the saucepan with a lid. Over medium heat, bring the liquid to a boil and reduce heat.
Cook the peppers for 40 minutes.
Turn off the heat and let it brew under the lid for another 10 minutes.
When serving, sprinkle with herbs and sour cream.
If funeral services take place on fast days, then the food should be fast.
If the commemoration took place during Lent, then weekdays the funeral service is not held, but is postponed to the next (forward) Saturday or Sunday. This is done because only on these days (Saturday and Sunday) are full Divine Liturgies performed, and during the proskomedia, particles are taken out for the departed.
Memorial days falling on Bright Week (the first week after Easter) and on Monday of the second Easter week are transferred to Radonitsa - Tuesday of the second week after Easter.
Lenten food
Lenten pancakes
Lenten pancakes are prepared without adding baked goods (cow butter, eggs, sour cream, sugar, etc.). For lean pancakes you will need: 4 cups of flour (buckwheat or wheat, you can mix both types of flour), 4.5 cups of milk, 20-25 g of yeast, salt to taste. Pour half a glass of warm milk into an enamel pan and dilute the yeast in it, add another one and a half glasses of milk. While stirring, add 2 cups of flour. Mix the dough well, cover the pan with a towel and place in a warm place. When the dough will work(it will increase in volume by 2-3 times), add the rest of the flour, milk, salt, stir well and put it back in a warm place. After the dough has risen again, you should bake the pancakes, carefully scooping the dough so that it does not fall. The frying pan is usually first greased with one teaspoon of vegetable oil.
Snacks and salads
Sandwiches "Spring"
Compound
white or brown bread - 4 slices,
Guacamole sauce or avocado pulp (optional component in the recipe) - 4-6 teaspoons,
tomato - 1 piece,
cucumber - 0.5-1 pcs (small),
lettuce leaves,
basil or dill greens,
lemon - 1/3-1/2 pcs,
salt,
black pepper
Preparation
Cut white or black bread into slices (if desired, the bread can be fried in vegetable or olive oil and cool).
Spread the slices of bread with Guacamole sauce.
* if you don’t have Guacamole sauce, you can simply chop the avocado pulp with a fork, add salt, and sprinkle with lemon juice - spread this avocado cream on the bread
* if there is no avocado, you can not grease the bread with anything at all, but immediately start placing vegetables on the slices of bread or, if the bread is fried, you can rub it with half a garlic clove
Wash the tomato and cut into circles.
Cut the cucumber into circles.
Wash the lettuce leaves and dry them.
Wash and dry the dill or basil.
Place lettuce leaves, tomato slices, cucumber slices on slices of bread.
Salt the sandwiches coarse salt, pepper and sprinkle with lemon juice.
Fish jelly
1 kg. any fish (preferably several varieties), 1 pc. carrots, 1 onion, 1 parsley root, 1.5 l. fish broth, salt pepper.
Fresh or fresh frozen fish cut, divide into pieces and add salt. In the prepared fish waste broth, boil pieces of fish together with roots and spices, then take out the fish, strain the broth, pour it over the fish and put it in a cold place to harden.
The vinaigrette
Compound
potatoes - 2-3 pcs,
beets - 1 piece,
carrots - 1-2 pcs,
sauerkraut - 100-150 g,
onion - 1 piece,
salted or pickled cucumbers - 2-3 medium pieces,
vegetable oil,
green onions - optional
salt
Preparation
Wash potatoes, beets, carrots well.
Place the vegetables in a saucepan, add water, bring to a boil and cook until tender.
* If desired, vegetables can be wrapped in foil and baked in the oven at 180°C until cooked. Each vegetable must be wrapped separately in foil.
Peel boiled vegetables and cut into small cubes.
Peel the onion and chop finely.
Cut the cucumbers into cubes.
Squeeze the sauerkraut a little from the brine.
Add a little vegetable oil to the beets and stir - then the beets will not color the rest of the vegetables.
Combine together: potatoes, carrots, onions, cucumbers, cabbage, season with oil and mix gently.
Add beets, salt to taste and mix everything together again.
When serving, you can sprinkle with green onions.
Salad of Chinese (white) cabbage with tomatoes
Compound
Chinese or white cabbage - 1/3 of a small cabbage,
tomatoes - 2-3 pcs,
bell pepper - 1 piece,
vegetable oil,
salt
Preparation
Wash the cabbage, drain and chop.
Wash the tomatoes, remove the stems and cut into small slices or cubes.
Wash the bell pepper, remove the seeds and cut into cubes.
Mash the cabbage a little with your hands so that it releases the juice and put it in a salad bowl.
Add tomatoes and peppers.
Salt the salad (you can lightly sprinkle it with lemon juice) and season with vegetable oil.
Potato salad with pickled mushrooms and green peas
Compound
potatoes - 6-8 pcs,
onion - 1 piece,
pickled champignons or other mushrooms - 1 jar,
pickled cucumbers - 4-5 pcs,
green peas - 1 can,
greens (optional),
salt,
pepper,
vegetable oil
Preparation
Wash the potatoes well and cook in their skins until tender. Peel and cut into cubes.
Drain the liquid from the marinated mushrooms and cut into slices.
Cut pickled cucumbers into small cubes.
Peel the onion and cut into half rings or quarter rings.
Drain liquid from green peas.
Wash the greens, dry and chop.
Combine the prepared ingredients: potatoes, mushrooms, cucumbers, onions, green peas, herbs, salt, pepper.
Season the salad with oil and mix.
Salad from canned fish with green onions
Compound
canned fish - 1 can,
olives - 0.5 cans,
green onions,
potatoes - 2-3 pcs,
lean mayonnaise or salad dressing
for salad dressing
vegetable oil - 2 tbsp. spoons,
lemon juice- 1 tbsp
pepper,
salt
Preparation
Mash the canned food with a fork.
Boil the potatoes, cool and cut into cubes.
Cut the olives into rings.
Chop the green onions.
Combine canned food, potatoes, onions, olives, season salad dressing or lean mayonnaise, add salt to taste and stir.
Salad dressing: vegetable oil, lemon juice, pepper, salt - combine all ingredients.
Hot dishes
Eggplant stuffed with mushrooms
Compound
eggplants - 2 pcs.
bell pepper - 1-2 pcs,
onion - 1 piece,
tomatoes - 2 pcs.
champignons - 150 g,
garlic - 2-3 cloves,
parsley or cilantro,
walnuts,
vegetable oil,
salt,
pepper
Preparation
Wash the eggplants, cut off the stems and cut each eggplant lengthwise into 2 halves.
Carefully cut out the flesh from each half using a knife or spoon and set aside.
Place the hollow eggplant boats on a baking sheet or in a baking dish, salt them on the inside and grease them with vegetable oil.
Bake the boats at 230 degrees for 10-15 minutes.
Peel the onion and chop finely.
Wash the pepper, cut out the seed box and cut into small cubes.
Cut the eggplant pulp into small cubes.
Wash the champignons, dry and cut into slices or small cubes.
Wash the greens, dry and chop.
Peel the garlic and pass through a garlic press.
In a frying pan heated with vegetable oil, fry the onion for 2 minutes.
Add pepper and cook for another 4 minutes, stirring.
Add eggplant and stir-fry for 7 minutes until eggplant is cooked through. Salt and pepper.
* When the eggplants are ready, you can add grated tomato without skin, stir and simmer for another 4 minutes.
Add chopped herbs, garlic and stir.
In a separate pan, fry the champignons for 8-10 minutes.
Combine eggplants with mushrooms and mix the filling well.
Remove the eggplant boats from the oven and fill them with filling.
You can sprinkle crushed walnuts on top of the eggplants.
Bake in an oven preheated to 200 degrees for 10 minutes.
When serving, sprinkle with chopped herbs.
Lenten cabbage rolls with vegetables and champignons
Compound
cabbage - 1 medium head,
rice (dry) - 100-120 g (about 0.5-0.75 cups),
tomatoes - 1-2 pcs (optional),
onions - 1-2 pcs,
carrots - 1-2 pcs,
champignons - 150-200 g,
garlic - 1-2 cloves,
parsley, dill,
tomato paste or tomato sauce 1-2 tablespoons,
vegetable oil for frying,
salt,
pepper
for filling
tomato paste or tomato sauce 3-4 tablespoons,
water - 0.5-0.75 liters,
salt
Preparation
Wash the head of cabbage and separate it into leaves.
Place cabbage leaves in boiling salted water for 2-4 minutes until the leaves are soft. Immerse 2-3 sheets in water at a time.
Remove the boiled leaves using a slotted spoon and place in a colander. Cool.
Cut off thickenings from each leaf.
Prepare the filling.
Boil the rice until half cooked (5 minutes).
Wash the champignons and cut into slices.
Wash the tomatoes, peel them and cut the pulp into small cubes.
Peel the garlic and chop finely.
Wash the greens, dry and chop.
Peel the onion and chop finely.
Wash the carrots, peel and grate on a coarse grater.
In a frying pan heated with vegetable oil, fry the onion for 2 minutes, then add the carrots and fry together for another 3-4 minutes.
Place the onions and carrots in a bowl and fry the champignons in the remaining oil for 4 minutes.
Combine together: rice, onions with carrots, champignons, tomatoes, garlic, herbs, salt, pepper (you can add 1-2 tablespoons of tomato paste) and mix the filling well.
To the prepared cabbage leaves add 1-1.5 tablespoons of filling and roll up the cabbage rolls.
Fry the cabbage rolls in hot vegetable oil for 2 minutes on each side.
Prepare the filling: combine water, tomato paste, add a little salt and mix well.
Pour the filling over the cabbage rolls, cover with a lid and bring to a boil over high heat.
As soon as the liquid boils, reduce the heat to low and cook at low simmer for 30-40 minutes.
Oat cutlets
Compound
oatmeal - 1 cup,
water (boiling water) - 0.5 cups,
fresh champignons - 3-4 pcs,
potatoes - 1 piece,
onion - 1 piece,
garlic - 2 cloves,
greenery,
salt,
pepper,
vegetable oil for frying
Preparation
Pour oatmeal into a bowl or saucepan, pour boiling water, cover with a lid and leave to swell for 20-30 minutes.
Peel the potatoes, wash and grate on a fine grater.
Peel the onion and grate it on a fine grater.
Cut the champignons into small cubes.
Chop the greens.
Pass the garlic through a garlic press.
Add potatoes, onions, garlic, mushrooms and herbs to the swollen oatmeal - mix the mixture well, add salt and pepper.
The oatmeal mass should not be too thick and not too liquid - so that you can scoop it up with a spoon.
Place oatcakes in a frying pan heated with vegetable oil using a tablespoon.
Fry the cutlets over medium heat on one side until golden brown.
Turn over to the other side, fry for 1 minute over medium heat, then reduce the heat to low, cover and cook for 5 minutes.
Cutlets can be served with fresh vegetables or with mashed potatoes.
Fish with vegetables baked in mayonnaise
Compound
fish fillet - 300-400 g,
potatoes - 5-6 pcs,
carrots - 2 pcs.
onions - 2 pcs.
mayonnaise,
salt,
pepper
Preparation
Wash the fish fillet, dry it and cut into portions.
Cut the potatoes into large cubes.
Cut the carrots into cubes.
Cut the onion into rings.
Place a layer of fish in a greased baking dish, add a little salt and pepper, place chopped vegetables on top: potatoes, carrots, onions - add a little salt and pepper to the vegetables and pour mayonnaise over everything.
Place the fish and vegetables in the oven over medium heat and bake for 40 minutes until cooked through.
Pies
From Lenten yeast dough prepared according to this recipe, you can bake pies with with different fillings, open and closed.
Ingredients: 2.2 kg of flour, 2 cups of warm water, 1 cup of vegetable oil (0.75 cup is possible), 30-40 g of yeast, 1 teaspoon of salt.
To prepare lean yeast dough according to this recipe, you need to dissolve the yeast in 0.5 cups of warm water and place in a warm place. When the yeast foams, specified products knead the dough, cover with a towel and place in a warm place.
Knead twice and form pies. If the filling is juicy, you need to make a hole in the middle of the pie so that it does not burst from the steam during baking. The surface of the pie is brushed with strong sweet tea and baked at 180 degrees until done. After baking, lightly brush the cake with a brush. boiled water, cover with a towel and let “rest”.
Pie fillings
Apple filling
Wash and peel the apples, removing the seeds (you don’t have to cut off the skin, as it contains aromatic ingredients). essential oils), cut into slices. Place the apples in a bowl, add granulated sugar, butter, a little water and simmer.
Potato filling
Potatoes - 7-10 pcs. medium size; onions - 3 pcs.; butter - 4 tbsp. spoons; eggs - 2 pcs.; salt and pepper - to taste.
Instructions: Peel, rinse, boil, mash until smooth, add raw eggs, oil, sauteed onion, salt, pepper and mix thoroughly.
Fish filling
fish fillet 600 g, 2 onions, flour 1 tablespoon, vegetable oil 4 tablespoons, Bay leaf, salt, pepper, herbs to taste
Wash the fillet, salt and fry on both sides. Then cool and pass through a meat grinder. Finely chop the onion, fry until pink, add flour and fry until light brown. Then dilute a small amount water or broth until consistency thick sour cream, add minced fish and mix everything well.
Stuffed rice with mushrooms
rice 3 tablespoons, fresh mushrooms 100-150 g, vegetable oil, water 3 glasses for cooking rice, onion 1, wheat flour 1 teaspoon, salt, pepper to taste
Cook the rice. Peel the mushrooms and boil in salted water until tender. Pass the cooked mushrooms through a meat grinder and fry. Prepare the sauce as follows: pour vegetable oil into a frying pan, heat it and fry finely chopped onion in it. Add a tablespoon of flour and fry it until it turns light brown. After this, pour in about a glass of water, and the mixture should have the consistency of thick sour cream. After boiling the mixture for 10 minutes, add salt, pepper, and chopped herbs. Mix the sauce with rice and minced mushrooms.
Fresh cabbage filling
1 head of cabbage white cabbage medium size chop, add salt. After 10 minutes, squeeze it out, put it in a saucepan, pour in 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil, add grated carrots or, if you like, finely chopped onion. Fry, stirring, until soft so that the cabbage does not brown. When cool, add black ground pepper and finely chopped dill.
Orthodox canons establish that there should be no alcohol at the funeral table, since the main thing in a funeral service is not food, but prayer, which is clearly incompatible with drunk, in which it is hardly permissible to ask the Lord to improve the afterlife fate of the deceased.
Beverages
Gingerbread cookies, gingerbread cookies, pancakes, and sweets are served with drinks, but cakes and pastries are not recommended.
Kissel
Nowadays they cook liquid sweets fruit jelly, and in the old days jelly (jelly - sour) was prepared from flour - rye, oatmeal, wheat - with sourdough and sourdough. Oatmeal jelly was thick, it was cut with a knife, eaten with a spoon (remember milk rivers with jelly banks in Russian folk tales). That is why the funeral custom preserves jelly in this form: with milk. Oatmeal You can make it yourself by grinding oatmeal in a coffee grinder.
Oatmeal jelly
2 cups oatmeal, 2 tablespoons honey, 8 cups water, salt to taste. Pour oatmeal warm water and mix well so that there are no lumps. Let it swell for 6-8 hours (you can leave it overnight). Then strain through a sieve, add honey, salt and cook, stirring, until thickened. Pour hot jelly into molds, let it harden and cut into portions with a knife.
Cranberry jelly
200-400 g cranberries, 6-8 tbsp. spoons of sugar, 4-6 tbsp. spoons of potato starch.
Sort the cranberries, rinse, rub through a sieve, squeeze out the juice. Pour in five times the amount of pomace hot water, bring to a boil, strain. Cool part of the broth and dilute it in it potato starch. Put sugar in the remaining broth, boil it, then pour in the diluted starch, squeezed juice and bring to a boil. Pour into a dish, sprinkle powdered sugar so that a film does not form, and cool.
Apple jelly
Finely chop 2-3 pounds of apples, boil in water with a piece of cinnamon, strain through a sieve; Mix 5 glasses of this juice with 1/4-1/2 pound of sugar, grated with lemon zest, squeeze the juice out of 1/2 lemon, boil, pour in flour diluted with 1 glass of cooled apple broth, boil thoroughly, stirring constantly.
take: 6-8 apples, cinnamon, 1/2 lemon, 1/2-1 cup. sugar, 1/2-3/4 cup. potato flour.
Kissel from dried apples
Take 1/2 pound of dried apples, pour 6 cups of water into them, boil the apples, strain and rub through a sieve, pour into a saucepan, add 1/4 or 1/2 cup of sugar, boil, pour in a glass of water mixed with 1/4 or Boil 1/2 cup potato flour, stirring vigorously, pour into mold, cool, serve.
Raspberry, red or black currant jelly, cherries or plums
Pour the berries with water, boil, grind with a spoon, strain, take 5 cups of this juice, add 1/4 or 1/2 pound of sugar, grated with lemon zest, boil, pour in flour diluted with 1 cup cold water, etc. Serve sugar separately.
Take: 1-1.5 lb. berries, 1/2-1 cup. sugar, 1 cup. potato flour, lemon zest, sugar.
Cranberry juice
For 2 liters of water – 250g cranberries. Mash the cranberries and squeeze out the juice through cheesecloth, put the pulp in water, bring to a boil and boil for 7-8 minutes. Leave for 30 minutes to cool. Strain through cheesecloth, add juice and sugar to taste.
Bread kvass
half a loaf of rye bread;
3 liters of boiled water;
half a pack (25-30 grams) of dry yeast;
half a cup (125 grams) of sugar;
raisin.
Preparation
Cut the rye bread into regular pieces and cut into quarters. Place in one row on a baking sheet and place in a low-heat oven. The bread should dry thoroughly and lightly brown, best done over low heat. Dry the crackers for about 10-15 minutes, then turn off the oven, leaving the baking sheet in it.
Place the finished crackers in a non-oxidizing container (a regular bowl is perfect for these purposes). three liter jar) and pour boiling water over them up to the shoulders of the bottle. Add three tablespoons of sugar and leave to cool. Cool a small amount of water, for example a glass or even less, to body temperature or slightly higher and pour dry yeast into the water. When the water in the jar has cooled to about 36-37 degrees, pour the diluted yeast into the jar and mix thoroughly.
After this, cover the jar with the future kvass with a lid or saucer and set aside in a warm place for 2 days.
After this period, carefully strain the infusion through a very fine sieve or cheesecloth to completely separate the grounds. Place the grounds in a separate jar.
Add the remaining sugar to the strained infusion and mix thoroughly until it dissolves. Add a well-washed handful of raisins to the infusion and leave for room temperature for another half day. After this, pour the kvass into plastic bottles and carefully tighten the lids, because The kvass must be very well sealed. Bottles with finished product put it in the refrigerator and after a day you can drink the kvass.
The grounds obtained during the preparation of kvass do not need to be thrown away, but stored in the refrigerator for a long time. glass jar. Now this is ready-made sourdough, and when preparing the second portion of kvass, instead of diluted yeast, add 4 tablespoons of sourdough to the breadcrumbs. Next, everything is as in the recipe: let it brew for two days, drain, add sugar and raisins, let it sit again and put the bottles in the refrigerator. It is better to renew the starter, i.e. leave the last portion of grounds.
Lemonade recipe
To prepare lemonade, cut 5 lemons into slices, remove the seeds, put in a saucepan, add 300 g of sugar, pour in 2 liters of water and put on fire until one fifth of the liquid has boiled away.
Place the drink in the refrigerator. Serve lemonade with ice cubes
Sbiten
Dissolve 100 g of honey and sugar in 1 liter of boiled water, add cinnamon, cloves and boil for 15-20 minutes, and then strain.
Sbiten is served hot.
The funeral meal ends with a general prayer of thanksgiving.
I often talk about my work, about the quantities and for how many people I have to cook for any event. But for some reason I bypass one part of my work. And completely in vain, as it turned out. Very often, in personal requests, I have to give advice on preparing funeral dinners. Very often I have to prepare such dinners myself.
Just recently, I had a completely stupid debate about whether it is acceptable or not to cut pancakes into two parts at a wake. And in the heat of this dispute, so many misconceptions and superstitions related specifically to the wake became clear. So such a text is simply overdue.
I sincerely wish that my advice will never be useful to you. But if there is still a loss in your family, then let this text help you navigate this difficult moment.
So, funeral dinner .
According to Christian tradition, the deceased are remembered three times. On the day of the funeral, for 9 and 40 days. On the day of the funeral, everyone who came to say goodbye to the cemetery is invited to lunch.
It should be remembered that a funeral dinner is just a dinner and nothing more. Under no circumstances should it be turned into a long feast with excesses. Under no circumstances should there be alcoholic beverages on the table. Food should be as simple and satisfying as possible. It must be hot (especially in winter and in the off-season). So that tired people who come to say goodbye to a loved one can calm down, warm up and pray together for repose, remember the person and his good deeds.
If the wake falls on a fast day, then a fast lunch is prepared. I will give two options for the funeral menu, taking into account the humble and fast days you can choose the option that is more suitable for you.
Many customs, observed with incredible tenacity, have nothing to do with Orthodoxy. For example, it is customary to place a glass of vodka covered with a piece of bread, supposedly for the deceased. But think for yourself - why does your dear deceased need vodka in the next world? Do you think it doesn’t hurt him to take a hundred grams before appearing in court before the Heavenly Father? Agree - this is not just stupid, but also blasphemous. Just like putting cigarettes in a coffin, or even sticking lit cigarettes into a grave. Instead of a candle - a cigarette.
Even if your loved one was a heavy smoker and drinker during his lifetime, after death he only needs your prayers, and not alcohol and nicotine.
For this purpose, there are traditions of giving small things to those who come to the funeral for remembrance. These things are truly memorial, they serve as a reminder to us, a kind of alarm clock. When using such a thing, we remember why we had it, and we offer a prayer for this person. Most often these things are handkerchiefs. But my grandmother, for example, prepared things for her funeral in advance, and in addition to handkerchiefs, she prepared combs for women and soap for men. She was practical, and knew that handkerchiefs were not often used in villages. But soap and a comb are needed every day, which means they will remember her more often.
The traditions of hanging mirrors in the house of the deceased and not using forks and knives at the funeral table are also pagan and have nothing to do with Christianity.
In the same way, the common phrase rest in peace is in no way suitable for saying goodbye to the deceased. Only those who have to dig a grave need to rest in peace. And it is better for the relatives of the deceased to express their condolences with the words God rest his soul.
Before the beginning funeral meal the prayer Our Father and 17 kathismas from the Psalter are read. At the end of dinner, a prayer is read with the saints, May Christ rest the soul of Your servant (name) in a place of worship, in a place of peace and create eternal memory for him. After which all those present sing Eternal Memory three times and disperse.
If a lot of people came, then the funeral dinner is held in two or three lines. As a rule, guests who have arrived from afar are seated at the table first. In the second - all the other guests. In third place, close relatives and those who helped to bury and set the table sit at the table. That is why it is not customary to have dinner for a long time. We prayed, we ate, we prayed. They quickly put the table in order and set it again.
Another misconception is that people don’t thank people at funerals. What do words of gratitude to those who prepared dinner and set the table have to do with the deceased? Discreet and sincere words of gratitude are always appropriate.
It is customary to prepare soup for a funeral dinner. This is either borscht (which can be lean) or homemade noodle soup. For the second course - cutlets, or fried chicken, or Fried fish. If you are submitting meat dish, then separately, on common plates you can put a fish dish. As a side dish - mashed potatoes or buckwheat. You can prepare a salad from vegetables according to the season. But I recommend not putting it on common plates, but adding 2-3 tablespoons of salad as a side dish to the second dish.
Drinks – compote from fresh berries or dried fruits or jelly. Tea and coffee - optional. Be sure to prepare kutya, which is consecrated in advance in the church. This dish symbolizes Eternal Life and each guest should try it.
Pancakes (1-2 for each guest) are placed either on common plates or on a small pie plate for each guest directly. It is customary to bake small buns and place vases with sweets. As a rule, guests do not eat buns and sweets at the table, but take them with them. So that later, perhaps at home, we can remember the deceased again.
On fasting days, if meat is served as a second course, fried fish can be placed on the table separately on common plates.
Now I will give the proportions and quantities of products that you will need to prepare funeral dinner dishes.
Kutya
For a funeral table for 50 people:
500 grams round rice
200 grams seedless raisins
200 grams of dried apricots
3 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon salt
Cut dried apricots into small pieces and soak together with raisins in boiling water for 30 minutes. Then drain in a colander.
Rinse the rice, add 1 liter of water, add salt and cook without stirring over medium heat. Cook the rice for 7-10 minutes after boiling. Then remove from the stove and leave covered for 10 minutes. Then add raisins and dried apricots, add honey and stir well. Kutya should be served in small bowls with a teaspoon. Each person present must eat three teaspoons of this dish.
Homemade noodle soup
For 50 servings you will need:
Chicken meat (you can chicken legs) 1.5-2 kilograms
Carrots – 600 grams
Vegetable oil – 100 grams
Water – 12 liters
Salt – 2 heaped tablespoons
Ground pepper, fresh or dried dill, bay leaf
For the noodles:
1 kilogram of premium flour
6 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
Boil chicken meat in salted water. Strain the broth. Sort the chicken - separate the meat from the bones and cut into small pieces. Peel the carrots and grate them on a fine grater. Sauté carrots in vegetable oil. Add chicken and sautéed carrots to the broth and bring to a boil.
Separately, prepare the noodles in advance. Combine eggs, salt and flour. Knead a stiff dough. Divide it into 10 parts. Roll out each part very thinly with a rolling pin and dry slightly. Then cut the resulting juicy noodles into thin noodles.
Just before guests arrive, dip the noodles into the broth with chicken meat and sautéed carrots. Bring to a boil and immediately remove from heat. Add pepper, dill and bay leaf.
Lenten borscht
For 50 servings you will need:
2-3 kilograms of fresh or 2 kilograms of sauerkraut
1 kilogram of beets
500 grams of onions
500 grams of carrots
300 grams of tomato paste
3 kilograms of potatoes
200 grams of vegetable oil
10 liters of water
2.5 tablespoons salt
Ground pepper
Greens, bay leaf
Peel the potatoes and cut into large cubes. When the water boils, place the potatoes in it and add salt.
Finely chop fresh cabbage. If the cabbage is sauerkraut, rinse it well with running water and drain in a colander. Add fresh cabbage to the soup along with potatoes. Pickled - almost at the very end - when the potatoes are cooked.
Cook the potatoes (with or without cabbage) for 25 minutes after boiling again.
Finely chop the onion, grate the carrots and sauté with half the vegetable oil. 5 minutes before readiness, add the whole tomato. Separately, saute the beets cut into small strips in the remaining oil.
After the potatoes and cabbage are ready, add sauteed vegetables (onions, carrots, tomatoes and beets) into the soup. Bring to a boil, boil for 5 minutes and turn off. Add herbs, bay leaf, spices. You can season the borscht with chopped garlic. Let the borscht steep under the lid for 15-20 minutes and then pour into plates.
If the day of remembrance is not fast, you can cook borscht with meat broth.
Pancakes
For 50-60 pancakes you will need:
8 eggs
3.5 cups flour
1 liter of milk or kefir
5 glasses of water
6 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons salt
8-10 tablespoons vegetable oil
Mix all products well with a whisk so that no lumps remain. Let the dough rest for 20 minutes and then bake. thin pancakes. Ready hot pancakes can be brushed with melted butter. Serve pancakes on plates, rolled into corners or tubes.
Lenten pancakes
For 50-60 pancakes you will need:
4.5 cups flour
7 glasses of water
2 teaspoons dry activated yeast
4 tablespoons sugar
1.5 teaspoons salt
6 tablespoons vegetable oil
Heat the water to 30-40 degrees. Dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water and leave for 10 minutes. Then add salt and all the flour. Mix well with a whisk, adding vegetable oil at the end. Leave the resulting dough in a warm place for 30 minutes. Then bake thin pancakes. Ready-made hot pancakes can be greased with a little honey. Serve the pancakes rolled up in a corner or in tubes, either on shared or portioned pie plates.
Cutlets
For 50 pieces you will need:
3 kilograms ready minced meat(pork+beef)
1 loaf of white bread
3 eggs
4 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
Breadcrumbs (250 grams)
200 grams of vegetable oil for frying
Soak the bread in water, then squeeze and knead in homogeneous mass. Mix with minced meat, salt, pepper and eggs. Stir the resulting mixture well cutlet mass and lightly beat it off. Divide the cutlet mixture into 50 equal parts and form round or oval cutlets. Roll each cutlet in ground breadcrumbs and fry on both sides in a frying pan or in the oven until cooked.
Fried fish
For 50 servings you will need:
6 kilograms of any fish fillet
Salt pepper
Flour for breading (200 grams)
250 grams of vegetable oil for frying
Thaw the fish, cut into required quantity servings. Mix salt and pepper with flour. Bread each piece of fish in flour and fry on both sides in vegetable oil.
Fried chicken
For 50 servings you will need:
7 whole gutted chickens
Or 8-9 kilograms of chicken legs
3-4 tablespoons Caucasian adjika
3-4 tablespoons mayonnaise
4 teaspoons salt
Cut the chicken or leg according to the number of servings. A whole chicken should be cut into 8 pieces. Depending on the size, the legs are cut into 2 or 3 parts. Salt the chicken pieces and brush with a mixture of adjika and mayonnaise. Let marinate for several hours. Then bake in the oven, placing the chicken pieces in a single layer on a baking sheet. Baking time is 45 minutes at oven temperature 200 degrees.
Mashed potatoes
For 50 servings you will need:
8 kilograms of potatoes
Salt
Peel the potatoes, cut into 4 parts. Rinse and place in a suitable pan. Fill with water, add salt. Cook for 30=35 minutes after boiling. Then drain separately potato broth. Place the hot potatoes in a bowl and quickly mash into a puree. Gradually pour the hot potato broth into the crushed potato mixture and stir well until the desired mashed consistency is obtained. At the end, season with butter or vegetable (if it’s a fast day) oil and stir again.
Buckwheat
For 50 servings you will need:
1.5 kilograms of buckwheat
1.5 tablespoons salt
Butter or vegetable oil
Sort and rinse the buckwheat. Fill with 5 liters of water. Add some salt. Cook until done. Ready porridge season with butter or vegetable oil.
Dried fruits compote
For 50-60 servings you will need:
15 liters of water
1 kilogram of dried fruits
1 kilogram of sugar
1 teaspoon citric acid
Soak dried fruits cold water for an hour, and then rinse thoroughly to remove foreign impurities. Place dried fruits in a saucepan with water and add sugar. Bring to a boil and cook for 20 minutes. A couple of minutes before the end of cooking, add citric acid. The finished compote should be allowed to brew. Therefore, you need to cook it in advance, in the evening. Place the cooled compote in the refrigerator.
Fresh berry jelly
For 50-60 servings you will need:
1.5-2 kilograms of fresh (can be frozen) berries of your choice (cherries, currants or any mixture of berries)
1 kilogram of sugar
100 grams potato starch
15 liters of water
Boil the berries with sugar. Separately, dilute the starch with a small amount of cold water. Then add the starch to the water with the berries, stir. Bring to a boil, but do not boil. Remove the jelly from the stove and leave to cool.
Lenten bun
For 50 servings you will need:
2 kilograms of premium flour
1 liter and 100 grams of water
1 small packet of dry activated yeast
300 grams of sugar
1.5 teaspoons salt
50 grams of vegetable oil
Heat the water to 30-40 degrees. Dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water. Leave the yeast for 10 minutes. Then add salt, add all the flour and knead the dough. At the end of kneading, pour vegetable oil into the dough.
Let the dough rise 2 times. Then divide the dough into 50 equal parts. Form the buns and place them on a baking sheet greased with vegetable oil. Give the buns time to proof (30-40 minutes). Then bake in an oven preheated to 220 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Ready hot buns can be greased with sugar syrup.
Instead of regular buns from this dough you can bake Lenten oven pies filled with jam, or form into sugar buns.
Once again, I sincerely wish that my advice will never be useful to you. But if you still have to use them, I hope that they will help you save both time and money during this difficult time for you.
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