Sunday of Forgiveness The Sunday of Cheesefare March 10, 2019

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1 Sunday of Forgiveness The Sunday of Cheesefare March 10, 2019 Resurrection Apolitikion. Tone Plagal 4. Ἐξ ὕψους κατῆλθες, ὁ εὔσπλαγχνος, ταφὴν καταδέξω τριήµερον, ἵνα ἡµᾶς ἐλευθερώσῃς τῶν παθῶν. Ἡ ζωὴ καὶ ἡ Ἀνάστασις ἡµῶν, Κύριε δόξα σοι. Entrance Hymn. Tone 2. Page 33. Resurrection Apolitikion. Tone Plagal 4. From on high did You descend, O merciful Lord, for us did You endure three days in the tomb that we may be released from passions in this world. You Who are our Resurrection and our Life glory to You, O Lord. Apolitikion of the Temple. Tone 4. Page 33. Kontakion from the Triodion (Tone Plagal 2) O Guide of wisdom, Granter of prudence, Instructor of the foolish, and the Defender of the poor: make my heart steadfast and wise, O Master. Give me eloquent words, O Word of the Father; for behold I will not hinder my lips from crying out to You, O merciful One, have mercy upon me the fallen one. Icon of the Expulsion from Paradise Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church 3585 North 12th Street Grand Junction, Colorado Reverend Protopresbyter Luke Uhl, Pastor Parish Web Page: Parish Answering Machine: Father Luke: Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church is a parish of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Denver under the spiritual and ecclesiastical jurisdiction of His Eminence Metropolitan Isaiah of Denver Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America Ecumenical Patriarchate It is impossible for a man to be freed from the habit of sin before he hates it, just as it is impossible for him to receive forgiveness before confessing his trespasses. Monks Kallistos and Ignatios Through patient endurance we may be granted forgiveness for many sins. Moreover, if we do not forgive others their debts, the Father will not forgive us our debts (cf. Matthew 6:15). Indeed, nothing leads more swiftly to the forgiveness of sins than this virtue or commandment: Forgive, and you will be forgiven (cf. Matthew 6:14). Saint Peter of Damascus When you are depressed, bear in mind the Lord s command to Peter to forgive a sinner seventy times seven (cf. Matthew 18:22). And you may be sure that He Who gave this command to another will Himself do very much more.saint John Klimakos

2 Special Services During the First Week of the Great Fast: Important Service Tonight: Forgiveness Vespers Great Compline on Weekday Evenings The Service of Great Compline will be celebrated on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday evenings throughout the period of the Great Fast (Great Lent). Small Compline is read every evening by faithful Orthodox Christians as their evening Prayer before bed. In monasteries it is read in community. Great Compline is read and sung in parish and monastery churches during the Great Fast, and is one of the favorite and very beautiful Lenten services. This Evening: Great Vespers of Forgiveness: 6:00 pm Presanctified Liturgy on Weekday Evenings The Presanctified Divine Liturgy will be celebrated on Wednesday evenings throughout the period of the Great Fast. This Liturgy is more solemn than those of Saint Basil or Saint John Chrysostom. At the Presanctified Liturgy, the faithful receive Communion from the Holy Gifts consecrated the previous Sunday. Mon, Tue, & Thu Evenings Great Compline: 6:00 pm Wednesday Evening Presanctified Liturgy: 6:00 pm For this service, the Ninth Hour starts at 5:30 pm and the Liturgy begins at 6:00 pm at our Saint Nicholas parish. Akathist Hymn on Friday Evenings The beautiful Akathist Hymn will be sung during Small Compline on each of the first Five Fridays of the Great Fast. The Akathist Hymn is a service of thanksgiving to the Theotokos for her intercession on our behalf. It is a service also asking her to continue praying for our salvation, much like the Paraklesis. Friday Evening Akathist Hymn: 6:00 pm Saturday Morning Divine Liturgy: 10:00 pm Small Compline begins at 6:00 PM on the first five Friday evenings. The Great Fast, also called Great Lent The forty-day period of the Great Fast begins on Monday, March 11, During this sacred season we place extra emphasis on our regular, daily ascetic practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Prayer puts us in active communication with God. Fasting is constantly required of us to defeat our human weakness and selfishness. Almsgiving is the generosity and love we give to every person we meet. For updated schedule information, always refer to: www. saintnicholasgj.org/worship_schedule/ Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving make us truly Christians and citizens of the Kingdom of heaven. If you have any questions or concerns, please speak with your parish priest!

3 Epistle for the Sunday of Forgiveness, Romans 13:11-14:4 BRETHREN, Do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts. Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things. For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables. Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for God has received him. Who are you to judge another s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand. Gospel for the Sunday of Forgiveness, Matthew 6:14-21 THE LORD SAID: If you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. New King James Version (NKJV), Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Beloved in the Lord, I am pastorally asking, indeed urging, each of you to set aside this Sunday evening, from 6:00 to 7:00 pm, to join us at church. This is a very important beginning to Great Lent, and I encourage everyone to be with us. Great Lent begins on Clean Monday, the first day of the first week of the Great Fast; this year it will be tomorrow, Monday, March 11, The Vespers of Clean Monday, the Forgiveness Vespers, celebrated on Sunday evening, begins the period of the Fast and Great Lent. It is critically important to each one of us spiritually, that we forgive one another. Actually, we condemn ourselves each time we say the Lord s Prayer and repeat the words...forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us... if we hold grudges and resentments, if we have not asked forgiveness of those we have hurt, or if we have not apologized to others for our behavior. Sunday evening, at the Forgiveness Vespers, is the time to come to the church and set these grudges, resentments, bitterness, and animosity aside. It is time to begin being put right with God and with our brothers and sisters. You and I individually desperately need this opportunity. Please, please join us for the brief Forgiveness Vespers at 6:00 pm Tonight (Sunday evening); the Ninth Hour will begin at 5:45 pm. He who suffers wrong and does not demand any reparation from the man who wronged him, trusts in Christ to make good the loss; and he is rewarded a hundredfold in this world and inherits eternal life (cf. Mark 10:30). Saint Mark the Ascetic With Love in Christ, Father Luke, who prays with you and for you!

4 Sunday of Forgiveness Let us cast off works of darkness, for, as the Psalmist, David the King, wrote, They have all fallen away; they are all alike depraved; there is none that does good, no, not one. (Psalm 52:3) In like manner, the Apostle Paul wrote, But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of stress. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, inhuman, implacable, slanderers, profligates, fierce, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding the form of religion but denying the power of it. Avoid such people. (2 Timothy 3:1-5) Who of us has never had a part in the aforementioned evils? Is this Apostolic prophecy not fulfilled in us? Woe therefore to us, for we know better and have thus come upon the extreme of evil! Are we not all gluttonous? Are we not all lovers of pleasure? Are we not all mad for, and lovers of, material things? Are we not all savages? Are we not all nurturers of wrath? Are we not all bearers of malice? Are we not all traitors of every virtue? Are we not all revilers? Are we not all fond of scoffing? Are we not all hasty and rash? Do we not all hurt and hate our brothers? Are we not all puffed up? Are we not all haughty? Are we not all proud? Are we not all vainglorious? Are we not all hypocrites? Are we not all deceitful? Are we not all jealous? Are we not all unruly? Are we not all listless? Are we not all fickle? Are we not all slothful? Are we not all neglectful of the Savior s commandments? Are we not all full of evil? Instead of God s temple have we not become the temple of idols? Instead of dwellings of the Holy Spirit are we not dwellings of evil spirits? It is all true; we are all sinners. We have great need to seek forgiveness from God and from our brother; and we also have great need to give forgiveness to our brother who, after all, is no better and no worse than we are! And let no one be upset at hearing these truths, for it was Jesus Christ Himself Who said, Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear My word. You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father s desires. (John 8:43-44) Saint Maximos the Confessor, On the Ascetic Life Forgiveness is a Breakthrough The Sunday of Forgiveness, the last of four preparatory Sundays before Great Lent, has two themes: it commemorates Adam s expulsion from Paradise, and accentuates our need to forgive. 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. Forgiveness, is emphasized in the Gospel reading Sunday morning and again in the special ceremony of mutual forgiveness at the end of Vespers on Sunday evening. Before we enter the Lenten fast, we are reminded that there can be no true fast, no genuine repentance, no reconciliation with God, unless we are at the same time reconciled with one another. A fast without mutual love is the fast of demons. We do not travel the road of Lent as isolated individuals but as members of a family. Our asceticism and fasting should not separate us from others, but should link us to them with ever-stronger bonds. The Sunday of Forgiveness also directs us to see that Great Lent is a journey of liberation from our enslavement to sin. The Gospel lesson sets the conditions for this liberation. The first one is fasting the refusal to accept the desires and urges of our fallen nature as normal, the effort to free ourselves from the dictatorship of the flesh and matter over the spirit. To be effective, however, our fast must not be hypocritical, a showing off. We must appear not unto men to fast but to our Father who is in secret. The second condition is forgiveness: If you forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. The triumph of sin, the main sign of its rule over the world, is division, opposition, separation, hatred. Therefore, the first break through this fortress of sin is forgiveness: the return to unity, solidarity, and love. To forgive is to put between me and my enemy the radiant forgiveness of God Himself. To forgive is to reject the hopeless dead-ends of human relations and to refer them to Christ. Forgiveness is truly a breakthrough of the Kingdom into this sinful and fallen world.

5 The Meaning of Forgiveness Vespers The Great Fast, or Great Lent, begins this evening, the evening of Cheesefare Sunday, at this Great Vespers which is the Vespers of Clean Monday, the first day of the Great Fast. This solemn, forty-day period of repentance is offered to us as a way of life, as a way of joy. The period of the Fast is not a way of sadness or sorrow or penitential suffering. It is a wonderful, joyful season because it brings us forgiveness from God, as well as from our brethren. But we must both accept forgiveness from both God and our fellow man and we must give forgiveness to each other. Remember that our Lord Jesus Christ taught us to pray,...forgive us our debts (trespasses) as we forgive our debtors (those who trespass against us). Tonight the very word, forgiveness, instructs us. The word, forgiveness, shows us how we must live. The word, forgive in Greek is συγχωρῶ, which means to move forward (-χωρῶ) with (συγ-). In other words to move forward together with God and with our fellow man. With forgiveness we do not only receive a simple absolution, which implies a legalistic concept of salvation. This is not our Orthodox tradition. Rather, forgiveness with God is a divine embrace, indeed the very embrace of our Lord Jesus Christ, in which what is broken and ugly within us is burned up by divine fire, and in which whatever good is lacking in us is fulfilled by divine grace. Forgiveness with God is an ocean of divine goodness that erases human sins. And in its full reality, forgiveness becomes communion with Christ and His Kingdom. During the course of our Lenten journey, let us mutually forgive one another by forgetting our differences, let us mutually support one another in our weaknesses, let us mutually protect one another to reach our destination: the celebration of Pascha this year and the attainment of the eternal Pascha in the Coming Kingdom. Let us now bow before the icon of Christ and the Panagia, before our Bishop and our parish fathers, as well as before our brethren, and let us ask for their forgiveness, since they have much to forgive us for. And let us forgive one another. Forgiveness does not begin when peace, calmness and joy begin to reign; rather, peace, calmness and joy begin to reign when there is forgiveness. Forgiveness begins the moment we take on our shoulders the burdens of one another, and the first and heaviest load is the personhood of another, what that person is, and not what that person does or does not do they are what they are. If necessary let us carry one another as Christ carried His Cross, as a type of death to self. Most importantly, let us not allow anyone to fall behind without our forgiveness.

6 Lord, Bless My Enemies A Prayer of Saint Nikolai (Velimirovic), Bishop of Ochrid Bless them and multiply them; multiply them and make them even more bitterly against me: Enemies have driven me into Thy embrace more than friends have. So that my fleeing to Thee may have no return; Friends have bound me to earth, enemies have loosed me from earth and have demolished all my aspirations in the world. So that all hope in men may be scattered like cobwebs; Enemies have made me a stranger in worldly realms and an extraneous inhabitant of the world. So that my heart may become the grave of my two evil twins: arrogance and anger; Just as a hunted animal finds safer shelter than an unhunted animal does, so have I, persecuted by enemies, found the safest sanctuary, having ensconced myself beneath Thy tabernacle, where neither friends nor enemies can slay my soul. So that I might amass all my treasure in heaven; They, rather than I, have confessed my sins before the world. So that absolute serenity may begin to reign in my soul; So that I may for once be freed from self deception, which has entangled me in the dreadful web of illusory life. Enemies have taught me to know what hardly anyone knows, that a person has no enemies in the world except himself. One hates his enemies only when he fails to realize that they are not enemies, but cruel friends. They have punished me, whenever I have hesitated to punish myself. It is truly difficult for me to say who has done me more good and who has done me more evil in the world: friends or enemies. They have tormented me, whenever I have tried to flee torments. They have scolded me, whenever I have flattered myself. They have spat upon me, whenever I have filled myself with arrogance. Therefore bless, O Lord, both my friends and my enemies. A slave curses enemies, for he does not understand. But a son blesses them, for he understands. For a son knows that his enemies cannot touch his life. Therefore he freely steps among them and prays to God for them. Whenever I have made myself wise, they have called me foolish. Whenever I have made myself mighty, they have mocked me as though I were a dwarf. Amen. Whenever I have wanted to lead people, they have shoved me into the background. Saint Nikolai was consecrated as a bishop of the Serbian Orthodox Church before World War II. Whenever I have rushed to enrich myself, they have prevented me with an iron hand. He was arrested by the Nazis during their occupation of Yugoslavia, and was a prisoner at Dachau concentration camp. Whenever I thought that I would sleep peacefully, they have wakened me from sleep. After the Communist takeover of his country, he was exiled and spent his last years at Saint Tikhon Monastery in South Canaan, Pennsylvania. Whenever I have tried to build a home for a long and tranquil life, they have demolished it and driven me out. Truly, enemies have cut me loose from the world and have stretched out my hands to the hem of Thy garment. He fell asleep in the Lord, most likely martyred by communist agents, in s

7 The Vital Necessity and Critical Urgency of the Holy Mystery (Sacrament) of Confession The Vital Necessity and Critical Urgency of the Holy Mystery (Sacrament) of Confession Beloved in the Lord, Confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. (James 5:16) Refreshed. Relieved. Renewed. Restored. Reconciled. These are words used by many of the faithful to describe how they feel after Holy Confession. At peace. Blessed and cleansed. Delivered from my sins. Encouraged. Filled with God s mercy. Good. Holy. Inspired to love others. These phrases are also heard when describing Holy Confession. Aren t these they way we all would like to feel? Aren t these the qualities we associate with being right with God? Of course! And this is why our Orthodox Church most strongly encourages us to come to Holy Confession. We should want indeed,. we should yearn to come to Confession regularly and frequently. There is no other treatment or therapy that provides the profound sense of being right and forgiven than the sacramental prayer of absolution spoken by the priest after we confess our sins. Nothing else can assure us so solidly and absolutely that we are free from guilt and accountability for the hurt we have caused others and ourselves. The Church urges us to come to Confession during the major fasting seasons, and at the very least annually during Great Lent. It is also good for those who are pious and devout to come to Confession more often.

8 Personally, I try to go to confession once a month; usually more often. This is not because I am a murderer or a thief! Rather, as we grow spiritually we become sensitive to the countless ways we fail to be God-like in our behavior. We especially offend those closest to us: spouses, children, relatives, friends, co-workers, etc.. We also fail ourselves. Some have not come to Confession because they do not know what to say or do in the Sacrament. Don t be concerned about this. It is simple. You stand next to the priest, facing the icon of Christ on the Iconostasion. The priest reads a prayer, then asks you what may be on your heart. Afterward he may or may not offer you some words of encouragement or recommendation. He finally places his epitrachelion (stole) over your head and reads the Absolution Prayer. When you leave the church after your Confession, you are as new and bright and peaceful as the day you were baptized even as those baptized as infants. There is no format for your confession. Simply state what you are sorry for, without elaboration or explanation. The details are not relevant. You can speak to God, or as though to the priest. You are free to confess in whatever way is most comfortable, since you are actually addressing God Who is invisibly present. Don t think you will surprise or scandalize the priest. We have heard far worse and have ourselves confessed worse than you ever say to us. Don t ever think that your confidence will be broken. It is a horrible sin for a priest to reveal what is said in Confession; many priests throughout the history of the Church have been martyred tortured and killed for refusing to betray what was spoken in Confession to civil authorities. A priest that betrays a Confession himself becomes accountable for the sins he reveals I have enough of my own, believe me, I don t need any more!! Especially a mostgrievous mortal sin of Sacrilege against a Sacrament of the Lord! As former Chancellor I can assure you: Metropolitan Isaiah (like any other Bishop) will instantly suspend and process for defrocking any priest he hears of betraying a Confession. But, most importantly, I wish you could each know how a priest experiences in a most profound way, the incredible and ineffable outpouring of God s mercy upon one who is confessing. It is probably why we priests go to Confession as often as we do. There are sometimes things we remember from years ago that we have never confessed. This happens to me from time to time. It is incredibly powerful and healing to confess these and be done with such sins. There is the pious tradition of the Church that whatever we have confessed is not mentioned at the Last Judgment when the sins of each person will be revealed to the whole world. We can avoid a lot of embarrassment on that Last Day by confessing now!! Most importantly, what is confessed is cast into oblivion by God effectively forgotten by Him. What could be better than this? Please, I urge you: call the priest and make an appointment to come to Confession. I come to Grand Junction for you. I love you all, and I love the work of a priest because it brings such consolation and peace and sanctification to God s people. Call me: I m in Grand Junction for you, individually and personally. With Love in Christ, Father Luke, who prays with you and for you!

9 From The Explanation of the Gospel of Saint Matthew by Saint Theophylaktos, Archbishop of Ochrid (AD ) Matthew 6:14. For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. Again He teaches us not to remember wrongs. He reminds us of the Father so that we might revere Him, since we are the children of such a Father, and not act as fierce beasts, refusing to forgive. Matthew 6:15. But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. God, Who is meek, hates nothing more than cruelty. Matthew 6:16. Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have received their reward. Disfigurement of the face" is an artificial discoloration of the face, painting it pale, so that one does not appear as he really is, but feigns mournfulness. Matthew 6: But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; that thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father Who is in secret: and thy Father Who seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. Men of old would anoint themselves with oil after bathing as a mark of their joy and well-being. So you also, O reader, should appear joyful when you fast. The oil used to anoint we also understand to mean almsgiving. Note that the Greek words for "olive" and "mercy," elaios and eleos, are very similar to the ear, though apparently unrelated in etymology. The holy fathers frequently draw these two words into association with one another. Our Head is Christ, Which we should anoint with deeds of mercy; and our face, that is our senses, we should wash with tears of repentance. Matthew 6: Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and corruption doth destroy, and where thieves break through and steal: but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor corruption doth destroy, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Having first cast out the sickness of vainglory by what He said before, now He speaks about non-possessiveness. For men possess more than they need because of vainglory. He shows how unprofitable earthly treasure is: moth and corruption consume food and clothing, and thieves steal gold and silver. Then, anticipating the objection that not all treasure is stolen, the Lord says, "Even if nothing is lost in this manner, are you not wretched for being nailed down by your worries over wealth?" This is why He says, Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Saint Theofylaktos