• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Four Evangelists Orthodox Church

Four Evangelists Orthodox Church

  • About
    • Our Orthodox Faith
    • Frequently Asked Questions
    • Ministries
    • Clergy and Staff
  • News
    • Building Project
  • Calendar
  • Online Giving
  • Contact
You are here: Home / Archives for Forgiveness Sunday

Forgiveness Sunday

Forgiveness Sunday: The Expulsion of Adam from Paradise

February 22, 2023 at 8:30 am

Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!

This coming Sunday, 26 February 2023, is Forgiveness Sunday. Following the Divine Liturgy we will serve the Rite of Forgiveness, the communal act of mutual forgiveness before entering into the Great Fast.

This Sunday is also Cheesefare, the last day for those fasting to consume dairy products before Lent. (But yet again, to loosely paraphrase St. Basil the Great: don’t forsake your cheese and milk only to consume your brother with anger!)

The Epistle and Gospel readings for Sunday are:

⁜ Romans 13:11-14:4 (Epistle)
⁜ Matthew 6:14-21 (Gospel)

About this Sunday we read from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese website: “… The Sunday of Forgiveness, the last of the preparatory Sundays before Great Lent, has two themes: it commemorates Adam’s expulsion from Paradise, and it accentuates our need for forgiveness. There are obvious reasons why these two things should be brought to our attention as we stand on the threshold of Great Lent. One of the primary images in the Triodion is that of the return to Paradise. Lent is a time when we weep with Adam and Eve before the closed gate of Eden, repenting with them for the sins that have deprived us of our free communion with God. But Lent is also a time when we are preparing to celebrate the saving event of Christ’s death and rising, which has reopened Paradise to us once more (Luke 23:43). So sorrow for our exile in sin is tempered by hope of our re-entry into Paradise… | continue reading at the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese website.


Expulsion of Adam from Paradise
The Expulsion of Adam from Paradise

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Cheesefare, Forgiveness Sunday, Great Lent, Lent

Sunday of Forgiveness (Cheesefare)

March 12, 2021 at 9:00 am

This coming Sunday, March 14, is the Sunday of Forgiveness. It is also the 4th of the pre-Lenten Sundays and perhaps more commonly known as Cheesefare Sunday or simply Cheesefare. This Sunday remembers the expulsion of Adam and Eve from paradise, as well as marking the last day of eating cheese or cheese products until the celebration of our Lord’s resurrection on Pascha.

After the Divine Liturgy we will be celebrating a portion of Forgiveness Vespers, followed by the Rite of Forgiveness. Covid-19 precautions will be followed.

The Gospel reading for the Sunday of Forgiveness is Matthew 6:14-21. Building on the themes of the previous Sunday’s (repentance and judgement), we are now – as always – prompted to orient ourselves toward forgiveness and reconciliation.

As Fr. Alexander Schmemman reminds us:

Now, forgiveness stands at the very center of Christian faith and of Christian life because Christianity itself is, above all, the religion of forgiveness. God forgives us, and His forgiveness is in Christ, His Son, Whom He sends to us, so that by sharing in His humanity we may share in His love and be truly reconciled with God. Indeed, Christianity has no other content but love. And it is primarily the renewal of that love, a return to it, a growth in it, that we seek in Great Lent, in fasting and prayer, in the entire spirit and the entire effort of that season. Thus, truly forgiveness is both the beginning of, and the proper condition for the Lenten season.
Forgiveness Sunday | Orthodox Church in America
Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise
Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Forgiveness Sunday, Lent

Great Lent Begins

March 10, 2019 at 7:00 pm

O Lord and Master of my life! Take from me the spirit of sloth, faint-heartedness, lust of power, and idle talk. But give rather the spirit of chastity, humility, patience, and love to Thy servant. Yea, O Lord and King! Grant me to see my own errors and not to judge my brother; For Thou art blessed unto ages of ages. Amen

Lenten Prayer of Saint Ephrem the Syrian

Today, along with all Orthodox Christians world-wide, we began the journey of Great Lent with the Rite of Forgiveness at the end of Vespers. (In many parishes it is common to celebrate a portion of “Forgiveness Vespers”, along with the Rite of Forgiveness, after the Sunday Liturgy as opposed to the evening proper).

As the choir sang selected hymns from the Paschal Canon – hymns we won’t hear again until Great and Holy Pascha – the faithful, one-by-one, asked each other for mutual forgiveness (cf. Gospel of St. Matthew 6:14-15) and the altar vestments were changed to purple to reflect the penitential mood of the season.

We wish everyone a fruitful and joyous Lent as we turn anew to seek the Lord.

Rite of Forgiveness (Beginning of Great Lent)
Forgiveness Vespers before the Rite of Forgiveness
Rite of Forgiveness (Beginning of Great Lent)
Choir singing during the Rite of Forgiveness

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Forgiveness Sunday, Great Lent

Primary Sidebar

About Us

Four Evangelists Orthodox Church is a mission parish of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA, a jurisdiction under the archpastoral care of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.
Ukrainian Orthodox Church USA and the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople

Recent News

  • Vespers for the Feast of the Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple
  • The Nativity Fast Begins
  • Bible Study (Epistle of St. James)
  • Vespers Canceled for 14 October
  • Water Aid to Ukraine

© 2012–2023 Four Evangelists Orthodox Church 528 N. Hickory Avenue, Bel Air, Maryland 21014
Parking Policy for Public Notice