In 2019, Lent will last from March 11 to April 27. Every truly believing Orthodox person needs to know all the nuances of preparing for this difficult test, which brings with it many restrictions. Cheese Week (Shrovetide or Cheesefare Week) will be one of these stages, namely, the final one before the onset of Lent. It will take place March 4-9. And, on March 10, there will be Cheesefare Week (Forgiveness Sunday).

What you need to know about preparing Christians for Lent 2019 and Cheese Week

During the period of its existence, the church formed the rules for preparing believers for the entry into Great Lent and recognized their effectiveness. The entry into Great Lent is four Sundays and three weeks (22 days), which very smoothly help to move into the period of abstinence and prayer.

This period begins on Sunday, then the Gospel of the Publican and the Pharisee is read. Just then, a person begins to prepare for the fact that you need to go to the temple. After all, the publican and the Pharisee both came to the temple and both prayed. Only one did it sincerely, and the other, exalting himself. The one who said the prayer from the heart came out of the temple justified. This is the main point, you need to go to the temple, pray, but not think about yourself better than you really are. During this period, fasting is removed, which the Orthodox have all year round on Wednesdays and Fridays. This is called a solid week. It is allowed to eat any food so that a person can feel all his weaknesses.

Next, comes the second Sunday, which is dedicated to reading the Gospel of the return of the prodigal son. By this, the church shows that every person in his life commits such acts as the prodigal son. He left his father's house and did as he pleases, but realizing the full depth of his fall, he returned to his father, bringing his repentance. This is the meaning that the doors of the temple are always open for any person. You need to get up and go to church - repent, correct your lifestyle, your thoughts and actions.

The third week is coming, during which you can eat meat, except for Wednesday and Friday, until the Sunday of the Last Judgment. The peculiarities of this week is that for the Lord God, there are no dead people, for him they are all alive. And it is very important for living Christians to remember them. On Saturday (Ecumenical Saturday), they remember all the dead. That is, having prayed for all previously living people, before entering Great Lent, a person begins to take care of his spiritual growth and development.

On Sunday of the third week, March 3, 2019 (Meatfare Week), they stop eating meat, that is, they completely start talking about it. This Sunday is dedicated to the gospel reading about the Last Judgment. The main idea is that the Lord will judge people not because they just did evil deeds, but because they did not do good deeds.

The fourth week Cheesy, you can no longer eat meat, but dairy products and eggs are allowed. The people called this period Shrovetide. The bottom line is to prepare for the subsequent rejection of these products too. It ends with the day, which is mentioned in the Gospel, as the expulsion of Adam from paradise. It says that through Adam sin entered into this world and into human life. Along with this, diseases came as companions of the end of life, that is, human death. Initially, man was not created to die, but to praise God. But, sin brought a lot of trouble. The earth and humanity as a whole are punished for sin.

Cheesefare week 2019 and its meaning

In ancient times, people celebrated this holiday on the day of the spring equinox. These were their first attempts to get closer to God. Over time, the Orthodox tsars added to it a spiritual meaning, which is to prepare for the passage of Great Lent. It provides an opportunity to tune in to fellowship with God, repent and earn forgiveness.

Forgiveness Sunday, on this day people ask each other for forgiveness. The custom comes from ancient times. At that time, the monks went to the desert for 40 days and were there, in all alone. There was a possibility that they might not return. The point was to say goodbye to your neighbors, to ask their forgiveness. Because it could be their last opportunity.

What not to do on Cheesefare Week 2019

The main traditional attributes of Maslenitsa celebrations are a scarecrow symbolizing the holiday, festivities, rolling down hills and baking pancakes with various fillings.

Rules for Cheesefare Week:

receive guests if the house is a mess;

1. On a short Maslenitsa (from Monday to Wednesday), you can do any housework, and from Thursday, all things are finished.
2. You can not get angry, swear, scold.
3. You can't eat meat.

Fasting is what enables a person to set himself up for communication with God. Therefore, fasting should be pleasant, this is spring for the soul. Therefore, each person needs to force himself to work hard in order to return to the Kingdom of Heaven, through the meeting of the risen Christ the Savior.

It is called by the Church Cheesefare Week (since it is today that the consumption of dairy products ends), or Forgiveness Sunday. On this day, after the evening service, a special rite of forgiveness is performed in churches, when clergy and parishioners mutually ask forgiveness from each other in order to enter Great Lent with a pure soul, reconciled with all their neighbors.

• On the necessity of forgiveness of offenses before the beginning of fasting. Metropolitan John (Snychev)
• Awareness of one's own troubles, Alexander Ave. (Avdyugin)
• Cheese week (Shrovetide) - solid (last week before Lent)

Chapters from the Law of God:

• Why did the Lord God allow the fall of the first people. And if he did, then why didn't the Lord simply ("mechanically") return them after the fall to their former state of heavenly life?

Sermons:

• Archimandrite John Krestyankin. Word on Cheesefare Week, remembrance of Adam's exile. March 13, 1994
• Priest John Pavlov. Cheesy Week. Forgiveness Sunday. 2012
• Etc. Alexander (Avdyugin). Awareness of one's own troubles, March 2003

Books, stories:

• How to prepare for and conduct Great Lent. Metropolitan John (Snychev)

Articles, interviews, news:

• Lenten dishes will be served in the Kremlin canteens during Great Lent
• Patriarch Alexy called on Forgiveness Sunday to reconcile with each other, to forgive all insults
• Priests do not recommend the use of soy products during Lent

Links:

• On Divine Liturgy on Cheesefare Week (Forgiveness Sunday)

The consequences of the fall and the promise of the Savior (video film of the TV channel "My Joy" based on the book by S. Slobodsky):

This week, the Holy Church, both in readings from the Holy Scriptures and in prayers and hymns, explains to the faithful what true fasting and repentance are. She established, among other things, the custom for believers to forgive each other on Sunday of this week, who offended or sinned whom, which is why this day is also called farewell. The Church established this custom in fulfillment of the commandment of Christ (Matt. 5:23-24; 6:14-21):

If you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go, first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift...

For if you forgive people their trespasses, then your Heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive people their trespasses, then your Father will not forgive you your trespasses.

Also, when you fast, do not be despondent like the hypocrites, for they take on gloomy faces in order to appear to people who are fasting. I tell you truly, they already receive their reward. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you may appear to those who are fasting, not before people, but before your Father who is in secret; and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you openly.

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal, for where your treasure is, there it will be. and your heart.

Interpretations and sayings of the holy fathers:

“If you do not forgive people their sins,” proclaims the now read Gospel teaching, “your Father will not forgive you your sins” (Matthew 6:14-15). With such news the Holy Church meets us at the gates of Lent! She offers us such a condition on the very threshold of the spiritual chamber of repentance. We intend to prove our repentance for various sinful passions by various deprivations and bodily hardships: the Gospel requires mercy from us before sacrifice, so that the sacrifice would be pleasing to God. Everyone who wants to start the feat of fasting and prayer, everyone who wants to reap abundant fruits from their repentance! Hear the Word of God, hear the covenant of God - and let go, forgive your neighbors their sins against you.

Saint Ignatius (Bryanchaninov)

Video reference - Forgiveness Sunday:

On Forgiveness Sunday, the biblical story about the expulsion of the forefather Adam from paradise is remembered. The Bible tells us that the first commandment God gave to man was unquestioning obedience. Obedience is a simple and clear command. From obedience and humility all other virtues are born, from philosophizing all sinful thoughts are born. Man did not need to know anything or reason, since obedience is the main duty of a rational soul that recognizes its Creator. After all, man was created according to the word of God to reflect the nature of God. It has the original value of creation. But because of the fall, the inner original nature, given to a person, was lost to them.

Adam's exile

Adam's exile... This is the starting point of our earthly journey in search of the lost Fatherland - the Kingdom of God. The reason for Adam's expulsion is the sin committed by the progenitor. Sin is the cause of suffering, sickness, sorrow, and death itself. Therefore, the fight against sin is the main feat on the path to God. The last Sunday before the start of Lent is called the Church of Cheesefare Week (since it is today that the consumption of dairy products ends), or Forgiveness Sunday. On this day, after the evening service in the churches, a special rite of forgiveness is performed, when the clergy and parishioners mutually ask forgiveness from each other in order to enter Great Lent with a pure soul, reconciled with all their neighbors.

The rite of supreme humility

On the eve of Great Lent, people in Russia performed the rite of the highest humility. The eldest and powerful asked for forgiveness from the last and insignificant. With the sunset, but before the evening dawn went out, the Orthodox went from house to house, with their heads bowed, begging for forgiveness in a quiet voice, especially from those who were most often hurt and upset this year, dutifully bowed at their feet and dutifully expected forgiveness with a kiss on the mouth, and on the word "Forgive me", they answered "God forgive me, forgive me." The essence of the custom to ask for forgiveness at the end of Shrovetide is spiritual and moral purification through reconciliation, through mutual forgiveness of sins.

Unfortunately, in our widespread ideas about Shrovetide, and especially in modern attempts to reproduce some of its elements, only the entertainment part is taken into account. pancake week. It is very interesting and rich as a vivid manifestation of folk festive culture. But it was precisely after the stormy fun of the last week before Great Lent, during which, as it were, they said goodbye to a plentiful table and other worldly joys, the custom of asking for forgiveness made one feel the transition to spiritual tasks, to the strict seven weeks that lasted until Easter, to the increase in moral requirements for oneself .

This Sunday, the Liturgy reads the biblical story of Adam and Eve, who abused the gift of free will and violated the divine commandment of obedience. The blissful infancy of mankind is over. “The eyes were opened,” as the Bible says, but the heart was blinded. Sin entered the world, and death came through it. Having lost primordial freedom, man gave himself into slavery. Slavery to sin, which has become a measure of distance from God, is increasing in our days, when the very concept of the norm is trampled.

Salvation from this slavery was brought by Christ, the God-man. This fulfilled the promise of God about the coming into the world of Him Who would be the victor over evil, sin and death. He reconciled man to God. And, having completed His feat, He left a new promise to man, concluded a New Testament with him about His second coming into the world “to judge the living and the dead, His Kingdom will have no end.” That's what the post is for. In order to constantly prepare for a worthy ascent into this Kingdom.

Today, the Gospel narrative is being read, in which the Lord Jesus Christ explains the content of the prayer “Our Father”: “If you do not forgive people their sins, then your Father will not forgive you your sins.” Forgive and ask for forgiveness. These are the two greatest qualities that a person has. Both require an effort of faith and will. Both require a feat of love. And both include the "light of reason", the clarity of the mind, the vigilance of wisdom.

On Forgiveness Sunday, the Church gives instructions to believers regarding the correct behavior during Great Lent and calls on parishioners to repent to each other of all offenses and sins, to make peace and forgive everything that has accumulated. At the same time, the priests themselves set a good example and are the first to ask their flock for forgiveness. It is supposed to visit the graves of relatives and friends on this day in order to once again ask for petitions from them. From this moment on, believers must strictly observe purity of body and soul and henceforth no longer condemn anyone.

Cheesefare Week is the last day before Great Lent, the eve of a long abstinence not only from animal food, but also from evil thoughts and deeds. What is needed to be ready for spiritual purification?

What is cheese week

Cheese Week completes the cheese week, which is called Shrovetide in the world. Believing Orthodox people do not eat meat during these seven days, preparing themselves for Great Lent. The word "week" in this phrase has not a modern, but an older meaning, meaning the day of the week - Sunday. The word "cheesy" can be divided into two quite understandable parts: "cheese" and "empty". This is the day when last time before Lent, you can eat eggs, dairy products and fish, they are, as it were, “released”, they are forgiven for the period of abstinence. In this way, you can gradually, and to a certain extent reducing the risk to health, switch to lean food.

A believer needs to remember that despite the influence of Christianity, Maslenitsa remains a pagan holiday. This means that it is necessary not to succumb to the temptations of gluttony and even refrain from participating in traditional rituals, such as burning an effigy. V church calendar this week is not a holiday, moreover, the services are already likened to the services during Great Lent. The prayer of Ephraim the Syrian is read, and on Wednesday and Friday this week there is no Divine Liturgy. In their prayers on Saturday, on the eve of Cheesefare Week, all the sacred men and women who shone in the feat of fasting are remembered, that is, a memorial is made to all the holy reverends. Using their example, the Church shows that people like each of us have been able to achieve incredible spiritual heights, which means that they are accessible to everyone. From an Orthodox point of view, the cheese week is intended to strengthen relationships in the family.

On Cheesefare Week, popularly known as Forgiveness Sunday, the expulsion of Adam from Paradise due to the fall is remembered. The liturgy during Cheesefare Week speaks of the gathering of virtues, the forgiveness of sins, and fasting. The Church calls for repentance for their sins. At the end of Vespers on this day, the rite of forgiveness takes place. The rector, after reading the prayer, asks for forgiveness from all Christians. The parishioners do the same. In general, on this day it is customary to ask for forgiveness from each other, not only in church, but also at home, with all your relatives and friends.

On the last day before Lent, it is advisable to visit the church. But if this is not possible, read the appropriate prayers and the Gospel of Matthew at home. All the best, and don't forget to press the buttons and

13.03.2016 00:50

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