Responding to God’s Call to Forgive

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia 

For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father Which is in secret: and thy Father, Which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly. Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also (Matthew 6:14-21). 

Standing Exposed Before God: On Great Tuesday

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia

The Lord, having gone up to Jerusalem and visited the holy place of the people of Israel, the Jerusalem Temple, returned to Bethany in the evening. On Monday He again went to Jerusalem and we know what kind of chastening words He spoke to the Pharisees, chastising their hypocrisy. In the evening, the Savior again went to Bethany, to the house of Lazarus, where He spent the night. On Tuesday He returned to Jerusalem.

The first days of Holy Week are marked by the special power of Christ the Savior’s words. Although during these days He often speaks in parables, these parables are very purposeful. They help people understand the most important thing: what awaits them, what their fates are, what lies ahead, and how to live in order to enter the Kingdom of God.