March 6, 2011, on the Shrove Sunday, in the Temple of Transfiguration of Lord of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church Canonical, Oleksandr, Bishop of Zhytomyr together with Vasyliy, Bishop of Fastiv celebrated the Divine Liturgy and blessed the faithful to apologize to, to enter penitential Lent and clean the soul before the grand celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
As Jesus went for forty days in the desert and did not eat anything until he passed the exams and survived all the temptations of the devil just the same all the faithful to God should enter the desert of trials where there is no fuss of the world, and to clean their souls from the temptations of the evil, to go in the pure joy of the Resurrection of the Christ with your soul and with all your being. People who do not prepare for the Resurrection, will not feel it. And they go to church to sanctify the Easter cake and eat sausages and drink alcohol, to think that they celebrate too, and to create a faux joy because they do not prepare to accept the God's Resurrection.
At the end of the liturgy the clergy appealed to the faithful: Dear brothers and sisters, if we have offended you, please forgive us - once, twice and third time. And God will forgive you and bless you.
|