All of Bright Week, it is like one day of Pascha. The Church celebrates the great joy of the Lord’s Resurrection, His victory over death. For this reason, it is considered out of place to hold memorials for the dead since all of our attention is directed to the conquering of death.
Nevertheless, the Church in its great mercy, seeks to extend the joy of the Resurrection to those in the tombs, so on Tuesday of the week following Bright Week, memorials are once again performed for those in the graves. As opposed to the normal ones, during the Paschal period, they are begun and finished with “Christ is Risen…”
The monastery has one of the largest cemeteries of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, so starting on Radonitsa, once again, and especially on this day, the faithful come from all over and at times with their parish priests, have pannikhidas sung at the graves. Also, it is customary to leave blessed eggs at the graves as a symbol of the Resurrection.
The monastery has a general pannikhida after lunch, weather permitting, at the brotherhood cemetery behind the cathedral.
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