“We ask for forgiveness, we distribute goodness” - these words begin the last day before Lent. The tradition of asking forgiveness from everyone - not only family and friends, but everyone whom life encounters - for the grievances and sins caused gave this holiday a special name - Forgiveness Sunday. In 2018, Forgiveness Sunday will be celebrated quite early - on February 18.
Forgiveness Sunday is one of those holidays that is directly related to Easter, and therefore its date is “floating”. That is, we will have to find out in advance what date Forgiveness Sunday is in 2018.
This holiday ends the month of preparation for Lent; Forgiveness Sunday is the last day when fast food is allowed, that is, believers can afford butter, eggs, cheese, cottage cheese, and milk on this day. On the day following Forgiveness Sunday - Monday - the most difficult and longest fast in Christianity begins.
Knowing the date of Easter, you can independently calculate the date of Forgiveness Sunday. It is enough just to count back forty days from the main Christian holiday. Since Easter falls on April 8 in 2018, Forgiveness Sunday falls on February 18.
Traditions of Forgiveness Sunday
The main tradition of the Orthodox holiday is to ask for forgiveness for all possible offenses. Beginning with a request for forgiveness in any encounter, believers are ready to show the same mercy to others, answering “I forgive you” to all counter-requests. To ask and receive forgiveness means to cleanse the soul before Lent, focus on thinking about the spiritual, not the carnal, and finally meet Easter with a pure soul and heart.
The second custom, which all Christians try to follow, is also important - on this day it is advisable to visit church, attend matins, and better yet, cleanse your soul at confession. After all, according to the church canon, purification and the grace that follows are possible only if the believer has peace in his heart and peace in his soul. And this can only be achieved by sincerely asking for forgiveness for your sins and just as sincerely forgiving for the offenses of others.
Folk traditions
Among the people, Forgiveness Sunday is often called differently - Maslenitsa. The cheerful holiday of farewell to winter, familiar to all of us, is the very religious holiday eve of Lent.
Farewell to the frost, farewell to winter and welcome to the long-awaited spring, the border between cold and warmth, the day when the sun turns to warmth - all this is Maslenitsa, one of the most beloved holidays among the people.
Strictly speaking, equating Maslenitsa with Forgiveness Sunday is not entirely correct. I call Maslenitsa the entire Cheese Week (Cheese Week, as indicated in the liturgical charter), and Forgiveness Sunday is only one, the last day of preparation for Lent. However, over the centuries, these two concepts have become so firmly intertwined in folk traditions that today when we say Maslenitsa we mean Forgiveness Sunday - and vice versa.
Why do we love Maslenitsa so much? Unbridled fun, songs and dances, competitions and prizes, traditional burning of effigy and, of course, pancakes - golden, with or without fillings, with hot tea or sbiten. Pancakes are a real symbol of Maslenitsa; not a single holiday is complete without them; they are certainly on every table in every home.
Maslenitsa or Forgiveness Sunday is the last day when “meat”, that is, food of animal origin, is allowed. However, meat was already prohibited for the entire week before fasting - only eggs, fish, dairy products, including butter, could be consumed.
Another tradition of Forgiveness Sunday is saying goodbye to the dead. The evening of the holiday was considered a time to remember the dead: thus, housewives prepared porridge for dinner, and in quantities slightly more than necessary. Pots and bowls with half-eaten porridge were placed on the floor near the stove at night - it was believed that at night “parents”, that is, deceased older relatives, would come to treat themselves. In the evening, the female half of the family visited the cemetery. Women carried Maslenitsa pancakes to the graves of relatives, laid them on the ground and asked forgiveness from the dead. Forgiveness Sunday ended with remembrance.
The biggest Christian holiday - Easter - is preceded by the most serious and longest fast. And the last day before Lent is Forgiveness Sunday. This is a special day for all believers - it is set aside to remove everything unnecessary and enter a significant period of life freed from grievances and sad memories.
history of the holiday
Initially, the tradition of asking for forgiveness and accepting it originated with monks from Egypt. They went into the desert for forty days to repent, be alone and pray. These people returned on Easter Sunday, although not all survived.
The journey was serious, very exhausting and dangerous. Knowing that they might not return, the monks gathered in advance, said goodbye to each other, and left all insults, quarrels and other unpleasant things in the past. Modern believers do not need to go into the desert, but this does not change the essence of the holiday. You need to ask for forgiveness not only from living people, but also from the dead.
In tsarist Russia, even the tsars supported such a tradition - they traveled around the state, asking for forgiveness from their subordinates. Today this has not lost its relevance: bosses turn to their employees, employees forgive each other. This ritual is of great importance for a family in which it is imperative to let go of all negativity.
Forgiveness Sunday comes to our homes before the start of Lent. This year the church holiday will come on March 10th. Many believers are not very interested in the question: why such a bright holiday as Forgiveness Sunday does not have any specific date in the church calendar. This is because the first day of Lent falls on different days of the last winter month and the first month of spring from year to year. It all depends on when Easter-Resurrection of Christ will take place.
Forgiveness Sunday is an important holiday for believers
Orthodox people rightly believe that in the event of non-forgiveness of each other's grievances, Lent, which becomes a common diet, does not make any sense. And no matter how long it may be (as many as forty-nine days are allotted for Lent), an ascetic lifestyle may simply not be counted by the Lord as a matter of sincere repentance and strong faith. That is why forgiveness of grievances is of paramount importance, as is asking forgiveness from others yourself. Based on this approach to Forgiveness Sunday, interesting traditions of this bright church holiday arose.
At morning services in Orthodox churches and churches, clergy read a short excerpt from holy gospel. This passage talks about the granting of forgiveness by people to each other, without which true believers will not receive forgiveness from the Heavenly Father, and also talks about the beginning of Great Lent.
Forgiveness Sunday is the day before the beginning of Lent and the day the end of Maslenitsa
Forgiveness Sunday is both the beginning of Lent and the end of Holy Week. On this day, it is customary to “see off” the winter, organize mass celebrations and festivities, and treat yourself to a hearty meal on the eve of Lent. Also on this holiday, all believers stop consuming dairy products. All believers and not so believers come to visit each other, congratulate friends, relatives and acquaintances. In the current time of technological achievements, people say words of congratulations to each other through the phone and messages in instant messengers. It’s very good, along with congratulations, to also ask each other for forgiveness. Ask sincerely, from the bottom of your heart, and of course, sincerely give your forgiveness to others.
Forgiveness Sunday March 10, 2019, traditions of this holiday
On the day of Forgiveness Sunday, all believers repent and make promises not to commit any more bad deeds. If everything is done according to church rules, then healthy people repent before those who are sick, strong in body and spirit - before weak people, the rich and wealthy bring repentance to the poor, and young people - to the elderly.
On this day, people in leadership positions should ask their subordinates for forgiveness for their tyranny and sometimes excessive severity. It is also very good on this Sunday to forgive those who owe you, especially those who are in difficult financial situations. And of course, you only need to do it sincerely, in order to begin Lent with a clear conscience, bright thoughts and a light heart.
The history of the holiday Forgiveness Sunday begins in ancient times
It is believed that the tradition of repenting to each other originally originated in Ancient Greece during antiquity. The Greek priests loved to test the strength of their body and spirit, voluntarily going to the desert, or climbing high mountains to subject themselves there to all sorts of tests for a certain period of time. Not everyone was able to withstand the trials that befell them in the harsh terrain.
Forgiveness (forgiven) Sunday, a beautiful, humane Russian custom. Before the strict days of Great Lent, cleanse your soul, submit, ask all honest people, as the Lord said: “For if you forgive people their sins, then our Heavenly Father will also forgive you, and if you do not forgive people their sins, then the Father will also forgive you.” yours will not forgive you your sins" (Matthew 6:14-15).
Forgiveness Sunday - the last day before Lent
The proverb “Maslenitsa is not all for the cat” comes from the fact that after Maslenitsa fasting begins, and with it a strictly abstinent life. From the first day of fasting, many do not even drink water until they have heard matins. The first three days they don’t cook anything: they eat only dry food, pickles, mushrooms, sauerkraut, horseradish and radish, etc. From Thursday, vegetables are cooked without vegetable oil.
Maslenitsa is over, Lent and Easter are ahead.
Forgiveness Sunday, history of the holiday
Not everyone knows that the custom of asking for forgiveness came to us from Egypt. This country, about two thousand years ago, sheltered the holy family - Jesus and his mother Mary - from the persecution of Herod. Later, Christian monasteries appeared here.
Before Easter, the monks went into the desert for forty days to pray alone to our Lord, becoming even more spiritually purer in their thoughts, and thereby prepare themselves for meeting Christ on the day of his resurrection. But it is very difficult for a person to spend forty days alone in the desert.
Dangers lurk at every step. These are hungry animals, snakes, and poisonous spiders. The monks, leaving for the desert, knew that they might not return back, and that they might never see the people to whom they were saying goodbye. Therefore, when leaving, they asked everyone for forgiveness for everything, even for the bad thoughts that may have arisen in their heads.Gradually this custom spread and took hold. Previously, in Rus', battles stopped on this day; opponents had to lay down their arms and ask each other for forgiveness. Even the king on this day asked for forgiveness from his subjects.Until the last dawn, people went from house to house and asked for forgiveness from relatives, neighbors, and complete strangers. And it was necessary to forgive with a pure heart, because God forgives all of us our sins, but are we above God? We, too, must forgive and continue to live in peace and harmony, as Christ wanted.
The Story of the Publican and the Pharisee
Some people think that they have nothing to ask for forgiveness for, because they live correctly, don’t steal, don’t kill, and don’t do anything bad to anyone. Here it is useful to remember the story of the Pharisee and the tax collector.
The Pharisee lived correctly, prayed, fasted twice a week and considered himself better than others for this. He asked God for recognition of his merits.The publican collected taxes from the people while serving the invaders, so people for the most part hated him. He was clearly aware of his situation and all he asked from God was forgiveness.God accepted the Publican's request and refused the Pharisee, because he, blinded by his pride, tried to elevate himself and become on the same level with God.
Holy Sunday - Day of Forgiveness
We all, voluntarily or unwittingly, commit various major and minor sins - we swear (even if quite rightly!) over prices that are growing every day. Sometimes we argue in lines, we grumble when someone steps on our feet on a crowded bus, or when a neighbor suddenly decides to hammer a hanger nail into the wall on Sunday morning.
You never know when and who we have offended over the past year with a deed or a carelessly dropped word! It is for all this that we must ask for forgiveness, not formally, of course, but quite consciously and try not to repeat these mistakes in the future (we won’t apologize for the same thing every time). If everyone does this from the bottom of their hearts, our lives will definitely become better. Ask for forgiveness from loved ones. When you wake up in the morning, without delay, ask for forgiveness for all the grievances caused from your household. You need to ask for forgiveness sincerely, regretting the pain caused to your loved one. If it is difficult to ask for forgiveness, you can first imagine yourself in the place of the offended person and feel for yourself how bad it was for him. Then you will definitely regret and repent of your evil deed. The request for forgiveness will happen as if by itself. Families did not go to bed without making peace with each other.Ask forgiveness from the dead. On this day, it is customary to come to the graves of relatives and friends to ask for forgiveness from those with whom it is no longer possible to see. We often regret that we offended a person during his lifetime. On this day there is an opportunity to ask for forgiveness and remove the burden from your soul.Forgive those who ask. On Forgiveness Sunday, we need to sincerely forgive those who ask us to do so. And even those who cannot or do not want to ask us for forgiveness. Simply, forgive all the accumulated grievances, thinking that our offenders are just as wrong as we ourselves and their soul suffers from this.The main thing for a person on Forgiveness Sunday is sincere repentance of the evil act committed towards another person and forgiveness of their offenders. After all, we all ask the Lord for forgiveness of our sins. Just as we forgive others, so the Lord will forgive us. Forgiving others means approaching Lent with a pure soul and preparing spiritually.Visit the temple. In churches during the Liturgy they read the biblical story about Adam and Eve, remembering the fall of our first parents and their expulsion from Paradise. The Gospel narrative is also read in churches, where Jesus Christ explains the words of the prayer Our Father, “and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” The Lord himself shows us the way to the Kingdom of God - to renounce evil grievances, to love and forgive each other.
I forgive everyone who cannot be forgiven,
Who paved my roads with slander.
The Lord taught: “Do not be strict with your loved ones.
The earth will reconcile you all anyway.”
I forgive those who have kind words
He told me without believing in them at all.
And yet, no matter how sad it was for me,
My gullibility was right.
I forgive everyone who wished me harm.
But I did not console my soul with revenge.
Because he is also not without sin in battles.
My arrow found someone too.
(Andrey Dementyev)
I apologize to everyone
And I bow low before you,
Whom did she lead into some kind of sin?
Who did you offend with your words?
Who did I give a reason to?
Think about me with condemnation,
Whom did she secretly lead into temptation?
With your appearance or movement.
I couldn’t answer who
Mutual friendship or love,
Who didn’t help in trouble,
Whose wounds bled.
I apologize to everyone
Whom I didn’t have time to help,
For those who made me laugh,
When I was inept.
I apologize to you too,
Who threw stones at me,
When I've fallen more than once
And they didn’t shake hands with me.
I ask my enemies to forgive me,
At least I don’t consider you enemies.
I don't want to take revenge on you in any way
And I dream of seeing you as friends.
I ask forgiveness from the Creator,
That I love His children little,
I ask Heavenly Father
May He give me more love for them!
Learn to forgive... Pray for those who offend,
Conquer evil with a ray of good.
Go without hesitation to the camp of those who forgive,
While the Golgotha star is burning.
Learn to forgive when your soul is offended,
And the heart is like a cup of bitter tears,
And it seems that all kindness is burned out,
Remember how Christ forgave.
Learn to forgive, forgive not only with words,
But with all my soul, with all my essence.
Forgiveness is born of love
In the creation of prayer nights.
Learn to forgive. Joy is hidden in forgiveness.
Generosity heals like a balm.
The blood on the Cross was shed for everyone.
Learn to forgive so that you yourself can be forgiven.
Boris Pasternak
Preparing for Lent
Everyone who wants to begin the feat of fasting and prayer,
everyone who wants to reap the fruits of their repentance,
hear the Word of God, hear the covenant of God:
Forgive your neighbors for their sins against you.
Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov)
Are you fasting? Appease the one you have offended
Never envy your brother, never hate anyone.
Saint John Chrysostom
If you, a person, do not forgive everyone
sinned against you, then do not bother yourself
fasting and prayer... God will not accept you.
Venerable Ephraim the Syrian
Forgiveness Sunday 2019: how to ask for forgiveness
The rite of forgiveness appeared in the monastic life of Egyptian monks. Before the onset of Lent, in order to strengthen the feat of prayer and prepare for the bright holiday of Easter, the monks dispersed one by one through the desert for all forty days of fasting. Some of them never returned: some were torn to pieces by wild animals, others died in the lifeless desert. Therefore, when they separated to meet only on Easter, the monks asked each other for forgiveness for all voluntary or involuntary offenses, as before death. And of course, they themselves forgave everyone from the bottom of their hearts. Everyone understood that their meeting on the eve of Lent could be their last. This is why the rite of forgiveness existed - to be reconciled and forgiven with everyone and - thanks to this - with God Himself.
Over time, this tradition passed into the worship of the entire Church. In pre-revolutionary Russia, for example, there was a custom for the tsar to ask forgiveness from his subjects. For this purpose, the tsar toured the troops (since the 18th century, the locations of the regiments stationed in the capital), asked for forgiveness from the soldiers, visited monasteries, where he asked for forgiveness from their brethren, and came to the bishops to ask them for forgiveness.
“We need to forgive those who have offended us, and ask for forgiveness from those whom we have voluntarily or unwittingly offended,” Archimandrite John (Krestyankin) reminded in his sermon. “Otherwise all our labors in the upcoming Lent will be in vain. The Lord will not accept our numerous prostrations to the ground if resentment towards our brother, evil and ill will towards our neighbors continue to live in our hearts.
The Lord will not hear our tearful prayers and sighs to Him for mercy on us if the words of the Savior do not touch our consciousness: “If you forgive people their sins, then your Heavenly Father will also forgive you” (Matthew 6:14).
Forgiveness Sunday 2019: the meaning of forgiveness
Forgiveness Sunday is a day of testing our spiritual maturity, a day of our strict self-examination: are we able to follow Christ, fulfilling all His commands?
Many of us know well from our own life experience that it is much easier to forgive than to ask for forgiveness from someone whom we have offended in some way. Here our pride prevents us from admitting guilt.
But before asking forgiveness from each other, we must ask forgiveness from the Lord for the fact that we paid Him with callous ingratitude and for His Calvary sufferings, and for His cross, which He endured for the sake of atonement for our sins. Because we have so little love for Him.
Forgiveness Sunday 2019: history of the Church
On this day, the Church remembers the terrible tragedy that happened to humanity at the dawn of its history - its expulsion, in the person of our common forefather Adam, from the face of God, the expulsion of Adam from paradise.
A vale of weeping and sorrow - the earth accepted the exile, so that, according to the commandment of God, the criminal would grow thistles and thorns, so that in the sweat of his face he could bear his bread, so that in pain, tears and sorrow he could give birth and feed his children, so that he could reap all the bitter fruits of his disobedience to the Heavenly Father. .
Adam cried after his exile, in the gray of “straight from heaven,” he cried, remembering who he was, and what he possessed, and Whom he lost. And according to Adam the first, all humanity to this day cries and sighs for the now elusive ghost of happiness. And the whole world, tormented and tired, cries from lack of direction, from the fact that the soul is naked, that life is aimless and joyless. And nothing can fill our life so that a complete person feels the unconditional fullness of real, and not illusory, happiness, for it, this fullness, is only in God.
But we are exiles. Paradise is far away, and the further humanity lives from the time of the fall, the more obscure the beautiful image of paradise becomes in it, the deeper the pain and suffering of humanity and the more the image and likeness of God is erased in the human soul. And the world would have perished long ago if it were not for the Second Adam - Christ, who again opened the closed paradise and gave man the opportunity to return to it.
And we all now bear the tightness and burden of life as an exile. But we, those who live the life of the Church, know the heavenly joy of the open Royal Doors and the life-giving, jubilant words: “Christ is Risen!” and in them - the original closeness of Divine love to man. But this heavenly joy on earth is preceded by Lent, and the Church constantly teaches that what we have lost through sin can be found, gained, and returned only through repentance, heroism, and the labors of great abstinence.
Only a few hours will pass, and you and I will all notice with amazement that something will change around us and in us; something will happen that will leave the stamp of special concentration and attention on everything. This will be the holy Great Lent. And we, together with the Church, will have to move from the call to repentance to the labors of repentance themselves, to the work of repentance.”
Lent begins...