Friends,
Elsewhere here we have discussed WHY it is important that we participate in the Rite of Forgiveness, but it may also be helpful to discuss HOW the Rite of Forgiveness takes place. Folks have asked, so we will tell…
The Rite of Forgiveness takes place twice during Great Lent. The first is at the first liturgical service of Great Lent: Forgiveness Vespers. This takes place at STV on Sunday, immediately after the kissing of the cross at the Divine Liturgy. We do this just before we have our last non-lenten meal so that the maximum number of people can participate, since we understand your time is valuable. And if we are honest, we need to ask forgiveness of all our parish family members to begin Great Lent appropriately and we want the maximum number of folks to attend. The second time the Rite of Forgiveness takes place is after the Presanctified Liturgy on Holy Wednesday (not strictly speaking part of Great Lent, but that is another note for another day). In the present note we will concentrate on Forgiveness Vespers and how we participate in this unique and beautiful service.
As with all the Sunday Vespers services of Great Lent this one too begins as Great Vespers, but after the Great Prokimenon at the entrance, changes to daily lenten Vespers. This change is marked visually by the change of vestment color by the clergy. At Forgiveness Vespers the change is from gold to black. Black is the standard weekday vestment color for Great Lent. The icon stand covers are changed too, and the choir replies to the priest’s petitions with the Great Lenten melody. Prostrations are done at certain times of the Vespers service now, and the faithful should prostrate when the priest does.
The end of the Forgiveness Vespers is the same ending that is done at Great Compline during the first week of Great Lent – different than all other Vespers services. The priest kneels facing the people. The people make a great prostration to the ground and remain there until the priest finishes the long dismissal at which he invokes the major saints and the patron saint of the parish. The priest then stands, as do the people. The priest blesses the people, asks forgiveness with a prostration, and the people reply. This is the script of that part of the service:
Following the dismissal/prayer the priest stands.
Priest: Bless holy masters (this refers to bishops present), holy fathers and mothers (this refers to clergy and monastics present), brothers and sisters, and forgive me a sinner, all wherein I have sinned this day in deed, word, and thought, and in all my senses.
Priest makes a great prostration towards the people without the sign of the cross.
People: May God forgive and have mercy on thee, holy father.
People make a great prostration without the sign of the cross.
Priest: Through His grace may God forgive and have mercy on us all.
Priest blesses the people and turns towards the altar to begin the ektenia.
Priest: Let us pray for our Great Lord and Father… and the rest of the ektenia.
After the exclamation there is usually a short sermon describing the order of forgiveness and its historical origin. Undoubtedly the sermon at the Liturgy immediately before this service would have been about WHY it is important to forgive. The sermon here is more technical as a rule: HOW we execute the order of forgiveness and from where the practice comes.
St. Paul wrote “let all things be done decently and in order” (I Corinthians 14:40) This applies first and foremost to the Divine Services, but really to all our lives as Orthodox Christians. As for the application to the service at hand, we forgive each other in order. That is, the priests come in their order to the main celebrant, then the deacons, subdeacons, etc. Each makes a prostration to the ground, on one’s knees and touching one’s head to the ground (without making the sign of the cross) and says “forgive me a sinner”. The main celebrant replies “God forgives – forgive me a sinner”. The one who first asks replies “God forgives”. Then they kiss each other on the cheeks three times. If the person from whom you are asking forgiveness is a priest or a bishop you would then kiss his right hand. And thus we all ask forgiveness of each one in the church at the rite of forgiveness and we enter into Great Lent having fulfilled, as best we could, the words from the Gospel read earlier at the Divine Liturgy:
For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. (Matthew 6:14-15)
Great Lent is a special time of year at which we focus especially on repentance, seeking the Lord’s forgiveness. The fathers of the Church say that repentance is only found in this life – not in the next – so we should especially concentrate on repentance here. Moreover, it seems likely that few of us will attain the Heavenly Kingdom due to our incredibly righteous lives. Rather, much more likely is that we attain the Heavenly Kingdom through sincere repentance.
Finally, what to do if someone refuses to forgive us? Surely that means we should refuse to forgive them too? “An eye for an eye…” so to speak? That is definitely Old Testament thinking – not at all in alignment with the Law of Love that is the Gospel our Lord brought to us and taught us. If your brother refuses to forgive you he is running to perdition. If you refuse to forgive him you are racing with him to see who can get there first. Stop struggling for the Kingdom of Hell and start struggling for the Kingdom or Heaven! How? By forgiving your brother, even if he will not forgive you. And for praying for him, that he will stop his sprint towards the Devil and embrace forgiveness also before it is too late. Again – repentance is for THIS LIFE ONLY – not the next. Our only chance is to forgive here. The wise man forgives all, understanding that the forgiveness he gives is not so much a gift to the one he forgives as it is a gift to himself: an easy step towards the Heavenly Kingdom. May our participation in Forgiveness Vespers be a radical beginning to a life filled with forgiveness and repentance that leads us all to the abode of the saints with our Lord in Heaven!
Asking Your Prayers,
Fr. Gregory
