In Orthodoxy there is a pious custom of commemorating reposed ancestors and all departed Orthodox Christians, so that the living can honor the memory and pray for the salvation of the souls of our close ones who have departed to the Lord. Respect for parents is one of the ten commandments of the Decalogue, given to humanity through the people of Israel and the Prophet Moses on Mount Sinai. Therefore, it is the sacred duty of every Orthodox Christian to prayerfully concern ourselves with the fate in the afterlife of our relatives and friends who have departed this world, as well as for all the fathers and brothers who have fallen asleep in the right faith, asking the Lord to forgive their sins and transgressions.

In Orthodox practice, in addition to daily memorial prayers and services (such as the litany for the departed, the Litia, the Pannikhida/memorial service, prayers on the third, ninth and fortieth days after death, and the sorokoust (a forty-day daily commemoration), there are days established by the Holy Church for the special commemoration of the departed. These known as the Ancestor Memorial Saturdays. The Church established three such commemorations in the Lenten season—on Saturdays of the second, third and fourth weeks of Lent. They were established for a good and godly purpose—so that our reposed family and friends would not be deprived of prayer and intercession during the period of Lent, when the Divine Liturgy is not fully celebrated on most of the Lenten days.

 – St Hermogenes Brotherhood