Journey to Redemption: Understanding Forgiveness Sunday
Join Fr. Nicholas as he delves deep into the significance of Forgiveness Sunday, also known as the Expulsion of Adam from Paradise. Discover the spiritual themes of repentance and forgiveness as the gateway to Great Lent. Drawing from the rich imagery of church hymnography, explore the beauty of paradise, the consequences of Adam's disobedience, and the path back to divine grace through spiritual tools like fasting, prayer, and almsgiving. As we embark on this Lenten journey, find inspiration and guidance to seek redemption and strive for a place in the eternal paradise with Christ. Amen.
Transcript
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
You're sort of getting a half-baked sermon today. I'm afraid things got a little bit out of control this week.
Today is Forgiveness Sunday, or as it is also titled, the Expulsion of Adam from Paradise. As of this evening, Advent Vespers, Great Lent begins, remembering that the liturgical day begins at Vespers. The first service of the new day is on this day that we ask forgiveness of everyone we meet. We start our sweet journey to Pascha asking for forgiveness and receiving forgiveness. That is the theme of this seven-week period: repentance and forgiveness. This Sunday acts as a gateway to Great Lent, which is a period devised by the Church for deeper spiritual reflection, repentance, and acts of forgiveness. I thought I'd be a little bit different. Um, anyway, we'll keep going. I thought we might consider what the hymnographer for Great Vespers and Matins and Lords have to say with regards to the theme for today, the expulsion of Adam from Paradise. And most of you have not been at Vespers or Matins, so it will be good for you to hear what is being said by the Church. This is the book, The Lenten Triodion, and you can see I've marked pages for the services for last night and this morning, and I highly recommend that you try and get a copy. And if you can't get a copy, I'm quite sure you'll find a PDF somewhere online, but it's very good. It helps you to understand where we're going in Great Lent and what the Church has to say. Let us first consider what they have to say about Paradise. The first mention of Paradise is in Great Vespers at "Lord, I have cried" with the opening statement, "Oh precious Paradise." So we are told straight away that Paradise is considered to be of high cost or worth and is highly esteemed and cherished. Not only that, but it is considered to be a place where honor is bestowed by being present there. "You have counted me worthy of honor in Eden, oh Master." As a place, Paradise is unsurpassed in beauty, a tabernacle built by God, unending gladness and delight, glory to the righteous, joy of the prophets, and dwelling of the saints. And we hear in Matins Canticle 1, "In the wealth of your goodness, O Creator and Lord, you have planted in Eden the sweetness of Paradise and bidden me to take my delight in fair and pleasing fruit that never pass away." Further to this, we hear it described as, "Oh blessed meadow, tree, and flowers planted by God, oh sweetness of Paradise," and also, "Oh ranks of angels, oh beauty of Paradise and all the glory of the garden." We are presented with an image of happiness, beauty, sweetness, and of delight and glory. This is the place of beauty created by God where Adam and Eve were to reside. The hymnographer reflects on the creation of Adam as written in Genesis, "The Lord, my Creator, took me as dust from the earth and formed me into a living creature, breathing into me the breath of life and giving me a soul." Adam further ponders in Canticle 8, "You were the appointed ruler over creeping things and wild beasts," and Adam is reminded, "Yet you were created to glorify Him with the angels forever." And as in Genesis, we hear in Matins Canticle 1, "Woe to me, woe to you, my wretched soul. You have received authority from God to take your pleasure in the joy of Eden, yet He commanded you not to eat the fruit of knowledge." But then, as in Matins Canticle 5, we hear, "Oh, the enemy who hates mankind envied me the life of happiness that I had in Paradise, and taking the form of a serpent, he caused me to stumble and made me a stranger to eternal glory." As a consequence of his disobedience, Adam was cast out of Paradise through eating from the tree. Seated before the gates, he wept, lamenting with a pitiful voice and saying, "Woe is me, what have I suffered in my misery? I transgressed one commandment of the Master, and now I am deprived of every blessing. Oh most holy Paradise, planted for my sake and shut, pray to Him that made you and fashioned me once more, I may take pleasure in your flowers." This theme of infringing God's command continues throughout the Vespers of Matins, stichera, and hymns. I especially like the imagery in the following canticle when Adam calls out to the plants in Paradise from outside the gate, "Let your leaves, like eyes, shed tears on my behalf, for I am naked and a stranger to God's glory. No longer do I see you nor delight in your joy and splendor, oh precious Paradise, for I have angered my Creator, and naked I have been driven out into the world." And that is what's being depicted on today's icon. At the top left, you see Adam and Eve in Paradise. Then you see the cherubim at the gate of Paradise. On the bottom right, you see them going out into the world. "Sweet seemed to me the taste of the fruit of knowledge in Eden when I took my first eating, but the end of it was gall, its bitterness. Woe to you, oh wretched soul, see how uncontrolled desire has made you an exile from Paradise." The impact of transgressing the one command of God to not eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge is dramatic. "The sun hid its rays, the moon and stars were turned to blood, the mountains were afraid, the hills trembled when Paradise was shut. Adam departed, beating his hands upon his face and saying, 'I am fallen, the merciful Lord, have mercy on me.'" This poetic description of the reaction of creation to the fall will again be heard on Holy Friday at the 12 Gospels after the sixth Gospel when our Lord dies upon the cross. "When you were crucified, O Christ, all the creation saw and trembled. The foundations of the earth quaked in fear of your power. The lights of heaven hid themselves, and the veil of the temple was rent in twain. The mountains trembled, and the rocks were split. With the faithful thief, we cry, 'Remember us, O Savior.'" Rashly, this is lamenting of Adam, "Rashly I stretched out my hand and tasted the tree of knowledge, though God had ordered me on no account to eat from it, and I was bitterly cast out from the divine glory. Woe to me, woe to you, my wretched soul. How have you not recognized the craftiness of the enemy? How have you not perceived his deceit and envy? But you were darkened in mind and have transgressed the commandment of the Maker." Adam was cast out from the delight of Paradise. Bitter was his eating when, in uncontrolled desire, he broke the commandment of the Master, and he was condemned to work the earth from which he had himself been taken and to eat his bread in toil and sweat. "Out of the earth was I fashioned by the hand of God, and I was told in my wretchedness that to the earth I should again return. Who would not weep for me? I am cast out from God's presence and have exchanged Eden for hell. Woe is me, for in my place of a robe of light, I am clothed in shameful garments. I weep for my loss, O Savior, and cry to you with faith, despise me not, O God of love, but call me back." And you'll hear throughout the odes there is a yearning for a return to Paradise. "In your loving compassion, despise me not, O God my Savior, but call me back. Despise me not, O God my Savior, but call me back." And we have an avenue back, and the avenue is the Risen Christ. "Then the Savior said to him, 'I desire not the loss of the creature which I fashioned, but that he should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. And when he comes to me, I will not cast him out. Therefore, let us love abstinence, that we may not weep as he did outside Paradise, but may enter through the gate.'" The hymnographer has advice for us during Great Lent. "The season of the virtues, which is Great Lent, now has come, and the judge is at the door. Let us not hold back with darkened face, but let us keep the fast, offering tears, contrition, and almsgiving, and let us cry, 'Our sins, let us cry, our sins are more in number than the sand of the sea, but deliverer of all, forgive each of us that we may receive an incorruptible crown.'" The following one is the poet, the hymnographer, uses the image of competition in an arena. "The arena of the virtues has been opened. Let all who wish to struggle for the prize now enter, guarding themselves for the noble contest of the fast. For those who strive lawfully are justly crowned. Taking up the armor of the Cross, let us make war against the enemy. Let us have our invincible rampart, the faith, prayer as our breastplate, and as our helmet, almsgiving, and as our sword, let us use fasting that cuts away all evil from our heart. If we do this, we shall receive the true crown from Christ, the King of all, at the day of judgment." Then one hymnographer uses Moses as an example, an example for all of us. "Adam was driven out of Paradise because in our disobedience he had eaten food, but Moses was granted the vision of God because he had cleansed the eyes of his soul by fasting. If then we long to dwell in Paradise, let us all abstain from all needless food, and if we desire to see God, let us, like Moses, fast for 40 days. With sincerity, let us persevere in prayer and intercession. Let us still the passions of our soul. Let us subdue the rebellious instincts of the flesh. With lights, let us step up upon the path to heaven, where the choirs of angels with never-silent voice sing the praises of the undivided Trinity, and there we shall behold the surpassing beauty of the Master. O Son of God, Giver of Life, in you we set our hope. Count us worthy of a place there with the angelic hosts at the intercession of the Mother who bore you, O Christ, of the Apostles and the martyrs and of all the saints. The time is now at hand for us to start upon the spiritual contest and to gain victory over the demonic powers. Let us put on the armor of abstinence and clothe ourselves in the glory of the angels. With boldness, Moses spoke to the Creator, and he heard the voice of the invisible God. In your love for man, O Lord, grant us with the same boldness to venerate your passion and your holy resurrection. Faith, prayer, contrition, almsgiving, fasting—these are the spiritual tools to be used during our Great Lenten journey, as were recommended by the hymnographer. It is through these spiritual tools that we can progress towards the gates of Paradise. During Matins Canticle Nine, the following is, "O Christ my Savior, boldly I put my trust in the abundance of your mercies and in the blood that flowed from your divine side, for through your blood you have sanctified the nature of mortal man, O loving Lord, and have opened unto those that worship you the gates of Paradise that of old were closed to Adam." Amen.
