2,026
edits
Changes
m
no edit summary
[[Image:Expulsion from Eden.JPG|frame|right|Expulsion from Eden]]
'''Forgiveness Sunday''', also called '''Cheesefare Sunday'''; , is the final day of [[Lenten Triodion|pre-Lent]]. It is the Sunday after [[Meatfare Sunday]] and the Sunday before the [[Sunday of Orthodoxy]].
On this last Sunday before [[Great Lent]], the last day that traditionally Orthodox Christians eat dairy products until [[Easter]], the Church remembers the expulsion of [[Adam and Eve]] from Paradise. [[God]] commanded them to [[fast]] from the fruit of a tree (Gen. 2:16), but he they did not obey. In this way Adam and Eve, and their descendents, became heirs of death and corruption.
On Forgiveness Sunday many attend Forgiveness [[Vespers]] on the eve of Great Lent. They hear on the Lord's teaching about fasting and forgiveness, and enter the season of the fast forgiving one another so that God will forgive them. ''If you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will forgive you; but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your heavenly Father forgive you your trespasses'' ([[Gospel of Matthew|Matthew]] 6:14).
The [[Gospel]] reading of the day also gives advice on fasting. ''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.'' (Matthew 6:16-18).
