Homily Two for Cheesefare Sunday
Forgiveness of Our Brethren as a Prerequisite for Our Union with Christ
(Delivered at the Supper of Forgiveness in Gregoriou Monastery - February 24, 1992)
By Archimandrite George Kapsanis
We thank the Lord, who has vouchsafed us also this evening, all united as brothers, to celebrate Cheesefare Sunday; and in a little while He will vouchsafe us to be forgiven, and forgiven and reconciled in love, to enter into the blessed and holy period of Great Lent.
It is a Tradition of our Church and of our Orthodox Nation that on this evening Orthodox Christians, both in the cities and in the villages — where formerly there was piety and where some piety still remains — go to the Vespers of Forgiveness, listen to the beautiful hymns which move the human soul toward spiritual struggle, and afterward receive forgiveness from the priest and from one another. Then they go to their homes, set a common table with relatives and friends, and rejoice together as families. And thus, all Christians, forgiven, begin the Holy and Great Lent, and in some places even keep the Three-Day Fast.
Unfortunately, foreign customs which have invaded our land in recent years have largely abolished this blessed practice, this beautiful Orthodox Christian custom. But also certain remnants of ancient pagan Hellenism, which unfortunately Christianity has not yet completely uprooted even in our homeland — namely the carnival celebrations, which are now promoted also for reasons of profit — oppose this beautiful and spiritual custom of our Orthodox people. The result is that the people amuse themselves in these days, but not in a Christian way, and therefore they do not have true joy. The devil has managed things so that these days, which are days of spiritual preparation for the struggle of Great Lent, become for many of our Greek Christian brethren days of great sins and shameful acts, about which the Apostle Paul says that it is “a shame even to speak of them” (Eph. 5:12). Especially in those cities where carnival celebrations take place, many dreadful sins follow. The devil rejoices and Christ is grieved. And all this in our Orthodox homeland.
On Mount Athos, thanks be to God, the Greco-Orthodox Tradition is preserved. Therefore we too gather here this evening to celebrate the Vespers of love, and afterward also the Supper of love, as the first Christians celebrated the agape meals.
We know that the purpose of our life is our union with God. This is the highest, the supreme, the great, the final purpose of our life. All other purposes are secondary and earthly. For example, to learn some art or science, to build a house, to establish a family. These are good, but they are not the final purpose of our life. For a person may accomplish these and succeed in a worldly and human sense, but if he does not achieve union with God, he is a failure from the standpoint of his eternal destiny. He may have succeeded temporarily in this world, but eternally he has failed.
This highest purpose of our life, which we must pursue amidst all human concerns and beyond all human concerns, is achieved within our Holy Church.
Our Church is the one that teaches us this great purpose of our life and also helps us to realize it. And behold one help that the Church gives us in order to realize this great purpose: Great Lent. It is the period during which, with the beautiful services, the beautiful hymns which our Church chants, the beautiful readings, the sacred order, she reminds us that our purpose is to be united with God — and that for this purpose we must struggle. Without struggle, a person cannot be united with God. I will not analyze this evening what this struggle is, because more or less we know. But I wish to emphasize, since the day calls for it, that union with God is at the same time union with our brethren, our fellow human beings. We cannot be united with God if we are not united with our fellow men. Whatever separates us from our fellow men separates us also from God.
Therefore, it is a great necessity that we be continually spiritually united with our fellow men in order to be united with God. In order to remove every obstacle that separates us from our fellow men, we Christians have forgiveness. Through forgiveness we restore unity, love, oneness of mind, and peace. Temptation, our passions, our egoism continually place obstacles before us in loving and forgiving our neighbor. They create within us coldness, aggressiveness, evil thoughts, suspicions, complaints against our fellow man — sometimes justified, sometimes unjustified. All these, however, separate us from our neighbor. And when I say neighbor, I do not mean the unknown person, but the one with whom we walk together on the road of life — for us monks, those who constitute the brotherhood of the monastery, as well as our brethren who visit us, the pilgrims, the workers in the monastery, the people who pass through it. All these are the neighbors of whom the Lord speaks in the Holy Gospel. For you in the world, your neighbors are your relatives, your spouse, your parents, your siblings, your children, your coworkers, your classmates. All these people we are called to hold in our heart, to love them, to make room for them within us.
We cannot be united with God when we do not feel what God feels for people. God’s heart is open. It has room for the whole world — even for those who insult and blaspheme Him. The heart of Christ, when He was being crucified, had room for those who were crucifying Him. Not only did He forgive them, but He even excused them: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). And the heart of the Christian must be God-like and Christ-like, always open, able to receive all people — even those for whom he has complaints and those who have wronged him.
Here is a great struggle for us Christians: forgiveness, forbearance, gentleness, understanding. A difficult struggle, but very necessary for our union with God, for the peace of our soul, for the salvation of our soul. It is very easy for coldness and aversion to arise between us. But the forgiveness which we ask from one another and grant to one another immediately corrects the evil, lessens the distance, brings one close to the other, so that one may dwell within the other and all together may dwell within God. What a great blessing! That one may dwell within the other and all may dwell within God. And just as God contains us all within the boundless spaciousness of His divine love, so we too must expand and contain all our brethren within our love.
What a bad thing it is when someone becomes narrow and cannot contain anyone in his heart, or only a very few persons. This is what the enemy of our salvation, the devil, has suffered. Whereas God is open to the whole world, the devil is closed to the whole world. He cannot open himself to anyone. He is shut up in a dreadful loneliness and self-centeredness. He loves no one, but hates all and wills the evil of all.
How beautiful it is when the Christian expands! As his life passes, his heart opens more and more, containing and loving everyone. This struggle must continue throughout our life. As the years pass, we must expand spiritually more and more, open ourselves, and contain within us all our brethren.
This Holy and Great Lent will give us the opportunity to struggle. Shortly we shall make prostrations before one another and ask forgiveness. We shall ask forgiveness first from our Lord and God and Creator and Judge, before whom our whole life — both manifest and hidden — is known. Then from our Panagia, who presides over the Church of the redeemed and is our Mother and the Mother of all Christians and of the whole world, and especially the Protectress and Guardian and Abbess and Gerontissa of this Holy Mountain, on which we unworthy ones have been counted worthy to dwell. We have a special responsibility toward the Panagia, because she called us here, she keeps us here, and she expects much from us. And therefore from our Panagia we also ask forgiveness for however often we disappoint her.
Then we ask forgiveness also from our Saints, who are our elder brethren and who watch over us, help us, stand by us, and await our noble zeal in the spiritual struggle.
We ask forgiveness also from one another, especially from any brother toward whom, because of our weakness, our egoism, and our passions, we may at some time have grown cold, exchanged a word we should not have exchanged, or harbored some negative feeling within us for him — however subtle it may be — which nevertheless constitutes an obstacle to our full and perfect communion with our brother.
May God help us to be deemed worthy to advance in this unity of soul — not to have an external, conventional, formal union, but a heartfelt union, mutual indwelling, love, acceptance and reception of one another. And as the years of our life pass, may we be united ever more closely with one another and with God.
The truth is that the more we draw near to God, the more we shall draw near to one another. And the more we draw near to one another, the more we shall draw near to God.
We ask for the grace of God and the intercessions of our Panagia and of our Saints, that we may struggle this struggle, always keep it before our eyes, and attain it.
And to you also, our brethren, who participate this evening in the supper of love and forgiveness, and who through Holy Baptism are honorable members of the Holy Body of Christ, we wish that you may wage this struggle during your earthly life and be deemed worthy each day to advance in it, to be more united among yourselves and with God. This will give you great joy and great blessing. For true joy comes from love. And where love reigns, there is true happiness. But where love is absent, there is an unsatisfied emptiness.
With these humble thoughts, I wish that we may all pass Holy and Great Lent in health, in prayer, in remembrance of God, and be deemed worthy, spiritually renewed, to celebrate with holy joy the glorious and light-bearing Resurrection of our Lord, which will also be the prelude to our enjoyment of the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ.
As the first in order by the grace of God among the brethren of our monastery and as your spiritual father, I first make a prostration before you and ask forgiveness from you all — and I forgive all from my heart.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
