Memorial Days Calculator: 3rd, 9th and 40th Day After Death

The day of death is the first day, whatever the hour. So the 9th day comes on the eighth day after death and the 40th on the thirty-ninth: for a death on the 1st, the 9th day is the 9th and the 40th day is 39 days later. Some parishes count from the next day when death came late in the evening — the calculator has a switch for that.

No memorial services are held in Holy Week and Bright Week: the church commemoration moves to Radonitsa, the Tuesday of the second week after Pascha. On weekdays of Great Lent the memorial service is held on the coming Saturday. On Trinity Sunday the commemoration is held the day before, on Trinity Saturday; on the Nativity, on 8 January or on the eve. The calculator shows both dates, the calendar one and the church one.

The memorial meal can move to the nearest weekend when the day is a weekday. The commemoration in church — the note for the departed, the panikhida — is best ordered for the day itself or in advance.

A sorokoust is the commemoration of the departed at forty consecutive liturgies. It is ordered in church right after the death; where the liturgy is served daily it ends around the 40th day, and in Great Lent it stretches out because the liturgy is not served every day. It can be ordered again — on the 40th day, on the anniversary or at any time.

They are days of general commemoration of the departed. The movable ones are counted from Pascha: Universal Meatfare Saturday, the Saturdays of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th weeks of Great Lent, Radonitsa and Trinity Saturday. The fixed ones: Demetrius Saturday (before 8 November), 9 May for departed soldiers and 11 September for Orthodox soldiers. The calculator shows the dates for any year.

The half-year and the anniversary fall on the same day of the month: six months and one year after the date of death. When the month has no such day (the 31st, for example), the last day of the month is taken. The anniversary is commemorated every year.

Yes. The “Tradition” switch changes the set of days: Greek — the 3rd, 9th and 40th day, 3, 6 and 9 months, one year and three years; Serbian — the 3rd, 7th and 40th day, half-year and one year, where the 40th day is never moved and the half-year and anniversary are commemorated on the Saturday before the date; Romanian — up to seven years; Bulgarian — with the 20th day. The general Saturdays of Souls (zadušnice, Ψυχοσάββατα) are derived from Pascha as well.

The dates follow the tradition of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Julian paschalion. Confirm the order of commemoration and any transfer with the priest of your parish.