Forgiveness Sunday

Tomorrow is Forgiveness Sunday in the Orthodox Church. It is the final Sunday before the beginning of Great Lent. Immediately after the Vespers service on the evening of Forgiveness Sunday, every person in the church--beginning with the head priest--bows down to the floor before every other person present and begs for their forgiveness for any transgression, any insult, any slight, any wrong committed, whether in knowledge or in ignorance.

I participated in this last year for the first time, and if I had a hint of any remaining suspicion that Orthodox Christianity wasn't for real, it evaporated that night. Aside from my baptism/chrismation, it was the most powerful and humbling thing I had experienced in my Christian life. There were many tears and embraces, and it set the tone for the long and challenging period of repentance that was to follow.

I'm sorry I won't be there to participate again this year in Forgiveness Sunday Vespers. Even so, I plan to begin Lent on Monday with everyone else to the extent that I am able. With that in mind, I would like to offer to those of my readers to whom it applies, my sincerest, most heartfelt apologies for any wrong to have done them, intentionally or unintentionally, whether in knowledge or in ignorance.

Forgive me, a sinner.

Forgiveness Sunday (OrthodoxWiki)
The Fourth Sunday of the Triodion Period: Sunday of Forgiveness (Cheesefare Sunday)
Questions on Forgiveness Sunday