Mayyith Niskaram is fundamentally a community event. It reinforces the Orthodox understanding of the Church as a family that transcends time and space. The living pray for the dead, and the tradition holds that the departed also pray for the living. The gathering of the congregation serves not only to comfort the grieving family but to collectively affirm the Apostles' Creed: "I believe in... the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting."

Allahummaghfir lahu warhamhu wa ‘aafihi wa’fu ‘anhu, wa akrim nuzulahu, wa wassi’ madkhalahu, waghsilhu bilma’i waththalji walbaradi, wa naqqihi min al-khataya kama yunaqqa thawbual-abyadu min addanas. (O Allah, forgive him, have mercy on him, grant him safety and pardon, honour his resting place, widen his entrance, wash him with water, snow, and hail, cleanse him of sins as a white cloth is cleansed of dirt.)