The priest spoke about the church's view of communion with the dead

Orthodox communication with the deceased on Radonitsa is acceptable, but at the same time attention should be paid to more important things — reading prayers for the dead. Philip Ilyashenko, a priest and vice-rector of St. Tikhon's Orthodox University for the Humanities, told Izvestia about this.

According to the clergyman, on Radonitsa, believers visit their deceased loved ones at the cemetery, talk with them, tell them about their lives, and also clean up the mess, paint the fences of the graves. He stressed that such actions are not something wrong, noting that a person's need to communicate with deceased loved ones is natural.

Grave graves, it's clear what people do in the spring: they clean up the grave, put things in order, and sort out the trash. It's the right thing to do, and it needs to be done. People start talking to the deceased themselves, telling them about how they live, what happened in their lives. There is nothing wrong with that in itself," Ilyashenko added.

At the same time, he noted that on Radonitsa, Orthodox Christians should nevertheless focus their attention on reading prayers for the deceased. The priest is sure that this is more important to them than a cleaned grave or sincere conversations. It is assumed that the deceased are already aware of the lives of their loved ones.

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"Our main communication with the dead is precisely prayer. Grave grave cleaning, visiting the grave, talking to the deceased — everything else is emotionally and technically necessary, but it is not something that the deceased needs. The deceased does not need a clean grave. It is our duty of remembrance to keep the grave in order, clean and beautiful," the expert emphasized.

According to Filip Ilyashenko, people often leave sweets, cakes or various drinks there when visiting the graves of relatives, and this should not be done. The clergyman stressed that such actions relate to paganism, and when interacting with the deceased, motives other than Christianity should not slip through. He stressed that the main task of believers is to pray for the dead.

On Tuesday, April 21, Christians of the Eastern Rite celebrate Radonitsa. On this day, a full memorial service is held in churches, which includes Easter hymns. Believers place candles, present memorial notes with the names of deceased loved ones and pray for them.

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