Forgiveness Sunday
is today. It is a last day before Great Lent. Since Lent implies repentance, and repentance should begin with forgiveness, Orthodox Christians use this day to ask each other of mercy to forgive their wrongdoings. There is a special Rite for this, and our priests line up to ask forgiveness and to give it. Since each individual action of that traditionally involves at least a single very deep bow, I always wonder how do they manage to do this for couple of hundreds parochians and what would happen if we had couple of thousand. Naturally enough, parochians follow the example and do the rit to each other, so both my soul and spine had to work today.
May I use this occasion, dear reader, to ask you to forgive me any offences and wrongdoings I may have done to you: either in course of off-line communications, or by writing this blog. If you show this mercy, you may wish me a good Lent.
