One of the most important Sundays of the Church Year is coming up soon. This is Forgiveness Sunday – the day before Great Lent begins. This year Forgiveness Sunday is February 18. ALL ORTHODOX CHRISTIANS SHOULD ATTEND LITURGY AND VESPERS AFTER LITURGY THIS DAY. On this day, immediately after Divine Liturgy, we liturgically begin Great Lent with the beautiful, meaningful, and incredibly necessary Forgiveness Vespers. At this service (which is not long – less than an hour) we hear the beautiful words of the Lenten Triodian calling us to repentance and spiritual struggle during Great Lent. But even more importantly – we perform the order of forgiveness where each of us bows down before the other and sincerely asks forgiveness for all the offenses, known and unknown, that we have caused to our brothers and sisters in Christ. As the Lord tells us in the Gospel: “Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.” (Matthew 5:23-24) Our gift to God during Great Lent is our spiritual struggle. But that gift will be unaccepted if we do not first forgive/reconcile with our parish family members. Let us make our gift acceptable and begin Great Lent by forgiving each other at Forgiveness Vespers February 18!