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 badly, 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
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 General Confession. Priest Dmitry Smirnov
A general confession was introduced several years ago. Is there a need, and most importantly, a benefit on his deathbed to recall all the previous sins again, adding the new ones?
First, I must say that one must be very careful with the general confession. Usually it is carried out when a person has not been in the church all his life or for decades, or was not a believer at all. Then for a person who for the first time wants to repent, for the first time to approach the Holy Chalice and to partake of the Body and Blood of the Lord, then it is really required to remember everything that was done by the shameless person in his entire past life.
There can only be delicate help from the priest's side. Not so long ago, there was a case when a woman with tears came up with a request for help and said that she was at a general confession. However, the elder himself could not accept the confession, and one of the novices, a young hieromonk, confessed it, at the same time asking such questions that it was simply offensive for her, an elderly woman, to listen to them. As the holy fathers and elders say, there are questions, especially those related to carnal sins, where great delicacy is needed. You have to be extremely careful.
Another woman, whom I have known for many years, she herself lived for a long time in France, said after confessing to such a Russian "elder":
Thank God that I am not a young girl, after such a confession I would have come out depraved: this "confessor" called such abominations that I had never heard of in my life.
Why am I talking about this? Now you can often hear about the general confession. You have to be very careful with whom you can carry out this confession. This person should simply be chaste, because all the time one hears people ask such questions that they turn confession not into cleansing, but into even greater pollution of the soul.
The believing father of a thirteen-year-old girl was simply furious with the questions that she was asked in confession: it was just corruption.
General confession is a very rare occurrence, it is carried out with a person who, perhaps, has never been to church, or, at least, was a very long time ago. You have to be very careful with the person you can approach with this question.
Third, what was asked: if you have already confessed your sins, have already received the prayer of absolution, then you should not do this a second time. In our souls we can and even must remember something and repent, but there is no need to repeat the confessed sins in front of the priest, the witness of your confession. The confession of them before God and the testimony of the priest have already taken place, so there is no need to repeat this again.
I draw your attention: there is Scientology, where a Scientologist, to whom a person comes, begins to delve into all the little things of life. Orthodoxy prohibits this, especially prohibits delving into carnal sins. One word is enough, without any details, it is very important to know. As soon as we see that this kind of proceedings begin, we must immediately move away and go to another. Chastity is necessary in both the confessing and the confessing.
Professor MPDAiS Alexey Ilyich Osipov.
What is the difference between general confession and "ordinary", "everyday"?
In general, we can say that this is a confession for the entire life of a person - from the age at which he began to distinguish good from evil, until the moment when he started this confession. It would seem that a person comes to church, comes to the first confession - and it is then that he must repent of everything that he sinned before coming to the Church. But this, as a rule, does not happen due to various circumstances. First of all, because the overwhelming majority of people come to their first confession completely unprepared. And more often than not, a person does not even confess for the first time, but answers the priest's leading questions: did he sin in this, did he sin in that, did he sin in something else. But even if a person who first came to confession prepared for it, and asked someone how to confess, and even read some books, he most often sees his life rather superficially. He sees and confesses only those sins that burden his soul most obviously and which at the moment are especially troubling to him, and he does not seem to notice other sins. First, because he does not yet have that spiritual vision that allows him to turn to his own soul and find what is intimate in it. Secondly, because sometimes the Lord Himself from a person seems to cover up most of his sins until the time: after all, as some holy fathers said, if the Lord immediately revealed to one of us our sinfulness as it is, then, perhaps we simply could not stand the horror of the spectacle presented to us ...
And so it turns out that the person, perhaps, has already repeatedly confessed, and then suddenly from someone he heard this very phrase - general confession. How to prepare for it and how to go for it?
And here all kinds of doubts, questions, misunderstandings begin. Some people say: “How, after all, we have probably already repented of all our sins, why should we confess them a second time? After all, it turns out that in this there is a certain disbelief in the power and effectiveness of the sacrament of Confession? "
Indeed, we are talking about the fact that if a person once confessed something, then there is no need to confess a second and third time in the same unrepeated sin. You can sometimes see how someone comes and repents over and over again for those sins that took place sometime in distant youth, and at the same time, for some reason, they do not confess those sins that they do right at this time close to confession. ... This is one of the tricks of the enemy: he constantly sends a person back to the past, which can no longer be corrected, and thus withdraws from the present, in which much can and must be changed. But the need for a general confession is due to something completely different. It is necessary to speak on it about previously committed - and including confessed - sins not because of disbelief in the efficacy of the sacrament, but simply because some kind of wholeness is needed: you need to present in aggregate everything in which we have sinned up to this moment. Elder Paisius of Athos generally believed that when a person comes to a new confessor, no matter how many times he has confessed before, he needs to bring this kind of general confession. He explained it something like this: when we come to the doctor, we must bring him the entire history of our illness, so that he knows what and how to treat us, and not wander in the dark.
We often don’t even think about it, because we don’t understand how much the history of our sinful illness is necessary for the priest - just like for the doctor. In addition, it happens that a person, even while regularly confessing, due to some cowardice - sometimes realized, sometimes unconscious - either hides some sins, or does not fully confess or speaks about them indistinctly, trying to name and not name them at the same time. During the general confession, this reticence can and must be overcome. In addition, the graciousness of the experience of general confession is evidenced by the fact that since ancient times it precedes both monastic tonsure and ordination to the priesthood.
During the general confession, sometimes unexpected turns occur - unexpected both for the priest and for the repentant himself; and this is also worth mentioning. It so happens that a Christian who has lifted this work receives a completely amazing gift, namely the gift of seeing his life in its entirety, in all its length. He begins to understand how this life was lived, what was true in it, what was wrong in it. Such a holistic review of one's life leads to equally holistic and definite conclusions, and this greatly helps to come to those decisions that can change and correct the situation in the present. General confession in this sense becomes literally a kind of steering wheel by means of which it is possible to completely unfold a person's life.
It also happens that a person who has come to the general confession and before that asked many questions that led him to a dead end: “Why is this not so in my life? why did it happen? where is the trouble from? Where is the other attack from? ", suddenly after confession, without asking the priest about anything else, he himself says:" I understand where this comes from in my life, but from somewhere else. " And sometimes even he himself very accurately names the reasons for one or another of his life misadventures. And if a person does not sin in the future with inattention and does not lose the laziness of this spiritual vision, the experience of confession in his entire life allows him to see the connection between his actions and what then happens in his life and in subsequent years. And it really helps to live, because torment and bewilderment - why is it good for others and bad for me? - sometimes they take a lot of time and energy from us. And the answer, according to the word of the Monk Ambrose of Optina, is simple: the tree of the cross, which a person carries, grows on the soil of his heart. That is why it is always necessary to examine the heart itself very carefully, to study it, so that later not to be surprised at what suddenly, it would seem, unexpectedly grew out of it.
How do you usually prepare for a general confession? Naturally, this requires some time: as the holy fathers said, while the water in the vessel is in a state of confusion, the mud does not settle. You need to leave this vessel alone, and after a while the water will settle and become transparent, and all the dirt will settle to the bottom, and it will be possible to separate one from the other. The same process should probably take place when preparing for confession in a lifetime: a person needs time to deal with himself. Naturally, if even an ordinary confession sometimes requires from us a pen and a sheet of paper or a notebook in order to write down what we want to repent of, then all the more it is necessary for confession in our entire life. You just can't keep it in your memory. It is imperative to pray that the Lord will help to remember everything that has happened in the life of the bad, and to clothe it in precisely those words in which the sin will be visible and specifically named, and not hidden behind one or another turn of speech. It is really very difficult: to look at ourselves impartially from the outside and admit: "I am a sinner", because in everyday life we imagine ourselves and others as we want to see ourselves, and not as we really are (we are so not we know ourselves that we often do things that are unexpected for ourselves, not so much for those around us). But in order to truly change for the better, you need to open your heart to the very bottom at the general confession, bare your heart to the very bottom, and the courage that a person displays in this spiritual feat of repentance will not leave him, becoming his priceless acquisition and property.
Preparation for a general confession, in my opinion, is the moment when you need to use one of the so-called confession questionnaires at least once in your life, containing a lengthy list of sins and their manifestations. I would not say that these questionnaires are some kind of pleasant, highly artistic reading. They are often quite primitive. But we are not going to enjoy reading them either. This is a kind of plow that needs to plow up your soul and pull to the surface all that black, dirty and worthless that is in it. These questionnaires should not become our companions throughout our church life: they just have to help us one day, and then they can be put aside like crutches. And why are they still needed in this case? Because a modern person has such a distorted idea of the norms of behavior that until he sees a clear indication of what is a sin, he may not even think about it, and if he does, then immediately this unpleasant thought from will drive himself away. At the same time, if we took, for example, once the book "I Confess Sin, Father", in which several hundred questions about whether we have committed this or that sin, we do not need to build our confession as a list of answers to all points. It is sad, but I had to deal with cases when a person brought leaflets to confession indicating the points: 1, 2, 3 ..., and against each point the words: “yes” or “no”. - "What it is?" - you ask and hear: "And it was I who answered the questions from the book ...". Of course, this is a completely wrong attitude to preparing for confession in a lifetime. These questions play only an auxiliary role, and the confession itself should take place in an arbitrary form. Each person speaks differently about the sin that he committed; the most important thing is that everything is said clearly, without concealment, understandable for the priest, so that a feeling of repentance and an unshakable desire not to repeat this sin be born.
Naturally, the process of preparing for confession in a lifetime is a rather painful process, because usually, confessing once every two or three weeks, we experience a certain emotional discomfort when we remember those sins that need to be said. And when we have to remember our whole life, we involuntarily have to return with our souls to things that we don’t want to share with anyone and which we don’t just want to talk about, but don’t even want to remember. These are not necessarily some terrible crimes, they are not necessarily monstrously shameful acts. But each of us has something to be ashamed of in our lives. And it happens that a person, when he begins to stir up all this and write down for the general confession, comes into a difficult state of mind. At the same time, someone is thrown into a fever, then into a cold, someone is crying, someone is discouraged, someone cannot understand what is wrong with him at all. But all this must be done, and it is important not to delay the preparation process for such a confession. It’s good if it fits into a week, no more, because when it takes weeks or months, then, firstly, a person is already getting used to this process and can endlessly supplement and reformulate something, postponing the completion further and further. second, during this period the enemy is especially active. And if a person begins to hesitate and thinks: "Today I won't go and tomorrow I won't go either, but next week I have urgent business, so I'll go in two weeks," then it is quite possible that some then strange things: either the very sins in which he is going to confess will begin to multiply, or there will be troubles at work, or something else will prevent him from going in the end - to the point that he falls and breaks his leg (he had to deal with this ). So if, as it is often said, “something is not letting you in” to confession, you need to be aware of who is actually not letting you in, and you must quickly break free and run, because that means that this is the power. non-letting "over you.
And further. You need to understand that a person cannot repent of all the sins that he has committed in his life. He cannot repent of every sinful deed, in every sinful episode that happened in his life: not a single person will remember all this. And therefore it is impossible to imagine such a state in which we have collected all, all sins, repented of them and became literally completely clean from sin. This cannot be. Therefore, the point is not to list everything as meticulously as possible - sometimes someone understands confession in this way, but to name the most important thing, the most difficult and most embarrassing in concrete bright manifestations and at the same time set oneself the task of changing, becoming others; this striving, coupled with a correct understanding of what and where we should go, is the most important thing.
Having properly prepared for the general confession and with due courage about everything that is remembered, having said the sacrament, a person often feels amazing spiritual freedom - literally, as if some mountain had fallen from his shoulders. This relief comes from the fact that the soul, which was bound by sins, like some kind of downtrodden, unhappy creature, suddenly straightens up and straightens out. Surely many of us had to experience this state of compaction, exhaustion of the soul, and the feeling that it was released. This is what the Gospel says that the Lord comes to release the tortured to freedom(Luke 4:18) - tormented, weary of sin.
Cases of healings are associated with this deliverance from sin, and one such miraculous case was in my priestly experience. At one time in Moscow a man came to my church; it was a Gagauz who lived and worked in Moscow, a baptized man, traditionally referring himself to the Orthodox Church, but in no way had shown his faith before. And he came after he had lost the ability to speak - inexplicably, unexpectedly, he was speechless. Naturally, this could not but scare him and lead him to the place where he guessed the possibility of help. While still a completely inexperienced priest, I then recalled an example from the life of the Monk Barsanuphius of Optina. A boy was brought to him, who could not speak without being dumb from birth. The monk told his mother that the boy had committed some kind of sin that he could not confess in confession, and that his dumbness was connected with this. Then he said something in the boy's ear - the boy got scared, drew back from him, then nodded his head, brought repentance for the very sin that only God knew about, the Monk Barsanuphius, by revelation from the Lord, and the boy himself, and the gift of speech returned to him ... Remembering all this, I advised this man to confess for his entire life. He diligently prepared for confession, wrote everything, brought it to the evening service. He could not read it, because he still didn’t speak, and I read it for him. The next day he came to receive Communion and, having come to Communion, he already spoke. In fact, there are many such cases in the life of the Church.
Concluding the conversation about the general confession, it is worth saying that, in addition to confession for all the years lived, undertaken once, in our life there should be confessions for which we prepare in a certain special way. We understand that there is a certain inertia in our Christian life. Obviously, it is not simply caused by repeated sins and repeated mistakes, but by deeply rooted passions and skills that we simply cannot cope with. And now it is necessary - I first met this advice from one of the Greek elders and remembered it - from time to time to make a kind of general revision of my entire current life, that is, not just prepare for confession during the period during which we they did not start the sacrament of Repentance, but take upon themselves the labor of reconsidering my life as a whole: how I live, what happens to me, why do I make these mistakes, why do I step on the same "rake" that both me and others without the ends are beaten. Such a confession also brings clarity to the soul, since it can be both deeper and more serious than an everyday confession, because again, when we do some things by inertia, in our usual vanity, it turns on more often and imperceptibly for us. self-justification mechanism. You know, sometimes it even happens like this: a person comes to confession and begins to say: "I am a scoundrel, I am a lazy person, such and such," and you understand that this also contains self-justification, because a person wants to say: I am a scoundrel, such and that’s why everything I do is not that scary. Since I am like this, what I create is natural. In a word, self-justification can hide behind the most unexpected external screens, and it is necessary to periodically detect it, bring it out into the open. And a regular review of your current life helps a lot in this.
We are baptized once in a lifetime and are anointed. Ideally, we get married once. The Sacrament of the Priesthood is not all-encompassing; it is performed only on those whom the Lord has judged to be accepted into the clergy. Our participation in the Sacrament of Unction is very small. But the Sacraments of Confession and Communion lead us through all life to eternity, without them the existence of a Christian is unthinkable. We proceed to them over and over again. So sooner or later we still have the opportunity to think: are we preparing for them correctly? And understand: no, most likely not quite. Therefore, it seems to us very important to talk about these Sacraments. In this issue, in a conversation with the editor-in-chief of the magazine, Abbot Nektariy (Morozov), we decided to touch upon (because it is an impossible task to cover everything, too "boundless" topic) confession, and next time - to talk about the Communion of the Holy Mysteries.
- I suppose, more precisely, I guess: nine out of ten who come to confession do not know how ...
- Indeed it is. Even people who regularly go to church do not know how to do many things in it, but the worst of all is with confession. Very rarely does a parishioner confess correctly. You have to learn to confess. Of course, it would be better if an experienced confessor, a man of high spiritual life, spoke about the Sacrament of Confession, about repentance. If I dare to speak about it here, then simply as a confessing person - on the one hand, and on the other - as a priest who quite often has to accept confession. I will try to summarize my observations of my own soul and how others participate in the Sacrament of Repentance. But in no case do I consider my observations sufficient.
- Let's talk about the most common misunderstandings, misconceptions and mistakes. A person goes to confession for the first time; he had heard that before taking communion, one must confess. And that in confession you have to tell your sins. He immediately has a question: for what period to "report"? For your whole life, starting from childhood? But can you tell all this? Or do you not need to retell everything, but you just need to say: "In childhood and youth I showed selfishness many times" or "In my youth I was very proud and vain, and now, in fact, I remain the same?"
- If a person came to confession for the first time, it is quite obvious that he needs to confess for the whole past life. Starting from the age when he could already distinguish good from evil - until the moment when he finally decided to confess.
How can you tell your whole life in a short time? At confession, we do not tell our whole life, but what is a sin. Sins are specific events. However, there is no need to retell every time you have sinned by anger, for example, or by lying. It is necessary to say that you have committed this sin, and to cite some of the brightest, most terrible manifestations of this sin - those from which the soul really hurts. There is another pointer: what do you least want to tell about yourself? This is exactly what should be told in the first place. If you are going to confession for the first time, it is best for you to set yourself the task: to confess your most serious, most painful sins. Then the confession will become more complete, deeper. The first confession cannot be like that - for several reasons: this is a psychological barrier (for the first time to come and with a priest, that is, in front of a witness, telling God about your sins is not easy) and other obstacles. After all, a person does not always understand what sin is. Unfortunately, not even all people living the church life know and understand the Gospel well. And except in the Gospel, the answer to the question of what is sin and what is virtue, perhaps you will not find anywhere else. In the life around us, many sins have become a habitual phenomenon ... But even when reading the Gospel to a person, his sins are not immediately revealed, they are gradually revealed by the grace of God. The Monk Peter Damascene says that the beginning of the health of the soul is the vision of one's own sins, countless, like the sand of the sea. If the Lord immediately revealed to a person his sinfulness in all its horror - not a single person could bear it. That is why the Lord reveals to a person his sins gradually. This can be compared to peeling an onion - first one peeled off, then the second - and finally, we got to the bulb itself. That is why it often happens like this: a person goes to church, regularly confesses, receives communion - and finally realizes the need for the so-called general confession. It rarely happens that a person is ready for it right away.
- What it is? How is a general confession different from an ordinary confession?
- General confession, as a rule, is called a confession for the whole life, and in a sense this is true. But the general confession can be called and not so comprehensive. We repent of our sins week after week, month after month, this is a simple confession. But from time to time you need to arrange for yourself a general confession - a revision of your whole life. Not the one that was lived, but the one that is now. We see that we repeat the same sins, we cannot get rid of them - that is why we need to understand ourselves. Review your whole life as it is now.
- How to relate to the so-called questionnaires for the general confession? They can be seen in church shops.
- If by the general confession we mean precisely the confession for the whole life lived, then here there really is a need for some kind of external benefits. The best manual for confessors is the book by Archimandrite John (Krestyankin) "The Experience of Building Confession", it is about the spirit, the correct attitude of a repentant person, about what exactly one must repent of. There is a book “Sin and Repentance of the Last Times. On the secret ailments of the soul ”by Archimandrite Lazar (Abashidze). Useful excerpts from St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov) - "To help the penitent." As for the questionnaires, yes, there are confessors, there are priests who do not approve of these questionnaires. They say that in them it is possible to deduct such sins that the reader has never heard of, but reads and will be damaged ... But, unfortunately, there are almost no such sins that modern man would not know about. Yes, there are questions that are stupid, rough, there are questions that clearly sin with excessive physiology ... But if you treat the questionnaire as a working tool, like a plow that needs to be plowed all over once, then I think you can use it. In the old days, such questionnaires were called such a wonderful word for the modern ear "renovation". Indeed, with their help, a person renovated himself as an image of God, just as an old, dilapidated and sooty icon is renovated. It is completely unnecessary to think about whether these questionnaires are written in good or bad literary form. One of the serious shortcomings of some questionnaires is this: the compilers include in them what, in essence, is not a sin. Whether you washed your hands with scented soap, for example, or washed them on Sunday ... If you did your washing during the Sunday service, it’s a sin, and if you did it after the service, because there was no other time, I personally don’t see it as a sin.
- Unfortunately, in our church shops you can sometimes buy this ...
- That is why it is necessary to consult a priest before using the questionnaire. I can recommend the book by Priest Alexy Moroz "I Confess Sin, Father" - this is a reasonable and very detailed questionnaire.
- Here it is necessary to clarify: what do we mean by the word "sin"? Most of the confessors, pronouncing this word, mean exactly a sinful act. That is, in essence, a manifestation of sin. For example: "Yesterday I was harsh and cruel with my mother." But this is not a separate, not an accidental episode, it is a manifestation of the sin of dislike, intolerance, unforgiveness, selfishness. This means that it is not necessary to say so, not “yesterday was cruel”, but simply “I am cruel, there is little love in me”. Or how should one speak?
- Sin is a manifestation of passion in practice. We must repent of specific sins. Not in the passions as such, because the passions are always the same, you can write one confession to yourself for your whole life, but in those sins that were committed from confession to confession. Confession is the Sacrament that gives us the opportunity to start a new life. We repented of our sins, and from that moment our life began anew. This is the miracle that is performed in the Sacrament of Confession. That is why one must always repent - in the past tense. It is not necessary to say: “I offend my neighbors”, it is necessary to say: “I have offended my neighbors”. Because I have an intention, having said this, henceforth not to offend people.Each sin in confession should be named so that it is clear what exactly it is. If we repent of idle talk, we do not need to retell all the episodes of our idle talk and repeat all our idle words. But if in some case there was so much idle talk that we tired someone with this or uttered something completely unnecessary, perhaps it is necessary to say about this in confession in a little more detail, more definite. There are, after all, such words from the Gospel: For every idle word that people say, they will give an answer on the day of judgment (Matthew 12, 36). It is also necessary to look at your confession in advance from this point of view - whether there will be idle talk in it.
- And yet about the passions. If I feel irritated at the request of my neighbor, but I do not betray this irritation in any way and I provide him with the necessary help - should I repent of the irritation I experienced as a sin?
- If you, feeling this irritation in yourself, consciously fought with it - this is one situation. If you accepted this irritation of yours, developed it in yourself, reveled in it - this is a different situation. It all depends on the direction of the will of the person. If a person, experiencing a sinful passion, turns to God and says: "Lord, I do not want this and do not wish, help me get rid of it" - there is practically no sin on the person. There is sin - as much as our heart participated in these tempting desires. And how much we allowed him to participate in this.
- Apparently, it is necessary to dwell on the "disease of narration" arising from a certain cowardice during confession. For example, instead of saying “I behaved selfishly,” I begin to tell: “At work ... my colleague says ... and I say in response ...”, etc. I eventually report my sin, but - just like that, framed by the story. This is not even a frame, these stories play, if you look, the role of clothing - we dress in words, in a plot, so as not to feel naked in confession.
- Indeed, it's easier this way. But there is no need to make the task of confession easier for oneself. Confession should not contain unnecessary details. There should not be any other people with their actions. Because when we talk about other people, we often justify ourselves at the expense of these people. We also make excuses due to some of our circumstances. On the other hand, sometimes the measure of the sin depends on the circumstances of the sin. To beat a person out of drunken anger is one thing, to stop a criminal while protecting a victim is quite another. To refuse to help a neighbor because of laziness and selfishness is one thing, to refuse because the temperature that day was forty is another. If a person who knows how to confess confesses in detail, it is easier for the priest to see what is happening to this person and why. Thus, the circumstances of the sin should be communicated only if, without these circumstances, the sin you committed cannot be understood. This is also learned from experience.
Excessive narration in confession may have another reason: a person's need for participation, for emotional help and warmth. Here, perhaps, a conversation with a priest is appropriate, but it should be at a different time, certainly not at the moment of confession. Confession is a Sacrament, not a conversation.
- Priest Alexander Yelchaninov in one of his notes thanks God for helping him to experience confession as a catastrophe every time. What should we do to ensure that our confession, at least, is not dry, cold, formal?
- We must remember that the confession we make in the temple is the tip of the iceberg. If this confession is everything, and everything is limited to it, we can say that we have nothing. There was really no confession. There is only the grace of God, which, despite our folly and folly, still acts. We have an intention to repent, but it is formal, dry and lifeless. It's like that fig tree, which if it bears any fruit, then with great difficulty.Our confession is performed at another time and is being prepared at another time. When we, knowing that tomorrow we will go to church, will confess, sit down and sort out our lives. When I think: why did I condemn people so many times during this time? But because, judging them, I myself look better in my own eyes. I, instead of dealing with my own sins, condemn others and justify myself. Or I find some pleasure in condemnation. When I realize that as long as I condemn others, I will not have the grace of God. And when I say: "Lord, help me, otherwise - how much will I kill my soul with this?" After that I will come to confession and say: "I condemned people without number, I was exalted over them, I found sweetness for myself in this." My repentance is not only that I said it, but that I decided not to do it again. When a person repents in this way, he receives a very great grace-filled consolation from confession and confesses in a completely different way. Repentance is a change in a person. If there was no change, confession remained to a certain extent a formality. "Fulfillment of Christian duty", as it was for some reason it was customary to express it before the revolution.
There are examples of saints who brought repentance to God in their hearts, changed their lives, and the Lord accepted this repentance, although there was no epitracheli over them, and the prayer for the remission of sins was not read. But there was repentance! But with us it is different - both the prayer was read, and the person received communion, but repentance as such did not happen, there is no break in the chain of sinful life.
There are people who come to confession and, having already stood in front of the analogue with the cross and the Gospel, begin to remember what they sinned. This is always sheer torment - for the priest, and for those who are waiting for their turn, and for the person himself, of course. How to prepare for confession? First, an attentive, sober life. Secondly, there is a good rule, which you cannot think of to replace: every day in the evening to devote five to ten minutes not even thinking about what happened during the day, but repentance before God for what a person considers himself to be a sinner. Sit down and mentally go through the day - from morning hours to evening. And to realize every sin for yourself. Big or small sin - it must be understood, felt and, as Anthony the Great says, put between oneself and God. See it as an obstacle between yourself and the Creator. Feel this terrible metaphysical essence of sin. And ask God for forgiveness for every sin. And put in your heart the desire to leave these sins in the past. It is advisable to write down these sins in some kind of notebook. It helps to set a limit for sin. We did not write down this sin, we did not do such a purely mechanical action, and it "passed" the next day. And then it will be easier to prepare for confession. It is not necessary to recall everything “all of a sudden”.
- Some parishioners prefer confession in this form: "I have sinned against such and such a commandment." It is convenient: “I have sinned against the seventh” - and there is no need to tell anything else.
- I think this is completely unacceptable. Any formalization of spiritual life kills this life. Sin is the pain of the human soul. If this pain is not there, then there is no repentance. The Monk John Climacus says that the pain that we feel when we repent of them testifies to the forgiveness of our sins. If we are not in pain, we have every reason to doubt that our sins are forgiven. And the Monk Barsanuphius the Great, answering the questions of various people, repeatedly said that a sign of forgiveness is a loss of sympathy for previously committed sins. This is the change that must happen to a person, an inner turn.
- Another widespread opinion: why would I repent if I know that I will not change anyway - this will be hypocrisy and hypocrisy on my part.
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And here is a situation known to me personally: a girl regularly came to one of the Moscow churches and confessed that she earns her living by the most ancient, as they say, profession. Nobody allowed her to take Communion, of course, but she continued to walk, prayed, tried to somehow participate in the life of the parish. I don't know if she managed to leave this craft, but I know for sure that the Lord keeps her and does not leave, waiting for the necessary change.
It is very important to believe in the forgiveness of sins, in the power of the Sacrament. Those who do not believe complain that after confession there is no relief, that they leave the temple with a heavy soul. This is from lack of faith, even from disbelief in forgiveness. Faith should give a person joy, and if there is no faith, there is no need to hope for some kind of emotional experience and emotions.
- Sometimes it happens that some old (as a rule) of our act causes in us a reaction that is more humorous than repentant, and it seems to us that talking about this act in confession is excessive zeal, bordering on hypocrisy or coquetry. Example: I suddenly remember that sometime in my youth I stole a book from the library of a holiday home. I think I need to say this in confession: whatever one may say, the eighth commandment has been violated. And immediately it becomes funny itself ...
- I would not take it so lightly. There are actions that cannot even be done formally, because they destroy us - not even as people of faith, but simply as people of conscience. There are certain barriers that we must set ourselves up. These saints could have spiritual freedom, which allows them to do things that are formally condemned, but they did them only when these actions were for the good.
- Is it true that you do not need to repent of sins committed before Baptism if you were baptized in adulthood?
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- We talked a lot here about how to prepare for confession, but what should we read or, as they say, read on the eve of the house, what prayers? In prayer, there is a Follow-up to Holy Communion. Do I need to read it in its entirety and is that enough? In addition, the Sacrament may not follow the confession. What to read before confession?
- It is very good if a person reads the Penitential Canon to the Savior before confession. There is also a very good Penitential Canon of the Mother of God. It can be just a prayer with a repentant feeling "God, be merciful to me, a sinner." And it is very important, remembering every perfect sin, bringing to the heart the consciousness of its ruinousness for us, from the heart, in your own words, ask God for forgiveness for it, just standing in front of the icons or making obeisances. To come to what the Monk Nikodim Svyatorets calls the feeling of being "guilty". That is, to feel: I am perishing, and I am aware of this, and do not justify myself. I recognize myself as worthy of this death. But with this I go to God, surrender myself before His love and hope for His mercy, believing in it.
Abbot Nikon (Vorobyov) has a wonderful letter to a certain woman, already not young, who, due to age and illness, had to prepare for the transition to Eternity. He writes to her: “Remember all your sins and in everyone - even the one that you have confessed - repent before God until you feel that the Lord forgives you. It is not delight to feel that the Lord forgives, this is what the holy fathers called joyful crying - repentance that brings joy. " This is the most necessary thing - to feel peace with God.
Interviewed by Marina Biryukova
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Each of us has a moment in life when we want to lighten our soul and pour it out to someone. I don’t want to burden my relatives with my problems, and I don’t want to trust strangers with my secrets. To whom, then, to open? Every believer knows what confession is. During it, you can reveal all your secrets to the Lord and they will not be known to anyone.
What sins to speak in confession and how to call them
Anyone who decides to go to confession for the first time thinks about how to behave correctly? What is the correct name for sins in confession? It happens that people come to confession and tell in detail about all their life's vicissitudes. This is not considered a confession. Confession includes such a concept as repentance. This is not at all a story about your life, and even with a desire to justify your sins.
Since some people simply do not know how to confess in another way, the priest will accept this version of confession as well. But it will be more correct if you try to understand the situation and admit all your mistakes.
Many write their sins to confession with a list. In it, they try to list everything in detail and tell about everything. But there is another type of people who list their sins only in separate words. It is necessary to describe your sins not in general words about the passion that rages in you, but about its manifestation in your life.
Remember, confession should not be a detailed account of the incident, but should be a repentance for certain sins. But you should not be particularly dry in describing these sins, unsubscribing with only one word.
What is the name of sins in confession?
Often people try to find the exact name for their sin. Remember that sins must be called those words that exist in modern language. It will be better if you repent with your natural words from a pure heart, and not by rote from books. You must understand what you are talking about.
Everyone knows that there are 8 passions. And if you have violated the commandments in relation to these passions, then it is imperative to repent of this.
An example of sins in confession:
Useful articles:
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- fornication
- love of money
- stomach eating
- sadness
- pride
- vanity
- despondency
It is necessary to repent in each of them in different ways. There are some sins that you do not need to talk about in detail, but you need to clearly make the priest understand the extent of your sin. But in the case of the sins of vanity, pride, theft, you need to remember such cases and, if necessary, remind yourself of such cases.
What to do before coming to confession
- Realize your sins. First of all, you must realize your own sins. What is sin? This is an act that is contrary to God's will. Most often, a summary of the will of the Lord regarding people can be found in the famous Ten Commandments.
- Do not use the “list of sins”. Many churchgoers say that the use of such lists during confession turns it into a formal listing of their transgressions. But if you are still afraid of missing something during the sacrament, then it is better to make yourself a little reminder.
A believer needs to know how to correctly write sins for confession. To do this, you can use the following hint:
- Sins that have been committed against the Lord God (nominal faith, disbelief in God, superstition, turning to various paths, creating "idols").
- Sins against oneself and one's neighbor (condemnation and discussion of the shortcomings of loved ones, neglect of people, abortion, various kinds of prodigal sins, cowardice, neglect of raising children, all kinds of untruths, appropriation of other people's property, drunkenness and other addictions, laziness, envy, neglect of one's own health , greed, unwillingness to change your life, desire for a "beautiful life", indifference to other people)
- Talk only about sins and your own
- Do not invent a special church language
- Talk about serious things, not trivia
- Try to change your life before confession
- Try to live peacefully with everyone
First, before confession, it is advisable to find out when it is carried out. It happens that there are a lot of people willing. Then it would be better to contact the priest personally and ask him to appoint you a separate time. It may be that during your confession the priest may prescribe a penance for you.
This is not a punishment, it is just a method to completely eradicate sin and be forgiven for it. It has its own expiration date. Basically, after confession, communion takes place. That is why it is recommended to combine preparation for repentance with preparation for the sacrament.
List of sins for confession for women
The special list of sins for women is not very different from the list of men, but there are still certain differences. For example: performing an abortion. This is considered a grave sin, even if it was done for medical reasons.
It is believed that the problems of an unborn child can arise from diseases that are sexually transmitted. This means that the relationship may not be clean and not permanent. It is for this sin that one must ask for forgiveness and repent of it. It is also necessary to repent of someone who could advise or push a woman to take such a step.
The complete list of sins for confession for women consists of 473 items.
1. She violated the rules of good conduct for those praying in the holy temple.
2. Had dissatisfaction with her life and with people.
3. She performed prayers without zeal and low bow to icons, prayed lying down, sitting (unnecessarily, out of laziness).
4. Seeking glory and praise in virtues and labors.
5. I was not always content with what I had: I wanted to have beautiful, varied clothes, furniture, delicious food.
6. She was vexed and offended when she received a refusal in her desires.
7. She did not abstain with her husband during pregnancy, on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, on fasting, in uncleanness she agreed with her husband.
8. She sinned with disgust.
9. After committing a sin, she did not repent immediately, but kept it to herself for a long time.
10. She sinned with idle talk, indifference. I remembered the words spoken by others against me, sang shameless worldly songs.
11. Grumbled about the bad road, the length and weariness of the service.
12. I used to save money for a rainy day, as well as for a funeral.
13. Was angry with her loved ones, scolded children. She did not tolerate comments, just reproaches from people, she immediately fought back.
14. She sinned with vanity, begged for praise, saying “you cannot praise yourself, no one will praise”.
15. She remembered the deceased with alcohol, on the fast day the memorial table was modest.
16. Didn't have a firm resolve to give up sin.
17. She doubted the honesty of her neighbors.
18. I missed opportunities to do good.
19. She suffered from pride, did not condemn herself, was not always the first to ask for forgiveness.
20. Allowed spoilage of food.
21. Not always reverently kept the shrine (artos, water, prosphora deteriorated).
22. I sinned for the purpose of "repenting."
23. She objected, justifying herself, was irritated at the incomprehension, stupidity and ignorance of others, reprimanded and reprimanded, contradicted, disclosed sins and weaknesses.
24. Ascribed to others sins and weaknesses.
25. She succumbed to rage: she scolded loved ones, insulted her husband and children.
26. Made others angry, irritable, indignant.
27. I sinned by condemning my neighbor, ink his good name.
28. Sometimes she was discouraged, carried her cross with a murmur.
29. Intervened in other people's conversations, interrupted the speaker's speech.
30. She sinned by being contentious, comparing herself to others, complaining and getting angry at the offenders.
31. She thanked people, did not look out grateful to God.
32. She fell asleep with sinful thoughts and dreams.
33. I noticed the bad words and actions of people.
34. I drank and ate food that was harmful to health.
35. She was embarrassed in spirit from slander, considered herself better than others.
36. She sinned by indulgence and indulgence of sins, self-righteousness, self-indulgence, disrespect for old age, untimely eating, intransigence, inattention to requests.
37. I missed the opportunity to sow the word of God, to bring benefit.
38. She sinned with gluttony, guttural delusion: she loved to eat too much, savor tidbits, was amused by drunkenness.
39. Distracted from prayer, distracted others, emitted bad air in the church, went out on demand, without saying so in confession, hastily prepared herself for confession.
40. She sinned with laziness, idleness, exploited other people's labor, speculated in things, sold icons, did not go to church on Sundays and holidays, was lazy to pray.
41. She was bitter towards the poor, did not accept strangers, did not give to the poor, did not dress naked.
42. I hoped for a man, more than God.
43. Was drunk at a party.
44. Didn't send gifts to those who offended me.
45. Grieved at a loss.
46. I fell asleep unnecessarily during the day.
47. Was burdened with regrets.
48. She did not protect herself from colds, did not receive treatment from doctors.
49. I deceived in the word.
50. Exploited someone else's labor.
51. Was discouraged in sorrow.
52. She was a hypocrite, pleasing to people.
53. She wanted evil, was faint-hearted.
54. Was inventive for evil.
55. She was rude, not condescending to others.
56. I did not force myself to do good deeds, to prayer.
57. Angrily criticized the authorities at the rallies.
58. Shortened prayers, skipped, rearranged words.
59. She envied others, wished herself honor.
60. She sinned with pride, vanity, pride.
61. I looked at dances, dances, at various games and shows.
62. She sinned by idle ranting, secret eating, petrification, insensibility, neglect, disobedience, intemperance, avarice, condemnation, avarice, reproach.
63. Spent the holidays in drunkenness and earthly amusements.
64. She sinned by sight, hearing, taste, smell, touch, inaccurate observance of fasts, unworthy communion of the Body and Blood of the Lord.
65. Was drunk, laughed at someone else's sin.
66. She sinned with lack of faith, unfaithfulness, treason, treachery, lawlessness, groaning for sin, doubt, freethinking.
67. She was inconsistent in good deeds, did not care for the reading of the Holy Gospel.
68. She made up excuses for her sins.
69. She sinned by disobedience, self-righteousness, unfriendliness, malice, disobedience, insolence, contempt, ingratitude, severity, sneakiness, oppression.
70. Not always conscientiously fulfilled her official duties, was careless in business and hastily.
71. She believed in signs and various superstitions.
72. Was an instigator to evil.
73. Went to weddings without church weddings.
74. She sinned with spiritual insensibility: relying on herself, on magic, on fortune-telling.
75. I did not observe these vows.
76. She hid her sins in confession.
77. I tried to find out other people's secrets, read other people's letters, eavesdrop on telephone conversations.
78. In great grief, she wished herself to die.
79. Wore indiscreet clothes.
80. Talked during the meal.
81. Saw and ate what was said, water “charged” by Chumak.
82. Worked through strength.
83. I forgot about my Guardian Angel.
84. I sinned by laziness to pray for neighbors, did not always pray when asked about it.
85. I was ashamed to cross myself among unbelievers, took off the cross, going to the bathhouse and to see a doctor.
86. She did not observe the vows given at Holy Baptism, did not preserve the purity of her soul.
87. Noticed the sins and weaknesses of others, disclosed and reinterpreted them for the worse. She swore by her head, by her life. She called people “devil”, “satan”, “demon”.
88. She called the dumb beast by the names of the holy saints: Vaska, Masha.
89. She did not always pray before eating food, sometimes she had breakfast in the morning before the service.
90. Being previously an unbeliever, she tempted her neighbors into unbelief.
91. She set a bad example with her life.
92. I was too lazy to work, shifting my work onto the shoulders of others.
93. I did not always treat the word of God with care: I drank tea and read the Holy Gospel (which is reverence).
94. Took Epiphany water after eating (unnecessarily).
95. I would pick lilacs at the cemetery and bring them home.
96. I did not always keep the sacrament days, forgot to read the thanksgiving prayers. I overeat these days, slept a lot.
97. She sinned with idleness, late arrival in the temple and early departure from it, rare going to the temple.
98. Neglected the dirty work in extreme need of it.
99. She sinned with indifference, kept silent at someone's blasphemy.
100. She didn’t exactly observe fasting days, during fasting she was satiated with lean food, tempted others by gorging herself on something tasty and inaccurate according to the statute: hot loaf, vegetable oil, seasoning.
101. I was fond of noguyu, relaxation, carelessness, trying on clothes and jewelry.
102. She reproached the priests, officials, spoke about their shortcomings.
103. Gave advice on abortion.
104. Disrupted someone else's sleep through negligence and insolence.
105. I read love letters, copied, memorized passionate poems, listened to music, songs, watched shameless movies.
106. She sinned with immodest looks, looked at someone else's nakedness, wore immodest clothes.
107. She was tempted in a dream and remembered passionately about it.
108. I suspected in vain (slandered in my heart).
109. She retold empty, superstitious fairy tales and fables, praised herself, did not always endure revealing truths and offenders.
110. Showed curiosity to other people's letters and papers.
111. Idly inquired about the weaknesses of her neighbor.
112. Has not freed herself from the passion to tell or ask about the news.
113. I read prayers and akathists copied with mistakes.
114. She considered herself better and more worthy than others.
115. I do not always light oil lamps and candles in front of icons.
116. She broke the secret of her own and someone else's confession.
117. Participated in bad deeds, persuaded to do bad deeds.
118. She was stubborn against good, did not listen to good advice. Showed off beautiful clothes.
119. I wanted everything to be my way, I was looking for the culprits of my sorrows.
120. After completing the prayer, she had evil thoughts.
121. She spent money on music, movies, circus, sinful books and other amusements, lent money for a deliberately bad deed.
122. She conceived in thoughts, from the enemy of those brought on, against the holy faith and the Holy Church.
123. I disturbed the peace of mind of the sick, looked at them as sinners, and not as a test of their faith and virtue.
124. Yielded to falsehood.
125. She ate and went to bed without praying.
126. She ate before mass on Sundays and holidays.
127. She spoiled the water when she swam in the river from which they drink.
128. She talked about her exploits, labors, boasted about her virtues.
129. I used fragrant soap, cream, powder with pleasure, dyed my eyebrows, nails and eyelashes.
130. She sinned with the hope “God will forgive”.
131. She relied on her own strengths, abilities, and not on the help and mercy of God.
132. She worked on holidays and weekends, from work these days she did not give money to the poor and the poor.
133. Visited a healer, went to a fortune-teller, was treated with "biocurrents", sat at sessions of psychics.
134. Sowed enmity and discord between people, she herself offended others.
135. I sold vodka and moonshine, speculated, drove moonshine (I was present) and took part.
136. I suffered from gluttony, even got up to eat and drink at night.
137. She drew a cross on the ground.
138. I read atheistic books, magazines, “treatises on love”, looked at pornographic pictures, maps, half-naked images.
139. Distorted the Holy Scriptures (mistakes in reading, singing).
140. Exalted with pride, sought primacy and headship.
141. In anger, she mentioned evil spirits, summoned a demon.
142. Was engaged in dancing and playing on holidays and Sundays.
143. In uncleanness she entered the temple, ate prosphora, antidor.
144. In anger she scolded and cursed those who offended me: so that there is no bottom, no cover, etc.
145. I spent money on entertainment (rides, carousels, all sorts of spectacles).
146. She took offense at the spiritual father, grumbled at him.
147. I disdained kissing icons, caring for sick, old people.
148. She teased the deaf and dumb, the weak-minded, minors, angered animals, paid evil for evil.
149. She tempted people, wore transparent clothes, mini-skirts.
150. She was baptized, baptized, saying: “I will fail in this place,” etc.
151. Retelling unsightly stories (sinful in their essence) from the lives of her parents and neighbors.
152. She had a spirit of jealousy for her friend, sister, brother, friend.
153. She sinned with contentiousness, self-will, lamenting that there was no health, strength, strength in the body.
154. I envied rich people, the beauty of people, their intelligence, education, security, benevolence.
155. She did not keep her prayers and good deeds in secret, she did not keep church secrets.
156. She justified her sins with illness, weakness, bodily weakness.
157. She condemned other people's sins and shortcomings, compared people, gave them characteristics, judged them.
158. She revealed other people's sins, mocked them, ridiculed people.
159. Deliberately deceived, told a lie.
160. Hastily read the holy books, when the mind and heart did not assimilate the read.
161. She abandoned prayer because of fatigue, justifying herself by weakness.
162. Rarely cried that I live unrighteously, forgot about humility, self-reproach, salvation and the Last Judgment.
163. In my life I did not surrender myself to the will of God.
164. She ruined her spiritual home, mocked people, discussed the fall of others.
165. Itself was the instrument of the devil.
166. She did not always cut off her will before the elder.
167. I spent a lot of time on empty letters, and not on spiritual ones.
168. She did not have a sense of the fear of God.
169. She was angry, shook her fist, cursed.
170. I read more than I prayed.
171. Yielded to an agreement, the temptation to sin.
172. Powerfully ordered.
173. She rebuilt others, forced others to swear.
174. She turned her face away from those who asked.
175. She disturbed the peace of mind of her neighbor, had a sinful mood of spirit.
176. She did good without thinking about God.
177. Vaunted place, rank, position.
178. On the bus I did not give way to elders, passengers with children.
179. When buying, I bargained, fell into contempt.
180. I did not always accept the words of the elders and confessors with faith.
181. She looked with curiosity, asked about worldly things.
182. Undead flesh with shower, bath, bath.
183. Traveled aimlessly, for the sake of boredom.
184. When the visitors left, I didn’t try to free ourselves from sinfulness by prayer, but stayed in it.
185. She allowed herself privileges in prayer, delights in worldly pleasures.
186. She pleased others for the pleasing of the flesh and the enemy, and not for the benefit of the spirit and salvation.
187. She sinned by an unworthy attachment to friends.
188. She was proud of herself when doing a good deed. She did not humiliate herself, did not reproach herself.
189. She did not always feel sorry for sinful people, but scolded and reproached them.
190. She was dissatisfied with her life, scolded her and said: "When only death will take me."
191. There were cases when she intrusively called, knocked loudly to open it.
192. When reading, I did not ponder over the Holy Scriptures.
193. She did not always have hospitality to visitors and the memory of God.
194. She did things out of passion and worked unnecessarily.
195. Was often kindled with empty dreams.
196. She sinned with malice, was not silent in anger, did not move away from arousing anger.
197. In illness, she often used food not for satisfaction, but for pleasure and enjoyment.
198. Coldly received mentally helpful visitors.
199. I grieved at the one who offended me. And they grieved for me when I hurt.
200. During prayer, I did not always have feelings of repentance, humble thoughts.
201. She insulted her husband who avoided intimacy on the wrong day.
202. In anger she encroached on the life of her neighbor.
203. I have sinned and I am sinning fornication: I was with my husband, not to conceive children, but out of lust. In the absence of her husband, she defiled herself with masturbation.
204. At work I experienced persecution for the truth and grieved about it.
205. Laughed at the mistakes of others and made remarks aloud.
206. Wore women's whims: beautiful umbrellas, fluffy clothes, other people's hair (wigs, hairpieces, braids).
207. She was afraid of suffering, reluctantly endured it.
208. She often opened her mouth to show off her gold teeth, wore gold-framed glasses, an abundance of rings and gold jewelry.
209. I asked for advice from people who do not have a spiritual mind.
210. Before reading the word of God, the grace of the Holy Spirit did not always invoke, she was concerned about just reading more.
211. Transferred the gift of God to the womb, voluptuousness, idleness and sleep. She didn’t work with talent.
212. I was lazy to write and rewrite spiritual instructions.
213. She dyed her hair and rejuvenated, visited beauty salons.
214. Giving alms, she did not combine it with the correction of her heart.
215. She did not shy away from flatterers, and did not stop them.
216. I had a fondness for clothes: care was not to get dirty, not dusty, not soaked.
217. She did not always wish salvation for her enemies and did not care about it.
218. At prayer I was “a slave to necessity and duty”.
219. After the fast, she leaned on fast food, ate until the stomach was heavy and often without time.
220. Rarely did she pray in the night prayer. She sniffed tobacco and dabbled in smoking.
221. She did not avoid spiritual temptations. Had mind-blowing dates. I was discouraged.
222. On the way I forgot about prayer.
223. Intervened with instructions.
224. She did not sympathize with the sick and the grieving.
225. Didn't always lend.
226. I was afraid of sorcerers more than God.
227. She pitied herself for the good of others.
228. Dirty and spoiled the sacred books.
229. I talked before morning and after evening prayers.
230. She brought the guests glasses against their will, treated them beyond measure.
231. She did the works of God without love and zeal.
232. I often did not see my sins, rarely condemned myself.
233. She was amused by her face, looking in the mirror, making grimaces.
234. She spoke about God without humility and caution.
235. Was burdened by the service, awaiting the end, hurrying to the exit as soon as possible to calm down and take up the affairs of everyday life.
236. Rarely did self-tests, in the evening I did not read the prayer "I confess to you ..."
237. Rarely did I think about what I heard in the temple and read in the Scriptures.
238. In an evil person I did not look for traits of kindness and did not speak about his good deeds.
239. She often did not see her sins and rarely condemned herself.
240. Took contraception. She demanded protection from her husband, interruption of the act.
241. Praying for health and peace, I often went over the names without the participation and love of the heart.
242. She uttered everything when it would be better to remain silent.
243. In conversation I used artistic techniques. She spoke in an unnatural voice.
244. She was offended by inattention and disdain for herself, was inattentive to others.
245. She did not abstain from excesses and pleasures.
246. Wore someone else's clothes without permission, spoiled other people's things. In the room she blew her nose on the floor.
247. I was looking for benefit and profit for myself, and not for her neighbor.
248. Forced a person to sin: lie, steal, peep.
249. Report and retell.
250. I found pleasure in sinful dating.
251. She visited places of wickedness, depravity and ungodliness.
252. She substituted her ear to hear the bad.
253. She attributed successes to herself, and not to God's help.
254. Studying the spiritual life, I did not fulfill it in practice.
255. I needlessly disturbed people, did not calm the angry and saddened.
256. She often washed clothes, wasted time unnecessarily.
257. Sometimes she fell into danger: she ran across the road in front of the transport, crossed the river on thin ice, etc.
258. She rose above others, showing her superiority and wisdom of mind. She allowed herself to humiliate the other, mocking the shortcomings of soul and body.
259. I put off the works of God, mercy and prayer for later.
260. She did not mourn herself when she did a bad deed. I listened with pleasure to slanderous speeches, blasphemed life and the treatment of others.
261. She did not use surplus income for spiritual purposes.
262. I did not save from the days of fasting to give to the sick, the needy and children.
263. She worked reluctantly, with a murmur and vexation because of the small pay.
264. Was the cause of sin in family strife.
265. I endured sorrows without gratitude and self-reproach.
266. I did not always retire to be alone with God.
267. I lay and basked in bed for a long time, did not immediately get up for prayer.
268. She lost her composure while defending the offended, kept hostility and evil in her heart.
269. Didn't stop the gossip speaker. Itself often passed on to others and with an increment from itself.
270. Before morning prayer and during the prayer rule, I did household chores.
271. She automatically presented her thoughts as the true rule of life.
272. I ate stolen goods.
273. She did not confess the Lord with her mind, heart, word, deed. She had an alliance with the wicked.
274. At the meal I was too lazy to treat and serve others.
275. She grieved about the deceased, about the fact that she herself was sick.
276. I was glad that the holiday had come and there was no need to work.
277. I drank wine on holidays. She loved going to dinner parties. I was fed up there.
278. She listened to the teachers when they spoke of the soul-harmful, against God.
279. She used perfume, burned Indian incense.
280. Was engaged in lesbianism, with sensuality touched someone else's body. With lust and lust she watched the mating of animals.
281. She took extra care of the nutrition of the body. She accepted gifts or alms at a time when it was not necessary to accept it.
282. I didn’t try to stay away from a person who likes to chat.
283. She was not baptized, did not read prayers when the church bell was ringing.
284. Being under the guidance of a spiritual father, she did everything according to her own will.
285. She was exposed when bathing, sunbathing, exercising, and in case of illness she was shown to a male doctor.
286. Not always with repentance she recalled and calculated her violations of the Law of God.
287. While reading prayers and canons, I was lazy to bow down.
288. Hearing that the person was sick, she did not rush to help.
289. With thought and word she exalted herself in the good she had done.
290. She believed in slander. She did not punish herself for her sins.
291. While serving in church, I read my home rule or wrote a commemoration.
292. She did not abstain from her favorite foods (albeit lean ones).
293. She punished and lectured children unfairly.
294. I had no daily memory of God's Judgment, death, the Kingdom of God.
295. In times of sorrow, I did not occupy the mind and heart with the prayer of Christ.
296. I did not compel myself to prayer, to read the Word of God, to weep for her sins.
297. Rarely did she commemorate the dead, did not pray for the dead.
298. With an unconfessed sin she approached the Chalice.
299. In the morning I was engaged in gymnastics, and did not devote my first thought to God.
300. When praying, I was too lazy to cross myself, analyzed my bad thoughts, did not think about what awaited me behind the grave.
301. I hurried to prayer, out of laziness shortened it and read it without due attention.
302. She told her neighbors and acquaintances about her grievances. Visited places where bad examples were set.
303. She admonished a person without meekness and love. I was irritated when correcting my neighbor.
304. I did not always light an icon lamp on holidays and Sundays.
305. On Sundays I did not go to church, but for mushrooms, berries ...
306. Had more savings than necessary.
307. Spared strength and health in order to serve her neighbor.
308. She reproached her neighbor for what had happened.
309. Walking on the way to the temple, I did not always read prayers.
310. She cheated when condemning a person.
311. She was jealous of her husband, remembered her rival with malice, wished her death, used a healer's slander to put her to death.
312. She was demanding and disrespectful to people. She took over in conversations with neighbors. On the way to the temple she overtook those older than me, did not wait for those who lagged behind me.
313. She turned her abilities to earthly blessings.
314. She was jealous of her spiritual father.
315. I tried to be always right.
316. She asked unnecessary things.
317. Wept about the temporary.
318. She interpreted dreams and took them seriously.
319. She boasted about her sin, done by evil.
320. After communion, she was not guarded from sin.
321. She kept atheistic books and playing cards in the house.
322. She gave advice, not knowing whether they were pleasing to God, she was careless in the affairs of God.
323. She accepted without reverence the prosphora, holy water (she spilled holy water, sprinkled crumbs of prosphora).
324. She went to bed and got up without prayer.
325. She pampered her children, not paying attention to their evil deeds.
326. During the post she was engaged in guttural abuse, loved to drink strong tea, coffee, and other drinks.
327. I took tickets, food from the back door, went on the bus without a ticket.
328. She put prayer and church above serving her neighbor.
329. She endured sorrows with despondency and murmuring.
330. Irritated with fatigue and illness.
331. Had free treatment of persons of the opposite sex.
332. When she remembered worldly affairs, she threw up a prayer.
333. Forced to eat and drink the sick and children.
334. She was contemptuous of wicked people, did not seek their conversion.
335. She knew and gave money for a bad deed.
336. I entered the house without an invitation, peeped through the crack, through the window, into the keyhole, eavesdropped at the door.
337. She entrusted secrets to strangers.
338. Ate food without need and hunger.
339. I read prayers with mistakes, got confused, missed, incorrectly put emphasis.
340. She lived lustfully with her husband. She tolerated perversions and carnal pleasures.
341. She lent and asked for debts back.
342. She tried to learn more about divine objects than was revealed by God.
343. She sinned with her body movement, gait, gesture.
344. She set herself as an example, boasted, boasted.
345. She spoke passionately about the earthly, delighted in the memory of sin.
346. I went to the temple and back with empty talk.
347. I insured my life and property, I wanted to cash in on the insurance.
348. Was greedy for pleasure, unchaste.
349. She conveyed her conversations with the elder and her temptations to others.
350. Was a donor not out of love for neighbor, but for the sake of booze, free days, for money.
351. Boldly and willfully plunged herself into sorrows and temptations.
352. I missed, dreamed of travel and entertainment.
353. Made the wrong decisions in anger.
354. I was distracted by thought during prayer.
355. Traveled south for carnal entertainment.
356. I used the time of prayer for everyday affairs.
357. She twisted words, perverted the thoughts of others, expressed her displeasure aloud.
358. I was ashamed to confess to my neighbors that I was a believer, and I visit the temple of God.
359. She was naughty, demanded justice in higher instances, wrote complaints.
360. She denounced those who did not attend the temple and did not repent.
361. I bought lottery tickets with the hope of getting rich.
362. She gave alms and rudely slandered the beggar.
363. I listened to the advice of egoists, who themselves were slaves of their womb and fleshly passions.
364. She was engaged in self-aggrandizement, proudly awaiting greetings from her neighbor.
365. I was burdened by fasting and looked forward to the end of it.
366. She did not bear the stench from people without disgust.
367. In anger she denounced people, forgetting that we are all sinners.
368. She went to bed, did not remember the deeds of the day and did not shed tears for her sins.
369. She did not keep the Rite of the Church and the tradition of the holy fathers.
370. She paid for help in the household with vodka, tempted people with drunkenness.
371. In fasting she made tricks in food.
372. Distracted from prayer when bitten by a mosquito, fly and other insects.
373. At the sight of human ingratitude, she refrained from doing good deeds.
374. Shied away from dirty work: cleaning the toilet, picking up garbage.
375. During the period of breastfeeding, she did not abstain from marriage.
376. In the church she stood with her back to the altar and holy icons.
377. She cooked sophisticated food, tempted with guttural insanity.
378. I read entertaining books with pleasure, not the Scriptures of the Holy Fathers.
379. I watched TV, spent all day at the “box”, and not in prayers in front of icons.
380. I listened to passionate worldly music.
381. She sought consolation in friendship, yearned for carnal pleasures, loved to kiss on the lips with men and women.
382. Was engaged in extortion and deception, judged and discussed people.
383. In fasting I felt disgust from monotonous, lean food.
384. The Word of God spoke to unworthy people (not “to throw pearls in front of pigs”).
385. She kept holy icons in neglect, did not wipe them from dust in time.
386. I was lazy to write congratulations on church holidays.
387. She spent time in worldly games and entertainments: checkers, backgammon, loto, cards, chess, rolling pins, ryukhi, Rubik's cube and others.
388. She spoke of illnesses, gave advice to visit sorcerers, gave addresses of sorcerers.
389. She believed in signs and incantations: she spat over her left shoulder, a black cat ran, a spoon, a fork fell, etc.
390. She sharply answered the angry one to his anger.
391. I tried to prove the justification and justice of my anger.
392. Was annoying, interrupted people's sleep, distracted them from the meal.
393. Relaxed with small talk with young people of the opposite sex.
394. Was engaged in idle talk, curiosity, stuck out at fires and attended accidents.
395. I considered it unnecessary to be treated for illnesses and to visit a doctor.
396. I tried to calm myself down by the hasty execution of the rule.
397. Too much trouble with work.
398. I ate a lot during the meat-eating week.
399. She gave wrong advice to her neighbors.
400. She told shameful anecdotes.
401. To please the authorities, she closed the holy icons.
402. She neglected a man in old age and the poverty of his mind.
403. She stretched out her hands to her naked body, looked and touched the secret ouds with her hands.
404. She punished children with anger, in a fit of passion, with abuse and curse.
405. Taught children to spy, eavesdrop, pimp.
406. She pampered her children, did not pay attention to their bad deeds.
407. She had a satanic fear for her body, she was afraid of wrinkles, gray hair.
408. Burdened others with requests.
409. I made conclusions about the sinfulness of people based on their misfortunes.
410. She wrote offensive and anonymous letters, spoke rude words, interfered with people on the phone, making jokes under an assumed name.
411. Sat on the bed without the owner's permission.
412. At prayer she imagined the Lord.
413. Satanic laughter attacked when reading and listening to the Divine.
414. She asked for advice from people who were ignorant of that matter, believed in crafty people.
415. I strove for superiority, rivalry, won interviews, participated in competitions.
416. She treated the Gospel as a fortune-telling book.
417. Plucked berries, flowers, branches in other people's gardens without permission.
418. During fasting, she did not have a kind disposition towards people, and committed violations of the fast.
419. I did not always realize and regret the sin.
420. I listened to worldly records, sinned by seeing video and porno movies, relaxed in other worldly pleasures.
421. I read a prayer, having enmity with my neighbor.
422. She prayed in a hat, with her head uncovered.
423. She believed in signs.
424. She indiscriminately used papers on which the name of God was written.
425. She was proud of her literacy and erudition, imagined, singled out people with higher education.
426. She appropriated the found money.
427. In the church she put bags and things on the windows.
428. I rode for pleasure in a car, a motor boat, a bicycle.
429. I repeated other people's nasty words, listened to people swearing.
430. I read newspapers, books, worldly magazines with enthusiasm.
431. She abhorred the poor, the poor, the sick, from whom they smelled foul.
432. She was proud that she did not commit shameful sins, murder, abortions, etc.
433. She was overeating and drinking herself before the onset of the posts.
434. Acquired unnecessary things, having no need for that.
435. After the prodigal sleep, I did not always read prayers for defilement.
436. Celebrated the New Year, put on masks and obscene clothes, got drunk, swore, overeat and sinned.
437. She did harm to her neighbor, spoil and break other people's things.
438. She believed in nameless “prophets”, in “holy letters”, “the dream of the Mother of God”, she herself copied them and passed them on to others.
439. I listened to the sermons in the church with a spirit of criticism and condemnation.
440. I used my earnings for sinful lusts and amusements.
441. Spreading bad rumors about priests and monks.
442. She pushed around in the church, hurrying to kiss the icon, the Gospel, the cross.
443. She was proud, in lack and poverty she was indignant and murmured against the Lord.
444. I urinated in public and even joked about it.
445. Borrowed loans did not always give on time.
446. She atoned for her sins in confession.
447. She gloated over the misfortune of her neighbor.
448. Taught others in an instructive, imperative tone.
449. She shared their vices with people and confirmed them in these vices.
450. I quarreled with people for a place in the temple, at the icons, near the eve table.
451. Inadvertently caused pain to animals.
452. She left a glass of vodka at the grave of relatives.
453. I did not sufficiently prepare myself for the sacrament of confession.
454. She violated the sanctity of Sundays and holidays by playing games, visiting shows, etc.
455. When crops were damaged, she swore dirty words at the cattle.
456. Arranged dates in cemeteries, in childhood ran and played hide and seek there.
457. Allowed sexual intercourse before marriage.
458. She was specially drunk in order to make up her mind to commit a sin, together with wine she used medicines to make her intoxicated more.
459. Begged for alcohol, pawned things, documents for this.
460. To attract attention to herself, to make her worry, she tried to commit suicide.
461. As a child, I did not listen to teachers, did not prepare lessons well, was lazy, and interrupted classes.
462. Visited cafes and restaurants in temples.
463. She sang in a restaurant, on the stage, danced in a variety show.
464. In transport, in tightness, I felt pleasure from touching, did not try to avoid them.
465. She was offended by her parents for the punishment, she remembered these offenses for a long time and told others about them.
466. She reassured herself that everyday worries interfere with the work of faith, salvation and piety, justified herself by the fact that in her youth no one taught the Christian faith.
467. Wasted time on useless chores, vanity, conversations.
468. Was engaged in the interpretation of dreams.
469. She objected vehemently, fought, scolded.
470. She sinned by stealing, in childhood she stole eggs, handed them over to the store, etc.
471. She was vain, proud, did not respect her parents, did not obey the authorities.
472. She was engaged in heresy, had a wrong opinion about the subject of faith, doubts and even apostasy from the Orthodox faith.
473. She had a sin of Sodom (intercourse with animals, with the wicked, entered into an incestuous relationship).
It must be remembered that the procedure of confession and repentance must enter into your spiritual life and be frequent. It is recommended to attend the sacrament at least once every six months. How often it will be, it is up to you to decide, but remember that after such a purification it will become much easier for you in your soul and you will be freed from the burden that weighs on you.
The Lord is always with you!
Watch the video on how to make a proper confession:
