The Requiem Service or Hokehankisd is not only a custom but also a rule of the church. Forty days after the death of a member of the church, a Requiem is offered for the repose of his or her soul.

This end to the official mourning period may also include a grave blessing of the departed. After the Forty Days Requiem (Karasoonk), Hokehankisd may be requested annually on the Sunday closest to the date of death or, according to a more ancient custom, the day commemorating the saint after whom the departed was named. Requiem services may be requested at any time during the ecclesiastical year. They may not, however, be performed on the Five Major or Tabemacle Feasts (Daghavars), as Hokehankisd is penitential and the Feasts are dominical in nature.

Likewise, Hokehankisd should not be performed on Dominical Feasts. That is, Palm Sunday, Ascension and Pentecost. Although through the Requiem we are praying for our departed as a matter of love and respect, we cannot alter their state or the final judgment. We request, through prayer, that the Lord remember our loved ones and judge them mercifully and with compassion.