List of sins to confess to priest. How to make a list of sins for confession for women

Be happy!

“... I was then... in my tenth year. I did not see the service of the great father Alexei Mechev, his son Father Sergius, who was in exile in 1930. But I remembered the confession in the Mechevo church for the rest of my life. And now I see kind brown eyes, the heartfelt and warm voice of Father Boris (Kholchev), then a priest who took a vow of celibacy, and later an elder archimandrite. The confession was extremely interesting, understandable to a child and at the same time philosophical and spiritually warm, individual. It seemed to me that when Father Boris leaned towards me and his thick black hair fell on the lectern, I felt that I was already an adult and could understand everything.
“All my life,” said Fr. Boris, pointing to the Gospel, remember that this book contains everything your soul needs. You will always receive consolation, you will be together with Christ Himself. Pray and He will always help you. After all, you know that Christ is not just a “good God.” He can point out and punish, but always for the good, always for the good.
I stood spellbound.
- Remember that Christ is both Father and Friend to you, He is both God and Man at the same time, do you know this?
“I know,” I answered.
- Remember and read the Gospel all your life, do not have malice in your heart. To no one. Be happy…

Memoirs of A. B. Sventsitsky. "Moscow Journal". 1995. No. 8

Contrition... of an old man

... One woman who came from afar (to the Glinsk hermitage) asked Father Andronik to confess to her. What she told him was the secret of confession, but only after everything he had heard did he begin to cry, saying: “How could you insult the Lord like that?!” His contrition for her sins, which may have weighed on her, but which she probably did not yet know how to properly repent of, struck her so much that she, moving away from the lectern, said out loud: “I’ll come home and spend the winter, God willing, and in the spring I’ll sell the heifer so I can get here again.”

“Glinskaya mosaic” M., 1997

Reach out to God

I will never forget my first confession with Father Kirik. He was an Athonite elder who spent his entire life in prayer and deeds. When I entered the room where he was confessing, from its depths he extended his hands to me with the words: “Come, come, little dove.” He was completely gray-haired, with clear, transparent blue eyes. From his words, from his affection, from his childishly pure look, I immediately began to cry. I know that tears in confession are grace sent by God. They bring repentance, they reveal to us forgotten sins. Father Kirik’s first question was: “Does he often torment you?” At first I didn’t understand who he was? Father Kirik came to his senses and began to say: “Yes, yes, you don’t understand, of course, I forgot that here, in the world, he leaves you alone, he’s already in charge of everyone here, he has no need to show his face. Trust in the Lord, and He will not leave you. The Lord is like a loving father. Remember this always. Extend your hand to God so that He will guide you, and then everything in your life will be good.”
I listened to him and cried grateful tears. When you give your hand to God, you live on a different plane, you walk not on the ground, but a little higher. Then every day is new and beautiful, then there are no gray everyday life, boring unnecessary people, then in confession you see your sins and are given tears to mourn them. Then the heart is open to God's grace.

From “Chronicles of the Zernov Family”

Word before confession

Father Hilarion, rector of the monastery of St. Savva of Vishera, when confessing the penitent, always began by blaming himself. “Believe me,” he said, “if I have not committed a similar sin, it is only because the Lord, in His mercy, rejected the opportunity for me to commit it. If I did not succumb to this or that temptation, it was only because the Lord, considering me too weak, did not allow the demon to tempt me. So, do not be afraid to open your soul to me and do not be ashamed of me: I am more sinful, no matter what the sin you have committed.”
While he was so lenient towards actions caused by ignorance or thoughtlessness, he was strict and even unforgiving towards what was based on vicious inclinations, on deviation from principles or deliberately encouraged deficiency. In such cases, finding the need for punishment, he did not forgive anyone. He even increased the shame and repentance of the guilty person by taking upon himself part of the penance that, as a shepherd, he was obliged to impose on him. And everyone knew that he would keep his promise, that not a single word, not a single threat would pass without a trace.

"Athos Ascetic" C/76, 1898

With Father John of Kronstadt

The young master (Sergei Alexandrovich Nilus) recalled his trip to Kronstadt to visit Father John.
“I returned home completely ill, with amazing chills and fever, from which my head seemed to be split in two. According to the most ordinary human logic, I should have gone to bed and sent for the doctor, which I probably would have done, but some force above illness, above all logic, carried me away to Kronstadt that evening in the bitter cold. I realized that I was acting unreasonably, perhaps even ruining myself, and nevertheless, if someone had threatened me with death at that time for my unreasonableness, I, it seems, would have gone to death itself. In the carriage of the Oranienbaum train, sitting by the almost red-hot stove, I was shivering in my coat with the collar raised, as if in the bitter frost, in the draft wind; but the confidence that came from somewhere that nothing bad would happen to me, that, despite the seeming madness of my journey, I would be healthy, did not leave me for a minute.
However, I was getting worse and worse. Somehow, more with the help of facial expressions than words, I hired a one-horse wagon at the Oranienbaum station, and, still in a light coat, set off on a 12-mile journey in 18-degree frost along the windswept icy seashore to Kronstadt, flashing in the distance in the darkness of the night the bright electric light of its lighthouse. I ordered myself to be taken to the House of Industriousness. The streets of Kronstadt were deserted when my poor sick body was pounding over their potholes, but the closer I got to St. Andrew’s Cathedral, the livelier the city became, and already at the cathedral itself I was met by a human wave of more than one thousand people, silently and solemnly spreading throughout streets and alleys adjacent to the cathedral.
- Everyone comes from confession, from the priest! - said my driver, taking off his hat and earnestly crossing himself three times at the open doors of the temple.
In the House of Industriousness I had to go up to the 4th floor, to the apartment of the psalm-reader recommended to me.
Less than an hour had passed since the psalm-reader arrived from the cathedral, when one of the servants came running from below, out of breath: “Father has arrived!”
The psalm-reader and I were already on the lower floor in an instant.
- Why isn't the door unlocked? Unlock it quickly! - an authoritative voice rang out... and the priest entered with a quick, energetic gait. Father John looked at me with one glance... and what a look it was! Piercing, enlightening, piercing, like lightning, both my past and the ulcers of my present, penetrating, it seemed, even into my very future! This is how I seemed naked to myself, so I felt ashamed of myself, of my nakedness...
- Well, father, a gentleman from the Oryol province came to you for advice, but he fell ill and lost his voice...
- How did you lose your voice? Got a cold, or what?
I couldn’t make a sound in response: my throat was completely closed. Helpless, confused, I just looked at the priest with despair. Father John let me kiss the cross, placed it on the lectern, and with two fingers of his right hand he ran three times behind the collar of my shirt along my throat. The fever instantly left me, and my voice returned to me immediately fresher and purer than usual... It’s difficult to convey in words what happened here in my soul!..
For more than half an hour, on my knees, falling at the feet of the desired comforter, I told him about my sorrows, revealing to him my whole sinful soul, and brought repentance for everything that lay like a heavy stone on my heart.
For the first time I perceived with all my soul the sweetness of this repentance, for the first time with all my heart I felt that God, namely God Himself, through the lips of the shepherd He had blessed, sent down His forgiveness to me when Fr. John:
- God has a lot of mercy - God will forgive.
What an unspeakable joy it was, what a sacred thrill my soul was filled with at these loving, all-forgiving words! I did not understand what had happened with my mind, but accepted it with my whole being, with all my mysterious spiritual renewal. That faith that was so stubbornly denied to my soul, only after this heartfelt confession from Fr. Joanna sparked a bright flame within me. I recognized myself as both a believer and an Orthodox Christian.”

S. Nilus. "Great in small"

Confession can work miracles

Alexander Sergeevich Kuznetsov, who in 1938 became monk Anthony at the monastery of St. Savva the Sanctified, grew up and was brought up on his estate near Nizhny Novgorod in a very cultural environment. The revolution forced him and his mother (his father had died earlier) to move through the Caucasus to Constantinople. Here their spiritual rebirth began (our intelligentsia, for the most part, was far from the Church). This is how a certain I.E. writes about Fr. Anthony in the magazine “Eternal” for 1965, dedicated entirely to Fr. Anthony, in the publication “Monk Anthony Savvait”:
“In Constantinople they reached complete poverty, so that sometimes they even ate alms. More than once they found themselves in an almost hopeless and dangerous situation. There were several cases when they seemed to accidentally call on the Lord for help, and the Lord seemed to be waiting for this. He immediately, working an almost obvious miracle, saved them from trouble. This is where they began to understand what God’s Providence is, caring for every person. Thus began spiritual insight... However, the enemy of the human race did not sleep. He immediately tried to seduce them from the path of truth through all sorts of freethinkers who called themselves Christians, with whom our emigration in Constantinople abounded at that time, starting from theosophists and ending with all sorts of independent false teachers. Frustrated in mind and soul, Alexander Sergeevich was passionately carried away by all these imaginary sources of truth, and although he knew the Holy Gospel and the Apostle almost by heart, he was far from Orthodoxy. Like other freethinkers, he began to preach and teach others what he himself did not understand. But since all this was not from God, instead of spiritual peace, he received, on the contrary, complete disorder. His mother, also wandering in search of truth, did not neglect the Church, and seeing her son’s illness, decided to take him to the “father” in the hope that he would say a kind word or help them with advice. She told the priest about her son, and then brought him. And what - instead of words, the hieromonk simply hugged him tightly and said with compassion: “Nothing, nothing - everything will pass.” And at that moment, the grace of God poured into the soul of A.S. Without a sermon, without explanation, he understood that the truth is in Orthodoxy, he understood once and for all. By the way, this hieromonk did not do any “supernatural things” either before or after this incident.”
Subsequently, A.S. and his mother managed to move to the Holy Land, where in 1925 he entered the Lavra of St. Savva the Sanctified, and his mother - to the Russian convent on Olivet. As for the short confession, its effect miraculously opened the soul of A.S., who came to the temple by the grace of God. After all, the Lord at least accepts those who doubt their rightness, but does not proudly and stubbornly defend it. And a simple, ordinary priest contributed to this miracle with his sympathy for the restless soul.

From publ. "Monk Anthony Savvait"

God works in mysterious ways

Vera Timofeevna Verkhovtseva (1862-1940) was going to confess and receive communion after a long break and, praying to God to send her a worthy priest, in a dream she saw the confessor of her late mother, whom she had never remembered. She found a forgotten name in her mother’s old prayer book and tried to find out about Father Sergius from good friends in the city of her childhood. He was alive, served and was a teacher of the law in the gymnasium. Vera Timofeevna rushed to him. Straight from the station to the gymnasium. The priest, already a gray-haired old man, having heard that she was the daughter of Nadezhda Fedorovna and wanted to confess to him, invited her to his home at 5 o’clock. At the appointed time she called. The priest opened the door and, leading her into his office, pointed to her mother’s card, saying: “God, your mother and I - we are listening to you!” Excited, she cried and expressed her whole soul.
“That was the confession of my whole life; how she appeared to me in the palm of my hand, pitiful, lonely, somehow dark... I remember with what ardent sincerity I exposed my sick, tormented soul before the dark face of Christ, looking at me from the corner... and nothing, in essence, except this gaze, I did not see. When I finished my confession and turned towards the priest, who was sitting in a chair with his back to the light, I saw him sleeping with a terrible red face, and his whole pose revealed a completely drunk man... He didn’t listen to me, and did I even open my soul to him? He was a witness who betrayed his duty, his oath, an unworthy servant of the invisible Lord - but I confessed to God, and God listened to me! If then I had had my present experience and knowledge, I would not have been embarrassed by the spectacle that presented itself to my eyes, I would probably have gotten up from my knees healthy, justified, but then I was unsteady on my feet, and I don’t understand how I didn’t go crazy from such an unexpected impression that shocked me so boundlessly. From my sudden movement, the priest woke up and, with slurred tongue, ordered me to come to confession (?) at 5 o’clock in the morning at the church for early mass. I don’t know how the grace of God overcame my inner chaos, but by five in the morning I was already in church. Entering the church, I saw my confessor barely able to stand on his feet. The watchmen supported him. He was apparently completely exhausted. Mass was celebrated by another priest, from whom I received communion.”
Vera Timofeevna returned to Moscow with new torment in her heart. “The thought that I myself was not worth the best priest did not occur to me then, I was lenient with myself, but demanding of him.”
After this, her health began to decline. “The doctor was sent abroad and sent back from there, finding the situation hopeless,” she writes. Vera Timofeevna was healed by Father John of Kronstadt, to whom she turned on the advice of her relatives.
“Soon after my revival and meeting Father, somehow unexpectedly for me, the figure of a weak priest from T. “I wish I could bring him together with Father,” it came to my mind, “maybe the Lord will heal him for His righteous prayers.” minister. Maybe that’s the only reason our paths crossed for a moment.” These thoughts haunted me more and more often and relentlessly, and I finally decided to write without any beating. “You are the light of the world and the salt of the earth,” I wrote, “but how do you shine? What temptation are you leading your flock into, insulting God, neglecting the interests of the flock entrusted to you? Come by all means, entrust your weak soul to Father Fr. John, for his prayers you will be healed.”
“I can’t turn to others in a matter where I have to help myself,” he replied.
But I didn’t let up. An inner voice convinced me to insist, and I wrote again and even set a day of arrival, promising that he would serve together with Father, whom I had already asked to earnestly pray for his perishing soul. And when the day I had appointed for my arrival arrived, I fell into boundless excitement.
The morning passed in vain, and I, disappointed, left home on business. Imagine my delight when, upon returning, I learned from the doorman that the visiting priest was waiting for me. On the wings of joy I flew into the apartment. The familiar figure of Father Sergius rose to meet me, but so ominous and gloomy that my heart sank with fear.
“Well, I came, I don’t know why,” he began without greeting or blessing.
- Well, thank God! - I exclaimed. - Now let's go look for Father John.
“No, there’s no need,” he interrupted me, “why rush, maybe there’s no point in disturbing anyone, and that’s how things will work out.” Still, strange things have happened since I received your letter. First of all, it was the first night in 25 years that I fell asleep and didn’t wake up, otherwise you won’t believe what a torment! You wake up at two o’clock in the morning and feel like drinking, and no matter how sinful I am, I didn’t serve while drunk, I didn’t offend God even by this... and then in the morning I got up sober, to my own surprise. And then I think: how can I go, I don’t even have a penny to spare. The wife begged and said: “We’ll get it!” No, I say, I won’t get into debt, but I’m glad that an obstacle was found: but suddenly, out of nowhere, money came to my wife after the late Metropolitan of Moscow - 200 rubles; He was her relative, no excuses. I see, fortunately, a new obstacle - the city is celebrating its 200-year anniversary, the bishop, as an honored archpriest, appointed me to concelebrate - so, I think, they won’t let me in, thank God again! And to clear my conscience, I went to ask. “I want to go to Kronstadt, on such and such a date I will serve with Fr. John,” and I chuckle inside myself: “Why, they’ll let you in!” And the bishop was an admirer of Father. And then the last miracle happened. “To deprive you of such happiness,” he said, “go with God, and pray for me, a sinner, with him.” They usually always see me off, I can’t travel alone, I’ll definitely get drunk, well, they protected me from my shame, but here there was no one to see me off, and the road would have become twice as expensive, so they let me go to the will of God - and well, I got there, I could at least drink one for the journey, but I probably won’t be able to stand it any longer. “I drink a lot,” he lowered his voice to a whisper, and his face became terrible, “even a barrel isn’t enough for me!”
I felt a trembling take over me...
“Let’s go quickly, God will help, I believe, I believe, I believe,” I repeated in a kind of frenzy, and most of all I was afraid that somehow he would get out of it.
It was November, there was ice outside: there was no shelter either in a sleigh or on wheels, a piercing cold wind was blowing through. In a light blouse, almost freezing, I stopped thinking about myself, if only I could hand him over to the care of my dear Father, if only I could drag him to him. Father Sergius sat and remained stubbornly silent, sighing occasionally and muttering something. “Lord, vouchsafe to behold Your worthy servant,” I managed to hear. I prayed internally fervently and passionately.
Upon arrival at the station, I took a ticket for Father Sergius and, having an urgent need to return home, I was terribly afraid that my work would be in vain. I led him to the image standing on the platform and said:
- Swear to me with the high dignity of a priest that you will not run away, that you will wait for Father, otherwise I will stay, risking getting completely sick.
- I give you a terrible oath in the face of God that I will not leave. “I have already overcome the desire to run away, go in peace,” he said firmly and calmly.
Three whole tedious days passed, my excitement grew, I kept imagining things: either he died or ran away, despite the oath. Finally, on the third day in the evening the phone rang. My heart trembled, and I, ahead of the servants, rushed to the front door: Father Sergius stood there, all shining, radiant. Having fervently prayed to the image, blessing me, he looked deeply into my eyes: “If I were not a priest and archpriest, I would bow to your feet and kiss them for what you have done for me”...
And he told me how he was traveling with Father in the compartment, how he remembered that he had already prayed for him. The picture of the train leaving, the crowd of people running behind, the throwing of notes asking him to pray - all this, from the very beginning, struck him with its unusualness; he immediately understood and weighed what power a true priest of the Lord God has and what he should be.
Father John was silent: he prayed and dozed. On the ship, he unexpectedly took Father Sergius by the hand and led him to the bow of the ship. The public hid in the cabins as the wind raged with extraordinary force. The deck was empty. Father Sergius, grabbing the stretched rope and pulling his hat down, barely made his way behind Father, who walked ahead freely, without a hat, with flying hair, in an open fur coat. “Well, Father Archpriest,” he said, stopping, “God, the cleansing element and I are listening to you.”
Soon after this event, Father Sergius fell ill with purulent pleurisy, and it happened that at that very time Father John was passing through the city of T. to my estate. I asked him diligently to visit the sick person.
“Your illness is cleansing,” said Father, “with it the Lord will cleanse all your weakness.” And Father Sergius got up after his illness, spiritually healthy, lived after that for another 10 years, growing and strengthening in spirit, and died, warmly mourned by the parish and family who loved him infinitely.

V. T. Verkhovtseva. “Memories of Fr. John of Kronstadt"

Door of repentance

I have had two special encounters in my entire life. One such that I, blinded by a woman, followed her like an ox going to the slaughter, and my path was perverted.
Another meeting was with a girl full of meekness. I didn’t know the value of her well-bred soul. I accepted this meek girl as a gift from the Lord. And I understood the horror of the first meeting, the sin of which would never have touched me if I had loved the truth and had not had a high opinion of myself. But it happened to me according to the word of Scripture: “pride will come, and shame will come” (). What to do? How can I get out of the circle of contradictions in which I find myself? I couldn’t understand anything and didn’t see any opportunity for myself - and I began to rush around internally. Sorrow and longing haunted me. And when I had sufficiently drunk all the bitterness of my hopeless situation, unexpectedly, regardless of my personal efforts, the “day of atonement” () came for me.
I remember it was February 4, 1932. I was on a business trip in the Urals. I woke up early (it was 5 am). Anguish from the consciousness of my sin squeezed me with renewed vigor. Being in a difficult mental state, I took my favorite book - the Gospel. I found the place where it talks about the miracle of healing a man born blind and how the Lord Jesus healed him and then asked: “Do you believe in the Son of God?” (). It’s strange, it seemed to me that I clearly heard the words of this question, and they were addressed to me. I thought about it, wanting to give an answer. And just as I was thinking, suddenly... I felt the presence of Christ and saw a bright light and in this light His penetrating gaze. And at that moment something happened to me that cannot be put into words.
I remembered my sin, and my whole life seemed evil and vile to me. And a feeling of intense self-loathing overwhelmed me. And this consciousness of my sinful life plunged me into horror. Then I fell before the Lord standing next to me and, not daring to hope, I begged: “Lord, Lord! I have sinned before You... save me!” And when I uttered these words, my whole being was shaken and some kind of force entered me, and then everything that embarrassed me and weighed me down went somewhere far, far away, so that it became like something that had never happened, and an immense the joy of God's forgiveness. And I began to thank God. And again and again joy illuminated my entire being. Finally, by the grace of God, the door of repentance was opened. After that I became a new person. Having experienced all this, I lost my speech, and at first I could not say anything, and I only wrote to my friend, with whom the Lord blessed me to live, that God had given me to experience great forgiveness of sins and rebirth.
The change in my being was experienced not only internally, but also externally. I didn't recognize myself. In the service, I began to complete the tasks assigned to me with unprecedented success, which was noticed by everyone. And joy did not decrease in its strength, it continued to shine and illuminate my being.

From the notes of A.D. Radynsky “Day of Atonement.” Typescript

"I will never forgive..."

Not to forgive someone, even just one person, living or deceased, means NOT receiving forgiveness for yourself. Even with the most detailed and, it seems, sincere confession. This is an immutable law. All Christians know about him. People always remember him when they read “Our Father.” And yet, there are times when it seems that someone cannot be forgiven. And then something happens that Bishop Anthony of Sourozh once spoke about.
“I now remember a woman whom I admonished 40 years ago. She was dying and asked to receive communion. I said she should confess. She confessed, and at the end I asked her:
- Tell me, do you still have a grudge against anyone? Is there anyone you can't forgive? She answered:
- Yes, I forgive everyone, I love everyone, but I will not forgive my son-in-law either in this world or in the future! I said:
- In this case, I will not give you either a prayer of permission or communion.
- How can I die without receiving communion? I will die! I answered:
- Yes! But you have already died - from your words...
- I can’t forgive so quickly.
- Well, then leave this life unforgiven. I'll leave now, I'll be back in two hours. You have these two hours ahead of you to reconcile - or not to reconcile. And ask God that you don’t die during these two hours.
I returned two hours later, and she told me: “You know, when you left, I realized what was happening to me. I called my son-in-law, he came, we reconciled.” I gave her a prayer of permission and communion.”

Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh

Confession... of other people's sins

One of those who turned to the elder of Zosima Hermitage, Father Innocent, for spiritual guidance told about herself:
“I lived with Olga, also a “father”. She irritated me very much because she did everything in the house differently than I was used to. I’ve been patient and patient... Well, I think I’ll tell Father everything about you. She waited until she could go to confession with the priest, came and spent a long time talking in detail about all Olga’s wrong actions. Father listened without interrupting, without asking anything. Finally - that's it. I finished. I am silent, and the priest is silent. There was a pause, and he asked:
- Did you tell everything about her?
- That's it, father.
- Now tell me just as well about yourself.
It was then that I realized that I couldn’t say anything about myself. Not only good, I can’t even do bad... I kept an eye on her, analyzed all her actions, memorized them, accumulated them in my memory. What about yourself? I forgot about myself, I had no time for myself... And now I’m standing at the priest’s, he is silent, and I think: this is called I came to confession. She brought the sins of others, but where are her own? Who told me to remember the sins of others? Should I be responsible for them? God will ask everyone for themselves. Others may have repented long ago, but I don’t know what to repent of. Father didn’t tell me anything, it came to me like this. I’ve learned throughout my life how to notice others.”

Storm

One priest came to Elder Gabriel for confession. The elder asked him, among other things:
- When preparing for service, do you always read the rules?
He pretended not to understand the question:
- “Rule”? So how? I read, but... newspapers.
- Newspapers?! - the old man was amazed. - Do you believe in God?
“Well, not very much, I won’t say very much...” the confessor muttered, smiling to the side.
The elder’s heart began to boil from the strange manner of “repenting” and the hardness of the heart of the shepherd of human souls. Worried, he began to interrogate in a stern voice unusual for him:
- So what, are you still serving? - Yes, of course, because I am a priest!
- And you preach to the people so that they pray and believe in God?
- Yes, I preach. Out of duty. You see, this is how I look at it. An official is obliged to serve - and serves. And what’s in his soul, no one cares. I have to preach, and I preach, but what’s inside me, who cares?
- How! - Father Gabriel exclaimed, standing up to his full height. - So you have honey on your tongue, but ice on your heart? Why, you are a CRIMINAL!
And without remembering himself, in indescribable excitement he even hit the analogue with his hand. The priest trembled at this menacing call. He fell to his knees and, in some kind of horror, covering his face with his hands, groaned: “Lord! Where was I? And he sobbed and sobbed. The elder barely calmed him down. He re-confessed and consoled him for a long time with sweet words about salvation and the joy of loving God. Afterwards this priest completely recovered and was a sincere admirer of the elder.

Ep. Varnava (Belyaev). "The thorny path to God"

Confession in the camp

One day Seraphim Sazikov came. He stood there, hesitated, talked about this and that, and then said: “Father Arseny! I would like to confess, if you allow me. Apparently, the end will come soon, you won’t get out of the “special” one, but I carry a lot of sins, a lot.”
It is difficult in the camp to escape from the barracks for an hour or two, all the time under surveillance, that’s why they are “special”. But Sazikov managed to break free and come to Fr. Arseny to confession. It was just the two of us, there were two hours before verification. If they find both of them together, a punishment cell for five days is guaranteed.
Seraphim got down on his knees, worried, lost. Father Arseny put his hand on Seraphim’s head and began to pray. Went into prayer. Several minutes passed. Seraphim spoke at first abruptly, haltingly, with great internal tension.
Father Arseny was silent, did not direct, did not suggest, but listened and prayed, believing that a person must find himself. A lot of people had to confess in camp conditions, but it was rare for old hardened criminals. For the most part, these were people who had lost everything in the world and had nothing in their souls. Conscience, love, truth, humanity, faith in anything were long ago lost, exchanged, mixed with blood, cruelty, depravity. The past did not make them happy; it frightened them. They could not tear themselves away from their environment, and therefore they lived in it until their last hour, cruel, angry, not hoping for anything. There was death or a successful escape ahead.
In their confessions, if such happened, they were always the same. The beginning of life's journey was different, but everything else was repeated for everyone: robberies, murders, revelry, debauchery and the eternal fear of getting caught. Depending on the person’s soul, the degree of fall was different; some were aware and understood what they were doing, but could not stop and fell lower and lower; others reveled in what they had done, lived through violence, blood, thirsted for it and took pleasure in causing suffering and torment to those around them, considering their life to be correct and heroic.
Seraphim understood the extent of his fall, tried to stop, but could not find a way out of the criminal world. When old age came, many of the criminals thought about their situation, but could not decide what to do. Father Arseny knew this.
Sazikov spoke, but there was no confession. Going to confession, he thought for a long time about what and how to tell... but now he lost everything, became confused. I wanted sincerity, but I didn’t speak from the heart; what I wanted to say was gone. His confession lost touch with his soul, and all that remained was the story. Father Arseny saw and understood this and wanted Seraphim to defeat his past in the struggle with himself and thereby open the way to the present.
The past struggled with the present, and Father Arseny felt that Seraphim needed help now, he needed that “onion feather” of the apocryphal onion, which, although thin and fragile, saves the drowning man who grabs onto it. And Father Arseny held out this “onion feather”, saying: “Remember how the woman begged you in the forest to spare you, you did not spare, and weren’t you ashamed of yourself later.” And in an instant Seraphim realized that Father Arseny saw and knew everything. You don't have to choose words to show yourself. You must, without fear of anything, open your soul, and Father Arseny will see, understand and weigh everything himself and say whether he, Seraphim, can be forgiven. Seraphim finished his confession, gave his soul and himself into the hands of Fr. Arsenia is on her knees, her face is in tears. For the first time in my life I discovered myself, showed myself all, my whole life, and now I was waiting for a verdict, punishment, condemnation. Father Arseny, bowing low, prayed and could not find the simplest and most necessary words that would cleanse, refresh and direct a person to a new path in life. The sincerity of confession, the deepest consciousness of the sinfulness of what was committed and at the same time the most terrible crimes that brought suffering, misfortune and torment to people - everything seemed to be mixed together, and it was necessary to measure, weigh, separate one from the other and determine the measure of all this. Priest Arseny, who forgives and resolves human sins in the name of God, was now fighting with the man Arseny, who was still unable to humanly accept, realize and forgive what Seraphim had done. "Oh my God! Give me the strength to know Your will, to show Seraphim, to help him find himself. Mother of God, help me and him, sinners. Help, Lord! And while praying, I realized that there was no need to say anything, there was no need to weigh and decide, because the confession of Seraphim, a man who had previously lost contact with God, was so deep and sincere, baring his soul and showing that this man was striving for God, found Him and now he will continue his path to Him. Seraphim will give an answer to the Lord himself for his deeds at the Judgment of God and before his conscience.
Father Arseny stood up and, pressing Seraphim’s head to his chest, said: “By the power and authority given to me by God, I, the unworthy priest Arseny, forgive and resolve your sins. Do good to people and the Lord will forgive many of your sins. Go and live in peace, and the Lord will show you the way.”

From the book "Father Arseny"

Be and do

Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh spoke about his friend, whom he helped through confessions to feel the power of eternal life contained in corruptible flesh.
“About 30 years ago, a man ended up in the hospital with what seemed to be a mild illness. He was examined and found that he had inoperable, incurable cancer. This was told to his sister and me. I visited him. He was lying in bed, strong, strong, full of life, and he told me: “How much more I need to do in life, and here I am lying, and they can’t even tell me how long it will last.” I answered him: “How many times have you told me that you dream of being able to stop time so that you can be instead of doing. You never did. God did it for you." And in the face of the need to be, in a situation that could be called completely contemplative, he asked in bewilderment: “But how to do this?”
I pointed out to him that illness and death depend not only on physical causes, on bacteria and pathology, but also on everything that destroys our inner life force, on what can be called negative feelings and thoughts, on everything that undermines the inner life force. the power of life in us, does not allow life to flow freely in a pure stream. And I suggested that he resolve not only externally, but also internally everything that was “wrong” in his relationships with people, with himself, with the circumstances of life, starting from the present time; when he straightens everything in the present, go further and further into the past, reconciling with everything and everyone, untying every knot, remembering all the evil, reconciling - through repentance, through acceptance, with gratitude, with everything that happened in his life, and life was very hard. And so, month after month, day after day, we walked this path. He made peace with everything in his life.
And I remember, at the very end of his life, he lay in bed, too weak to hold a spoon himself, and said to me with a shining gaze: “My body was almost dead, but I never felt so intensely alive as now.” He discovered that life does not depend only on the body, that he is not only the body, although the body is him; discovered something real in himself that the death of the body could not destroy. This is a very important experience that I wanted to remind you of, because this is what we must do again and again, throughout our lives, if we want to feel the power of eternal life in ourselves and not be afraid, no matter what happens to temporary life, which also belongs to us".

Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh. "Life. Disease. Death". M., 1995

Cover everything with love

Abbess Taisiya, abbess of the Leushinsky monastery, spoke about her confession to Father John of Kronstadt:
“Once I confessed to Father, speaking in the order of confession. After listening, he said: “All these sins are, as it were, inevitable, everyday, for which we must constantly repent mentally and correct ourselves. But tell me what your heart is like, is there anything sinful in it: malice, enmity, hostility, hatred, envy, flattery, vindictiveness, suspicion, suspiciousness, ill will? This is the poison from which may the Lord deliver us! That's what's important! I answer that I do not feel in myself any anger, hostility, revenge, or anything like that, but I can only blame myself for suspicion, or rather, distrust of people, which formed in me as a result of many human injustices and untruths. Father answered: “And you won’t be justified in this. Remember: “love thinks no evil” (), and “a good eye will not see evil,” even where it exists. Cover everything with love, do not stop at earthly dirt, achieve the perfection of Christ’s love; however, “Jesus did not commit their faith to Himself, He Himself knew everything” (). “Father, how can you trust and fully believe in people when you had to endure so much from them undeservedly, innocently? Sometimes, out of precaution for the future, you are distrustful and suspicious.” “Why should we look into the future? “His wickedness shall endure for days.” Let us surrender as children to our Heavenly Father. He “will not leave us to be tempted more than we can” (). You will only torment yourself with suspicion, and you will not help the matter; you will even do harm by imagining evil in advance where, perhaps, it will not exist. As long as we don’t do evil, let them do it to us, if the Lord allows.”

“Conversations of the abbot. Taisiya, abbess of the Leushinsky monastery with Fr. John of Kronstadt." Typescript

At the first confession

In the memoirs of Evgenia Rymarenko about the first confession of her eldest son, who was only five and a half years old, with Fr. Nektaria, there are amazing lines. Mom could not resist and asked the boy what the elder asked him. He said that he asked the question: “Do you love your mother?” The boy treated him honestly and responsibly and said to this: “No.” Evgenia was very surprised, not knowing how to explain this. The little son, without hesitation in the correctness of his understanding of love, explained: “I often don’t listen to you.” You will inevitably remember the Gospel: “If you love me, keep the commandments...” At such an age, such a serious and deep understanding of the very essence of the issue is surprising, but it happens...

Be a Friend of Christ

They sent a boy of about seven years old to confession to Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh. The boy has never been to confession and doesn’t know what to say. Mom suggested, and he repeated everything in good faith. The Bishop listened and asked:
- Tell me, is it you who feel guilty or are you repeating to me what your parents reproach you for?
- It was my mother who told me that I should confess to this or that, because it makes her angry, and with this I disturb the peace of home life.
- Now forget it. This is not what we are talking about. You didn't come to tell me why your mother or your father is angry. Tell me this: do you know anything about Christ?
- Yes.
-Have you read the Gospel?
- My mother and grandmother told me, and I read something, and I heard it in church...
- Tell me, do you like Christ as a person?
- Yes.
- Would you like to make friends with Him?
- Oh yeah!
- And you know what it means to be a friend?
- Yes. This means being a friend.
- No. This is not enough. A friend is a person who is faithful to his friend in all circumstances of life, who is ready to do everything so as not to disappoint him, not to deceive him, to remain with him if everyone else turns away from him. A friend is a person who is faithful to his friend to the end. Just imagine: you are at school. If Christ were a simple boy and the whole class turned on Him, what would you do? Would you have enough loyalty and courage to stand next to Him and say: if you want to beat Him, beat me too, because I am with Him? If you are ready to be such a friend, then you can say: yes, I am a friend of Christ, and already pose questions for your confession. Read the Gospel! You can learn from it how you can live without being disappointed in yourself; how can you live so that He would be happy for you, seeing what kind of person you are, what kind of person you have become for the sake of this friendship. Do you understand this?
- Yes.
-Are you ready to do this?
- Yes.

Doesn't matter…

“I remember,” said Metropolitan Anthony, “one incident. Many years ago (back in the 20s) there was a congress of the Russian student Christian movement. One wonderful priest was present at this congress - Father Alexander Elchaninov. An officer came to him for confession and said: “I can tell you all the lies of my life, but I only recognize them with my head. My heart remains completely intact. I don't care. In my head I understand that this is all evil, but in my soul I don’t respond in any way: neither with pain, nor with shame. And Father Alexander said an amazing thing: “Don’t confess to me. It will be completely in vain. Tomorrow, before I serve the Liturgy, you will go to the Royal Doors. And when everyone has gathered, you will say what you just told me and confess before the entire assembled congress.”
The officer agreed to this because he felt like a dead man; he felt that there was no life in him, that he only had memory and a head, but his heart was dead and the life in him had gone out. And yet he left the priest with a feeling of horror. The officer thought that if he started talking now, the entire congress would turn away from him. Everyone will look at him with horror and think: “We considered him a decent person, but what a scoundrel he is, he is not only a scoundrel, but also dead before God.” But he overcame his fear and horror, stood up and began to speak. And the most unexpected thing happened to him. The moment he said why he stood in front of the Royal Doors, the entire congress turned to him with compassionate love. He felt that everyone had opened up to him, that everyone had opened the arms of their hearts, that everyone was thinking with horror about how hurt he was, how scared he was. He burst into tears and made his confession in tears, and a new life began for him.”

Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh. "Steps". M., 1998

Let the light in

More about confession from Bishop Anthony

“A child comes to me and says:
“I look at all the evil that is in me, and I don’t know how to eradicate it, tear it out of myself. I ask him:
- Tell me, when you enter a dark room, do you really wave a white towel in it in the hope that the darkness will dissipate?
- Of course not!
- And what are you doing?
- I open the shutters, I open the curtains, I open the windows.
- That's it! You shine light where there was darkness. It’s the same here. If you want to truly repent, confess the truth, and change, you don't have to focus only on what's bad about you. You need to let the light in. And to do this, you need to pay attention to the fact that you already have a light one. And in the name of this light, fight all the darkness that is in you.
- Yes, but how to do it? Am I really going to think of myself that I’m so good in this or that respect?
- No. Read the Gospel and mark in it those places that strike your soul, that make your heart tremble, that brighten your mind, that spur your will to desire a new life. And know that in this word, in this image, in this commandment, in this example of Christ, you have found a spark of Divine light in yourself. And the desecrated, darkened icon that you are became brightened. You are already becoming a little like Christ, the image of God is gradually beginning to appear in you. And if so, then remember this. If you sin, you will desecrate the shrine that already exists in you, is already living, is already acting, is already growing. You will extinguish the image of God in yourself, extinguish the light or surround it with darkness. Don't do this.
If you are faithful to those sparks of light that already exist in you, then gradually the darkness around you will dissipate. Firstly, where there is light, darkness has already been dispelled. Secondly, when you discover within yourself some area of ​​light, purity, truth, when you look at yourself and think that you are actually a real person, then you can begin to fight what is coming at you like enemies coming on the city, darkening this light in you. You have already learned to honor purity, and suddenly the dirt of thoughts, bodily desires, feelings, and sensitivity rises within you. At this moment you can say to yourself: NO, I discovered in myself a spark of chastity, a spark of purity, a desire to love someone without desecrating this person even with a thought, not to mention a touch. I cannot allow these thoughts in myself, I will not, I will fight against them.
For this I turn to Christ and will shout to Him: “Lord, cleanse! Lord, save me! God help me!" And the Lord will help. But He will not help you until you yourself struggle with temptation. There is a story in the biography of St. Anthony the Great about how he desperately struggled with temptation. He struggled so much that finally, exhausted, he fell to the ground and lay there without strength. Suddenly Christ appeared before him, and, not having the strength to rise to him, Anthony said to Him: “Lord, where were You when I was struggling so desperately?” Christ answered him: “I stood invisibly next to you, ready to enter into battle if only you would surrender. But you didn’t give up, and you won.”

If the priest loves the penitent

“I,” said the same Bishop Anthony, “remember one ascetic who was once asked:
“How does it happen that every person who comes to you and talks about his life, even without a feeling of repentance and regret, suddenly becomes overwhelmed with horror at what a sinner he is? He begins to repent, confess, cry and change.”
This ascetic said a wonderful thing:
“When a person comes to me with his sins, I perceive this sin as mine, because this person and I are one. And those sins that he committed by action, I certainly committed by thought or desire, or inclination. And therefore I experience his confession as if it were my own. I go step by step into the depths of his darkness. When I reach the very depths, I connect his soul with mine and repent with all the strength of my soul for the sins that he confesses and which I recognize as mine. He is then overwhelmed by my repentance and cannot help but repent. He comes out freed, and I repent of my sins in a new way, because we are united with compassionate love.”

Confession “according to the list”

“Sometimes people come to me,” says Bishop Anthony, “who read out to me a long list of sins that I already know, because I have the same lists. I stop them: “You are not confessing your sins,” I tell them. “You confess sins that can be found in prayer books.” I need YOUR confession, or rather, Christ needs your PERSONAL repentance, and not a general stereotype. You don’t feel that you are condemned by God to eternal torment because you didn’t read the evening prayers, or didn’t read the canon, or didn’t fast.” How to be? Maybe, before writing a list of sins, sit down and think about it: did I have everything listed? And start with what bothers you the most, or happens most often.
- What if it’s not something specific that’s particularly bothering you, but a general tightness, a heaviness in your soul?
“Then maybe it’s worth asking yourself, do I live by faith?” And in general, what place does faith occupy in my life? And what does she mean to me anyway? Maybe we should start with such sinful neglect? To repent of the fact that I live as if I have neither God, nor conscience, nor fear of the final Last Judgment of God... This is different in each case, but one thing can be common: check yourself, check honestly and frankly, understand that confession is not a tedious duty, but a great blessing that can heal the soul and prepare for it with all the seriousness of which a person is capable. Then the list can thin out, and conscious repentance will awaken in the soul a thirst for purification and God’s help, without which it is impossible to live and grow stronger in faith. Then confession will become a holiday, and the church will become a hospital of the soul, for which one can only thank the Creator.”

I was insulted!

“Sometimes it happens like this,” recalls Metropolitan Anthony, “a person tries to fast, then he breaks down and feels that he has desecrated his entire fast, and nothing remains of his feat. In fact, everything is completely different. God looks at him with different eyes. I can explain this with one example from my own life. When I was a doctor, I worked with a very poor Russian family. I didn’t take money from her because there was no money. But one day at the end of Great Lent, during which I fasted, so to speak, brutally, that is, without violating any statutory rules, I was invited to dinner. And it turned out that throughout Lent they collected pennies in order to buy a small chicken and treat me. I looked at this chicken and saw in it the end of my Lenten feat. Of course, I ate a piece of chicken; I couldn't insult them. I went to my spiritual father and told him about the grief that had happened to me, that during the entire Lent I had fasted, one might say, completely, and now, on Holy Week, I ate a piece of chicken. Father Afanasy looked at me and said:
- You know? If God looked at you and saw that you have no sins and that a piece of chicken could defile you, He would protect you from it. But He looked at you and saw that there was so much sinfulness in you that no chicken could defile you even more.
I think that many can remember this example so as not to blindly adhere to the rules, but to be, above all, honest people. Yes, I ate a piece of this chicken, but I ate it not as some kind of filth, but as a gift of human love. I remember the place in the books of Father Alexander Schmemann, where he says that everything in the world is nothing other than God’s love. And even the food that we eat is Divine love that has become edible.”

About trusting a priest

Once upon a time, a similar question was asked to Archbishop Feofan (Bistrov) of Poltava. He replied in his letter: “You don’t need to do this (that is, repent to the priest that you have something against him). This will only result in harm and no benefit. It is enough to repent in a general form, without specifying personalities.”

"Confessor of the Royal Family." M., 1996

If the priest... is drunk

The same Archbishop Theophan said that while still studying at the St. Petersburg Theological Academy, he once came to confession to one of the hieromonks of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. Approaching the lectern, I realized that the hieromonk was drunk. Not embarrassed by this, student Vasily Bystrov (future Bishop Feofan) confessed as if nothing had happened, took the blessing and calmly left. When he came the next time, that hieromonk bowed to the ground to the student, asking for forgiveness. At the same time, the hieromonk paid tribute to Vasily for the correct attitude to what happened, for the fact that he was not embarrassed and did not condemn him. Everything happened unexpectedly for the confessor himself. He did not know the weakness of his body and became intoxicated from little (which means this was a rare thing for him, or even the first and only time). And the young man showed wisdom, remembering that in confession a person faces God, not man.

We see sin, but we don't see repentance

You cannot judge a priest only by his life or by what you see in his life, because you see appearances. Let's say you see that he is a sinful person, but do you see how he cries before God, how he suffers over his fall or his weakness? I have an example of this that really struck me.
We had a priest in Paris who drank desperately - not all the time, but when he did drink, he drank heavily. I was the elder then, he came to the church for services in such a way that he was swaying on his feet, I put him in the corner and stood in front of him so that he would not fall. I was then in my early 20s and had very little understanding; I felt sorry for him as a person, because I loved him, that’s all. Then it happened that the Germans took our parish priest to prison, and this drinking priest was asked to replace him. He then stopped drinking; he served. I went to confession with him immediately after he was appointed, because there was no one to go to. I went to him with the thought that I would confess to God. The priest, as they say in the admonition before confession, is only a witness, which means he will testify before God on the day of Judgment that I did everything I could to tell the truth about my unworthiness, about my sins. I began to confess, and I have never experienced confession like I did that day. He stood next to me and cried - not with drunken tears, but with tears of compassion, in the strongest sense of compassion. He suffered with me about my sinfulness more than I knew how to suffer, he suffered all the suffering of his own life for my sinfulness, and he cried throughout the confession. And when I finished, he said to me: “You know who I am. I have no right to teach you, but I’ll tell you this: you are still young, you still have all the power of life, you can accomplish anything if only you are faithful to God and true to yourself. This is what I have to tell you...” And he told me many things that were true. This ended the confession, but I never forgot this man and how he was able to cry over me, as if over a dead man, as if over a person who deserves eternal condemnation, unless he corrects himself.
And later I began to think about him completely differently. He was a young officer during the Civil War. During the retreat of troops from Crimea, he went to Constantinople on a military ship. His wife and children were on another ship, and he saw that ship sink. Before his eyes, his wife and children drowned... Of course, people who have not experienced anything like this, but saints, can say: “What about Job? He suffered even worse. Why didn’t this priest become like Job?” I answered this to one person: “First experience his grief, and then you will judge him.” Since I learned about his tragedy, I have never turned my tongue to condemn him for drinking. Yes, there was such grief, such horror, that he could not stand it. But he remained faithful to God. He remained a priest, or rather, he became a priest in order to share with other people their tragedy, their sinfulness and repentance. May God give us more such priests.”

Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh. The royal priesthood of the laity. "Alpha and Omega". 1998. No. 1

“I won’t confess!”

“One day,” recalls Metropolitan Veniamin (Fedchenkov), “a young woman of about twenty-five comes to me. And asks me to confess her.
“Okay,” I replied. - Just let’s talk a little first before confession.
After some 5-10 minutes, I invited her to confess. Suddenly she told me:
- But I won’t confess to you!
- Why?! - I’m surprised.
- Because I went to confess to an unfamiliar confessor; and I talked to you for 5 minutes, and it seems to me that I have known you for 20 years, and I would be ashamed to confess.
I began to prove to her that her mood was wrong, but in vain,
- No no! - she insisted. - I won’t confess! Understanding the reason for her confusion, I decided to help her.
- OK then! You will not talk about sins yourself. Let's get down on our knees, and I will tell you your sins, but you remain silent. And if I say something is wrong, then you answer “no!” She easily agreed. Of course, I am not a seer, but I was talking about common sins. She was silent at first. Then after some question she answered:
- No! This did not happen.
“Well, thank God,” I answered calmly. Suddenly she added: “No, no, wait, wait!” I remembered: and that was it!
- Well, it’s good that you remembered. Confession is over."

Metropolitan Veniamin (Fedchenkov). "Notes of a Bishop"

At the Lavra confessor

In the fall of 1905, Hieromonk Ippolit (Yakovlev) became the fraternal confessor of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. Soon he became the confessor of the Theological Academy. This is how the then first-year student of the Academy, S. A. Volkov, recalled him:
“When I entered my first year, I heard about him (hieromonk Hippolytus) from my monastic students, I became curious about which academy he studied at. I was told that he only had a seminary education. I was very surprised how a simple monk could be the confessor of not only students, but also professors, and I conveyed my bewilderment to my friends. They introduced me to the monastic “eldership”, which I read about in Dostoevsky’s novel “The Brothers Karamazov”, while still a naive high school student, and therefore was not able not only to appreciate, but even in the slightest degree understand it.
“Just wait,” the monks told me, “you will go to confession with him and then you will understand.”
Soon the first week of Lent arrived. I confessed to Father Hippolytus, told about everything that worried and confused me in the new situation, and left him calm, with a clear soul. Then I realized that in addition to the usual theological approach to religious issues, to all religious life, there is a special spiritual approach, incomparably higher and grace-filled. Father Hippolyte asked me so kindly about all my worries, understood everything so deeply and so simply and graciously resolved all my perplexities that I was simply amazed. One could feel in his words the highest wisdom of man, guiding not only the mind, but also the heart and that strength that cannot be called otherwise than “Great in Small” ... "

Memories of the Moscow Theological Academy 1917-1920. Typescript. 1965

Cup of Salvation

The desire to partake of the Holy Mysteries is, first of all, an expression of gratitude to God for everything that He gives us. Calling on everyone: “Come, eat...”, He not only allowed, but also commanded that we look at the offered Bread, about which He said: “I will give it” () as our Daily Bread, necessary for everyone to heal our infirmities, especially sincere ones. And they not only looked at Him this way, but also often began to eat His meal. Continuing His call, the Lord says about the Cup: “Drink from it, all of you,” including infants and the most infirm among those called. The only exception here is for those who do not believe and do not remain in church unity.
And the usual: “unworthy”?
Firstly, there are no worthy ones, since there are no sinless people. Secondly, by making excuses for unworthiness and postponing repentance, the zeal to do everything in one’s power for an uncertain future, everyone only multiplies and increases their carelessness. Thirdly, whoever wants to become more worthy and purer must not move away from the Lord, but strive for His help, strength, grace, doing everything he can for his part.
Reluctance to respond to the call of the Lord is our ingratitude, like those called to the gospel who answered: “Have me renounced” (). The desire to receive communion more often must be aroused in oneself, while maintaining in the soul the fear of one’s unworthiness, and faith in the grace of God, and the thirst for love for the Lord, “Whose Flesh and Blood is the true Bread of Life and the only cup of salvation.”

Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna Filaret (Drozdov). Words and speeches. T. 4. M., 1882. P. 37-41

In Danilov at confession

Abbess Juliania recalls those years when Bishop Theodore was the rector of the Danilov Monastery. Father Simeon, a friend of Bishop Theodore, then lived with him in the Danilov Monastery. Sometimes, when he was able, he confessed. This is how his confession went.
“The whole atmosphere of confession and the confession itself with the priest was special. When you came, he was lying on his bed putting on an epitrachelion (during the years of the revolution, in 1906, Father Simeon was the rector of the Tambov Seminary. There was an attempt on his life, a bullet hit the spine, and he did not have use of his legs until the end of his days) and extinguished the electricity . One lamp was burning in the icon case. Father Simeon always read the prayers before confession by heart, and the confession began with him listing all the sins that he committed before you as a confessor and asking for forgiveness. Then he usually started asking himself, but he asked in such a way that you, of course, were sinners in everything. Father did not ask, like many other confessors and elders:
-Have you slandered anyone? And he asked:
-Have you offended anyone with at least the expression on your face?
He didn’t ask: “Didn’t they lie?”, but posed the question like this: “Didn’t they add something when they spoke, either to their advantage, or to make it more interesting?”
If you were sick, he didn’t ask: “Did you murmur against God?”, but asked: “Were you sick? Did you thank God?
It is impossible to list everything. At the end of confession, you found yourself with such a multitude of sins that all the conceit you had disappeared, and you suddenly remembered many more of your sins than the priest listed.”

Abbess Juliana. Appendix to the book "Memoirs". "Schiarchimandrite Gabriel, Elder of the Spaso-Eleazar Hermitage"

How often can you receive communion?

To the question: what is better - to take communion often or rarely? in the “Rules of the Orthodox Church” there is no direct answer, but only a general indication of the need for preliminary purification. Thus, we can say that the canonical rules do not at all prohibit frequent communion, but encourage it only if there is an appropriate mood. The Monk Seraphim of Sarov and, of course, Father John of Kronstadt spoke out in favor of frequent communion. The permissibility and desirability of frequent communion for the laity is canonically established and corresponds to the practice of the ancient Church. Nor can any dogmatic grounds be given against this. Union with Christ in the most holy Sacrament of the Eucharist is a source of strength and joy for Christians. Eucharistic hunger and thirst, the desire to receive the Holy Mysteries should be a natural state for a Christian and, in a certain sense, are a measure of his spiritual age. Of course, he must approach “with the fear of God,” with a repentant prayer for his sins and a feeling of his deepest dignity, but also with faith that the Lord came into the world “to save sinners.” One must prepare for communion with all seriousness and responsibility, but there is no need to frighten oneself, just as there is no need to frighten oneself away with sinfulness.
"I am not ready". “You will never be ready,” was the wise old man’s answer to the layman’s natural doubt. What makes the human conscience more cunning is that it sinks deeper into sleep if it knows that it has a long time before it, and, on the contrary, it is kept under greater tension by the need to more often put itself before the judgment of God. In our time, this saving thirst for frequent communion has already been awakened, and the duty of constancy is not to delay or extinguish it, but rather to support it and, in any case, to satisfy it. Moreover, the pastor must call to the Holy Mysteries, encouraging more frequent communion to the extent not least, but to the greatest extent possible for everyone, and in any case without binding it with any formal restrictions...

Archpriest Sergius Bulgakov

From the “Confession Sheet” of the monastery of St. Panteleimon

Bless, Lord, to confess to You not only with words, but also with bitter tears of the heart.
Forgive me, Lord, for my lack of faith and unbelief, for not fighting unbelief, not praying to You, asking for help and strengthening in faith. Moreover, I sin in that I am a temptation for others through deeds that are incompatible with faith; words in which there is coldness and indifference to everything that should show zeal for God. Forgive and have mercy, Lord, and add faith to me.
Forgive, Lord, for the weakening of love for people. What was once easy to do is now more annoying. Help for relatives seems endless. Their requests only remind us of what was done for them. There is annoyance at ingratitude, gluttony on their part, discontent that grows on both sides.
I notice in myself that I do not want to help anyone disinterestedly, but if I have to do something, it is with a desire for praise, gratitude, and not out of a consciousness of Christian duty. Forgive, Lord, and soften my heart.
Forgive me, Lord, that it is difficult for me to look at how they treat me. I know that I need to think more about how I relate, but I am hurt by any, even the slightest, inattention. Help me, Lord, to treat people kindly even when there is hostility towards me and to pray for them.
Forgive me, Lord, for not thinking much about my sins. I always want to say in my defense that I have nothing special. And although I know that every idle word is a sin, and a sinful thought is also a sin, and the imagination and memory of a sinful thing is a sin. A lot of such “unnoticed” sins accumulate, and I want to find an excuse for everything in the situation, in being busy, tired, in the inability to live carefully and responsibly. “Lord, grant me to see my sins,” have mercy, have mercy and forgive.
Forgive me, Lord, for the fact that I hardly fight evil. The slightest reason - and I fly into the abyss of sin, and if I then feel sorrow, it is more because my pride suffers, and not because I realize that I have offended You, Lord! And you don’t want to fight not only evil in its gross form, but even an empty and bad habit. Forgive me, Lord!
Forgive me, Lord, that I don’t fight irritability; I don’t want to tolerate a single harsh word towards myself. Instead of remaining silent, I try to answer in such a way that the other person feels like offending me! And therefore, sometimes relationships deteriorate because of trifles, but I consider myself right and am in no hurry to reconcile. Forgive me, Lord! Calm my heart!
In addition, all my life I have been guilty of inability to value time, I do not seek God’s help with all my soul, I stand inattentively in church, I pray mechanically, I judge others, I do not take care of myself. I don’t feel like praying at home, and if I still force myself to read the prayers, then I read with great compulsion and absent-mindedness, not hearing what I’m reading myself and not wanting to delve into the meaning. I often skip them completely and don’t feel any loss from it. Forgive, Lord, and have mercy.
In dealing with people I sin with my tongue, telling lies, seducing, talking idlely and mocking others. I sin with my eyesight, allowing myself to read empty novels, glance at others without bashfulness and modesty; I sin with my mind and heart, judging others, being at enmity, making excuses. I also sin by intemperance in food and drink, preferring something tasty, not being able and not wanting to be content with simple food and in moderation.
Forgive me, Lord, and accept my repentance and grant me worthy to partake of the Holy Mysteries for the remission of sins and eternal life. Amen.

How to prepare for confession

The Wanderer tells us about this in his famous “Frank Stories of a Wanderer to His Spiritual Father,” which has been reprinted several times and is now available to all lovers of soulful reading.
One day the Wanderer arrived in Kyiv and decided to take communion there. He prepared for a whole week, intending to remember all his sins in as much detail as possible. I decided to start from my youth and wrote about everything in great detail. It turned out to be a large sheet. While he lived in Kyiv, he managed to find out that seven miles from the city, in the Chinese desert, there was an experienced confessor who received everyone and gave useful advice. The wanderer went there, talked with him and gave him his sheet. When the confessor read it, he said that there was a lot of empty writing here, so he urged me to remember the main thing.
You cannot talk about those sins that you previously repented of, unless, of course, they were repeated.
There is no need to talk about others, trying to explain everything in more detail; you only need to blame yourself and only repent of your sins.
It is not useful to describe your sins in detail, and some can only be described in one word (this refers to the area of ​​unclean thoughts and deeds, as well as blasphemous thoughts). A detailed description of sins can harm both the repentant, as if increasing the filth of sin, and the listener - the confessor.
While repenting of everything, we must not forget that during repentance there should be no cold enumeration of sins. If it turns out this way, then we must repent of this too, that is, of insensibility in confession, of a lack of zeal, of coldness of heart.
When repenting of ordinary offenses, one should remember that there are terrible, although almost unconscious, sins. They contain “the whole abyss of evil and all our spiritual corruption.” These include: insufficient love for God (if it exists at all, even if it is small); dislike for one's neighbor; disbelief in the Word of God; pride and ambition.
The wanderer was especially surprised by the last remark and decided to explain to the elder: “For mercy, how can one not love God? What else should we believe if not the Word of God? But I wish good things for my neighbor, but I have nothing to be proud of. And where should I, in my poverty and sickness, indulge in voluptuousness and lust? Of course, if I were educated or rich, then, undoubtedly, I would be guilty of what you said.” The elder regretted that he did not understand him well and invited him to read “Confession of the Inner Man, Leading to Humility,” according to which he himself confessed.
The “Confession” began with a list of the same sins (I don’t love God enough, my neighbor, I’m full of pride and lust), the correct assessment of which you come to by “carefully turning your gaze to yourself.” Each of them was discussed below:

"I don't love God."

And indeed, if he loved, he would constantly think about Him “with heartfelt pleasure.” I think much more often about everyday affairs, I think willingly, but I don’t want to remember about God, it seems boring and difficult.
If I loved God, I would love to pour out my soul in prayer to Him, but I pray with difficulty, I feel that I don’t at all want to “waste time” on prayer. I’m struggling with this (if I’m still struggling!?), but only out of a sense of duty. I can get carried away with any trivial activity and waste as much time as I want, but praying is difficult for me, boring and seems like an hour in a year.
If I loved God, I would remember Him in any of my undertakings, just as one remembers loved ones, relatives, and friends. I am more willing to be interested in the news, I am ready to listen with attention to any incidents, I am ready to immerse myself in the study of science or the arts, or any craft, in a word - I am ready to do anything, and to learn in the Law of the Lord not only “day and night”, but the hour is also great labor and terrible laziness for me. How can one not agree in this case that I really don’t love God...

"I don't love my neighbor."

If I loved him, and even as the Gospel commands (to lay down my soul for my neighbor), then the grief of my neighbors would be my grief, and their joy would lead me to admiration. I would rather listen to the story of other people’s misfortunes, maybe I’ll regret it in words and immediately forget it. Someone's successes are more likely to cause envy in me, which I will try to cover up with contempt.
If I loved my neighbors, I would not rush to condemn anyone, would not tolerate gossip, would not allow myself to speculate when there is no accurate information, or try to imagine everything according to my own understanding.

“I don’t believe in the Gospel and immortality.”

If I truly believed in a future life, then I would look at life here as a road, without being particularly upset by everyday adversities. If it seems to me that I sincerely believe the Gospel, then it is more with my mind, and my heart is occupied with worries about the structure of life here. If I believed the Gospel seriously and with all my heart, I would willingly read, study it, and be interested in everything that relates to the interpretation of the Gospel; and I am more willing to read lighter literature; I enjoy stories or novels that have entertaining plots and do not require self-improvement. The Gospel must be read with life, that is, living according to the commandments of the Lord, which, of course, is much more difficult than a thoughtless and aimless existence.

“I am full of pride and sensual selfishness.”

Of course it is, you just have to honestly observe yourself. If I do something good, I want others to notice and celebrate. They won’t notice - I boast in my heart, considering myself - my knowledge, my experience, my abilities - worthy of respect, veneration, almost admiration. If I notice shortcomings in myself, I will hasten to excuse them by circumstances, shortcomings in upbringing, which my parents did not take enough care of. If I cannot justify myself by this, I will plead “innocence”; in a word, the case will not be based on justifying and mitigating circumstances. If I notice that I am not respected, I am offended by the insensitivity of others, the inability to appreciate the worthy (including myself, of course!). If someone is praised in front of me, I will readily remember this person’s shortcomings or will gladly listen to those who are ready to discredit him because of his real or imagined weaknesses.
In short, in every word and deed, and even thoughts, there is pride, vanity, pride, glorification, that is, an idol is constantly being cultivated from my own passions, I serve him, willingly admitting that he is me. Where can we think about the fact that the Lord honored everyone with His image and commanded us to work so that His likeness would be desired? What can I say about myself, about my inattentive and reckless life?..
When the Stranger read these sheets of paper, he was horrified: “My God! What terrible sins lie hidden in me, and until now I have not noticed them! Then he turned to his confessor for advice on how to improve.
To this he replied: “You see, the reason for the lack of love is unbelief, the reason for unbelief is the lack of conviction, and it does not exist because of negligence about spiritual enlightenment.” It turns out like this: without believing, you cannot love; without being convinced, you cannot believe. And to be convinced, you need to know more, think more, study more, arouse a thirst for knowledge in your soul. Therefore, many of the listed sins are due to laziness to think about the spiritual, which extinguishes the feeling of the need for this. “How many disasters we encounter because we are lazy to enlighten our souls with the word of truth, not studying the law of the Lord day and night.” That is why the soul is hungry, cold and powerless. So, we need to think more about serious, vital (in our eternal life) issues and pray more. It’s not for nothing that the Church teaches us to ask like this: “Lord, grant me now to love You, just as I sometimes loved that very sin!”

A Word on Repentance by Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh

When we act wrongly, when we say things that we shouldn’t, when dark thoughts swarm in our heads or darkness descends on our hearts, if we become even a little enlightened, we begin to feel remorse. But remorse is not repentance; something else must be added to it, namely, turning your face to God with the hope of calling on Him for help. But that’s not all, because much in our lives depends on ourselves. How often do we say: “Lord, help! Lord, give me patience, give me chastity, give me purity of heart, give me a truthful word!” And when the opportunity presents itself to act according to our own prayer, according to the inclination of our own heart, we do not have enough courage, we do not have enough determination to ACTUALLY begin to do what we ask God for. And then our repentance, our ascent of the soul remains fruitless.
Repentance must begin precisely with this hope in God’s love and together with a feat, a courageous feat, when we force ourselves to live the way we should, and not the way we have lived until now. WITHOUT THIS, God will not save us, because, as Christ says, not everyone who says “Lord, Lord!” will enter the Kingdom of God, and the one who bears its fruit. And we know these fruits: peace, joy, love, patience, meekness, abstinence, humility - all these wonderful fruits that could turn our earth into paradise even now, if only, like a fruitful tree, we could bear them... Thus Thus, repentance begins with the fact that our conscience suddenly hits us in the soul, speaks, God calls out to us and says: “Where are you going? To death? Is this what you want? And when we answer: “No, Lord, forgive, have mercy, save!” - and let’s turn to Him, Christ tells us: “I forgive you! And you - out of gratitude for such love, not out of fear, not in order to save yourself from torment, but because in response to My love you are capable of love, begin to live differently...” And what next?
The first thing we must learn is to accept our whole life: all its circumstances, all the people who entered it - sometimes so painfully - accept, and not reject. Until we accept our life, all its contents without a trace, as from the hand of God, we will not be able to free ourselves from internal anxiety, from internal captivity and from internal protest. No matter how we say to the Lord: God, I want to do Your will! - a cry will rise from our depths: but not in this! Not that! Yes, I am ready to accept my neighbor - but not this neighbor! I am ready to accept whatever You send me - but not what You actually send me. How often in moments of some kind of enlightenment we say: Lord, now I understand everything! Save me, save me at any cost! If at that moment the Savior suddenly appeared before us or sent his Angel or a saint who called out to us with a formidable word, who demanded repentance and a change in life from us, we might have accepted it. But when, instead of an Angel, instead of a saint, instead of coming Himself, Christ sends us our neighbor, and one whom we do not respect, do not love, and who tests us, who poses a VITAL question to us: is your repentance in words? or in reality? - we forget our words, we forget our feelings, we forget our repentance and say: Get away from me! It’s not from you that I receive God’s punishment or instruction, it’s not you who will open a new life for me... And we pass by both that incident and that person whom the Lord sent us to heal us, so that we would enter the Kingdom of God with HUMILITY, and would suffer the consequences of our sinfulness with patience and readiness to accept everything from the hand of God.
If we do not accept our life from God’s hand, if we do not accept everything that is in it as from God Himself, then life will not be our path to eternity; we will always look for another way, while the only way is the Lord Jesus Christ. But this is still not enough. We are surrounded by people with whom our relationships are sometimes difficult. How often do we wait for another to come to repent, ask for forgiveness, and humiliate himself before us. Maybe we would forgive if we felt that he humiliated himself so much that it would be easy for us to forgive him. But it is not the one who deserves forgiveness that needs to be forgiven; how can we expect God to forgive someone who deserves it? Is it when we go to God and say: Lord, save! Lord, forgive me! Lord have mercy! - we can add: because I deserve it?! Never! We expect forgiveness from God through the pure, sacrificial love of Christ on the cross...
The Lord expects this from us in relation to each of our neighbors; not because we need to forgive our neighbor because he deserves forgiveness, but because we are Christ’s, because we have been given in the name of the Living God Himself and the crucified Christ to FORGIVE. But it often seems: if only it were possible to FORGET the offense, then I would forgive, but I cannot FORGET - Lord, give me oblivion!.. This is not forgiveness; forgetting does not mean forgiving. To forgive means to look at a person as he is, in his sin, in his unbearability, what a burden he is for us in life, and say: I will carry you like a cross; I will bring you to the Kingdom of God, whether you want it or not. Whether you are good or evil, I will take you on my shoulders and bring you to the Lord and say: Lord, I carried this man all my life, because I felt sorry for him so that he would not die! Now forgive him for the sake of my forgiveness!.. How nice it would be if we could bear each other’s burdens like this, if we could carry and support each other, not try to forget, but, on the contrary, remember. Remember who has what weakness, who has what sin, in whom something is wrong, and DO NOT TEMPTE him with this, protect him so that he is not tempted in the very thing that can destroy him... If only we could treat this way, friend to friend! If, when a person is weak, we surrounded him with caring, affectionate love, how many people would come to their senses, how many people would become worthy of the forgiveness that was given to them as a GIFT...
This is the path of repentance: to enter into yourself, stand before God, see yourself condemned, deserving of neither forgiveness nor mercy, and instead of, like Cain, running away from the face of God, turn to Him and say: I BELIEVE, Lord, in Your love , I believe in the Cross of Your Son - I believe, help my unbelief! And then follow the path of Christ: accept EVERYTHING from the hand of God, from everything bring the fruit of repentance and the fruit of love, and first of all forgive our brother, without waiting for his correction, bear it like a cross, crucify, if necessary, on it in order to have POWER, like Christ, say: “Forgive them, Father, they don’t know what they are doing...”. And then the Lord Himself, Who told us: “With what measure you measure, it will be measured back to you... forgive, as your Heavenly Father forgives,” HE will not remain in debt: He will forgive, correct, save, and already on earth, like saints, He will give us heavenly joy. Let it be so, let this path of repentance begin in the life of each of us today, now at least a LITTLE LITTLE, because THIS is already the beginning of the Kingdom of God. Amen".

Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh. "Love is all-conquering." St. Petersburg, 1994

Three conversations about the confession of Metropolitan Anthony

Conversation 1

How should one confess? The answer to this is the most direct, the most decisive: confess as if it were your dying hour; confess as if this is the last time on earth you can bring repentance in your entire life before you enter eternity and stand before God’s court, as if this is the last moment when you can throw off the burden of a long life of untruth and sin from your shoulders, so that enter free into the Kingdom of God. If we thought this way about confession, if we stood before it, KNOWING - not only imagining, but FIRSTLY knowing - that we could die at any hour, at any moment, then we would not pose so many idle questions to ourselves; our confession would then be mercilessly sincere and truthful; it would be direct, we would not try to avoid heavy, offensive, humiliating words; we would pronounce them with all the harshness of the truth, we would not think about what to say or what not to say, we would say everything that in our minds seems untruth, sin: everything that makes me unworthy of my human title, my Christian name. There would not be any feeling in our hearts that we need to protect ourselves from these or those harsh, merciless words, because we would know with what we can enter eternity, and with what we cannot enter eternity.
This is how we should confess, and it's simple, it's terribly simple, and we don't do it because we're afraid of merciless, simple directness before God and before people. Now the time is coming when He will stand before us either at the hour of our death or at the hour of the final Judgment. And then He will stand before us as the crucified Christ, with hands and feet pierced by nails, wounded in the forehead by thorns, and we will look at Him and see that He was crucified because we SINNED; He died because we deserved the condemnation of death; because WE are worthy of eternal condemnation from God, He came to us, became one of us, lived among us and died because of us.
What will we say then? The judgment will not be that He condemns us; the judgment will be that we will see the One whom we KILLED by our sin, and who stands before us with all His love... Now, in order to avoid this horror, we need to stand at EVERY confession, as if this is our last dying hour, the last moment of hope, before we see it.

Conversation 2

I told you that each confession should be as if it were the last confession in our life, and that with this confession the final result should be summed up, because every meeting with the Lord, with our living God, is a preliminary to the last, final, decisive one the fate of the court. You cannot stand before the face of God and not leave either justified or condemned. And now another question arises: how to prepare for confession? What sins should we bring to the Lord?
Firstly, each confession must be extremely personal, MY, and not some general one, my own, because my own fate is being decided. And therefore, no matter how imperfect my judgment of myself may be, I must begin with it by asking myself the question: what am I ashamed of in my life? What do I want to hide from the face of God, and what do I want to hide from the judgment of my own conscience, what am I afraid of?
And this question is not always easy to resolve, because we are so often accustomed to hiding from our own fair judgment that when we look into ourselves with hope and the intention of finding the truth about ourselves, it is extremely difficult for us; but this is where we need to start. And if we had not brought anything else to confession, then it would already have been a truthful confession, my own.
But besides this, there is much more; as soon as we look around and remember what people think about us, how they react to us, what happens when we find ourselves in their midst - and we will find a new field, a new basis for judging ourselves... We know that we do not always bring joy and peace, truth and goodness in the destiny of People. It is worth taking a look at the number of our closest acquaintances who meet us in one way or another, and it becomes clear what our life is like: how many I have wounded, how many I have bypassed, how many I have offended, how many I have seduced in one way or another.
And now a new judgment stands before us, because the Lord warns us that what we did to one of these little ones, that is, to one of the people, the least of His brethren, we did to Him.
And then let us remember how people judge us, often their judgment is caustic and fair. Often we don’t want to know what people think about us, because it is the truth, and the condemnation is ours. But sometimes something else happens: people both hate us and love us unfairly. They hate unfairly, because sometimes it happens that we act according to God’s truth, but this truth does not fit into them. And they often love us unfairly, because they love us because we too easily fall into the untruths of life, and they love us not for virtue, but for our BETRAYING God’s truth.
And here we need to pronounce judgment on ourselves again, and KNOW that sometimes we have to repent of the fact that people treat us well, that people praise us; Christ again warned us: “Woe to you when all people speak well of you.”
And, finally, we can turn to the gospel judgment and ask ourselves the question: how would the Savior judge us if He looked - as He actually does - at our lives?
Ask yourself these questions, and you will see that your confession will be serious and thoughtful, and you will no longer have to bring to confession that emptiness, that childish, long-outlived babble that you often hear.
And don't involve other people. You came to confess your own sins, not others. The circumstances of the sin matter only if they highlight your sin and your responsibility, and the story of what happened, why and how has nothing to do with confession; it only weakens your consciousness of guilt and the spirit of repentance.

Conversation 3

The final judgment of our conscience belongs not to us, not to people, but to God. His word and His judgment are clear to us in the Gospel, but we rarely know how to approach it thoughtfully and simply. If we read the pages of the Gospels with simplicity of heart, without trying to extract from them more than we can achieve in life, if we treat them honestly and simply, then we see that what is said in the Gospel falls, as it were, into three categories.
There are things the justice of which is obvious to us, but which do not concern our soul - we will respond to them with consent. With our minds we understand that this is so, with our hearts we do not rebel against them, but with our lives we do not touch these images. These passages in the Gospels say that our mind, our ability to understand things, stands on the border of something that we cannot yet comprehend either by will or by heart. Such places condemn us in inertia and inactivity; these places demand that we, without waiting for our cold heart to warm up, begin to do the will of God simply because we are the Lord's servants.
There are other places: if we treat them conscientiously, if we look truthfully into our souls, we will see that we turn away from them, that we do not agree with God’s court and with the Lord’s will, that if we had sad courage and power rebel, then we would rebel as we rebelled in our time and as everyone rebels from century to century who suddenly becomes clear that the Lord’s commandment about love requires sacrifice from us, complete renunciation of all selfishness, from all selfishness, that this the commandment is scary to us and often we would like it not to exist.
So there were probably many people around Christ who wanted a miracle from Him, in order to be sure that Christ’s commandment was true, and that one could follow Him without danger to one’s personality, to one’s life; There were probably those who came to Christ’s terrible crucifixion with the thought that if He did not come down from the cross, if a miracle did not happen, then it means He was wrong, it means He was not a man of God, and we can forget Him a terrible word that a person must die to himself and live only for God and for others. And we so often surround the Lord's table, go to church - however, with caution: lest the truth of the Lord wound us to death and demand from us the last thing we have - renunciation of ourselves. When, in relation to the commandment of love or this or that specific commandment, in which God explains to us the infinite variety of thoughtful, creative love, we are far from the Lord’s will, and we can pronounce a reproachful judgment on ourselves.
And finally, there are places in the Gospel about which we can speak in the words of the travelers to Emmaus, when Christ spoke to them along the way: “Did not our hearts burn within us when He spoke to us along the way?”
These places, albeit few, should be precious to us, for they say that there is something in us where we and Christ are of one spirit, one heart, one will, one thought, that we are somehow already akin to Him , have somehow already become His own. And we must keep these places in memory as a treasure, because we can live by them, not always fighting against the bad in us, but trying to GIVE SPACE to life and victory to what is already divine in us, already alive, already ready to be transformed and become part of eternal life.
If we so carefully note to ourselves each of these groups of events, commandments, words of Christ, then our own image will quickly appear to us, it will become clear to us what we are like, it will be clear to us not only the judgment of our conscience, not only the human judgment, but also the judgment God: but not only as horror, not only as condemnation, but as a manifestation of the whole path and all the possibilities that we have: the opportunity to become in every moment and to be all the time those enlightened, illuminated, exultant people in spirit that we sometimes are, and the opportunity to overcome in ourselves for the sake of Christ, for the sake of God, for the sake of people, for the sake of our own salvation, that which is alien to God in us, that which is dead, that which will have no way into the Kingdom of Heaven. Amen.

Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh. "In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit." Sermons. 1982

Modern spiritual leaders talk about repentance

Through REPENTANCE, faith is given: the Lord reveals himself only to those who recognize their sinfulness.
Schema-Archimandrite Kirik

The reward of REPENTANCE is living faith and hope. With hope the soul feels strength within itself, and there - love for God!
Schema-Archimandrite Daniel

Sin paralyzes free will, but REPENTANCE adds, frees the will to goodness and expands the heart to love, to love for God and neighbor.
Schema-Archimandrite Daniel

You can be saved by the constant feeling of repentance alone, because the memory of repentance does not give you the will to sin.
Schema-Archimandrite Kirik

Ask the Lord with all diligence for the greatest and most necessary of all gifts - to see your sins and cry over them. He who has this gift has everything!
Hegumen Nikon

... Confession is not just a conversation with a spiritual father, not a pursuit of consolation, not a story about sins, not justification of oneself, not condolences about oneself, not complaints about others, not an argument with a spiritual father, but consciousness of one’s guilt. If you reproach others and not yourself, there will be no relief.
Schema-Archimandrite Daniel

There was no case when the Lord ever refused forgiveness to a repentant. Only the Lord does not forgive us when we ourselves do not forgive others. Therefore, let us make peace with everyone, so that the Lord will make peace with us. Let us forgive everyone so that the Lord will forgive us.
Hegumen Nikon

You cannot trust yourself (premonitions, confidence that I will be of no use), but it is necessary to work in repentance. The Lord came to save sinners, but those who repent. Only the repentant are imputed to the Savior's universal sacrifice on the cross.
Hegumen Nikon

Father Alexy Mechev in confession demanded not a list of sins, but a conscious attitude towards his actions, deep repentance for them and a firm intention to improve. When confessing, there is no need to touch others and say unnecessary details.
Father Alexy Mechev believed that it is better to confess without a piece of paper (where sins are written down), because if a person does not remember his sins, then his soul does not hurt about them. What you care about in your soul will not be forgotten.

Our entire inner struggle must be concentrated in repentance and everything that contributes to repentance, and God’s will come by itself when the place is clean and if the Lord wills.
Hegumen Nikon

In hospitals they do not judge each other for this or that disease. And we are all sick with mental illnesses - sins. One thing you need to know for sure: you cannot despair in any condition. Despair is the death of the soul. The most serious sins can be repented of and forgiven. Many of the most desperate robbers and murderers not only received forgiveness, but also achieved holiness.
Hegumen Nikon

Do not justify yourself in any sin, no matter how small it may seem. Every sin is a violation of the will of God, an indicator of dislike for God. Therefore, every sin committed must be cleansed by repentance.
Hegumen Nikon

From crying and contrition over sins, the fear of God is born, that is, the fear of offending God, then a feeling of God’s closeness to us is born, and then gradually a firm determination is born - it is better to die than to offend the Lord, than to lose His closeness, firmness appears in sorrows, not only uncomplainingly bearing them, but also gratitude for them, that is, the heart will feel the joy of purification by sorrows and satisfaction of something that can be endured for the sake of God and thereby love Him.
Hegumen Nikon

Reproach yourself for every sin, every bad thought, lack of faith, doubt, stupid fear of death, reproach and repent right there and you will thus acquire tranquility and peace of mind, devotion to the will of God.
Hegumen Nikon

In private, personal confession, a person must come and pour out his soul. Do not look at a book and do not repeat the words of others. He must ask himself the question: if I stood before the face of Christ the Savior and in the face of all the people who know me, what would be a matter of shame for me, what would I not be able to readily open in front of everyone, because it would be too scary? from being seen the way I see myself? This is what you need to confess.
Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh

What is repentance? A person who has turned away from God or has lived by himself suddenly or gradually realizes that his life cannot be complete in the form in which he experiences it. Repentance is about turning your face to God.
Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh

As soon as a believer in Christ realizes his weaknesses and sins and asks for forgiveness, God’s love cleanses and heals all sinful wounds. The sins of the whole world drown in the sea of ​​God's love, like a stone thrown into water. There should be no place for despondency, hopelessness, despair! These earthly sorrows, illnesses, and the hardships of old age will delight us in the future life. If the Lord suffered for us, then how can we not, at least to a small extent, participate in the suffering of Christ! Our soul, the image of God living in us, desires to be a partaker of the sufferings of Christ, only our cowardice and weakness are afraid of them, although the strength, perhaps, would be enough for patience.
Hegumen Nikon

Repentance rejuvenates the heart and prolongs life.

The repentant's eyes are opened to two paths: the one he is going and the one he should go.
Saint Nicholas of Serbia (Velimirović)

My Lord, hasten and show a new path to the repentant when he hates his old path.
Saint Nicholas of Serbia (Velimirović)

For all human sins I repent to You, O most merciful One! I repent for all those who are burdened, who bend under the weight of worries and who do not know how to cast all their worries on You. A weak person cannot bear even the smallest burden, but for You a mountain of misfortune is like a lump of snow thrown into a fiery furnace.
Saint Nicholas of Serbia (Velimirović)

The Holy Forerunner of the Lord John is a teacher of repentance. There are many teachers of repentance, but St. John the Baptist is different from them. They only teach repentance, but Saint John the Baptist not only teaches, but GIVES strength to repentance to those who turn to him.
Archimandrite Boris (Kholchev)

Remember: “repentance” translated into Russian means “change.”
Archimandrite Boris (Kholchev)

The core of repentance is turning to God with hope, with the confidence that God has enough love to forgive and strength to change us. Repentance is that turn of life, a turn of thought, a change of heart that turns us to face God in joyful and reverent hope, in the confidence that although we do not deserve God’s mercy, the Lord came to earth not to judge, but to save, he came to earth not to the righteous, but to the sinners.
Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh

Glory to the Lord that He gave us repentance, and through repentance we will all be saved, without exception. Only those who do not want to repent will not be saved. Every soul that has lost peace must repent, and the Lord will forgive sins, and then there will be joy in the soul and peace. This is a sign of the forgiveness of sins: if you have hated sin, then the Lord will forgive you your sins.
Venerable Silouan of Athos

About general confession

The very concept of “general” confession does not seem to have existed before our century. Some say that it came into practice from Father John of Kronstadt, but it is worth reading the description of the confession that Fr. John to make sure that this was an individual confession. This is how priest Vasily Shustin spoke about it.
“It was difficult to get Father to come to me (it was Lent), and I had to confess at a general confession. My father and I arrived at St. Andrew’s Cathedral even before the bell rang. It was dark: only half past four in the morning. The cathedral was locked, and quite a few people were already standing around it. We had to stand on the street for half an hour, and we went through a special entrance straight into the altar. Soon the priest arrived and began serving Matins. By the time he arrived, the cathedral was already full. And it accommodated several thousand people. There was a rather high grate near the pulpit to contain the pressure. There was already a crush in the cathedral. During Matins, the priest read the canon himself. After Matins, general confession began. First, the priest read prayers before confession, then said a few words about repentance and loudly shouted to the whole cathedral: “Repent!” Something incredible began to happen here. Screams, screams, verbal confession of secret sins. Some, especially women, tried to shout as loudly as possible so that the priest would hear and pray for them. And at that time the priest knelt before the throne, put his head on the throne and prayed. Gradually the screams turned into crying and sobbing. This went on for about 15 minutes. Then the priest stood up, sweat rolling down his face; he went out to the pulpit. Requests for prayer arose, but other voices began to quiet them; the cathedral subsided. And the priest raised the epitrachelion with one hand, read the prayer of permission and circled the stole first in a semicircle on the pulpit, and then in the altar, and the liturgy began... 12 priests served behind the throne, and on the throne there were 12 huge bowls and patenes. Father served nervously, as if shouting out certain words, as if showing special boldness. After all, how many souls of repentants he took upon himself! We read the pre-Communion prayers for a long time: we had to prepare a lot of particles. Father came out at about 9 o'clock in the morning and began to impart communion. First, those who were in the altar approached. I came up among them. I went (having received communion) to the choir and began to watch how the people received communion. There was a terrible crush near the bars. Father stood with the cup, which he changed several times, from 9 a.m. until half past three in the afternoon... The service and Holy Communion gave so much strength and vigor that my father and I did not feel any fatigue.”

“John of Kronstadt in the memoirs of self-witnesses” M., 1997

General confession with Metropolitan Anthony

We have it (confession) 4 times a year. Before general confession, I conduct 2 conversations that are aimed at understanding what confession, sin, God’s truth, and life in Christ are. Each of these conversations lasts 3/4 hour. All those gathered first sit and listen, then there is a half-hour silence, during which everyone must think through what he heard, think through his sinfulness, look at his soul. And then there is a general confession: we gather in the middle of the church, I put on the stole, the Gospel is in front of us, and usually I read the canon of repentance to the Lord Jesus Christ. Under the influence of this canon, I pronounce out loud my own confession, not about formalities, but about what my conscience reproaches me with, and what the canon I read reveals to me. Each time the confession is different, because the words of this canon each time convict me differently of something else. I repent before all people, calling things by their proper names, not so that they would then reproach me specifically for this or that sin, but so that every sin would be revealed to them as my own. If, while pronouncing this confession, I do not feel that I am a true repentant, then I pronounce this as a confession. “Forgive me, Lord. So I said these words, but they did not reach my soul.”
This confession usually lasts 3/4 of an hour, or half an hour, or 40 minutes, depending on what I can confess to people. At the same time, people confess silently with me, and sometimes they seem to say out loud: “Yes, Lord, forgive me, Lord. And I am to blame for this." This is my personal confession, and, unfortunately, I am so sinful and so similar to everyone under this action that my words reveal to people their own sinfulness. After this we pray; we read part of the penitential canon, we read prayers before Holy Communion: not all, but selected ones, which relate to what I spoke about and how I confessed. Then everyone kneels down, and I say a general prayer of permission, so that everyone who considers it necessary to come up and separately talk about this or that sin can do so freely. I know from experience that such confession teaches people to make private confession. I know many people who tell me that they do not know what to come to confession with, that they have sinned against many of Christ’s commandments, have done a lot of bad things, but cannot put it together in a repentant confession. And after such a general confession, people come to me and say that they now know how to confess their own soul, that they learned this, relying on the prayers of the Church, on the canon of repentance, on how I myself confessed in their presence your soul, and on the feelings of other people who perceived this same confession as their own. I think this is very important: general confession becomes a lesson on how to confess personally...
I think that each of us can learn to repent and come to confession every time with a new victory and with a new vision of the battlefield that is opening wider and deeper before him. And we can receive forgiveness of our sins from Christ, forgiveness for what we have already begun to conquer in ourselves, and grace - new strength to overcome what we have not yet conquered...

Confession is one of the Christian sacraments, when a Christian repents of his sins before a priest. But few Orthodox Christians know how to properly confess and what happens after this sacrament. Priests consider repentance to be the second baptism: upon confession, a person is completely cleansed of sins.

Sinful acts in Christianity

Before repentance, you should know the list of actions that are considered sinful in Christianity. Sins are divided according to the following criteria:

• Against God.
• Against yourself.
• Against your neighbors.

Sins against the Lord

Every Orthodox person should know the main sins against the Lord.

Sins against yourself

You might think that sins against oneself are not so important, this is a delusion, because we are all a part of the Lord. We must take great care of ourselves, your thoughts, your body. Main sins against oneself:

Sins against your neighbors

Sins against loved ones are punished especially severely. We must treat others the way we want to be treated.

Major sins against another person:

There are special requirements for believing women in the Orthodox faith, because it is the woman who raises the children and she must instill in them the love of God by your example. There is a separate list of sins for women to confess:

Preparing for Confession

Before going to church, you need to know how to prepare for confession and communion. First, you need to realize your sins and repent of them sincerely, have a great desire to leave your sin behind and move on with faith in the Lord.

You must understand that true confession is more than just listing your sins in front of a priest. The Lord already knows all your sins; He is waiting for you to realize your sins and sincerely wish to get rid of them. Only after true repentance can one expect that after confession your soul will feel better.

You can take a piece of paper and write down all your sins that weigh on your soul. The written piece of paper can be given to a spiritual mentor for cleaning, but especially serious sins should be told out loud.

Repentance should be brief, you don’t need to tell the whole story of your quarrel with your loved ones, tell only about how you condemned your loved ones or relatives, your anger or envy. It is a very good practice to analyze your day every evening before evening prayer and repent before the icon.

To confess, you must first find out when the sacrament of confession takes place in the church. In large churches, the sacrament of confession is performed daily. In those churches where there are no daily services, you need to familiarize yourself with the schedule.

If after confession you feel like this and it hasn’t gotten any easier, you haven’t believed in God enough, the grace that comes to an Orthodox believer after sincere repentance is not yet available to you.

The Church is always glad to see all people who come to confession. Even the biggest sinners have the right to believe in God and repent of their sins. Priests are usually very welcoming to parishioners and help them in the process, pushing them to the right words and conclusions.

Confession is held either in the morning or in the evening. You must not be late for the sacrament, as it begins with prayer, in which every penitent must participate. During the prayer service, the priest asks everyone who came to give their name. Women are not allowed to attend the sacrament during their period.

You can learn how to confess correctly, what to say to the priest, from your believing parents who have undergone this sacrament more than once. You should know that a good confessor will always help and guide you. Sins need to be named briefly, it is important to name all the sins; you cannot say some and keep silent about others. If you have already had your sins forgiven in the previous Sacrament, you do not need to name them this time. Always confess from the same priest, you should not look for another out of a sense of your own shame; by doing this, you are trying to deceive God and yourself.

In large churches, when there are a lot of people who want to confess and it is not possible to devote time to everyone, the priest can conduct a “general confession.” The confessor lists the most common sins and those standing before him repent of these sins. If you have never confessed before or a lot of time has passed since your last repentance, do not repent at a general confession, wait until everyone has left and ask him to listen to you. During individual absolution, the priest will place an epitrachelion on your head, which looks like a scarf; after absolution, he will remove it.

During the sacrament, Father may ask you questions, there is no need to be embarrassed, answer calmly. A parishioner can also ask questions; there is no need to be ashamed of this, because confession exists for this purpose, so that a person can find the righteous path to God. After repentance, the priest reads a prayer for the remission of sins, and each parishioner kisses the cross and the Gospel. If a person has prepared in advance for confession, the priest gives permission to receive communion.

You should choose your clothes very carefully; men should wear trousers and a long-sleeved shirt. Women also need to dress modestly, outerwear should cover their shoulders and décolleté, and wear a headscarf. Women are not allowed to wear makeup during confession; it is not recommended to wear high-heeled shoes, it will be difficult to survive service in them.

How to prepare for confession to a child

Children under seven years of age are considered infants and can receive communion without confession. Try to prepare the baby for communion in a few days, read the Holy Scriptures or children's Orthodox literature. When preparing, reduce the time you watch TV or computer, and help your child pray. If a child does bad things or uses foul language, you need to shame him.

After seven years, children can be confessed on an equal basis with adults; in the church there are certain allowances for children’s sins, since they can commit the sins listed above by accident.

How to prepare for communion

After confession, the sacrament of communion occurs; this can be performed on the same day. Before communion, you need to fast for three days, and a week before that, read akathists to the saints and the Mother of God. Before communion you cannot drink or eat; in the morning after waking up you need to read prayers. At confession, the priest will definitely ask you about this.

Preparation for communion also involves giving up smoking, alcohol and intimacy with a partner. You cannot swear before this sacred sacrament; this is very important, because you are about to receive the blood and body of the Lord. Standing in front of the Chalice of Christ, you need to keep your hands crossed on your chest; before eating bread and wine, you need to say your name.

The church store has a lot of special literature that will help you prepare for communion correctly and prepare your child for confession.

Remember that confession and communion must be included in your spiritual life. Confessors recommend going to the sacrament of confession once every six months. It’s up to you to decide how often to do this, but after such a sacrament it will become much easier for you and you will be freed from the thoughts that weigh on you.

The sacrament of confession is a test for the soul. It consists of a desire to repent, verbal confession, repentance for sins. When a person goes against the laws of God, he gradually destroys his spiritual and physical shell. Repentance helps to cleanse yourself. It reconciles a person with God. The soul is healed and receives strength to fight sin.

Confession allows you to talk about your wrongdoings and receive forgiveness. In excitement and fear, you can forget what you wanted to repent of. The list of sins for confession serves as a reminder, a hint. It can be read in full or used as an outline. The main thing is that the confession is sincere and truthful.

Sacrament

Confession is the main component of repentance. This is an opportunity to ask for forgiveness for your sins and to be cleansed of them. Confession gives spiritual strength to resist evil. Sin is a discrepancy in thoughts, words, and actions with God's permission.

Confession is a sincere awareness of wicked actions, a desire to get rid of them. No matter how difficult and unpleasant it may be to remember them, you should tell the clergyman in detail about your sins.

This sacrament requires a complete relationship between feelings and words, because the everyday listing of one’s sins will not bring true cleansing. Feelings without words are as ineffective as words without feelings.

There is a list of sins for confession. This is a large list of all obscene actions or words. It is based on the 7 deadly sins and 10 commandments. Human life is too diverse to be absolutely righteous. Therefore, confession is an opportunity to repent of sins and try to prevent them in the future.

How to prepare for confession?

Preparation for confession must take place several days in advance. A list of sins can be written on a piece of paper. You should read special literature about the sacraments of confession and communion.

One should not look for excuses for sins, one should recognize their wickedness. It is best to analyze your every day, analyzing what was good and what was bad. This daily habit will help you be more attentive to your thoughts and actions.

Before confession, you should make peace with everyone who was offended. Forgive those who offended. Before confession, it is necessary to strengthen the prayer rule. Add to the nightly reading the Canon of Penitence, the canons of the Theotokos.

One should separate personal repentance (when a person mentally repents of his actions) and the sacrament of confession (when a person talks about his sins in the desire to be cleansed of them).

The presence of a third party requires a moral effort to understand the depth of the offense and, through overcoming shame, will force you to look more deeply at the wrong actions. That is why a list of sins is so necessary for confession in Orthodoxy. It will help to identify what was forgotten or wanted to be hidden.

If you have difficulty compiling a list of sinful actions, you can purchase the book “Full Confession.” It is in every church shop. There is a detailed list of sins for confession and the features of the sacrament. Samples of confession and materials for preparing for it have been published.

Rules

Do you have a heaviness in your soul, do you want to speak out, ask for forgiveness? After confession it becomes much easier. This is an open, sincere recognition and repentance of the wrongdoings committed. You can go to confession up to 3 times a week. The desire to be cleansed of sins will help overcome the feeling of stiffness and awkwardness.

The less frequent the confession, the more difficult it is to remember all the events and thoughts. The best option for holding the sacrament is once a month. Help in confession - a list of sins - will prompt you with the necessary words. The main thing is that the priest understands the essence of the offense. Then the punishment for sin will be justified.

After confession, the priest imposes penance in difficult cases. This is punishment, excommunication from the holy sacraments and God's grace. Its duration is determined by the priest. In most cases, the penitent faces moral and corrective work. For example, fasting, reading prayers, canons, akathists.

Sometimes the priest reads out the list of sins for confession. You can independently write a list of what has been done. It is better to come to confession after the evening service or in the morning, before the liturgy.

How does the sacrament work?

In some situations, you should invite the priest to confession at home. This is done if the person is seriously ill or near death.

Upon entering the temple, you must line up for confession. During the entire sacrament, the cross and the Gospel lie on the lectern. This symbolizes the invisible presence of the Savior.

Before confession begins, the priest may start asking questions. For example, about how often prayers are said, whether church rules are followed.

Then the sacrament begins. It is best to prepare your list of sins for confession. A sample of it can always be purchased at the church. If the sins forgiven at the previous confession were repeated, then they should be mentioned again - this is considered a more serious offense. You should not hide anything from the priest or speak in hints. You should clearly explain in simple words the sins you repent of.

If the priest tore up the list of sins for confession, it means that the sacrament is over and absolution has been granted. The priest places an epitrachelion on the head of the penitent. This means the return of God's favor. After this, they kiss the cross and the Gospel, which symbolizes readiness to live according to the commandments.

Preparing for Confession: List of Sins

Confession is intended to comprehend your sin and desire to improve. It is difficult for a person far from the church to understand what actions should be considered wicked. That's why there are 10 commandments. They clearly state what not to do. It is better to prepare a list of sins for confession according to the commandments in advance. On the day of the sacrament, you can get excited and forget everything. Therefore, you should calmly, a few days before confession, re-read the commandments and write down your sins.

If it is the first confession, then it is not easy to figure out the seven deadly sins and the ten commandments on your own. Therefore, you should approach the priest in advance and tell him about your difficulties in a personal conversation.

A list of sins for confession with an explanation of the sins can be purchased at the church or found on the website of your temple. The transcript describes in detail all the alleged sins. From this general list it is necessary to isolate what was done personally. Then write down your list of offenses.

Sins committed against God

• Lack of faith in God, doubt, ingratitude.
• Lack of a cross on the body, unwillingness to defend the faith in front of detractors.
• Swearing in the name of God, pronouncing the name of the Lord in vain (not during prayer or conversations about God).
• Visiting sects, casting fortunes, treating with all kinds of magic, reading and spreading false teachings.
• Gambling, suicidal thoughts, swearing.
• Failure to attend church, lack of a daily prayer rule.
• Failure to observe fasts, reluctance to read Orthodox literature.
• Condemnation of clergy, thoughts about worldly things during worship.
• A waste of time on entertainment, watching TV, inactivity at the computer.
• Despair in difficult situations, excessive reliance on oneself or someone else’s help without faith in God’s providence.
• Concealing sins in confession.

Sins committed against neighbors

• Hot temper, anger, arrogance, pride, vanity.
• Lies, non-interference, ridicule, stinginess, wastefulness.
• Raising children outside of faith.
• Non-repayment of debts, non-payment for work, refusal to help those who ask and need.
• Unwillingness to help parents, disrespect for them.
• Theft, condemnation, envy.
• Quarrels, drinking alcohol at funerals.
• Murder with words (slander, incitement to suicide or illness).
• Killing a child in the womb, inducing others to have an abortion.

Sins committed against oneself

• Foul language, pride, idle talk, gossip.
• Desire for profit, enrichment.
• Displaying good deeds.
• Envy, lies, drunkenness, gluttony, drug use.
• Fornication, adultery, incest, fornication.

List of sins for a woman to confess

This is a very sensitive list, and many women refuse to confess after reading it. You should not trust any information you read. Even if a brochure with a list of sins for a woman was purchased at a church store, be sure to pay attention to the stamp. There should be an inscription “recommended by the publishing council of the Russian Orthodox Church.”

The clergy do not divulge the secret of confession. Therefore, it is best to undergo the sacrament with a permanent confessor. The Church does not intrude into the sphere of intimate marital relationships. Issues of contraception, which is sometimes equated to abortion, are best discussed with a priest. There are drugs that do not have an abortifacient effect, but only prevent the birth of life. In any case, all controversial issues should be discussed with your spouse, doctor, or confessor.

Here is a list of sins for confession (brief):

1. She rarely prayed and did not attend church.
2. I thought more about worldly things during prayer.
3. Allowed sexual activity before marriage.
4. Abortion, inducing others to it.
5. Had unclean thoughts and desires.
6. I watched films, read books with pornographic content.
7. Gossip, lies, envy, laziness, resentment.
8. Excessive exposure of the body to attract attention.
9. Fear of old age, wrinkles, thoughts of suicide.
10. Addiction to sweets, alcohol, drugs.
11. Avoiding helping other people.
12. Seeking help from fortune tellers and sorcerers.
13. Superstition.

List of sins for a man

There is debate about whether a list of sins should be prepared for confession. Some believe that such a list harms the sacrament and promotes the formal reading of offenses. The main thing in confession is to realize your sins, repent and prevent their repetition. Therefore, the list of sins may be a short reminder or absent altogether.

Formal confession is not considered valid, since there is no repentance in it. Returning after the sacrament to your former life will add hypocrisy. The balance of spiritual life lies in understanding the essence of repentance, where confession is only the beginning of awareness of one’s sinfulness. This is a long process consisting of several stages of internal work. The creation of spiritual resources is a systematic adjustment of conscience, responsibility for one’s relationship with God.

Here is a list of sins for confession (brief) for a man:

1. Sacrilege, conversations in the temple.
2. Doubt about faith, the afterlife.
3. Blasphemy, mockery of the poor.
4. Cruelty, laziness, pride, vanity, greed.
5. Evasion from military service.
6. Avoiding unwanted work, shirking responsibilities.
7. Insults, hatred, fights.
8. Slander, disclosure of other people's weaknesses.
9. Temptation to sin (fornication, drunkenness, drugs, gambling).
10. Refusal to help parents and other people.
11. Theft, aimless collecting.
12. Tendency to boast, argue, and humiliate others.
13. Impudence, rudeness, contempt, familiarity, cowardice.

Confession for a child

For a child, the sacrament of confession can begin at the age of seven. Until this age, children are allowed to receive Communion without this. Parents must prepare the child for confession: explain the essence of the sacrament, tell why it is being performed, and remember with him possible sins.

The child must be made to understand that sincere repentance is preparation for confession. It is better for a child to write a list of sins himself. He must realize what actions were wrong and try not to repeat them in the future.

Older children make their own decisions about whether to confess or not. You should not limit the free will of a child or teenager. The personal example of parents is much more important than all conversations.

The child must remember his sins before confession. A list of them can be compiled after the child answers the questions:

• How often does he read prayers (in the morning, in the evening, before meals), which ones does he know by heart?
• Does he go to church, how does he behave during the service?
• Does he wear a pectoral cross, is he distracted or not during prayers and services?
• Have you ever deceived your parents or priest during confession?
• Weren't you proud of your successes and victories, weren't you arrogant?
• Does it fight or not with other children, does it offend children or animals?
• Does he snitch on other children to protect himself?
• Have you ever committed theft or been jealous of anyone?
• Have you laughed at other people's physical disabilities?
• Did you play cards (smoked, drank alcohol, tried drugs, used foul language)?
• Is he lazy or helps his parents around the house?
• Did you pretend to be sick to avoid your responsibilities?

1. A person himself determines whether to confess or not, how many times to attend the sacrament.
2. You should prepare a list of sins for confession. It is better to take a sample in the church where the sacrament will take place, or find it yourself in church literature.
3. It is optimal to go to confession with the same clergyman, who will become a mentor and will contribute to spiritual growth.
4. Confession is free of charge.

First you need to ask on what days confessions are held in the church. You should dress appropriately. For men - a shirt or T-shirt with sleeves, trousers or jeans (not shorts). For women - a scarf on the head, no makeup (at least lipstick), a skirt no higher than the knees.

Sincerity of Confession

A priest as a psychologist can recognize how sincere a person is in his repentance. There are confessions that offend the sacrament and the Lord. If a person mechanically talks about sins, has several confessors, hides the truth - such actions do not lead to repentance.

Behavior, tone of speech, words with which confession is pronounced - it all matters. This is the only way the priest understands how sincere the penitent is. Pangs of conscience, embarrassment, worries, shame contribute to spiritual cleansing.

Sometimes the personality of the priest is important for the parishioner. This is not a reason to condemn and comment on the actions of clergy. You can go to another church or turn to another holy father for confession.

It can be difficult to voice your sins. The emotional experiences are so strong that it is more convenient to make a list of unrighteous actions. Father is attentive to every parishioner. If, due to shame, it is impossible to tell about everything and the repentance is deep, then the priest has the right to forgive the sins, a list of which was compiled before confession, without even reading them.

The meaning of confession

Having to talk about your sins in front of a stranger is embarrassing. Therefore, people refuse to go to confession, believing that God will forgive them anyway. This is the wrong approach. The priest acts only as an intermediary between man and God. His task is to determine the measure of repentance. The priest has no right to condemn anyone; he will not expel a repentant person from the church. During confession, people are very vulnerable, and clergy try not to cause unnecessary suffering.

It is important to see your sin, recognize and condemn it in your soul, and voice it before the priest. Have a desire not to repeat your misdeeds again, try to atone for the harm done through acts of mercy. Confession brings revival of the soul, re-education and access to a new spiritual level.

Sins (list), Orthodoxy, confession imply self-knowledge and the search for grace. All good deeds are done through strength. Only by overcoming yourself, doing works of mercy, and cultivating virtues in yourself, can you receive God's grace.

The meaning of confession lies in understanding the typology of sinners, the typology of sin. At the same time, an individual approach to each repentant is akin to pastoral psychoanalysis. The sacrament of confession is the pain of awareness of sin, recognition of it, the determination to voice and ask for forgiveness for it, cleansing of the soul, joy and peace.

A person must feel the need to repent. Love for God, love for oneself, love for one's neighbor cannot exist separately. The symbolism of the Christian cross - horizontal (love for God) and vertical (love for oneself and one's neighbor) - lies in the awareness of the integrity of spiritual life, its essence.

Quarrelsome, aggressive, stubborn. Greedy for life, generous to people. I love the color red and all its shades... In a relationship, it’s a small tank... it takes a long time to get to the target, despite obstacles, and when approaching it, it often explodes instead of shooting.
I love everything big and I can never get enough of everything. Tea from a half-liter mug, a walk of 5 km, and swimming of 3, sex in love and married... perhaps I always have enough money, and that’s because I don’t count it.
Greed in everything for life. Generosity to all people.
Well... I found a husband with whom I did not leave for 7 years from morning to evening... then I broke up in one month, in the same month I fell in love with another and immediately married him.
I don’t like books, although as a teenager I could skip lunch because I was reading... I don’t like poetry... although I studied in a literary class and read Akhmatova better than anyone... I’m an ordinary woman, but I work too much to she should be or at least seem like one... I love romance, but for some reason I give the impression of a cynical woman who knows how to take advantage of men.
Until now, I managed to take from life everything I wanted... now... I don’t want to sound irresponsible, but maybe I’ve reached that stage in life when you can take from it what you want only together and not with every.
Well... I'm a romantic in the sense that I don't enjoy sex without spiritual attachment, understanding and trust... life together without love and love without marriage, home and children...
As for the rest, I’m probably a pragmatist and even a cynic... I hate roses... I love only large bouquets of cheap autumn or wild flowers... I don’t sigh over delicate dresses with frills, I don’t like negligees, I’m not shocked by the beauty of mountains and waterfalls, I don’t get moved when I look at little children and I don’t cry over love dramas.
I'm a lazy shirker - I put off half my work for the evening.
During the day I sleep and am late for work, then I eat, then I drink tea, then I run around sorting out personal issues - my father is seriously ill.
Love... This agony lasted about three years, until I finally realized that MAN JUST DON'T NEED THIS. Moreover, it even bothers him. And it’s good if he himself immediately admits this to you, but what if he hides the truth and simply tries to use this warmth, like a big pie, cutting off a small piece from it, as if alive, and, having had his fill, abandons everything else?
In the end, after the wedding they tell you: “Don’t love me SO much!” And you keep thinking: “How can this be, because I can do EVERYTHING, and for a LONG TIME... I have so much strength, I can give so much! This is happiness! Why give it up?" And then that for others this happiness does not exist.
I am full of mistrust and disappointment.
In my depression, I don’t find any incentive in life. Kisnu, like a large jellyfish, thrown onto the hot sand under the hot sun.
There’s just not much that interests me in life right now... and I’m trying to find something for myself...
Last year there was an opportunity to go to the UAE for 9 months to work as a tour guide-translator-teacher-cash
worker, but I quarreled with the person who asked me to work. He set the first condition - to teach him English, the second - to live in the same apartment with him. I would agree, but then I found out that the apartment consists of ONE room... It’s okay to sleep, otherwise I’ll see him from morning to evening...
Perhaps a serious push is needed. You need to stop being lazy, pull yourself together and do something interesting.
It seems to me that there are no other doors. Everyone is left to themselves...

We have already had the pleasure (and also the displeasure) of becoming acquainted with cases that burden the conscience of men. And what situations would the fair sex like to erase from their memory? So, women's confessions.

Ran away in the morning

I didn't do this on purpose. She was just young, inexperienced in relationships with men and very shy. I just didn’t know how to behave, and therefore, as soon as it began to get light in the morning (and he slept like a log), I packed up and ran away. It so happened that on the same day I left the city, he did not know where to look for me, and we met only... ten years later, in Moscow, when both were there on a business trip. It was then that I found out that he was terribly offended by not finding me that morning, he was looking for me, and was going to have a “serious conversation.” Everything ended peacefully. We remembered the past. It was good, and besides, we lived in the Rossiya Hotel with a view of the Kremlin - in those days it was still intact.

Alena, 35, Makhachkala

Revenge on a bad lover

This boyfriend of mine was short, bald at thirty years old, and angry as a chili pepper. He walked away from his wife with terrible force - anyone would have walked away from such an ugly bore. Apparently, both of them got together because of low self-esteem, and there was no love between them. Why did I succumb to his temptations? Probably because I like bitter and fiery things. I was not mistaken - in bed he worked like a sewing machine. Sometimes I felt very good with him, but most often he didn’t care about my satisfaction, mood, condition. Even though I started it with half a turn, I couldn’t keep up with his speed and was simply in pain. And he looks, grins and doesn’t lift a finger to please me. In general, I took revenge on him for this. So that his self-esteem fell through the roof. When he came to me again, I opened the door and showed that I had someone else. Tall, young, curly...

Alla, 28, Moscow

Shattered dreams

My woman's confession. I was 19, I was studying at university. Everyone was looking for brides and grooms, and a law student noticed me. He probably really wanted to get married, because a month later he took me to meet my parents. There was a commotion there: my relatives were fussing around me as if I was a princess, and the “groom” was beaming like a birthday boy. I was interested, nothing more. And when, a week after the wedding, he came with a bouquet of lilies - an incredible shortage in those days, I said that I would not marry him. He was terribly upset and almost burst into tears.

Would you say it was cruel? No, I acted humanely: if we had gotten married, I would have poisoned his life, that’s for sure. After all, I didn’t love him at all.

Galina, 45, St. Petersburg

I bought a fur coat with his money

My boyfriend, Sergei, was simply raving about the car, he so wanted his own car. And when he bought his foreign car, he went completely crazy: tires, wheels, tuning... He began to spend all his free time on the car, and, of course, all his money. He acted as if I was not his girlfriend, but this same metallic Toyota. And even before that, he promised to give me a fur coat - this is the second season I’ve been wearing the same one! But when the car appeared, Sergei forgot his promises. Then I pulled out his card, went and bought myself a nice little mink. Sergei first started a scandal! Then he didn’t talk to me for a week. He didn’t even appreciate the fact that I matched my fur coat to the color of his favorite car.

Masha, 23, Moscow

Framed a married man

And here is my woman's confession. How good he was! My legs gave way at his very appearance, my head was spinning, I was ready for anything. One day, out of excess of feelings - and out of stupidity - I decided to leave him my favorite silver earring, very small, as a “memento”. She quietly put it in the breast pocket of her jacket, where handkerchiefs are placed on special occasions. I thought: who’s going to rummage around there? Well, who would find such a small thing there? I planned how I would call him at work, how I would tell him about the surprise... I didn’t have time. Seryozha was discovered by his wife and almost kicked out of the house. Still, he was a good man. He managed to make peace with his wife, and he didn’t sulk at me for long.

Anastasia, 31, Volgograd

Crashed into a pole with his car

He knew, he knew that I was confusing where left and right were, that I was always turning in the wrong direction or pointing in the wrong direction. He knew that I couldn’t do something quickly - I first needed to think, get ready. He himself agreed to let me steer! And then, when this cow came out onto the road right in front of me, he started yelling “left,” and when I turned, there was a pole there, although, as it turned out later, it was “right.” In general, I broke his car. And he himself is to blame - he should have thought.

Olga, 25, Nizhny Novgorod

Scratched for treason

Here is how it was. Andrei and I had been living together for a year, and everything was fine with us, but then a neighbor once said that she had seen Andrei with someone else. I didn’t believe her because he was with me all the time. But she says, come home one day, not in the evening, as usual, but at lunchtime, and you’ll see everything for yourself. The next day I asked for time off and showed up because Andrei was just on leave and was getting ready to go to bed. He slept, but not alone, but with some kind of lakhudra. When she saw me, she jumped up and ran away. But this one stayed, he had nowhere to run. And there's nothing to say. Of course, I had a blast and scratched his entire face. For two weeks the men wouldn’t let him pass, everyone kept teasing him about who and why he had decorated him like that. Then, when we made peace, he admitted to me that a scratched face is the most terrible thing for a man.

Natalia, 33, Vyshny Volochok

Gave birth from someone else

The most terrible thing I did with a guy is really terrible, and I will still have to pay for it, because there is a huge deception... Although outwardly everything is fine. But this is for the time being. And time flies so quickly. Very soon the son will grow up and ask why our dad doesn’t live with us. It will be possible to say that it is more convenient for him - in another apartment no one bothers dad to do his science. But then the son may ask why he, the son, is so different from his dad. It will be possible to say that he took after his grandfather, who died long ago.

I am very afraid that sooner or later my terrible secret will become known to my son - I gave birth to him from someone else, having deceived the guy I married and who is considered the father. I decided that I could deceive fate, but in the end I deceived everyone and myself too.

Julia, 37, Kuzbass