Forgiveness Sunday and what date is it in 2019, since the dates are constantly shifting? This is a special day when people can remember all the insults inflicted on them, everyone they offended and sincerely ask for forgiveness. Also remember all the unfulfilled promises, all the moments when we unwittingly offended ourselves, offended the Almighty, offended our parents. Every person can make mistakes, he has the opportunity to correct them with sincere repentance.
Date of Forgiveness Sunday
The significance of the holiday is great - it falls on the last preparatory day before the start of the long, Great Lent. People will just be able to let go of grievances, be forgiven themselves and begin to fast. This is the end for Maslenitsa week and the last milestone after the “farewell to winter”.Forgiveness Sunday is oriented more towards Maslenitsa itself, and its date should be calculated based on them. The date for 2019 is March 10. It’s better to mentally prepare in advance, remember everything important events of the past year, all the quarrels, possible misunderstandings, scandals. To relive in order to let go forever and forgive everyone who, wittingly or unwittingly, could offend.
Why "Forgiveness Sunday"
The name is telling. In Christianity, repentance and forgiveness play a vital role. The tradition of repentance has been around for thousands of years, when people tried to correct the sins they committed, the insults they caused to loved ones and casual acquaintances, and also sincerely forgive everything that was wrong to them.Why is it so needed? Forgiveness Sunday is dedicated to cleansing the soul. After all, grievances hang like a burden, do not allow you to sleep, sometimes going through all the bad memories makes it impossible to sleep. Resentment poisons life, darkens days and spoils human relationships.
The one who bears a grudge can no longer move on; the grudges hang on him like stones. Is it important to remember all the quarrels, even small ones? No. The main thing is to sincerely repent, because your opponent will see your sincerity and forgive you. You cannot ask for forgiveness just for the sake of a holiday, reducing its significance.
Is it possible to apologize from a distance? Yes, after all, it is not always possible to meet the eyes of the offender, sometimes the person is far away, even in another country or city, perhaps he is even dead. How to forgive the deceased, is it worth it? Certainly. Resentment can be bitter, deadly, deep, or it can be petty and insignificant. The main thing is to be able to let go of the situation and forgive sincerely. How does this even help, how does it work? To forgive sincerely is to forget the offense. Let go. Don’t think about revenge, don’t sort through memories to yourself, don’t suffer. And sincerely convey this to the person.
It seems to consist of two important parts. People must forgive themselves and apologize, remembering those who were accidentally or deliberately offended. Answer those asking: “God will forgive, and I forgive too,” and repeat these words in your soul. Of course, sometimes it is very difficult to forgive particularly bitter grievances. Then pray.
Ask God for strength, think how strong Jesus was, who was able to sincerely let go of his offenders, even the traitors who threw him into difficult situations. If the interlocutor could not respond sincerely to words about forgiveness? Let him go and don't push him. Not everyone can accept even sincere words about forgiveness.
Why do you need to ask for forgiveness, why can’t you limit yourself to the words “sorry”? the church believes that the word “sorry” is considered to justify a person, something like “sorry, you yourself should understand, I’m not guilty” or “sorry, well, look, this is how the circumstances have developed,” as if saying that the person himself is either little or not at fault here .
Sunday 2019, March 10, is dedicated not to self-justification, but to sincere words. After all, in the soul, any person realizes the degree of his guilt. There is no need to look for any excuses, even if you accidentally caused offense. “I’m sorry” sounds like a request, precisely repentance. After all, the Almighty accepts people, forgives their shortcomings, even serious sins, he is ready to meet everyone and take their soul.
It is believed that fasting should begin not only with a clean body, but for a Christian it is the soul that is important. The body is only an addition to it, because the soul is immortal, it will remain when the body decays after death.
Therefore, it is important to deliver our souls. It is important to forgive not only
Forgiveness Sunday is the day to ask for forgiveness, and it is also the last Sunday before the start of the serious Easter fast. But a lot of questions immediately arise: from whom and for what to ask for forgiveness, as well as how and when to celebrate Forgiveness Sunday in 2017?
On Forgiveness Sunday, everyone must receive forgiveness for their minor or major sins in order to enter Lent crystal clear, with a bright soul. In 2017, Forgiveness Sunday falls on February 26th.
Forgiveness Sunday: the essence of this important Christian day
Forgiveness Sunday falls on the last day of Maslenitsa week. This day will mark the beginning of Lent before happy holiday Easter. Forgiveness Sunday is also called “cheese day” or “cheese” Sunday, since it is on this day, after sunset, that you need to stop eating both dairy and meat products.
Immediately after Forgiveness Sunday comes Monday, the first day of the forty-day strict fast. The post will end Holy Week, which precedes the greatest Christian.
Why “Forgiveness” Sunday
Forgiveness Sunday is extremely valuable for the entire Christian world. This day should help set up your body and your soul for a difficult period of strict, implying the cleansing of both body and soul from the filth of worldly life.
Therefore, the real calling of every true believer Christian on this day is to forgive others for any misunderstandings, and to ask forgiveness from everyone for possible offenses caused. Both to forgive and to be forgiven are very important, because a person must enter into fasting absolutely pure, with pure thoughts, with a feeling of complete reconciliation with others.
Forgiveness Sunday according to the Bible
For the first time, the tradition of asking for forgiveness and receiving it yourself appeared among Egyptian monks. It was customary for them to go into the desert for forty days and stay there for all alone, thus strengthening their prayers and their repentance.
They were supposed to return on Easter Sunday, but not everyone was destined to do so. Some died from the heat and lack of water, others were bullied by wild animals. That is why, before setting off on a long and dangerous solitary journey, the monks all gathered together and said goodbye.
Egyptian monks prayed fervently on this day and asked each other for forgiveness for insults, strife and other incidents. After the end of the evening prayer, the travelers dispersed in all directions to pursue their spiritual journeys. And in our time, on the last day of the celebration of Merry Maslenitsa, Orthodox Christians pray and ask forgiveness for offenses from the living and the dead.
Over time, this tradition grew into part of the divine service. And in Russia there was such a tradition: the king asked for forgiveness from all his subjects on this day. For this good purpose, he traveled throughout the state, asking for forgiveness from monks, soldiers and ordinary people.
Traditions of Forgiveness Sunday
In addition to the fact that on this day it is customary to ask for forgiveness for intentional and unintentional misdeeds and sins, the celebration of Forgiveness Sunday also implies other interesting traditions and rituals.
On the last day before strict Lent, one had to sit down at the table seven times (exactly the number of weeks Lent consists of). At the last meal, the whole family had to fully indulge in food of animal origin, because for the next forty days it was prohibited.
After a lavish dinner, neither leftovers nor dishes were cleared from the table. Everything was left as it was after the end of the meal, and the top was covered with a tablecloth, on which the sheepskin was placed fur side up. They did this so that the family could live in abundance and that no disagreements or quarrels could be heard in the house all year round.
In order to cleanse themselves of everything sinful and nasty, believers asked each other for forgiveness, saying: “Please forgive me if I am guilty of anything.” And then all possible offenses, grievances and various misunderstandings were listed, for which it was necessary to receive sincere forgiveness. The ceremony of mutual forgiveness ended with mutual kissing. Because of this, Forgiveness Sunday was also called “kissing Sunday.”
According to Holy Scripture, if you ask for forgiveness and forgive yourself, then the Lord God, our Heavenly Father will forgive all sins. In this case, you need to say the following: “I forgive you, forgive, Lord, and me, a sinner!”
First, to forgive sins, they go to priests for confession, and then for forgiveness they go to family, friends and acquaintances. It is customary to visit the graves of the dead with a prayer for forgiveness. According to a long-standing tradition, no one could go to bed until the children asked for forgiveness from their parents.
Some families follow this ritual on Forgiveness Sunday: in the evening, all family members sit around the table, and the head of the family sits on a separate chair. Each of the household members, in order of seniority, approaches the father and asks for forgiveness for all the bad deeds that were committed in the past year (intemperance in conversation with parents, foul language, swearing, disobedience and other offenses).
After the youngest member of the family asks the father for forgiveness, the head of the family must go to the middle of the room and ask for forgiveness from each relative present.
It is believed that on Forgiveness Sunday, not forgiving someone or using foul language is a great sin. Therefore, people must do everything possible to find the strength to reconcile with their enemies.
Pictures with congratulations and poems
Forgiveness Sunday is the last day before Lent, completing the long preparation for the period of abstinence. This day is known in the Christian world as one of the most significant, because forgiveness of offenders and reconciliation with enemies is considered an indispensable condition for unity with God. On Forgiveness Sunday, during services in churches, verses from the New Testament are read, in which Jesus Christ, during the Sermon on the Mount, speaks about fasting and forgiveness of sins: “For if you forgive people their sins, then your Heavenly Father will also forgive you; forgive people their trespasses, then your Father will not forgive you your trespasses.” Traditionally, there are rules of behavior on this day, the observance of which ensures Christians a worthy and joyful start to fasting.
Another name for Forgiveness Sunday is Raw Food Week, which means Christians abandoning all modest food. This day completes the preparation for Lent, which lasted four weeks. Maslenitsa, or Cheese Week - last days for eating fish, butter, milk, eggs, which will be prohibited until the Resurrection of Christ. However, on the final day of pancake week, people no longer eat meat and meat products. The remains of non-lenten food are removed from the table in the evening. The custom of finishing all fast foods on the eve of fasting is called a fast.
Forgiveness Sunday - what should you not do on this day?
Despite the well-known custom of celebrating the end of Maslenitsa with loud songs and dances, the Orthodox Church does not approve of this. The joyful burning of an effigy accompanied by jumping over the fire is also unacceptable. This is due to the inappropriate revival of pagan customs, which interfere with proper preparation for fasting.
According to the charter of the Orthodox Church, the entire Cheese Week (Maslenitsa) is a special time when a Christian gradually leaves earthly joys, calms the soul to fight passions in the next seven weeks. This is a time of silence, peace and mutual forgiveness of grievances, since it is strictly not recommended to enter Lent in an unpeaceful state of mind. Everything possible must be done to reconcile with the warring parties.
Since ancient times, on Forgiveness Sunday, clergy have performed the rite of forgiveness in churches. After prayers, the clergy of the church leaves the altar to ask for forgiveness from all Christians. The parishioners do the same. Moreover, this happens not just as nominal observance of the customs of the church, but with sincere humility and hope for the remission of grievances and receiving forgiveness.
But since forgiveness is not a one-time process, it takes a long time to heal mental wounds and scars from insults, then Orthodox Church and a whole week was established to prepare for reconciliation. Forgiveness Sunday is a powerful incentive for the destruction of barriers between enemies; on this day it is absolutely impossible to leave requests for forgiveness and postpone reconciliation until later. Because it is impossible to be at peace with God during Lent when there is no peace between people.
“We ask for forgiveness, we distribute goodness” - with these words the last day before Lent begins. 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 in 2018 falls on April 8, Forgiveness Sunday falls on February 18.
Traditions of Forgiveness Sunday
Main tradition Orthodox holiday- 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 church canon, the purification and 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 church 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 tightly 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.
MOSCOW, March 10 - RIA Novosti, Anton Skripunov. For Orthodox Christians it begins. On this day on the eve of Lent, it is customary for believers to reconcile with each other, because Christ commanded his followers to “forgive each other’s sins.” About why this ritual was needed, how it is carried out today and from whom you don’t have to ask for forgiveness, read in the RIA Novosti material.
Forgive and goodbye
This Orthodox tradition- perhaps the most touching - is called the “rite of forgiveness.” It is with this that Lent begins - a time of repentance and the strictest abstinence, when the believer must pray and put his thoughts and feelings in order.
On Sunday evening at Orthodox churches to the accompaniment of penitential chants, the clergy put on black clothes, the lights go out and all those gathered come up to each other with the words: “Forgive me!” And in response they hear: “God will forgive, and I forgive. And you forgive me!” Someone hugs, someone cries...
"The main goal of Great Lent is spiritual preparation for the meeting of the Risen Christ (Easter - editor's note). This is nothing more than a struggle with one's passions. And one of the passions is irritability, anger, leading to quarrels. And the meaning of the Forgiven Sunday is to forgive all the insults that have been inflicted on you and ask for forgiveness from those whom you yourself have offended. This is the first step towards a Christian dispensation of the soul,” explains Archpriest Georgy Orekhanov, professor of theology at PSTGU.
Soviet anti-religious propaganda was never able to erase this tradition from people's memory. Although I tried very hard. During the Khrushchev “thaw”, when Maslenitsa was revived as “purely folk holiday“, Forgiveness Sunday was given a different meaning: they say, on this day you need to say goodbye to the abundance of pancakes. That is, this is “Farewell Sunday.”
"Every man is involved in sin"
Surprisingly, in the first centuries of Christianity this is exactly what happened - to some extent. And here's why.
The rite of forgiveness itself arose in Middle Eastern monasteries somewhere in the 5th century. Their inhabitants went into the desert until Easter to spend Lent in complete solitude, alone with their own thoughts. And some of them might not return from the desert: they might die of old age or illness, or become a victim of wild animals or robbers. Realizing this, the hermits made peace with each other before going their separate ways.
Thus, they followed one of the commandments of Christ: “If you do not forgive people their sins, then your Heavenly Father will not forgive you your sins.” This Gospel passage is read in all Orthodox churches on Forgiveness Sunday.
And in the Orthodox church calendar this day is called "Remembrance of Adam's Exile." It is with the expulsion of Adam and Eve from paradise that the earthly history of humanity begins, which, according to the theological interpretation, after the Fall said goodbye to immortality.
"As the holy fathers write, every person, including an infant, is involved in original sin perfected by Adam. And this sin leads the soul to an unpeaceful state - when a person does not want to live in peace with other people. Therefore, he must start by changing his attitude towards them,” says Father Georgy Orekhanov.
"Take the first step!"
“Forgive a person and everything will get better” sounds extremely simple. Moreover, there is no need to rack your brains about when to do this: there is a special day - Forgiveness Sunday.
However, this does not mean at all that on March 10 you can forgive everyone, apologize yourself and say goodbye to these people until next year. The Church constantly calls for asking for forgiveness and forgiving.
“The rite of forgiveness in the Church is performed in order to remind: we must always act this way. We need to ask each other for forgiveness every day. For example, for spouses, Christian writers have very good rule: if you quarrel, you must try to reconcile before sunset and not carry the insult into the next day. This rule applies to everyone. Only people forget about this,” Orekhanov complains.
And to remind of this, during each liturgy, the priest comes out of the altar to the believers and asks the parishioners for forgiveness, and they do the same in response.
But is it necessary to ask for forgiveness for those who do not believe in God? And who can you not ask for forgiveness from?
“If we are talking about communication with other people - psychology calls it interpersonal relationships, then from this point of view, it seems to me, one cannot help but ask for forgiveness. We are talking about friends, acquaintances, those whom you know remotely or had a quarrel with many years ago By the way, people often come to confession with the question: “Father, I quarreled with a person 20 years ago and all this time I have not called or corresponded with him - what should I do?” theologian.
“If we are talking about people with whom you are completely unfamiliar, you are not at all obliged to ask for their forgiveness,” the priest notes.
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