The word "confession" is familiar to every Christian, but not everyone takes the Sacrament seriously. In this case, it is the responsibility of the believer himself. Without Confession there can be no Communion, the Last Supper and the cleansing power of the blood of Jesus.

Christ Himself, through the Apostle Paul, warned Christians to carefully “leaf through” their lives before the Sacrament of the Sacrament in order to repent of their sins, to forgive offenders and debtors.

The difference between a general confession and an ordinary one

Fourth commandment

The Creator himself worked for 6 days, and on the seventh he decided to rest. Some Christians put themselves above the Savior, neglect both going to the temple and separating one day a week for the Creator. We repent.

Fifth commandment

The first five commandments are considered to be of God, the second five relate to man. Honoring parents is one of the conditions for a happy and healthy life.

Sometimes a person is ill himself, children suffer from incurable ailments, but a father, a mother cannot forgive. God did not say that only good parents should be honored. Mother and father must be honored, through them the Creator gave life, which must be lived in patience, obedience and thanksgiving. Disrespect for parents is a rebellion against the Creator. We repent.

Sixth commandment

You can often hear from a person that he has nothing to repent of, because he did not kill anyone. And to be honest? How about a mental wish for death to the enemy that Hashem said to bless? Abortion, which is infanticide, is the fault of both women and men. You must repent if you have thoughts of suicide.

No one has the right to dispose of his life or another person, only God. It is not known what tests the Lord will subject the offender if all judgment is placed in His hands. We repent.

Seventh Commandment

The Creator is not against intimate relationships, but only in marriage. The chastity of women and men is not a relic of the past, but God's commandment.

Fornication, adultery, extramarital affairs, premarital relations, civil marriages have become the norm for some Christians. We must not forget that God cannot be mocked. You should clean up your relationship, and then only go to the general confession. We repent.

Eighth commandment

When preparing for the general confession, one should remember all the cases:

when weighed people or participated in fraudulent activities;
maybe someone took from work that which was lying bad, because it was previously believed that the state, this is nobody's, you can take it home;
bribery, whether you gave or took, also refers to theft;
participation in the dishonest division of the inheritance.

Ninth commandment

This will probably be the longest list of sins. It is difficult to find a person who would not deceive in life, even for the sake of a compromise, did not participate in gossip and pass on gossip, perhaps not knowing that this is not true. Ignorance does not exempt from the law. We repent.

Tenth commandment

In each of the nine listed commandments, you can find traces of envy and jealousy. A person sick with envy will constantly be tormented by the thought that others are doing better. That one has a newer car, and this one is bathed in love of her husband, the husband did not look at his friend that way, and the wife is constantly smartly walking, what would it be.

Envious and jealous people eat themselves up, constantly wanting what they do not possess. We repent.

General confession is carried out once in a lifetime

laziness.

Pray, dealing with each sin, mentally renounce.

Important! General confession is the path to a free life by the grace of the Savior without the burden of past sins.

What is the General Confession. Priest Dmitry Smirnov

GENERAL CONFESSION

From the "Solovetsky Leaf":

Who should prepare for the general confession? For what?

People who have lived their whole lives away from the Church and during this time have never confessed or confessed briefly must be prepared for confession in their entire lives. Some priests recommend preparing for such a confession also to those who slipped into a mortal sin: fornication, adultery, abortion (or inclination to it), murder, theft, child abuse.A detailed confession of the perfect "from youth" is part of the rite of joining the Orthodox Church "those who come from the occult and Satanism." Here we are talking about those who "after the Sacrament of Baptism took up various occult practices."Confession of all sins committed "from the age of seven" is part of another order, "the order of renunciation of occultism." In a similar way, confession is made not only of those who purposefully engaged in the occult sciences (sorcerers, psychics), but also those who "turned to the occultists for help."

Why bother preparing for confession in a lifetime?

A detailed confession is needed not only for criminals and people who go crazy: it is necessary for every repentant person. In the book "Invisible Warfare", addressed to every person who desires salvation, the Monk Nikodim Svyatorets advises: "First of all, make a general confession, with all due attention and with all the deeds, considerations and decisions necessary for this."

Saint Silouan the Athonite passed a similar confession at the beginning of his ascetic path. Upon his arrival at the Holy Mount Athos, he “according to the Athonite customs<…>I had to spend several days in complete peace, so that, remembering my sins in my entire life and writing them down in writing, I confess to my confessor. " Drinking people should also think about confession. If a person drinks to forget the past, then he will not be able to defeat alcoholism until he feels peace in his soul. He will be able to give up alcohol only after the horrors of the past stop pressing on him.

In the Sacrament of Confession, grace operates, which "frees you from all the bad experiences of life, from wounds, mental trauma and guilt."

Confession can free a person not only from the psychological consequences of what he has done, but also from what his will did not take part in.This is especially important for those people who, for example, believe that they inherited a mental illness. So one girl, tormented by thoughts of suicide, said that such states are a feature of their kind along the female line. There is a certain meaning in her words.

In this regard, we can quote the words of Elder Porfiry Kavsokalivit, who said that "from parents in a person's soul is formed the state that he will take with him for his whole life." The elder believed that much that happens in a person's life is a consequence of this state: "He grows up, receives an education, but does not correct himself."

But the elder not only talks about the problem, he also points out the way to resolve it: “There is a way by which you can get rid of this evil. This method is a general confession, performed by the grace of God. " The elder used this method many times and saw miracles that happened during such a confession. During it, “Divine grace comes and frees you from all the bad experiences of life, from wounds, mental trauma and guilt. Because when you speak, the priest makes a warm prayer to the Lord for your release. "

Here the question arises: "What do people repent of, whose state" was formed from their parents? " What to talk to a girl tormented by thoughts of suicide?

The answer to this question is in the instruction of the same elder. He believed that the confessor can tell “your life from the very beginning, from the time when you began to realize yourself. All the events that you remember, what was your reaction to them. Not only unpleasant, but also joyful, not only sins, but also good. Everything that makes up your life. "

Only the Sacrament of Confession heals a person: in it, a person frees his soul from what has squeezed it.

During the preparation for confession, a person will reconsider his life, decide how to live further. The intentions to change your life will be fixed in it.

When preparing for confession, a person expresses his thoughts in writing, during the confession itself - out loud. Both help him to understand a lot about himself. Indeed, in order to write down and voice a thought, it must first be formulated.

If a person does not prepare for confession, then it will be difficult for him to decide how to change his life. Perhaps he thinks about this issue every day and makes some plans. But plans drawn up in passing crumble like dry leaves in a gust of wind. Speaking about such a situation, Saint Theophan the Recluse said that “ a change of life, only conceived inside, one is indecisive and not firm". The planned changes acquire stability in the Sacrament of Repentance, " when a sinner in the church reveals his faults and vows to be healthy". Leaving the burden tormenting him for confession, a man “ returns relieved, delighted, in a joyful mood". Such a gratifying mood cannot be created artificially.

You can pave the way to such complacency through confession. But it is not easy to fit your whole life into confession. How to reconsider your life?It is possible with the help of certain lists. Someone, preparing for confession, uses the book of Archimandrite John Krestyankin "The Experience of Building Confession". Someone reads the brochure "Helping the Penitent", compiled according to the works of St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov). There are other books on this topic as well. Reading them, comprehending what he read and applying it to himself, a person understands what, in fact, he should repent of.

We offer you a FULL CONFESSION ON THE TEN COMMANDMENTS OF GOD AND THE NINE COMMANDMENTS OF BLISS (Edition of the Holy Trinity Seraphim-Diveyevo Convent 2004, p about the blessing of the Bishop of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas Georgy).

Download the archive (rar) with the texts of the "general" confession:

EDITORIAL

Dear brothers and sisters!

We have long wanted to offer for download texts for the so-called. full (general) confession.

Yes, of course, you and I confess our sins before each sacrament of receiving the Holy Mysteries of Christ. But these confessions are usually short. We repent of those sins that we committed during the period of time after the last confession (i.e. usually in the last 1-3 weeks).

Full, or as it is also called - general confession, this is a confession, during which we name all the sins committed in our entire life. Indeed, very often we forget our sins, and sometimes we do not even know that this or that action, word, thought is a sin. And since we don’t know, then we don’t repent of it. But ignorance of the laws does not absolve from responsibility for their violation. And when we finish our earthly journey, the demons will unfold their charters during ordeals and, without any mercy and condescension, will denounce us of all these "unknown" and forgotten sins.

Therefore, we need at least occasionally, but to carry out a "general cleaning" in our soul, washing and cleaning all its nooks and crannies and dark places from sinful dust and dirt.

Unfortunately, a large number of priests do not want to conduct such confessions. They begin to talk about the ambiguity of the attitude towards them, etc. But, as a rule, everything is explained simply. General confession takes an hour, and sometimes even longer. Therefore, of course, priests do not want to spend so much time on one person. And if he has 100 or 500 people in his parish ?! Well this is how much work you need to put ...

Therefore, based on our own experience, we offer you the following solution. Invite the priest home on weekdays as a service (with appropriate payment) and ask him to take confession. He only needs to listen to your confession and read the prayer of permission. As a rule, such priests are not difficult to find.

As for the confession itself. The texts of confession sheets that we offered for download were taken from an archimandrite close to us (the former abbot of monasteries, and now the confessor of one of them), who has been conducting such full confessions for many years.

When we ourselves confessed using these sheets, the priest told us that we do not need to choose from the lists which sins we have committed, and which, as we believe, we have not committed. He said, "With a feeling of deep repentance, read all sins without choosing them. And even say that Lord, I have sinned more than that, but I do not remember all my sins." Why did we focus on this? Yes, because we have a lot of thinkers who convince that one cannot repent of those sins that a person has not committed. That this is a kind of slander and slander against oneself. And if you have taken upon yourself an imperfect sin, then the Lord will count it as perfect for you and will strictly ask for it.

This is a destructive delusion. It is impossible to cross over! And really, really, reading the evening rule every day, or preparing for Communion, these believers choose from prayers the sins that they committed that day, and which they did not commit, then they do not read? Unlikely. And if they do so, then one can only sympathize with them ...

Yes, there are sins that we don't think we have committed. But is it really so and can we be 100% sure of this? Of course not. Moreover, we often watch TV, films, various programs, listen to the radio, etc. And when we look, we listen, we are sure to accumulate sins. What we look at enters into us, and we become, as it were, accomplices of the iniquities perpetrated on the screen.

And let's look at our holy fathers and elders. They cried all the time and considered themselves the most sinful people on earth: "All will be saved, only I will perish." And when they were undeservedly blasphemed, insulted, accusing them of sins they had not committed, they always humbly agreed with this (they did not agree only with accusations of heresy).

We will also point out why we included in the lists of confession sheets the Rite of National Repentance, which was previously read in Taininsky.

Our close archimandrite, from whom we took these sheets of confession, told us such an incident. Most recently, a mother and father came to him and brought a son aged 20 to 30 years. He was, as it were, a dead soul. He walks, looks, but does not react to anything at all - "a walking corpse". The priest said that these people were unchurched: they practically did not go to church, did not confess, did not read the Gospel, etc.

He invited them to go through a general confession. They agreed because were ready to do anything in order to help his son get out of this state. They went through a full confession, but the archimandrite said that he did not feel any changes in the condition of their child. And then the priest suggested that they pass the Tainin Rite of repentance.

They agreed. And after passing the rite of repentance and permission from sins, incl. and from the sin of regicide, the son, as it were, woke up and came to himself. It was a real miracle.

Therefore, we have invested in the archive with the texts and the Rite of the National Repentance, as well as the confession of sins against the royal power.

Brothers and sisters!

You can choose the confession sheets that you consider necessary for yourself or together with the priest. You can divide them into two or three confessions. We read them all, adhering to the principle "you can't spoil porridge with butter." It is very good if all family members go through a full confession.

It is impossible to cross over! The main thing during confession is our deep repentant and humble feeling before the Lord. There is no need to make excuses and strain out of the mass of sins those that, as it seems to us, we did not commit. And it doesn't matter if some of the sins you read are not entirely clear to you. But they are well known to demons. (of course, it would be nice to go through the sins on the eve of confession and try to find out about them, what they mean)

The main thing is, do not listen to brainworms who will begin to convince you of the invalidity and uselessness of the general confession. Such people are led by evil spirits and willingly or unwillingly try to harm you. We have a lot of examples when, after passing through a full confession, people's lives radically changed for the better, first of all, necessarily in a spiritual sense and, as a rule, in everyday life.

God help us! Amen

P.S. Almost all the questions that may arise according to the above list of sins against the Tsarist power, the answers can be found in the notes of the author-compiler

Download the archive with the texts of the "general" confession: (Downloads: 23281)

Download the archive (zip, for linux) with the texts of the "general" confession: (Downloads: 9061)

THE CURE FOR SIN

The publication of the brochure was carried out by the grace of God by the Saratov

St. Alekseevsky nunnery with the assistance of the "Blagovest" Orthodox Foundation

A certain old man comes into the pharmacy and asks the pharmacist: "Do you have a medicine for sin?" - “Yes,” the doctor replies and lists: “With the roots of obedience, pick flowers of spiritual purity, pick the leaves of patience, pick up the fruits of unhypocrisy, do not get drunk with the wine of adultery, - dry it all up with fasting abstinence, put it in a pot of good deeds, add water of tears of repentance Salt with the salt of brotherly love, add the bounty of alms, and put the powder of humility and genuflection in everything. Take three spoons on the day of the fear of God, dress in the garment of righteousness and do not go into idle talk, otherwise you will catch a cold and fall ill with sin again. "

This brochure is not intended for everyone, but for those who are spiritually ill and in great need of healing and spiritual healing. For example, St. Ambrose and Elder Hilarion of Optina advised some believers to pacify their consciences to resort to a detailed confession of sins committed from the age of seven.

If it is impossible to make such a confession at once (due to the large number of sins), you can gradually confess to one priest 20-40 sins at a time (reception), distributing all your sins.

Four examples testify to the efficacy of such a confession. Some spiritually ailing one repented for about an hour (at home), the confessor sat and patiently listened to the confession. At the end of the confession of sins, the confessor read a prayer of permission. Then the demon shouted with an aching mouth: “What have you done! I worked all my life and wrote her sins, and in one hour you made my charter empty! "

Another spiritually ill person also repented of this confession. Soon the confessor received a letter from her, in which she reported that after confession came out of her a gelatinous monster with ribs.

When one believer asked a friend to type this list of sins on a typewriter, the demon cried out with her lips: "I will rewrite everything that you give, except for them." And she refused to reprint. Another believer later said that after a detailed (first such) confession her mind brightened.

Download the brochure (detailed list of sins): (Downloads: 10917)

Sometimes a person is shy, and sometimes he simply does not have enough time, since a large queue of people wishing to confess has lined up behind him, and the priest cannot devote enough time to each parishioner. It is best to visit the general confession, which is held in most Orthodox churches and monasteries.

Unfortunately, few believers have come across the concept of general confession. Let's look at what it is and why this sacrament is needed.

General confession in Orthodoxy is a meaningful story of a person, how he lived his entire life, from the age of consciousness to the moment of turning to a priest.

Such repentance is also called complete.

With its help you can:

to see a full picture of the life lived and understand where even the most insignificant, in the opinion of a person, sins were committed;
get rid of a heavy psychological burden for deliberately or unconsciously committed misconduct;
examine your heart and understand your purpose.

A general confession with a full story about your whole life and your deeds can heal not only the soul, but also the body. As you know, most diseases are closely related to mental and emotional state. Long-term experiences, resentment against oneself or another person, envy, grief, anger and regret can cause various pathological processes in the body. Before the body can be healed, the soul must be healed. This can be done through complete repentance.

It is logical to assume that general repentance is required for a person in extreme old age, when his life path comes to an end. A person will help to analyze his whole life and sincerely repent of his sins.

With the help of such a story, you can heal the soul and prepare for the meeting with the Lord. However, full confession is also necessary for young people. A person does not know how much time is allotted for him, when his life will be interrupted and he will have to appear before God.

Note! It is best to choose a weekday when there are no church holidays for the sacrament of confessing your sins, so that repentance will take place in a quiet and calm atmosphere.

Preparation

Full confession requires preliminary preparation, since a person needs to present to the priest the whole picture of his life in one story. It is better to write down all the events in a notebook that you can take with you.

A few days before the sacrament is performed, it is advisable to observe fasting and spend time in prayer. It is also recommended to completely reconsider all actions committed in life, both good and bad.

A pre-prepared general confession with various explanations will help you see, as if from the outside, your entire life path and decide in which direction to move on.

An important aspect of the sacrament is the choice of a confessor. Not every clergyman can fully reveal himself to a person. It is best for a believing Christian to turn to the priest to whom he had previously confessed.

Confession rules

General repentance should be agreed in advance. It is necessary to agree on the appropriate time for performing the sacrament with the priest. It is best to start preparing at least a week in advance.

How to confess:

The story should begin from the moment of self-awareness (as a rule, it is 4-5 years), when the concept of good and bad deeds has already been formed.
It is necessary to tell the priest not only the negative aspects of your life, but also the positive ones.
It is important not only to tell the spiritual person about sins, but also to indicate the circumstances under which they were committed.
The confessor should tell about all sins, even those that were committed in thoughts.
One should talk about everything: about mental pain, feelings, moments of anger, about what has been deep in the heart for a long time.

General repentance can take from a few minutes to several hours (if well prepared, it can take 30 minutes). The essence of the sacrament is not just to list your sins, but to repent, feel cleansing and relief, and also understand how to live on.

Interesting! There are many examples when, after full confession, a person was healed from serious illnesses.

One of the most striking examples of such healing occurred in the life of the Monk Barsanuphius of Optina. One day a boy came to him, who had been dumb since birth. The priest guessed that his illness was connected with a great sin.

The reverend elder bent down to the boy and quietly uttered a few words. Fear appeared in the child's eyes, and he nodded in response.

Thanks to the wisdom and insight of the priest, the boy was able to repent of his sin. Some time after his repentance, he spoke.

Where to confess in Moscow

You can fully confess all your sins in Moscow in one of the city's Orthodox churches. However, you should not perform the sacrament of complete repentance just because it is so customary or fashionable. You need to be fully prepared for this.

Unfortunately, most of people see their life rather superficially. To appreciate the entire path traversed, you need spiritual vision, which can appear, both at a young and old age. Priests recommend confessing when a person feels ready for this and wants to do it with all his heart and soul.

It is worth noting that a general confession of sins will be useful only if a person has realized all the actions of his life and decided to change himself.

If you approach repentance for selfish purposes, in order to get what you want, to boast to your friends, to feel your infallibility, then this will only be a distortion of the sacrament.

You can confess in Moscow in the Church of the Transfiguration of the Savior, the Yelokhovsky Cathedral, the Sretensky Monastery, the Church of All Saints.

Note! It is necessary to turn to the priest who knows at least a little about your life.

You should know that the result of confession does not depend on the priest, but on how much a person believes in the Lord, saw and realized his sins.

Confession in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra

Residents of Moscow and the region often perform the sacrament of complete repentance in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, located in the city of Sergiev Posad. This is one of the largest Orthodox monasteries in Russia, with an amazing and centuries-old history. The Trinity-Sergius Lavra was founded by St. Sergius of Radonezh in the first half of the XIV century. Today it is a real church town with numerous churches, chapels, educational centers.

You can find out how to confess and receive communion directly on the official website of the monastery. The usual confession in the Lavra is available to everyone practically on any day after the service.

Visiting the monastery in person, you can find out in the Lavra the schedule of the sacraments of complete repentance. To get detailed information about this, you need to contact any priest of the monastery.

Confession in the Lavra will undoubtedly become one of the most exciting events and great sacraments in the life of a believing Christian.

An example of repentance

What to tell the priest about, where to start.

The following example of general repentance will help with this:

Merciful Lord, I want to tell You about all the sins I committed voluntarily and involuntarily in words, deeds and thoughts, of my own free will and compulsion.
I am sinned in non-observance of God's commandments and vows given at baptism, in superficial reading of prayers and disdainful attitude towards the Church.
I am sinful in that I lied, defied, rude, irritated, quarreled, cursed and humiliated.
I am sinful in that I spoke evil, jealous, hated, offended, despised and incited.
I am sinful in that I took revenge, indulged in voluptuousness, had mad fun, was incontinent, unclean, spent too much time on my clothes and appearance, condemned others.
I am sinful in being greedy, greedy, envious, reckless, ambitious, vain, and disrespectful.
I am sinful in that I despised and hated beggars, lepers and unlucky people, that I refused to help those in need, did not visit the sick, and did not pay due attention to my family and loved ones.
I am sinful in that I indulged in despondency and sorrow, blasphemed, did not honor Sundays and church holidays, did not observe fasting, did not receive communion and did not confess.
I am sinful in that I remembered God in vain, spent my time in vanity and idleness, indulged in sins, incited people to commit bad deeds, spread false information, cursed, skipped morning and evening prayers.
I am sinful of adultery, excessive drinking and gambling.
Before the Lord, I confess that I am guilty of all my sins and sincerely repent for all the actions I have committed and not done. I pray You, our Heavenly Father, for forgiveness. I hope for Your mercy and help.

Useful video

Let's summarize

It is necessary to be ready for the sacrament of complete repentance, both morally and spiritually. It can be done at almost any conscious age. For children, the minimum age for full repentance is 7 years of age. Residents of the Moscow region can confess in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra or in one of the Orthodox monasteries in their city.

In the modern world, the gospel call to always be awake and to pray unceasingly is very difficult to realize. Constant worries, a very high pace of life, especially in large cities, practically deprive Christians of the opportunity to retire and appear before God in prayer. But the concept of prayer is still extremely relevant, and recourse to it is certainly necessary. Regular prayer always leads to the thought of repentance, which occurs in confession. Prayer is an example of how you can accurately and objectively assess your state of mind.

Sin concept

Sin should not be seen as some kind of legal violation of God-given law. This is not a “going beyond the bounds” accepted in consciousness, but a violation of the laws natural to human nature. Each person is endowed by God with absolute freedom, respectively, any falls are committed consciously. In fact, by committing sin, a person neglects the commandments and values given from above. There is a free choice in favor of negative actions, thoughts and other actions. Such a spiritual crime harms the personality itself, damaging the very vulnerable inner strings of human nature. The basis of sin lies in passions, inherited or acquired, as well as the original susceptibility, which made a person mortal and weaker to various diseases and vices.

This greatly contributes to the soul deviating towards evil and immorality. Sin is different, its severity, of course, depends on many factors in which it is committed. There is a conditional division of sins: against God, against your neighbor and against yourself. Considering one's own actions through such a gradation, one can understand how to write a confession. An example will be discussed below.

Awareness of sin and confession

It is extremely important to understand that in order to eliminate dark spiritual stains, you should constantly turn your inner gaze on yourself, analyze your actions, thoughts and words, and objectively evaluate the moral scale of your own values. Having found disturbing and haunted features, you need to carefully deal with them, because if you close your eyes to sin, very soon you will get used to it, which will distort the soul and lead to spiritual illness. The main way out of this situation is repentance and repentance.

It is repentance that grows from the depths of the heart and mind that can change a person for the better, bring the light of kindness and mercy. But the path of repentance is a lifelong path. In his own way he is inclined to sin and will commit it every day. Even the great ascetics, who retired in desolate places, sinned with thoughts and could daily repentance. Therefore, close attention to your soul should not weaken, and with age, the criteria for personal assessment should be subjected to more stringent requirements. The next step after repentance is confession.

An example of correct confession is true repentance

In Orthodoxy, confession is recommended for all people over the age of seven. A child brought up in a Christian family, by the age of seven or eight, already acquires an idea of the sacrament. Often it is prepared in advance, explaining in detail all aspects of this difficult issue. Some parents show an example of a written confession that was invented beforehand. A child left alone with such information has the opportunity to reflect and see something in himself. But in the case of children, priests and parents rely primarily on the psychological state of the child and his perception of the world, the ability to analyze and realize the criteria of good and evil. With excessive haste to forcibly involve children, sometimes we can observe disastrous results and examples.

Confessions in the church often turn into a formal "roll call" of sins, while performing only the "outer" part of the sacrament is unacceptable. You cannot try to justify yourself, hide something embarrassing and shameful. You need to listen to yourself and understand whether there is really repentance, or there is just an ordinary ritual ahead, which will not bring any benefit to the soul, but can cause significant harm.

Confession is a voluntary and repentant enumeration of sins. This sacrament includes two main parts:

1) Confession of sins before a priest by a person who has come to the sacrament.

2) Prayer forgiveness and resolution of sins, which is pronounced by the shepherd.

Preparing for confession

The question that torments not only new-born Christians, but sometimes those who have been in the church for a long time - what to say in confession? An example of how to repent can be found in various sources. This can be a prayer book or a separate book dedicated to this particular sacrament.

When preparing for confession, one can rely on the commandments, ordeals, take the example of the confession of holy ascetics, who left notes and sayings on this topic.

If you build a penitential monologue on the basis of the division of sins into the three types given above, then you can determine an incomplete, approximate list of deviations.

Sins against God

This category includes lack of faith, superstition, lack of hope for God's mercy, formality and lack of faith in the dogmas of Christianity, murmur and ingratitude of God, oaths. This group includes an unfair attitude towards objects of veneration - icons, the Gospel, the Cross, and so on. It should be mentioned skipping services for a disrespectful reason and abandoning mandatory rules, prayers, as well as if the prayers were read hastily, without attention and the necessary concentration.

Adherence to various sectarian teachings, thoughts of suicide, turning to sorcerers and sorcerers, wearing mystical talismans is considered apostasy, this must be brought to confession. An example of this category of sins is, of course, approximate, and each person can add or reduce this list.

Sins against the neighbor

This group examines the attitude towards people: relatives, friends, colleagues and just casual acquaintances and strangers. The first thing that most often clearly opens in the heart is the lack of love. Often, instead of love, there is a consumer attitude. Inability and unwillingness to forgive, hatred, malevolence, ill will and revenge, avarice, condemnation, gossip, lies, indifference to someone else's misfortune, mercy and cruelty - all these ugly thorns of the human soul must be confessed. The acts in which there was open self-harm or material damage are indicated separately. It can be fights, extortion, robbery.
The most serious sin is abortion, which will certainly entail church punishment after it is brought to confession. An example of what punishment can be can be obtained from the parish priest. Penalties are usually imposed, but they will be disciplinary rather than expiatory.

Self-directed sins

This group is reserved for personal sins. Despondency, terrible despair and thoughts of one's own hopelessness or excessive pride, contempt, vanity - such passions can poison a person's life and even bring him to suicide.

Thus, listing all the commandments one after another, the shepherd calls for a detailed examination of the state of mind and check whether it corresponds to the essence of the message.

About brevity

Priests are often asked to confess briefly. This does not mean that there is no need to name some sin. We must try to talk specifically about the sin, but not about the circumstances in which it was committed, without involving third parties who may somehow be involved in the situation, and without describing the details in detail. If repentance occurs in the church for the first time, you can sketch an example of confession on paper, then during the conviction of oneself of sins it will be easier to gather, convey to the priest and, most importantly, to God, absolutely everything noticed, without forgetting anything.

It is recommended to pronounce the name of the sin itself: lack of faith, anger, insult or condemnation. This will be enough to convey what worries and weighs heavily on the heart. “Extracting” the exact sins from oneself is not an easy task, but this is how a short confession is created. An example may be the following: “I sinned: pride, despondency, foul language, little faithful fear, excessive idleness, bitterness, lies, ambition, abandonment of services and rules, irritability, temptation, evil and unclean thoughts, excess in food, laziness. I also repent of those sins that I forgot about and did not say now. "

Confession is undoubtedly a difficult task that requires effort and self-denial. But when a person gets used to the heart's purity and neatness of the soul, he can no longer live without repentance and the sacrament of the sacrament. The Christian does not want to lose the acquired connection with the Almighty and will only strive to strengthen it. It is very important to approach spiritual life not in “jerks”, but gravely, carefully, regularly, to be “faithful in small things,” not forgetting about gratitude to God in absolutely all life situations.