Confession is one of the most important church sacraments, during which Christians repent of their sins. Confession takes place in the presence of a priest, however, all sins are resolved by God himself.
Confession is of great importance for any Orthodox Christian, since repentance and atonement for sins are the work of his whole life. Without it, the laity are not allowed to the Sacrament of the Eucharist (communion) and cannot partake of the Holy Gifts.
What is confession and why is it needed?
The Holy Fathers teach that sin is the main barrier between man and God. And this barrier is so huge that people are not able to overcome it on their own. You can cope with it only with God’s help, but for this a person must first admit his sin and repent of it.
It is for deliverance from sin and there is the Sacrament of Confession. When our body is infected with a dangerous virus, we usually go to the hospital for medicine. However, sin is the same deadly virus, only it affects not the body, but the soul. And to recover from it, a person needs the help of the church.
The sacrament of repentance is often compared to baptism. During the baptism of new converts, a Christian gets rid of original sin inherited from our first parents - Adam and Eve. Confession helps to resolve those sins that were committed after baptism and by the person himself personally.
Typically, for a Christian, repentance consists of three stages:
- Repent immediately after a sin.
- Ask God for forgiveness in the evening, before going to bed.
- Go to confession, during which the Lord will finally resolve this sin.
You can also confess if your soul is heavy or your conscience is tormenting you. And here the Sacrament of Repentance plays the role of an ambulance, since it helps to get rid of the suffering caused by sin and restore lost mental health.
It is very important to learn to ask for forgiveness from those we have offended. But even more important is repentance before God, since we have much more sins before Him than before any other people.
Many people ask why it is necessary to go to church and confess in the presence of a priest. Isn’t it enough that we ask God for forgiveness, that our conscience torments us, and that we repent of what we have done?
No, not enough. Usually priests give the following explanation: if a person, for example, gets dirty, he will not become clean only because he is aware of his dirt and is ashamed of it. To cleanse himself, he needs some external source of water in which he can wash himself. The Holy Church plays the role of such a source for a Christian.
However, it is important to remember that confession is not only repentance and liberation from sin. It is also a firm determination not to repeat sinful acts and to bring one’s life into real compliance with Christian teaching.
How does the sacrament work?
Unlike other sacraments, confession does not require the observance of a large number of rituals. It does not require long fasts, any special conditions, or specific days. The sacrament of repentance can be performed always and everywhere: it only requires complete repentance and the presence of a priest. Any member of the Orthodox Church aged 7 years and older can confess.
In the temple itself, this sacrament can be performed at different times:
- After the evening service.
- In the morning, immediately before the liturgy.
- During the liturgy itself, before communion.
If there are too many people in the church, you can agree with the priest for another time. Confession begins with a priestly prayer and an appeal to the penitent (“Behold, child, Christ...”). Then the priest covers the head of the penitent with an epitrachelion (optional), asks what his name is and what he wants to confess.
During confession, the priest can ask clarifying questions, give instructions or advice. In some cases he imposes penance, that is, it orders to do certain actions aimed at atonement for sin. For example, if a penitent stole something, he may be asked to return what was stolen or to compensate for the damage. However, penance is prescribed quite rarely.
When the confession ends, the priest places the edge of the stole on the person’s head and says a prayer of permission. After this, the parishioner kisses the Gospel and the cross, which lie on the analogue, and asks the priest for a blessing.
You need to confess at least before each communion. A church-going Christian should receive communion from once a day to once every three weeks. There is no maximum for the number of confessions.
How to prepare for the Sacrament of Penance
Preparing for confession comes down to a thorough analysis of all your actions, words and thoughts. However, they must be considered not from the point of view of man, but from the point of view of God's commandments.
Such self-analysis requires a person to be extremely honest with himself. In truthfully assessing his deeds, a Christian must put aside pride and false shame, since these shortcomings cause us to remain silent about our sins and even justify them.
Preparing for repentance requires the right attitude. You need to not just mechanically remember everyday sins, but strive with all your soul to ensure that they are left behind. It is also advisable to first make peace with those against whom we have sinned and ask for their forgiveness.
In order not to forget about your sins, you can write them down on a piece of paper. There is no need to create a detailed bureaucratic report - just a rough “cheat sheet” will be enough. It will help you quickly refresh your memory before confession and not forget anything.
If you are afraid of missing something important, use special lists of sins for confession. In Orthodoxy, they play the role of a kind of “check list” and allow us to notice what we, for some reason, did not pay attention to. This is the Pochaev Leaf, which helps to remember sins during confession, lists for women, men, children and teenagers.
However, during confession itself you should not use any lists or texts. It’s better to speak in your own words and from the heart , and reading from a piece of paper can turn into a sacrament into an empty formality.
Another way to remember forgotten sins is This is to look at them by type:
- Sins against God: unbelief, lack of faith, pride, breaking the commandments, mentioning the Lord in vain, turning to psychics, not attending church, and the like.
- Sins against one's neighbor: theft, slander, gossip, insults and betrayal.
- Sins against oneself: gluttony, drunkenness, prodigal sin, smoking, despondency and other acts that destroy the body and soul.
Often Christians remember only what happened after the last confession. But to this we must add those actions that we kept silent about last time because of shame or forgetfulness. Also, during confession, you can talk about those sins that last time we confessed without proper repentance.
Some ask: is it permissible to confess the same sin repeatedly? In principle, this is allowed, since the memory of past sins strengthens a person in humility. However, it is not necessary to do this, if the repentance was truly sincere.
It is better to find out about the time of the Sacrament of Repentance in advance. If there are many people wanting to confess on this day, it is better to arrange a separate meeting with the priest.
How to prepare for your very first confession
The very first confession in the life of a Christian is called general. We need to prepare for it especially carefully, since it is precisely this that washes away the most old and ingrained dirt from our soul. It is customary to remember all your sins, and not only adults, but also children (starting from the age of six).
Before such a confession, it is advisable to familiarize yourself with Christian literature on this topic. But before you buy books or download them from the Internet, you should definitely consult with your confessor. The fact is that some books on repentance may be too complex for a layman, and some are of dubious origin and written by sectarians.
If your church is large and a lot of people gather for Sunday services, general confession may be held there. In this case, the priest simply lists the main sins, and the parishioners repeat after him. But such a short form of confession is not suitable for the first time, so it is better to visit the temple on a weekday, when there are usually few people there.
Immediately before the sacrament, you must tell the priest that this is your first time at confession. In this case, he will prompt you and direct your confession in the “right direction,” and then tell you what to do next.
How to confess correctly
The main rule of confession is this: all actions must be as sincere as possible. During the sacrament, formalism must be avoided at all costs so as not to turn it into a ritual “for show.” Here, sincerity is more important than following external instructions.
You need to dress for confession in the same way as for a regular visit to church. Men should wear long pants and a shirt that covers their elbows. For a woman - a long skirt and clothing that covers the shoulders and décolleté. When going to church, you should not wear cosmetics, especially lipstick. A woman must have a scarf on her head.
Arriving at the temple, you need to stand in line for confession. At the same time, it is necessary to keep a certain distance from others so as not to disturb anyone and not to hear other people’s words of repentance.
Having waited your turn, you need to go to the lectern (the table where the cross and the Gospel lie) and bow your head. You can also kneel, but this is not at all necessary. Remember that kneeling prayer is canceled on Sundays, great holidays and during the period from Easter to Trinity.
At confession, it is customary to talk not only about individual sinful acts, but also about the destructive passions inherent in a person. For example, if a penitent is characterized by the love of money, then his sins will be specific manifestations of greed or stinginess.
If you are unfamiliar with the church names of sins and passions, then simply retell everything in your own words. You only need to name the sin itself, briefly and without unnecessary details. If necessary, the priest himself will clarify everything.
If the Lord sees sincere repentance, he will forgive all sins, even those that we ourselves have forgotten. However, it is impossible to deliberately conceal sins, because in this case there will be no forgiveness.
How exactly to talk about your sins? Here are some recommendations that priests usually give:
- Do not approach confession formally. This is not a ritual of “listing sins”: sincere repentance is more important here.
- Avoid “blanks”, that is, pre-memorized phrases and expressions. The best words are those that come from the heart.
- Do not make excuses and do not shift your sins onto others, because in this case the meaning of repentance itself disappears.
- Don't just talk about your life. The purpose of confession is not to pour out the soul, but to get rid of the burden of sin.
- It’s normal to cry during confession, but you don’t need to do it on purpose and for show.
And most importantly: it is necessary to remember that in fact all sins are confessed to God. The priest only fulfills the duty of a witness and intercessor before Him.
During confession, the priest may sometimes ask or clarify something. In this case, you just need to calmly answer all the questions. And vice versa, if something from the priest’s instructions remains unclear, then ask him to explain.
After the priest has listened to the confession and is convinced of the person’s sincerity, he covers his head with the edge of the stole and reads a prayer of permission. After it you need to cross yourself and kiss the cross and the Gospel.
Immediately after confession, a blessing is taken from the priest. To do this, fold your hands with your palms up and place your right palm on top of your left. Then you need to bow your head and say: “Bless, father.” The priest will make a blessing sign and place his palm on his folded hands. The priest should touch his hand with his lips as an image of the blessing right hand of the Lord.
If you are planning to take communion, you should take a blessing for this too. You can simply ask: “Father, do you bless me to receive communion?” In this case, the priest can clarify the observance of fasting and prayers necessary for the Sacrament of the Eucharist.
What to do after confession
The very first thing to do is to thank the Lord for the forgiveness of sins. Unfortunately, some people forget about this. But this is His great gift, thanks to which the human soul is cleansed of filth.
You also need to make a firm decision to change your life. It is not enough to simply confess a sin to God: you must try to never repeat such a thing again in the future. It is important to remember that for a Christian, repentance and the fight against sin is the work of a lifetime that never ends.
With sincere repentance in confession, all sins are forgiven. But this does not mean that you can immediately forget about them. No, we should always remember the sins committed earlier, for we need this for humility and for protection from possible falls in the future.
If you confess regularly enough, over time it becomes difficult to remember your sins. But this does not mean that they do not exist: they simply begin to “hide” from us. In this case, we can ask the Lord to grant us a vision of our own sins.
Once in our lives we receive Baptism and are anointed with Chrism. Ideally, we get married once. The Sacrament of the Priesthood is not all-encompassing; it is performed only on those whom the Lord has destined to be accepted into the clergy. In the Sacrament of Unction our participation is very small. But the Sacraments of Confession and Communion lead us through our entire lives to eternity, without them the existence of a Christian is unthinkable. We get to them time after time. So sooner or later we still have the opportunity to think: are we preparing for them correctly? And understand: no, most likely not entirely. Therefore, talking about these Sacraments seems very important to us. In this issue, in a conversation with the editor-in-chief of the magazine, Abbot Nektariy (Morozov), we decided to touch upon confession (because covering everything is an impossible task, too “boundless” a topic), and next time we will talk about Communion of the Holy Mysteries.
“I guess, or rather, I guess: nine out of ten who come to confession don’t know how to confess...
- Indeed, it is so. Even people who regularly go to church do not know how to do many things in it, but the worst thing is with confession. Very rarely does a parishioner confess correctly. You have to learn to confess. Of course, it would be better if an experienced confessor, a man of high spiritual life, spoke about the Sacrament of Confession and repentance. If I decide to talk about this here, it’s simply as a person who confesses, on the one hand, and on the other, as a priest who quite often has to accept confession. I will try to summarize my observations of my own soul and how others participate in the Sacrament of Repentance. But in no case do I consider my observations sufficient.
— Let's talk about the most common misconceptions, misconceptions and mistakes. A person goes to confession for the first time; he heard that before receiving communion, one must confess. And that in confession you need to tell your sins. The question immediately arises in his mind: for what period should he “report”? Over your entire life, starting from childhood? But can you retell all this? Or do you not need to retell everything, but just say: “In childhood and youth I showed selfishness many times” or “In my youth I was very proud and vain, and even now, in fact, I remain the same”?
— If a person comes to confession for the first time, it is quite obvious that he needs to confess for his entire past life. Starting from the age when he could already distinguish good from evil - and until the moment he finally decided to confess.
How can you tell your whole life in a short time? In confession, we do not tell our whole life, but what is sin. Sins are specific events. However, there is no need to recount all the times when you sinned with anger, for example, or with lies. You must say that you committed this sin, and cite some of the brightest, most terrible manifestations of this sin - those that truly hurt your soul. There is one more pointer: what do you least want to tell about yourself? This is exactly what needs to be said first. If you are going to confession for the first time, it is best for you to set yourself the task of confessing your heaviest, most painful sins. Then the confession will become more complete, deeper. The first confession cannot be like this - for several reasons: this is a psychological barrier (coming for the first time in front of a priest, that is, in front of a witness, telling God about your sins is not easy) and other obstacles. A person does not always understand what sin is. Unfortunately, not even all people living church life know and understand the Gospel well. And except in the Gospel, the answer to the question of what is sin and what is virtue, perhaps, will not be found anywhere. In the life around us, many sins have become commonplace... But even when reading the Gospel to a person, his sins are not immediately revealed, they are gradually revealed by the grace of God. St. Peter of Damascus says that the beginning of the health of the soul is seeing one’s sins as countless as the sand of the sea. If the Lord had immediately revealed to a person his sinfulness in all its horror, not a single person could have endured it. That is why the Lord reveals his sins to a person gradually. This can be compared to peeling an onion - first they removed one skin, then the second - and finally they got to the onion itself. That is why it very often happens: a person goes to church, regularly confesses, takes communion - and finally realizes the need for the so-called general confession. It very rarely happens that a person is ready for it right away.
- What it is? How does general confession differ from ordinary confession?
— General confession, as a rule, is called confession for the entire life lived, and in a certain sense this is true. But a confession that is not so comprehensive can also be called general. We repent of our sins from week to week, from month to month, this is a simple confession. But from time to time you need to give yourself a general confession - a review of your entire life. Not the one that was lived, but the one that is now. We see that we repeat the same sins, and we cannot get rid of them - that’s why we need to understand ourselves. Review your entire life as it is now.
— How to treat the so-called questionnaires for general confession? They can be seen in church shops.
— If by general confession we mean precisely confession for the entire life lived, then here there really is a need for some kind of external assistance. The best guide for confessors is the book by Archimandrite John (Krestyankin) “The Experience of Constructing a Confession”, it is about the spirit, the correct attitude of a repentant person, about what exactly needs to be repented of. There is a book “Sin and Repentance of the Last Times. About the secret ailments of the soul" by Archimandrite Lazar (Abashidze). Useful excerpts from St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov) - “To help the penitent.” As for the questionnaires - yes, there are confessors, there are priests who do not approve of these questionnaires. They say that you can read in them such sins that the reader has never even heard of, but if he reads them, he will be harmed... But, unfortunately, there are almost no sins left that modern man would not know about. Yes, there are questions there that are stupid, rude, there are questions that are clearly sinning with excessive physiology... But if you treat the questionnaire as a working tool, like a plow with which you need to plow yourself all over once, then, I think, you can use it. In the old days, such questionnaires were called “renewal,” which is so wonderful to modern ears. Indeed, with their help, man renewed himself as the image of God, just as an old, dilapidated and grimy icon is renewed. There is no need to think about whether these questionnaires are in good or bad literary form. The serious shortcomings of some questionnaires include this: the compilers include in them something that, in essence, is not a sin. Didn’t you wash your hands with scented soap, for example, or didn’t you do your laundry on Sunday... If you did the laundry during Sunday service, that’s a sin, but if you did the laundry after the service because there was no other time, I personally don’t see it as a sin.
“Unfortunately, you can sometimes buy this in our church shops...
- This is why it is necessary to consult a priest before using the questionnaire. I can recommend the book by Priest Alexy Moroz “I Confess Sin, Father” - it is a reasonable and very detailed questionnaire.
— Here it is necessary to clarify: what do we mean by the word “sin”? Most of those who confess, when they pronounce this word, mean a sinful act. That is, in essence, a manifestation of sin. For example: “Yesterday I was harsh and cruel to my mother.” But this is not a separate, not some random episode, this is a manifestation of the sin of dislike, intolerance, unforgiveness, selfishness. This means that you don’t need to say that, not “yesterday I was cruel,” but simply “I’m cruel, there’s little love in me.” Or how should I say it?
— Sin is a manifestation of passion in action. We must repent of specific sins. Not in passions as such, because passions are always the same, you can write one confession to yourself for the rest of your life, but in those sins that were committed from confession to confession. Confession is the Sacrament that gives us the opportunity to start a new life. We repented of our sins, and from that moment our life began anew. This is the miracle that takes place in the Sacrament of Confession. That is why you always need to repent - in the past tense. You shouldn’t say: “I offend my neighbors,” I should say: “I offended my neighbors.” Because I have the intention, having said this, not to offend people in the future.Each sin in confession should be named so that it is clear what exactly it is. If we repent of idle talk, we do not need to retell all the episodes of our idle talk and repeat all our idle words. But if in some case there was so much idle talk that we tired someone with it or said something completely unnecessary, we probably need to talk about this in confession in a little more detail, more definitely. There are such words from the Gospel: For every idle word that people speak, they will give an answer on the day of judgment (Matthew 12:36). You need to look at your confession in advance from this point of view - whether there will be idle talk in it.
- And yet about passions. If I feel irritated by my neighbor’s request, but I don’t show this irritation in any way and provide him with the necessary help, should I repent of the irritation I experienced as a sin?
- If you, feeling this irritation within yourself, consciously fought against it - this is one situation. If you accepted this irritation of yours, developed it in yourself, reveled in it - this is a different situation. Everything depends on the direction of a person's will. If a person, experiencing a sinful passion, turns to God and says: “Lord, I don’t want this and I don’t want it, help me get rid of it,” there is practically no sin on the person. There is sin - to the extent that our heart participated in these tempting desires. And how much we allowed him to participate in this.
— Apparently, we need to dwell on the “disease of telling,” which stems from a certain cowardice during confession. For example, instead of saying “I behaved selfishly,” I begin to tell: “At work... my colleague says... and in response I say...”, etc. I eventually report my sin, but - just like that, within the frame of the story. This is not even a frame, these stories play, if you look at it, the role of clothing - we dress in words, in the plot, so as not to feel naked in confession.
- Indeed, it’s easier this way. But you don’t need to make it easy for yourself to confess. Confession should not contain unnecessary details. There shouldn't be any other people with their actions. Because when we talk about other people, we most often justify ourselves at the expense of these people. We also make excuses due to some of our circumstances. On the other hand, sometimes the extent of the sin depends on the circumstances of the sin. Beating a person out of drunken anger is one thing, stopping a criminal while protecting the victim is quite another. To refuse to help one's neighbor because of laziness and selfishness is one thing, to refuse because the temperature that day was forty is another. If a person who knows how to confess confesses in detail, it is easier for the priest to see what is happening to this person and why. Thus, the circumstances of the sin need to be reported only if the sin you committed is not clear without these circumstances. This is also learned through experience.
Excessive telling during confession may also have another reason: a person’s need for participation, spiritual help and warmth. Here, perhaps, a conversation with a priest is appropriate, but it should be at a different time, certainly not at the time of confession. Confession is a Sacrament, not a conversation.
— Priest Alexander Elchaninov in one of his entries thanks God for helping him every time experience confession as a catastrophe. What should we do to ensure that our confession, at least, is not dry, cold, formal?
“We must remember that the confession that we say in church is the tip of the iceberg. If this confession is everything, and everything is limited to it, we can say that we have nothing. There was no actual confession. There is only the grace of God, which, despite our foolishness and recklessness, still acts. We have the intention to repent, but it is formal, it is dry and lifeless. It’s like that fig tree, which if it bears any fruit, it will be with great difficulty.Our confession is performed at another time and prepared at another time. When we, knowing that tomorrow we will go to church, confess, sit down and sort out our lives. When I think: why have I judged people so many times during this time? But because, judging them, I myself look better in my own eyes. Instead of dealing with my own sins, I condemn others and justify myself. Or I find some kind of pleasure in condemnation. When I understand that as long as I judge others, I will not have the grace of God. And when I say: “Lord, help me, otherwise, how long will I kill my soul with this?” After this, I will come to confession and say: “I condemned people countless times, I exalted myself over them, I found sweetness in this for myself.” My repentance lies not only in the fact that I said it, but in the fact that I decided not to do it again. When a person repents in this way, he receives very great grace-filled consolation from confession and confesses in a completely different way. Repentance is a change in a person. If no change occurred, confession remained to a certain extent a formality. “Fulfillment of Christian duty,” as for some reason it was customary to express it before the revolution.
There are examples of saints who brought repentance to God in their hearts, changed their lives, and the Lord accepted this repentance, although there was no stole over them, and the prayer for the remission of sins was not read. But there was repentance! But with us it’s different - the prayer is read, and the person receives communion, but repentance as such has not occurred, there is no break in the chain of sinful life.
There are people who come to confession and, standing in front of the lectern with the cross and the Gospel, begin to remember what they sinned. This is always a real torment - both for the priest, and for those who are waiting for their turn, and for the man himself, of course. How to prepare for confession? Firstly, an attentive, sober life. Secondly, there is a good rule, which you can’t think of anything to replace: every day in the evening, devote five to ten minutes not even to thinking about what happened during the day, but to repentance before God for what a person considers himself to have sinned. Sit down and mentally go through the day - from the morning hours to the evening hours. And realize every sin for yourself. A big sin or a small one - you need to understand it, feel it and, as Anthony the Great says, put it between yourself and God. See it as an obstacle between yourself and the Creator. Feel this terrible metaphysical essence of sin. And for every sin ask God for forgiveness. And put in your heart the desire to leave these sins in the past. It is advisable to write down these sins in some kind of notebook. This helps to put a limit on sin. We did not write down this sin, we did not do such a purely mechanical action, and it “passed on” to the next day. And then it will be easier to prepare for confession. There is no need to “suddenly” remember everything.
— Some parishioners prefer confession in this form: “I sinned against such and such a commandment.” This is convenient: “I sinned against the seventh” - and there is no need to say anything more.
“I believe this is completely unacceptable.” Any formalization of spiritual life kills this life. Sin is the pain of the human soul. If there is no pain, then there is no repentance. St. John Climacus says that the forgiveness of our sins is evidenced by the pain that we feel when we repent of them. If we do not experience pain, we have every reason to doubt that our sins have been forgiven. And the Monk Barsanuphius the Great, answering questions from various people, repeatedly said that a sign of forgiveness is a loss of sympathy for previously committed sins. This is the change that must happen to a person, an internal turn.
- Another common opinion: why would I repent if I know that I won’t change anyway - it will be hypocrisy and hypocrisy on my part.
 |
But here is a situation known to me personally: a girl regularly came to one of the Moscow churches and confessed that she earned her living by what is, as they say, the most ancient profession. No one allowed her to receive Communion, of course, but she continued to walk, prayed, and tried to somehow participate in the life of the parish. I don’t know if she managed to leave this craft, but I know for sure that the Lord protects her and does not leave her, waiting for the necessary change.
It is very important to believe in the forgiveness of sins, in the power of the Sacrament. Those who do not believe complain that after confession there is no relief, that they leave the church with a heavy soul. This comes from a lack of faith, even from a lack of faith in forgiveness. Faith should give a person joy, and if there is no faith, there is no need to hope for any spiritual experiences and emotions.
- Sometimes it happens that some long-standing (usually) action of ours evokes in us a reaction that is more humorous than repentant, and it seems to us that talking about this action in confession is excessive zeal, bordering on hypocrisy or coquetry. Example: I suddenly remember that once in my youth I stole a book from the library of a holiday home. I think that we need to say this in confession: no matter how you look at it, the eighth commandment has been broken. And then it becomes funny...
“I wouldn’t take it so lightly.” There are actions that cannot even be formally committed, because they destroy us - not even as people of faith, but simply as people of conscience. There are certain barriers that we must set for ourselves. These saints could have spiritual freedom, which allows them to do things that are formally condemned, but they did them only when these actions were for the good.
— Is it true that you do not need to repent of sins committed before Baptism if you were baptized in adulthood?
 |
— We have talked quite a lot here about how to prepare for confession, but what should we read or, as they say, proofread at home the day before, what prayers? The prayer book contains the Follow-up to Holy Communion. Do I need to proofread it in its entirety and is that enough? In addition, Communion may not follow confession. What to read before confession?
— It is very good if a person reads the Canon of Repentance to the Savior before confession. There is also a very good Penitential Canon of the Mother of God. This could be simply a prayer with the repentant feeling “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” And it is very important, remembering every sin committed, bringing to the heart the awareness of its destruction for us, from the heart, in your own words, ask God for forgiveness for it, simply standing in front of icons or bowing. To come to what St. Nicodemus the Holy Mountainer calls the feeling of being “guilty.” That is, to feel: I am dying, and I am aware of it, and I am not justifying myself. I recognize myself as worthy of this death. But with this I go to God, surrender myself before His love and hope for His mercy, believing in it.
Abbot Nikon (Vorobiev) has a wonderful letter to a certain woman, no longer young, who, due to age and illness, had to prepare for the transition to Eternity. He writes to her: “Remember all your sins and repent of each one - even the one you confessed - before God until you feel that the Lord forgives you. It’s not a charm to feel that the Lord forgives; this is what the holy fathers called joyful crying—repentance that brings joy.” This is the most necessary thing - to feel peace with God.
Interviewed by Marina Biryukova
| TABLE OF CONTENTS |
| About repentance |
| Sins against God and the Church |
| Sins towards others |
| List of deadly sins |
| Special mortal sins - blasphemy against the Holy Spirit |
| About the eight main passions with their divisions and branches and about the virtues that oppose them (according to the works of St. Ignatius Brianchaninov). |
| General list of sins |
| edition ZADONSKY CHRISTMAS OF THE BOGORODITSKY MONASTERY 2005 |
About repentance
Our Lord Jesus Christ, who came to call not the righteous, but sinners to repentance (Matthew 9:13), Even in His earthly life he established the sacrament of forgiveness of sins. He released the harlot, who had washed His feet with tears of repentance, with the words: “Your sins are forgiven... your faith has saved you, go in peace.” (Luke 7, 48, 50). He healed the paralytic brought to Him on his bed, saying: “Your sins are forgiven... but so that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins,” then He said to the paralytic, “get up, take up your bed and go to your house.” » (Matt. 9, 2, 6).
He transferred this power to the apostles, and they to the priests of the Church of Christ, who have the right to resolve sinful bonds, that is, to free the soul from the sins committed and affecting it. If only a person came to confession with a feeling of repentance, awareness of his untruths and a desire to cleanse his soul of sinful burdens...
This brochure is intended to help the repentant: it contains a list of sins compiled on the basis of the “general confession” of St. Demetrius of Rostov.
Sins against God and the Church
* Disobedience to the will of God. Obvious disagreement with the will of God, expressed in His commandments, Holy Scripture, instructions of the spiritual father, the voice of conscience, reinterpretation of God's will in one's own way, in a sense beneficial to oneself for the purpose of self-justification or condemnation of one's neighbor, putting one's own will above the will of Christ, jealousy not according to reason in ascetic exercises and forcing others to follow themselves, failure to fulfill promises made to God in previous confessions.
* Murmuring against God. This sin is a consequence of distrust in God, which can lead to complete falling away from the Church, loss of faith, apostasy and opposition to God. The opposite virtue to this sin is humility before God’s Providence for oneself.
* Ingratitude to God. A person often turns to God in times of trials, sorrows and illnesses, asking to soften or even get rid of them; on the contrary, during periods of external well-being, he forgets about Him, not realizing that he is using His good gift, and does not thank him for it. The opposite virtue is constant gratitude to the Heavenly Father for the trials, consolations, spiritual joys and earthly happiness He sends.
* Lack of faith, doubt in the truth of Holy Scripture and Tradition (that is, in the dogmas of the Church, its canons, the legality and correctness of the hierarchy, the performance of worship, the authority of the writings of the Holy Fathers). Renunciation of faith in God out of fear of people and concern for earthly well-being.
Lack of faith - the absence of complete, deep conviction in any Christian truth or the acceptance of this truth only with the mind, but not with the heart. This sinful state arises out of doubt or lack of zeal for the true knowledge of God. Lack of faith is to the heart what doubt is to the mind. It relaxes the heart on the path of fulfilling the will of God. Confession helps to drive out lack of faith and strengthen the heart.
Doubt is a thought that violates (obviously and vaguely) the conviction in the truth of the teachings of Christ and His Church in general and in particular, for example, doubts in the Gospel commandments, doubts in dogmas, that is, any member of the Creed, in the holiness of something recognized by the Church a saint or events of Sacred history celebrated in the Church, in the inspiration of the Holy Fathers; doubt in the veneration of holy icons and relics of holy saints, in the invisible Divine presence, in worship and in the sacraments.
In life, one must learn to distinguish between “empty” doubts aroused by demons, the environment (the world) and one’s own sin-darkened mind - such doubts must be rejected by an act of will - and real spiritual problems that must be resolved based on complete trust in God and His Church , forcing oneself to complete self-disclosure before the Lord in the presence of a confessor. It is better to confess all doubts: both those that were rejected by the inner spiritual eye, and especially those that were accepted in the heart and gave rise to confusion and despondency there. In this way the mind is purified and enlightened and faith is strengthened.
Doubt can arise on the basis of excessive trust in oneself, being carried away by other people’s opinions, or lack of zeal for the awareness of one’s faith. The fruit of doubt is relaxation in following the path of salvation, opposition to the will of God.
* Passivity(little zeal, lack of effort) in the knowledge of Christian truth, the teachings of Christ and His Church. Lack of desire (if there is such an opportunity) to read the Holy Scriptures, the works of the holy fathers, to ponder and comprehend with the heart the dogmas of faith, to understand the meaning of worship. This sin arises from mental laziness or excessive fear of falling into any doubt. As a result, the truths of faith are absorbed superficially, thoughtlessly, mechanically, and in the end a person’s ability to effectively and consciously fulfill the will of God in life is undermined.
* Heresies and superstitions. Heresy is a false teaching relating to the spiritual world and communication with it, rejected by the Church as being in clear contradiction with Holy Scripture and Tradition. Personal pride, excessive trust in one’s own mind and personal spiritual experience often leads to heresy. The reason for heretical opinions and judgments may also be insufficient knowledge of the teachings of the Church, or theological ignorance.
* Ritualism. Adherence to the letter of Scripture and Tradition, attaching importance only to the external side of church life while forgetting its meaning and purpose - these vices are united under the name of ritualism. Belief in the saving significance of only the exact fulfillment of ritual actions in themselves, without taking into account their inner spiritual meaning, testifies to the inferiority of faith and a decrease in reverence for God, forgetting that a Christian must “serve God in the renewal of the spirit, and not according to the old letter.” (Rom. 7:6). Ritualism arises due to insufficient understanding of good news Christ, but “He gave us the ability to be ministers of the New Testament, not of the letter, but of the spirit, because the letter kills, but the spirit gives life.” (2 Cor. 3:6). Ritualism testifies to an inadequate perception of the teachings of the Church, which does not correspond to its greatness, or to an unreasonable zeal for service, which does not correspond to the will of God. Ritualism, which is quite widespread among the church people, entails superstition, legalism, pride, and division.
* Mistrust of God. This sin is expressed in the lack of confidence that the primary cause of all external and internal life circumstances is the Lord, who desires our true good. Distrust of God is caused by the fact that a person has not sufficiently become accustomed to the Gospel Revelation, has not felt its main point: the voluntary suffering, crucifixion, death and resurrection of the Son of God.
From distrust of God arise such sins as lack of constant gratitude to Him, despondency, despair (especially in illness, sorrow), cowardice in circumstances, fear of the future, vain attempts to insure against suffering and avoid trials, and in case of failure - hidden or open murmur on God and His Providence for himself. The opposite virtue is placing one’s hopes and hopes on God, fully accepting His Providence for oneself.
* Lack of fear of God and reverence for Him. Careless, absent-minded prayer, irreverent behavior in the temple, before the shrine, disrespect for the sacred dignity.
Lack of mortal memory in anticipation of the Last Judgment.
* Small jealousy(or its complete absence) to communion with God, spiritual life. Salvation is fellowship with God in Christ in the eternal future life. Earthly life for the acquisition of the grace of the Holy Spirit, the revelation of the Kingdom of Heaven, the world of God, the sonship of God. Achieving this goal depends on God, but God will not constantly be with a person if he does not show all his zeal, love, intelligence to get closer to Him. The whole life of a Christian is directed towards this goal. If you have no love for prayer as a way of communicating with God, for the temple, for participating in the sacraments, then this is a sign of a lack of zeal for communication with God.
In relation to prayer, this manifests itself in the fact that it occurs only under duress, irregular, inattentive, relaxed, with a careless body position, mechanical, limited only to prayers learned by heart or read out. There is no constant memory of God, love and gratitude to Him as the background of all life.
Possible reasons: insensibility of the heart, passivity of the mind, lack of proper preparation for prayer, unwillingness to think through and understand with your heart and mind the meaning of the upcoming prayer work and the content of each forgiveness or doxology.
Another group of reasons: attachment of the mind, heart and will to earthly things.
In relation to temple worship, this sin is manifested in rare, irregular participation in public worship, in absent-mindedness or talking during the service, walking around the temple, distracting others from prayer with one’s requests or comments, being late for the start of the service and leaving before dismissal and blessing.
In general, this sin comes down to inability to feel the special presence of God in the temple during public worship.
Causes of sin: reluctance to enter into prayerful unity with brothers and sisters in Christ due to being burdened with earthly concerns and immersion in the vain affairs of this world, powerlessness in the fight against internal temptations sent by spiritually hostile forces that interfere and hold us back from acquiring the grace of the Holy Spirit, and , finally, pride, an unbrotherly, unloving attitude towards other parishioners, irritation and anger against them.
In relation to the Sacrament of repentance, the sin of indifference is manifested in rare confessions without proper preparation, in the preference for a general confession to a personal one in order to go through it more painlessly, in the absence of a desire to deeply know oneself, in an uncontrite and unhumble spiritual disposition, in the lack of determination to leave sin and eradicate vicious inclinations , to overcome temptations, instead - the desire to minimize sin, justify oneself, and keep silent about the most shameful actions and thoughts. By thereby committing deception in the face of the Lord Himself, who accepts confession, a person aggravates his sins.
The reasons for these phenomena are a lack of understanding of the spiritual meaning of the Sacrament of Repentance, complacency, self-pity, vanity, and an unwillingness to internally overcome demonic resistance.
We sin especially grievously against the Most Holy and Life-Giving Mysteries of the Body and Blood of Christ, approaching Holy Communion rarely and without proper preparation, without first cleansing the soul in the Sacrament of repentance; we do not feel the need to receive communion more often, we do not maintain our purity after communion, but again we fall into vanity and indulge in vices.
The reasons for this are rooted in the fact that we do not think deeply about the meaning of the highest sacrament of the Church, we do not realize its greatness and our sinful unworthiness, the need for healing of soul and body, we do not pay attention to the insensitivity of the heart, we do not realize the influence of fallen spirits nesting in our soul, which turn us away from communion, and therefore we do not resist, but succumb to their temptation, we do not enter into struggle with them, we do not experience reverence and fear of God’s presence in the Holy Gifts, we are not afraid to partake of the Holy Place “in judgment and condemnation,” we do not worry about the constant fulfillment of our will God in life, inattentive to our hearts, subject to vanity, approaching the Holy Chalice with a hardened heart, not reconciled with our neighbors.
* Self-justification, complacency. Satisfaction with one's spiritual structure or state.
* Despair from the spectacle of one’s spiritual state and powerlessness to fight sin. In general, self-assessment of one’s own spiritual structure and state; placing spiritual judgment on oneself in contrast to what the Lord Jesus Christ said: “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay” (Rom. 12:19).
* Lack of spiritual sobriety constant heartfelt attention, absent-mindedness, sinful oblivion, foolishness.
* Spiritual pride attributing to oneself the gifts received from God, the desire for independent possession of any spiritual gifts and energies.
* Spiritual fornication attraction to spirits alien to Christ (occultism, eastern mysticism, theosophy). True spiritual life is being in the Holy Spirit.
* Frivolous and sacrilegious attitude towards God and the Church: using the name of God in jokes, frivolous mention of holy things, curses with the mention of His name, pronouncing the name of God without reverence.
* Spiritual individualism, a tendency to isolation in prayer (even during the Divine Liturgy), forgetting that we are members of the Catholic Church, members of one mystical Body of Christ, members of each other.
* Spiritual egoism, spiritual voluptuousness- prayer, participation in the sacraments only for the sake of receiving spiritual pleasures, consolations and experiences.
* Impatience in Prayer and Others spiritual exploits. This includes failure to follow prayer rules, breaking fasts, eating at the wrong time, and leaving church early without a particularly good reason.
* Consumer attitude towards God and the Church, when there is no desire to give anything to the Church, to work for it in any way. Prayerful request for worldly success, honors, satisfaction of selfish desires and material wealth.
* Spiritual stinginess, lack of spiritual generosity, the need to convey to others the grace received from God with words of consolation, sympathy, and service to people.
* Lack of constant concern for doing God's will in life. This sin manifests itself when we do serious things without asking for God's blessing, without consulting or asking for the blessing of our spiritual father.
Sins towards others
* Pride, exaltation over one's neighbor, arrogance, “demonic stronghold” (this most dangerous of sins is discussed separately and in detail below).
* Condemnation. The tendency to notice, remember and name other people's shortcomings, to commit overt or internal judgment on one's neighbor. Under the influence of condemnation of one’s neighbor, which is not always noticeable even to oneself, a distorted image of one’s neighbor is formed in the heart. This image then serves as an internal justification for dislike for this person, a disdainful and evil attitude towards him. In the process of repentance, this false image must be crushed and, on the basis of love, the true image of each neighbor must be recreated in the heart.
* Anger, irritability, grumpiness. Can I control my anger? Do I allow swear words and curses in quarrels with neighbors and in raising children? Do I use foul language in normal conversation (to be “like everyone else”)? Is there rudeness, rudeness, impudence, evil mockery, hatred in my behavior?
* Unmercifulness, lack of compassion. Am I responsive to requests for help? Are you ready for self-sacrifice and almsgiving? Is it easy for me to lend things or money? Am I not reproaching my debtors? Am I rudely and persistently demanding the return of what I borrowed? Am I not bragging to people about my sacrifices, alms, helping my neighbors, expecting approval and earthly rewards? Was he stingy, afraid of not getting what he asked for back?
Works of mercy should be done in secret, for we do them not for the sake of human glory, but for the sake of love for God and neighbor.
* Grudges, unforgiveness of insults, vindictiveness. Excessive demands on one's neighbor. These sins are contrary to both the spirit and the letter of the Gospel of Christ. Our Lord teaches us to forgive our neighbor's sins against us up to seventy times seventy times. Without forgiving others, taking revenge on them for an insult, holding in our minds a grudge against another, we cannot hope for the forgiveness of our own sins by the Heavenly Father.
* Self-isolation, alienation from other people.
* Neglect of neighbors, indifference. This sin is especially terrible in relation to parents: ingratitude towards them, callousness. If our parents have died, do we remember to prayerfully remember them?
* Vanity, ambition. We fall into this sin when we become vain, flaunting our talents, mental and physical, intelligence, education, and when we demonstrate our superficial spirituality, ostentatious churchliness, imaginary piety.
How do we treat our family members, people with whom we often meet or work? Can we tolerate their weaknesses? Do we often get irritated? Are we arrogant, touchy, intolerant of other people's shortcomings, of other people's opinions?
* Lust, the desire to be first, to command. Do we love to be served? How do we treat people who depend on us at work and at home? Do we like to dominate, to insist on doing our will? Do we have a tendency to interfere in other people's affairs, in other people's personal lives, with persistent advice and instructions? Don't we strive to leave the last word for ourselves, just to disagree with the opinion of another, even if he is right?
* Humanity- this is the other side of the sin of covetousness. We fall into it, wanting to please another person, fearing to disgrace ourselves in front of him. Out of people-pleasing intentions, we often fail to expose obvious sin and participate in lies. Have we not indulged in flattery, that is, feigned, exaggerated admiration for a person, trying to gain his favor? Have we adjusted to other people's opinions and tastes for our own benefit? Have you ever been deceitful, dishonest, two-faced, or dishonest at work? Didn't you betray people to save yourself from trouble? Did you place your blame on others? Have you kept other people's secrets?
Reflecting on his past, a Christian preparing for confession must remember all the bad things that he, voluntarily or unwittingly, committed towards his neighbors.
Was it the cause of grief, someone else's misfortune? Didn't he destroy the family? Are you guilty of adultery and have you encouraged someone else to commit this sin through pimping? Did you not take upon yourself the sin of killing an unborn child, did you contribute to it? These sins should only be repented of in personal confession.
Was he prone to obscene jokes, anecdotes, and immoral allusions? Didn’t you insult the sanctity of human love with cynicism and outrage?
* Disturbing the peace. Do we know how to maintain peace in the family, in communication with neighbors, and co-workers? Don't we allow ourselves slander, condemnation, and evil ridicule? Do we know how to curb our tongue, are we not talkative?
Are we showing an idle, sinful curiosity about the lives of other people? Are we attentive to the needs and concerns of people? Are we not closing in on ourselves, in our supposedly spiritual problems, turning away people?
* Envy, malice, gloating. Have you envied someone else's success, position, arrangement? Didn't you secretly wish for failure, failure, a sad outcome for other people's affairs? Did you not openly or secretly rejoice at someone else’s misfortune or failure? Did you incite others to evil deeds while remaining outwardly innocent? Have you ever been overly suspicious, seeing only the bad in everyone? Did one person point out the vice (explicit or imaginary) of another person in order to quarrel between them? Have you abused the trust of your neighbor by revealing his shortcomings or sins to others? Did you spread gossip discrediting the wife before the husband or the husband before the wife? Did your behavior cause jealousy of one of the spouses and anger against the other?
* Resistance to evil against oneself. This sin is manifested in obvious opposition to the offender, in repaying evil for evil, when our heart does not want to bear the pain caused to him.
* Failure to provide assistance to one's neighbor, the offended, the persecuted. We fall into this sin when, out of cowardice or misunderstood humility, we do not stand up for the offended, do not expose the offender, do not testify to the truth, and allow evil and injustice to triumph.
How do we bear the misfortune of our neighbor, do we remember the commandment: “Bear one another’s burdens”? Are you always ready to help, sacrificing your peace and well-being? Are we leaving our neighbor in trouble?
Sins against oneself and other sinful tendencies that are contrary to the spirit of Christ
* Dejection, despair. Have you given in to despondency and despair? Did you have thoughts of suicide?
* Bad faith. Do we force ourselves to serve others? Are we not sinning by dishonestly fulfilling our duties in work and raising children? whether we keep our promises to people; Don’t we tempt people by being late to the meeting place or to the house where they are waiting for us, by being forgetful, unobligatory, and frivolous?
Are we careful at work, at home, in transport? Are we scattered in our work: forgetting to finish one task, we move on to another? Do we strengthen ourselves in the intention to serve others?
* Bodily excesses. Didn’t you destroy yourself with excesses of the flesh: overeating, sweet eating, gluttony, eating at the wrong time?
Have you abused your penchant for bodily peace and comfort, sleeping a lot, lying in bed after waking up? Have you indulged in laziness, immobility, lethargy, and relaxation? Are you so partial to a certain way of life that you are unwilling to change it for the sake of your neighbor?
Am I not guilty of drunkenness, this most terrible of modern vices, destroying soul and body, bringing evil and suffering to others? How do you fight this vice? Do you help your neighbor to give up on him? Did you not tempt the non-drinker with wine, or give wine to the young and sick?
Are you addicted to smoking, which also destroys your health? Smoking distracts from spiritual life, a cigarette replaces a smoker’s prayer, displaces the consciousness of sins, destroys spiritual chastity, serves as a temptation for others, and harms their health, especially children and adolescents. Did you use drugs?
* Sensual thoughts and temptations. Have we struggled with sensual thoughts? Have you avoided the temptations of the flesh? Have you turned away from seductive sights, conversations, touches? Have you sinned by intemperance of mental and physical feelings, pleasure and procrastination in unclean thoughts, voluptuousness, immodest viewing of persons of the opposite sex, self-defilement? Don't we remember with pleasure our previous sins of the flesh?
* Peacefulness. Are we not guilty of pleasing human passions, mindlessly following the lifestyle and behavior accepted among the people around us, including, although existing in the church environment, but not imbued with the spirit of love, feigning piety, falling into hypocrisy, pharisaism?
* Disobedience. Do we sin by disobeying our parents, elders in the family, or bosses at work? Are we not following the advice of our spiritual father, are we avoiding the penance he imposed on us, this spiritual medicine that heals the soul? Are we suppressing reproaches of conscience without fulfilling the law of love?
* Idleness, extravagance, attachment to things. Are we wasting our time? Are we using the talents God has given us for good? Are we wasting money without benefiting ourselves and others?
Are we not guilty of addiction to the comforts of life, are we not attached to perishable material things, are we not excessively accumulating, “for a rainy day,” food products, clothes, shoes, luxurious furniture, jewelry, thereby not trusting God and His Providence, forgetting that tomorrow we can appear before His court?
* Acquisitiveness. We fall into this sin when we are overly carried away by the accumulation of perishable wealth or seeking human glory in work, in creativity; when, under the pretext of being busy, we refuse to pray and go to church even on Sundays and holidays, we indulge in over-concern and vanity. This leads to captivity of the mind and petrification of the heart.
We sin in word, deed, thought, with all five senses, knowledge and ignorance, voluntarily and involuntarily, in reason and unreason, and there is no way to list all our sins according to their multitude. But we truly repent of them and ask for grace-filled help to remember all our sins, forgotten and therefore unrepentant. We promise to continue to take care of ourselves with God’s help, avoid sin and do deeds of love. But You, Lord, forgive us and forgive us from all sins according to Your mercy and long-suffering, and bless us to partake of Your Holy and Life-giving Mysteries, not for judgment and condemnation, but for the healing of soul and body. Amen.
List of deadly sins
1. Pride, despising everyone, demanding servility from others, ready to ascend to heaven and become like the Most High; in a word, pride to the point of self-adoration.
2. An insatiable soul, or Judas’s greed for money, combined for the most part with unrighteous acquisitions, not allowing a person to think even a minute about spiritual things.
3. Fornication, or the dissolute life of the prodigal son, who squandered all his father’s estate on such a life.
4. Envy leading to every possible crime against one's neighbor.
5. Gluttony or carnalism, not knowing any fasting, combined with a passionate attachment to various amusements, following the example of the evangelical rich man, who had fun all day long.
6. Anger unapologetic and deciding to commit terrible destruction, following the example of Herod, who in his anger beat the infants of Bethlehem.
7. Laziness or complete carelessness about the soul, carelessness about repentance until the last days of life, as, for example, in the days of Noah.
Special mortal sins - blasphemy against the Holy Spirit
These sins include:
Stubborn disbelief not convinced by any evidence of truth, even by obvious miracles, rejecting the most established truth.
Despair, or the feeling opposite to excessive trust in God in relation to God’s mercy, which denies the fatherly goodness in God and leads to thoughts of suicide.
Excessive reliance on God or the continuation of a gravely sinful life in the sole hope of God’s mercy.
Deadly sins that cry out to heaven for vengeance
* In general, intentional homicide (abortion), and especially parricide (fratricide and regicide).
* Sin of Sodom.
* Unnecessary oppression of a poor, defenseless person, a defenseless widow and young orphans.
* Withholding from a wretched worker the wages he deserves.
* Taking away from a person in his extreme situation the last piece of bread or the last mite, which he obtained with sweat and blood, as well as the violent or secret appropriation of alms, food, warmth or clothing from prisoners in prison, which are determined by him, and in general their oppression.
* Chagrin and insults to parents to the point of impudent beatings.
About the eight main passions with their divisions
and otralami and about the virtues that oppose them
(based on the works of St. Ignatius Brianchaninov)
1. Gluttony- overeating, drunkenness, non-keeping and allowing fasts, secret eating, delicacy, and generally violation of abstinence. Incorrect and excessive love of the flesh, its belly and rest, which constitutes self-love, from which comes failure to remain faithful to God, the Church, virtue and people.
This passion must be resisted abstinence - refraining from excessive consumption of food and nutrition, especially from drinking wine in excess, and maintaining fasts established by the Church. One must curb one’s flesh by moderate and constantly equal consumption of food, which is why all passions in general begin to weaken, and especially self-love, which consists of a wordless love of the flesh, life and its peace.
2. Fornication- prodigal kindling, prodigal sensations and attitudes of the soul and heart. Prodigal dreams and captivities. Failure to preserve the senses, especially the sense of touch, is the insolence that destroys all virtues. Foul language and reading voluptuous books. Natural prodigal sins: fornication and adultery. Prodigal sins are unnatural.
This passion is resisted chastity - avoidance of all kinds of fornication. Chastity is avoidance of voluptuous conversations and reading, and the utterance of voluptuous, foul and ambiguous words. Storing the senses, especially sight and hearing, and even more so the sense of touch. Alienation from television and depraved films, from depraved newspapers, books and magazines. Modesty. Rejection of the thoughts and dreams of prodigals. The beginning of chastity is a mind that does not waver from lustful thoughts and dreams; the perfection of chastity is purity that sees God.
3. Love of money- love of money, in general love of property, movable and immovable. The desire to get rich. Thinking about the means to get rich. Dreaming of wealth. Fears of old age, unexpected poverty, illness, exile. Stinginess. Selfishness. Disbelief in God, lack of trust in His Providence. Addiction or painful excessive love for various perishable objects, depriving the soul of freedom. Passion for vain concerns. Loving gifts. Appropriation of someone else's. Likhva. Cruelty towards the poor brethren and all those in need. Theft. Robbery.
They fight this passion non-covetousness - self-satisfaction with only what is necessary, hatred of luxury and bliss, charity for the poor. Non-covetousness is the love of gospel poverty. Trust in God's Providence. Following Christ's commandments. Calmness and freedom of spirit and carelessness. Softness of heart.
4. Anger— hot temper, acceptance of angry thoughts: dreams of anger and revenge, indignation of the heart with rage, darkening of the mind by it; obscene shouting, argument, swearing, cruel and caustic words; hitting, pushing, killing. Malice, hatred, enmity, revenge, slander, condemnation, indignation and insult to one’s neighbor.
The passion of anger is opposed meekness — avoidance of angry thoughts and indignation of the heart with rage. Patience. Following Christ, who calls His disciple to the cross. Peace of the heart. Silence of the mind. Christian firmness and courage. Not feeling insulted. Kindness.
5. Sadness- grief, melancholy, cutting off hope in God, doubt in God’s promises, ingratitude to God for everything that happens, cowardice, impatience, lack of self-reproach, sorrow for one’s neighbor, grumbling, renunciation of the cross, attempt to descend from it.
They fight this passion by opposing it blissful cry — a feeling of decline, common to all people, and of one’s own spiritual poverty. Lamentation about them. Cry of the mind. Painful contrition of the heart. The lightness of conscience, grace-filled consolation and joy that vegetates from them. Hope in God's mercy. Thank God in sorrows, humbly enduring them from the sight of the multitude of one’s sins. Willingness to endure.
6. Dejection- laziness towards any good deed, especially prayer. Abandonment of church and cell rules. Abandoning unceasing prayer and soul-helping reading. Inattention and haste in prayer. Neglect. Irreverence. Idleness. Excessive calming by sleep, lying down and all kinds of restlessness. Celebration. Jokes. Blasphemy. Abandonment of bows and other physical feats. Forgetting your sins. Forgetting the commandments of Christ. Negligence. Captivity. Deprivation of the fear of God. Bitterness. Insensibility. Despair.
Opposes despondency sobriety — zeal for every good deed. Non-slothful correction of church and cell rules. Attention when praying. Careful observation of all deeds, words, thoughts
and your feelings. Extreme self-distrust. Continuous stay in prayer and the Word of God. Awe. Constant vigilance over oneself. Keeping yourself from a lot of sleep and effeminacy, idle talk, jokes and sharp words. Love of night vigils, bows and other feats that bring cheerfulness to the soul. Remembrance of eternal blessings, desire and expectation of them.
7. Vanity- the search for human glory. Boasting. Desire and search for earthly and vain honors. Loving beautiful clothes. Attention to the beauty of your face, the pleasantness of your voice and other qualities of your body. Shame to confess your sins. Hiding them before people and the spiritual father. Craftiness. Self-justification. Envy. Humiliation of one's neighbor. Changeability of character. Indulgence. Unconscionability. The character and life are demonic.
Vanity is fought humility . This virtue includes the fear of God. Feeling it during prayer. Fear that arises during especially pure prayer, when the presence and greatness of God is felt especially strongly, so as not to disappear and turn into nothing. Deep knowledge of one's insignificance. A change in view of one’s neighbors, and they, without any coercion, seem to the humbled person to be superior to him in all respects. The manifestation of simplicity from living faith. Knowledge of the mystery hidden in the Cross of Christ. The desire to crucify oneself to the world and passions, the desire for this crucifixion. Rejection of earthly wisdom as obscene before God (Lk. 16.15). Silence before those who offend, studied in the Gospel. Putting aside all your own speculations and accepting the mind of the Gospel. The casting down of every thought that rises up against the mind of Christ. Humility or spiritual reasoning. Conscious obedience to the Church in everything.
8. Pride- contempt for one's neighbor. Preferring yourself to everyone. Insolence; darkness, dullness of mind and heart. Nailing them to the earthly. Hula. Disbelief. False mind. Disobedience to the Law of God and the Church. Following your carnal will. Abandonment of Christ-like humility and silence. Loss of simplicity. Loss of love for God and neighbor. False philosophy. Heresy. Godlessness. Ignorance. Death of the soul.
Pride Resists Love . The virtue of love includes changing the fear of God into the love of God during prayer. Fidelity to the Lord, proven by the constant rejection of every sinful thought and feeling, the indescribable, sweet attraction of the whole person with love for the Lord Jesus Christ and for the worshiped Holy Trinity. Seeing the image of God and Christ in others; resulting from this spiritual vision, the preference for oneself over all neighbors, their reverent veneration for the Lord. Love for neighbors, brotherly, pure, equal to everyone, joyful, impartial, flaming equally towards friends and enemies. Admiration for prayer and love of the mind, heart and whole body. Indescribable pleasure of the body with spiritual joy. Inactivity of the bodily senses during prayer. Resolution from the muteness of the heart's tongue. Stopping prayer from spiritual sweetness. Silence of the mind. Enlightening the mind and heart. Prayer power that overcomes sin. Peace of Christ. Retreat of all passions. The absorption of all understandings into the superior mind of Christ. Theology. Knowledge of incorporeal beings. The weakness of sinful thoughts that cannot be imagined in the mind. Sweetness and abundant consolation in times of sorrow. Vision of human structures. The depth of humility and the most humiliating opinion of oneself... The end is endless!
General list of sins
I confess that I am a great sinner (name) To the Lord God and our Savior Jesus Christ and to you, honorable father, all my sins and all my evil deeds, which I have done all the days of my life, which I have thought even to this day.
Sinned: He did not keep the vows of holy Baptism, but he lied about everything and created indecent things for himself before the face of God.
Forgive me, honest father.
Sinned: before the Lord with little faith and slowness in thoughts, from the enemy everything against the faith and the Holy Church; ingratitude for all His great and unceasing benefits, calling on the name of God without need - in vain.
Forgive me, honest father.
Sinned: lack of love and fear for the Lord, failure to fulfill His holy will and holy commandments, careless depiction of the sign of the cross, irreverent veneration of holy icons; did not wear a cross, was ashamed to be baptized and confess the Lord.
Forgive me, honest father.
Sinned: he did not preserve love for his neighbor, did not feed the hungry and thirsty, did not clothe the naked, did not visit the sick and prisoners in prison; I did not study the law of God and the traditions of the holy fathers out of laziness and negligence.
Forgive me, honest father.
Sinned: church and cell rules by non-compliance, going to the temple of God without diligence, with laziness and negligence; leaving morning, evening and other prayers; During the church service, I sinned by idle talk, laughter, dozing, inattention to reading and singing, absent-mindedness, leaving the temple during the service and not going to the temple of God due to laziness and negligence.
Forgive me, honest father.
Sinned: daring to go to the temple of God in uncleanness and touch every holy thing.
Forgive me, honest father.
Sinned: disrespect for the feasts of God; violation of holy fasts and failure to observe fasting days - Wednesday and Friday; intemperance in food and drink, polyeating, secret eating, intoxication, drunkenness, dissatisfaction with food and drink, clothing; parasitism; one’s will and mind through fulfillment, self-righteousness, self-indulgence and self-justification; undue reverence for parents, failure to raise children in the Orthodox faith, cursing their children and their neighbors.
Forgive me, honest father.
Sinned: unbelief, superstition, doubt, despair, despondency, blasphemy, false gods, dancing, smoking, playing cards, fortune telling, witchcraft, sorcery, gossip; he remembered the living for their repose, ate the blood of animals.
Forgive me, honest father.
Sinned: pride, conceit, arrogance; pride, ambition, envy, conceit, suspicion, irritability.
Forgive me, honest father.
Sinned: condemnation of all people - living and dead, slander and anger, malicious malice, hatred, evil for evil retribution, slander, reproach, deceit, laziness, deception, hypocrisy, gossip, disputes, stubbornness, unwillingness to give in and serve one's neighbor; sinned with gloating, malice, malice, insult, ridicule, reproach and man-pleasing.
Forgive me, honest father.
Sinned: incontinence of mental and physical feelings, mental and physical uncleanness; pleasure and procrastination in unclean thoughts, addiction, voluptuousness, immodest views of wives and young men; in a dream, prodigal desecration at night, intemperance in married life.
Forgive me, honest father.
Sinned: impatience with illnesses and sorrows, love for the comforts of this life, captivity of the mind and hardening of the heart, not forcing oneself to do any good deed.
Forgive me, honest father.
Sinned: inattention to the promptings of one’s conscience, negligence, laziness in reading the Word of God and negligence in acquiring the Jesus Prayer, covetousness, love of money, unrighteous acquisition, embezzlement, theft, stinginess, attachment to all sorts of things and people.
Forgive me, honest father.
Sinned: condemnation and disobedience of spiritual fathers, grumbling and resentment against them and failure to confess one’s sins to them through oblivion, negligence and false shame.
Forgive me, honest father.
Sinned: by unmercifulness, contempt and condemnation of the poor; going to the temple of God without fear and reverence, deviating into heresy and sectarian teaching.
Forgive me, honest father.
Sinned: laziness, relaxation, laziness, love of bodily rest, excessive sleeping, voluptuous dreams, biased views, shameless body movements, touching, fornication, adultery, corruption, fornication, unmarried marriage; Those who performed abortions on themselves or others, or incited someone to this great sin - infanticide, sinned gravely; spent time in empty and idle pursuits, in empty conversations, jokes, laughter and other shameful sins; read obscene books, magazines and newspapers, watched depraved programs and films on television.
Forgive me, honest father.
Sinned: despondency, cowardice, impatience, murmuring, despair of salvation, lack of hope in God's mercy, insensibility, ignorance, arrogance, shamelessness.
Forgive me, honest father.
Sinned: slander of one's neighbor, anger, insult, irritation and ridicule, non-reconciliation, enmity and hatred, discord, spying on other people's sins and eavesdropping on other people's conversations.
Forgive me, honest father.
I sinned: by coldness and insensitivity in confession, by belittling sins, by blaming others rather than by condemning myself.
Forgive me, honest father.
Sinned: against the Life-giving and Holy Mysteries of Christ, approaching them without proper preparation, without contrition and fear of God.
Forgive me, honest father.
Sinned: in word, thought and all my senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, -
willingly or unwillingly, knowledge or ignorance, in reason and unreason, and it is not possible to list all my sins according to their multitude. But in all of these, as well as in those unspeakable through oblivion, I repent and regret, and henceforth, with the help of God, I promise to take care.
You, honest father, forgive me and release me from all of this and pray for me, a sinner, and on that Day of Judgment testify before God about the sins I have confessed. Amen.
Sins confessed and resolved earlier should not be repeated in confession, for they, as the Holy Church teaches, have already been forgiven, but if we repeated them again, then we need to repent of them again. We must also repent of those sins that were forgotten, but are now remembered.
The repentant is required to recognize his sins, condemn himself in them, and self-convict himself before his confessor. This requires contrition and tears, faith in the forgiveness of sins. In order to get closer to Christ and receive salvation, it is necessary to hate previous sins and repent not only in word, but also in deed, that is, to correct your life: after all, sins shorten it, and the fight against them attracts the grace of God.
priest Dimitry GalkinPreparation for Confession- test of conscience before.
Unlike a magical rite of purification, which allows for blind execution of the instructions of a “sacred” sorcerer or magician, the Sacrament of Repentance implies the presence of faith, awareness of personal guilt before God and others, and a sincere and conscious desire to free oneself from the power of sin.
The Sacrament of Repentance cannot be approached mechanically. Forgiveness and remission of sins is not a legal act of declaring a sinner innocent. Everyone who has confessed at least once in their life could pay attention to what prayer is being read over them: “reconcile and unite the saints of your Church.” Through the Sacrament of Repentance, a person is reconciled with, restores himself as a member.
Repentance for sin consists of 3 stages: Repent of the sin as soon as you have committed it; remember him at the end of the day and again ask God for forgiveness for him; confess it in the Sacrament of Repentance (Confession) and receive permission from this sin.
It is necessary to distinguish from the Sacrament of Penance:
- confidential spiritual conversation with a priest;
- a repentant conversation before (not mandatory).
Where and when can I go to confession?
You can confess anywhere on any day of the year, but it is generally accepted to confess at a scheduled time or by agreement with. The person confessing must be baptized.
It is better not to come to your first confession or confession after a long break on Sundays or days of great church holidays, when churches are full of people praying and there is a long line for confession. It is also advisable to come to the Sacrament in advance.
The First Confession should not be combined with the First Communion in order to fully experience the impressions of this great event in our lives. However, this is only advice.
How to prepare for Confession?
When preparing for confession, unlike preparation for the Sacrament of Communion, the church charter does not require any special or special prayer rules.
Before going to confession it is appropriate:
— Focus on prayers of repentance.
- Carefully examine thoughts, thoughts, deeds; note, if possible, all your sinful traits (as an auxiliary aid, also include those accusations that came from relatives, friends, and other people).
— If possible, ask for forgiveness from those who were offended by sin, offended by inattention, indifference.
— Consider the plan for confession, and, if necessary, prepare questions for the priest.
— In case of serious sins or rare confessions, additional fasting may be recommended.
— Sins are confessed from the moment of the last confession; if they have never been confessed, then from the moment of Baptism.
— In the Sacrament, all sins are forgiven, with the exception of those intentionally hidden. If you forgot to name some minor sin, then don’t worry. The sacrament is called the Sacrament Repentance, but not " The sacrament of listing all sins committed".
- You need to confess first of all what you are ashamed of! Tactically, confession should always be very substantive and specific. You can’t repent of being “proud”—it’s pointless. Because after your repentance, nothing changes in our lives. We can repent of having looked arrogantly or said some words of condemnation to a specific person. Because, having repented of this, next time we will think whether it is worth doing this. You cannot repent “in general,” in the abstract. A substantive confession allows you to simultaneously draw up a plan to combat certain passions. At the same time, pettiness should be avoided; there is no need to list a large number of sins of one type.
— Do not use crafty generalizations. For example, under the phrase treated one's neighbor unfairly can be understood as both involuntary grief and murder.
— There is no need to describe sexual sins in detail, it is enough to name them. For example: sinned (,).
— When preparing for and during Confession, self-justification should be avoided.
— If you do not feel your sins, it is recommended to turn to God with “ Lord, grant me to see my sins».
Is it possible to write down sins so as not to forget them at confession?
What to do if you do not consider yourself a sinful person? Or if the sins are common, like everyone else’s.
You should compare yourself first of all with, then your own spiritual health will not look so rosy.
A clear conscience is a sign of a short memory...
Is it worth confessing if you are likely to commit some sins again?
Is it worth washing if you know for sure that you will get dirty again? Repentance is a desire to be reborn, it does not begin with confession and does not end with it, it is a matter of a lifetime. Repentance is not only a listing of sins before the testimony of a priest, it is a state of hating sin and avoiding it.
Repentance should not just be an emotional release, it is a systematic, meaningful work on oneself, with the goal of becoming closer to God in one’s qualities, becoming like Him in . Orthodoxy has an inexhaustible ascetic heritage, compiled by holy ascetics, which must be studied for proper organization.
Our goal is not just to be cleansed of sins and passions, but to acquire. It’s not enough, for example, to stop stealing, you need to learn mercy.
Gross sins have already been overcome and at each confession one has to repeat almost the same sins. How to get out of this vicious circle?
Bishop Tikhon (Shevkunov): “For people who have been churched for a long time, the “list” of sins, as a rule, is approximately the same from confession to confession. There may be a feeling of some kind of formal spiritual life. But at home we often sweep the floor, and, thank God, we don’t have to rake out the Augean stables every time. This is just not a problem. The trouble is that you begin to notice how the lives of some Christians become more and more boring over the years. But it should be the other way around: it should become more and more rich and more and more joyful.”
However, you don’t need to be complacent about the fact that you can’t overcome all sins; you just need to realize that not all sins and passions can be overcome instantly. This is a systemic problem, the solution of which is .
I have very difficult life circumstances, I’m afraid that a simple priest will not understand me.
The Lord will understand in any case. There is a good story about this: .
God wanted us to repent not before the sinless Angels, but before people. We should be ashamed of committing sin, not repenting. If a person sincerely hated his sins, then he will not be ashamed to confess them to the priest.
Sometimes you can notice that some parishioners, with amazing pedantry and scrupulousness confessing to the slightest violations of church rules or disrespect for sacred things, with the same amazing constancy remain rather harsh and unpeaceful in their relations with the people around them.
Priest Philip
Few people know how to confess correctly and what to say to the priest. I will tell you and give you an example of a speech for repentance so that the ceremony is as comfortable as possible for you and you can receive a blessing. It's scary to take this step just for the first time. After you experience the full sacred power of the ritual, doubts will go away and faith in God will strengthen.
What is confession?
Almost all people have heard about confession, but only a few know how to properly confess in church and what to say to the priest, as well as the deep meaning contained in this sacred rite.
The meaning of confession is to cleanse the soul, but at the same time it is also a test for it. It helps a person to remove the burden of his sins, receive forgiveness and appear before God completely pure: in thoughts, actions, soul. Confession is also an excellent religious tool for those who want to overcome internal doubts, learn to hear their intuition and repent of their wrongdoings.
It is important to know that if a person has committed serious sins, the priest can assign him punishment - penance. It may consist of long, tedious prayers, strict aftercare, or abstinence from all worldly things. Punishment should be accepted humbly, realizing that it helps your soul to cleanse itself.
It is known that any violations of God’s commandments negatively affect both a person’s physical health and the state of his soul. This is precisely why repentance is needed - to gain the strength necessary to resist temptations and temptations, to stop sinning.
Before confession, it is advisable to make a list of your sins in advance, describe them according to church canons, and prepare for a conversation with the priest.
What to say to a priest in confession: example
You should know that pouring out your soul to the priest and repenting of your sins in all details is not at all necessary, and even undesirable. Just look at this list of sins and write down what is typical for you.
There are seven mortal sins that need to be repented of:
- Envy of the successes and achievements, benefits of other people.
- Vanity, which manifests itself in selfishness, narcissism, inflated self-esteem and narcissism.
- Despondency, which is also identified with such concepts as depression, apathy, laziness and despair, lack of faith in one’s own strength.
- Love of money, which in modern language we call greed, stinginess, fixation only on material goods. When a person sets goals aimed only at enrichment, but does not devote a single minute of time to spiritual development.
- Anger directed at people. This also includes any manifestations of temper, irritation, vindictiveness and rancor.
- Fornication is betrayal of your partner, frequent change of sexual partners, infidelity to your lover in thoughts, words or actions (not just a physical act).
- Gluttony, gluttony, excessive love of food and the absence of any restrictions in food.
It is not for nothing that these sins are called “mortal” - they lead, if not to the death of a person’s physical body, then to the death of his soul. Constantly, day after day, committing these sins, a person moves further and further away from God. He ceases to feel his protection and support.
Only sincere repentance in confession will help you cleanse yourself of all this. It is worth understanding that we are all not without sin. And you don’t need to reproach yourself if you recognize yourself on this list. Only God makes no mistakes, and an ordinary person is not always able to resist temptations and enticements, and not allow evil into his body and soul. Especially if there is some difficult period in his life.
An example of what you can say is: “Oh God, I have sinned against you.” And then list the sins according to a previously prepared list. For example: “I committed adultery, I was greedy with my mother, I am constantly angry with my wife.” Complete your repentance with the phrase: “I repent, God, save and have mercy on me, a sinner.”
After the priest listens to you, he can give advice and help you understand how you should act in a given situation in accordance with God's commandments
It may be very difficult for you to admit the sins you have committed. A feeling of heaviness, depression, a lump in the throat, tears - any reaction is completely normal. Try to overcome yourself and tell everything. Father will never judge you, because he is a guide from you to God and simply has no right to make value judgments.
Watch a training video about what words to start confessing to the priest:
How to prepare for confession
It is better to prepare for the sacred ceremony in advance so that everything goes smoothly. A few days in advance, choose the church you will go to, study its opening hours, see what time confessions are held. Most often, the schedule indicates weekends or holidays for this.
There are often a lot of people in the temple at this time, and not everyone can open their hearts in public. In this case, you should contact the priest directly and ask him to set up a time for you when you can be alone.
Before confession, read the Canon of Repentance, which will put you in the right state and free your thoughts from all unnecessary things. Also, write out the list of sins on a separate piece of paper in advance, so that on the day of confession you don’t forget anything out of excitement.
In addition to the seven deadly sins, the list may include:
- “Women’s sins”: refusal to communicate with God, reading prayers “automatically” without involving the soul, sex with men before marriage, negative emotions in thoughts, appeals to magicians, fortune-tellers and psychics, belief in omens and superstitions, fear of old age, abortion , provocative clothing, addiction to alcohol or drugs, refusal to help those in need.
- “Male sins”: angry words addressed to God, lack of faith in God, oneself, others, a sense of superiority over the weak, sarcasm and ridicule, evasion of military service, violence (moral and physical) against other people, lies and slander, succumbed temptations and seductions, theft of other people's property, rudeness, boorishness, greed, a sense of contempt.
Why is it so important to confess? We regularly cleanse our body of dirt, but we completely forget that it sticks to our soul every day. Having cleansed our souls, we not only receive God’s forgiveness, but also become cleaner, calmer, more relaxed, full of strength and energy.
