Clean Monday and Forgiveness Sunday

The Church asks forgiveness on Sunday evening, and begins the fast clean on Monday.

Clean Monday is the first day of Orthodox Great Lent, forty-eight days before Pascha. Lent begins the evening before, on Forgiveness Sunday, at Forgiveness Vespers, where the faithful bow before one another and ask forgiveness. Forgiveness Sunday, also called Cheesefare Sunday, is the last day before Pascha for eating dairy, and remembers Adam's expulsion from Paradise.

Great Lent 2027

Forgiveness Sunday: Sunday, March 14, 2027
Clean Monday: Monday, March 15, 2027

The same day on the New and Old calendars (the Church of Finland keeps the Western Easter). The year after: Clean Monday Monday, February 28, 2028.

The last Sunday before Lent has two names. It is Cheesefare Sunday, the last day on which dairy and eggs are eaten until Pascha, and it is Forgiveness Sunday, because of what happens that evening. Its Gospel is the Lord's teaching on forgiving and on fasting in secret, and the Church remembers Adam and Eve cast out of Paradise: they were given one fast, from the fruit of one tree, and did not keep it.

That evening the Church serves Forgiveness Vespers, and Great Lent begins with it. After the dismissal the faithful come forward one by one, venerate the icon, and bow before the priest and before one another, each asking forgiveness and each forgiving. The season is entered at peace with everyone.

The next day is Clean Monday, the first day of the fast, a strict fast day. The name speaks of a clean beginning, in body and soul. In Greece and Cyprus it is a public holiday, kept outdoors with fasting food, the flat bread called lagana, and the flying of kites. From here the Church walks the forty days toward Holy Week.

Questions about Clean Monday

When is Clean Monday?

Forty-eight days before Pascha, on the Monday after Forgiveness Sunday. Because Pascha is reckoned the same way on both calendars, Clean Monday falls on the same day for New and Old Calendar churches; only the Church of Finland keeps the Western date of Easter.

What happens at Forgiveness Vespers?

At the end of the Sunday evening service the faithful venerate the icon and bow before the priest and before one another, asking forgiveness and forgiving. Great Lent begins with this service.

Why is it called Cheesefare Sunday?

It is the last day before Pascha on which dairy and eggs are eaten. Meat was set aside a week earlier, after Meatfare Sunday.

What do Orthodox Christians eat on Clean Monday?

It is a strict fast day: no meat, fish, dairy, eggs, wine, or oil. In Greece the day is kept with lagana bread and other fasting food. The measure for each person is set with their priest.

More questions about the Orthodox Church, answered ›

“For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.”

Matthew 6:14, the Gospel of Forgiveness Sunday (King James Version, public domain)

In Orthros

Orthros marks Forgiveness Sunday and Clean Monday in the calendar, with the fast for every day of Great Lent on both calendars and the prayers of the season.