Memorial Service for the Dead

The Standard Prayer Book, tr. by Simeon Singer, [1915], at sacred-texts.com

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MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR THE DEAD

On Holy Days, when the Memorial Service is held, and on the Anniversaries of the Death of Parents, the following is said:—

Lord, what is man, that thou regardest him? or the son of man, that thou takest account of him? Man is like to vanity; his days are as a shadow that passeth away. In the morning he flourisheth, and sprouteth afresh; in the evening he is cut down, and withereth. So teach us to number our days that we may get us a heart of wisdom. Mark the innocent man, and behold the upright: for the latter end of that man is peace. But God will redeem my soul from the grasp of the grave: for he will receive me. My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever. And the dust returneth to the earth as it was, but the spirit returneth unto God who gave it. I shall behold thy face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.

May God remember the soul of my revered father [mother] who has gone to his [her] repose. May his [her] soul be bound up in the bond of life. May his [her] rest be glorious, with fulness of joy in thy presence, and pleasures for evermore at thy right hand.

Father of mercy, in whose hand are the souls of the living and the dead, may thy consolation cheer us as we remember (on this holy day) our beloved and honored kinsfolk who have gone to their rest, our dear parents, the crown of our head and our glory, whose desire it was to train us in the good and righteous way, to teach us thy statutes and commandments,

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and to instruct us to do justice and to love mercy. We beseech thee, O Lord, grant us strength to be faithful to their charge while the breath of life is within us. And may their souls repose in the land of the living, beholding thy glory and delighting in thy goodness.

And now, O good and beneficent God, what shall we say, what shall we speak unto thee? Our needs are many, our knowledge slender. Shame covers us as often as the remembrance of all thy love for us rises within our minds. O turn this day in lovingkindness and tender mercy to the prayers of thy servants who pour out their souls before thee. May thy lovingkindness not depart from us. Give us our needful sustenance, and let us not be in want of the gifts of flesh and blood. Remove from us care and sorrow, distress and fear, shame and contempt. Let thy grace be with us, that we may rear our children to keep thy commandments and to fulfil thy will all the days of their life. O God, take us not hence in the midst of our days. Let us complete in peace the number of our years. Verily we know that our strength is frail, and that thou hast made our days as handbreadths. Help us, O God of our salvation, to bear ourselves faithfully and blamelessly during the years of our pilgrimage. And when our end draws nigh and we depart this world, be thou with us, and may our souls be bound up in the bond of life with the souls of our parents and of the righteous who are ever with thee. Amen, and Amen.