What to say when confessing. Sins in confession in your own words: briefly, a list of possible sins and their description

Confession is not a conversation about one's shortcomings, doubts, it is not a simple informing of the confessor about oneself.

Confession is a sacrament, not just a godly practice. Confession is an ardent repentance of the heart, a thirst for cleansing that comes from the feeling of holiness, this is the second Baptism, and, therefore, in repentance we die to sin and are raised to holiness.

Repentance is the first degree of holiness, and insensitivity is being outside holiness, outside of God.

Often, instead of confessing your sins, there is self-glorification, denunciation of loved ones and complaints about the difficulties of life.

Some confessors strive to go through confession painlessly for themselves - they say general phrases: "I am sinful in everything" or spread about trifles, keeping silent about what really should weigh on the conscience. The reason for this is both false shame in front of the confessor, and indecision, but especially - the cowardly fear of seriously starting to understand your life, full of petty, familiar weaknesses and sins.

Sin is a violation of Christian moral law. Therefore, the holy apostle and evangelist John the Theologian gives the following definition of sin: “Everyone who commits sin also practices lawlessness” (1 John 3, 4).

There are sins against God and His Church. This group includes numerous, connected in a continuous network of spiritual states, which include, along with the simple and obvious, a large number of hidden, seemingly innocent, but in fact the most dangerous for the soul of the phenomena. In general, these sins can be summarized as follows:

1) lack of faith, 2) superstition, 3) blasphemy and godly, 4) non-prayer and disregard for church service, 5) delight.

Lack of faith. This sin is perhaps the most widespread, and literally every Christian has to struggle with it continuously. Lack of faith often imperceptibly turns into complete unbelief, and the person suffering from it often continues to attend divine services, resort to confession. He does not consciously deny the existence of God, however, he doubts His omnipotence, mercy or Providence.

By his actions, affections, by the whole way of his life, he contradicts the faith he professes in words. Such a person never delved into even the simplest dogmatic questions, fearing to lose those naive ideas about Christianity, often incorrect and primitive, that he once acquired. Transforming Orthodoxy into a national, domestic tradition, a set of external rituals, gestures, or reducing it to enjoying beautiful choral singing, flickering candles, that is, to external beauty, those of little faith lose the most important thing in the Church - our Lord Jesus Christ. In a person of little faith, religiosity is closely connected with aesthetic, passionate, sentimental emotions; she easily gets along with selfishness, vanity, sensuality. People of this type seek praise and a good opinion of their spiritual father. They approach the analogue to complain about others, they are full of themselves and strive to demonstrate their "righteousness" in every possible way. The superficiality of their religious enthusiasm is best proved by their easy transition from cloyingly ostentatious "piety" to irritability and anger at others.

Such a person does not admit any sins, does not even bother trying to understand his life and sincerely believes that he does not see anything sinful in it.

In fact, such "righteous" often show soullessness to those around them, selfish and hypocritical; live only for themselves, considering abstinence from sins sufficient for salvation. It is useful to remind yourself of the content of chapter 25 of the Gospel of Matthew (parables about the ten virgins, about talents and, especially, the description of the Last Judgment). In general, religious complacency and complacency are the main signs of distance from God and the Church, and this is most clearly shown in another gospel parable - about the publican and the Pharisee.

Superstition. Often all sorts of superstitions, belief in omens, divination, fortune telling on cards, various heretical ideas about sacraments and rituals penetrate and spread there among believers.

Such superstitions are contrary to the teachings of the Orthodox Church and serve to corrupt souls and the extinction of faith.

It is especially necessary to dwell on such a sufficiently widespread and destructive doctrine for the soul as occultism, magic, etc. On the faces of people who have been engaged in the so-called occult sciences for a long time, initiated into the "secret spiritual teaching", there is a heavy imprint - a sign of unconfessed sin, and in souls - a painfully distorted by satanic rationalistic pride opinion about Christianity as one of the lowest levels of knowledge of the truth. Drowning out the childishly sincere faith in the fatherly love of God, the hope for the Resurrection and Eternal Life, the occultists preach the doctrine of "karma", transmigration of souls, extra-church and, therefore, graceless asceticism. Such unfortunate people, if they have found the strength to repent, should be explained that, in addition to direct harm to mental health, occultism is caused by a curious desire to look behind a closed door. We must humbly acknowledge the existence of the Mystery, without trying to penetrate into it in a non-churchly way. We have been given the supreme law of life, we have been shown the path that leads us directly to God - love. And we must follow this path, carrying our cross, without turning into roundabout roads. Occultism is never able to discover the secrets of being, as their adherents claim.

Blasphemy and God. These sins often coexist with churchliness and sincere faith. This, first of all, includes the blasphemous murmur against God for His allegedly unmerciful attitude towards man, for suffering that seems to him excessive and undeserved. Sometimes it even comes down to blasphemy against God, on church relics, sacraments. This often manifests itself in the telling of disrespectful or downright offensive stories from the life of priests and monks, in a mocking, ironic quotation of certain expressions from Holy Scripture or from prayers.

Especially widespread is the custom of God and the remembrance in vain of the Name of God or the Most Holy Theotokos. It is very difficult to get rid of the habit of using these sacred names in everyday conversations in the role of interjections, which are used to give the phrase more emotional expressiveness: "God is with him!", "Oh you, Lord!" and so on. Even worse is to pronounce the Name of God in jokes, and a very terrible sin is committed by someone who uses sacred words in anger, during a quarrel, that is, along with curses and insults. The one who threatens his enemies with the wrath of the Lord, or even in "prayer" asks God to punish another person, also blasphemes. Parents commit a great sin by cursing their children in their hearts and threatening them with heavenly punishment. Invoking evil spirits (swearing) in anger or in simple conversation is also sinful. The use of any swear words is also blasphemy and a grave sin.

Disregard for church service. This sin most often manifests itself in the absence of a desire to participate in the sacrament of the Eucharist, that is, the long-term deprivation of oneself the Communion of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ in the absence of any circumstances that hinder this; in addition, it is a general lack of church discipline, a dislike for worship. As an excuse, they usually put forward busyness with official and household affairs, the remoteness of the church from home, the duration of the service, the incomprehensibility of the liturgical Church Slavonic language. Some attend divine services rather neatly, but at the same time they only attend the liturgy, do not receive communion and do not even pray during the service. Sometimes one has to deal with such sad facts as ignorance of the main prayers and the Symbol of Faith, a lack of understanding of the meaning of the sacraments performed, and most importantly, with a lack of interest in this.

Non-prayer, as a special case of non-churchliness, is a common sin. Fervent prayer distinguishes sincere believers from “lukewarm” believers. We must strive not to scold the prayer rule, not to defend the divine services, we must acquire the gift of prayer from the Lord, love prayer, and wait impatiently for the hour of prayer. Gradually entering the element of prayer under the guidance of a confessor, a person learns to love and understand the music of Church Slavonic chants, their incomparable beauty and depth; the brilliance and mystical imagery of liturgical symbols - everything that is called church splendor.

The gift of prayer is also the ability to control oneself, one's attention, to repeat the words of prayer not only with lips and tongue, but also with all our heart and with all thoughts to participate in prayer work. An excellent means for this is the "Jesus Prayer", which consists in the uniform, repeated, unhurried repetition of the words: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner." There is an extensive ascetic literature about this prayer exercise, collected mainly in the "Philosophy" and in other paternal creations.

The "Jesus Prayer" is especially good in that it does not require the creation of a special external environment, it can be read while walking down the street, during work, in the kitchen, on the train, etc. In these cases, it especially helps to distract our attention from everything seductive. vain, vulgar, empty and focus the mind and heart on the sweetest Name of God. True, one should not start practicing "spiritual work" without the blessing and guidance of an experienced confessor, since such self-discipline can lead to a false mystical state of delusion.

Spiritual beauty significantly different from all the listed sins against God and the Church. In contrast to them, this sin is rooted not in a lack of faith, religiosity, churchliness, but, on the contrary, in a false sense of an excess of personal spiritual gifts. A person who is in a state of seduction thinks himself to have achieved special fruits of spiritual perfection, as evidenced by all kinds of "signs" for him: dreams, voices, waking visions. Such a person can be very gifted mystically, but in the absence of church culture and theological education, and most importantly, due to the absence of a good, strict confessor and the presence of an environment inclined to gullibly take his stories as revelations, such a person often acquires many supporters, as a result of which and the majority of sectarian anti-church movements arose.

This usually begins with a story about a mysterious dream, unusually chaotic and with a claim to a mystical revelation or prophecy. In the next stage, in a similar state, according to him, voices are already heard in reality or shining visions appear, in which he recognizes an angel or some saint, or even the Mother of God and the Savior Himself. They give him the most incredible revelations, often completely meaningless. This happens to people who are both poorly educated and very well-read in the Holy Scriptures, patristic creations, as well as those who have given themselves up to "smart work" without pastoral guidance.

Gluttony- one of a number of sins against neighbors, family and society. It manifests itself in the habit of excessive, excessive consumption of food, that is, overeating or addiction to refined taste sensations, delighting oneself with food. Of course, different people need different amounts of food to maintain their physical strength - it depends on age, physique, health status, as well as on the severity of the work that a person does. There is no sin in the food itself, for it is a gift from God. Sin consists in treating it as a longed-for goal, in worshiping it, in a voluptuous experience of taste sensations, in conversations on this topic, in an effort to spend as much money as possible on new, even more sophisticated products. Every piece of food eaten in excess of satisfying hunger, every sip of moisture after extinguishing thirst, just for pleasure, is already gluttony. Sitting at the table, the Christian must not let himself be carried away by this passion. “The more wood, the stronger the flame; the more food, the more violent the lust ”(Abba Leonty). "Gluttony is the mother of fornication," says one ancient patericon. And St. John Climacus directly warns: "Conquer the womb until it prevails over you."

Blessed Augustine compares the body to a furious horse, enthralling the soul, whose wildness must be tamed by reducing food; for this purpose, the fasts are mainly established by the Church. But “beware of measuring fasting by simply abstaining from food,” says St. Basil the Great. "Those who abstain from food, and behave badly, are like the devil, who, although he does not eat anything, nevertheless does not stop sinning." During fasting it is necessary - and this is the main thing - to curb your thoughts, feelings, impulses. Best of all, the meaning of spiritual fasting is spoken of in one great-fast stichera: "We fast with a pleasant fast, pleasing to the Lord: true fasting is evil alienation, abstinence of the tongue, rejection of rage, excommunication, excommunication, lies and perjury: these are poverty, true fasting is also favorable." ... No matter how difficult fasting is in the conditions of our life, we must strive for it, it must be preserved in everyday life, especially the internal, spiritual fast, which the fathers call chastity. Sister and friend of fasting is prayer, without which it turns into an end in itself, into a means of special, refined care for your body.

Obstacles to prayer come from weak, wrong, insufficient faith, from too much concern, vanity, busyness with worldly affairs, from sinful, impure, evil feelings and thoughts. Fasting helps to overcome these obstacles.

Love of money manifests itself in the form of extravagance or the opposite of avarice. Secondary at first glance, it is a sin of extreme importance - in it is the simultaneous rejection of faith in God, love for people and attachment to lower feelings. It gives rise to anger, petrification, concern, envy. Overcoming the love of money is a partial overcoming of these sins. From the words of the Savior Himself, we know that it is difficult for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God. Christ teaches: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourself treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not dig in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will also be ”(Matthew 6: 19-2!). St. Paul says: “We have brought nothing into the world; it is clear that we cannot take anything out of it. Having food and clothing, we will be pleased with that. And those who want to get rich fall into temptation and into a snare, and into many reckless and harmful lusts that plunge people into misery and destruction. For the root of all evil is the love of money, which, having surrendered, some have turned away from the faith and have subjected themselves to many sorrows. But you, man of God, run away from this ... Exhort the rich in the present age, so that they do not think highly of themselves and trust not in unfaithful wealth, but in the Living God, who gives us everything abundantly for our enjoyment; so that they may do good things, become rich in good deeds, be generous and sociable, laying up for themselves treasure, a good foundation for the future, in order to attain eternal life ”(1 Tim. 6, 7-11; 17-19).

“The anger of man does not create the righteousness of God” (James 1:20). Anger, irritability- the manifestation of this passion, many penitents tend to justify physiological reasons, the so-called "nervousness" due to suffering and hardships that have befallen them, the tension of modern life, the difficult character of relatives and friends. Although some of these reasons do exist, they cannot serve as an excuse for this, as a rule, deeply rooted habit of taking out your irritation, anger, bad mood on loved ones. Irritability, irascibility, rudeness, first of all, destroy family life, leading to quarrels over trifles, causing reciprocal hatred, a desire for revenge, rancor, harden the hearts of generally kind and loving people. And how pernicious is the manifestation of anger on young souls, destroying in them God-given tenderness and love for their parents! “Fathers, do not provoke your children, so that they may not be discouraged” (Colossians 3:21).

The ascetic writings of the Church Fathers contain many tips for dealing with the passion of anger. One of the most effective is "righteous anger", in other words, - turning our ability to irritation and anger to the very passion of anger. “It is not only permissible, but indeed salutary, to be angry at our own sins and shortcomings” (St. Demetrius of Rostov). St. Nile of Sinai advises to be “meek with people”, but loving against our enemy, since that is the natural use of anger to oppose the ancient serpent with hostility ”(Philosophy, vol. II). The same ascetic writer says: "Whoever is grudging against demons is not grudging against people."

In relation to others, one should show meekness and patience. “Be wise, and block the lips of those who speak evil of you with silence, and not with anger and abuse” (St. Anthony the Great). “When you are being reviled, see if you have done anything worthy of reviling. If you have not done so, then consider backbiting as flying away smoke ”(St. Nil of Sinai). “When you feel a strong surge of anger, try to be silent. And in order for the very silence to bring you more benefit, turn mentally to God and read mentally to yourself at this time any short prayers, for example, "Jesus Prayer," advises St. Philaret of Moscow. One must even argue without bitterness and without anger, since irritation is immediately transmitted to another, infecting him, but in no case convincing him of the rightness.

Very often, the cause of anger is arrogance, pride, a desire to show their power over others, to expose his vices, forgetting about his sins. “Eliminate two thoughts in yourself: do not recognize yourself as worthy of anything great and do not think that the other person is much inferior to you in dignity. In this case, the offenses inflicted on us will never irritate us ”(St. Basil the Great).

In confession, we must tell if we harbor anger at our neighbor and have we reconciled with the one with whom we quarreled, and if we cannot see someone personally, have we reconciled with him in our hearts? On Athos, confessors not only do not allow monks who have a grudge against their neighbors to serve in the church and partake of the Holy Mysteries, but when reading the prayer rule, they must omit the words in the Lord's prayer: "And leave us our debts, as we also leave our debtors." so as not to be liars before God. By this prohibition, the monk, as it were, for a time, until reconciliation with his brother, is excommunicated from prayer and Eucharistic communion with the Church.
One who prays for those who often lead him into the temptation of anger receives substantial help. Thanks to such a prayer, a feeling of meekness and love for people who have recently been hated is instilled in the heart. But in the first place should be a prayer for the granting of meekness and drive away the spirit of anger, revenge, resentment, rancor.

One of the most common sins is undoubtedly condemning one's neighbor. Many do not even realize that they have sinned countless times, and if they do, they believe that this phenomenon is so widespread and commonplace that it does not even deserve a mention in confession. In fact, this sin is the beginning and root of many other sinful habits.

First of all, this sin is in close connection with passion pride... Condemning other people's shortcomings (real or apparent), a person imagines himself to be better, purer, more pious, more honest or smarter than the other. The words of Abba Isaiah are addressed to such people: “He who has a pure heart considers all people pure, but whoever has a heart defiled by passions does not regard anyone as pure, but thinks that everyone is like him” (“Spiritual flower garden”).

Those who condemn forget that the Savior Himself commanded: “Do not judge, lest you be judged, for with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with what measure you mete, it will be measured to you also. And why are you looking at the mote in your brother's eye, but you don't feel the beam in your eye? " (Matt. 7, 1-3). “Let us no longer judge one another, but rather judge how not to give your brother an opportunity to stumble or be tempted” (Rom. 14, 13), teaches St. the apostle Paul. There is no sin committed by one person that no one else could commit. And if you see someone else's impurity, then it means that it has already penetrated into you, for innocent babies do not notice the depravity of adults and thus preserve their chastity. Therefore, the condemning person, even if he is right, must honestly admit to himself: did he not commit the same sin?

Our judgment is never impartial, for most often it is based on an accidental impression or is carried out under the influence of personal resentment, irritation, anger, accidental "mood".

If a Christian hears about the unseemly act of his loved one, then, before resenting and condemning him, he must act according to the word of Jesus the son of Sirakhov: “A curbing tongue will live peacefully, and he who hates talkativeness will diminish evil. Never repeat a word, and you will not lose anything ... Ask your friend, maybe he did not do it; and if he did, then let him not go ahead. Ask your friend, maybe he didn't say that; and if he did, let him not repeat it. Ask a friend, for there is often slander. Don't believe every word. Someone sins in word, but not from the heart; and who has not sinned with his tongue? Ask your neighbor before threatening him, and make room for the law of the Most High ”(Sire. 19: 6-8; 13-19).

The sin of discouragement most often it comes from excessive preoccupation with oneself, one's own experiences, failures and, as a result, the extinction of love for others, indifference to other people's suffering, inability to rejoice in other people's joys, envy. The basis and root of our spiritual life and strength is love for Christ, and it must be nurtured and nurtured within ourselves. To peer into His image, to clarify and deepen it in yourself, to live with the thought of Him, and not about your small vain strokes and failures, to give Him your heart - this is the life of a Christian. And then silence and peace will reign in our hearts, about which St. Isaac the Sirin: "Be at peace with yourself, and heaven and earth will be reconciled with you."

There is, perhaps, not a single more common sin than lying. This category of vices should also include failure to keep promises made, gossip and idle talk. This sin has so deeply entered the consciousness of modern man, is so deeply rooted in the souls that people do not even think that any form of untruth, insincerity, hypocrisy, exaggeration, boasting is a manifestation of grave sin, serving Satan - the father of lies. According to the Apostle John, into Heavenly Jerusalem “no one who is devoted to abomination and falsehood will enter” (Rev. 21:27). Our Lord said about Himself: “I am the way and the truth and the life” (John 14: 6), and therefore you can come to Him only by walking the path of righteousness. Truth alone makes people free.

Lie can manifest itself completely shamelessly, openly, in all its satanic abomination, becoming in such cases the second nature of a person, a permanent mask that has grown to his face. He is so accustomed to lying that he cannot express his thoughts otherwise than by putting them into words that are obviously not appropriate to them, thereby not clarifying, but obscuring the truth. Lies imperceptibly creep into the soul of a person from childhood: often, not wanting to see anyone, we ask our relatives to tell the newcomer that we are not at home; instead of outright refusal to participate in any unpleasant business for us, we pretend to be sick, busy with another business. Such "everyday" lies, seemingly innocent exaggerations, jokes based on deception, gradually corrupt a person, allowing him subsequently, for his own benefit, to make deals with his conscience.

Just as there can be nothing from the devil but evil and death for the soul, so from lies - his brainchild - nothing can follow but the corrupting, satanic, anti-Christian spirit of evil. There is no “saving lie” or “justified”, these very phrases are blasphemous, because only Truth, our Lord Jesus Christ, saves, justifies us.

No less than a lie, common sin of idle talk, that is, empty, soulless use of the Divine gift of the word. This also includes gossip, retelling of rumors.

Often people spend time in empty, useless conversations, the content of which is immediately forgotten, instead of talking about faith with someone who suffers without it, looking for God, visiting a sick person, helping a lonely person, praying, comforting the offended, talking with children or grandchildren , to instruct them with a word, personal example on the spiritual path.

In the prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian says: "... Do not give me the spirit of idleness, despondency, love of command and idle talk." During Great Lent and Retreat, one must be especially focused on the spiritual, abandon spectacles (cinema, theater, television), be careful in words, truthful. It is appropriate to once again recall the words of the Lord: “For every idle word that people say, they will give an answer on the day of judgment: for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned” (Matthew 12: 36-37).
We must carefully, chastely handle the priceless gifts of word and reason, for they make us intimate with the Divine Logos Himself, the Incarnate Word, with our Lord Jesus Christ.

The most terrible sin at all times was considered to be the violation of the sixth commandment - murder- deprivation of another greatest gift of the Lord - life. The same terrible sins are suicide and murder in the womb - abortion.

Very close to committing murder are those who, in anger at their neighbor, allow assault, inflicting beatings, wounds, mutilations on him. Parents are guilty of this sin, cruelly treating their children, beating them for the smallest offense, and even without any reason. Guilty of this sin are those who, with gossip, slander, slander, caused anger in a person against someone else, and even more so - instigated him to physically deal with him. Often this is the sin of mother-in-law in relation to their daughters-in-law, neighbors, incriminating a woman temporarily separated from her husband, deliberately provoking scenes of jealousy that end in beatings.

Timely failure to provide assistance to a sick, dying person - in general, indifference to other people's suffering should also be considered as passive murder. Especially terrible is this attitude towards elderly sick parents on the part of children.

This also includes the failure to provide assistance to a person in trouble: homeless, hungry, drowning in front of your eyes, beaten or robbed, suffered from a fire or flood.

But we kill our neighbor not only with our hands or weapons, but also with cruel words, abuse, mockery, mockery of someone else's grief. St. John the Apostle says: "Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer" (1 John 3:15). Everyone has experienced how an evil, cruel, caustic word hurts and kills the soul.

No less a sin are committed by those who deprive young souls of honor and innocence by corrupting them physically or morally, pushing them onto the path of depravity and sin. Blessed Augustine says: “Do not think that you are not a murderer if you have guided your neighbor to sin. You corrupt the soul of the seduced one and steal from him what belongs to eternity. " Inviting a young man or girl to a drunken gathering, inciting insults to revenge, seducing with depraved spectacles or stories, dissuading from fasting, engaging in pimping, providing their home for drunkenness and dissolute gatherings - all this is complicity in the moral murder of a neighbor.

Killing animals without the need for food, torturing them is also a violation of the sixth commandment. “The righteous one also cares for the life of his cattle, but the heart of the wicked is cruel” (Proverbs 12, 10).

By indulging in excessive sadness, driving ourselves to despair, we sin against the same commandment. Suicide is the greatest sin, for life is a gift from God, and only He has the power to take it away from us. Refusal of treatment, deliberate non-observance of doctor's prescriptions, deliberate harm to one's health by excessive use of wine, smoking tobacco is also a slow suicide. Some people kill themselves by overworking for the sake of enrichment - this is also a sin.

The Holy Church, her holy fathers and teachers, condemning abortion and considering it a sin, proceed from the fact that people do not mindlessly neglect the sacred gift of life. This is the meaning of all Church prohibitions on the issue of abortion. At the same time, the Church recalls the words of the Apostle Paul that “a wife ... will be saved through childbearing if she abides in faith and love and in holiness with chastity” (1 Tim. 2, 14. 15).

A woman outside the Church is warned against this act by medical workers, explaining the danger and moral impurity of this operation. For a woman who admits her involvement in the Orthodox Church (and as such, apparently, every baptized woman who comes to church for confession should be considered), an artificial termination of pregnancy is unacceptable.

Some consider it a violation of the commandment “ don't steal»Only obvious theft and robbery with the use of violence, when large sums of money or other material values ​​are taken away, and therefore, without hesitation, they deny their guilt in the sin of embezzlement. However, embezzlement is any misappropriation of someone else's property, both own and public. Theft (theft) should be considered the failure to return money debts or things given for a time. No less reprehensible is parasitism, begging without extreme necessity, if possible, earning a living on your own. If a person, taking advantage of the misfortune of another, takes from him more than he should, then he is committing the sin of covetousness. The concept of extortion also includes the resale of food and industrial products at inflated prices (speculation). Traveling without a ticket on public transport is also an act that should be considered a violation of the eighth commandment.

Sins against the seventh commandment, by their very nature, are especially widespread, tenacious, and therefore the most dangerous. They are associated with one of the strongest human instincts - sex. Sensuality has penetrated deeply into the fallen nature of man and can manifest itself in the most varied and sophisticated forms. Patristic asceticism teaches to struggle with every sin from the very beginning, not only with the already obvious manifestations of carnal sin, but with lustful thoughts, dreams, fantasy, for “everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28). Here is a rough diagram of the development of this sin in us.

Prodigal thoughts that develop from memories of what was previously seen, heard, or even experienced in a dream. In solitude, often at night, they overwhelm a person especially strongly. Here the best medicine is ascetic exercises: fasting in food, inadmissibility of lying in bed after waking up, regular reading of the morning and evening prayer rules.

Seductive conversations in society, obscene stories, anecdotes told with a desire to please others and be in the center of their attention. Many young people, in order not to show their "backwardness" and not to be ridiculed by their comrades, fall into this sin. This also includes the singing of immoral songs, the writing of obscene words, as well as their use in conversation. All this leads to vicious self-enjoyment, which is all the more dangerous because, firstly, it is associated with the intensified work of the imagination, and secondly, it persecutes the unfortunate person so relentlessly that he gradually becomes a slave to this sin, which destroys his physical health and paralyzes his will to overcome vice.

Fornication- the intercourse of a single man and an unmarried woman (or violation of the chastity of a young man and a girl before marriage), not consecrated by the grace-filled power of the sacrament of Marriage.

Adultery is a violation of marital fidelity by one of the spouses.

Incest is a carnal bond between close relatives.

Unnatural sexual relations: sodomy, lesbianism, bestiality.

The disgustingness of these sins is hardly worth expanding on in detail. Their inadmissibility is obvious to every Christian: they lead to spiritual death even before the physical death of a person.

All men and women who bring repentance, if they are in a relationship not sanctified by the Church, should be strongly encouraged to consecrate their union with the sacrament of Marriage, no matter what age they are. In addition, in marriage, one should observe chastity, not indulge in immoderation in carnal pleasures, refrain from cohabitation during fasting, on the eve of Sundays and holidays.

Our repentance will not be complete if, while repenting, we are not confirmed internally in our determination not to return to our confessed sin. But they ask how this is possible, how can I promise myself and my confessor that I will not repeat my sin? Wouldn't it be closer to the truth just the opposite - the confidence that sin is repeated? After all, from his own experience, everyone knows that after a while you inevitably return to the same sins; observing yourself from year to year, you do not notice any improvement.

It would be awful if this were the case. Fortunately, this is not the case. There is no case that, in the presence of sincere repentance and a good desire to reform, the Holy Communion received with faith does not make good changes in the soul. The point is that, first of all, we are not our own judges. A person cannot correctly judge himself, whether he has become worse or better, since both he himself and what he is judging are values ​​that change. Increased severity towards oneself, increased spiritual vision can give the illusion that sins have multiplied and intensified. In fact, they remained the same, maybe even weakened, but earlier we did not notice them that way. In addition, God, in His special Providence, often turns a blind eye to our successes in order to protect us from the worst sin - vanity and pride. It often happens that sin still remains, but frequent confessions and communion of the Holy Mysteries have shattered and weakened its roots. Yes, the very struggle with sin, suffering for your sins - isn't this an acquisition ?! "Do not be afraid, even if you fall every day and depart from the ways of God, stand courageously, and the angel guarding you will honor your patience," said St. John Climacus.

And even if there is no such feeling of relief, rebirth, one must have the strength to return again to confession, to completely free one's soul from impurity, wash it with tears from blackness and filth. The one who strives for this will always achieve what he is looking for.

Submit a church note (commemoration)

Brothers and sisters, now you can order treasures from the list offered to you right here on the website

Nowadays, the development of information technology makes it possible to submit donations for commemoration remotely. On the website of the Holy Resurrection Church (old) in the city of Vichug such an opportunity has also appeared - the submission of notes via the Internet. The process of submitting a note takes a few minutes ...

Viewed (32187) times

How to Prepare for Confession and the Sacrament? Preparation for confession and communion, especially for the first time, raises many, many questions. I remember my first communion. How difficult it was for me to understand everything. In this article you will receive answers to the questions: what to say to a priest in confession - an example? how to receive communion and confess correctly? the rules of the sacrament in the church? how to confess for the first time? how to prepare for the sacrament? The answer to these questions is given by the modern Greek preacher, Archimandrite Andrew (Konanos) and other priests.

The sacrament was instituted by Jesus Christ Himself at his last meal with the Apostles. The modern Greek preacher and theologian Archimandrite Andrew (Konanos) says, if people realized what Gift of union with God they receive during the sacrament, because now Christ's blood flows in their veins ... if they realized this fully, their life would have changed a lot!

But, unfortunately, most people during the sacrament are like children playing with precious stones and not understanding their value.

The rules of the sacrament can be found in any Temple. They are usually set out in a small book called HOW TO PREPARE FOR HOLY COMMONMENT. These are the simple rules:

• Before communion you need Fast 3 days- eat only plant foods (give up meat, dairy products and eggs).
• Necessary be at evening service the day before communion day.
• Necessary confess either at the evening service or on the day of the sacrament at the very beginning of the liturgy (the morning service during which the sacrament takes place).
• It takes a few days more pray hard- for this, read morning and evening prayers and read the canons: Canon of repentance to our Lord Jesus Christ ,
  Prayer Canon to the Most Holy Theotokos,
  Canon to the Angel of Christ,
  Follow-up to Holy Communion *. * If you have never read the Canons (in Church Slavonic), you can listen to the audio (available on the prayer book sites at the indicated links).
• You need to take communion on an empty stomach (do not eat or drink anything in the morning). An exception is made for sick people, such as diabetics, for whom food and medicine are vital.

If you begin to receive communion at each liturgy, every Sunday, your confessor will be able to allow you to fast less and not to read all the specified prayers. Do not be afraid to ask the priest and consult with him.

How is the sacrament in church?

Suppose you decide to receive the Holy Communion on Sunday. So, the night before (Saturday) you need to come to the evening service. Usually, the evening service in the Temples begins at 17:00. Find out at this time the liturgy (morning service) begins on Sunday, during which the communion itself will take place. Usually, the morning service at the Temples starts at 9:00 am. If there was no confession at the evening service, then confess at the beginning of the morning service.

Around the middle of the service, the Priest will take the Chalice out of the altar. All who were preparing for the sacrament gather near the bowl and fold their hands on their right chest over the left. They approach the bowl carefully so as not to turn it over. With a spoon, the priest gives the sacraments the Holy Gifts - a piece of the body and blood of Christ under the guise of bread and wine.

After that, you need to go to the end of the Temple, where you will be given a drink. This is water diluted with wine. You need to drink it down so that not a single drop or crumb of the Eucharist is lost. Only then can you cross yourself. At the end of the service, you need to listen to prayers of thanks.

How to Prepare for Confession? What is an example to say to a priest in confession? List of sins

The main rule in confession, which priests always remind about, is not to retell sins. Because if you start retelling the story of how you committed a sin, then you will involuntarily begin to justify yourself and blame others. Therefore, in confession, sins are simply named. For example: pride, envy, foul language, etc. And in order not to forget anything, use a list of sins against God, against neighbors, against yourself(usually such a list is in the booklet "HOW TO PREPARE FOR HOLY COMMONMENT".

Write your sins on a piece of paper so you don't forget anything. Come to the Temple early in the morning so as not to be late for confession and for the general prayer before confession. Before confessing, go to the priest, cross yourself, attach to the Gospel and to the cross, and start listing the previously recorded sins. After confession, the priest will read the prayer of permission and say whether you are admitted to the sacrament.

It very rarely happens when a priest for your correction does not admit you to communion. This is, among other things, a test of your pride.

It is important during confession, when naming a sin, to make a promise not to repeat it. It is very important on the eve of communion to come to terms with enemies and forgive your offenders.

How to confess for the first time?

The first confession is often called the general confession. As a rule, practically all sins from the list of sins against God, neighbor and oneself are included in the leaflet with the list of sins. Father will surely understand that you have come to confession for the first time and will help you with advice on how to try not to repeat sins and mistakes.

Hopefully the article "How to Prepare for Confession and Communion?" will help you make up your mind and go to confession and communion. This is important for your soul, because confession is the purification of the soul. We wash our bodies every day, but we don't care about the purity of our souls!

If you have never confessed or received communion and it seems to you that it is very difficult to prepare, I recommend that you do this feat anyway. The reward will be great. I assure you you have not experienced anything like this before. After the sacrament, you will experience an extraordinary and incomparable spiritual joy.

The most difficult thing usually seems to be reading the canons and following up to Holy Communion. Indeed, it is difficult to read the first time. Take advantage of the audio recording and listen to all these prayers for 2-3 evenings.

Listen to the story of priest Andrei Tkachev in this video about how long (usually several years) separates a person from the desire to go to the first confession until the moment of the first confession.

I wish everyone to enjoy life and thank God for everything!

Alena Kraeva

Those who, for the first time in their lives, are going to participate in one of the most important Christian sacraments, wonder with what words to begin confession to the priest. A person who wants to repent and may not know how to talk about their sins.

The well-known church leader of our time, Archimandrite John (Krestyankin), identified two options for constructing a confession:

• according to the ten commandments;
• according to the Beatitudes.

In his book on confession, the hierarch gives an example of how you can make a confession and repent of your sins. The archimandrite analyzes each of the commandments and describes what responsibilities Christians should have before God according to these commandments. John points out to readers the mistakes in everyday life that lead to forgetfulness of faith.

He analyzes the Beatitudes and points out that people are neglected. Considering the second commandment of Beatitude ("blessed are those who weep"), he asks the reader if he mourned the desecration of God's image in himself, his non-Christian life, tides of pride and anger. It shows readers how far they are from the steps of moral perfection.

This book is recognized as a good guide to explain what should be considered a sin in human life. But it cannot be an instruction on what to say. The repentant must himself choose the words that will come from his heart, and sincerely desire to repent.

Preparing for and conducting confession

A person who wants to confess for the first time must carefully remember all the sins they have committed. For convenience, he can make a summary that will allow him not to forget anything during the ordinance. He can talk in advance with a clergyman who will appoint a time for him during a general confession or separately.

People confess to the clergy on a first come, first served basis. The visitor must wait for his turn. After that, he, turning to the audience, asks them for forgiveness for the sins they have committed. They say that God will forgive and forgive him. After that, the person who confesses goes to the priest.

A man comes up to a lectern, crosses himself, bows, and then begins to confess. Approaching the priest, he must turn to God and say that he has sinned against Him. At the beginning, he can introduce himself to the priest who confesses him, but this can also be done at the end, when the priest will have to call his name in prayer. Then comes the time of listing sins, the story of each of which should begin with the word: "I have sinned / sinned."

Also, approaching the analogue, the believer can say "The servant of God (the servant of God) is confessed" and name the name. Then say “I repent of my sins” and start listing them.

When the repentant finishes enumerating his sins, he must listen to the word of the priest, who can forgive his sins or impose a punishment for the layman (penance). After that, the person is baptized again, makes obeisances, applies to the Gospel and the Cross.

Confession is one of the most important sacraments in the life of a Christian. New converts and those who have come late to the faith often have a question, with what words to begin their confession before the priest. ... A person must show that he has realized his sinful life and wants to change.

In which he who sincerely confesses his sins, with a visible expression of forgiveness from the priest, is invisibly released from sins by God Himself. A priest accepts confession or.

Why is it necessary to confess in the presence of a priest, and not just ask God for forgiveness?

Sin is filth - and so, confession is a bathhouse that washes the soul from this spiritual filth. Sin is poison to the soul - and so, confession is the treatment of a poisoned soul, cleansing it from the poison of sin. A person will not take a bath in the middle of the street, he will not be cured of poisoning on the go: for this, appropriate institutions are needed. In this case, such an institution established by God is the Holy Church. They will ask: “But why is it necessary to confess in the presence of a priest, in the setting of a church sacrament? Doesn't God see my heart? If I have done badly, sinned, but I see it, I am ashamed of it, I ask God for forgiveness - is it not enough? " But, my friend, if, for example, a person has fallen into a swamp and, having got to the shore, is ashamed of being covered in mud, is that enough to become clean? Has he already bathed himself with one feeling of disgust? To wash away the dirt, you need an external source of clean water, and clean washing water for the soul is the grace of God, the source from which the water is poured is the Church of Christ, the process of ablution is the Sacrament of Confession.

A similar analogy can be drawn when looking at sin as a disease. Then the Church is a hospital, and confession is a cure for a disease. Moreover, the confession itself in this example can be considered as an operation to remove a tumor (sin), and the subsequent communion of the Holy Gifts - the Body and Blood of Christ in the Sacrament of the Eucharist - as a postoperative therapy for healing and restoring the body (soul).

How easy it is for us to forgive a repentant, how we ourselves need to repent before those whom we have offended! .. But is not our repentance before God - the Heavenly Father all the more necessary? We do not have such a sea of ​​sins before Him before any other person.

How does the Sacrament of Penance take place, how to prepare for it and how to start it?

The rite of confession : the beginning of the usual, priestly prayers and an appeal to the repentant " Behold, Christ is invisibly standing, accepting your confession ...", Actually confession. At the end of the confession, the priest puts the edge on the head of the penitent and reads the prayer of permission. The penitent kisses the Gospel and the cross lying on the analogue.

It is customary to make confession after the evening or in the morning, just before, since the laity is traditionally allowed to receive communion after confession.

The preparation for confession is not outwardly formal. Unlike the other great Sacrament of the Church, confession can be performed always and everywhere (if there is a legal secretary - an Orthodox priest). In preparation for confession, the church charter does not require any special fasting or special prayer rule, but only faith and repentance are needed. That is, a person who confesses must be a baptized member of the Orthodox Church, consciously believing (recognizing all the foundations of the Orthodox faith and recognizing himself as a child of the Orthodox Church) and repenting of his sins.

Sins must be understood both in a broad sense - as passions inherent in fallen human nature, and in a more concrete sense - as actual cases of transgression of the commandments of God. The Slavic word "repentance" means not so much "apology" as "change" - the determination not to allow committing the same sins in the future. Thus, repentance is a state of uncompromising self-condemnation for one's past sins and the desire to continue to stubbornly fight against passions.

So, getting ready for confession means looking over your life with a repentant glance, analyzing your deeds and thoughts from the point of view of God's commandments (if necessary, and writing them down for memory), praying to the Lord for the forgiveness of sins and the granting of true repentance. As a rule, for the period after the last confession. But you can also confess past sins - either previously, out of forgetfulness or false shame, not confessed, or confessed without due repentance, mechanically. At the same time, you need to know that sincerely confessed sins are always and irreversibly forgiven by the Lord (the dirt is washed, the disease is healed, the curse is removed), in this immutability is the meaning of the Sacrament. However, this does not mean that sin should be forgotten - no, it remains in the memory for humility and protection from future falls; it can disturb the soul for a long time, just as a healed wound can disturb a person - no longer fatal, but still perceptible. In this case, it is possible to confess the sin again (to pacify the soul), but not necessarily, since it has already been forgiven.

And - go to the temple of God to confess.

Although, as already mentioned, you can confess in any setting, but it is generally accepted to confess in church - before or at a time specially appointed by the priest (in special cases, for example, for a patient's confession at home, you need to individually agree with the clergyman).

The usual time for confession is before. Usually they confess at the evening service, sometimes they set a special time. It is advisable to find out about the time of confession in advance.

As a rule, the priest confesses in front of a lectern (anala is a table for church books or icons with an inclined upper surface). Those who come to confession stand one after another in front of the analogion, where the priest confesses, but at some distance from the analogion, so as not to interfere with someone else's confession; stand quietly, listening to church prayers, lamenting in their hearts for their sins. When their turn comes, they come to confession.

Approaching the analogue, bow your head; at the same time, you can kneel down (if you wish; but on Sundays and great holidays, as well as from Easter to the day of the Holy Trinity, kneeling is canceled). Sometimes the priest covers the head of the penitent with a bishop's head (Epitrakhil is a detail of the priest's vestment - a vertical strip of fabric on his chest), prays, asks the name of the confessor and what he wants to confess before God. Here the penitent must confess, on the one hand, a general awareness of his sinfulness, especially naming the passions and weaknesses most characteristic of him (for example: lack of faith, love of money, anger, etc.), and on the other hand, name those specific sins that he is for sees himself, and especially those that lie like a stone on his conscience, for example: abortions, insults to parents or loved ones, theft, fornication, the habit of swearing and blasphemy, non-observance of the commandments of God and church regulations, etc., etc. The section "General Confession" will help you to understand your sins.

The priest, having heard the confession, as a witness and intercessor before God, asks (if he considers it necessary) questions and speaks admonition, prays for the forgiveness of the sins of the repentant sinner and, when he sees sincere repentance and striving for correction, reads the “permissive” prayer.

The Sacrament of the forgiveness of sins itself is performed not at the moment of reading the "permissive" prayer, but by the entire set of rites of confession, however, the "permissive" prayer is, as it were, a seal certifying the performance of the Sacrament.

So - the confession is complete, with sincere repentance the sin is forgiven by God.

The forgiven sinner, crossing himself, kisses the cross, the Gospel and takes a blessing from the priest.

To take a blessing is to ask the priest by his priestly authority to send down the strengthening and sanctifying grace of the Holy Spirit on himself and on his deeds. To do this, you need to fold your hands, palms up (right to left), bow your head and say: "Bless, father." The priest baptizes the person with the sign of the priestly blessing and puts his palm on the folded palms of the person being blessed. You should kiss the priest's hand with your lips - not as a human hand, but as an image of the blessing right hand of the Giver of all the blessings of the Lord.

If he was preparing for the sacrament, he asks: "Bless me to take the sacrament?" - and with a positive answer, he goes to prepare for the reception of the Holy Mysteries of Christ.

Are all sins forgiven in the Sacrament of Repentance, or just named?

How often should you confess?

The minimum is before each Communion (according to church canons, the faithful receive Communion no more than once a day and at least once every 3 weeks), the maximum number of confessions has not been established and is left to the discretion of the Christian himself.

At the same time, it should be remembered that repentance is a desire to be reborn, it does not begin with confession and does not end with it, it is the work of a lifetime. Therefore, the Sacrament is called the Sacrament of Penance, and not the "Sacrament of enumeration of sins." Repentance for sin consists of three stages: Repentance of sin as soon as you commit it; remember him at the end of the day and again ask God for forgiveness for him (see the last prayer in the Evening); confess it and receive permission from sins in the Sacrament of Confession.

How can you see your sins?

At first it is not difficult, but with regular Communion and, accordingly, confession it becomes more and more difficult. You need to ask God for this, because seeing your sins is a gift from God. But you need to be ready for temptations if the Lord fulfills our prayer. At the same time, it is useful to read the lives of the saints and study.

Can a priest refuse to accept confession?

Apostolic Canons (Canon 52) " If anyone, a bishop or a presbyter, does not receive a person who turns from sin, let him be cast out of the holy order. For [he] grieves Christ, who said: Joy is in heaven over one repentant sinner ()».

You can refuse to confess if, in fact, there is none. If a person does not repent, does not consider himself guilty of his sins, does not want to be reconciled with his neighbors. Also, the unbaptized and excommunicated cannot receive permission from sins.

Can I confess by phone or in writing?

In Orthodoxy, there is no tradition of confessing sins over the phone or via the Internet, especially since this violates the secret of confession.
It should also be borne in mind that the sick can invite the priest home or to the hospital.
Those who have left for distant countries cannot justify themselves by this, because falling away from the Holy Sacraments of the Church is their choice and it is inappropriate to profane the Sacrament for the sake of this.

What rights does a priest have to impose a penance on a penitent?

Confession. Unfortunately, we really have a lot of things mixed up in our heads, and it seems to us that if a person cannot but sin, he should confess almost every day.

Frequent confession is very useful at a certain stage of our life, especially when a person is just taking the first steps in faith, just starting to cross the threshold of the temple, and a space of new life, almost unknown, opens up for him. He does not know how to pray correctly, how to build his relationships with neighbors, how he generally navigates in this new life, so he makes mistakes all the time, all the time, it seems to him (and not only him), he does something wrong then.

Thus, frequent confession for those people whom we call neophytes is a very important and serious stage in their recognition of the Church, understanding of all the foundations of spiritual life. Such people enter the life of the Church, including through confession, through a conversation with a priest. Where else can you talk so closely with a priest, if not in confession? The main thing is that they get here their basic first Christian experience of understanding their mistakes, understanding how to build relationships with other people, with themselves. Such a confession is very often a spiritual, confessional conversation more than a repentance of sins. One might say - catechist confession.

But over time, when a person already understands a lot, knows a lot, has gained some experience through trial and error, for him a very frequent and detailed confession can become an obstacle. Not necessarily for everyone: someone feels quite normal with frequent confession. But for someone it can become just a barrier, because a person suddenly learns to think something like this: “If I live all the time, then I sin all the time. If I sin all the time, then I must confess all the time. If I don't confess, how can I come to the sacrament with my sins? " Here there is, I would say, a syndrome of distrust of God, when a person thinks that for his confessed sins he has been honored to receive the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ.

Of course it is not. The broken spirit with which we come to communion of Christ's Holy Mysteries does not cancel our confession. And confession does not cancel a broken spirit.

The fact is that a person cannot confess in such a way that he can take and expound all his sins. Impossible. Even if he takes and simply rewrites the book listing all kinds of sins and perversions that only exist on Earth. This will not be a confession. This will be nothing but a formal act of distrust of God, which in itself, of course, is not very good.
The worst spiritual illness

Sometimes people come to confession in the evening, then go to church in the morning, and then - ah! - at the very Chalice they remember: “I forgot to confess this sin!” - and almost out of line for communion they run away to the priest, who continues confession, in order to say what he forgot to say in confession. This, of course, is a disaster.

Or they suddenly start babbling at the Chalice: "Father, I forgot to say this and that in confession." What does a person come to communion with? With love or with disbelief? If a person knows and trusts God, then he knows that God came into this world to save sinners. “From them I am the first,” the priest says, and each of us says when he comes to confession. Not the righteous partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ, but sinners, of whom everyone who comes to the Chalice is the first, because he is a sinner. This means that he even goes to commune with sins.

He repents of these sins, regrets them; this contrition is the most important thing that gives a person the opportunity to partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ. Otherwise, if a person confessed before communion and felt confident that now he will worthily receive communion, now he has the right to receive the Holy Mysteries of Christ, then I think that nothing can be worse and worse than that.

As soon as a person feels worthy, as soon as a person feels entitled to receive communion, the most terrible spiritual illness that can befall a Christian will come. Therefore, in many countries, the sacrament and confession are not required coupling. Confession is performed in its own time and place, the sacrament is performed during the Divine Liturgy.

Therefore, those who confessed, say, a week ago, two weeks ago, and their conscience is peaceful, they have good relations with their neighbors, and their conscience does not convict a person of any such sins that would weigh like a terrible and unpleasant stain on his soul , he can, lamentingly, approach the Chalice ... It is clear that each of us is sinful in many respects, each is imperfect. We realize that without God's help, without God's mercy, we will not become different.

List the sins that God knows about us - why do what is already clear? I confess that I am a proud person, but I cannot repent of this every 15 minutes, although every minute I remain the same proud. When I come to confession to repent of the sin of pride, I sincerely repent of this sin, but I understand that, having moved away from confession, I did not become humble, did not exhaust this sin to the end. Therefore, it would be pointless for me to come every 5 minutes and say again: "Sinful, sinful, sinful."

My sin is my work, my sin is my work on this sin. My sin is the constant self-reproach, daily attention to what I brought to God for confession. But I can't tell God about it every time, He already knows it. I will say this the next time this sin will again trip me up and again show me all my insignificance and all my isolation from God. Once again I bear sincere repentance for this sin, but as long as I know that I am infected with this sin, until this sin forced me to turn away from God so much that I felt how much this distance is, this sin may not be the subject of my everlasting confession. but must be the subject of my everlasting struggle.

The same goes for everyday sins. For example, it is very difficult for a person to live a whole day without condemning anyone. Or live the whole day without saying a single superfluous, idle word. From the fact that we will constantly name these sins at confession, absolutely nothing will change. If every evening, going to sleep, we check our conscience, not just read this memorized prayer, the last one in the evening rule, where there is mischief, covetousness and all other incomprehensible "property" is imputed to us as a sin, but simply we will truly check our conscience and understand that today it was again a bandwagon in our life, that today again we did not keep up to the height of our Christian vocation, then we will bring repentance to God, this will be our spiritual work, this will be exactly the work that is from us the Lord is waiting.

But, if we list this sin every time we come to confession, but at the same time do absolutely nothing, then this confession turns out to be very doubtful.
Heavenly bookkeeping doesn't exist

Every Christian can relate to the frequency of confession based on the realities of his spiritual life. But it is strange to think of God as a prosecutor, to think that there is a kind of heavenly bookkeeping that takes into account all our confessed sins and erases them from some ledger with an eraser when we come to confession. Therefore, we are afraid, what if we have forgotten, suddenly didn’t say, and it won’t be erased with an eraser?

Well, forgotten and forgotten. It's OK. In general, we hardly know our sins. Whenever we revive spiritually, we suddenly see ourselves as we have not seen ourselves before. Sometimes a person, having lived for many years in the Church, says to the priest: "Father, it seems to me that I was better before, I have never committed such sins as now."

Does this mean that he was better? Of course not. Just then, many years ago, he did not see himself at all, did not know who he was. And over time, the Lord revealed to man his essence, and then not completely, but only to the very degree in which a man is capable of this. Because if at the beginning of our spiritual life the Lord showed us all our incapacity for this life, all our weakness, all our inner ugliness, then perhaps we would despair of this so much that we would not want to go anywhere further. Therefore, the Lord, by His grace, even reveals our sins gradually, knowing what kind of sinners we are. But at the same time it allows us to participate in the sacrament.
Confession is not training

I don't think that confession is something a person trains himself in. We have spiritual exercises in which we, in a sense, train ourselves, set ourselves up - this is, for example, fasting. Its regularity is affirmed in the fact that a person tries to streamline his life during fasting. Another spiritual "training" can be attributed to the prayer rule, which also really helps a person to streamline his life.

But if the participle is viewed from this point of view, then it is a disaster. You cannot take communion regularly for the sake of regularity of the sacrament. Regular communion is not exercise, not physical education. This does not mean that since I did not receive communion, then I have lost something and must receive communion in order to accumulate some kind of spiritual potential. It’s not like that at all.

A person receives communion because he cannot live without it. He has a thirst for communion, he has a desire to be with God, he has a true and sincere desire to open himself to God and become different, uniting with God ... And the sacraments of the Church cannot become some kind of physical education for us. They are not given for this, they are still not exercises, but life.

Friends and family do not meet because friends have to meet regularly, otherwise they will not be friends. Friends meet because they are very attracted to each other. It is unlikely that friendship will be useful if, say, people set themselves the task: "We are friends, therefore, in order for our friendship to grow stronger, we must meet every Sunday." This is absurd.

The same can be said for the sacraments. “If I want to confess correctly and develop a real penitential feeling in myself, I must confess every week,” sounds absurd. Like this: "If I want to become a saint and be with God always, I must take communion every Sunday." It's just ridiculous.

Moreover, it seems to me that there is a kind of substitution in this, because everything is out of place. A person confesses because his heart hurts, because his soul suffers from pain, because he sinned, and he is ashamed, he wants to cleanse his heart. A person receives communion not because the regularity of the sacrament makes him a Christian, but because he strives to be with God, because he cannot but receive communion.
Quality and frequency of confession

The quality of the confession does not depend on the frequency of the confession. Of course, there are people who confess once a year, receive communion once a year - and they do it without understanding why. Because this is the way it should be and somehow it would be necessary, the time has come. Therefore, they, of course, do not have some skill for confession, understanding its essence. Therefore, as I have already said, in order to enter the church life, to learn something, of course, at first, regular confession is needed.

But regularity doesn't mean once a week. The regularity of confession can be different: 10 times a year, once a month ... When a person builds his life spiritually, he feels that he needs to confess.

This is how the priests: they each set for themselves a certain regularity of their confession. I even think that there is not even some kind of regularity here, except that the priest himself feels the moment when he needs to confess. There is some kind of internal obstacle to communion, there is an internal obstacle to prayer, an understanding comes that life is beginning to crumble, and you need to go to confession.

In general, a person must live this way in order to feel it. When a person does not have a sense of life, when a person measures everything with a certain external element, external actions, then, of course, he will be surprised: “How is it possible to receive communion without confession? Like this? This is some kind of horror! "

O. Alexy Umninsky