The services in the country's churches on Forgiveness Sunday, on the eve of Great Lent, were dedicated to repentance and forgiveness.  The laity were reminded that fasting should not be ostentatious, but accompanied by inner change and effort for spiritual growth.

Bulgarian Patriarch and Metropolitan of Sofia Daniel asked for forgiveness and wholeheartedly forgave everyone who thinks they have sinned against him. He headed the Divine Liturgy in the church “Assumption of the Holy Mother of God” in Kyustendil. On the eve of Great Lent, the Patriarch noted that the purpose of the fast is to prepare us to taste the Paschal joy, to be filled with the Paschal grace.

The Christian is the one who must forgive the unforgivable, because God forgave the unforgivable to us as well. We have a moral, Orthodox and ethical duty to forgive our neighbors. This was said by the Varna and Velikopreslav Metropolitan Joan in the cathedral church “Assumption of the Holy Mother of God” in Varna. 

Believers should forgive their neighbors and meet Great Lent with repentance and mercy, urged the Nevrokop Metropolitan Seraphim in the church “St. Archangel Michael” in Gotse Delchev. In his speech, he noted that forgiveness is a condition for receiving God's forgiveness and a basis for spiritual preparation before the Resurrection of Christ.

On this day of universal forgiveness, we are fulfilling the commandment of God, which Christ has commanded us – to forgive our neighbors. This was said by the protosyncellus of the Stara Zagora diocese and the abbot of the Shipka Monastery, Archimandrite Pankratiy, in an address to the laity.

Fasting is not only abstinence from food, but also spiritual vigilance against sin, vanity and evil, Father Veliko reminded in the church “Holy Trinity” in Dobrich. He noted that with the mutual request for forgiveness begins the path of Great Lent - a time of spiritual preparation, repentance and renewal.