What does it mean if a candle in a church goes out? What could this portend?

Orthodox believers light candles to honor the memory of the departed, bless the living and pray for blessings for relatives. Honest and righteous people strive to bestow kind words on those around them and pacify even those who wish them harm. Unpleasant situations often occur when a candle suddenly goes out, falls to the floor, or starts making a cracking sound. Many regard this from a negative point of view, begin to worry and worry, considering the imminent arrival of troubles inevitable.

The opinion of clergy

Staying in a church church is a very important event for a true Orthodox believer; at this time he approaches God and has the opportunity to turn to the Almighty with a request for the health of loved ones or for the repose of departed relatives and friends. For the well-being of the living and the dead, it is customary to light a candle in the temple. But it happens that various embarrassments occur, for example, a candle goes out, and the parishioner experiences awkwardness. What do the clergy say about this?

Church ministers report that our faith, as a rule, does not recognize superstitions and signs, and the extinguished flame of a candle does not carry a secret meaning , and the reasons can be the most explainable:

• A banal draft. This is the most common reason for this phenomenon;
• You yourself could accidentally blow out the flame with your breath, or people standing nearby could do it;
• A damp wick, the candle could be lying in a damp place;
• Poor quality wax. The wax itself is bad and extinguishes the flame.

An extinguished flame is not a reason to panic; before you start worrying, rule out all of the above factors, and in most cases they are the cause.

If it happens that the candle goes out or falls, then you need to ask for forgiveness from the Lord and cross yourself three times according to Orthodox traditions, then light it again and return to prayer. But if the flame goes out again without explicable reasons, then there really is reason to be wary, perhaps the Almighty is really trying to warn you about something in this way.

Wedding

Wedding signs are quite diverse and there are so many of them that you can’t count them all. Since ancient times, people have noticed all the events that took place at a wedding, and then it turned into signs.

Bad wedding omens:

• if a glove is lost or a mirror is broken before the wedding, this will bring misfortune to the family;
• if the bride accidentally poured something on herself at the table, her husband will become a drunkard in the future;
• The bride and groom should not be photographed together, because this may lead to separation in the future;
• if some of the jewelry fell, then it is unfortunately in a young family;
• As the sign says, on the day of marriage, only the bride should look in the mirror; if someone stands in front of her, she will beat off her future husband. The same can be said about the groom - they can take his wife away;
• if suddenly the bride injects herself during the wedding, then there will be no harmony in the family;
• the bride and groom are forbidden to eat from the same spoon or fork at the table - this will lead to disagreements in the family;
• when passers-by crossed the path of the newlyweds, there was no way to avoid disagreements;
• during the wedding you saw a funeral, then you should avoid this place as far as possible so as not to attract grief to yourself;
• if bells are heard ringing during a wedding, then there will definitely be quarrels in the future life of the newlyweds;
• It is not advisable to wear sandals to a wedding - this will lead the family to live in poverty;
• In the registry office you need to hold the rings tightly, you cannot drop them, otherwise you will be burned. If suddenly this happens, then witnesses or relatives should have a thread with them to put the fallen ring on it, it is believed that in this way all the bad energy will go away from it. Then you can put this ring on, after the celebration you need to burn the thread, this should be done by the one whose ring fell;
• no one should try on your ring, and if you want to give it, you need to leave it on the table, and then the person who wants to try it on can take it from there and try it on;
• It is not advisable to give a photograph before the wedding, there will be a separation;
• It is not recommended to put the ring on a gloved hand;
• It is not advisable to get married with rings that were inherited from deceased spouses;
• You can choose any kind of jewelry except pearls - this jewelry will lead to a sudden divorce;
• You can’t choose a green dress - you can invite misfortune;
• It is strictly forbidden to postpone the wedding;
• It is not advisable to sell your wedding dress after the wedding - this is not good;
• the young man does not need to look back at the young woman sometimes on trips to the registry office - this will lead to infidelity and mistrust. He creates his own future and there is no need to remember the past, and then the bride can return to her father’s house;
• on the wedding day it is forbidden to cut the groom's hair, no matter how sick the children were born;
• when the bride was taken from the house, on this day you cannot clean the house, because the sign says that if you put things in order, the young woman can return to the house again after a divorce;
• when a candle goes out in the church during a wedding, this means that there will be difficulties in the family, and probably a premature death awaits one of the newly-made family;
• You cannot choose a wedding date on the 13th - there will be no happiness in the home of the newlyweds.

A candle in the church has gone out: a sign

If, for example, you light a candle for repose, and it constantly goes out, this may mean that this person is trying to tell you something, especially if at the same time this person comes to you in your dreams, to calm his soul you need to do the following steps : visit his grave, bring flowers, water or an object that belonged to him during his life, pray at the grave for his repose, after which the flame will burn evenly and you will feel calm.

If you light a candle for health and it goes out, this means that the person is at risk of serious health problems. In this case, you need to pray for him and ask God to help him.

You stand and pray with a candle in your hands, and it constantly goes out, this may mean that you may have problems with your health or in your family, in your personal life, at work, it is better not to ignore such a sign from above. Pray more and ask God for forgiveness, he is known to be merciful and will certainly grant you his forgiveness.

The icon fell

When a holy image falls to the floor, a person thinks about what it means, what answer the priest will give, and about the attitude of the church to signs.

What can happen if an icon falls :

• At night, a person does not always act honestly and violates God’s commandments.
• If an icon with the image of Jesus Christ breaks, the death of a relative will occur. In this case, you need to call your relatives and find out if anyone is sick. For the health of a sick relative, you need to light a candle in the church.
• Mother of God - the owner can become very ill.
• Before setting off on the road, it’s better not to travel far, change your plans.
• When spouses quarrel among themselves, the Lord asks the couple to live amicably.
• An icon that has fallen but is not damaged means that the person has not been to church for a long time. You need to go to the local temple and pray.
• It falls every day - evil spirits have settled in the house. You need to collect holy water from the church and sprinkle it on all the walls and corners of the house.

But there is no need to worry if the icon falls. What does this mean? The priest’s answer will be the same: you shouldn’t believe in omens. Icons must be placed in the house correctly, and they must be secured in a high-quality manner. You can’t hang it on nails, but it’s better to put it on a shelf or chest of drawers. Icons should be placed in the far right corner.

The priests advise picking up the fallen image, rubbing it with your hand, kissing it and moving it to the right place. A broken icon cannot be thrown away. It needs to be restored.

Why do you dream of an extinguished candle?

In a dream, an extinguished candle can mean a lot; it depends on other details of the dream and can be either a good sign or a bad sign.

Let's look at specific situations:

1. If you dream of celebrating someone’s birthday, there is a joyful atmosphere around and the birthday person is blowing out the candles - this is a good sign, meaning imminent good news regarding the people present in the dream, for example, someone’s imminent wedding or long-awaited pregnancy. If the birthday boy in your dream is your relative who is no longer alive, then don’t be alarmed either, this is also a good sign, it means that this person has found peace in the next world;
2. If the atmosphere of the dream is negative, you experience fear, and at the same time the flame goes out and you plunge into darkness - this is already a bad sign, it symbolizes the approach of grief or trouble. Especially if this dream is repeated;
3. For women, such dreams can symbolize difficulties in relationships with a loved one, but at the same time he must be present in the dream;
4. Elderly or seriously ill people often have a dream in which they observe the slow, gradual extinction of a fire, this means the imminent approach of death;
5. Another similar dream can mean the targeting of you or a loved one of damage or the evil eye.

If you have any concerns, go to church and pray to the Lord, ask him for protection, then you will feel relief. The main thing is not to turn to fortune tellers or psychics, in most cases they are ordinary charlatans.

Aesop's Dream Book

In the interpreter of the writer Aesop you can find the following information about what candles mean in dreams:

• A candle that burns is a symbol of your dreams and hopes for positive changes in life.
• Putting out a candle is a negative sign, symbolizing self-deception. You are used to pretending to appear better. But sooner or later the truth will come out, which will bring you a lot of disappointment.
• A candle stub represents disappointed expectations. The person whose support you are counting on has no intention of helping you.
• If a real fire breaks out from a candle flame, then in reality you should watch your words. Otherwise, you risk causing a scandal.
• If in a dream you tried unsuccessfully to light a candle several times, this means that you are minding your own business. Perhaps this is the reason for the failure.
• If in a dream you saw three burning candles, it means that some of your wishes will soon come true.
• Getting burned by a candle flame is a symbol of your carelessness, which can put you in a difficult situation.

If during the funeral service of the deceased the candle goes out

A funeral is a difficult event for a person morally; after it, when they come home, people experience mental anguish and can scroll through all sorts of bad thoughts, especially if something unpleasant happened, like a candle flame going out.

To begin with, in this case, you should exclude natural factors that could cause the flame to go out.

If you have gone through all the possible options, and the candles still go out for unknown reasons. This is a reason to be wary.

Possible reasons

This could symbolize the following:

• Perhaps the soul of the deceased is afraid to depart to another world and interferes with the funeral ritual, in which case relatives and friends should cross themselves and calm him down by reading the “Our Father” prayer;
• Unfinished business. The deceased could have a very important task left in the world of the living, and he simply cannot leave this world without completing it, so he can give a sign to his family or friends so that they finish his work, then the soul will calm down and go to God;
• Anger. It also happens that the soul is angry with someone, especially if a murder has occurred. This will not last long, by forty days there will be calm and the fire will stop going out.

In any of the possible options there is no reason to worry ; any manifestation of the emotions of the soul can lead to the extinction of the flame. But these are only temporary phenomena that will definitely pass. Do not worry about the souls of your loved ones and pray for them, this will calm them down and allow them to depart to the next world.

These are just superstitions and signs that have no confirmation, especially since the church categorically denies this, so you should not take such a trifle as the extinguished flame of a candle seriously; in most cases, the reason for this is natural factors.

Cracking

A cracking sound can be made if there is a person nearby with bad intentions towards you, your home or loved ones.

The crackling of a healing candle shows that the soul of the person being prayed for is filled with negative energy, from which he needs to be cleansed.

Cracking in the house means the accumulation of a large amount of negative energy or damage caused.

A crackling sound similar to a hiss indicates disappointment and unpleasant news.