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Sunday of the Expulsion of Adam from Paradise
This last of the Preparatory Sundays for Great Lent has two themes: it commemorates
Adam’s expulsion from Paradise, and it is also the Sunday of Forgiveness. There are obvious reasons why these two themes
should be brought to our attention as we stand on the
threshold of the Great Fast. One of the primary images in the Triodion is that of the return to
Paradise. Lent
is a time when we weep with Adam and Eve before the closed Gates of Eden, repenting with them for the sins that have deprived
us of our free communion with God. But Lent is also a time when we are preparing
to celebrate
the saving event of Christ’s Death and Resurrection, which has re-opened Paradise to us once more. So sorrow for our exile in sin is tempered by hope of our re-entry into Paradise. The second theme, that of forgiveness, is emphasized in the Gospel reading
for this Sunday and in the special ceremony of mutual forgiveness at the end of Vespers today. Before we enter the Lenten Fast, we are remined that there can be no true fast, no genuine repentance,
no reconciliation with God, unless we are at the same time reconciled with one another. The Epistle reading today from Saint Paul’s Letter to the Romans exhorts
us to ‘cast off the works of darkness and to put on the armor of light.”
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The readings below are Sunday, March 2, 2025
Today's Epistle reading: [Romans 13.11-14.4]
Besides this you know what hour it is, how it is full time now for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer
to us now than when we first believed; the night is far gone, the day is at hand. Let us then cast off the works of darkness
and put on the armor of light; let us conduct ourselves becomingly as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in
debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for
the flesh, to gratify its desires.
As for the man who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not for disputes over opinions. One believes he may eat anything,
while the weak man eats only vegetables. Let not him who eats despise him who abstains, and let not him who abstains pass
judgment on him who eats; for God has welcomed him. Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his
own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Master is able to make him stand.
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Today's Gospel reading: [Matthew 6.14-21]
For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father also will forgive you; but if you do not forgive men
their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. "And when you fast, do not look dismal, like the
hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received
their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by men but by your
Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures
on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven,
where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your
heart be also.
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