| Forgiveness Sunday In the Orthodox Church, the last Sunday before Great Lent – the day on which, at Vespers, Lent is liturgically announced and inaugurated – is called Forgiveness Sunday. On the morning of that Sunday, at the Divine Liturgy, we hear the words of Christ: " If you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses... " (Mark 6:14-15) Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann 13 March 2005 In the Orthodox Church, the last Sunday before Great Lent – the day on which, at Vespers, Lent is liturgically announced and inaugurated – is called Forgiveness Sunday. On the morning of that Sunday, at the Divine Liturgy, we hear the words of Christ: “If you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses…” (Mark 6:14-15) Then after Vespers – after hearing the announcement of Lent in the Great Prokeimenon: “Turn not away Thy face from Thy child for I am afflicted! Hear me speedily! Draw near unto my soul and deliver it!”, after making our entrance into Lenten worship, with its special memories, with the prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian, with its prostrations – we ask forgiveness from each other, we perform the rite of forgiveness and reconciliation. And as we approach each other with words of reconciliation, the choir intones the Paschal hymns, filling the church with the anticipation of Paschal joy. What is the meaning of this rite? Why is it that the Church wants us to begin Lenten season with forgiveness and reconciliation? These questions are in order because for too many people Lent means primarily, and almost exclusively, a change of diet, the compliance with ecclesiastical regulations concerning fasting. They understand fasting as an end in itself, as a “good deed” required by God and carrying in itself its merit and its reward. But, the Church spares no effort in revealing to us that fasting is but a means, one among many, towards a higher goal: the spiritual renewal of man, his return to God, true repentance and, therefore, true reconciliation. The Church spares no effort in warning us against a hypocritical and pharisaic fasting, against the reduction of religion to mere external obligations. As a Lenten hymn says: |
| Photo: news.church.ua On 20 January 2019, after the Divine Liturgy at the Cathedral of the Protecting Veil of the Mother of God in the city of Borispol, Archbishop Abel of Lublin and Chelm expressed support to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and its Primate His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufry of Kiev and All Ukraine, the UOC Information and Education Department reports. “The Lord has vouchsafed me today to participate with you in the Divine Liturgy, celebrated by His Beatitude the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Vladyka Onufry. I have the honour of knowing you, Your Beatitude, for over thirty years,” the hierarch of the Polish Orthodox Church said. Archbishop Abel also conveyed to all those present greetings from His Beatitude Metropolitan Sawa of Warsaw and All Poland. “Throughout its history, the Orthodox Church in Poland endured many ordeals. And today, standing at God’s Altar as a Synaxis of saints are martyrs of my diocese, hieromartyrs of the land of Chelm and Lublin. That is why, perhaps, we better than anyone understand the current situation of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church,” the Polish hierarch said. His Eminence also emphasized that the Polish Orthodox Church was and would always be firm and steadfast in defending the truth. “Always and everywhere we will say that the schism can only be overcome through repentance, through fasting. We believe that the deep prayer of the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufry, will be heard and that after sufferings the joy of the Paschal triumph will come,” Archbishop Abel added, “We, in Poland, will be praying for the victory of Paschal joy to resound with triumph in our hearts.” “It will be a joy not only for the Ukrainian people who understand the meaning of ecclesiastical discipline, but also for all the Local Churches,” Archbishop Abel added, “I wholeheartedly wish this moment of our shared Orthodox joy to come as soon as possible. May the Most Holy Theotokos cover all her children with her omophorion. May our prayer reach her so that she could bring our supplications to her Only-Begotten Son. And we are praying to the Most Holy Lady, saying, ‘Accept the prayers of your servants and deliver us from every need and sorrow’.” |
| Today we celebrate the memory of the great holy hierarch and teacher of the Church, John, Archbishop of Constantinople. While he was yet a humble presbyter in Antioch, not seeking any glory or honor, weak in body and plain in appearance, he was great in spirit and strong in faith. No other man in Antioch gave such influential sermons as Chrysostom. His glory spread far beyond the country’s borders, and priest John was called in his fiftieth year to serve as hierarch of capital city cathedra of Constantinople. His sermons brought many sinners to righteous life. But certain members and clergymen of the imperial court, who hated him for his righteousness, became his fierce enemies. They finally had him condemned and exiled. Exhausted from physical sickness, the hierarch would have to travel a wearisome road through Asia Minor and the mountains of Armenia. Pushed onward by guards who did not know the meaning of compassion, he entered the Caucasus Mountain region and with great hardship reached the outskirts of modern-day Sukhumi. There, serving the Liturgy for the last time, he died with the words, “Glory to God for all things!” Christ’s Church has not forgotten the spiritual ascetic labors of St. John Chrysostom. Almost every day in churches is celebrated the Liturgy that he composed; we hear his words every Paschal night—the call to enter into the joy of Christ’s resurrection. Over a thousand of his pastoral teachings and letters, his exegesis of the Holy Scripture, and his ascetic life have served for many centuries for the spiritual growth and salvation of the Church’s sons and daughters. Before his death, the saint thanked God for everything he had to experience. Why didn’t sickness and depravations break him, cast him into despondency, or incite him to complain? Because for true confessors of Christ, physical suffering is gladness. Onerous trials and physical pain in the name of Christ purify the ascetic’s soul from attachment to earthly vanity, and exalt in it the measure of true values over illusory ones. In sorrows the desire weakens for non-spiritual consolations that corrupt the soul and burden the conscience, and make the heart vulnerable, ambitious, and weak. Sickness and depravation endured with prayer heal us of conceit and pride. This is why the Lord, Who outlined for his disciples the path of perfection, called those blessed who walk that path. |
| We Re-affirm Our Faithfulness to the Eternal Value of Human Life: On Sanctity of Life Sunday Source: OCA Archpastoral Message of His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon. To the Venerable Hierarchs, Reverend Clergy, Monastics, and Faithful of the Orthodox Church in America: Dearly beloved, Today has been designated by the Orthodox Church in America as “Sanctity of Life Sunday,” a day on which we re-affirm our faithfulness to the eternal value of human life and re-commit ourselves to the defense of the lives of the unborn, the infirm, the terminally ill and the condemned. Our proclamation of life is offered in the context of a world in dismay at the terrorist attacks that recently shook Paris, the latest in a series of seemingly endless tragedies throughout the world that unnecessarily claim many innocent lives. Following this latest tragedy, Christians, Muslims, Jews and non-believers have engaged in discussion and debate about a range of issues, from human dignity to the responsibilities of political cartoonists, from freedom of expression to humanity’s capacity for tolerance. Unfortunately, much of this debate is framed in an atmosphere of ideological violence, whether this be a “war on infidels” or “war on terrorism.” In such divisive engagements, there are rarely any victors but only more victims. As Orthodox Christians, who hold dear the revealed truth that the life of “all mankind” is sacred, we might reflect, along with St. Nikolai of Zhicha, on the paschal victory of Christ over death and corruption: “Christ’s victory is the only victory in which all humanity can rejoice, from the first-created to the last. Every other victory on earth has divided, and still divides, men from one another. When an earthly king gains the victory over an another earthly king, one of them rejoices and the other laments. When a man is victorious over his neighbor, there is singing under one roof and weeping under the other. There is no joyful victory on earth that is not poisoned by malice: the ordinary, earthly victor rejoices both in his laughter and in the tears of his conquered enemy. He does not even notice how evil cuts through joy.” |
| The Church is inviting children of Ukrainian refugees for Paschal celebration in Moscow Moscow, April 8, 2015 The Moscow Patriarchate’s Synodal Department for Church Charity and Social Ministry is inviting families of refugees from the Ukraine for a grand Paschal celebration that will be held on Easter Sunday, April 12, in the Church of All the Saints of the Russian Lands in the Moscow district of Novokosino. Children together with their parents are invited for the family festival. “We have already arranged a celebration for Ukrainian refugees on the feast of Nativity of Christ and have seen for ourselves that such festivities are in high demand. We will do our best on the feast of Radiant Resurrection of Christ to bring joy to people – the joy that is the central theme of Pascha,” said the church rector, staff worker of the Synodal Charity Department Archpriest Michael Zazvonov. Children will be entertained by lively games, classes in such religious subjects as bell ringing, and will be given Paschal treats. Adults will be able to listen to Paschal chants, ballads, folk songs, sentimental love songs as well as songs of the war period. A charity fair and tea party will be arranged for the guests. The celebration will take place from 3 to 7 PM on April 12. The address of the church is: Moscow, Suzdalskaya Street, 8Б. A complex aid service for the Ukrainian civilians who suffered in the armed conflict in the Ukraine has been functioning at the Moscow Church of All the Saints of the Russian Lands in Novokosino since September 2014. Thousands of refugees have appealed to this centre and received food, clothes and material assistance. There is a hot line service of the Church aid for refugees; in many regions of Russia the refugees were received by Church institutions (asylums, parochial homes, monasteries and convents); there are active church centers for humanitarian aid. The largest such centers are based in the city of Rostov-on-Don and in Moscow. In summer 2014, on the basis of the Synodal Department for Charity, the church headquarters for assistance to Ukrainian civilians was established. By April 5, 2015, the headquarters received 20,155 applications for aid: 12,938 refugees received clothing, while 15,117 people received food and medicaments. 803 refugees were helped in obtaining free tickets and 195 people waiting for departure were helped with free accommodation in a hostel. Since 2014 the Church has regularly sent humanitarian aid to Donbass – for the suffering civilians of the Southeastern Ukraine. |
| Archive Hierarchs of Local Churches send Pascha greetings to faithful of Ukrainian Orthodox Church 4 May 2021 year 15:10 On the eve of the feast of the Radiant Resurrection of Christ, a number of Local Orthodox Churches sent video messages of greetings to His Beatitude Onufriy, Metropolitan of Kiev and All Ukraine, to the whole Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the Ukrainian people. In his message, Bishop Joanikije of Budimlja and Nikši states in particular, ‘On this great feast, I prayerfully wish joy to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and her faithful people so that the shedding of fraternal blood may be stopped and peace and fraternal love may come to reign among all the people of good will in the fraternal Slavic country. Sharing with you, dear brothers and sisters, the joy of the great Paschal feast, I wish that the Lord may grant divine power for the victory over sin, falsehood and division between brothers, so that you could always be co-participants in His Resurrection!’ Metropolitan Gabriel of Lovech, in his greetings, wished prosperity to Ukraine and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. ‘May the Lord bless beautiful Orthodox Ukraine and give peace, well-being and salvation to Christians’. ‘The Bulgarian Church and the Ukrainian Church are one Body of Christ’ Metropolitan Gabriel continued, ‘we live by the Spirit of Christ. Therefore, if one rejoices, other shares this joy, and if one suffers, other suffers together with him… May the resurrected Lord reward you for all your trials with divine joy and grant salvation to all of you’. Metropolitan Isaiah of Tamassos and Orinis emphasized in his message, ‘In these Paschal days, we feel the joy that the Light of Christ has brought to the earth and would like to share it with all the Orthodox people, especially Orthodox Ukrainians, who have been going through strong temptations in recent years. And the local Church has been enduring strong temptations too’. ‘In these Paschal days, we are with you’, His Eminence Isaiah assured the UOC’, we are praying for you, for your unity, for peace in the Ukrainian land, so that all the hostilities and all the military actions against Ukraine may be stopped’. |
| Pascha is celebrated in China Source: DECR On Paschal night, the Revd. Dimitry Fedorin, dean of the first church district of Vladivostok and a cleric of the Cathedral of the Intercession took part in the procession with the cross held by the Chinese Orthodox community in Harbin, People’s Republic of China. Natalya Mihailova 24 April 2014 He greeted the faithful children of the Chinese Orthodox Church with the Feast of feasts and Triumph of triumphs and assured the worshippers in the prayers of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, who celebrated Divine liturgy in the church during his visit to China in 2013. On April 20, Father Dimitry celebrated the Divine liturgy. The service was announced on April 16, but at least one hundred and thirty Orthodox compatriots came to share Paschal joy. Over sixty of them took Holy Communion. On April 21, Father Dimitry and members of the Russian Orthodox community visited three hospitals in Harbin. He brought Paschal greetings to children from Russia and the CIS countries convalescing there and their parents. In Shanghai, Pascha was celebrated by the Very Revd. Alexiy Kiselevich, rector of the Orthodox community, at the Church of St. Nicholas. Praying at the service were over three hundred and fifty members of the international Orthodox community that consists of the Russians, Ukrainians, Greeks, Frenchmen, and Americans. At least one hundred and sixty worshippers took Holy Communion. The Revd. Sergiy Voronin celebrated Paschal services at the Church of the Dormition located on the territory of the Russian Embassy in Beijing. Some three hundred parishioners from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Romania, the USA, France, Germany, Ethiopia, Greece and other countries prayed at the Divine liturgies celebrated at night and in the morning. Taking Holy Communion were over one hundred worshippers. The Very Revd. Dimitry Pozdnyaev officiated at the Paschal divine services celebrated for an international community of the Church of Ss Peter and Paul in Hong Kong. |
| Paschal Epistle of His Eminence Hilarion, Metropolitan of Eastern America and New York, First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia admin 05 May 2013 Your Eminences, Fellow Hierarchs, God-Loving Monks and Nuns, Priests and Deacons, Beloved in the Lord Brothers and Sisters! CHRIST IS RISEN! A wondrous energy lies hidden in these words and penetrates the whole soul: Christ is Risen! How joyous are these words for the soul of a Christian! Can more festive words than these be found in the entire human language? These joyous words were first uttered by the Angel to the Myrrh-bearers who had come to the life-bearing Tomb. With our mind’s eye we see Christ Resurrected and hear His sweetest words to the Myrrh-bearers: Rejoice! (Matt. 23:9). The Resurrected Lover of Mankind directs the same joyful greeting to us: Rejoice! With Paschal jubilation I greet all of you with this radiant world-saving triumph of Christ’s Resurrection! Rejoice, and again I say, rejoice! May each one of you, partaking of the joy today of Christ’s Church, overcome the sorrows and crosses you bear in life: overcome the despondency due to personal sinfulness, and the temptations and scandals which surround us. With a breath of festive compunction let us and those around us partake of the many-faceted mercies and blessings of this all-good and radiant celebration. For the Feast of Pascha is not just another ordinary festival or proclamation of resurrection: it is not a mere promise of life eternal for people; it is the triumph and victory over all grief and anguish, over all sorrow and sadness of this earthly life. May this Paschal joy, this triumph of life reign throughout our Russian Church Abroad, in each parish, in each monastery, in each family, so that “the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3), spoken of by the Apostle, may be visible within our church life. And may whatever transpires among us be peaceful, amicable, cordial and according to the precepts of the Church! |
| Archive Patriarch Kirill celebrates thanksgiving at the Cathedral of the Resurrection in Tirana 28 April 2018 year 21:45 April 28, 2018 – His Holiness Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, who is on a visit to the Albanian Orthodox Church, celebrated thanksgiving at the Cathedral of the Resurrection in Tirana. Among those who prayed on the soleas were His Beatitude Anastasios, Archbishop of Tirana and All Albania, and members of the Holy Synod of the Albanian Orthodox Church. The church, which accommodates thousands, was filled with a multitude of the faithful. After the singing of hymns, Archbishop Anastasios addressed Patriarch Kirill with Paschal greetings in three languages. He said, ‘It is with Paschal joy, profound respect and fraternal love that we welcome you, Your Beatitude and Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, at the Cathedral of the Resurrection in the heart of the Albanian capital city, with the words: ‘Blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord. This time you have come as Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, which, in the previous century came through fire and water, and the Lord led her out to joy, to a new period of flourishing. A few months ago, in November 2017, in Moscow, we marked one hundred years since the beginning of a terrible anti-religious persecution that shook the universe. As still a young man, I watched the heroism of Orthodox clergy and laity that they displayed during the ruthless atheistic persecution in the Soviet Union. ‘You, my dearest holy brother, in your childhood and youth, had to go through all kinds of trials brought by the anti-religious storm, which you survived thanks to the living faith and steadfastness laid down in the spiritual DNA of your devout family. With enthusiasm you bravely decided to dedicate yourself to the Church’, Archbishop Anastasios stressed addressing Patriarch Kirill. His Beatitude said that the Albanian Orthodox Church, too, experienced severe persecution in the 20thcentury: ‘Beginning from 1968, something unique in the world history happened as in its Constitution Albania officially proclaimed itself as an atheistic state and religious faith was forcibly and savagely buried in it for as long as twenty three years. In the 1980s, all those who followed the developments came to the conclusion that the Albanian Church disappeared from the map for good. But, thank God, since 1991 we have lived with the breath and joy of the Resurrection. It is widely known that the Orthodox Autocephalous Albanian Church, restored on the only solid foundation, which is Christ, continues developing in the rays of Paschal light. |
| With the blessing of His Eminence Metropolitan HILARION, Archbishop of Eastern America and New York, First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, on April 12, 2015, the ROCOR faithful in Pakistan joyfully participated in the Paschal Divine Liturgy. The congregation was given the chance to prepare themselves during the Holy week. The parishioners participated in the services starting from Palm Sunday; it is the most joyous feasts of the year, as we commemorate the Entrance of our Lord into Jerusalem and with full passion and true spirit the Orthodox faithful were taught well by Fr.Joseph Farooq how to follow the holy traditions of the Orthodox Church during the Passion Week. All the main services were well attended, with many parishioners receiving the sacrament of Confession and Holy Communion. This year a seminar was held on “Great Lent and Holy Traditions of the Russian Orthodox Church.” In this seminar Fr. Joseph Farooq described to the faithful that fasting is very important for Orthodox Christians, and according to the holy traditions, the Orthodox faithful observe the fast on Wednesday and Friday throughout the year. Further he mentioned that we Orthodox Christians fast before Christmas, “The Nativity fast.” The faithful were also taught that Holy Saturday is a day of strict fasting for Russian Orthodox Christians. The motive of the seminar was the spiritual preparation of the Orthodox community for Holy Pascha. Metropolitan Hilarion's 2015 Paschal Epistle: His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion in his Paschal Epistle greeted all the faithful of the Russian Orthodox Church outside Russia in Pakistan on the Great Feast of the Resurrection of Christ. This Paschal Epistle strengthens the Orthodox clergy and faithful with the unique teaching of the undivided apostolic Church, and His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion encourages the believers on the great feast of the splendid Resurrection of Christ by saying, “In the midst of our sorrows and temptations, renew us all with the joy of His Life-bearing Resurrection, support faith and piety with within us, illumine us with trust in the coming, eternal celebration on the never-waning day of His Kingdom. Amen.” |
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