St. Petersburg, December 22, 2017
Photo: ok.ru This Saturday, Mother Rachel Saturday, dedicated to the heroism of mothers who sacrificed themselves for the sake of the lives of their unborn children, will be celebrated at the Church of St. Spyridon in St. Petersburg for the first time, reports Interfax-Religion.
Iconographer Dimitry Yudov from Petrozavodsk has painted an icon of Rachel Weeping for Her Children especially for the events, based on frescoes in the ancient Markov Monastery in Macedonia, according to activists of the public pro-life movement “Warriors for Life” which is one of the organizers of the event.
The commemoration will begin with the Divine Liturgy, followed by a panikhida especially for a peaceful repose of those women who put the value of their child’s life above their own, thus sacrificing their lives. This includes women who died in childbirth from complications associated with pregnancy or childbirth, or who suffered from serious illnesses or diseases but chose not to take powerful medications so as not to harm their unborn children.
Mother Rachel Saturday is named for our Holy Mother Rachel, the wife of the Old Testament Patriarch Jacob, who died giving birth to her son Benjamin, and falls on the Saturday before the Sunday of the Holy Forefathers, when the righteous forefathers of Christ are celebrated.