Step by Step Koliva Preparation for Memorial Services

Presvytera Vassi Haros

Source: Youtube

February 24, 2015

With Great Lent quickly approaching the Church is preparing not only to guide the living to repentance, but also to offer up prayers on behalf of those who have departed, an essential mark of Orthodox piety and worship. Saturday February 21/March 5 marks the first Soul Saturday, followed by the second, third, and fourth Saturdays of the Great Fast.

An essential element of our prayers for the departed is the offering of boiled wheat, or koliva, on their behalves. In this video Presvytera Vassi Haros teaches us how to prepare koliva with an emphasis on prayer:

For a small memorial service, like Saturday of the Souls or a family memorial, you will need the following ingredients: 2 c whole wheat (uncooked), 1 c chopped walnuts, 1 c blanched / slivered almonds, 1/2 c raisins, 1/2 c golden raisins, 1/4 c Italian (flat) parsley, 1 c whole sesame seeds, 1 t cinnamon, 1 t pumpkin spice, 1 t honey, 2 c powdered sugar, Jordan Almonds.

For a Memorial Service your portions will look more like: 5 lbs whole wheat (cooked in 2 large pots) 4 c chopped walnuts, 4 c blanched / slivered almonds, 2 c raisins, 2 c golden raisins, 1 c Italian (flat) parsley, 4 c whole sesame seeds, 2 T cinnamon, 1 T pumpkin spice, 1 T honey, 2 lbs powdered sugar, 1 lb Jordan Almonds.

Presvytera Vassi Haros

Youtube

3/3/2016

See also
Cremation: Incinerating Every Human Trace of Our Dearly Departed Cremation: Incinerating Every Human Trace of Our Dearly Departed
Met. Seraphim of Piraeus Cremation: Incinerating Every Human Trace of Our Dearly Departed Cremation: Incinerating Every Human Trace of Our Dearly Departed
Met. Seraphim of Piraeus
"What kind of relationship can a society have with Life when a society does not accept man in his sickness, his weakness and his death; when a society incinerates its dead; when a society destroys the remembrance of their lives and the reminder to Her members; when a society regards man’s beginning an artificial and selective one and his death a final and irrevocable one; when a society denies the breath of the eternal and entraps itself in the asphyxiation of the ephemeral?" All Souls Day? All Souls Day?
Fr. Silouan Thompson All Souls Day? All Souls Day?
Fr. Silouan Thompson
In about one week, western Christians will commemorate all the dead on November 2, the Feast of All Souls. This commemoration is important to Filipinos, and I am often asked the question: Can we still keep All Souls Day? Why are the Dead Commemorated on Saturdays? Why are the Dead Commemorated on Saturdays?
Hieromonk Job (Gumerov) Why are the Dead Commemorated on Saturdays? Why are the Dead Commemorated on Saturdays?
Hieromonk Job (Gumerov)
The Saturdays of commemorations of the dead are called ancestral Saturdays (the first universal commemoration on Meat Fare Saturday, the second, third, and fourth Saturdays of Great Lent, Trinity Saturday, and St. Demetrius Saturday). Why do these take place specifically on Saturdays? What are the historical roots of this tradition? They were not all instituted at the same time.
Comments
Klea Gallegos5/18/2024 6:57 pm
Dear Presvytera Vassi, Christos Anesti! Thank you for the demonstration on how to prepare koliva. Ten years ago, I watched and followed your instructions when my 96-year-old father went to be with the Lord. Today, I am revisiting your YouTube because we lost our beloved son Michael in February 2024. He died of colon cancer. May Michael's memory be eternal. In Christ's love, Klea Gallegos
VICKIE MAVROMIHALIS2/25/2023 12:29 am
Saturday of the Souls
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