Repentance to the priest for your sins. What is the will of God? How to find out if a sin is forgiven

Instructions

When preparing for confession, check your own conscience with the ten Beatitudes; they are known to every believer from childhood, since they are mentioned quite often in everyday life. Remember, if you hide something in confession, you are hiding it not from a human priest, but from Jesus Christ himself.

While doing this, keep in mind an approximate list of them, which can be divided into three groups: sins against God (unbelief, taking the name of the Lord in vain, thoughts of suicide, ingratitude to God, playing cards, non-compliance and many others), sins against neighbors (arrogance , hot temper, anger, mockery, quarrels with neighbors) and sins against oneself (foul language, vanity, lying, drunkenness, adultery).

Do not be afraid of your own sins, they should in no way stand between you and a visit to church on. Remember that God pleases the very desire of the soul to repent.

Don't worry that the priest will be unpleasantly surprised or even amazed by the list of your unrighteous deeds. Believe me, the church has seen other sinners who repent of their deeds. The priest, like no one else, knows that people are weak and cannot cope with demonic temptation without help.

If there are doubts about the reputation of the priest performing the Sacrament of Confession, please note that confession remains in force no matter how sinful the clergyman is, provided that you actually repented sincerely.

For your first confession, choose a weekday time when there are not many people in the church. You can ask your friends for advice in advance about which priest and which temple is best to contact first. confession Yu. Respect other confessors, do not crowd close to the priest and under no circumstances be late for the start of the procedure, otherwise you risk not being allowed to the sacred Sacrament.

For the future, develop the nightly habit of analyzing the events of the past day and daily before God, and write down the most serious sins for future confession. Be sure to ask for forgiveness from all your neighbors who you have offended, even if inadvertently.

note

Women are not allowed to confess or visit temple at all during the period of monthly purification.

Helpful advice

Do not perceive confession as an interrogation with partiality, and do not tell the clergyman any particularly intimate details of your personal life. A brief mention of them will suffice.

Confession- a very serious step. It can be difficult to admit your negative actions not only to a stranger, but even to yourself. This is a conversation with your conscience. And you need to prepare for this conversation in advance, as if this is the last confession in your life.

Instructions

There is no specific structure for confession. It is not at all necessary to talk about sins in chronological order or by severity. However, you need to get your thoughts in order in advance. And to make this process easier, make a small “cheat sheet” on paper. Write about what you feel remorse for. And also the events that led you to commit the wrong act. But don’t involve other people in this; you are confessing your sins, not others’. Otherwise, it will not be confession, but condemnation, and this is a new sin. Do not try to justify yourself; on the contrary, you need to condemn, blame and expose your actions more in order to receive forgiveness. Your preparation is a very important part of confession.

The second part is the sacrament itself. Do not be ashamed of your sins before the priest confessing you. Because the priest is only an intermediary between you and God. The secret of confession is sacred; information from confession is not shared with anyone. It is better to confess after the evening service, the priest will be able to pay more attention to you. Confess your sins openly and in detail. Do not hide anything, you must sincerely regret what you did. Each sin must be discussed separately. It’s not enough to say “sinful”; it’s important to call sins by their names: gluttony, adultery, money-grubbing, pride. To help you collect your thoughts, the priest may ask you whether you have committed a particular sin. If you haven’t done this, then you shouldn’t answer: “maybe, yes.” And also do not talk about what you did not do without asking someone who confesses you, otherwise it will look like boasting.

You shouldn’t talk about the same sin every time if you confessed it once. One should confess with sorrow, regret and contrition for sins, but not with composure or even with a grin. Priests advise confessing at least once every two weeks. No matter what age you come to church, if this is your first confession, then sins starting from the age of seven.

Confession is not a conversation about one’s shortcomings, doubts, it is not simply informing the confessor about oneself.

Confession is a sacrament, and not just a pious custom. Confession is an ardent repentance of the heart, a thirst for purification that comes from the feeling of holiness, this is the second Baptism, and, therefore, in repentance we die to sin and are resurrected to holiness. Repentance is the first degree of holiness, and insensibility is being outside of holiness, outside of God.

Often, instead of confessing one’s sins, there is self-praise, 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 a sinner in everything” or talk about little things, keeping silent about what should really weigh on the conscience. The reason for this is false shame in front of the confessor, and indecision, but especially the cowardly fear of seriously starting to understand one’s life, which is full of small, habitual weaknesses and sins.

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

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

1) lack of faith,
2) superstition,
3) blasphemy and idolatry,
4) lack of prayer and disdain for church services,
5) lovely,
6) gluttony,
7) love of money,
8) anger, irritability,
9) condemnation of one's neighbor,
10) despondency,
11) lie,
12) idle talk,
13) murder, suicide and abortion,
14) theft (theft),
15) covetousness,
16) lustful thoughts,
17) seductive conversations,
18) fornication,
19) adultery,
20) incest,
21) unnatural sexual relations.

Lack of faith

This sin is perhaps the most common, 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 and resort to confession. He does not consciously deny the existence of God, however, he doubts His omnipotence, mercy or Providence. With his actions, affections, and his entire way of life, he contradicts the faith he professes in words. Such a person never delved into even the simplest dogmatic issues, fearing to lose those naive ideas about Christianity, often incorrect and primitive, that he once acquired. By turning Orthodoxy into a national, home tradition, a set of external rituals, gestures, or reducing it to the enjoyment of beautiful choral singing, the flickering of candles, that is, to external splendor, people of little faith lose the most important thing in the Church - our Lord Jesus Christ. For a person of little faith, religiosity is closely connected with aesthetic, passionate, and sentimental emotions; she easily gets along with egoism, vanity, and sensuality. People of this type seek praise and a good opinion of their confessor. They come to the lectern 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 demonstrated by their easy transition from cloyingly ostentatious “piety” to irritability and anger at their neighbors.

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 people” often show callousness towards others, are selfish and hypocritical; They live only for themselves, considering abstinence from sins sufficient for salvation. It is useful to remind yourself of the contents of chapter 25 of the Gospel of Matthew (the parables of the ten virgins, the talents and, especially, the description of the Last Judgment). In general, religious complacency and complacency are the main signs of alienation from God and the Church, and this is most clearly shown in another gospel parable - about the publican and the Pharisee.

Superstition

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

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

Particular attention should be paid to such a fairly 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,” a heavy imprint remains - a sign of unconfessed sin, and in souls there is a painfully distorted view of Christianity as one of the lower stages of knowledge of the truth, painfully distorted by satanic rationalistic pride. Silencing the childishly sincere faith in the paternal love of God, the hope for the Resurrection and Eternal Life, occultists preach the doctrine of “karma”, the transmigration of souls, extra-church and, therefore, graceless asceticism. Such unfortunates, if they have found the strength to repent, should be explained that, in addition to direct harm to mental health, activities in the occult are 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 through non-church ways. We have been given the supreme law of life, we have been shown the path that directly leads us to God - love. And we must follow this path, bearing our cross, without turning to detours. Occultism is never able to reveal the secrets of existence, as their adherents claim.

Blasphemy and desecration

These sins often coexist with churchliness and sincere faith. This primarily includes blasphemous grumbling against God for His supposedly unmerciful attitude towards man, for suffering that seems excessive and undeserved to him. Sometimes it even comes to blasphemy against God, church shrines, and sacraments. This often manifests itself in the telling of irreverent or directly offensive stories from the lives of clergy and monks, in mocking, ironic quoting of individual expressions from the Holy Scriptures or from prayer books.

The custom of deification and commemoration in vain of the Name of God or the Blessed Virgin Mary is especially widespread. It is very difficult to get rid of the habit of using these sacred names in everyday conversations as interjections, which are used to give the phrase greater emotional expressiveness: “God be with him!”, “Oh, Lord!” etc. It is even worse to pronounce the Name of God in jokes, and an absolutely terrible sin is committed by the one 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. A great sin is committed by parents who curse their children in their hearts and threaten them with heavenly punishment. Invoking evil spirits (cursing) in anger or in a simple conversation is also sinful. The use of any swear words is also blasphemy and a grave sin.

Neglect of church services

This sin most often manifests itself in the lack of desire to participate in the sacrament of the Eucharist, that is, long-term deprivation of oneself from the Communion of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ in the absence of any circumstances preventing this; in addition, this is a general lack of church discipline, a dislike for worship. The excuses usually given are being busy with official and everyday affairs, the distance of the church from home, the length of the service, and the incomprehensibility of the liturgical Church Slavonic language. Some attend divine services quite carefully, but at the same time they only attend the liturgy, do not receive communion and do not even pray during the service. Sometimes you have to deal with such sad facts as ignorance of the basic prayers and the Creed, misunderstanding of the meaning of the sacraments performed, and most importantly, a lack of interest in this.

Prayerlessness

Lack of prayer, as a special case of unchurchism, 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, fall in love with prayer, and look forward to the hour of prayer. Gradually entering into 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 colorfulness and mystical imagery of liturgical symbols - all that is called church splendor.

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

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

Spiritual beauty

Spiritual delusion is significantly different from all the listed sins against God and the Church. Unlike them, this sin is not rooted in a lack of faith, religiosity, or churchliness, but, on the contrary, in a false sense of excess of personal spiritual gifts. A person in a state of seduction imagines himself as having achieved special fruits of spiritual perfection, which is confirmed by all sorts of “signs”: dreams, voices, waking visions. Such a person may 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 perceive his tales as revelations, such a person often acquires many supporters, as a result of which Most 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, someone in a similar state, according to him, already hears voices in reality or sees shining visions in which he recognizes an angel or some saint, or even the Mother of God and the Savior Himself. They tell him the most incredible revelations, often completely meaningless. This happens to people who are both poorly educated and those who are very well-read in the Holy Scriptures, patristic works, as well as those who devote themselves to “smart work” without pastoral guidance.

Gluttony

Gluttony is one of a number of sins against neighbors, family and society. It manifests itself in the habit of immoderate, excessive consumption of food, that is, overeating or in an addiction to refined taste sensations, enjoying oneself with food. Of course, different people require different amounts of food to maintain their physical strength - this depends on age, physique, state of health, as well as the severity of the work that the person performs. There is no sin in the food itself, for it is a gift from God. The sin lies in treating it as a desired goal, in worshiping it, in the voluptuous experience of taste sensations, in conversations on this topic, in the desire to spend as much money as possible on new, even more refined products. Every piece of food eaten beyond satisfying hunger, every sip of moisture after quenching thirst, simply for pleasure, is already gluttony. Sitting at the table, a Christian must not allow himself to be carried away by this passion. “The more wood, the stronger the flame; the more food, the more violent the lust” (Abba Leontius). “Gluttony is the mother of fornication,” says one ancient patericon. And St. John Climacus directly warns: “Control your womb before it dominates you.”

Obstacles to prayer come from weak, incorrect, insufficient faith, from over-concern, vanity, preoccupation with worldly affairs, from sinful, unclean, evil feelings and thoughts. Fasting helps overcome these obstacles.

Love of money

The love of money manifests itself in the form of extravagance or its opposite, stinginess. Secondary at first glance, this is a sin of extreme importance - it involves the simultaneous rejection of faith in God, love for people and addiction to lower feelings. It gives rise to anger, petrification, over-concern, and 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 person 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 yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where is the treasure? yours, there your heart will also be" (Matthew 6:19-2!).

Anger, irritability

“The wrath of man does not bring about the righteousness of God” (James 1:20). Anger, irritability - many penitents tend to justify the manifestation of this passion by physiological reasons, the so-called “nervousness” due to the suffering and adversity that befell them, the tension of modern life, the difficult character of relatives and friends. Although these reasons are partly true, they cannot justify this, as a rule, deep-rooted habit of taking out one’s irritation, anger, and bad mood on loved ones. Irritability, hot temper, and rudeness primarily destroy family life, leading to quarrels over trifles, causing reciprocal hatred, desire for revenge, rancor, and hardening the hearts of generally kind and loving people. And how destructively the manifestation of anger affects young souls, destroying in them the God-given tenderness and love for their parents! “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, lest they become discouraged” (Col. 3:21).

The ascetic works of the Church Fathers contain a lot of advice for combating the passion of anger. One of the most effective is “righteous anger,” in other words, turning our capacity for irritation and anger to the very passion of anger. “It is not only permissible, but truly salutary to be angry at one’s own sins and shortcomings” (St. Demetrius of Rostov). St. Nile of Sinai advises to be “meek with people,” but kind to our enemy, since this is the natural use of anger to hostilely confront the ancient serpent" (Philokalia, vol. II). The same ascetic writer says : “Whoever bears a grudge against demons does not hold a grudge against people.”

You should show meekness and patience towards your neighbors. “Be wise, and stop the lips of those who speak evil about you with silence, and not with anger and abuse” (St. Anthony the Great). “When they slander you, see if you have done anything worthy of slander. If you have not done it, then consider the slander as flying away as smoke” (St. Nilus of Sinai). “When you feel a strong influx of anger within yourself, try to remain silent. And so that silence itself will bring you more benefit, turn mentally to God and mentally read to yourself at this time some short prayers, for example, the “Jesus Prayer,” advises St. Philaret Moskovsky Even to argue without bitterness and without anger, since irritation is immediately transferred to another, infecting him, but in no case convincing him of the rightness.

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

In confession, we must tell whether we harbor anger towards our neighbor and whether we have reconciled with the one with whom we quarreled, and if we cannot see someone in person, have we reconciled with him in our hearts? On Athos, confessors not only do not allow monks who have anger towards 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 forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” so as not to be liars before God. With this prohibition, the monk is temporarily excommunicated from prayerful and Eucharistic communion with the Church, until reconciliation with his brother.

The one who prays for those who often lead him into the temptation of anger receives significant help. Thanks to such prayer, a feeling of meekness and love for people who were recently hated is instilled in the heart. But in the first place there should be a prayer for the granting of meekness and driving away the spirit of anger, revenge, resentment, and rancor.

Condemnation of one's neighbor

One of the most common sins is, undoubtedly, judging 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 ordinary that it does not even deserve 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 the passion of pride. Condemning other people's shortcomings (real or apparent), a person imagines himself better, purer, more pious, more honest or smarter than another. The words of Abba Isaiah are addressed to such people: “Whoever has a pure heart considers all people pure, but whoever has a heart defiled by passions does not consider anyone pure, but thinks that everyone is like him” (“The Spiritual Flower Garden”).

Those who condemn forget that the Savior Himself commanded: “Judge not, lest ye be judged, for with the judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but the beam Can’t you feel it in your eye?” (Matt. 7:1-3). There is no sin committed by one person that anyone else could not commit. And if you see someone else’s uncleanness, then it means that it has already penetrated into you, for innocent babies do not notice the depravity of adults and thereby maintain their chastity. Therefore, the condemner, even if he is right, must honestly admit to himself: has he not committed the same sin?

Our judgment is never impartial, because most often it is based on a random impression or is carried out under the influence of personal resentment, irritation, anger, or a random “mood.”

If a Christian has heard about the unseemly act of his loved one, then, before becoming indignant and condemning him, he must act according to the word of Jesus son of Sirach: “He who bridles the tongue will live peacefully, and he who hates talkativeness will reduce evil. Never repeat a word, and you will have nothing.” will decline... Ask your friend, maybe he didn’t do that; and if he did, then let him not do it in advance. Ask your friend, maybe he didn’t say that; and if he did, let him not repeat it. Ask your friend, for slander often occurs. Do not believe every word. Some sin with their words, but not from the heart; and who has not sinned with his tongue? Question your neighbor before threatening him, and give place to the law of the Most High" (Sir. 19, 6-8; 13 -19).

Sin of despondency

The sin of despondency most often occurs from excessive preoccupation with oneself, one’s experiences, failures and, as a result, the fading 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 we need to grow and cultivate it in ourselves. To peer into His image, to clarify and deepen it within oneself, to live in thought of Him, and not about one’s small, vain blows and failures, to give one’s heart to Him—this is the life of a Christian. And then the silence and peace that St. speaks about will reign in our hearts. Isaac the Syrian: “Make peace with yourself, and heaven and earth will make peace with you.”

Lie

There is, perhaps, no sin more common than lying. This category of vices should also include failure to fulfill promises, gossip and idle talk. This sin has entered so deeply into the consciousness of modern man, 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 serious sin, serving Satan - the father of lies. According to the Apostle John, “no one devoted to abomination and lies will enter the Heavenly Jerusalem” (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 along the path of righteousness. Only truth makes people free.

A lie can manifest itself completely shamelessly, openly, in all its satanic abomination, becoming in such cases a person’s second nature, a permanent mask attached to his face. He gets so used to lying that he cannot express his thoughts otherwise than by putting them into words that obviously do not correspond to them, thereby not clarifying, but darkening the truth. Lies imperceptibly creep into a person’s soul from childhood: often, not wanting to see anyone, we ask our loved ones to tell the person who comes that we are not at home; Instead of directly refusing to participate in any activity that is unpleasant for us, we pretend to be sick and busy with something else. Such “everyday” lies, seemingly innocent exaggerations, jokes based on deception, gradually corrupt a person, allowing him subsequently to make deals with his conscience for his own benefit.

Just as nothing can come from the devil except evil and destruction for the soul, so nothing can come from lies - his brainchild - except the corrupting, satanic, anti-Christian spirit of evil. There is no “saving lie” or “justified”; these phrases themselves are blasphemous, for only the Truth, our Lord Jesus Christ, saves and justifies us.

Sin of idle talk

No less common than lies is the sin of idle talk, that is, the empty, unspiritual use of the Divine gift of speech. This also includes gossip and retelling of rumors.

People often spend time in empty, useless conversations, the content of which is immediately forgotten, instead of talking about faith with someone who suffers without it, seeking God, visiting the sick, helping the lonely, praying, comforting the offended, talking with children or grandchildren , instruct them with words and personal example on the spiritual path.

In the prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian says: "...Do not give me the spirit of idleness, despondency, covetousness and idle talk." During Lent and fasting, one must be especially focused on the spiritual, give up entertainment (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 speak, 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 and chastely handle the priceless gifts of speech and reason, for they unite us with the Divine Logos Himself, the Incarnate Word - with our Lord Jesus Christ.

Murder, suicide and abortion

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

Those who, in anger at their neighbor, commit assault, inflicting beatings, wounds, and mutilations, are very close to committing murder. Parents are guilty of this sin, cruelly treating their children, beating them for the slightest offense, or even without any reason. Those who, through gossip, slander, and slander, aroused anger in a person against someone else and, even more so, incited him to physically deal with him, are also guilty of this sin. This is often the sin of mothers-in-law towards their daughters-in-law, and neighbors who make false accusations against a woman who is temporarily separated from her husband, deliberately causing scenes of jealousy that end in beatings.

Timely failure to provide assistance to a sick person, a dying person—in general, indifference to the suffering of others should also be considered as passive murder. This kind of attitude towards elderly sick parents on the part of children is especially terrible.

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

But we kill our neighbor not only with our hands or weapons, but also with cruel words, abuse, mockery, and mockery of the grief of others. Everyone has experienced how an evil, cruel, caustic word hurts and kills the soul.

No less sin is committed by those who deprive young souls of honor and innocence, corrupting them physically or morally, pushing them onto the path of depravity and sin. Inviting a young man or girl to a drunken gathering, inciting to avenge grievances, seducing with depraved sights or stories, dissuading people from fasting, engaging in pimping, providing one’s home for drunkenness and depraved gatherings - all this is complicity in the moral murder of one’s neighbor.

Killing animals without the need for food, torturing them is also a violation of the sixth commandment.

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 deprive us of it. Refusal of treatment, deliberate non-compliance with doctor’s orders, deliberate harm to one’s health through excessive drinking of wine or smoking tobacco is also slow suicide. Some kill themselves by working too hard to get rich - this is also a sin.

The Holy Church, her holy fathers and teachers, condemning abortion and considering it a sin, proceed from the idea that people should not thoughtlessly 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 woman... will be saved through childbearing if she continues in faith and love and in holiness with chastity” (1 Tim. 2:14.15).

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

Theft (theft)

Some consider only obvious theft and robbery with violence, when large sums of money or other material assets are taken, to be a violation of the commandment “thou shalt not steal,” and therefore, without hesitation, they deny their guilt in the sin of theft. However, theft is any illegal appropriation of someone else's property, both one's own and public. Theft (theft) should be considered non-repayment of monetary debts or things given for a time.

Sin of covetousness

No less reprehensible is parasitism, begging unless absolutely necessary, when it is possible to earn your own food. If a person, taking advantage of the misfortune of another, takes more from him than he should, then he commits the sin of extortion. 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

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 - sexual. Sensuality has deeply penetrated the fallen nature of man and can manifest itself in the most varied and sophisticated forms. Patristic asceticism teaches us to fight against all sin from its very smallest appearance, not only with the already obvious manifestations of carnal sin, but with lustful thoughts, dreams, fantasies, for “everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matt. 5:28). Here is an approximate diagram of the development of this sin in us.

Prodigal thoughts

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, not lying in bed after waking up, regular reading of the morning and evening prayer rules.

Seductive talk

Seductive conversations in society, obscene stories, jokes told with the desire to please others and be the center of their attention. Many young people, in order not to show their “backwardness” and not be ridiculed by their comrades, fall into this sin. This also includes singing immoral songs, writing obscene words, as well as using them in conversation. All this leads to vicious self-indulgence, which is all the more dangerous because, firstly, it is associated with intense work of the imagination, and secondly, it haunts 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

Fornication is the intercourse of a single man and an unmarried woman unsanctified by the grace-filled power of the sacrament of Marriage (or violation of the chastity of a young man and a girl before marriage).

Adultery

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

Incest

Incest is a carnal relationship between close relatives.

Unnatural sexual relations

Unnatural sexual relations: sodomy, lesbianism, bestiality.

The heinousness of the listed sins hardly needs to be discussed in detail. Their inadmissibility is obvious to every Christian: they lead to spiritual death even before a person’s physical death.

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

Don't be afraid, even if you fall every day

Our repentance will not be complete if, while repenting, we do not internally confirm ourselves in the 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 the opposite be closer to the truth—the conviction that sin is repeated? After all, everyone knows from experience 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 terrible if that were the case. But fortunately, this is not so. There is no case when, in the presence of sincere repentance and a good desire to improve, Holy Communion received with faith does not produce 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 judges are changing quantities. 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 we didn’t notice them that much before. In addition, God, in His special Providence, often closes our eyes to our successes in order to protect us from the worst sin - vanity and pride. It often happens that sin still remains, but frequent confession and communion of the Holy Mysteries have shaken and weakened its roots. Yes, the very struggle with sin, suffering about your sins - isn’t this an acquisition?! “Do not be afraid, even if you fall every day and depart from the paths of God, stand courageously, and the angel guarding you will honor your patience,” said St. John Climacus.

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

On the attitude towards priests and confession

According to the rules of the Orthodox Church, its members must resort to confession starting from the age of seven. In other words, already from the age of seven, the Church considers a person capable of answering before God for his actions, fighting evil within himself and receiving grace-filled forgiveness in the sacrament of Repentance. Children and teenagers raised by their parents in the Christian faith, according to the Orthodox tradition, after seven years of age come to confession, the rite of which is no different from the usual.

How often should you go to confession? We must confess as often as possible, at least on each of the four fasts. We, who are inexperienced in repentance, need to learn to repent again and again. It is necessary to strive to ensure that the intervals between confessions are filled with spiritual struggle, efforts fueled by the fruits of the last fast and excited by the anticipation of the approaching new confession.

Although it is advisable to have your own confessor, this is not at all a necessary condition for true repentance. For a person truly suffering from his sin, it makes no difference to whom he confesses it; just to repent of it as soon as possible and receive remission. Repentance must be completely free, in no way forced by the person confessing.

But those spiritual connections that are formed between the confessor and the confessor, although they are not formal in any way, cannot be considered anything. Genuine church life requires the constancy and strength of such connections - the “shepherd” with his own, for only on such a basis is spiritual life possible.

Communication with a priest at confession is a leisurely listing of your sins and listening to prayers. Priests and shepherds cannot be treated only as fulfillers of demands.

Unfortunately, the consumerist attitude towards the Church remains one of the most widespread vices of our church life.

“Consumerism” has many faces, it grows not only from laziness and indifference to the Church, but sometimes from “jealousy beyond reason,” hence the abuse of pastoral attention, a kind of confession-performance performed in front of the priest, hence the “pilgrimage” from monastery to monastery , from confessor to confessor, accompanied by all kinds of parachurch gossip, essentially replacing spiritual life.

The most dangerous and very common type of church “consumerism” is an irresponsible attitude towards the Holy Mysteries of Christ. The universally accepted general confession gradually accustoms the laity to receive communion without confession at all, not to mention the preparation prescribed by the charter.

Anyone approaching confession should know: confession is not an indulgence in which the feeling of embarrassment, shame and even repentance serves as a payment for sin and allows one to live on as if nothing had happened. Confession is a deeply personal act, and together with preparation for confession, a process in which a person reveals himself not only to God, but also to himself. Confession, without exaggeration, can be called the process of the birth of personality, a sometimes painful process, because a person has to cut something off from himself, tear something out of himself by the roots, but also a saving process and, in the end, always joyful.

There is one more point that you need to pay attention to - respect for confession.

Often, due to the crowd in church, people stand almost close to the priest and the confessor, so that they can even hear them. No crowd can serve as an excuse here, and no one should come so close to the priest and confessor.

The secret of confession must be protected from everything, including crowding.

Holy Fathers on Repentance

Repentance and confession should not be understood in the same way; repentance means one thing, and confession means another; repentance can happen without confession, but confession cannot happen without repentance; you can and should always repent or repent before God of your sins at all times, but you can confess only before your confessor and in your own time; repentance, or repentance for sins, brings a person closer to the Kingdom of Heaven and brings the Holy Spirit closer to a person, and confession without repentance and repentance does not bring a person any benefit, and not only does not bring benefit, but a feigned and untrue confession destroys a person, making him great a criminal, because confession is and should be an act of repentance.

Saint Innocent

The beginning of a good path is to confess your sins to the priest with all your soul.

Venerable Simeon the New Theologian

For the sins we have committed, we will not blame our birth or anyone else, but only ourselves.

Venerable Anthony the Great

I ask you, beloved brethren, let us confess each of our sins while the sinner is still in this life, when his confession can be accepted, when the satisfaction and absolution performed by the priests is acceptable before the Lord.

Saint Cyprian of Carthage

Those who say: “We will sin in youth, but repent in old age” will be deceived and ridiculed by demons. As arbitrary sinners, they will not be worthy of repentance.

Venerable Ephraim the Syrian

Should we remember sins that were confessed and, with the help of God’s grace, forsaken? There is no point in remembering them in the spirit in confession when they are already allowed... But in your prayer it is good to remember them.

Sins, after permission from them in confession by the spiritual father, are immediately forgiven. But their trace remains in the souls, and it languishes. After labors and exploits in resistance to sin, these traces are erased. When the traces are erased, then the languor will end.

Saint Theophan the Recluse

Pay attention to these words: the root of repentance is the good intention to confess sins, the leaves are the very confession of sins to God in the face of the spiritual father and the promise of correction, and the fruits of repentance are a virtuous life and the works of repentance. It is by these fruits that true repentance is recognized.

Saint Gregory Dvoeslov

Prevent the outcome of your soul by repentance and conversion, so that all the healing of repentance does not remain useless for you when death comes, for repentance has power only on earth, in hell it is powerless.

To receive forgiveness from God, it is not enough to pray for two or three days; you need to make a change in your whole life and, leaving vice, constantly remain in virtue.

A person's virtue is insignificant compared to his sins. Confession of sins is the best way to propitiate and thank God.

I call repentance not only aversion from previous bad deeds, but even more so the intention to do good deeds

Saint John Chrysostom

So, brothers, seeing many examples of those who have sinned and repented and been saved, hasten to repent yourself before the Lord, so that you may receive forgiveness for your sins and be rewarded with the Kingdom of Heaven.

Saint Cyril of Jerusalem

A mortal sin is a sin for which if you do not repent and death finds you in it, then you go to hell, but if you repent of it, then it is immediately forgiven. It is called mortal because the soul dies from it and can only be revived through repentance.

Venerable Barsanuphius of Optina

For successful repentance you need: seeing your sin, realizing it, repenting of it, confessing it.

There is no end to repentance until death - both for the small and for the great.

Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov

He who repents of his sins will rejoice in the Kingdom of God.

Saint Nile the Myrrh Streaming

Through repentance, sins committed are destroyed and are no longer remembered anywhere: neither at the ordeals, nor at the Judgment.

Elder George the Recluse

Until you express your sins in confession, nothing in the world will help you. And, God have mercy, will death come?..

Venerable Anatoly of Optina

If you feel the weight of the struggle and see that you cannot cope with evil alone, run to your spiritual father and ask him to impart the Holy Mysteries to you. This is a great and all-powerful weapon in the fight against strong temptations.

Yes, brothers and sisters, you must confess all your sins, open them sincerely before the priest, in order to receive through him forgiveness from Christ our Savior. And whoever hides his sins in confession or covers up and tries to excuse himself, there will be no forgiveness, because the Lord said to the apostles and their successors: whose sins you forgive, they will be forgiven them: and whose sins you hold, they hold on (John 20:23). How can a priest forgive or not forgive sins, forgive or not, if the sins are not revealed to him? Let us remember, brothers, that God Himself commands to confess sins to a priest.

Saint John of Kronstadt

What benefits do we get from confession:

Forgiveness of sins, deliverance from eternal punishment, reconciliation with God, boldness in prayer.

The return of sanctifying grace.

Restoring tranquility of conscience and peace of soul.

Weakening bad inclinations and passions and refraining from new sins, cleansing the conscience, discerning the smallest sins with the mind.

Receiving instructions from a spiritual father.

The main means to avoid sins:

You must avoid all reasons for sin, all places, persons, things that may be tempting for you and inspire sinful desires.

We must always remember death, going through ordeals, the Last Judgment and the future life.

As often as possible, imagine the presence of God everywhere, reflect on the blessings of God, especially on the life of our Lord on earth, His suffering and death, and in general on the main truths of the Orthodox Christian faith.

Heartfelt and earnest prayer and frequent invocation of the name of the Lord Jesus Christ help to refrain from sin.

You need to pay attention to yourself, that is, stay awake, watch yourself, your feelings, desires and actions.

As often as possible, one should resort to the Sacrament of Repentance and confess to the spiritual father, ask him for advice, and obey them, and worthily partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ.

Do not miss the opportunity and opportunity to attend church services and read spiritual books at home.

Meet and talk with pious and prudent people and avoid talking with immoral people.

Constantly have some useful occupation, hold a position, do some kind of work, so as not to be idle.

Reminder for those approaching Holy Communion

Those approaching the communion of the Holy Mysteries must do the following:

Refrain from food and drink (in the evening).

Follow the prayer rule.

The day before, pray at the all-night vigil.

Fast (abstain from food of animal origin).

Those living in marriage should abstain from the marital bed before and after communion.

Ask for forgiveness from those who were offended.

PREPARATION FOR CONFESSION

Orthodox Christians of all times cleanse their souls from sin by passing through a special Sacrament established by Christ Himself -

Sacrament of Repentance.

To cleanse the soul in the Sacrament of Repentance it is necessary:

Awareness of one's sins and contrition of heart. Identifying the root causes of your sins. A sincere confession to a priest.

Repentant confession helps to begin Holy Communion - to worthily accept the Body and Blood of Christ. Union with Christ brings indescribable peace to the soul, love and reconciliation with everyone.

This is how, from time immemorial, the Church formed the spiritual structure of pious generations, peace, patience, and health.

The priest is given authority from God to “bind and solve” our sins. “I forgive and absolve your sins...” says the priest to those who come to confession and repent of their sins. Great relief is received by everyone who is worthy to wash away their sins in the Sacrament of Repentance and clear their conscience. What the earthly court forgave, the heavenly court also forgives. How one must hurry to cleanse the soul of sin, for no one knows what is in store for him tomorrow and how much earthly journey remains. Will we have time to cleanse ourselves through repentance? Will we have time to realize our sinfulness? Hurry up, Christian. Remember: “Nothing unclean enters the Kingdom of Heaven.” Numerous testimonies of resuscitated patients who returned “from the other world” in our time indicate that we will all have to answer for every little thing.

The doors of repentance are open to everyone, but will we have time to pass through them? The most difficult person to realize his impurity is a proud person. Such people do not see their sin and remain in constant self-delusion and exaltation of the mind. They are satisfied with themselves and rarely look into the depths of their conscience. But conscience is difficult to deceive. This is the voice of God Himself, convicting us.

Every living being is given free will. How will we manage it? Will our actions and intentions bring us closer to God? Our good deeds - did we do them with a pure heart and love? The Lord always sees your heart, Christian. What is there - humility or proud exaltation, patience or irritation?

Are our actions pleasing to God? No one knows. Nobody knows what the final answer will be. No one knows which angel will come for us to lead us to the Supreme Court. Will there be white or black wings behind his back?

Remember, Christian: the thief who hung next to Christ on the cross repented with humility and entered heaven after the Lord. The Lord forgave and accepted him. Judas Iscariot was a disciple of Christ, but he betrayed the Teacher and, without repenting, went to hell out of his pride. God works in mysterious ways.

Believe, Christian, the Lord strengthens everyone who comes to Him with repentance. The Lord helps us to resist sin and not repeat it.

In the sacrament of holy Repentance we are given the opportunity to lay aside the heavy burden of sin, to break the chains of sin, to see the “fallen and broken tabernacle” of our soul renewed and bright. How often should one resort to this saving sacrament? As often as possible, at least in each of the four posts.

Usually people who are inexperienced in spiritual life do not see the multitude of their sins, do not feel their severity, or disgust for them. They say: “I didn’t do anything special,” “I only have minor sins, like everyone else,” “I didn’t steal, I didn’t kill,” - this is how many often begin confession. But our holy fathers and teachers, who left us prayers of repentance, considered themselves the first of sinners, and with sincere conviction they cried out to Christ: “No one has sinned on earth from time immemorial, as I, the accursed and the prodigal, have sinned!” The brighter the light of Christ illuminates the heart, the more clearly all shortcomings, ulcers and spiritual wounds are recognized. And vice versa: people immersed in the darkness of sin do not see anything in their hearts, and if they do, they are not horrified, since they have nothing to compare with, for Christ is closed for them by the veil of sins. Therefore, in order to overcome our spiritual laziness and insensitivity, the Holy Church has established preparatory days for the Sacrament of Repentance - fasting.

The period of fasting can last from three days to a week, unless there is special advice or instructions from the confessor. At this time, one should observe fasting, keep oneself from sinful deeds, thoughts and feelings, and generally lead a life of abstinence, repentance, dissolved in deeds of love and Christian charity. During the period of fasting, you need to attend church services as often as possible, be more attentive to prayer at home than usual, devote time to reading the works of the holy fathers, the lives of saints, self-deepening and self-examination.

Understanding the moral state of your soul, you must try to distinguish basic sins from their derivatives, roots from leaves and fruits. One should also beware of falling into petty suspicion of every movement of the heart, losing the sense of what is important and unimportant, and getting confused in trifles. The penitent must bring to confession not only a list of sins, but, most importantly, a feeling of repentance; not a detailed account of his life, but a broken heart.

Knowing your sins does not mean repenting of them. But what should we do if our heart, dried up from the sinful flame, is not watered by the life-giving waters of tears? What if spiritual weakness and “infirmity of the flesh” are so great that we are not capable of sincere repentance? But this cannot be a reason to postpone confession in anticipation of a feeling of repentance. The Lord accepts confession - sincere and conscientious - even if it is not accompanied by a strong feeling of repentance. You just need to confess this sin - stony insensibility - courageously and frankly, without hypocrisy. God can touch the heart during confession itself - soften it, refine spiritual vision, awaken a feeling of repentance.

The condition that we must certainly meet in order for our repentance to be accepted by the Lord is forgiveness of the sins of our neighbors and reconciliation with everyone.

Repentance cannot be complete without verbal confession of sins. Sins can only be forgiven in the church Sacrament of Repentance, performed by a priest. Confession is a feat, self-compulsion. During confession, you do not need to wait for questions from the priest, but make an effort yourself. Sins must be named accurately, without obscuring the ugliness of sin with general expressions. It is very difficult, when confessing, to avoid the temptation of self-justification, to refuse attempts to explain to the confessor “mitigating circumstances”, and from references to third parties who allegedly led us into sin. All these are signs of pride, lack of deep repentance, and continued stumbling into sin. Confession is not a conversation about one’s shortcomings, doubts, it is not a simple informing the confessor about oneself, although spiritual conversation is also very important and should take place in the life of a Christian, but confession is different, it is a sacrament, and not just a pious custom. Confession is an ardent repentance of the heart, a thirst for purification, this is the second baptism. In repentance we die to sin and are raised to righteousness, holiness.

Having repented, we must strengthen ourselves internally in the determination not to return to the confessed sin. The sign of perfect repentance is a feeling of lightness, purity, inexplicable joy, when sin seems as difficult and impossible as this joy was just distant.

Example of a general confession

Here is one of the options for listing sins in general confession. They are named in the following order: sins against God, sins against one's neighbor, sins against oneself. This list is not presented for copying, for subsequent confession before a priest, but to remind the repentant person of the multiple wounds of the soul that can be healed with sincere repentance before God.

“I confess to the Lord God, glorified in the Holy Trinity, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, all my sins from my youth to the present time, committed by me in deed, word, thought and all my feelings, voluntarily or involuntarily.

I consider myself unworthy of forgiveness from God, but I do not give in to despair, I place all my hope in God’s mercy and sincerely wish to correct my life.

I sinned by lack of faith, by doubting what the faith of Christ teaches us. I sinned by indifference to faith, unwillingness to understand it and be convinced of it. He sinned with blasphemy - frivolously ridiculing the truths of faith, words of prayer and the Gospel, church rituals, as well as the shepherds of the Church and pious people, calling zeal for prayer, fasting and alms hypocrisy.

I sinned even more: with contemptuous and impudent judgments about faith, about the laws and institutions of the church, for example, about fasting and worship, about the veneration of holy icons and relics, about miraculous manifestations of God’s mercy or God’s wrath.

He sinned by deviating from the Church, considering it unnecessary for himself, considering himself capable of a good life, of achieving salvation without the help of the Church. Meanwhile, one must go to God not alone, but with brothers and sisters in faith, in a union of love, in the Church and with the Church: only where there is love, there is God; To whom the Church is not a Mother, God is not a Father.

I sinned by renouncing faith or hiding faith out of fear, out of profit or out of shame in front of people, I did not heed the words of the Lord Jesus Christ: Whoever denies Me before people, I will also deny him before My Heavenly Father; Whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels (Matthew 10:33; Mark 8:38).

I sinned by not relying on God, relying more on myself or on other people, and sometimes on untruth, deception, cunning, deceit.

In happiness I sinned by ingratitude to God, the giver of happiness, and in misfortune by despondency, cowardice, murmuring against God, anger at Him, blasphemous and impudent thoughts about the Providence of God, despair, the desire for death for myself and my loved ones.

I sinned by loving earthly goods, more than the Creator, whom I should love most of all - with all my soul, with all my heart, with all my mind.

I sinned by forgetting God and not feeling the fear of God; I forgot that God sees and knows everything, not only deeds and words, but also our secret thoughts, feelings and desires, and that God will judge us by death and at His Last Judgment; That’s why I sinned uncontrollably and boldly, as if for me there would be no death, no Judgment, no righteous punishment from God.

I sinned with superstitions, unreasonable trust in dreams, omens, and fortune telling (for example, on cards).

I sinned in prayer by laziness, I skipped morning and evening prayer, before and after eating, at the beginning and end of every task.

I sinned in prayer by haste, absent-mindedness, coldness and callousness, hypocrisy, I tried to seem to people more pious than I really was.

I sinned by having an unpeaceful mood during prayer: I prayed in a state of irritation, anger, ill-will, condemnation, murmuring, and disobedience to God’s Providence. I sinned by carelessly and incorrectly performing the sign of the cross - from haste and inattention or from a bad habit.

He sinned by not attending divine services on holidays and Sundays, by not paying attention to what is read, sung and performed in church during the service, by not performing or reluctantly performing church rituals (bows, kissing the cross, the Gospel, icons).

He sinned by irreverent, indecent behavior in the temple - worldly and loud conversations, laughter, arguments, quarrels, cursing, pushing and oppressing other pilgrims.

I sinned by frivolously mentioning the name of God in conversations - by swearing and swearing without extreme necessity or even in a lie, as well as by not fulfilling what I promised to do good to someone with an oath.

I sinned by carelessly handling sacred objects - the cross, the Gospel, icons, holy water, prosphora.

I sinned by not observing holidays, fasts and fasting days, by not observing spiritual fasting, that is, I did not try to free myself with God’s help from my shortcomings, bad and idle habits, I did not try to correct my character, I did not force myself to diligently fulfill God’s commandments.

My sins are countless, both against my neighbors and in relation to my duties towards myself. Instead of love for others, selfishness with all its destructive fruits prevails in my life.

I sinned with pride, conceit, considering myself better than others, vanity - love for praise and honor, self-praise, lust for power, arrogance, disrespect, rude treatment of people, ingratitude towards those who do me good.

I sinned by condemning, ridiculing the sins, shortcomings and mistakes of my neighbors, slander, gossip, and with them brought discord among my neighbors.

He sinned with slander - he unfairly spoke about people that was bad and harmful and dangerous for them.

I sinned with impatience, irritability, anger, intransigence, stubbornness, grumpiness, insolence, disobedience.

I sinned with resentment, malice, hatred, rancor, and vindictiveness.

I sinned with envy, malice, gloating; He sinned by swearing, foul language, quarrels, cursing both others (maybe even his children) and himself.

I sinned by disrespecting my elders, especially my parents, by not wanting to take care of my parents and see them through their old age; I sinned by condemning and ridiculing them, by rude and impudent treatment of them. I sinned by rarely remembering them and my other loved ones in prayer - living and dead.

I sinned with unmercifulness, ruthlessness towards people who are poor, sick, grieving, merciless cruelty in words and deeds, I was not afraid to humiliate, insult, upset my neighbors, sometimes, perhaps, I drove a person to despair.

He sinned through stinginess, avoidance of helping those in need, greed, love of profit, and was not afraid to take advantage of other people’s misfortunes and social disasters.

He sinned with addiction, attachment to things, he sinned with regret about good deeds done, he sinned with merciless treatment of animals (he starved them, beat them).

He sinned by appropriating someone else's property - theft, concealing what was found, buying and selling stolen property. He sinned by not doing or carelessly doing his work - his household and official affairs.

I sinned with lies, pretense, double-mindedness, insincerity in dealing with people, flattery, and people-pleasing.

I sinned by eavesdropping, spying, reading other people's letters, divulging trusted secrets, cunning, and all kinds of dishonesty.

I sinned by laziness, love of idle spending time, idle talk, daydreaming.

He sinned by neglecting his own and other people’s property. He sinned through intemperance in food and drink, overeating, secret eating, drunkenness, and smoking. He sinned by being whimsical in his clothes, being excessively concerned about his appearance, and wanting to be liked, especially by people of the opposite sex.

He sinned by immodesty, impurity, voluptuousness in thoughts, feelings and desires, in words and conversations, in reading, in looks, in addressing persons of the other sex, as well as intemperance in marital relations, violation of marital fidelity, fornication, marital cohabitation without a church blessing , unnatural satisfaction of lust.

Those who performed abortions on themselves or others, or incited someone to this great sin - infanticide, sinned gravely.

I sinned because by my words and actions I tempted other people to sin, and I myself succumbed to the temptation to sin from other people, instead of fighting it.

He sinned by bad upbringing of children and even spoiling them with his bad example, excessive severity or, conversely, weakness, impunity; did not teach children to pray, obedience, truthfulness, hard work, frugality, helpfulness, and did not monitor the purity of their behavior.

He sinned by being careless about his salvation, about pleasing God, by not feeling his sins and his unrequited guilt before God.

I sinned through laziness in the fight against sin, constant delay of true repentance and correction.

I sinned by carelessly preparing for confession and communion, forgetting my sins, inability and unwillingness to remember them in order to feel my sinfulness and condemn myself before God.

I sinned in that I approached confession and communion very rarely.

I sinned by not fulfilling the penances imposed on me.

He sinned by justifying himself in sins: instead of condemning - even in confession - by minimizing his sins.

I sinned in that during confession I accused and condemned my neighbors, pointing out the sins of others instead of my own.

He sinned if during confession he deliberately hid his sins out of fear or shame.

I sinned if I approached confession and communion without making peace with those I had offended or who had offended me.

Forgive, Lord, my countless sins, cleanse, renew and strengthen my soul and body, so that I can steadily walk along the path of salvation.

And you, honest father, pray for me to the Lord, the Most Pure Lady Theotokos and the holy saints of God, that through their prayers the Lord may have mercy on me, absolve me from my sins and grant me the honor to partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ without condemnation.

Another example of a general confession, in a more abbreviated version.

This example can be taken as a basis when preparing for confession.

This is especially true for the person who has the custom of making a list of committed sins before confession. Of course, sins committed, but not included in this list of especially common sins, should be mentioned additionally. Let us remember, however, that before confession we make a list of sins not to “report” to the priest, or better yet, to the Omniscient God, but only to remind ourselves of what we must say, what we must repent of. And the deeper and more sincere the repentance, the stronger the degree of healing of the wounds of our soul.

I sinned in deed, word, thought, will and involuntarily, knowledge and ignorance, in reason and foolishness.

I sinned by idle talk, idle talk, verbosity; words and speeches that are abusive, annoying, nasty, blasphemous, frivolous, unreasonable, ridiculous, vain; unreasonableness, argumentativeness. By watching, listening, reading empty and soul-harming things. Conversations and laughter in the temple.

I sinned with lies, deceitful words and speeches, failure to fulfill promises made to God and people, incomplete confessions, false opinions, and incorrect advice.

I sinned by judging my neighbors, sacred persons; ridicule, slander, censure.

I sinned by gluttony, by eating at the wrong time, not according to the Church Charter; failure to observe fasts and fasting days, did not always pray before and after eating food; satiety, gluttony, secret eating, greed.

I sinned by laziness, idleness, excessive bodily rest, and too much sleep. Rarely going to Church for Divine services, especially the Divine Liturgy. By abandoning the prayer rule and other soul-saving readings. During church and cell prayer - relaxation, lethargy, inattention; being late for the start of services, leaving church early without a good reason. Carelessness, despondency and neglect of your soul. Work on Sundays and holidays. Non-remembrance of parents, relatives, living and deceased.

I sinned by petty theft in everyday life and at work, by not returning monetary debts or things given for a time.

I sinned through love of money, stinginess, excessive acquisitiveness, unnecessary wastefulness.

I sinned through covetousness, greed, and illegal profit.

I sinned through various kinds of untruth, deception, and evasion of payment for various services.

I sinned with envy, enmity, hatred, hostility, non-reconciliation, ill-will, gloating; abuse of the trust of a neighbor.

I sinned with pride, vanity, conceit, grandeur, man-pleasing, hypocrisy, double-mindedness, cowardice, pride, love of glory, arrogance, and humiliation of one’s neighbor. Disobedience and failure to show due honor to parents, spiritual father; self-justification, ambition.

I sinned with anger, rage, short temper, irritability, grumpiness, reproaches of my neighbor, rudeness, insolence, bitterness, slander, annoyance, cruelty.

I sinned through malice, memory, vindictiveness, excessive demands and severity towards my neighbors, household members and relatives. Striking neighbors in anger, immoderate punishment of children.

I have sinned with superstitions of various kinds. Gambling, singing obscene songs.

I sinned with lustful thoughts, unchaste behavior, unclean dreams, obscene conversations, intemperance in the flesh on fasting days and holidays.

I sinned through lack of faith, careless performance of prayers, the sign of the cross, and bows; frivolous mention of shrines. Unworthy preparation for the Sacraments of the Church: Repentance, Communion and others. Taking the Name of God in vain. He did not wear a pectoral cross.

I sinned by insufficient trust in God’s Providence in various circumstances, murmuring against God, ingratitude to God, lack of fear of God in my soul, disobedience to the will of God, and petrified insensibility.

He was a temptation to his neighbors in various circumstances.

For all these things that have been said, and for the sake of unconsciousness that cannot be said, I repent.

Library “Chalcedon”

___________________

How the Sacrament of Penance was established. How to prepare for confession. How does confession happen in church? What to talk about in confession. Home confession of the sick and dying. On the attitude towards priests and confession

Repentance is a sacrament in which he who confesses his sins, in visible
expression of forgiveness from the priest, invisibly absolved from sins
By Jesus Christ himself.

Orthodox Catechism.

How the Sacrament of Penance was established

The most important part of the sacrament Repentance- confession - was known to Christians already during the time of the apostles, as evidenced by the book “Acts of the Apostles” (19, 18): “Many of those who believed came, confessing and revealing their deeds.”

In the ancient Church, depending on the circumstances, confession of sins was either secret or open, public. Those Christians who, through their sins, caused temptation in the Church, were called to public repentance.

In ancient times, penitents were divided into four types.

The first, the so-called mourners, did not dare to enter the church and with tears asked for prayers from those passing by; others, listening, stood in the vestibule and came under the hand of the blessing bishop along with those preparing for Baptism and with them left the church; the third, called prostrate, stood in the temple itself, but in the rear part of it, and participated with the faithful in prayers for the repentant, falling on their faces. At the end of these prayers, they knelt down, received the blessing of the bishop and left the temple. And finally, the last ones - those who paid for the purchase - stood with the faithful until the end of the liturgy, but did not proceed to the Holy Gifts.

During the entire time appointed for the penitents to fulfill the penance imposed on them, the Church offered prayers for them in the church between the Liturgy of the Catechumens and the Liturgy of the Faithful.

These prayers form the basis of the rite of Repentance in our time.

This sacrament now, as a rule, precedes the sacrament of Communion of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, purifying the soul of the communicant for participation in this Meal of immortality.

How to prepare for confession

The moment of repentance is “an opportune time and a day of purification.” The time when we can put aside the heavy burden of sin, break the chains of sin, see the “fallen and broken tabernacle” of our soul renewed and bright. But the path to this blissful purification is not easy.

We have not yet begun confession, but our soul hears tempting voices: “Should I put it off? Am I prepared enough? Am I fasting too often?”

We need to firmly resist these doubts. In the Holy Scriptures we read: “My son! If you begin to serve the Lord God, then prepare your soul for temptation: guide your heart and be strong, and do not be embarrassed during your visit; cleave to Him and do not retreat, so that you may be magnified in the end.” (Sir. 2, 1-3).

If you decide to confess, many obstacles will appear, internal and external, but they disappear as soon as you show firmness in your intentions.

The first action of anyone preparing for confession should be to test the heart. This is why the days of preparation for the sacrament are set - fasting.

Usually people inexperienced in spiritual life do not see either the multiplicity of their sins or their vileness. They say: “I didn’t do anything special,” “I only have minor sins, like everyone else,” “I didn’t steal, I didn’t kill,” - this is how many often begin confession.

How can we explain our indifference in confession, our conceit, if not by petrified insensibility, if not by “deadness of heart, spiritual death, which precedes bodily death”? Why did our holy fathers and teachers, who left us prayers of repentance, consider themselves the first of sinners, and with sincere conviction cried out to the Sweetest Jesus: “No one has sinned on earth from time immemorial, as I have sinned, the accursed and the prodigal!” And we are convinced that everything is fine with us!

We, immersed in the darkness of sin, do not see anything in our hearts, and if we see, we are not horrified, since we have nothing to compare with, for Christ is hidden for us by the veil of sins.

Understanding the moral state of your soul, you must try to distinguish between fundamental sins and derivative ones, symptoms and deeper causes. For example, we notice - and this is very important - absent-mindedness during prayer, inattention during worship, lack of interest in listening and reading the Holy Scriptures; but don’t these sins come from lack of faith and weak love for God?!

It is necessary to note in yourself self-will, disobedience, self-justification, impatience of reproaches, intransigence, stubbornness; but it is much more important to discover and understand their connection with self-love and pride.

If we notice in ourselves the desire to always be in society, in public, we show talkativeness, mockery, slander, if we are overly concerned about our appearance and clothing, then we need to carefully examine these passions, because most often this is how our vanity and pride manifests itself.

If we take everyday failures too close to our hearts, endure separation hard, grieve inconsolably for those who have passed away, then isn’t there hidden in the strength, in the depths of these sincere feelings, a lack of faith in the good Providence of God?

There is another auxiliary means that leads us to the knowledge of our sins - more often, and especially before confession, remembering what other people who live side by side with us, our loved ones, usually accuse us of: very often their accusations, reproaches, attacks fair.

But even if they seem unfair, we must accept them with meekness, without bitterness.

Before confession it is necessary ask for forgiveness from everyone to whom you consider yourself guilty, in order to approach the Sacrament with an unburdened conscience.

During such a test of the heart, one must be careful not to fall into excessive suspiciousness and petty suspicion of any movement of the heart. Once you take this path, you can lose your sense of what is important and unimportant, and get confused in the little things. In such cases, you must temporarily abandon the testing of your soul and clarify your soul through prayer and good deeds.

Preparation for confession is not about fully remembering and even writing down your sin, but about achieving that state of concentration, seriousness and prayer in which, as if in the light, our sins will become clearly visible.

The confessor should bring to the confessor not a list of sins, but a feeling of repentance, not a detailed story about his life, but a contrite heart.

Knowing your sins does not mean repenting of them.

But what should we do if our heart, dried up by the flame of sin, is not capable of sincere repentance? And yet this is not a reason to postpone confession in anticipation of a feeling of repentance.

God can touch our heart during confession itself: self-confession, naming our sins out loud, can soften our heart, refine our spiritual vision, and sharpen the feeling of repentance.

Most of all, preparation for confession and fasting serve to overcome our spiritual lethargy. By depleting our body, fasting disrupts our bodily well-being and complacency, which is disastrous for spiritual life. However, fasting in itself only prepares, loosens the soil of our heart, which after this will be able to absorb prayer, the Word of God, the lives of the saints, the works of the holy fathers, and this, in turn, will entail an intensification of the fight against our sinful nature and will encourage us to actively do good loved ones

How does confession happen in church?

Our Lord Jesus Christ said, addressing His disciples: “Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 18:18). He, appearing to the apostles after His Resurrection, said: “Peace be with you! As the Father sent Me, so I am sending you.” Having said this, he breathed and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” Whose sins you forgive, they will be forgiven; They will remain there" (John 20:21-23). The apostles, fulfilling the will of the Perfecter of salvation and the Head of our faith, transferred this power to the successors of their ministry - the shepherds of the Church of Christ.

It is they, the priests, who accept our confession in church.

The first part of the sequence, which is usually performed simultaneously for all confessors, begins with the exclamation: “Blessed is our God...”, followed by prayers that serve as an introduction and preparation for personal repentance, helping the confessor to feel his responsibility directly before God, his personal connection with Nim.

Already in these prayers the opening of the soul before God begins, they express the hope of the penitent for forgiveness and cleansing of the soul from the filth of sins.

At the end of the first part of the sequence, the priest, turning his face to those gathered, pronounces the address prescribed by the Trebnik: “Behold, child, Christ stands invisibly...”.

The deep content of this address, revealing the meaning of confession, should be clear to every confessor. It can make the cold and indifferent realize at this last moment all the highest responsibility of the matter for which he is now approaching the analogue, where the icon of the Savior (the Crucifixion) lies and where the priest is not a simple interlocutor, but only a witness to the mysterious conversation of the penitent with God.

It is especially important to understand the meaning of this address, which explains the essence of the sacrament, to those who approach the analogue for the first time. Therefore, we present this appeal in Russian:

“My child, Christ stands invisibly (before you), accepting your confession. Do not be ashamed, do not be afraid and do not hide anything from me, but tell everything you have sinned without being embarrassed, and you will accept remission of sins from our Lord Jesus Christ. Here is His icon before us: I am only a witness, and everything that you tell me, I will testify before Him. If you hide anything from me, your sin will worsen. Understand that once you have come to the hospital, do not leave from it unhealed!"

This ends the first part of the sequence and begins the interview of the priest with each confessor separately. The penitent, approaching the lectern, must bow to the ground in the direction of the altar or in front of the Cross lying on the lectern. When there is a large gathering of confessors, this bow should be done in advance. During the interview, the priest and confessor stand at the lectern. The penitent stands with his head bowed before the Holy Cross and the Gospel lying on the lectern. The custom of confessing while kneeling before a lectern, rooted in the southwestern dioceses, certainly expresses humility and reverence, but it should be noted that it is Roman Catholic in origin and entered the practice of the Russian Orthodox Church relatively recently.

The most important moment of confession is verbal confession of sins. There is no need to wait for questions, you need to make the effort yourself; after all, confession is a feat and self-compulsion. It is necessary to speak precisely, without obscuring the ugliness of sin with general expressions (for example, “I have sinned against the seventh commandment”). It is very difficult, when confessing, to avoid the temptation of self-justification, it is difficult to refuse attempts to explain to the confessor “mitigating circumstances”, from references to third parties who allegedly led us into sin. All these are signs of pride, lack of deep repentance, and continued staleness in sin. Sometimes during confession they refer to weak memory, which supposedly prevents them from remembering all their sins. Indeed, it often happens that we easily and quickly forget our falls. But does this only happen because of a weak memory? After all, for example, cases when our pride was especially hurt, when we were undeservedly offended or, on the contrary, everything that flatters our vanity: our successes, our good deeds, praise and gratitude to us - we remember for many years. Everything in our worldly life that makes a strong impression on us, we remember for a long time and clearly. Does this mean that we forget our sins because we do not attach serious importance to them?

The sign of perfect repentance is a feeling of lightness, purity, inexplicable joy, when sin seems as difficult and impossible as this joy was just distant.

At the end of the confession of his sins, after listening to the final prayer, the confessor kneels down, and the priest, covering his head with an epitrachelion and placing his hands on top of it, reads a prayer of permission - it contains the secret formula of the sacrament of Repentance:

“Our Lord and God Jesus Christ, by the grace and generosity of His love for mankind, forgive you, child (name of the river), all your sins: and I, an unworthy priest, by His power given to me, forgive and absolve you from all your sins, in the Name Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen." Saying the last words of permission, the priest makes the sign of the cross over the head of the confessor. After this, the confessor stands up and kisses the Holy Cross and the Gospel as a sign of love and reverence for the Lord and fidelity to the vows given to Him in the presence of the confessor. The teaching of permission means the complete remission of all confessed sins of the penitent, and thereby he is given permission to begin the Communion of the Holy Mysteries. If the confessor considers it impossible to immediately forgive the sins of a given confessor due to their severity or unrepentance, then the prayer of permission is not read, and the confessor is not allowed to receive Communion.

What to talk about in confession to a priest

Confession is not a conversation about one’s shortcomings, doubts, it is not simply informing the confessor about oneself.

Confession is a sacrament, and not just a pious custom. Confession is an ardent repentance of the heart, a thirst for purification that comes from a sense of holiness, this is the second Baptism, and, therefore, in repentance we die to sin and are resurrected to holiness. Repentance is the first degree of holiness, and insensibility is being outside of holiness, outside of God.

Often, instead of confessing one’s sins, there is self-praise, 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 a sinner in everything” or talk about little things, keeping silent about what should really weigh on the conscience. The reason for this is false shame before the confessor, and indecision, but especially the cowardly fear of seriously starting to understand one’s life, full of small, habitual weaknesses and sins.

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

There are sins against God and His Church. This group includes numerous spiritual states connected in a continuous network, which include, along with the simple and obvious, a large number of hidden, seemingly innocent, but in fact the most dangerous phenomena for the soul. Generally speaking, these sins can be reduced to the following: 1) lack of faith, 2) superstition, 3) blasphemy And god, 4) lack of prayer And neglect of church services, 5) lovely.

Lack of faith. This sin is perhaps the most common, 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 and resort to confession. He does not consciously deny the existence of God, however, he doubts His omnipotence, mercy or Providence. With his actions, affections, and his entire way of life, he contradicts the faith he professes in words. Such a person never delved into even the simplest dogmatic issues, fearing to lose those naive ideas about Christianity, often incorrect and primitive, that he once acquired. By turning Orthodoxy into a national, home tradition, a set of external rituals, gestures, or reducing it to the enjoyment of beautiful choral singing, the flickering of candles, that is, to external splendor, people of little faith lose the most important thing in the Church - our Lord Jesus Christ. For a person of little faith, religiosity is closely connected with aesthetic, passionate, and sentimental emotions; she easily gets along with egoism, vanity, and sensuality. People of this type seek praise and a good opinion of their confessor. They come to the lectern 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 demonstrated by their easy transition from cloyingly ostentatious “piety” to irritability and anger at their neighbors.

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 people” often show callousness towards others, are selfish and hypocritical; They live only for themselves, considering abstinence from sins sufficient for salvation. It is useful to remind yourself of the contents of chapter 25 of the Gospel of Matthew (the parables of the ten virgins, the talents and, especially, the description of the Last Judgment). In general, religious complacency and complacency are the main signs of alienation from God and the Church, and this is most clearly shown in another gospel parable - about the publican and the Pharisee.

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

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

Particular attention should be paid to such a fairly 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,” a heavy imprint remains - a sign of unconfessed sin, and in souls there is a painfully distorted view of Christianity as one of the lower stages of knowledge of truth, distorted by satanic rationalistic pride. Silencing the childishly sincere faith in the paternal love of God, the hope for the Resurrection and Eternal Life, occultists preach the doctrine of “karma”, the transmigration of souls, extra-church and, therefore, graceless asceticism. Such unfortunates, if they have found the strength to repent, should be explained that, in addition to direct harm to mental health, activities in the occult are 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 through non-church ways. We have been given the supreme law of life, we have been shown the path that directly leads us to God - love. And we must follow this path, bearing our cross, without turning to detours. Occultism is never able to reveal the secrets of existence, as their adherents claim.

Blasphemy and desecration. These sins often coexist with churchliness and sincere faith. This primarily includes blasphemous grumbling against God for His supposedly unmerciful attitude towards man, for suffering that seems excessive and undeserved to him. Sometimes it even comes to blasphemy against God, church shrines, and sacraments. This often manifests itself in the telling of irreverent or directly offensive stories from the lives of clergy and monks, in mocking, ironic quoting of individual expressions from the Holy Scriptures or from prayer books.

The custom of deification and commemoration in vain of the Name of God or the Blessed Virgin Mary is especially widespread. It is very difficult to get rid of the habit of using these sacred names in everyday conversations as interjections, which are used to give the phrase greater emotional expressiveness: “God be with him!”, “Oh, Lord!” etc. It is even worse to pronounce the Name of God in jokes, and an absolutely terrible sin is committed by the one 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. A great sin is committed by parents who curse their children in their hearts and threaten them with heavenly punishment. Invoking evil spirits (cursing) in anger or in a simple conversation is also sinful. The use of any swear words is also blasphemy and a grave sin.

Neglect of church services. This sin most often manifests itself in the lack of desire to participate in the sacrament of the Eucharist, that is, long-term deprivation of oneself from the Communion of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ in the absence of any circumstances preventing this; in addition, this is a general lack of church discipline, a dislike for worship. The excuses usually given are being busy with official and everyday affairs, the distance of the church from home, the length of the service, and the incomprehensibility of the liturgical Church Slavonic language. Some attend divine services quite carefully, but at the same time they only attend the liturgy, do not receive communion and do not even pray during the service. Sometimes you have to deal with such sad facts as ignorance of the basic prayers and the Creed, misunderstanding of the meaning of the sacraments performed, and most importantly, a lack of interest in this.

Prayerlessness as a special case of unchurchism, it 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, fall in love with prayer, and look forward to the hour of prayer. Gradually entering into 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 colorfulness and mystical imagery of liturgical symbols - all that is called church splendor.

The gift of prayer is the ability to control oneself, one’s attention, to repeat the words of prayer not only with lips and tongue, but also to participate in prayer with all one’s heart and all one’s thoughts. An excellent means for this is the “Jesus Prayer,” which consists of uniform, repeated, leisurely repetition of the words: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” There is extensive ascetic literature about this prayer exercise, collected mainly in the Philokalia and other paternal works. We can also recommend the excellent book by an unknown author of the 19th century, “Frank Stories of a Wanderer to His Spiritual Father.”

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

Spiritual beauty significantly different from all the listed sins against God and the Church. Unlike them, this sin is not rooted in a lack of faith, religiosity, or churchliness, but, on the contrary, in a false sense of excess of personal spiritual gifts. A person in a state of seduction imagines himself as having achieved special fruits of spiritual perfection, which is confirmed by all sorts of “signs”: dreams, voices, waking visions. Such a person may 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 perceive his tales as revelations, such a person often acquires many supporters, as a result of which Most 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, someone in a similar state, according to him, already hears voices in reality or sees shining visions in which he recognizes an angel or some saint, or even the Mother of God and the Savior Himself. They tell him the most incredible revelations, often completely meaningless. This happens to people who are both poorly educated and those who are very well-read in the Holy Scriptures, patristic works, as well as those who devote themselves 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 immoderate, excessive consumption of food, that is, overeating or in an addiction to refined taste sensations, enjoying oneself with food. Of course, different people require different amounts of food to maintain their physical strength - this depends on age, physique, state of health, as well as the severity of the work that the person performs. There is no sin in the food itself, for it is a gift from God. The sin lies in treating it as a desired goal, in worshiping it, in the voluptuous experience of taste sensations, in conversations on this topic, in the desire to spend as much money as possible on new, even more refined products. Every piece of food eaten beyond satisfying hunger, every sip of moisture after quenching thirst, simply for pleasure, is already gluttony. Sitting at the table, a Christian must not allow himself to be carried away by this passion. “The more wood, the stronger the flame; the more food, the more violent the lust” (Abba Leontius). “Gluttony is the mother of fornication,” says one ancient patericon. And he directly warns: “Control your womb before it dominates you.”

St. Augustine compares the body to a furious horse that carries away the soul, the unbridledness of which should be tamed by reducing food; It is primarily for this purpose that the Church established fasts. But “beware of measuring fasting by simple abstinence 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, and impulses. The meaning of spiritual fasting is best described in one Lenten stichera: “Let us fast with a pleasant fast, pleasing to the Lord: true fasting is alienation of evil, abstinence of the tongue, putting aside rage, excommunication of lusts, speaking, lying and perjury: these are impoverished, true fasting is also favorable.” . No matter how difficult fasting may be in the conditions of our life, we must strive for it, it must be preserved in everyday life, especially internal, spiritual fasting, which the fathers call chastity. The sister and friend of fasting is prayer, without which it turns into an end in itself, a means of special, refined care for one’s body.

Obstacles to prayer come from weak, incorrect, insufficient faith, from over-concern, vanity, preoccupation with worldly affairs, from sinful, unclean, evil feelings and thoughts. Fasting helps overcome these obstacles.

Love of money manifests itself in the form of extravagance or its opposite, stinginess. Secondary at first glance, this is a sin of extreme importance - it involves the simultaneous rejection of faith in God, love for people and addiction to lower feelings. It gives rise to anger, petrification, over-concern, and 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 person 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 yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where is the treasure? yours, there your heart will also be" (Matthew 6:19-21). St. Apostle Paul says: “We brought nothing into the world; it is obvious that we cannot take anything out of it. Having food and clothing, we will be content with that. But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and into a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts that plunge people into disaster and destruction. For the root of all evil is the love of money, to which, having given themselves up, some have wandered away from the faith and subjected themselves to many sorrows. But you, man of God, flee from this... exhort the rich in this age to did not think highly of themselves and did not trust in unfaithful wealth, but in the living God, who gives us everything abundantly for enjoyment; so that they would do good, be rich in good deeds, be generous and sociable, laying up treasure for themselves, a good foundation for the future, in order to achieve eternal life "(1 Tim. 6, 7-11; 17-19).

“The wrath of man does not bring about the righteousness of God” (James 1:20). Anger, irritability- many penitents tend to justify the manifestation of this passion by physiological reasons, the so-called “nervousness” due to the suffering and adversity that befell them, the tension of modern life, the difficult character of relatives and friends. Although these reasons are partly true, they cannot justify this, as a rule, deep-rooted habit of taking out one’s irritation, anger, and bad mood on loved ones. Irritability, hot temper, and rudeness primarily destroy family life, leading to quarrels over trifles, causing reciprocal hatred, desire for revenge, rancor, and hardening the hearts of generally kind and loving people. And how destructively the manifestation of anger affects young souls, destroying in them the God-given tenderness and love for their parents! “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, lest they become discouraged” (Col. 3:21).

The ascetic works of the Church Fathers contain a lot of advice for combating the passion of anger. One of the most effective is “righteous anger,” in other words, turning our capacity for irritation and anger to the very passion of anger. “It is not only permissible, but truly salutary to be angry at one’s own sins and shortcomings” (St. Demetrius of Rostov). St. Nile of Sinai advises to be “meek with people,” but kind to our enemy, since this is the natural use of anger to hostilely confront the ancient serpent" (Philokalia, vol. II). The same ascetic writer says : “Whoever bears a grudge against demons does not hold a grudge against people.”

You should show meekness and patience towards your neighbors. “Be wise, and stop the lips of those who speak evil about you with silence, and not with anger and abuse” (St. Anthony the Great). “When they slander you, see if you have done anything worthy of slander. If you have not done it, then consider the slander as flying away as smoke” (St. Nilus of Sinai). “When you feel a strong influx of anger within yourself, try to remain silent. And so that silence itself will bring you more benefit, turn mentally to God and mentally read to yourself at this time some short prayers, for example, the “Jesus Prayer,” advises St. Philaret Moskovsky Even to argue without bitterness and without anger, since irritation is immediately transferred to another, infecting him, but in no case convincing him of the rightness.

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

In confession, we must tell whether we harbor anger towards our neighbor and whether we have reconciled with the one with whom we quarreled, and if we cannot see someone in person, have we reconciled with him in our hearts? On Athos, confessors not only do not allow monks who have anger towards their neighbors to serve in church and partake of the Holy Mysteries, but when reading the prayer rule, they must omit the words in the Lord’s Prayer: “and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” so as not to be liars before God. With this prohibition, the monk is temporarily excommunicated from prayerful and Eucharistic communion with the Church, until reconciliation with his brother.

The one who prays for those who often lead him into the temptation of anger receives significant help. Thanks to such prayer, a feeling of meekness and love for people who were recently hated is instilled in the heart. But in the first place there should be a prayer for the granting of meekness and driving away the spirit of anger, revenge, resentment, and rancor.

One of the most common sins is undoubtedly condemnation of 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 ordinary that it does not even deserve 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 the passion of pride. Condemning other people's shortcomings (real or apparent), a person imagines himself better, purer, more pious, more honest or smarter than another. The words of Abba Isaiah are addressed to such people: “Whoever has a pure heart considers all people pure, but whoever has a heart defiled by passions does not consider anyone pure, but thinks that everyone is like him” (“The Spiritual Flower Garden”).

Those who condemn forget that the Savior Himself commanded: “Judge not, lest ye be judged, for with the judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but the beam Can’t you feel it in your eye?” (Matt. 7:1-3). “Let us no longer judge each other, but rather judge how not to give your brother any chance of stumbling or temptation” (Rom. 14:13), teaches St. Apostle Paul. There is no sin committed by one person that anyone else could not commit. And if you see someone else’s uncleanness, then it means that it has already penetrated into you, for innocent babies do not notice the depravity of adults and thereby maintain their chastity. Therefore, the condemner, even if he is right, must honestly admit to himself: has he not committed the same sin?

Our judgment is never impartial, because most often it is based on a random impression or is carried out under the influence of personal resentment, irritation, anger, or a random “mood.”

If a Christian has heard about the unseemly act of his loved one, then, before becoming indignant and condemning him, he must act according to the word of Jesus son of Sirach: “He who bridles the tongue will live peacefully, and he who hates talkativeness will reduce evil. Never repeat a word, and you will have nothing.” will decline... Ask your friend, maybe he didn’t do that; and if he did, then let him not do it in advance. Ask your friend, maybe he didn’t say that; and if he did, let him not repeat it. Ask your friend, for slander often occurs. Do not believe every word. Some sin with their words, but not from the heart; and who has not sinned with his tongue? Question your neighbor before threatening him, and give place to the law of the Most High" (Sir. 19, 6-8; 13 -19).

Sin of despondency most often occurs from excessive preoccupation with oneself, one’s experiences, failures and, as a result, the fading 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 we need to grow and cultivate it in ourselves. To peer into His image, to clarify and deepen it in oneself, to live in thought of Him, and not about one’s petty vain successes and failures, to give Him one’s heart—this is the life of a Christian. And then the silence and peace that St. speaks about will reign in our hearts. Isaac the Syrian: “Make peace with yourself, and heaven and earth will make peace with you.”

There is, perhaps, no sin more common than lie. This category of vices should also include failure to keep promises, gossip And idle talk. This sin has entered so deeply into the consciousness of modern man, 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 serious sin, serving Satan - the father of lies. According to the Apostle John, “no one devoted to abomination and lies will enter the Heavenly Jerusalem” (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 along the path of righteousness. Only truth makes people free.

A lie can manifest itself completely shamelessly, openly, in all its satanic abomination, becoming in such cases a person’s second nature, a permanent mask attached to his face. He gets so used to lying that he cannot express his thoughts otherwise than by putting them into words that obviously do not correspond to them, thereby not clarifying, but darkening the truth. Lies imperceptibly creep into a person’s soul from childhood: often, not wanting to see anyone, we ask our loved ones to tell the person who comes that we are not at home; Instead of directly refusing to participate in any activity that is unpleasant for us, we pretend to be sick and busy with something else. Such “everyday” lies, seemingly innocent exaggerations, jokes based on deception, gradually corrupt a person, allowing him subsequently to make deals with his conscience for his own benefit.

Just as nothing can come from the devil except evil and destruction for the soul, so from lies - his brainchild - nothing can come except the corrupting, satanic, anti-Christian spirit of evil. There is no “saving lie” or “justified”; these phrases themselves are blasphemous, for only the Truth, our Lord Jesus Christ, saves and justifies us.

No less common than lies is sin. idle talk, that is, the empty, unspiritual use of the Divine gift of speech. This also includes gossip and retelling of rumors.

People often spend time in empty, useless conversations, the content of which is immediately forgotten, instead of talking about faith with someone who suffers without it, seeking God, visiting the sick, helping the lonely, praying, comforting the offended, talking with children or grandchildren , instruct them with words and personal example on the spiritual path.

Copyright © 2006-2016 Library "Chalcedon"
When using site materials, a link to is required.

When going to church confession for the first time in their lives, most people worry - how to confess correctly what to say to the priest at the beginning, how to list sins, what words to end confession with. In fact, this concern, although justified, should not overshadow the main thing - the awareness of one’s sinfulness and readiness to free oneself from its burden before God. The most important thing that a confessor must understand is that for God there are neither rich nor poor, neither successful nor losers; He treats everyone equally and expects everyone with the same love. Therefore, it is not so important to learn to say the right words as to maintain the right mood of spirit, which will be the best assistant during confession. The Apostle Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews says: “ The Lord kisses even intentions” (Heb. 4:12), which, in principle, reflects the attitude of the Church towards those who wish to confess. However, in order to facilitate the process of confession for the confessor himself and its perception by the priest, and so that confused, confusing speech does not take up too much time during the service, it is, of course, advisable to focus on some “plan” of repentance.

How to confess and what to say to priests in confession

The best instructions on how best to prepare for confession, how to behave the day before, and when it is best to come to church, can only be obtained from the priest of the church in which you decided to confess. But, despite some differences in the foundations (foundations, but not the Charter!) of different churches, the basic rules for preparing and conducting confession are the same everywhere:

1. 3 days before confession, fasting is recommended - fasting (not eating meat, dairy and egg products), reading the Canons and prayers prescribed before confession and Communion.
2. If possible, it is advisable to attend church services on these days, not attend entertainment events, entertainment, not get carried away by television, it is better to read soul-helping literature.
3. On these same days, you need to completely delve into the memory of your sins, you can write them down on a piece of paper (to then read this list to the priest), read repentant prayers in order to be completely disgusted with your sinful offenses.
4. Before confession, it is obligatory to attend the evening service (in some parishes confession is performed mainly at the evening service).

How to confess correctly, what to say to the priest at the beginning

What to tell the priest

Immediately before confession, try to listen carefully to the prayer the priest reads for those who have come to confess, say your name and calmly wait for your turn.

Approaching the priest, cross yourself, then the priest himself will say “kiss the Gospel, kiss the cross”, you just need to do it. Don’t let thoughts of how to confess correctly disturb you, What should I say to my father? Example The standard confession of a modern person can be found in any church shop where brochures with explanations are sold for those wishing to receive communion or confess. Arm yourself only with the firm confidence that confessed sins are irrevocably forgiven by the Lord and forever erased from your Book of Life.

Usually the priest himself asks: “What have you sinned before the Lord,” then you can say: “I confess, I am a great sinner (or a great sinner, and give my name) all my sins...” If the Church Slavonic style seems pompous and inconvenient to you, say in your own words - I have sinned (a) this and that, listing the sins the list of which was compiled the day before.

There is no need to go into details; call sins with the exact definitions accepted in the Church; if the priest himself begins to ask about the details, then tell it as it is. The list of sins, which takes up more than one page, can also be found in church brochures, or you can confess according to the commandments, that is, after going through all 10 commandments, evaluate how you kept them (or didn’t keep them).

End of confession

At the end of confession, the priest will ask if you have revealed all your sins to the Lord, if you have hidden anything. They usually also ask whether you repent of the sins you have committed, whether you regret what you have done, whether you have a firm decision not to do this in the future, and so on. You will just need to answer all these questions, then the priest will cover you with an epitrachelion (an element of priestly vestments) and read a prayer of permission over you. Then he himself will tell you and show you what to do next, how to be baptized, what to kiss (the cross and the Gospel) and, if you were preparing for Communion, he will bless you to wait for Communion or come to confession again.

When preparing for confession, try to talk with the priest in advance about your intention to free yourself from the burden of sins, especially if you are doing this for the first time. Only a priest will be your best guide in such an intimate and godly matter as confession. Therefore, you should not worry in vain (“Am I saying it right, what will the priest think of me”), it is better to try to name all your sins without concealment, with all your heart lamenting your guilt and completely surrendering to the Lord’s love and mercy.