Sermon on Forgiveness Sunday on the Eve of Great Lent. Cheesefare Week, Forgiveness Sunday

I congratulate all of you, dear brothers and sisters, on Forgiveness Sunday. We have approached Great Lent and are already standing, as it were, on the threshold of this great time given to us by our Holy Mother Church for our salvation, for our correction, for our repentance. Many people have a question - how to fast?

The Holy Church teaches us that fasting should be feasible for every person. The Holy Church teaches us to fast in moderation and to fast not only with bodily fasting, changing the type of food, but to fast, first of all, with spiritual fasting. That is, we should try to correct our sinful life during fasting: talk less idle, move away from anger, irritability, be temperate, reconcile with everyone and do only good. The Church teaches us during fasting to strengthen our prayers, both at home and in church, to read more Holy Bible and patristic literature, and thus pay more attention to one's immortal soul. Unfortunately, in our daily life we ​​care more about the physical than about the spiritual.

So, just the time of Lent is the time when we should put aside all our worldly concerns and pay more attention to our soul and our spiritual state. The Church during Great Lent will constantly help us in this, help us carry out this feat.

Already in the first days of Great Lent, at evening services in the temple, we will hear the Great penitential canon Andrew of Crete, which is read in parts during the first week. In this canon, St. Andrew shows us images and examples of repentance, which were like in Old Testament as well as in the New Testament. The Church calls us to imitate these examples and correct our sinful condition.

In the first week of Great Lent, we will celebrate the Feast of the Triumph of Orthodoxy, remembering the restoration of icon veneration. This holiday will once again confirm that the Holy Orthodox faith is the only faith that leads us to salvation and to eternal life. This holiday is the triumph of the Church, which has overcome all the heresies and temptations that infected Christianity in the first centuries. Annually remembering on this day the victory over false teachings, the Church will once again remind us that in our days there are also many temptations and superstitions, various sects and false teachers, from which it is necessary to turn away and with which it is necessary to fight.

During the second week of Great Lent, the Church will offer us a host of great saints of the Kiev Caves, who through fasting and prayer acquired the grace of the Holy Spirit and were heirs of eternal life. We must resort to their prayerful intercession during the days of fasting, asking for their help and intercession.

On the third week of Great Lent, the Holy Life-Giving Cross of the Lord will be brought to the middle of the temple in order to strengthen our spiritual and bodily strength, because, of course, it is difficult to bear the feat of Lent. But we must remember that our help is in the power of Honest and Life-Giving Cross Lord's. And it is precisely with the Cross of Christ that the Church will support us, reminding us that for the sake of our salvation, Christ shed His blood on Calvary to redeem us from eternal death, sin and damnation.

On the fourth week of Great Lent, the Church will celebrate the memory of St. John of the Ladder, who wrote a spiritual path called "The Ladder". In it, the monk showed how every person spiritually, as if by a ladder, doing good deeds and rejecting his sinful will, can rise to spiritual heights and be the heir to eternal life.

On the fifth week of Great Lent, the Holy Church will offer us the memory of St. Mary of Egypt, whose life is instructive for every person. She was a great sinner and, it would seem, there was no longer forgiveness for her. But the Lord, in His great mercy, called this sinful woman to repentance, and she, leaving everything, giving away her property, which was acquired by an unrighteous life, went into the wilderness, where she struggled for 48 years. She endured heat and cold, eating only herbs and roots that she found in this desert. And, having lived for many years in the exploits of prayer and abstinence, before her death she was honored to partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ.

So we, dear brothers and sisters, as we pass through the field of Great Lent, will try to constantly mortify our flesh, our sinful desires, which most often arise in our daily life. Let's pray to the Lord for forgiveness. But in order to receive forgiveness from the Lord, we must wholeheartedly forgive our loved ones, relatives and friends, with whom we sometimes quarrel. The Lord teaches us that we must forgive our offenders from the bottom of our hearts. About this, dear ones, we will talk with you at the evening service, which will be called the "Rite of Forgiveness." During this divine service, dear ones, you will also hear Easter hymns.

Since ancient times, the Holy Church has established on this Sunday evening, the last evening before Great Lent, to sing Easter hymns. In the holy monasteries of the Holy Land, Egypt, Palestine, there was a pious custom: during fasting, many monks went into the desert, where they labored in fasting and prayer, hiding their exploits from people. These feats were known only to one Lord. Some of these ascetics did not return to their cloisters, but there, in the deserts, they betrayed their spirit to the Lord during fasting. Therefore, the Church from ancient times established on this day to sing Paschal hymns, for our consolation. After all, only the Lord knows which of us will be honored this year to celebrate the Great Day of Easter of Christ.

All of you, dear brothers and sisters, I call on each of you to forgive your offenders from the bottom of your heart and enter the days of the Holy Forty Day with a clear conscience. May you spend these days of Great Lent exactly as the Holy Church teaches and calls for this: in prayer, abstinence, correction, good deeds. May this holy time, which the holy fathers call "spiritual spring", be the renewal of your immortal souls as well. May we all improve, become better, brighter, cleaner. I wish you that everyone with a pure heart and a pure conscience partake of the Holy and Life-Giving Body and Blood of Christ the Savior during this fast. God bless us all to live Holy Week, in which we will remember the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ, approach the Holy Shroud without condemnation and kiss the wounds of Christ. And may the Lord heal our souls through these holy wounds! May God grant you all to pass the days of the holy Great Lent in good health and prosperity and meet the glorious and joyful feast of Christ's Resurrection, saving for us!

“If you forgive people their trespasses,
then your Heavenly Father will forgive you too.”

In Russia, since ancient times, the custom has been kept before the start of Lent to ask each other for forgiveness. The last Sunday before Lent is called “Forgiveness Sunday”. The elders of the younger ones, the children of their parents, the friends of their loved ones - everyone asks forgiveness from everyone. On other days, it seems to us that it is others who are at enmity with each other, hate each other, shed blood.

On Forgiveness Sunday, we can also notice in ourselves the source of division, hatred and enmity and feel the truth of the words of F. M. Dostoevsky: “Everyone is to blame for everything before everyone.” And, feeling the horror of the lack of love and peace between people in the world, we can feel the need for forgiveness.

The last Sunday before the start of Lent is called Cheesefare Week by the Church, since it is at this time that the consumption of dairy products ends. The Church reminds us of the expulsion of Adam and Eve from paradise for disobedience and intemperance.

In today's gospel reading there are words in the liturgy that if we want our Heavenly Father to forgive us our sins, then we ourselves must forgive all our neighbors. Elsewhere, the Lord Jesus Christ says that we must forgive our neighbors for sins against us “from our hearts” (see Matt. 18:35), that is, with all our hearts. Not only outwardly, not with a bow, but with the heart - internally.

Because the heart is the source of a person's spiritual and mental life. If pure jets emanate from this source, then the person is as if washed by these jets, washed from within. And if bad sinful thoughts come out, then we are internally defiled; as the Savior says about this, what defiles a person is what comes out of his heart (see Matt. 15, 18).

It is possible to be clean on the outside - not only from dirt, but even from moral filth - and turn out to be impure on the inside, to be, so to speak, dirty from the inside. There is even such an expression: "dirty thoughts." Of course, we use it in the narrow sense of the word. But its meaning can be expanded: not only an obviously depraved, but also any sinful thought can be called a dirty thought, because it pollutes the soul of a person. We all have many such thoughts. So many that we hardly do anything purely evangelical. Everything is defiled by the admixture of some passion.

Sometimes (as a rule) vanity and pride are mixed with something good. Sometimes - despondency and laziness. Then we reluctantly do something commanded by the Savior. Sometimes we do what seems to be a good deed, but this is mixed with anger if we see any obstacle in front of us. Many more examples could be given of how good in us is mixed with evil. And how much frankly evil there is in us! How many actions are motivated solely by our passions!

Sometimes out of pride we do something for the sake of glory, sometimes we do something not for the sake of Christ, not because the Gospel commands it, but because we are driven to it by some kind of passion, and we only cover up the movement of passion with an appearance of goodness. However, this is not all. Sometimes we do just outright evil, as they say, without fear of God and people without being ashamed. That's how many sins we have! Every step we take is impure, every movement of thought is polluted by passions.

Every sincere, cunning person, more or less attentive to himself, must admit this. And with such an impure heart, which is the source of our sinful deeds and words, we approach God and want to ask His forgiveness. We always approach - daily and, one might say, every moment - when we call on Him in the Jesus Prayer and implore Him to have mercy on us sinners.

And especially during the days of Great Lent, because, as is typical of human infirmity, we are not able to always maintain the same strenuous effort in spiritual work, and therefore we make special efforts, we use the strongest compulsion in order to offer God the prescribed sacrifice even during these days - a certain tithe of his life, just as in the Old Testament times the faithful Jews brought tithes to God.

We must remind ourselves that with God everything is possible...

Of course, we must spend our whole lives as Great Lent requires of us, fulfilling the gospel commandments in full repentance and attention to ourselves, with extreme self-compulsion, but we do not have enough strength of spirit, zeal, there is not enough simplicity in us. And therefore, the Holy Church, condescending to our weakness, offers, at least during Lent, to make efforts and gain something for your soul, for your heart. To acquire a spiritual treasure in heaven so that our heart is there, with the Lord, already now, in this life, and, if possible, preserve it, not lose this treasure in the days of joy and, as it were, some kind of weakening of the feat, in the days of rest ... Yes, this is our weakness … What kind of rest can there be in the work of salvation? But a person is so constituted that he is not always able to maintain the same tension of spiritual forces.

Coming to repentance, to the feat of fasting, which is accepted as abstinence from both excess food and unnecessary, harmful thoughts (harmful not only because they are clearly sinful, but also because they are superfluous), we must forgive each other mutual sins. We need to forget resentment, hostility, sometimes, perhaps, constantly acting in relation to some person.

Often, unfortunately, it happens that there is no reason, but we just don’t like a person - and we don’t want to communicate with him, we don’t like his appearance, even his voice. One person seems too strict, another - indifferent, another, trying to help - intrusive. One can find many reasons for hostility in all its forms.

Hostility is not only obvious hostility and vindictiveness, but also condemnation, and anger, and revenge, and rejection of a person, and even indifference. If we want to acquire a heart capable of receiving the grace that cleanses from sins, then we must first drive out hostility towards our neighbor, that person with whom we willy-nilly communicate, with whom we live together.

Neighbors should be considered not only the one who is next to us (although first of all we need to think that way), but also the one about whom we think, whom we bring closer in our thoughts, and we think not only about those we love, but also about those whom we hate, because we constantly have thoughts of rancor. The passion of anger makes us constantly keep this person in mind, disturbs us, confuses us and does not allow us to be appeased.

We must understand the simple truth: what our heart is in relation to our neighbor, so it will be in relation to God, because we have one heart. If we have acquired love in prayer to God, then this same love will be directed to a person, because we have one heart, not two or three. One and only, whole, one could, speaking theologically, say "one-essential." The same heart should love a person. If we turn away from our neighbor, then we will lose the love for God acquired in prayer and, praying, we will no longer find this love, we will see that our soul is empty, we have lost grace.

And, on the contrary, if we force ourselves to humble ourselves before our neighbor, we force ourselves against our will, resisting the action of our corrupt heart, to treat our brothers and sisters with love, condescension, forgiveness, then we will see that during prayer our heart will turn out to be pure and our “hands” souls will be lifted up to God, the gaze of the soul will rush to Him, and nothing earthly will distract us. We have one heart. If we want to receive the forgiveness of sins, then we must remove the terrible obstacle, the wall, the impenetrable darkness that prevents God's light from penetrating into the chamber of our soul and illuminating it. This gloom is hostility towards a person in all its diverse manifestations.

The image of our Lord Jesus Christ (from the royal doors of the Exaltation of the Cross Church of the Kiev-Pech. Lavra)

By forgiving each other's real and imaginary sins, we, as it were, attract the Divine light into our heart, our soul, and by this very same way we acquire peace of mind. With this feeling, which by no means contradicts repentance, but, on the contrary, is surprisingly combined with contrition of the heart, we must enter the field of Great Lent in order to celebrate it correctly, usefully and fruitfully.

Therefore, wisely, the holy fathers established such a special day - Forgiveness Sunday, when it was determined to read the corresponding gospel words, which I said at the beginning. Of course, we need to treat each other like this every day and every moment, but due to weakness we cannot do this, it is difficult for us to overcome our crafty, corrupt nature. And therefore we are offered a special day on which we must do what we must always do. The grace of God, as it were against our will, forces us to forgive each other mutual sins, real or only imaginary, because for the most part they are all imaginary.

And so, we must internally, from the heart, forgive each other everything: both those from whom we can ask for forgiveness personally, with a bow or a word of repentance, and those whom we cannot see - in our thoughts, it is necessary internally to reconcile with all people. It can also be some great people whom we will never get to know closely and will never see, but whom we always condemn. These may be some old offenders or enemies, our envious people. We must forgive everyone and reconcile with everyone. Let us recall the words given in the Gospel, which the Lord said to His disciples at the Last Supper: “My peace I give you; not as the world gives, I give to you” (John 14:27). Peace is a Divine action, a gift of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Lord grants us fasting as a special grace-filled opportunity to cleanse our souls from all sins. During Great Lent, we read a prayer that is well known to everyone. It contains these words: Grant me to see my sins and do not condemn my brother... "(prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian). We need to repeat these words regularly. God forbid, if some kind of resentment arises in the soul and gives its destructive sprouts ...

When the Savior appeared to the disciples after His Resurrection, His first words were: “Peace be with you!” (John 20, 19). By restoring peace in our souls with our neighbors, we can also receive the peace of God. If with this peace, this spiritual tranquility, we enter the field of fasting, then fasting will indeed be for us a time of spiritual, moral and gospel fruiting. Amen

Open the doors of repentance to me, Giver of life, / for my spirit will morning to Thy holy temple, / wear the bodily temple all defiled: / but like a generous one, cleanse / by Thy compassionate mercy.

Instruct me on the path of salvation, O Mother of God, / with cold stains of my soul with sins, / and in laziness all my life is dependent: / but by Your prayers / deliver me from all impurity.

Have mercy on me, O God, / according to Thy great mercy, / and according to the multitude of Thy bounties, / cleanse my iniquity.

Thinking of the accursed one, / I tremble at the terrible day of judgment: / but hoping for the mercy of Thy goodness, / like David crying out to Thee: / have mercy on me, O God, / according to Your great mercy.

Wisdom Mentor, sense to the Giver, / unwise Punisher and poor Protector, / affirm, enlighten my heart, Master: / You give me a word, Father's Word, / I will not forbid my mouth, / in a hedgehog call Thee: / Merciful, have mercy on me , fallen.

Hello, dear visitors of the Orthodox island "Family and Faith"!

Today is Forgiveness Sunday, which means that Lent begins tomorrow.

On the pre-fast Sunday, the Church remembers Adam's expulsion from paradise.

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill delivered an edifying and very interesting sermon, calling on all believers to meet the days of Great Lent in full awareness of the importance of this wonderful spiritual journey.

« AT in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Today is the last Sunday before Lent - Forgiveness Sunday, when the Church remembers the expulsion of the first people from paradise.

God created man to be holy. The soul of the first people was holy, and therefore man did not need any of God's commandments - all the commandments were embedded in his moral nature. Only one commandment - not ten, but one - was needed by the first people in order to preserve the holiness of the soul; and this commandment was the commandment of obedience to God. In fact, only obedience to God determined that way of life, that state of holiness in which the first people lived, which means that in order to preserve this holiness and sinlessness, it was necessary to listen to God. The Lord did not burden the first man with many prescriptions - he offered him only one commandment: to refrain from eating the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And we know that man violated this only commandment, which did not burden him and did not fetter his freedom, and the first people were expelled from paradise. We do not know exactly what is hidden under these terrible images in the book of Genesis, which tells us about how God drove people out of paradise and placed a cherub with a fiery sword at the gates of paradise. It is only known that paradise did not exist, because sin entered the heart of man, took possession of his mind and will; and where there is sin, there is no paradise, because paradise and holiness are identical. And man had to go a long and difficult path, until, finally, in Christ Jesus, the Son of God and the Son of Man, the opportunity was again opened for people to overcome sin, and, therefore, to gain paradise both in this life and in the life of the next age.

Why is this story about the expulsion of the first people from paradise being offered to us on the eve of Great Lent? Precisely because fasting is aimed at overcoming sin. Under the conditions of earthly life, the complete overcoming of sin is impossible, but it is possible to raise the soul, mind, heart to God, to purify one's conscience; it is possible to achieve a state that is sufficient to gain immortality - the life of paradise.

Fasting can be compared to medicine. The value of a medicine is relative, that is, it all depends on whether it cures. Having tried this or that medicine and making sure that it does not help us, we will never spend money on it - it loses its value for us. Moreover, there may be drugs that harm a person - then what value of a drug can we talk about? So is the post. Fasting may or may not bring good to a person. Moreover, fasting can even bring harm to a person’s soul. Just as the cure for a physical illness depends not only on the remedy, but also on various accompanying important circumstances, such as the quality of care for the sick, food, rest, and much more, so fasting becomes a medicine that heals the soul under certain conditions. And today we have heard readings from the Gospel and the Apostle about at least two such conditions.

The Lord speaks of the first of them in the Gospel of Matthew: “When you fast, do not be discouraged like hypocrites” (Matt. 6:16). Why does the Lord warn us not to fast hypocritically? But because if we fast in order to show others the significance of our own personality, our virtues, then fasting does not heal, but turns into a medicine that causes harm. After all, this is what the Old Testament Pharisees did, who deliberately put on a dull, gloomy look, wanting to show by this how strictly they fast, so that people, looking at them, glorify not God, but the hypocrites themselves, who use fasting in order to ensure own authority.

But it is not only the Old Testament hypocrites who fast this way. And church hypocrites fast like that, and even do it in such a way as to offend, humiliate other people. The Apostle Paul speaks of this in today's reading from the Epistle to the Romans: “He who does not eat, do not reproach him who eats” (see Rom. 14:3), and this is the second condition for the salvation of fasting. Fasting does not give us the right to judge others. The only thing we have the right to say, speaking about fasting with other people, especially those who do not fast, is to testify about our own experience, about how fasting affects our soul, emphasizing that this is not our own achievement, but the grace of God, which is revealed to us during the post. We must not hide from people the fact that fasting is a great and powerful medicine that really heals a person's spiritual ailments. But everything we say about fasting should in no way serve our self-praise and humiliation of other people.

Fasting is important because it develops in people the habit of abstinence. Abstinence is an indispensable condition for the perfection of the human personality. This is well known and understandable even from everyday examples. What restrictions does an athlete impose on himself in order to achieve results! How many joys and comforts of youth must be given up in order to receive a good education, to become a scientist! Any human achievement requires abstinence, self-restraint, concentration of forces. If you dissipate your energy on secondary things - even if they are pleasant, interesting, bringing pleasure - no concentration will work. And those who wish to benefit the Fatherland, how can they work in such a way that there is still a lot of time for personal life, pleasures, and recreation? Most often, such work completely absorbs a person, and without self-restraint, limiting one's desires, it is impossible to achieve success.

If this law works in secular life, then how important it is in spiritual life! We are able to achieve goals when we know how to limit ourselves. And fasting is a school for educating our will, the ability to limit ourselves in the name of the most important thing - the liberation of our soul from sin.

But in the current conditions, not every person can fast strictly according to the church charter. Of course, just such a fast is ideal, and it is not by chance that the Church prescribes such strict rules, because all this is based on the centuries-old experience of the Church, going back to the post of the Lord and Savior Himself. After all, He did not eat anything for forty days and nights, preparing himself for public service, for going out to people and preaching to them the Kingdom of God and repentance; and the whole experience of the Church comes from that very office of the Son of God and the Son of Man. We know how strict the rules of fasting were in patristic times. But nobody ever died from it strict fast, no one caused damage to their health, and therefore the Church much of that ancient tradition conveyed to this day and offers people as a wonderful experience of educating their will and cleansing their souls from the sin.

But there are circumstances when it is difficult for a person to fulfill all church prescriptions. How then to behave? It must be remembered that fasting is self-restraint. Sometimes we find ourselves in such circumstances when strict adherence to the church discipline of fasting is impossible. Then you need to define something yourself, from which you must definitely give up. You cannot fully observe the fast due to difficult life circumstances - at least do not eat meat. Or give up what pleases you - stop smoking. Give me a vow: “I can’t fast, Lord, but I want to offer You my little sacrifice. I want to test myself, I want to temper my will - I won’t smoke.” Sometimes they ask: what about children? Should children fast? Of course, this largely depends on the general mood of the family, on the ability to offer children the right lean food. But if these conditions do not exist, why should children not give up what is attractive to them? If you can’t fast, give up sweets, sweets and chocolate.

At modern man a lot of addictions. One of them is the desire for constant fun, for fun, which is facilitated by a huge number of entertainment programs on television. Fasting is also abstaining from all kinds of entertainment, from what distracts the mind from the most important thing. This is why godly people try not to watch any entertainment programs or movies during fasting; and if they watch TV, it is only out of necessity, since it is television that is today the means of conveying news about the life of the country and the whole world to people. Each person must determine for himself what is dangerous for him in life, what destroys his inner world, what distracts his consciousness, and take control of this side of life, striving on the days of Holy Great Lent, refusing what is familiar and pleasant, to lay upon himself the feat of temperance. Fasting is a medicine that can really heal us. Fasting is a great power of self-restraint that helps a person grow spiritually.

Entering the field of Great Lent, let's try not to waste this time - the only time in the year when, by taking control of our lives, our thoughts, our feelings, our carnal aspirations and desires, we can take a real step towards overcoming sin, which means a real step towards God and His Heavenly Kingdom. Amen."

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit!Today, brothers and sisters, the last week before the start of Lent. And we with special attention should look at how we can start and carry out this Great Lent. Today we read the Holy Gospel, in which the Lord tells us how we need to do this, what we need to fast correctly. After all, it is no secret that even the best deed can be reversed, and it will become harmful to us. It all depends on how our heart relates to this matter.Therefore, the fast must be passed by us with the right inner disposition. Therefore, today the Lord reminds us that we need to fast not outwardly, not for show to other people, but to a greater extent in secret, so that fasting is not before people, but before our God. And so, the first rule that we will take for ourselves is that other people should not, perhaps, even know that we are fasting. They don't need to show it. Most of all, the feat of fasting must be accomplished within. For what? So that the Lord, seeing the secret, would reward us openly. What gifts of God can come to us openly? And this, brethren and sisters, is peace, this is physical strength, which the Lord will surely give to each of us if we fast in this way. And many many others. We will definitely remember - our post so that we correct our paths. If we fast only outwardly, then it is unlikely to succeed, because this can lead to many temptations. Pride and vanity can come to us from the fact that we fast, and this can become a temptation for the people around us. And this also needs to be remembered.

The Lord tells us that the necessary condition for fasting is forgiveness. Forgiving the sins of others. And this is not even so much a condition of fasting as a condition of our Salvation. He says: "Do not judge your neighbor, forgive his sins, then our heavenly Father will forgive us." Everything is interconnected. We have already said that the Lord shows us in the Holy Gospel how our relationship with our neighbor affects our relationship with God. Here, in this place of weeping and sorrow, in this temporary procession of ours, we must learn to relate properly to God. And we will learn from our neighbors. Let's learn to believe and trust them. Let's learn to endure, learn to be humble. And most of all, learn to love. In fact, brothers and sisters, our fasting should be conditioned precisely by love. It's not a compulsion, it's not something we draw ourselves to - it's a work that we must do with all the love that is in our heart. And so, brothers and sisters, fasting and any other feat that exists in our church should come from a loving heart. It should never be forced.

But how to achieve this right post? Of course, first of all, you need to learn this, and most often you need to learn through compulsion. Forcing yourself. Let's force ourselves today so that tomorrow it will be easier for us. So that tomorrow we will indeed easily follow our Lord. After all, He tells us just that all this is not a difficulty, all this is easy and simple. But only when we put our trust in our Lord. He will give both strength and the right direction and will open our inner eyes so that we can see this direction. He will do everything for us, He is ready to do it. Our task is only to set ourselves right. That is why today we read the Holy Gospel, in which the Lord very clearly tells us how to pray, how to treat our neighbor and how to fast. And so, the most faithful and most important thing: let us do everything between ourselves and our God. And our internal state then he will be able to influence our neighbors. On those around us. After all, in order for us to help our neighbor, we must first calm our hearts - in the beginning we need to bring our hearts into a true relationship with God. And it is precisely in this sense that we need Great Lent. This is learning. We will study with you. Learn to believe, endure, learn to humble your flesh, which hinders us - hinders us from praying, hinders us from truly living spiritually. After all, she captivates us, captivates us into the world, and let's press her with fasting. Stop praising her! Let's put spirituality at the forefront. Then the Lord will be able to enter into our hearts when the carnal leaves from there, and our heart will not be filled with flesh, but spiritual. This is what the Church calls us to, brothers and sisters, and the Lord always calls us. That is, it turns out that the fasting state is not a temporary state, this state should always be in our lives. Of course, the question arises: what now, all my life, to observe fasting, to keep myself in some sort of bonds, with a hedgehog. So it is, brethren and sisters, there's no getting away from it. It’s just that we must understand fasting correctly - this is precisely abstinence! Refraining from everything. Your feelings. Abstinence of feelings, both spiritual, which are there, inside, and bodily, which are externally shown. All this must be brought into abstinence. Not only during fasting, but always throughout our lives. After all, this does not mean that during fasting we live in abstinence, but the rest of the time, let's get fed up, let's indulge in various passions and sins. No, we must always be in abstinence. And the purpose of fasting is for us to learn how to abide correctly throughout our lives. As the post was held, at this level and remain, upon exiting the post. No need to go down a step, or two, or three. On the contrary, it is necessary to ascend even more from strength to strength. This, brethren and sisters, must be remembered. And so fasting is the time when we must raise ourselves and at least try to keep ourselves at this level. With the help of God, of course.

Amen.

Priest Oleg Shabalin, rector of the church in the name of St. teacher Sergius of Radonezh

Sermon by Father Konstantin (Slepinin) at the early liturgy on Forgiveness Sunday, March 17, 2013
Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist on Kamenny Island, St. Petersburg

We are on the threshold of Great Lent, as we are reminded by the Gospel and Apostolic readings. In the Gospel we hear the words of Christ that we do not care during fasting about how we look in the eyes of people. We should not give the impression of being strictly fasting people. Our fast should be dedicated to the Lord God. Of course, one way or another, the people who communicate with us know that we are fasting. In the time of Jesus Christ, there were no multi-day fasts like those that exist now in the Church. The posts were short, one or two days. And a person who was fasting usually changed his appearance, including sprinkling ashes on his head, this was a sign of repentance. The Lord says: if you fast, anoint your head with oil, wash your face. This action is the opposite of throwing ashes on the head, it is the opposite, like decorating oneself. And the Lord draws attention to the fact that in appearance we do not resemble fasters, but that our fasting is pleasing to God. It is said that "those who eat do not condemn those who do not eat", and vice versa. Because everyone has their own measure of spiritual growth. Each measure of fasting can be very different. There are people who cannot fast at all due to extreme weakness of health or the course of treatment. There are people who, during fasting, are not able to completely give up entertainment. They try to do something about it, limit themselves during fasting, they try, but they cannot completely refuse. This applies to every aspect of the post. Therefore, we should not look at each other, should not be equal with anyone, but each should, according to his ability, not to harm, but for spiritual benefit, go through this saving means.

And, of course, the main thing that the Church calls us to today is the forgiveness of our loved ones. Today is called Forgiveness Sunday. Historically, on this day, in the evening, on the eve of Lent, all Orthodox Christians ask each other for forgiveness. And here, of course, there is a certain danger of a formal attitude to this action. People can be with each other with good relationships. Yes, sometimes there are some incidents, quarrels, but we ask for forgiveness and continue to keep good, a good relationship. It is easiest for such people to ask forgiveness from each other in words of forgiveness on Forgiveness Sunday, and sometimes there is nothing to ask for forgiveness. There are times when, in general, our good relationship with someone is overshadowed by some serious conflict. And we are not immediately able to overcome it. And here Forgiveness Sunday can be of great benefit to us, giving us a reason to seek reconciliation. If we seek reconciliation from a Christian, then on Forgiveness Sunday he will be prompted not to reject us. But there are very difficult cases, chronic, persistent conflicts and quarrels. Sometimes we ourselves asked for forgiveness, but they did not hear us, we were rejected. But it also happened that we are not able to forgive, to accept a person who has caused us some serious offense. And it is necessary to pay special attention to such neglected relationships on Forgiveness Sunday.

Now the means of communication offer us different ways contact each other. Of course, it is best to speak face to face. But it is acceptable to call, write a letter by e-mail or regular mail, or even a text message if other methods do not suit us. But in any case, an appeal to a person should always be targeted. I'm in last years I am faced with the fact that on Forgiveness Sunday, SMS messages "forgive me for everything" come to my phone. In this case, I am forced to answer that I would gladly forgive, but I don’t know who you are and why I should forgive you. We should not act like this. If we want to apologize to many people at the same time, we must take the time to contact each of them personally, and not arrange such spam mailings of the same text to different recipients.

Of course, the main thing is to pay attention to those who are closest. It often happens that in a family there are conflicts between relatives and friends, between spouses, between parents and children. The primary task is to take care of forgiveness and reconciliation in your family. Sometimes it is easy for us to ask for forgiveness, sometimes it is difficult, but we are called to this. We cannot do without it, dear brothers and sisters. Because the Lord says unequivocally: if you do not forgive your neighbor, then the Lord will not forgive your sins. And do not wait, of course, the evening time! During the day, you can make an effort to communicate with loved ones. Actually, forgiveness could be done throughout the Cheese Week. But even if for some reason this does not work out today, it can be done later. The main thing is not to determine for yourself that I will not put up with anyone. This bitterness, this bitterness, which can dominate anyone, is the greatest obstacle on the path of our Salvation and a worthy passage of fasting.