Cheesefare Week (a spell on great post) - the last day, which sums up all the preparation for Lent, usually called "Forgiveness Sunday"; but we must not forget its second liturgical title: "The Expulsion of Adam from Paradise." We know that man was created to live in Paradise in order to know God and communicate with Him. Sin deprived man of this blissful life, and his existence on earth became exile. Christ, the Savior of the world, opens the doors of paradise to everyone who follows Him, and the Church, showing us the beauty of His Kingdom, turns Great Lent into a pilgrimage to the heavenly homeland.

Very little time is left before the start of Lent. Adam's lament for the lost paradise is remembered and, preparing for a serious journey, everyone asks for forgiveness from each other.

Adam, the father of the universe, in paradise knew the sweetness of God's love, and therefore, when he was expelled from paradise for sin and deprived of God's love, he suffered bitterly and wept with a great groan throughout the whole desert. His soul was tormented by the thought: "I have offended my beloved God." He did not regret paradise and its beauty so much as that he had lost the love of God, which insatiably every minute draws the soul to God.
So every soul that has known God through the Holy Spirit, but then lost grace, experiences Adam's torment. It hurts the soul and greatly regrets it when it offends the beloved Lord.
Adam was bored on earth, and wept bitterly, and the earth was not sweet to him. He yearned for God and said:
“My soul misses the Lord and tearfully seek Him. How can I not look for Him? When I was with Him, my soul was cheerful and at peace, and the enemy had no access to me; and now an evil spirit has taken power over me, and it shakes and torments my soul, and therefore my soul misses the Lord even to death, and my spirit yearns for God, and nothing on earth amuses me, and my soul does not want to be consoled by anything. but wants to see Him again and be satisfied with Him. I can’t forget Him even for a minute, and my soul languishes for Him, and from a lot of sorrow I cry with a groan: “Have mercy on me, O God, Thy fallen creation.”
So Adam sobbed, and tears flowed down his face onto his chest and the ground, and the whole wilderness listened to his groans; animals and birds fell silent in sorrow; but Adam wept, for because of his sin all had lost peace and love.”
Rev. Silouan of Athos. Cry of Adam.

Why is the attention of the Church suddenly turned to Adam? At the dawn of human history, a drama unfolded: the creature rose up against the Creator. What is the reason for such a rebellion: I will not obey, I do not want any restrictions, I want to do everything in my own way? Is everyone familiar? - It is familiar, how familiar is the desire to justify and shift the blame on another: “the wife that You gave ...” And then, self-justification goes deeper: You gave her ... So, You are to blame ?!

How close is such a history of sin to everyone! Self-will, stubbornness, persistence in sins, self-justification instead of repentance. The first desire is to accuse the One to Whom one should first of all rush with the most necessary: "forgive." But no. Adam is unpleasant, ashamed and not well in his soul that he violated the commandment. But how does he behave? The biblical story literally speaks of the desire to hide from God, and for all ages this first movement remains with the majority - to go into the shadows, to hide ... From whom? - From God, from conscience, from your soul. From the one from whom one cannot hide, one cannot escape, one cannot defend oneself with self-justification and lies. What to do? It is not difficult to guess that the Church, speaking about Adam, helps everyone to see themselves in him. If this image of our disobedience, ingratitude, unwillingness to return love for love is given in the form of a poetic tale about the forefather who lost paradise with the same qualities, then this is done only to make our mind and heart respond to it.

How did paradise feel like the firstborn of the human race? How protection the grace of God from the evil of the world. To have some idea of this, one usually remembers the golden age of childhood, where the love of parents protects young life from everything vicious. But the Creator's love, instead of a grateful feeling and reciprocal love, met with the opposite desire to interrupt the most precious and valuable communication with the Creator in life. Sin entered a person's life, weakened his talents, poisoned his abilities, violated the integrity of the soul. Those who are able to feel the painful internal discord know that storms often arise in the depths of the soul, raising all impurities from the bottom. Most often, a person prefers not to touch on such topics, not to look into this abyss (“tamo gadi, they are innumerable” in the words of the psalmist), to go away from himself, to deceive himself.

But this is not what the Church calls her children to do. Recalling Adam, she says again and again that the Creator has not forgotten His creation, that He Himself, the first, addresses Adam: “Where are you?..”, that He always has to be the first to go in search of every lost soul.
Why is He, and not we, the first to go to Him? Because He is “meek and lowly in heart,” while we are proud and stubborn. And if He comes to us, then at least in response to His movement, we can go towards Him with repentance for our sins? That is why the ancient reminder of the fall is heard in church hymns. It contains the truth about ourselves, it calls us to an active feat, the purpose of which is to meet God and find in communion with Him the meaning of all aspirations and the joy of being. This will not happen in an instant, because we have a serious path ahead of us - the Lenten path to Easter.

From the book: Lenten spring, the color of repentance ... Ascension to eternal life. - M. Publishing Department of the Vladimir Diocese, 2002 - 590 p.

Adam was expelled from paradise to sustenance, the same and sitting right there weeping, groaning with a touching voice, and saying: alas for me, that the accursed az suffered: I transgressed the one commandment of the Lady, and lost all good things! The most holy Paradise, having been planted for me, and for the sake of Eve shut up, pray to you who created, and who created me, as if I would be filled with your flowers! The same and to him the Savior: I do not want my creature to perish, but I want this to be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth, as if he who comes to me I do not cast out.
Adam was expelled from paradise because of food (because of eating the forbidden fruit), and, sitting right in front of paradise, wept and moaned ... Alas, how I suffered, the accursed one: I did not keep one commandment of the Lord and lost all blessings! Holy paradise, planted for my sake, and closed for the sake of Eve, pray to you and the Creator of me, so that I may again be filled with your flowers. And the Savior answered him (Adam): I do not want my creation to perish, but I want it to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth, because I will not cast out the one who comes to Me.

Kondak of the Cheesy Week

Instructor of wisdom, Giver of sense, Punisher of the unwise, and Defender of the poor, affirm, enlighten my heart, Master. You give me a word, Father's Word, behold, I will not rebuke my lips, in the hedgehog I call Thee: Merciful, have mercy on me fallen.
Ikos:
Then Adam was weeping, like the sweetness of paradise, his hand was beating his face, and saying: Merciful, have mercy on me, the fallen one.
Seeing the angel, Adam rushed out, and shutting the door of the divine garden, sighing great, and saying: Merciful, have mercy on me, the fallen one.
Help paradise to the impoverished acquisitive, and with the noise of your leaves implore the Sodetel, let it not close you: Merciful, have mercy on me, the fallen one.
Paradise, all-virtuous, all-holy, all-rich, planted for Adam's sake, and imprisoned for Eve's sake, implored God for the fallen: Merciful, have mercy on me, the fallen one.

gospel reading

Fasting frees us from enslavement to sin, from the captivity of "this world." But the gospel reading of the last resurrection speaks of the conditions of this liberation (Matthew 6:14-21).

The first condition is fasting: to refuse to regard the desires and demands of our fallen nature as normal; an effort to free the spirit from the dictatorial will of the flesh, matter. But in order for our post to be real, genuine, it must not be hypocritical, “ostentatious”. We must “appear fasting, not before men, but before the Father (Our) who is in secret” (Matthew 6:18).

The second condition of fasting is forgiveness; “If you forgive people their sins, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you” (Matthew 6:14). The triumph of sin, the main sign of its dominion in the world, is quarrels, disagreements, divisions, hatred. Therefore, the first break through the fortress of sin is forgiveness: a return to unity, harmony, love. The radiant forgiveness of God Himself will shine between me and my "enemy" if I forgive him. To forgive means to reject all the accounts and calculations of human relationships, leaving them to Christ. Forgiveness is a real "invasion" of the Kingdom of Heaven into our sinful and fallen world.

Vespers. Order of forgiveness

Fasting truly begins with Vespers this Sunday. Nothing better than this vespers shows us the "mood" of Great Lent in the Orthodox Church, does not lead us into it; nowhere is its deep appeal to man felt better.

The service begins like a solemn vespers; priests in bright vestments. The stichera on “Lord, I have called…” (following “Lord, I have called”) announces the upcoming Lent, and after it, the approach of Easter!

По́стное вре́мя све́тло начне́м, к подвиго́м духо́вным себе́ подложи́вше, очи́стим ду́шу, очи́стим плоть, пости́мся я́коже в сне́дех от вся́кия стра́сти, доброде́тельми наслажда́ющеся ду́ха: в ни́хже соверша́ющеся любо́вию, да сподо́бимся вси ви́дети всечестну́ю страсть Христа́ Бо́га и святу́ю Па́сху, духо́вно ра́дующеся.
Let's start Lenten time! Preparing for spiritual exploits, let's purify our soul, purify our body. Let us abstain both from food and from every passion, and enjoy the spiritual virtues. So that, perfected in love, we would be worthy to see the passion (suffering) of Christ God and holy Pascha, in spiritual joy.

Then, as usual, follows the Entrance and the singing of "Quiet Light ..." Then the serving priest goes to the "high place", behind the throne, and proclaims the evening Prokimen, who always announces the end of one and the beginning of another day. During this evening, the "Great Prokimen" announces the beginning of Lent:

Do not turn Your face away from Your servant, as I grieve, hear me soon: take my soul, and deliver it.
Do not turn Your face away from Your servant, because I mourn! Hear me soon, pay attention to my soul and deliver it.

Choir of the brethren of the Danilov Monastery

Listen to the special melody of this verse, this cry of the soul that suddenly fills the church: "... I grieve" - and you will understand the starting point of Lent: a mysterious mixture of despair and hope, darkness and light. All preparations are now completed. I stand before God, before the glory and beauty of His Kingdom. And I am aware of my belonging to this Kingdom, I am aware that I have no other home, no other joy, no other goal; and I realize also that I am banished from this Kingdom into the darkness and sorrow of sin, and... "I mourn"! And finally I realize that only God can help my sorrow, only He can deliver and save my soul. Repentance, first and foremost, is a desperate plea for this divine help.

The prokeimenon is repeated five times. And now the Post has arrived! Light-colored vestments are replaced by dark, fasting ones, bright lighting is extinguished. When a priest or deacon begins the evening litany, the choir responds with Lenten chant. For the first time, the Lenten prayer of Ephraim the Syrian is read with prostrations. At the end of the service, the worshipers first approach the priest, asking for forgiveness, then they ask forgiveness from each other. But while this rite of "forgiveness" is taking place, and since Lent begins precisely with this act of love, unity and brotherhood, the choir sings Easter hymns. We have a forty-day journey through the wilderness of Lent, but at the end of this journey, the light of Pascha, the light of the Kingdom of Christ, already shines.

Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann. Great post.

The order of forgiveness is not mentioned in the Lenten Triodion, but it is an ancient tradition of the Church, dating back to the days of early Palestinian monasticism. The “Life of the Monk Mary of Egypt”, written by St. Sophrony of Jerusalem (c. 560-638), mentions that at the beginning of Great Lent, the monks gathered in the church, where they asked for forgiveness from the abbot, and then left the monastery and went into the desert for the whole post, returning only to Holy Week.

Instruction on Forgiveness Sunday

Do not turn Your face away from Your servant, as I mourn, hear me soon!
With such words imbued with filial sorrow, beloved fathers, brothers and sisters in the Lord, the Holy Church addresses God today at the evening service. And each of those standing here, undoubtedly, experienced these words in his heart as his personal appeal to God.
Do not turn Your face away, merciful Lord, from us! we ask. But we must earn this grace of God. At the call of our Orthodox Church, we have gathered on this holy evening in the temple in order to ask God's blessing on the eve of Great Lent for a worthy entry into the field of intensified prayers and repentance. We gathered in order to, according to the sacred custom established in ancient times, bowing to each other from the depths of our hearts, to forgive mutual insults and sins.

Blessing for Great Lent

“Today is spring for souls!” Holy Lent at the door. May the seed of our repentance and prayer vegetate to them and give them the saving fruit of the resurrection of souls in God.
Child of God!
“Let your mind fast from vain thoughts;
may thy will fast from evil desire;
let thy eyes fast from evil vision;
let your ears fast from foul songs and slanderous whispers;
let your tongue fast from slander, condemnation, lies, flattery and foul language;
May your hands fast from beating and stealing other people's goods;
May your feet fast from going to evil deeds.”
This is the Christian fast that the Lord expects from us.
Let us enter, our friends, into Great Lent, stand in the field of his exploits - repentance, abstinence and humility - and be established in them, so that, having received forgiveness, meet the Resurrection of Christ, Holy Pascha - the radiance of paradise on earth. Amen.

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Probably, for the vast majority of people, the word "Shrovetide" is associated with delicious hot pancakes, seeing off winter and meeting spring at fun folk festivals. This holiday has a long history dating back to pagan times, when the Slavs worshiped the god of the sun - Yarila. But according to later traditions Orthodox Church Maslenitsa (more precisely, meat-fare week) is a preparatory period for Great Lent, when meat products are excluded from the diet, Divine Liturgy is not performed on Wednesday and Friday and the penitential prayer of St. Ephrem the Syrian. How can Christians properly spend this week so that the holiday does not become a time of gastronomic excesses and pagan revelry?

For many pagan peoples, the transition from winter to spring was accompanied by certain religious rituals and celebrations. In Russia, the transition from hibernation to the spring revival was marked by a holiday called komoeditsa or Shrovetide.

After the baptism of Russia, the church tried to abolish pagan traditions and holidays, or bring them closer to Orthodox culture, because completely prohibitive measures are usually ineffective. The Church replaced pagan holidays with Christian ones and, as it were, churched folk customs, giving them a completely different meaning. So it was with the radonitsa, and with the custom of caroling, and with the same Maslenitsa. The Church timed Shrovetide for the Cheese Preparatory Week before Great Lent, removing the pagan meaning and replacing it with a new Christian content.

But speaking of the cheese week, or the meat and meat week, we must remember: initially there were two fundamentally different traditions spending this special time of the year, which can be conventionally described as: “purely churchly” and “purely secular”.

Those who followed church tradition perceived the last week before Lent as the most important step in preparing for it. The believers understood: if these days were spent in excessive pleasures and amusements, Great Lent would be disrupted for them. In the bosom of the Holy Church, a liturgical practice of preparing for Cheese Week in prayer and repentance has developed.

People who did not have a deep religious feeling and did not even belong to Orthodoxy at all celebrated Maslenitsa in a different way: with violent revelry, drunkenness and other outrages.

But sitting at a friendly table and eating pancakes this week is not forbidden even by the church! The special meaning of Shrovetide in quite recent times, when there were no telephones or e-mail, was that people during the week preceding Forgiveness Sunday and Great Lent had time to go and go to their close and distant friends and relatives, to ask each other's forgiveness. And having reconciled, having asked for forgiveness, how not to sit down at a feast? After all, quite recently everyone in the temple heard the gospel reading about Zacchaeus, who, having repented, wholeheartedly arranged a treat for the Savior and for his friends. Or a parable about the prodigal son, about the happiness of reconciliation and forgiveness: “... bring a fatted calf and slaughter it; Let's eat and be merry! for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found. And they began to rejoice” (Luke 15:23). Only instead of a calf we have pancakes at the meat-fare week.

One well-known Moscow priest once said that so many pancakes should be eaten at Shrovetide so that later the very sight of a pancake would cause disgust. This is probably something like "mortification of the flesh", about which much has been written in ascetic literature. At the same time, Maslenitsa is not a reason to overeat to the limit, so that you don’t want to until Easter later. So it still won't work. The charter of the meal for Shrovetide is a consolation for those who pray, attend divine services and seriously prepare for Great Lent.

In this week, the last before Great Lent, it would be good to remember the advice of St. Sergius of Radonezh: "Hold your abstinence." The beginning of fasting is unthinkable without bodily preparation, which the Orthodox Church offers us. Monday of the 1st week of Great Lent is called Pure Monday: a pure conscience, a pure soul - because it was Forgiveness Sunday. It is also necessary to be clean and in bodily composition, if a person is God's, therefore there must be abstinence. According to the Holy Fathers, Great Lent is the spring of the spirit, because when we limit ourselves bodily, our spirit blossoms. Whoever has tasted this joy of Great Lent already cherishes these days and is waiting for them. Only an intemperate soul, a person who pleases his flesh, perceives fasting as something painful.

When a person adheres to the church charter, imbues himself with the spirit of worship, prepares himself for entry into the Fortecost, then those restrictions that are associated with the Lenten period are perceived by him organically.

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Meat Week- This is the third Sunday of the period of preparation for Lent. This is the time when every Orthodox should strive to be cleansed of sins and vices as much as possible, pacifying his flesh.

The meaning of the term "meat empty"

The word comes from the Greek “apokreos” and the Latin “carni privum”, which means deprivation of meat. Meat Week begins on the 56th day before Easter. It is followed by the last week before fasting - cheese, or as it is called by the people - "Shrovetide". Those who decide to fast do not eat meat this week and eat only dairy products and eggs.

Easter preparation

It is important to properly prepare for the celebration of the most important Orthodox holiday— Easter. The period of preparation for fasting consists of three weeks, each of which is devoted to a specific topic. It begins with the story of a Pharisee and a publican praying in the temple. Cheesefare week is the final part of the preparatory period before Easter.

The weeks during the preparation and Great Lent are devoted to separate topics:

About the Pharisee and Publican;
About the prodigal son;
Meat-fat;
Cheesy.

This period is aimed at making it easier for a person to switch to an ascetic from the usual way of life. For more than 16 centuries, this preparation for Lent has been practiced.

Meat Week Description

The third week of preparation for Lent is called the Meatfare Week. It is aimed at the refusal of the Orthodox Christian from the use of meat products, so that abstinence would be easier in the future. These are the last days before Lent, when it is still allowed to eat meat products.

Fairs and wedding festivities ended during this period. The believers prepared for the remembrance of the Passion of Christ. Next week is called Maslenitsa. This week they already refuse meat and eat only eggs and dairy products.

Universal Parental Meatfare Saturday

It falls on Meatfare Week. The Church on this day commemorates all the dead since the time of Adam.

Memorial prayer Sermon Video Photo: Last Judgment Week

Lord, hear our prayers for the parents who left this earth and went to Your Kingdom, where there is eternal life. Only You can comfort our sorrowful souls. I ask you to forgive all the sins of the departed and give him a life of joy and happiness in Heaven. I cry and pray for the soul of God's servant (name) with faith and hope for consolation. Do not leave me alone in mourning sadness, help me survive the loss. Forgive him of all sins, let his soul rest in peace and gain eternal life. I will pray for him and glorify Your name, our Lord! For you are our Father, and only you know when our last hour on earth will strike in order to take our souls afterward to the Kingdom of Heaven. May we find eternity by your side. Till the end of time. Amen

This memorial day reminds all Christians of the need to save all people, so all the living should pray for the souls of dead sisters and brothers. Only the body dies, but the soul remains alive, which means that it still has time to repent. Everyone, the living and the deceased, has time before the Last Judgment to repent. By praying for deceased relatives, we imperceptibly become better ourselves: we begin to love our neighbors and cleanse ourselves of evil.

Is Shrovetide a Christian holiday?

Maslenitsa is not based on Christianity at all. Every educated person knows this. Maslenitsa is an ancient pagan celebration of the meeting of spring and seeing off winter. Previously, this holiday was a kind of bacchanalia, which was accompanied by games, fights, unbridled fun and plentiful drunken feasts. Before the adoption of Christianity, such festivities were aimed at appeasing the pagan gods. In some cases, they were accompanied by human sacrifices, among which were the first martyrs - the Kyiv Varangian Theodore and his son John. Therefore, the Orthodox Church, talking about the Last Judgment, calls for repentance and asks to be careful about pagan rituals that still live in our subconscious.

After the baptism of Russia, people could not refuse to celebrate Shrovetide. It is difficult for the Russian people to cancel the holidays, accompanied by reckless parties and rich feasts. The Orthodox Church was forced to combine this week with the last preparatory week. Thus, she could at least somehow control what was happening and prevent blasphemous revelry during Lent. The tradition of commemorating dead ancestors with pancakes was rethought as a conspiracy - a festive meal before Lent. In churches, the penitential prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian is read. At the same time, ritual pagan spells and ditties were performed on the streets, which defile the hearing of a believer.

What is allowed to eat on Meat Week

Orthodox believers are interested in the question of what can be eaten this week in order to properly prepare the body for Lent.

On Sunday, they eat the usual meat products: poultry, beef, pork, sausages. There are no strict bans on this day. If you wish, you can eat fatty sausages or lard. However, this should be done in moderation, since this is still a preparatory week, after which Great Lent will come. The Meat Week is followed by the Cheese Week. Meat products are excluded from the diet.

It is worth noting that the traditions of the Orthodox Church are very wise. After all, in order for fasting to benefit, you need to properly prepare the body for it.

Christian worship

Meat Week begins on Sunday, during the service on this day, they remember the story of the prodigal son. At daily liturgies, they remember the upcoming Last Judgment, which will take place when the second coming of Christ occurs. At divine services on weekdays, verses from the Gospel are read, where Jesus himself spoke about the coming Judgment.

Meat Week ends parent Saturday when all Orthodox Christians commemorate their dead relatives and friends. In memory of them, memorial services and funeral prayers are ordered.

On Sunday, the Great Myasopust is held - a festival of meat, before completely abandoning it. As a rule, these are folk fairs and festivities with a lot of meat, which is baked, fried on mushrooms and eaten in plenty.

How to prepare for meatpacking week?

Priests recommend considering the diet for the next month, given that it should contain meatless dishes. It is also important to prepare psychologically in order to give up recreational and festive events.

Attend church services as often as possible, go to confession and receive communion. In the preparatory period, as well as in the post itself, you need to refuse to attend entertainment events, reduce viewing of entertainment programs to a minimum.

It is worth remembering that fasting is not a punishment, but a time when every believer can cleanse his soul. Struggling with our passions, we become closer to God, being healed physically and spiritually.

PREPARATION WEEKS FOR GREAT LENT

Lent in 2020 will begin on March 2, but it is preceded by several weeks of preparatory work. What is the meaning of their names? What are the features of worship and fasting prescriptions these days?

AT Great Lent is preceded by preparatory weeks (Sundays) and Weeks. (The word "week" in the liturgical language means Sunday, while the week in our today's understanding is called "week").

The order of the services of the preparatory weeks and Great Lent itself is set out in the Lenten Triodion. It starts with Weeks about the publican and the Pharisee and ends on Great Saturday, covering 70 day period.

Anticipate Great Lent - Holy Forty Day:

- Sunday of the publican and the Pharisee,

-A week and the week of the prodigal son,

- Week and week of meat-fare,

-Cheesy week and week(Pancake week ).

During the Preparatory Weeks, the Church prepares the faithful for fasting by gradually introducing abstinence*:

After a continuous week (the Week of the publican and the Pharisee), fasting is restored environments and Fridays (at the Week of the Prodigal Son);

Then follows the highest degree of preparatory abstinence - forbidden to eat meat (cheesy week or Pancake week).

(*All fasting prescriptions relate primarily to monastic life; they are not always applicable in parish practice and require the blessing of a confessor.)

In the preparatory services, the Church disposes the faithful to fasting, repentance and spiritual achievement.

WEEK ABOUT THE PUBLICAN AND THE PHARISEE
(February 9, 2020)

The meaning of the name
Preparing for fasting and repentance, the Church in the first Sunday by the example of the publican and the Pharisee recalls humility, as the true beginning and foundation of repentance and all virtue, and pride, as the main source of sins, which defiles a person, alienates him from people, makes him an apostate, imprisoning oneself into a sinful selfish shell. An excerpt is read at the Liturgy OK. 18:10-14, in which the publican personifies a sincerely repentant sinner, and the Pharisee personifies an outwardly pious person, but who does not see his sins and considers himself righteous. Humility, as a path to spiritual exaltation, was shown by God the Word Himself, who humbled himself to the weakest state of human nature - "before the sign of a slave"(Philippians 2:7).

Liturgical Features
Chants from the Lenten Triodion, a collection of Lenten hymns and prayers, are gradually woven into the usual order of services. In the hymns of the Week about the publican and the Pharisee, the Church calls to reject - "reject" highly praised pride, fierce, pernicious exaltation, "gloriously pompous" and "Dmenie (puffing up) vile." To awaken feelings of repentance and contrition for sins, the Church on Sunday mornings begins to sing stichera(troparia) "Open the doors of repentance." It is based on the parable of the publican: comparisons are taken from it to depict a repentant feeling.

Solid week
(February 10 - February 15, 2020)

Fasting instructions
All types of fasting are cancelled.

THE WEEK OF THE PRODIGAL SON
(February 16, 2020)

The meaning of the name
On the Sunday of the Prodigal Son, the Church sets an example of God's inexhaustible mercy towards all sinners who turn to God with sincere repentance. No sin can shake the love of God. For the soul that has repented and turned from sin, imbued with hope in God, God's grace comes to the meeting, kisses it, adorns and triumphs in reconciliation with it, no matter how sinful it was before, until its repentance.The Church instructs that the fullness and joy of life lie in a grace-filled union with God and in constant communion with Him, and the distance from this communion serves as a source of spiritual disasters.

An excerpt is read at the Liturgy OK. 15:11-32 about the prodigal son who left his father's house, but then repented and returned. The parable reminds us of our own weakness and the great mercy of God, as it allegorically describes God's attitude towards fallen man.

Liturgical Features
The Lenten Triodion is used more actively; on Sunday mornings, for the first time, Psalm 136 "On the Rivers of Babylon" , which reminds a person that he is a prisoner of sin and that liberation from this slavery lies only through a decisive struggle with it.

Universal parental (meatless) Saturday
(February 22, 2020)

The meaning of the name
The Church prays for Christians who have departed into Eternity, and especially for people who died a violent death and did not receive the usual funeral service. The thought of the end of our life, while remembering those who have already departed into eternity, has a sobering effect on everyone who forgets about eternity and clings with all his soul to the perishable and fleeting.

Liturgical Features
A memorial service is held only a few times a year. An abundance of funeral texts, but they are not dull, but joyful, full of hope for a general resurrection.

THE WEEK OF THE TERRIBLE JUDGMENT
(February 23, 2020)

The meaning of the name
Meatfare Week (Sunday) is dedicated to remembering the second coming of Christ and the upcoming Last Judgment of the living and the dead. This reminder is necessary so that people who sin do not indulge in carelessness and negligence about their salvation in the hope of the inexpressible mercy of God. An excerpt is read at the Liturgy Matt. 25:31-46 .

Fasting instructions
Conspiracy for meat. The last day before Easter when meat is allowed at the meal.

Liturgical Features
The Church, in the stichera and troparia of the service of this Week, depicts the consequences of a lawless life, when a sinner appears before the impartial Judgment of God. At Matins, purely Lenten texts from the Penitential Canon of Andrew of Crete are sung - "Helper and Protector ...". Preparations for the post are coming to an end. The service is permeated with the idea of a universal answer for all one's actions before God.

Recalling the last Judgment of Christ, the Church at the same time points out the true meaning of the very hope in God's mercy. God is merciful, but He is also a righteous Judge. In liturgical hymns, the Lord Jesus Christ is called just, and His Judgment is called a righteous and incorruptible test (unwashed torture, unwashed judgment). Both inveterate and carelessly relying on the mercy of God, sinners must therefore remember the spiritual responsibility for their moral state, and the Church strives to bring them to the realization of their sinfulness with all her divine services of this Week.

What works of repentance and correction of life are especially paid attention to? First and foremost, on deeds of love and mercy, for the Lord will pronounce His Judgment primarily on deeds of mercy, and, moreover, possible for everyone, without mentioning other virtues that are not equally accessible to everyone. None of the people has the right to say that he could not help the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, visit the sick. The material works of mercy have their value when they are a manifestation of the love that controls the heart and are connected with the spiritual works of mercy, by which the body is also. and the souls of those around you are relieved.

Cheese Week (Shrovetide)
(February 24 - 29, 2020)

Fasting instructions
The last week of preparation for the Holy Fortecost is called Cheese Week, Cheesefare Week, or Maslenitsa. Cheese food is consumed this week: milk, sour cream, cheese, butter, eggs and fish. The Church, condescending to our weakness and gradually introducing us to the feat of fasting, has established the use of cheese food in the last week before Fortecost, “so that we, from meat and polygamy, are led to strict abstinence ... little by little, from pleasant dishes, we take the reins, that is, the feat of fasting.” On cheese-free Wednesdays and Fridays, fasting is more strict (until the evening).

Liturgical Features
Prayers from the Lenten Triodion are used every day. With the hymns of the Cheese Week, the Church inspires us that this week is already the eve of repentance, the fore-feast of abstinence, the pre-cleansing week. In these hymns, the Holy Church invites to pure abstinence, recalling the fall of the forefathers, which came from intemperance.

Liturgy is not celebrated on Wednesday and Friday , these days for the first time, the prayer of Ephraim the Syrian "Lord and Master of my life" is read , which is one of the most important prayers of fasting.

WEEK DAW (FORGIVENESS SUNDAY)
(March 1, 2020)

The meaning of the name
The last Sunday before Great Lent has an inscription (name) in Triodion: "On Cheesefare Week, Adam's exile." On this day, the event of the expulsion of our forefathers from paradise is remembered. An excerpt is read at the Liturgy Matt. 6:14-21 in which Christ speaks of the need to forgive everyone. The key idea is longing for paradise, which was lost by people after the fall of Adam.

Fasting instructions
Conspiracy for any food of animal origin.

Liturgical Features
After Vespers (in parish practice, this rite is sometimes performed after the Liturgy) forgiveness takes place : like the ancient monks, people ask each other for forgiveness for all offenses in order to enter the post with a peaceful soul. Psalm 136 is sung for the last time . In the texts of the service, a reminder of the purpose of the upcoming fast - the meeting of Easter is clearly heard. At Vespers, priests change into black robes. .

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