“Great Lent was intended by the Holy Fathers as a special time for repentance, and it begins with forgiveness. The rite of forgiveness on the eve of Great Lent, when we bow down before each other and beg forgiveness, expresses our desire to be reconciled to all with whom we may not be at peace. But in order to make this mutual forgiveness deep and God-pleasing, the sources of hostility must be uprooted. Self-pity, the keeping of grudges, the lurking presence of condemnation of others–if not “surgically” uprooted, will go deeper into the soul and become a part of one’s character and personality, and like a cancer will eat away at man’s union with God and make one a spiritual invalid who is incapable of producing fruits of repentance.”
(Abbot Herman of St Herman Monastery in Orthodox America Issue 8)