Forgiveness Sunday with Bishop Raphael / News | Middlesbrough Greek Orthodox Community of the Annunciation

On Forgiveness Sunday, 2nd March 2025, we had the joy of welcoming Bishop Raphael to preside at the Divine Liturgy and to celebrate the first anniversary since the reopening of our church.

Bishop Raphael gave thanks for the past year and blessed our new altar servers Reader Georgios and Alexandros, and our new Reader Andreas.

The feast continued with a splendid reception in the church hall prepared by the Community.

Thank you to each and everyone!

Glory to God for the wonderful feast!

Bishop Raphael's Sermon

The Lord said: if you forgive the sins of others, you will be forgiven. If you don't forgive the sins of other people, you will not be forgiven. It can’t be simpler than that! If we want to have our sins forgiven, if we want the Lord to forgive us—our many sins, known and unknown—we have to forgive the sins of other people first.

We say these words, hopefully, several times a day, at least once a day, when we say the Lord's Prayer.

Lord, we ask God the Father to forgive us our sins, our debts, our trespasses, as we have forgiven, as we forgive those who trespass against us. *As we have forgiven* means that we have already done it, and we continue to do it before we stand before God and ask him to forgive our own sins.

You see, the Gospel makes it clear: we cannot go to God, we cannot be united with him unless we go through our brethren, through our brothers and sisters. If we have something against them, that stops us from approaching and reaching God, that stops us from receiving his grace, we cannot pray! We know it ourselves from our daily experience: if we have something against our brother and sister, if we have not made amends, if we have not forgiven and received forgiveness, we cannot pray. It is difficult to pray.

The Greek word for “forgive” is the verb *synhoro*, which literally means to be in the same space, the same place with others. And of course, with those who have hurt us, those who have given us a difficult time.

And I go a bit farther: it does not only mean to be in the same place, but also, I think, means to walk together. *Horo* is the root of the verb *prohoro*—to go forward, to walk together. That's what we should aim at. But of course, it's not always advisable, it's not always the right thing to do to be in the same place with such people. But we can be in the place of God together. They are in God's place. They are in God's space.

We need to be in that space as well, by forgiving them. We can be contained in God's love, in God's bosom, together. Even though sometimes it's better to keep distance from certain people who have hurt us, who have wounded us in our lives—it might not be the right thing to go and be with them again—but in Christ, we can be with them by forgiving them, by taking them spiritually, mentally, and placing them at the feet of Christ and asking Him to bless them and deal with them according to his love.

Some people say that they find it very difficult to forgive. When, as confessors or as priests, we ask them, “Do you mean that you wish harm for these people?” they say, “No. I don't want them to be harmed. It's just that I cannot overcome the pain.” It's usually the pain of past wounds that make us feel that we cannot reconcile with them.

But the Lord is not asking us to overcome this pain by our own strength immediately. He is not even asking us to love them all of a sudden. That’s unrealistic—although it happens to some people. But what he is asking us is to bless them. In other words, to ask Him to bless them, and not wish them any harm.

And how do you do that? The best way, the supreme way, is to pray for them. When we ask people, “Can you pray for your enemies—those who you think are your enemies?” they say, “Yes, I can pray for them.” And even those who think they cannot pray—once they try and go against their feelings and their wound—they see that the grace of God comes pouring down for them, and they reconcile with their brethren in their heart first, unexpectedly.

So let us make an effort, first of all, if possible, and if it's practically advisable, to ask for forgiveness, to ask them to bless us, to forgive us.

The prayers before Communion say: if you have something against your brother, if someone has hurt you, then you go and ask for forgiveness (in Greek: πρῶτον καταλλάγηθι τοῖς σε λυποῦσι—first be reconciled with those who sadden you, those who cause sadness or sorrow to you. Not those to whom you have caused sorrow—that goes without saying—but also with those who have hurt you. Reconcile with them. Ask for forgiveness because very often we think that we are right and the other person is wrong, and that their behavior is unreasonable—because we have a very high opinion of ourselves. It doesn't cross our mind that perhaps we have offended them with something, that we have hurt them, that our actions, our omissions, have caused distress to them. That's not the first thing that crosses our mind. The first thing that crosses our mind is that they are difficult or unfair, unjust people, whereas we are innocent.

So it does not really harm to ask for forgiveness for the sins that perhaps we don't know—first from the Lord, and then from our brothers and sisters. And amazingly, wonderfully, the Church asks us to do this always, but especially today—this evening. At Vespers, the Church—our Church—has ordained that, at the end of Vespers, we all come forward and ask for forgiveness from the Lord, from our spiritual father, the priest, and then from one another.

In some places, in some parishes, they follow an old practice of not simply asking general forgiveness, but they go to each one and prostrate before them to the ground (in Greek: μετάνοια, ἐδαφιαία!) and ask for forgiveness. And then they embrace and forgive one another.

And that's the best way to start Lent—without unnecessary burden. We can say: we can walk this journey of Lent without the terrible, crashing burden of not having forgiven, not having asked for forgiveness.

Let us do that. We will do it ourselves after the end of Vespers before we receive antidoron. Will bow down—not necessarily to the ground—but we will at least bow down to each other. Not necessarily make the prostration, because it will be difficult practically, but we can bow down to each other and ask forgiveness to begin Lent in this way.

I wish you a very blessed, very fruitful Lent. Take advantage of these 40 days, which is one tenth, almost, of our year—but also represents the whole time of our life: a journey of return, a journey of return to Paradise, from where we were expelled because of our incontinence, because of our disobedience.

We are all called to enter Paradise again. Let us start this journey to enter gloriously. I wish to all a glorious and rich entry into Paradise. But listen and follow the instructions of the Church. There is no better therapy than this.