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| Source: uncutmountainsupply.com |
"Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me."
Great Lent will begin on Monday, February 23; but actually for the parish it will begin as we serve the Forgiveness Vespers on Sunday following the Liturgy.
This is a very "special" service that inaugurates the lenten fast. The theme, together with the beginning of Great Lent, is that of forgiveness. And that is clearly at the heart of the service, which is the Rite of Forgiveness, which actually comes at the very end.
What happens is this: Everyone comes and stands before everyone else at the service - beginning with me as the parish priest and our other clergy.
We make a full bow at the waist before each other, accompanied by the words: "Forgive me." The response is then: "God forgives," and then we move on to the next person. We will not exchange the "kiss of peace," and it is not the place to chat with each other.
We continue to move along in this fashion to the next person, who has taken a position in the line after his/her exchange with the last person in the line, until we have gone through to the very last person.
The point is to fulfill the Gospel command to forgive one another, as God has forgiven us. The Gospel reading for Sunday's Liturgy will be Matt. 6:14-21.
Everyone who is there is invited to stay. And that, of course, is a matter of choice. It is a free decision. No compulsion or obligation.
On Monday - Thursday of the First Week of Lent, there will be a unique lenten service, described in the following manner by Fr. Thomas Hopko:
"At the Compline services of the first week of lent the Canon of Saint Andrew of Crete is read. This is a long series of penitential verses based on Biblical themes, to each of which the people respond: Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me (with a bow at the waist." This canon will be repeated on the Fifth Monday of Great Lent (only this year) in a modified form.
