Forgiveness Sunday is a Christian holiday. This is the last day of Maslenitsa and the last day before the start of Lent. On this holiday, we must ask for forgiveness from those we have offended and forgive our offenders. Key words for this day: “Forgive me” - “God will forgive, and I forgive.” The main goal of the holiday is to awaken bright and sincere feelings in people, the desire for good deeds.
Forgiveness Sunday in 2021 is celebrated on March 14th. The date of the holiday changes every year depending on the date of Easter. Forgiveness Sunday is celebrated on the seventh Sunday before Easter - the last Sunday before Lent.
history of the holiday
At the beginning of Christianity, monks in Egypt left the temples before Lent to retire in the desert for 40 days and prepare in prayer for the Easter holiday. Life in the desert was full of dangers, and many monks never returned. They understood that their meeting could be the last. Therefore, we sincerely said goodbye and asked each other for forgiveness. Over time, this tradition spread to Christianity. This is how the holiday of Forgiveness Sunday arose.
Forgiveness Sunday: what kind of day and its meaning
Lent is the longest in Orthodoxy. Preparation for it begins 4 weeks, that is, weeks before it starts.
The last week is called “Cheese Pest”, which means “I leave out the cheese.” Many people who are far from the church believe that this week a person can afford whatever he wants. So to speak, eat meat and other light foods for the future before a long fast.
Actually this is not true. In the last week, preparations for fasting begin. Of the animal products acceptable for consumption, eggs and milk remain.
Cheese week is also called “Maslenitsa week”. It has retained many rituals and elements of Slavic mythology. So, it is customary to walk all week, visit friends and relatives, invite them to visit, treating them to pancakes and other dishes popular in Rus'.
For the first three days of Meat Empty, people were engaged in agricultural work, but from Thursday they stopped going out to work. Wide Maslenitsa has begun. The celebrations unfolded in full swing, reaching their climax on Sunday, which is not coincidentally called “Forgiveness Sunday.”
On the day of Forgiveness Resurrection, special lines from the Gospel are read at the liturgy, which speak of the forgiveness of sins and fasting. To begin Lent, you need to cleanse your heart of sins and grievances. To do this, believers begin the sacrament of confession and ask for forgiveness. This is an important stage, because eternal salvation is possible only if the heart is free from hostility, condemnation, bitterness, and annoyance.
Many holy fathers have spoken out on this issue more than once, speaking about the importance of the day of forgiven resurrection and the forgiveness of other people. Here are the words of St. Ephraim the Syrian: “If you, a man, do not forgive everyone who has sinned against you, then do not bother yourself with fasting and prayer... God will not accept you.”
This is the main law of eternal life, which people remember every time they read the “Our Father” prayer: “...and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors...”. Moreover, a person approaching communion, regardless of whether it is a forgiven Sunday or some other holiday or weekday, must forgive offenses. If this does not happen, he does not have the moral right to partake of the Holy Gifts, to begin the sacrament, for it will be for his judgment, and not for eternal life.
Traditions and rituals
On Forgiveness Sunday, services are held in churches. After evening prayer, the priest and parishioners ask each other for forgiveness. After the end of the service, it is customary to give alms to those in need.
On this day, people ask their family, friends, and deceased relatives for forgiveness and let go of grievances.
Forgiveness Sunday ends Maslenitsa. On this day, the solemn farewell to winter and preparation for Lent ends. As throughout Maslenitsa week, housewives bake pancakes. Young girls tell fortunes about their betrothed, wish fulfillment.
People honor the memory of deceased relatives and visit their graves in the cemetery.
There is a tradition of going to the bathhouse to wash away all sins.
What is resentment?
Resentment creates a barrier not only between people - the offended and the offended. Resentment puts a barrier between us and God. Offense is a twilight state of the soul, its preoccupation with its real, but more often imaginary infringement, when all thoughts and feelings are concentrated on one thing: “I was offended! How dare they!” Resentment is a companion of pride, an indicator that we consider our “I” to be the center of the universe, and have moved God to the periphery of our inner world and do not believe that God loves us, wishes us well and is always “looking for ways to save us.” But since we see ourselves and our offenders as the main characters in our lives, then in response to the insult the desire to get even grows.
How to spend a holiday
- Ask for forgiveness from loved ones and acquaintances, forgive grievances
- Do a good deed - give up your seat on public transport, feed a homeless animal, carry an old woman across the road, etc.
- Give alms to those in need
- Go to church for a service and pray
- Spend the day with your family
Is it possible to perform on Forgiveness Sunday:
Baptism The Church does not prohibit baptizing a child on this day.
Wedding You can get married on this holiday. However, it is better to refuse lush festivities. After all, this is the last day before Lent.
Wedding You cannot get married on this day. The sacrament of weddings is not performed during Cheese Week - Maslenitsa.
How to forgive?
Don’t forget the insult, don’t push it into the far corner of your subconscious, and especially don’t hide it in the depths of your heart, waiting for the hour of retribution, no! All this is destructive to the soul in which resentment has been allowed to take a strong foothold. Therefore, the most important question of spiritual health is: how to forgive? After all, only forgiveness, as an act of love, can destroy evil. And the experience of forgiveness brings us closer to God.
So, having stifled the outburst of anger within yourself, move on. Don’t let resentment take root and register in your heart for a long time. Don't cherish it. Don't let her torment you with the thought of how unfair you are being treated. Remember how often you offended yourself. How often he was merciless, cruel, simply inattentive. Busy with his own problems, selfishly cold towards the pain of others. Having remembered, think: “Forgive me, Lord! I myself am no better than the offender!”
But if you still understand that the offender is objectively doing evil, have pity on him, because “there is nothing more dangerous than being on the side of the forces of evil,” have pity, and do not stand on the same plane with him, acting with his own methods. Pray for the unfortunate person, remember Christ: “Lord, forgive them! Because they don’t know what they are doing!” Try not to remember the harm done to you in the future. Find something good in someone who has offended you. Keep this in mind at all times. Try to restore broken good relationships. Sincere humility on the part of the offended person, imbued with love, has more than once pacified the most severe offenders.
How to ask for forgiveness and forgive
You need to ask for forgiveness first of all from those whom you really offended. It is better to do this in person. If this is not possible, by phone or in writing. Ask for forgiveness sincerely and from the bottom of your heart. Remove your arrogance and pride. It is not necessary to formulate a specific guilt. You can simply say, “Forgive me.” The interlocutor will understand everything anyway. Keep your mistakes in mind and promise yourself not to repeat them again.
Forgive openly and consciously. Kiss your interlocutor on the cheek and say: “God will forgive, and I forgive!”
The ritual of forgiveness is necessary in order to improve relationships with others, admit your guilt and let go of grievances.
How to properly respond to a request for forgiveness
The very idea of the holiday of “Forgiveness Resurrection”, its message is to cleanse the soul of the grievances that have accumulated there. Therefore, it is impossible to even imagine the development of events in which a person, when asked for forgiveness, says “no” or even begins to vilify the person addressing him with bad words. In this case, he only hurts himself. The opposite side has a clear conscience; he did everything he could. He stepped over his pride and realized that, first of all, he himself needed this to cleanse his soul.
Of course, such a situation is rare on Forgiveness Sunday. More often than not, a person readily responds to such a generous gift from God. It is he who remembers first of all, saying: “God will forgive,” and only then adds: “I forgive, and you forgive me.” Thus, a person admits that we are all not without sin, and only the Lord can judge.
Even if the one from whom forgiveness is asked does not feel any guilt, he must also ask for forgiveness on Forgiveness Sunday in return. Why? Yes, because often a person commits sins casually, without even noticing it. He can also offend or somehow hurt another without even noticing and not paying attention to it, but the person will harbor a grudge. By asking him for forgiveness on Forgiveness Sunday in return, he gives a gift to both him and himself. As a result, two souls are purified. And this is the main meaning of a forgiven resurrection.
What to do if the person who offended you apologizes, but you still cannot find the spiritual strength to forgive him? It seems that you understand that you cannot be a hypocrite and lie in response, that you must forgive, because the Lord commanded to do this. But I can’t cope with my feelings. Then on Forgiveness Sunday you can say something like: “For now, due to my spiritual weakness, I cannot forgive you, but I sincerely wish that God would forgive you.”
This response still brings people closer than they were before the forgiven resurrection. The one who receives it should not despair, become despondent, and especially not respond with rudeness. It turns out that he also deceived himself and was disingenuous when he asked for forgiveness. It is unacceptable.
What can you eat on Forgiveness Sunday?
Forgiveness Sunday precedes Lent. This is the last day when you can eat eggs, milk, cheese, butter, sour cream. Meat products are prohibited.
On this day, housewives bake pancakes with cheese fillings and serve them with sour cream or sour cream. Traditional holiday dishes: dumplings, pies with cottage cheese, cheesecakes.
The family should sit down to the table seven times, corresponding to the number of weeks of Lent. Drinking alcoholic beverages during a holiday meal is not recommended. In the evening, all leftover food should be thrown away or given to pets, and then the dishes should be washed thoroughly.
What is another name for the holiday and why?
Cheese week - comes from the phrase “I let go of cheese.” On this day, dairy products and eggs are allowed for the last time before Lent.
Remembrance of Adam's expulsion - on this day, Adam's expulsion from paradise for committing a sin is remembered.
Divine service
At Sunday services, the Church reminds parishioners of the story of Adam. The sinful disobedience of the forefather became the cause of the greatest tragedy of his expulsion from the Garden of Eden. The clergy instruct Christians to repent like Saint Adam.
During the Liturgy, the parishioners are read the lines of the Gospel, part of the Sermon on the Mount about the importance of the forgiveness of sins, the collection of virtues, or heavenly treasures. At the evening service, the abbots recall the words of Christ addressed to those who know how to forgive: “Your Heavenly Father will also forgive you.”
During Lenten services, the surfaces are covered with dark veils, and the clergy exchange festive vestments for mourning clothes. Evening services are held without artificial light.
Ritual of forgiveness
The ritual of forgiveness follows after reciting prayers. The ministers install the Cross and bring out icons with the face of the Mother of God and Jesus Christ. The priest bows and kisses the shrines. The rector addresses the clergy, Christians, reads instructions, pronounces words of repentance to his neighbors, and bows to the ground. In response, he hears from parishioners that God will forgive. Requests for forgiveness and prayer for them, sinners, follow. First, the church ministers, followed by the parishioners, take turns going to the priest, kissing the icons, kissing the icons, the Cross, and mutually forgiving each other.
Believers participating in the forgiveness ceremony for the first time note the soulfulness of the ceremony and the enlightenment of the soul after leaving the temple.
Fortune telling on Forgiveness Sunday
On this holiday, girls make fortunes about love, their betrothed, and the near future. The most popular is fortune telling using pancakes. Tell fortunes while baking pancakes. Pay attention to how the first pancake turned out:
- with smooth edges - to a quick and happy marriage, uneven - to possible problems in family life;
- fried in the middle - the husband will be faithful, on the sides - walking;
- a ruddy pancake means health, a pale pancake means illness;
- a thin pancake portends an easy year, a thick one - difficulties and a lot of work.
Confession to the priest
Forgiveness Sunday is a special day for Orthodox Christians, when church parishioners visit churches with greater hope of remission of sins. Those who come to the sacrament of repentance to their confessor must free themselves from ungodly thoughts, be restrained, and humble.
In large churches, confession is carried out in one ritual with a significant number of parishioners. Father recalls the main human sins and awakens the feelings of believers. Before repentance, the parishioner needs to turn to the participants in the event: “Forgive me, a sinner.” In response, the believer hears the phrase: “God will forgive, and we forgive.”
Next, the parishioners take turns approaching the priest, crossing themselves, and bowing their heads. Repentance can begin with the words: “Lord, I have sinned before You...”. The believer lists his offenses without detail, with an awareness of sinfulness before God and loved ones. One should not generalize “it’s all my fault” or hide sins with words. There is also no need to justify yourself to the priest, just repent. Heartfelt contrition during the sacrament of repentance must be sincere.
The first repentance at confession is recommended to be carried out in a private ceremony, alone with the priest. Important words: “I repent, Lord! Have mercy on me, a sinner!” The believer needs to cross himself, bow, kiss the icons, the Cross, the book of the Gospel.
