Father Bless! I have compiled a long list of the departed which includes everyone buried through my parish since it was founded 80 years ago, all the my direct ancestors that I have identified through Ancestry, the people I was close to as a child, and the relatives of my God children, and various other miscellaneous names that have been given to me. My list totals about 500 names and it takes me about 15-20 minutes to read them all. I have a strong desire to read them all every day, but I have not been very diligent about doing so, even though I feel it is one of the most important type of prayer we can offer since the departed can no longer pray for themselves. So, thank you for your encouragement. Do you think it is okay to simply preface the commemoration of the departed with a simple prayer like, "Grant rest, O Lord, to the souls of Thy departed servants: (read names), forgive all their sins and have mercy upon them."
Repent from sin and you will never die.
I assume you mean that in the Orthodox, not Christian Scientist sense! :-)
They cannot explain why Mary Baker Eddy died.
Father Bless! I have compiled a long list of the departed which includes everyone buried through my parish since it was founded 80 years ago, all the my direct ancestors that I have identified through Ancestry, the people I was close to as a child, and the relatives of my God children, and various other miscellaneous names that have been given to me. My list totals about 500 names and it takes me about 15-20 minutes to read them all. I have a strong desire to read them all every day, but I have not been very diligent about doing so, even though I feel it is one of the most important type of prayer we can offer since the departed can no longer pray for themselves. So, thank you for your encouragement. Do you think it is okay to simply preface the commemoration of the departed with a simple prayer like, "Grant rest, O Lord, to the souls of Thy departed servants: (read names), forgive all their sins and have mercy upon them."
A noble intention. Yes, that way of doing it is perfectly traditional. Good success!