Memorial service in the Eastern Orthodox Church

If it is a general commemoration of all the departed, or if the individual's grave is not close by, the service is held in a church, in front of a special small, free-standing "memorial table", to which is attached an upright crucifix and with a candelabra for the faithful to put lighted candles.

Some of the most notable portions of the service are the Kontakion of the Departed[note 3] and the final singing of "Memory Eternal" (Slavonic: Vyechnaya Pamyat).

Then the family or friends of the departed will wash and dress the body and it is placed in the casket after which a special expanded memorial service called the First Panikhida is celebrated, following which the reading of the Psalter[note 5] commences and continues uninterrupted until the funeral.

[note 7] On these days, not only is the memorial service served, but there are also special propers at Vespers, Matins, and the Divine Liturgy.

A very abbreviated form of the memorial service is called the Lity (or Liti or Litia), from the Greek λιτὴ τελετή, litē teletē, i.e. a plain ceremony, or λιτὸν μνημόσυνον, liton mnēmosynon, i.e. a plain mnemosynon; it consists only of the concluding portion of the regular memorial service.

This is often celebrated in the narthex of the church on ordinary weekdays (i.e., when there is no higher-ranking feast day), especially during Great Lent.