On the eve of Great Lent, a large number of Orthodox faithful gathered at the Metropolitan Cathedral Church of St. Great Martyr Nedelya in Sofia to ask one another for forgiveness and to receive archpastoral blessing for the coming Fast.
The Vespers service was presided over by His Holiness Metropolitan of Sofia and Patriarch of Bulgaria Daniil, concelebrating with Economos Petar Slavov, President of the Church Council of the cathedral, and deacons. Among those praying were Bishop Gerasimos of Melnik, Secretary General of the Holy Synod, Bishop Yoan of Branitsa, First Vicar of the Metropolitan of Sofia, and many clergy of the capital.
In his address, Patriarch Daniel emphasized that each liturgical year, on the eve of Holy Great Lent, the Church calls the faithful to mutual forgiveness.
He noted that God’s will in this regard is clear, recalling Christ’s command: “Forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your heavenly Father may forgive you your trespasses” (Mark 11:25); “Forgive, and you will be forgiven” (Luke 6:37); and “If you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you” (Matthew 6:14).
When we forgive, the Patriarch stressed, we become like God, and we ourselves receive forgiveness from Him. He also recalled the exhortation of the Apostle Paul: “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice… forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you” (Ephesians 4:31–32), as well as the teaching of St. John Chrysostom that nothing makes us more like God than forgiving those who have offended us.
Therefore, he continued, if we truly wish to imitate Christ and take God as our model, we are called to be imitators of God first of all through forgiveness. Without asking forgiveness of our neighbor, there is no reason to ask forgiveness of God; and without forgiving and asking forgiveness of both God and neighbor, one cannot truly fast or do anything for eternal salvation, as St. Ephrem the Syrian teaches, noting that if we do not forgive those who have sinned against us, fasting and prayer will not benefit us. For this reason, the Church maternally calls the faithful on this day to forget all malice and pray: “We have sinned before You, O Christ our King; save us and make us, O Good One, partakers of the Kingdom of Heaven.”
Patriarch Daniel further noted that sincere and wholehearted forgiveness frees a person from every burden and from “the sin which so easily entangles us” (Hebrews 12:1).
When one knows that he has been forgiven, he experiences lightness, peace, and joy that cannot be compared to anything else. The Church calls the faithful to this path as they together enter the blessed time of Great Lent, urging that the forgiveness given and received be conscious, honest, and true, lifting the conscience and leading toward spiritual perfection. Only then, he said, can the faithful fulfill the call of the Church: “Let us fast with a fast pleasing and acceptable to the Lord.”
After his message, Patriarch Daniel himself asked forgiveness of all, and the rite of mutual forgiveness was performed.
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Text: Mihail Taskov
Photos: Vesela Ignatova
