Confession and Communion—together or apart? Conversation with priest Vadim Leonov. How to confess correctly and what to say to the priest: a concrete example

How to prepare for the first confession? This question worries many beginning Orthodox Christians. You will find out the answer to this question if you read the article!

With the help of the following simple tips, you can take the first steps.

How to confess and receive communion for the first time?

Confession in the church

The only exception may be the most concise "reminder" of major sins, which are often not recognized as such.

An example of such a note:

a. Sins against the Lord God:

- disbelief in God, recognition of any significance for other "spiritual forces", religious doctrines, in addition to the Christian faith; participation in other religious practices or rituals, even “for company”, as a joke, etc.;

- nominal faith, not expressed in any way in life, that is, practical atheism (you can recognize the existence of God with your mind, but live like a non-believer);

- the creation of "idols", that is, putting in the first place among the values ​​of life something other than God. Anything that a person really "serves" can become an idol: money, power, career, health, knowledge, hobbies - all this can be good when it occupies the appropriate place in the personal "hierarchy of values", but, becoming in the first place , turns into an idol;

- an appeal to various kinds of fortune-tellers, soothsayers, sorcerers, psychics, etc. - an attempt to "subdue" spiritual forces in a magical way, without repentance and personal effort to change life in accordance with the commandments.

b. Sins against neighbor:

- neglect of people, resulting from pride and selfishness, inattention to the needs of the neighbor (the neighbor is not necessarily a relative or acquaintance, it is every person who is next to us at the moment);

– condemnation and discussion of the shortcomings of others (“From your words you will be justified and from your words you will be condemned,” says the Lord);

- fornication sins of various kinds, especially adultery (violation of marital fidelity) and unnatural sexual intercourse, which is incompatible with being in the Church. Prodigal cohabitation also includes the so-called common today. "civil marriage", that is, cohabitation without registration of marriage. However, it should be remembered that a registered but unmarried marriage cannot be regarded as fornication and is not an obstacle to being in the Church;

– abortion is the deprivation of the life of a human being, in fact, murder. You should repent even if the abortion was made for medical reasons. It is also a serious sin to persuade a woman to have an abortion (by her husband, for example). Repentance for this sin implies that the penitent will never consciously repeat it again.

- appropriation of someone else's property, refusal to pay the labor of other people (ticketless travel), withholding the wages of subordinates or hired workers;

- lies of various kinds, especially - slandering one's neighbor, spreading rumors (as a rule, we cannot be sure of the veracity of rumors), incontinence of the word.

This is an approximate list of the most common sins, but we emphasize once again that such "lists" should not be carried away. It is best to use the ten commandments of God in further preparation for confession and listen to your own conscience.

• Talk only about sins, and your own.

It is necessary to speak at confession about your sins, not trying to minimize them or show them as excusable. It would seem that this is obvious, but how often priests, when taking confession, hear life stories about all relatives, neighbors and acquaintances instead of confessing sins. When in confession a person talks about the offenses caused to him, he evaluates and condemns his neighbors, in fact, justifying himself. Often in such stories, personal transgressions are presented in such a way that it would seem impossible to avoid them at all. But sin is always the fruit of personal choice. It is extremely rare that we find ourselves in such collisions when we are forced to choose between two kinds of sin.

• Do not invent a special language.

Speaking about your sins, you should not worry about how they would be called “correctly” or “according to the church”. It is necessary to call a spade a spade, in the usual language. You are confessing to God, who knows even more about your sins than you do, and by naming the sin as it is, you certainly will not surprise God.

Do not surprise you and the priest. Sometimes penitents are ashamed to tell the priest this or that sin, or there is a fear that the priest, having heard the sin, will condemn you. In fact, a priest has to listen to a lot of confessions over the years of service, and it is not easy to surprise him. And besides, the sins are not all original: they have not changed much over the millennia. Being a witness of sincere repentance for serious sins, the priest will never condemn, but will rejoice in the conversion of a person from sin to the path of righteousness.

• Talk about the big things, not the little things.

It is not necessary to start confession with such sins as breaking the fast, not attending the temple, working on holidays, watching TV, wearing/not wearing certain types of clothing, etc. Firstly, these are definitely not your most serious sins. Secondly, it may not be a sin at all: if a person has not come to God for many years, then why repent of non-observance of fasts, if the “vector” of life itself was directed in the wrong direction? Thirdly, who needs endless digging into everyday minutiae? The Lord expects from us love and giving of heart, and we to him: “I ate a fish on fasting day” and “embroidered it on a holiday.”

The main attention should be paid to the relationship with God and neighbors. Moreover, according to the Gospel, neighbors are understood not only as people who are pleasant to us, but all who we meet on the path of life. And above all, our family members. The Christian life for family people begins in the family and is tested by it. Here is the best field for cultivating Christian qualities in oneself: love, patience, forgiveness, acceptance.

• Start changing your life even before confession.

Repentance in Greek sounds like "metanoia", literally - "change of mind". It is not enough to admit that in life you have committed such and such misdeeds. God is not a prosecutor, and confession is not a confession. Repentance should be a change of life: the penitent intends not to return to sins and tries with all his might to keep himself from them. Such repentance begins some time before confession, and coming to the temple to see a priest already “captures” the change taking place in life. This is extremely important. If a person intends to continue sinning after confession, then maybe it is worth postponing confession?

It should be noted that when we talk about changing one's life and renouncing sin, we mean first of all the so-called "mortal" sins, according to the words of the Apostle John, that is, incompatible with being in the Church. Since ancient times, the Christian Church considered such sins as renunciation of the faith, murder and adultery. Sins of this kind can also include the extreme degree of other human passions: anger at one's neighbor, theft, cruelty, and so on, which can be stopped once and for all by an effort of the will, combined with God's help. As for petty sins, the so-called “everyday” ones, they will be repeated in many ways even after confession. One must be ready for this and accept it humbly as an inoculation against spiritual exaltation: there are no perfect people among people, only God is sinless.

• To be at peace with everyone.

“Forgive and you will be forgiven,” says the Lord. “With what judgment you judge, you will be judged.” And even more strongly: “If you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go, first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.” . If we ask God for forgiveness, then we ourselves must first forgive the offenders. Of course, there are situations when it is physically impossible to ask for forgiveness directly from a person, or this will lead to an aggravation of an already difficult relationship. Then it is important, at least, to forgive on your part and not have anything in your heart against your neighbor.

A few practical recommendations. Before you come to confession, it would be nice to find out when confession is usually held in the temple. In many churches they serve not only on Sundays and holidays, but also on Saturdays, and in large churches and monasteries - on weekdays. The greatest influx of confessors occurs during Great Lent. Of course, the Lenten period is mainly a time of repentance, but for those who come for the first time or after a very long break, it is better to choose a time when the priest is not very busy. It may turn out that they confess in the temple on Friday evening or on Saturday morning - these days there will certainly be fewer people than during the Sunday service. It is good if you have the opportunity to personally contact the priest and ask him to appoint a convenient time for confession.

There are special prayers expressing a repentant "mood". It is good to read them the day before confession. The repentant canon to the Lord Jesus Christ is printed in almost any prayer book, except for the shortest ones. If you are not used to praying in Church Slavonic, you can use the translation into Russian.

During confession, the priest can assign you a penance: refraining from communion for a while, reading special prayers, bowing down to the ground, or deeds of mercy. This is not a punishment, but a means to get rid of sin and receive full forgiveness. Penance can be appointed when the priest does not meet the proper attitude towards serious sins on the part of the penitent, or, conversely, when he sees that a person has a need to do something practically to "get rid" of sin. Penance cannot be indefinite: it is appointed for a certain time, and then must be terminated.

As a rule, after confession, believers receive communion. Although confession and communion are two different sacraments, it is better to combine the preparation for confession with the preparation for communion. What this preparation is, we will tell in a separate article.

If these little tips have helped you prepare for confession, thank God. Do not forget that this sacrament must be regular. Don't put off your next confession for years. Confession at least once a month helps us to always be “in good shape”, to treat our daily life attentively and responsibly, in which, in fact, our Christian faith should be expressed.

Have you read the article?

Before communion, you must go through the Sacrament of Confession.

In St. John the Baptist Cathedral, confession begins at 17:00 at the beginning of the evening service. If the priest is alone, then he makes confession at the end of the evening service.

Attendance at the evening service on the eve of communion is mandatory.

Before communion, fasting must be observed, limiting (at least three days) from meat, dairy and egg products.

CONFESSION AND HOLY PARTICIPATION
EXPLANATIONS

Based on the book by N. E. Pestov "Modern Practice of Orthodox Piety"

Every time the Divine Liturgy is celebrated in the church, a priest leaves the altar before the service begins. He goes to the porch of the temple, where the people of God are already waiting for him. In his hands is the Cross - a sign of the sacrificial love of the Son of God for the human race, and the Gospel - the good news of salvation. The priest places the Cross and the Gospel on the lectern and, bowing reverently, proclaims: "Blessed is our God always, now and forever and forever and ever. Amen."

Thus begins the Sacrament of Confession. The name itself indicates that in this Sacrament something deeply hidden is happening, revealing the layers of a person's life, which in ordinary times a person prefers not to touch. Perhaps that is why the fear of confession is so strong among those who have never yet begun it. How long do they have to overcome themselves in order to approach the confessional lectern!

Useless fear!

It comes from ignorance of what actually takes place in this Sacrament. Confession is not a forcible "picking out" of sins from conscience, not an interrogation and, moreover, not a "guilty" verdict on the sinner. Confession is the great Mystery of the reconciliation of God and man; it is the joy of forgiveness of sin; it is a touching to tears manifestation of God's love for man.

We all sin a lot before God. Vanity, hostility, idle talk, ridicule, obstinacy, irritability, anger are constant companions of our life. More serious crimes lie on the conscience of almost every one of us: infanticide (abortion), adultery, turning to sorcerers and psychics, theft, enmity, revenge, and much more that makes us guilty of the wrath of God.

At the same time, it should be remembered that sin is not a fact in a biography that can be lightly forgotten. Sin is a "black seal" that remains on the conscience until the end of days and is not washed away by anything except the Sacrament of Repentance. Sin has a corrupting power that can cause a chain of subsequent, more serious sins.

One ascetic of piety figuratively likened sins ... to bricks. He spoke like this: the more unrepentant sins a person has on his conscience, the thicker the wall between him and God, made up of these bricks - sins. The wall can become so thick that a person becomes insensitive to the influence of the grace of God, and then he experiences the spiritual and bodily consequences of sins. Mental consequences include dislike for certain people or irritability, anger and nervousness, fears, attacks of anger, depression, the development of addictions in the personality, despondency, longing and despair, in extreme forms sometimes turning into a craving for suicide. It's not neurotic at all. This is how sin works.

The bodily effects include disease. Almost all illnesses of an adult, explicitly or implicitly, are connected with the sins he has committed before.

So, in the Sacrament of Confession, a great miracle of God's mercy towards the sinner is performed. After sincere repentance for sins before God in the presence of a clergyman as a witness of repentance, while the priest is reading a permissive prayer, the Lord himself with His all-powerful right hand breaks the wall of sin-bricks into dust, and the barrier between God and man collapses.

Coming to confession, we repent in the presence of a priest, but not in front of a priest. The priest, being himself a man, is only a witness, an intermediary in the Mystery, and the true Performer of the Mystery is the Lord God. Then why go to church? Isn't it easier to repent at home, alone before the Lord, because He hears us everywhere?

Yes, indeed, personal repentance before confession, which leads to the realization of sin, to heartfelt contrition and rejection of the crime committed, is necessary. But in itself it is not exhaustive. The final reconciliation with God, cleansing from sin is performed within the framework of the Sacrament of Confession, without fail, with the mediation of a priest, such a form of the Sacrament was established by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Appearing to the apostles after his glorious resurrection. He breathed and said to them: "... receive the Holy Spirit. To whom you forgive sins, they will be forgiven; on whom you leave, they will remain" (John 20:22-23). The apostles, the pillars of the ancient Church, were given the power to remove the veil of sin from the hearts of people, from them this power passed to their successors - church primates - bishops and priests.

In addition, the moral aspect of the Sacrament is important. It is easy to list your sins in private before the All-Knowing and Invisible God. And, here, opening them in the presence of a third party - a priest, requires considerable effort to overcome shame, requires the crucifixion of one's sinfulness, which leads to an incomparably deeper and more serious realization of personal wrong.

The sacrament of confession-repentance is God's great mercy to humanity that is weak and prone to fall; it is a means accessible to all, leading to the salvation of the soul, which constantly falls into sins.

Throughout our lives, our spiritual garments are constantly stained with sin. They can be noticed only when clothes are our trouble, i.e. cleansed by repentance. On the clothes of an unrepentant sinner, dark from sinful dirt, stains of new and separate sins cannot be noticeable.

Therefore, we must not put off our repentance and allow our spiritual clothes to become completely soiled: this leads to a dulling of conscience and to spiritual death.

And only an attentive life and timely cleansing of sinful stains in the Sacrament of Confession can preserve the purity of our soul and the presence of the Holy Spirit of God in it.

Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt writes:
"It is necessary to confess sins more often in order to strike, scourge sins by openly acknowledging them and in order to feel more disgust for them."

As writes about. Alexander Elchaninov, "insensibility, stonyness, deadness of the soul - from neglected and unconfessed sins in time. How the soul is relieved when you immediately, while it hurts, confess a perfect sin. A delayed confession can cause insensitivity.

A person who often confesses and does not have deposits of sins in his soul cannot but be healthy. Confession is a blessed discharge of the soul. In this sense, the significance of confession and of all life in general is enormous, in connection with the grace-filled help of the Church. So don't put it off. Weak faith and doubts are not an obstacle. Be sure to confess, repent of weak faith and doubts, as in your weakness and sin., “So it is: full faith only and strong in spirit and righteous; where can we, impure and cowardly, have their faith? If it were, we would be holy, strong, divine and would not need the help of the Church, which She offers us. Don't shy away from this help."
Hence, participation in the Sacrament of Confession should not be rare - once in a long period, as those who go to confession once a year or a little more may think.

The process of repentance is a continuous work of healing spiritual ulcers and cleansing every newly appeared sinful speck. Only in this case the Christian will not lose his "royal dignity" and will remain among the "holy people" (1 Pet. 2:9).
If the Sacrament of Confession is neglected, sin will oppress the soul, and at the same time, upon leaving it by the Holy Spirit, the doors will be opened in it for the entry of dark power and the development of passions and addictions.

There may also come a period of hostility, enmity, quarrels, and even hatred towards others, which will poison the life of both the sinner and his neighbors.
Obsessive bad thoughts ("psychasthenia") may appear, from which the sinner is unable to free himself and which will poison his life.
This will also include the so-called "mania of persecution", the strongest fluctuation in faith, and such completely opposite feelings, but equally dangerous and painful: some have an overwhelming fear of death, while others have a desire for suicide.

Finally, such mental and physical unhealthy manifestations can occur, which are usually called "damage": seizures of an epileptic nature and that series of mental ugly manifestations that is characterized as obsession and demonic possession.
Holy Scripture and the history of the Church testify that such grave consequences of unrepentant sins are healed by the power of God's grace through the Sacrament of Confession and the subsequent communion of the Holy Mysteries.

Spiritual experience is indicative in this regard. Elder Hilarion from Optina Pustyn.
Hilarion, in his senile service, proceeded from the position stated above, that any mental illness is a consequence of the presence of unrepentant sin in the soul.

Therefore, in such patients, the elder, first of all, tried by questioning to find out all the significant and serious sins committed by them after the age of seven and not expressed in due time at confession, either out of shame, or out of ignorance, or out of oblivion.
After discovering such a sin (or sins), the elder tried to convince those who came to him for help of the need for deep and sincere repentance for sin.

If such repentance appeared, then the elder, as a priest, after confession, would forgive sins. With the subsequent communion of the Holy Mysteries, there usually came complete deliverance from the mental illness that tormented the sinful soul.
In those cases when a visitor showed a severe and prolonged enmity towards his neighbors, the elder commanded to immediately reconcile with them and ask them for forgiveness for all previously caused insults, insults and injustices.

Such conversations and confessions sometimes required great patience, endurance and perseverance from the elder. So, for a long time he persuaded one obsessed woman to first cross herself, then drink holy water, then tell him her life and her sins.
At first, he had to endure many insults and manifestations of malice from her. However, he let her go only when the patient humbled herself, became obedient and brought complete repentance at confession for the sins she had committed. So she received a complete healing.
A sick man came to the elder, suffering from suicidal tendencies. The elder found out that he had already had two attempts to commit suicide earlier - at the age of 12 and in his youth.

At confession, the patient had not previously repented of them. The elder achieved complete repentance from him - he confessed and communed him. Since then, suicidal thoughts have stopped.

As can be seen from the foregoing, sincere repentance and confession of sins committed bring a Christian not only their forgiveness, but also the fullness of spiritual health only when they return to the sinner of grace and coexist with the Christian of the Holy Spirit.
Since sin is finally blotted out of our “book of life” only through the permission of the priest, so that our memory does not fail us in this most important of the affairs of our life, it is necessary to write down our sins. The same note can be used in confession.

So the elder offered to do to his spiritual children about. Alexy Mechev . With regard to confession, he gave the following instructions:
“Approaching confession, we must remember everything and consider every sin from all sides, bring all the little things to memory, so that everything in our heart would burn out with shame. Then our sin will become disgusting and confidence will be created that we will no longer return to it.
At the same time, one must feel all the goodness of God: the Lord shed His Blood for me, cares for me, loves me, is ready to receive me like a mother, embraces me, comforts me, but I keep sinning and sinning.

And right there, when you come to confession, you repent to the Lord crucified on the cross, like a child, when it says with tears: "Mom, I'm sorry, I won't do it again."
And whether there is anyone here, or not, it will not matter, because the priest is only a witness, and the Lord knows all our sins, sees all thoughts. He only needs our consciousness of being guilty.

Thus, in the Gospel He asked the father of the demon-possessed lad since when did this happen to him (Mk. 9:21). He didn't need it. He knew everything, but he did it so that the father would recognize his guilt in his son's illness.
At confession, Fr. Alexy Mechev did not allow the confessor to speak details about the sins of the flesh and touch other persons and their deeds.
He could only be blamed for himself. Talking about quarrels, one could only say what he himself said (without mitigation and excuses) and not touch on what was answered to you. He demanded that others be justified and that they blame themselves, even if it was not your fault. If you quarreled, then you are to blame.

Once said in confession, the sins are no longer repeated in confession, they are already forgiven.
But this does not mean that a Christian can completely erase from his memory the most serious of his life's sins. The sinful wound on the body of the soul is healed, but the scar from sin remains forever, and a Christian must remember this and deeply humble himself, mourning his sinful falls.

As writes teacher Anthony the Great:
"The Lord is good and forgives the sins of all who turn to Him, whoever they are, so that he will not remember them anymore.
However, He wants those (pardoned) themselves to remember about the forgiveness of their sins, hitherto committed, so that they forget about not allowing anything in their behavior such that they will be forced to give an account of those sins that have already been committed. were forgiven - as happened with that slave, to whom the master renewed all the debt that had previously been released to him (Matt. 18:24-25).
Thus, when the Lord absolves us of our sins, we must not absolve them ourselves, but always remember them through (unceasing) renewal of repentance for them.

This is also said Elder Silvanus:
"Although sins are forgiven, one must remember and grieve about them all one's life in order to preserve contrition."
Here, however, it should be warned that the remembrance of one's sins can be different and in some cases (with carnal sins) can even harm a Christian.

Writes about it like this teacher Barsanuphius the Great . “I do not understand the remembrance of sins separately, so that sometimes the enemy does not lead us into the same captivity through their remembrance, but it is enough just to remember that we are guilty of sins.”

It should be mentioned at the same time that old man o. Alexey Zosimovsky believed that although there was a remission of any sin after confession, but if it continues to torment and embarrass the conscience, then it is necessary to confess it again.

For those who sincerely repent of sins, the dignity of the priest who receives his confession does not matter. This is what Fr. Alexander Elchaninov:
For a person who really suffers from the ulcer of his sin, it makes no difference through whom he confesses this sin that torments him; if only to confess it as soon as possible and get relief.
Confession is the most important state of the penitent's soul, no matter who confesses it. Our repentance is important. In our country, the personality of the confessor is often given priority."

When confessing one's sins or when asking a confessor for advice, it is very important to catch his first word. Elder Silouan gives such instructions on this matter.
“In a few words, the confessor says his thought or the most essential thing about his state, and then leaves the confessor free.
The confessor, praying from the first moment of the conversation, awaits admonition from God, and if he feels a “notification” in his soul, then he gives such an answer, on which he should stop, because when the confessor’s “first word” is missed, the effectiveness of the Sacrament is weakened at the same time. , and confession can turn into a simple human discussion."
Maybe some who repent of serious sins at confession to the priest think that the latter will treat them with hostility, having learned their sins. But it's not.

As Archbishop Arseny (Chudovskoy) writes: “When a sinner sincerely, with tears, repents to a confessor, the latter involuntarily has a feeling of joy and consolation in his heart, and at the same time a feeling of love and respect for the penitent.
To the one who reveals sins, perhaps, it may seem that the shepherd will not even look at him now, since he knows his filthiness and will be contemptuous. Oh no! A sincerely penitent sinner becomes sweet, dear and, as it were, dear to the shepherd.
O. Alexander Elchaninov writes about this in the following way:
"Why is a sinner not disgusted to a confessor, no matter how disgusting his sins are? - Because in the Sacrament of Penance the priest contemplates the complete separation of the sinner and his sin."

CONFESSION

(based on the works of Father Alexander Elchaninov)

Usually people who are inexperienced in the spiritual life do not see the multiplicity of their sins.

“Nothing special”, “like everyone else”, “only minor sins - I didn’t steal, I didn’t kill,” - this is usually the beginning of confession for many.
But self-love, intolerance of reproaches, callousness, human pleasing, weakness of faith and love, cowardice, spiritual laziness - aren't these important sins? Can we claim that we love God enough, that our faith is active and ardent? That we love each person as a brother in Christ? That we have achieved meekness, without anger, humility?

If not, what is our Christianity? How can we explain our self-confidence in confession, if not by "petrified insensitivity", if not by "deadness", heart, spiritual death, bodily anticipation?
Why St. the fathers who left us prayers of repentance considered themselves the first of sinners and with sincere conviction appealed to the Sweetest Jesus: “No one sins on earth from eternity, as I have sinned, accursed and prodigal,” and we are convinced that everything is fine with us?
The brighter the light of Christ illuminates the hearts, the clearer all defects, ulcers and wounds are created. And, on the contrary, people immersed in the darkness of sin do not see anything in their hearts: and if they see, they are not horrified, since they have nothing to compare with.

Therefore, a direct path to the knowledge of one's sins is approaching the Light and praying for this Light, which is the judgment of the world and everything "worldly" in ourselves (John 3, 19). In the meantime, there is no such closeness to Christ, in which a feeling of repentance is our usual state, while preparing for confession, we must check our conscience - according to the commandments, according to some prayers (for example, 3rd Vespers, 4th before Holy Communion), in some places of the Gospel and Epistles (for example, Mt. 5, Rom. 12, Eph. 4, James 3).

Understanding your soul, you must try to distinguish between basic sins from derivatives, symptoms - from more deeply lying causes.
For example, absent-mindedness in prayer, drowsiness and inattention in church, lack of interest in reading Holy Scripture are very important. But don't these sins come from lack of faith and weak love for God? It is necessary to note in oneself self-will, disobedience, self-justification, impatience of reproaches, intransigence, stubbornness; but it is even more important to discover their connection with self-love and pride.
If we notice in ourselves a desire for society, talkativeness, laughter, increased concern for our appearance and not only our own, but our loved ones, then we need to carefully examine whether this is not a form of "manifold vanity."
If we too take life's failures to heart, we endure separation hard, we mourn inconsolably for those who have departed, then, in addition to the strength and depth of our feelings, does not all this also testify to unbelief in God's Providence?

There is another auxiliary means leading to the knowledge of one's sins - to remember what other people usually accuse us of, our enemies, and especially those living and close to us side by side: almost always their accusations, reproaches, attacks are justified. You can even, having defeated pride, directly ask them about it - from the side you can see it better.
It is necessary even before confession to ask for forgiveness from everyone to whom one is guilty, to go to confession with an unburdened conscience.
With such a test of the heart, care must be taken not to fall into excessive suspiciousness and petty suspicion of any movement of the heart; embarking on this path, you can lose the sense of what is important and unimportant, get entangled in trifles.

In such cases, one must temporarily leave the test of one's soul and, with prayer and good deeds, simplify and clarify one's soul.
The point is to fully remember and even write down our sins, and to achieve such a state of concentration, seriousness and prayer, in which, as in the light, our sins become clear.
But knowing your sins does not mean repenting of them. True, the Lord accepts confession - sincere, conscientious, when it is not accompanied by a strong feeling of repentance.

Nevertheless, "contrition of the heart" - sorrow for one's sins - is the most important of all that we can bring to confession.
But what to do if "no tears, we have below repentance, below tenderness?" “What should we do if our heart, dried up by the flame of sin, is not irrigated with the life-giving waters of tears? What if "the infirmity of the soul and the impotence of the flesh are so great that we are not capable of sincere repentance?
All the same, this is not a reason to postpone confession - God can touch our hearts during confession itself: confession itself, the naming of our sins can soften our repentant heart, refine our spiritual vision, sharpen our feelings. Most of all, preparation for confession serves to overcome our spiritual lethargy - fasting, which, exhausting our body, violates our bodily well-being, which is disastrous for spiritual life. Prayer, nightly thoughts about death, reading the Gospel, the lives of saints, the works of St. fathers, intensified struggle with oneself, exercise in good deeds.

Our lack of feeling in confession is mostly rooted in the absence of the fear of God and hidden unbelief. This is where our efforts should be directed.
The third moment in confession is the verbal confession of sins. No need to wait for questions, you need to make an effort yourself; confession is a feat and self-compulsion. It is necessary to speak precisely, without obscuring the ugliness of sin with general expressions (for example, "sinned against the 7th commandment"). It is very difficult, when confessing, to avoid the temptation of self-justification, attempts to explain to the confessor "extenuating circumstances", references to third parties who led us into sin. All these are signs of self-love, lack of deep repentance, continuing stagnation in sin.

Confession is not a conversation about one's shortcomings, it is not a confessor's knowledge of you, and least of all a "pious custom." Confession is an ardent repentance of the heart, a thirst for purification, coming from a sense of holiness, dying for sin and revival for holiness...
I often notice in confessors a desire to go through confession painlessly for themselves - either they get off with general phrases, or they talk about trifles, silent about what really should burden conscience. Here there is false shame in front of the confessor and indecision in general, as before every important action, and especially a cowardly fear to seriously begin to stir up one's life, full of petty and habitual weaknesses. A real confession, like a good shock to the soul, frightens with its decisiveness, the need to change something, or even just at least think about oneself.

Sometimes at confession they refer to a weak memory, which does not seem to give the opportunity to remember sins. Indeed, it often happens that you easily forget your falls into sin, but is this only due to a weak memory?
In confession, a weak memory is no excuse; forgetfulness - from inattention, frivolity, callousness, insensitivity to sin. The sin that burdens the conscience will not be forgotten. After all, for example, cases that especially painfully hurt our pride or, conversely, flattered our vanity, praise addressed to us - we remember for many years. Everything that makes a strong impression on us, we remember long and distinctly, and if we forget our sins, does this mean that we simply do not attach serious importance to them?
A sign of accomplished repentance is a feeling of lightness, purity, inexplicable joy, when sin seems just as difficult and impossible as this joy was just far away.

Our repentance will not be complete if we, repenting, do not affirm ourselves inwardly in the determination not to return to confessed sin.
But, they say, how is this possible? How can I promise myself and my confessor that I will not repeat my sin? Wouldn't it be closer to the truth just the opposite - the certainty that the sin will be repeated? After all, everyone knows from his own experience that after a while you inevitably return to the same sins. Watching yourself from year to year, you do not notice any improvement, "you jump up and again remain in the same place."
It would be terrible if that were the case. Fortunately, this is not the case. There is no case that, in the presence of a good desire to improve, successive confessions and Holy Communion would not produce beneficial changes in the soul.
But the point is that, first of all, we are not our own judges. A person cannot correctly judge himself, whether he has become worse or better, since both he, the judge, and what he judges are changing values.

Increased severity towards oneself, increased spiritual sight, heightened fear of sin can give the illusion that sins have multiplied: they have remained the same, maybe even weakened, but we did not notice them like that before.
Besides. God, by His special providence, often closes our eyes to our successes in order to protect us from the worst enemy - vanity and pride. It often happens that a sin remains, but frequent confessions and Communion of the Holy Mysteries have shaken and weakened its roots. Yes, and the very struggle with sin, suffering for one's sins - isn't it a gain?
"Don't be afraid," he says John of the Ladder - even if you fall every day, and do not deviate from the ways of God. Stand courageously and the angel guarding you will honor your patience."

If there is not this feeling of relief, rebirth, one must have the strength to return again to confession, to completely free one's soul from impurity, to wash it from blackness and filth with tears. Aspiring to this will always achieve what he is looking for.
Only let us not attribute our successes to ourselves, rely on our own strength, rely on our own efforts - that would mean destroying everything we have acquired.

"Collect my scattered mind. Lord, and cleanse my icy heart: like Peter, give me repentance, like a publican, sigh, and like a harlot, tears."

And here are the advice of Archbishop Arseny / Chudovsky / on preparing for confession:
“We come to confession with the intention of receiving forgiveness of sins from the Lord God through a priest. So know that your confession is empty, idle, invalid and even offensive to the Lord, if you go to confession without any preparation, without having tested your conscience, according to shame or for some other reason, you hide your sins, confess without contrition and tenderness, formally, coldly, mechanically, without having a firm intention to correct yourself in advance.

They often approach confession unprepared. What does it mean to get ready? Diligently test your conscience, recall and feel with your heart your sins, decide to tell all of them, without any concealment, tell your confessor, repent of them, but avoid them in the future. And since our memory often fails us, those who put the remembered sins on paper do well. And about those sins that you, with all your desire, cannot remember, do not worry that they will not be forgiven you. You just have a sincere determination to repent of everything and with tears ask the Lord to forgive you all your sins that you remember and that you don’t remember.

In confession, say everything that worries you, that it hurts you, so do not be shy to say once again about your former sins. This is good, this will testify that you are constantly walking with a sense of your wretchedness and overcoming any shame from discovering your sinful ulcers.
There are so-called unconfessed sins, with which many live for many years, and maybe even their entire lives. Sometimes I want to open them to my confessor, but it’s too embarrassing to talk about them, and so it goes year after year; and meanwhile they constantly burden the soul and prepare for it eternal condemnation. Some of these people are happy, the time comes. The Lord sends them a confessor, opens the mouths and hearts of these unrepentant sinners, and they confess all their sins. Thus, the abscess breaks through, and these people receive spiritual relief and, as it were, recovery. However, how one should be afraid of unrepentant sins!

Unconfessed sins are, as it were, our duty, which is constantly felt by us, constantly burdening us. And what better way than to pay off the debt - calmly then at heart; the same with sins - these spiritual debts of ours: you confess them before the confessor, and your heart will feel light, light.
Repentance after confession is a victory over oneself, it is a victorious trophy, so that the repentant is worthy of all respect and honor.

Preparation for confession

As a model for determining one’s inner spiritual state and for revealing one’s sins, one can take the “Confession” slightly modified in relation to modern conditions. Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov .
* * *
I confess to the many-sinner (name of the rivers) to the Lord God and our Savior Jesus Christ and to you, honest father, all my sins and all my evil deeds, I have done all the days of my life, I have thought even to this day.
He sinned: He did not keep the vows of Holy Baptism, he did not keep his monastic promise, but he lied in everything and made himself indecent before the Face of God.
Forgive us, Merciful Lord (for the people). Forgive me, honest father (for the lonely). He sinned: before the Lord, lack of faith and slowness in thoughts, from the enemy planted against faith and St. Churches; ingratitude for all His great and unceasing good deeds, invoking the name of God without need - in vain.
Forgive me, honest father.
He sinned: lack of love for the Lord, lower than fear, non-fulfillment of St. His will and St. commandments, careless depiction of the sign of the cross, irreverent veneration of St. icons; did not wear a cross, was ashamed to be baptized and confess the Lord.
Forgive me, honest father.
He sinned: he did not keep love for his neighbor, he did not feed the hungry and thirsty, he did not clothe the naked, he did not visit the sick and prisoners in dungeons; the law of God and St. Fathers did not learn traditions from laziness and neglect.
Forgive me, honest father.
I have sinned: church and private rules by non-fulfillment, going to the temple of God without zeal, with laziness and neglect; leaving morning, evening and other prayers; during the church service - he sinned with idle talk, laughter, drowsiness, inattention to reading and singing, distraction of the mind, leaving the temple during the service and not going to the temple of God due to laziness and negligence.
Forgive me, honest father.
I sinned: daring to go to the temple of God in uncleanness and touch all the holy things.
Forgive me, honest father.
He sinned: by disrespecting the feasts of God; violation of St. fasting and non-keeping of fasting days - Wednesdays and Fridays; intemperance in food and drink, polygamy, secret eating, polyeating, drunkenness, dissatisfaction with food and drink, clothing, parasitism; own will and mind by fulfillment, self-righteousness, self-will and self-justification; not properly honoring parents, not raising children in the Orthodox faith, cursing their children and neighbors.
Forgive me, honest father.
He sinned: unbelief, superstition, doubt, despair, despondency, blasphemy, false worship, dancing, smoking, playing cards, gossip, commemorated the living for repose, ate the blood of animals (VI Ecumenical Council, 67th Canon. Acts of the Holy Apostles, 15 ch.).
Forgive me, honest father.
Sinned: by turning for help to intermediaries of demonic power - occultists: psychics, bioenergetics, non-contact masseurs, hypnotists, "folk" healers, sorcerers, soothsayers, healers, fortune-tellers, astrologers, parapsychologists; participation in sessions of coding, removal of "damage and evil eye", spiritualism; contact with UFOs and "higher intelligence"; connection to "cosmic energies".
Forgive me, honest father.
Sinned: watching and listening to television and radio programs with the participation of psychics, healers, astrologers, fortune tellers, healers.
Forgive me, honest father.
Sinned: studying various occult teachings, theosophy, Eastern cults, the teaching of "living ethics"; doing yoga, meditation, dousing according to the system of Porfiry Ivanov.
Forgive me, honest father.
Sinned: by reading and keeping occult literature.
Forgive me, honest father.
Sinned: attending speeches by Protestant preachers, participating in meetings of Baptists, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Adventists, "Mother of God Center", "white brotherhood" and other sects, accepting heretical baptism, deviating into heresy and sectarian doctrine.
Forgive me, honest father.
Sinned: pride, conceit, envy, arrogance, suspicion, irritability.
Forgive me, honest father.
He sinned: condemning all people - the living and the dead, slander and anger, remembrance of malice, hatred, evil for evil by retribution, slander, reproach, deceit, laziness, deceit, hypocrisy, gossip, disputes, stubbornness, unwillingness to yield and serve one's neighbor; sinned with gloating, malevolence, ill-advising, insulting, mocking, reviling and pleasing people.
Forgive me, honest father.
Sinned: intemperance of spiritual and bodily feelings; impurity of soul and body, pleasure and slowness in impure thoughts, addiction, voluptuousness, an immodest look at wives and young men; in a dream, prodigal desecration of the night, intemperance in married life.
Forgive me, honest father.
I have sinned: impatience with sickness and sorrow, love for the comforts of this life, captivity of the mind and petrification of the heart, not forcing myself to do any good deed.
Forgive me, honest father.
He sinned: by inattention to the promptings of his conscience, negligence, laziness in reading the word of God and negligence in acquiring the Jesus Prayer. He sinned with covetousness, love of money, unrighteous acquisition, theft, theft, stinginess, attachment to all sorts of things and people.
Forgive me, honest father.
I have sinned: condemning bishops and priests, disobeying the spiritual fathers, grumbling and resenting them and not confessing my sins before them out of forgetfulness, negligence, out of false shame.
Sinned: unmercifulness, contempt and condemnation of the poor; walking in the temple of God without fear and reverence.
Forgive me, honest father.
I have sinned: by laziness, relaxation by it, love of bodily peace, many sleeps, voluptuous dreams, biased views, shameless body movements, touching, fornication, adultery, corruption, masturbation, unmarried marriages; (those who aborted themselves or others, or persuaded someone to this great sin - infanticide, have sinned gravely).
Forgive me, honest father.
Sinned: spending time in empty and idle activities, in empty conversations, in the immoderate watching of television.
He sinned: despondency, cowardice, impatience, grumbling, despair in salvation, lack of hope in God's mercy, insensitivity, ignorance, arrogance, shamelessness.
Forgive me, honest father.
He sinned: slandering his neighbor, anger, insult, irritation and ridicule, non-reconciliation, hostility and hatred, contradiction, spying on other people's sins and eavesdropping on other people's conversations.
Forgive me, honest father.
He sinned: coldness and insensitivity at confession, diminishing sins, blaming others, and not condemning himself.
Forgive me, honest father.
He sinned: against the Life-Giving and Holy Mysteries of Christ, approaching Them without proper preparation, without contrition and fear of God.
Forgive me, honest father.
I have sinned: in word, thought and all my senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, - willy or not, knowledge or ignorance, in reason or foolishness, and do not list all my sins according to their multitude. But in all these, as well as in indescribable oblivion, I repent and regret, and henceforth, with the help of God, I promise to be kept.
But you, honest father, forgive me and forgive me from all these and pray for me a sinner, and on that Judgment Day testify before God about the sins I have confessed. Amen.

General confession

As you know, not only separate, but also the so-called "general confession" is practiced in the church, in which the priest forgives sins without hearing them from the penitents.
The replacement of a separate confession with a general one is due to the fact that now a priest often does not have the opportunity to accept confession from everyone. However, such a replacement is, of course, extremely undesirable, and not everyone and not always can participate in general confession and after it go to Communion.
During a general confession, the penitent does not have to reveal the dirt of his spiritual robes, he does not have to be ashamed of them before the priest, and his pride, pride and vanity will not be hurt. Thus, there will be no punishment for sin that, in addition to our repentance, would win us the mercy of God.

Secondly, a general confession is fraught with the danger that such a sinner will come to Holy Communion who, in a separate confession, would not be admitted to Him by a priest.
Many serious sins require serious and lasting repentance. And then the priest forbids communion for a certain period and imposes penance (prayers of repentance, bows, abstinence in something). In other cases, the priest must receive a promise from the penitent not to repeat the sin again and only then be allowed to take communion.
Therefore, general confession cannot be started in the following cases:

1) those who have not been to a separate confession for a long time - several years or many months;
2) those who have either a mortal sin or a sin that greatly offends and torments their conscience.

In such cases, the confessor, after all the other participants in the confession, should approach the priest and tell him the sins that lie on his conscience.
It can be considered acceptable (out of need) to participate in a general confession only for those who confess and take communion quite often, check themselves from time to time at a separate confession and are sure that the sins that he will say at confession will not serve as a reason for prohibition for him. Communions.
At the same time, it is also necessary that we participate in general confession either with our spiritual father or with a priest who knows us well.

Confession from Elder Zosima

The following story from the biography of Elder Zosima from the Trinity-Sergius Lavra speaks about the possibility in some cases of a deaf (i.e., without words) confession, and how to prepare for it.
“There was a case with two ladies. They go to the elder’s cell, and one of them repents of her sins all the way - “Lord, how sinful I am, I did this and that wrong, I condemned that, etc. Forgive me. Lord.... And the heart and mind, as it were, fall at the feet of the Lord.
"Forgive me, Lord, and give me the strength not to offend You like that again."

She tried to remember all her sins and repented and repented on the way.
The other calmly walked towards the old man. "I'll come, I'll confess, I'm a sinner in everything, I'll say, tomorrow I'll take communion." And then she thinks: “What material should I buy for my daughter’s dress, and what style should she choose to suit her face ...” and similar worldly thoughts occupied the heart and mind of the second lady.

Together they entered the cell to Father Zosima. Addressing the first, the elder said:
- Get on your knees, I'll forgive your sins now.
- How, father, but I haven’t told you yet? ..
“You don’t have to say them, you said them all the time to the Lord, prayed to God all the way, so I’ll let you now, and tomorrow I’ll bless you to take communion ... And you,” he turned to another lady, “you go buy your daughter’s dress matter, choose a style, sew what you have in mind.
And when your soul comes to repentance, come to confession. And now I won't confess you."

About penances

In some cases, the priest may impose penance on the penitent - spiritual exercises prescribed with the aim of eradicating the habits of sin. In accordance with this goal, deeds of prayer and good deeds are assigned, which should be directly opposite to the sin for which they are appointed: for example, deeds of mercy are assigned to the money-lover, fasting to the unchaste, kneeling prayers to those who weaken in faith, etc. Sometimes, in view of the stubborn impenitence of a confessor of some sin, the confessor may excommunicate him for a certain period of time from participating in the Sacrament of Communion. The penance must be treated as the will of God, spoken through the priest about the penitent, and must be accepted for obligatory fulfillment. If, for one reason or another, it is impossible to fulfill the penance, one should turn to the priest who imposed it to resolve the difficulties that have arisen.

About the time of the Sacrament of Confession

According to existing church practice, the Sacrament of Confession is performed in churches on the morning of the service of the Divine Liturgy. In some churches, confession also takes place the night before. In churches where the Liturgy is served every day, confession is daily. In no case should one be late for the beginning of Confession, since the Sacrament begins with the reading of the rites, in which everyone who wishes to confess must prayerfully participate.

Final actions at confession: after confessing sins and reading the permissive prayer by the priest, the penitent kisses the Cross and the Gospel lying on the lectern and takes a blessing from the confessor.

The Connection of the Sacrament of Unction with the Forgiveness of Sins
"The prayer of faith will heal the sick... and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven" (James 5:15)
No matter how carefully we try to remember and write down our sins, it may happen that a significant part of them will not be said at confession, some will be forgotten, and some will simply not be realized and not noticed due to spiritual blindness.
In this case, the church comes to the aid of the penitent with the Sacrament of Unction, or, as it is often called, "Unction." This sacrament is based on the instructions of the Apostle James, the head of the Jerusalem Church.

“Is any of you sick, let him call the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. -fifteen).

Thus, in the Mystery of the Unction, we are forgiven sins that are not said at confession due to ignorance or forgetfulness. And since illness is a consequence of our sinful state, liberation from sin often leads to healing of the body.
Some of the negligent Christians neglect the Sacraments of the Church, for several, and even for many years, do not go to confession. And when they realize its necessity and come to confession, then, of course, it is difficult for them to remember all the sins committed over many years. In these cases, the Optina Elders have always recommended that such repentant Christians take part in three Sacraments at once: confession, consecration of the Unction, and Communion of the Holy Mysteries.
Some of the elders believe that not only the seriously ill, but also all those who are zealous for the salvation of their souls can participate in the Sacrament of the Unction in a few years.

At the same time, it should be pointed out that those Christians who do not neglect the fairly frequent Sacrament of Confession were not advised by the Optina elders to take unction without a serious illness.
In modern church practice, the Sacrament of the Unction is performed in churches every year during Great Lent.
Those Christians who, for some reason, will not be able to take part in the Sacrament of the Unction, need to remember the instructions of the elders Barsanuphius and John, which were given to the disciple to the question - "forgetfulness destroys the remembrance of many sins - what should I do?" The answer was:
“What creditor can you find more truly God, who knows even that which has not yet been?
So, lay on Him the account of the sins you have forgotten and say to him:
"Lord, since it is a sin to forget your sins, then I have sinned in everything to You, the One Knower of the Heart. Forgive me for everything according to Your love of mankind, for there the splendor of Your glory is manifested when You do not repay sinners according to their sins, for You have been interrogated forever. Amen."

COMMUNICATION OF THE HOLY MYSTERIES OF THE BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST

The Meaning of the Sacrament

"Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you will not have life in you" (John 6:53)
"He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him" (John 6:56)
With these words, the Lord pointed out the absolute necessity for all Christians to participate in the Sacrament of the Eucharist. The Sacrament itself was instituted by the Lord at the Last Supper.

"Jesus took bread, and having blessed it, broke it, and giving it to the disciples, he said: Take, eat: this is My Body. And, taking the cup and giving thanks, he gave it to them and said: Drink everything from it, for this is My Blood of the New Testament, poured out for many for the remission of sins" (Matthew 26:26-28).
As the Holy Church teaches, a Christian, taking Holy Communion, is mysteriously united with Christ, for in every particle of the fragmented Lamb the whole Christ is contained.

Immeasurable is the significance of the Sacrament of the Eucharist, the comprehension of which surpasses the possibilities of our reason.
This Sacrament ignites the love of Christ in us, elevates the heart to God, engenders virtues in it, restrains the attack of dark forces on us, grants strength against temptations, revitalizes the soul and body, heals them, gives them strength, returns virtues - restores that purity in us the soul that the original Adam had before the fall.

Reflections on the Divine Liturgy ep. Seraphim Zvezdinsky there is a description of the vision of one elder ascetic, which vividly characterizes the significance for the Christian of Communion of the Holy Mysteries.
The ascetic saw: “A sea of ​​fire, the waves heaved and seethed, presenting a terrible sight. On the opposite bank stood a beautiful garden. From there came the singing of birds, the fragrance of flowers wafted.
The ascetic hears a voice: "Cross this sea." But there was no way to go. For a long time he stood thinking about how to cross, and again he hears the voice.

"Take the two wings that the Divine Eucharist gave: one wing is the Divine Flesh of Christ, the second wing is His Life-Giving Blood. Without them, no matter how great the feat, it is impossible to reach the Kingdom of Heaven."

O. Valentin Svenitsky writes:
"The Eucharist is the basis of that real unity which we expect in the general resurrection, for both in the transubstantiation of the Gifts and in our communion is the guarantee of our salvation and resurrection not only spiritually, but also bodily."
Elder Parthenius of Kyiv Once, in a reverent feeling of fiery love for the Lord, he repeated a prayer in himself for a long time: “Lord Jesus, live in me and give me life in You” and heard a quiet, sweet voice: “He who eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood abides in Me and Az in him ".
In some spiritual illnesses, the sacrament of Communion is the most effective remedy: for example, when so-called "blasphemous thoughts" attack a person, the spiritual fathers offer to fight them by frequent communion of the Holy Mysteries.
Holy righteous Fr. John of Kronstadt writes about the significance of the Sacrament of the Eucharist in the struggle against strong temptations:
"If you feel the weight of the struggle and see that you cannot cope with evil alone, run to your spiritual father and ask him to share the Holy Mysteries with you. This is a great and all-powerful weapon in the struggle."

For one mentally ill, Father John recommended, as a means of healing, to live at home and partake of the Holy Mysteries more often.
Repentance alone is not enough to preserve the purity of our heart and strengthen our spirit in piety and virtue. The Lord said: “When an unclean spirit comes out of a person, he walks through dry places, seeking rest, and, not finding it, says: I will return to my house from where I came out. And when he comes, he finds it swept and cleaned. other spirits worse than themselves, and having entered, dwell there, and the last for that man is worse than the first (Luke 11:24-26).

So, if repentance cleanses us from the filthiness of our soul, then the communion of the Body and Blood of the Lord will infuse us with grace and prevent the return of the evil spirit, expelled by repentance, into our soul.
Therefore, according to the custom of the church, the Sacraments of Penance (confession) and Communion follow directly one after the other. And Rev. Seraphim of Sarov says that the rebirth of the soul is accomplished through two sacraments: "through repentance and complete cleansing from all sinful filth by the Most Pure and Life-Giving Mysteries of the Body and Blood of Christ."
At the same time, no matter how necessary it is for us to partake of the Body and Blood of Christ, it cannot take place unless repentance precedes it.

As Archbishop Arseny (Chudovskoy) writes:
“It is a great thing to receive the Holy Mysteries and great are the fruits of this: the renewal of our hearts by the Holy Spirit, the blissful mood of the spirit. And this work is so great, it requires so thorough preparation from us. And therefore you want to receive the grace of God from Holy Communion, - strive in every possible way to correct your heart."

How often should one partake of the Holy Mysteries?

To the question: "How often should one partake of the Holy Mysteries?" Saint John answers: "The more often, the better." However, he sets an indispensable condition: to come to Holy Communion with sincere repentance for one's sins and a clear conscience.
In the biography of Rev. Macarius the Great has the words of his one woman, who suffered severely from the slander of the sorcerer:
"You have been attacked because you have not communed the Holy Mysteries for five weeks."
Holy righteous Fr. John of Kronstadt pointed to the forgotten apostolic rule - to excommunicate those who had not been at Holy Communion for three weeks.

Rev. Seraphim of Sarov commanded the Diveyevo sisters to unfailingly go to confession and communion during all fasts and, moreover, on the twelfth feasts, without tormenting themselves with the thought that they were unworthy, “since one should not miss an opportunity to use the grace bestowed by the communion of the holy Mysteries of Christ as often as possible. If possible, concentrate in a humble awareness of one’s total sinfulness, with hope and firm faith in God’s inexpressible mercy, one should proceed to the holy Mystery that redeems everything and everyone.
Of course, it is very saving to receive communion on the days of your name day and birth, and for spouses on the day of their wedding.

Father Aleksey Zosimovsky recommended that his spiritual children also take Communion on the memorable days of the death and name day of deceased loved ones; this unites the souls of the living with the dead.
Archbishop Arseniy (Chudovskoy) writes: "Permanent Communion should be the ideal of all Christians. But the enemy of the human race ... immediately understood what power the Lord had given us in the Holy Mysteries. And he began the work of rejecting Christians from Holy Communion. We know from the history of Christianity that at first Christians took communion daily, then 4 times a week, then on Sundays and holidays, and there - in all fasts, i.e. 4 times a year, finally, barely once a year, and now even less often " .

"A Christian must always be ready for death and Communion," said one of the spiritual fathers.
And so, it is up to us to frequently participate in the Last Supper of Christ and receive at it the great grace of the Mysteries of the Body and Blood of Christ.
One of the spiritual daughters of the elder Fr. Alexia Mecheva once told him:
“Sometimes you yearn in your soul to unite with the Lord through Communion, but the thought that you have received Communion recently keeps you from doing so.
This means the Lord touches the heart, - the elder answered her, - so here all these cold reasonings are not needed and not appropriate ... good to be with Christ.
One of the wise pastors of the twentieth century, Fr. Valentin Svenitsky writes:
“Without frequent communion, spiritual life in the world is impossible. After all, your body dries up and becomes powerless when you do not give it food. And the soul demands its heavenly food. Otherwise, it will dry up and weaken.
Without communion, the spiritual fire in you will die out. Fill it with worldly rubbish. In order to get rid of this rubbish, we need a fire that burns the thorns of our sins.

Spiritual life is not an abstract theology, but a real and most undoubted life in Christ. But how can it begin if you do not receive in this terrible and great sacrament the fullness of the Spirit of Christ? How, having not accepted the Flesh and Blood of Christ, will you live in Him?
And here, as in repentance, the enemy will not leave you without attacks. And here he will build you all sorts of intrigues. He will erect many external and internal barriers.

Then you will have no time, then you will feel unwell, then you will want to postpone for a while, "to better prepare." Do not listen. Go. Confess, partake. You don't know when the Lord will call you."
Let each soul sensitively listen to his heart and be afraid to listen to the knocking at his door of the hand of the High Guest; let her be afraid that her hearing will be coarsened from worldly fuss and cannot hear the quiet and tender calls coming from the realm of Light.
Let the soul be afraid to replace the experiences of the heavenly joy of unity with the Lord with the muddy entertainments of the world or the base consolations of the bodily nature.

And when she is able to tear herself away from the world and everything sensual, when she longs for the light of the Heavenly world and reaches out to the Lord, let her dare to unite with Him in the great Mystery, dressing herself in the spiritual clothes of sincere repentance and the deepest humility and the unchanging fullness of spiritual poverty.

Let the soul also not be embarrassed by the fact that, with all its repentance, it is still unworthy of Communion.
This is what the old man says about it. Alexy Mechev:
“Communion more often and do not say that you are unworthy. If you say that, you will never receive communion, because you will never be worthy. Do you think that there is at least one person on Earth who is worthy of communion of the Holy Mysteries?
No one is worthy of this, and if we do receive communion, it is only through the special mercy of God.
We are not created for communion, but communion is for us. It is we, the sinners, the unworthy, the weak, who need this saving source more than anyone else."

And here is what the famous Moscow pastor Fr. Valentin Amfiteatrov:
"... Every day you need to be ready for communion. As for death ... The ancient Christians took communion every day.
We must approach the Holy Chalice and think that we are unworthy and cry out with humility: everything is here, in You, Lord - both mother, and father, and husband - all of you, Lord, and joy and consolation.

Known throughout Orthodox Russia, the elder of the Pskov-Caves Monastery sheigumen Savva (1898-1980) wrote in his book On the Divine Liturgy:

“The most pleasant confirmation of how much our Lord Jesus Christ Himself desires that we approach the Lord’s meal is his appeal to the apostles: “I desire this Easter to eat with you, before I even accept torment” (Lk. 22, 15) .
He did not tell them about the Old Testament Passover: it was celebrated annually and was common, but from now on it must completely stop. He ardently desired the Passover of the New Testament, that Passover in which He sacrifices Himself, offers Himself as food.
The words of Jesus Christ can be expressed as follows: with the desire of love and mercy, “I desire this Passover to eat with you,” because all My love for you, and all your true life and bliss, is imprinted in it.

If the Lord, out of His inexpressible love, so ardently desires it not for His own sake, but for the sake of us, then how ardently we must desire it, out of love and gratitude to Him, and for our own good and bliss!
Christ said: "Take, eat..." (Mark 14:22). He offered us His Body not for a single, or infrequent and occasional use, as medicine, but for constant and everlasting nourishment: eat, not taste. But if the Body of Christ were offered to us only as a medicine, then even then we would have to ask permission to take communion as often as possible, because. we are weak in soul and body, and the infirmities of the soul are especially evident in us.

The Lord gave us the Holy Mysteries, like daily bread, according to His word: "bread, I will give it, my flesh is" (John 6, 51).
This shows that Christ not only allowed, but also commanded that we often approach His meal. We do not leave ourselves for a long time without ordinary bread, knowing that otherwise our strength will weaken, and bodily life will cease. How can we not be afraid to leave ourselves for a long time without heavenly, divine bread, without the Bread of Life?
Those who rarely approach the Holy Chalice usually say in their defense: "We are unworthy, we are not ready." And whoever is not ready, let him not be lazy and get ready.

Not a single person is worthy of fellowship with the all-holy Lord, because God alone is sinless, but we have been given the right to believe, repent, be corrected, be forgiven and trust in the grace of the Savior of sinners and the Seeker of the lost.
Those who carelessly leave themselves unworthy of fellowship with Christ on earth will remain unworthy of fellowship with Him in Heaven. Is it reasonable to remove oneself from the source of life, power, light and grace? Reasonable is he who, to the best of his ability, corrects his unworthiness, resorts to Jesus Christ in His Most Pure Mysteries, otherwise the humble awareness of his unworthiness can turn into coldness towards faith and the cause of his salvation. Deliver me, Lord!"
In conclusion, we present the opinion of the official publication of the Russian Orthodox Church - the Journal of the Moscow Patriarchy (JMP No. 12,1989, p. 76) regarding the frequency of communion:

"Following the example of the Christians of the first centuries, when not only monks, but also ordinary laity, at every opportunity resorted to the Sacraments of Confession and Holy Communion, realizing what great significance they have, and we should, as often as possible, cleanse our conscience with repentance, strengthen our lives with confession faith in God and approach the Sacrament of Holy Communion, in order thereby to receive mercy and forgiveness of sins from God and unite more closely with Christ...
In modern practice, it is customary for all believers to receive communion at least once a month, and during fasting more often two or three times per fast. Communion is also on the day of the Angel and birthday. The order and frequency of communion of the Holy Mysteries are clarified by believers with their confessor and, with his blessing, they try to keep the terms of communion and confession.

How to Prepare for Holy Communion

The basis of preparation for the Sacrament of Communion is repentance. Awareness of one's sinfulness reveals personal infirmities and arouses the desire to become better through union with Christ in His Immaculate Mysteries. Prayer and fasting set the soul in a repentant mood.
The "Orthodox Prayer Book" (published by the Moscow Patriarchate, 1980) indicates that "... preparation for Holy Communion (in church practice it is called persecution) lasts several days and concerns both the bodily and spiritual life of a person. The body is prescribed abstinence , i.e. bodily cleanliness and restriction in food (fasting).On fasting days, food of animal origin is excluded - meat, milk, butter, eggs and, with strict fasting, fish.Bread, vegetables, fruits are consumed in moderation. should be scattered over the little things of life and have fun.

During the days of fasting, one should attend divine services in the temple, if circumstances permit, and more diligently follow the home prayer rule: whoever usually does not read all the morning and evening prayers, let him read everything in full. On the eve of communion, one must be at the evening service and read at home, in addition to the usual prayers for the future, the canon of repentance, the canon of the Mother of God and the guardian angel. The canons are read either one after the other in full, or combined in this way: the irmos of the first song of the penitential canon is read ("Like on dry land ...") and the troparia, then the troparia of the first song of the canon to the Mother of God ("Contain by many ..."), omitting the irmos "Water passed," and the troparia of the canon to the Guardian Angel, also without the irmos "Let's sing to the Lord." The following songs are read in the same way. The troparia before the canon to the Theotokos and the guardian angel in this case are omitted.
The canon for communion is also read and, whoever wishes, an akathist to Jesus the Sweetest. After midnight, they no longer eat or drink, for it is customary to start the Sacrament of Communion on an empty stomach. In the morning, morning prayers are read and all the following to Holy Communion, except for the canon read the day before.

Before communion, confession is necessary - whether in the evening, or in the morning, before the liturgy.

It should be noted that many believers rarely take communion, since they cannot find the time and strength for a long fast, which thus becomes an end in itself. In addition, a significant, if not most, part of the modern flock are Christians who have recently entered the Church, and therefore have not yet acquired proper prayer skills. Such a specified preparation may be unbearable.
The Church leaves the issue of the frequency of Communion and the amount of preparation for it to priests and confessors to decide. It is with the spiritual father that it is necessary to coordinate how often to take communion, how long to fast, and what prayer rule to perform before this. Different priests bless differently depending on the co-. standing health, age, degree of churchness and prayer experience of the fasting.
Those who come to the Sacraments of Confession and Communion for the first time can be recommended to focus all their attention on preparing for the first confession in their life.

It is very important before Communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ to forgive all your offenders. In a state of anger or enmity against someone, in no case should one take communion.

According to the custom of the Church, infants after their baptism up to the age of seven can take communion often, every Sunday, moreover, without prior confession, and starting from the age of 5-6, and if possible from an earlier age, it is useful to teach children to take communion on an empty stomach.

Customs of the Church for the day of Communion of the Holy Mysteries

Getting up in the morning, one preparing for Communion must brush his teeth so that no unpleasant smell is felt from him, insulting in some way the very shrine of the Gifts.

You need to come to the temple before the beginning of the Liturgy without delay. When carrying out the Holy Gifts, all communicants bow to the ground. The bow to the ground is repeated when the priest finishes reading the sacramental prayer "I believe, Lord, and I confess ...".
The communicants should approach the Holy Chalice gradually, not crowding, not pushing and not trying to get ahead of each other. It is best to read the Jesus Prayer while approaching the Chalice: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner"; or prayerfully sing with all those in the temple: "Take the body of Christ, taste the source of the immortal."

Approaching the holy Chalice, one does not need to be baptized, but to have hands folded crosswise on the chest (right to left) for fear of touching the Chalice or a liar.
Having received the Body and Blood of the Lord from the spoon, the communicant must kiss the edge of the Holy Chalice, as if the very rib of the Savior, from which blood and water flowed. Women with painted lips are not allowed to take Communion.
Moving away from the Holy Chalice, you need to make a bow before the icon of the Savior and go to the table with "warmth", and while drinking, wash your mouth so that any small particle does not remain in your mouth.

The day of communion is a special day for the Christian soul, when it unites with Christ in a special, mysterious way. As for the reception of the most honored guests, the whole house is cleaned and put in order and all ordinary affairs are left, so the day of communion should be celebrated as great holidays, devoting them, as far as possible, to solitude, prayer, concentration and spiritual reading.
Elder hieromonk Nil of Sorsky, after communion of the Holy Mysteries, used to spend some time in deep silence "concentrating in himself and advised others the same, saying that "it is necessary to give silence and silence the convenience of the Holy Mysteries to influence the saving soul, aching with sins."

Elder Fr. Alexy Zosimovsky points out, moreover, the need to take special care of oneself in the first two hours after communion; at this time, the human enemy is trying in every possible way to make a person insult the shrine, and it would cease to sanctify a person. She can be offended by sight, and a careless word, and hearing, and verbosity, and condemnation. He recommends on the day of Communion more silent.

"Therefore, it is necessary for the one who wants to come to Holy Communion to judge who and what he takes part in, and the one who takes communion - what he took part in. And before Communion, you need a reasoning about yourself and the great Gift, and after Communion, you need reasoning and remembrance of the Heavenly Gift. Before Communion, you need a heartfelt repentance, humility, putting off malice, anger, carnal whims, reconciliation with one’s neighbor, a firm offer and desire for a new and pious life in Christ Jesus. In a word, before Communion, true repentance and contrition of heart are needed; after repentance, the fruits of repentance, good deeds, are needed, without which true repentance cannot be. Therefore, Christians need to correct their lives and start a new, God-pleasing, so as not to judge and condemn they received Communion" (St. Tikhon of Zadonsk).
In what way may the Lord help us all.

List of used literature
1) Ep. Ignatius Brianchaninov. "To help the penitent." St. Petersburg, "Satis" 1994.
2) St. rights. John of Kronstadt. "Thoughts of a Christian on Repentance and Holy Communion". M., Synodal Library. 1990.
3) Prot. Grigory Dyachenko. "Questions on the confession of children". M., "The Pilgrim". 1994.
4) Schiegumen Savva. "On the Divine Liturgy". Manuscript.
5) Schiegumen Parthenius. "The Path to the One Needed - Communion with God" Manuscript.
6) ZhMP. 1989, 12. p. 76.
7) N.E. Pestov. "Modern Practice of Orthodox Piety". T. 2. S-Pb., "Satis". 1994.

What is the meaning of the Christian life? There can be many answers, but no one will argue that Orthodox Christians see the ultimate goal of earthly existence in eternal stay in paradise.

No one knows at what point a person's stay on earth can end, therefore, one should be ready every second for the transition to another world.

What is confession

The best way to get rid of sin is sincere repentance, when the thought of an unclean life becomes disgusting.

“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He, being faithful and just, will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:8, 9).

The mystery of confession in Orthodoxy gives Christians the opportunity to leave all their sins and brings them closer to the Knowledge of God and the Kingdom of Heaven. Humble prayer, frequent confession are the results of repentance, real contrition of the spirit, which takes place in a constant struggle with passions.

About other Sacraments of the Orthodox Church:

Christ and the sinner

Orthodox, who are constantly in prayer and repentance, bringing their bad deeds and thoughts to the altar of God's blood, are not afraid of death, for they know that their bad deeds are forgiven during confession.

Confession is a Sacrament during which, through a priest, as an intermediary, a person communicates with the Creator, renounces his sinful life in repentance and admitting himself a sinner.

Any, the smallest sin, can become a huge lock on the door of eternity. The repentant heart laid at the altar of God's love, the Creator holds in His hands, forgiving all sins, without the right to remember them, shortening earthly life and depriving them of eternal stay in paradise.

Bad deeds come from hell, a fallen person leads him into the existing world, acting as a guide.

A sincere confession of wrong deeds cannot be violent, only through ardent repentance, hatred for a perfect sin, dying for it and living in holiness, the Almighty opens His arms.

Forgiveness in Christianity

The mystery of confession in Orthodoxy guarantees that everything was said in front of the priest, who dies and does not leave the temple gates. There are no sins big and small, there are unrepentant sins, self-justification, alienating a person from accepting forgiveness. Through sincere repentance, a person comprehends the mystery of salvation.

Important! The holy fathers of the church forbid remembering sins confessed before God in sincere repentance, and forever abandoned by man.

Why do Orthodox confess?

Man consists of spirit, soul and body. Everyone knows that the body will turn to dust, but caring for bodily cleanliness occupies an important place in the life of Christians. The soul, which is to meet the Savior at the end of its life, also needs to be cleansed from sins.

Only the confession of sinful deeds, thoughts, words can wash away the dirt from the soul. The accumulation of impurities in the soul causes negative emotions:

• irritation;
• anger;
• apathy.

Often the Orthodox themselves cannot explain their behavior, they do not even suspect that unconfessed sins are the cause of everything.

The spiritual health of a person, a calm conscience directly depends on the frequency of confessing one's vicious inclinations.

Confession, accepted by God, is directly related, or rather, is the result of sincere repentance. A penitent person sincerely desires to live according to the commandments of the Lord, he is constantly critical of his errors and sins.

Confession in the Orthodox Church

According to St. Theophan the Recluse, repentance goes through four stages:

• recognize sin;
• plead guilty to the offense;
• make a decision to permanently break off their relationship with wrong actions or thoughts;
• tearfully pray to the Creator for forgiveness.

In obedience, going to a frank opening of his heart, which takes place in the presence of a priest, a person first of all steps over his pride. Some believers claim that it is possible to confess directly in the presence of the Creator, but according to the laws of the Orthodox Russian Church, the Sacrament of confession is considered legal if it is perfect through an intercessor, prayer book and witness in one person, through a clergyman.

The main thing in confessing sins is not the rank of mediator, but the state of the heart of the sinner, his heartfelt contrition and complete rejection of the committed offense.

What are the rules of confession

People who wish to perform the Sacrament of Confession approach the priest before the Liturgy or during it, but always before the Sacrament of Communion. To sick people, by prior agreement, the priests go to the house.

According to the Church Charter, when purifying an Orthodox soul, there are no reservations about fasting or prayer rules, the main thing is that a Christian believes and sincerely repents. People who, before coming to the temple, spend time realizing and writing down their sins are doing the right thing, but these records should be left at home.

In front of a priest, as in front of a doctor, they talk about what hurts, torments, and papers are not needed for this.

The deadly sins include:

• pride, hubris, vanity;
• fornication;
• desire for someone else's and envy;
• excessive pleasing of one's flesh;
• unbridled anger;
• a dull spirit that dries the bones.

If this is an offense, before going to the temple, it is necessary to reconcile with the offender and forgive the offending person.

In the presence of a priest, one should name sins, say that I repent and acknowledge it. In confession, we bring repentant sin to the footstool of the great God and ask for forgiveness. Do not confuse a heart-to-heart conversation with a spiritual mentor and the Sacrament of Confession.

When consulting with a counselor, Christians can talk about their problems, ask for advice, and when confessing sins, they should speak clearly, clearly and briefly . God sees a repentant heart, He does not need verbosity.

The Church points to the sin of insensibility during confession, when a person has no fear of the Creator, is of little faith, but came to the temple, for everyone came so that the neighbors could see his “piety”.

Cold, mechanical confession without preparation and sincere repentance is considered invalid, it offends the Creator. You can find several priests, tell each one one bad deed, but not repent of a single one, “putting on” the sin of hypocrisy and deceit.

First confession and preparation for it

Having made the decision to confess, you should:

• clearly understand the importance of this event;
• feel full responsibility before the Almighty;
• repent of the perfect;
• forgive all debtors;
• be filled with faith for forgiveness;
• lay down all sins with deep repentance.

The first stand in petition and repentance will make you mentally “shovel” your life from the point of view of repentance, if the desire for repentance is sincere. At the same time, one should constantly pray, ask God to open the darkest corners of the soul, bring all bad deeds into the light of God.

sacrament of repentance

It is a mortal sin to come to confession, and then take communion, having unforgiveness in your soul. The Bible says that people who come to communion unworthily get sick and die. (1 Corinthians 11:27-30)

Holy Scripture states that God forgives any repentant sin, except for blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. (Matt. 12:30-32)

If the committed atrocity is very great, then after confession before communion of the Blood of Jesus, the priest can appoint penance - a punishment in the form of many prostrations, many hours of canon readings, increased fasting and pilgrimage to holy places. It is impossible not to fulfill the penance, it can be canceled by the priest who imposed the punishment.

Important! After confession, they do not always receive communion, and it is impossible to receive Communion without confession.

Prayers before confession and communion: Christ is knocking at the door

Only pride and false shame, which is also related to pride, close the importance of complete trust in the Creator in His mercy and forgiveness. Righteous shame is born conscience, it is given by the Creator, a sincere Christian will always strive to clear his conscience as soon as possible.

What to say to a priest

When going to confession for the first time, one should remember that the meeting ahead is not with a clergyman, but with the Creator Himself.

Cleansing your soul and heart from the sinful heritage, you should confess your guilt in contrition, humility and reverence, while not touching on the sins of other people. They themselves will give an answer to the Creator. It is necessary to confess in firm faith that Jesus came in order to save and wash with His blood from the sinful deeds and thoughts of His children.

Opening your heart to God, you need to repent not only of obvious sins, but of those good deeds that could be done for people, the church, the Savior, but did not.

Carelessness in a trusted cause is an abomination before God.

Jesus, by His earthly death, proved that the path of purification is open to all, promising the thief, who recognized Him as God, the Kingdom of Heaven.

God does not look at the number of bad deeds on the day of confession, He sees a repentant heart.

A sign of forgiveness of sin will be a special peace in the heart, peace. At this time, the angels sing to Heaven, rejoicing in the salvation of another soul.

How to prepare for confession? Archpriest John Pelipenko

The desire to confess appears not only in people who bow before the law of God. Even the sinner is not lost to the Lord.

He is given the opportunity to change through the revision of his own views and the recognition of the sins committed, the correct repentance of them. Having cleansed himself of sins and embarked on the path of correction, a person will not be able to fall again.

The need to confess arises in someone who:

• committed the gravest sin;
• terminally ill;
• wants to change the sinful past;
• decided to get married;
• preparing for communion.

Babies up to the age of seven, and parishioners who were baptized that day, can receive Communion for the first time without confession.

Note! It is allowed to come to confession at the age of seven.

It often happens that a person of mature age needs to confess for the first time. In this case, you need to remember your sins committed from the age of seven.

No need to rush, remember everything, write down the list of sins on a piece of paper. The priest is a witness to the Sacrament, he should not be embarrassed and ashamed, as well as the all-forgiving God himself.

God, in the person of the holy fathers, forgives even grave sins. But in order to receive God's forgiveness, you need to seriously work on yourself.

To atone for sins, a penitent person performs the penance imposed on him by a priest. And only after its fulfillment, the repentant parishioner is forgiven with the help of the "permissive prayer" of the clergyman.

Important! When preparing yourself for confession, forgive those who offended you and ask for forgiveness from the one you offended.

You can go to confession, if only you are able to drive obscene thoughts away from yourself. No entertainment and frivolous literature, it is better to remember the Holy Scriptures.

Confession proceeds in the following order:

• wait your turn for confession;
• turn to those present with the words: “Forgive me, a sinner,” having heard in response that God will forgive, and we forgive, and only then approach the priest;
• in front of a high setup - an lectern, bow your head, cross yourself and bow, begin to confess correctly;
• after listing the sins, listen to the clergyman;
• then, crossing ourselves and bowing twice, we kiss the Cross and the holy book of the Gospel.

Think in advance how to confess correctly, what to say to the priest. An example, the definition of sins, can be taken from the Biblical Commandments. We begin each phrase with the words that she sinned and in what exactly.

We speak without details, we formulate only the sin itself, unless the priest himself asks about the details. If you need God's forgiveness, you must sincerely repent of your actions.

It is foolish to hide anything from the priest, he is the helper of the all-seeing God.

The goal of a spiritual healer is to help you repent of your sins. And if you have tears, the priest has achieved his goal.

What is considered a sin?

The well-known biblical commandments will help you determine which sins to name the priest during confession:

Important! The primary sins, on the basis of which others appear, include arrogance, pride and arrogance in communication.

An example of confession in the church: what sins to say?

Consider how to confess correctly, what to say to the priest, an example of confession.

A confession written on paper can be used if the parishioner is very shy. Even the priests allow this, but you don’t need to give the sample to the priest, we list it in our own words.

In Orthodoxy, an example of confession is welcomed:

1. approaching the priest, do not think about earthly affairs, try to listen to your soul;
2. turning to the Lord, it must be said that I have sinned before You;
3. list the sins, saying: “I have sinned ... (by adultery or lying or something else)”;
4. sins are told without details, but not very briefly;
5. having finished the enumeration of sins, we repent and ask for salvation and alms from the Lord.

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Discussion: 3 comments

And if there are still few sins, but it’s not very clean on my conscience, and I promised my MCH that I would definitely go to church. His first requirement is to go to confession and repent of all grave things. Luckily, I don't have many. And now I have a real problem. What if you confess online? Who thinks about this topic? Well, as I understand it, you post your site and there the priest prays for you and forgives sin. Not?

Reply

1. Excuse me, in my opinion it is not necessary to go to the temple at the request of the MCH. What is it for? This is done for GOD, for the purification of the soul, and not because someone "demands". As far as I understand, you do not have this need. God cannot be deceived - neither through the Internet, nor in the temple.

   Reply

Reply to Christina. Christina, no, you can't confess over the Internet. I understand that you are afraid of the priest, but think about it, the priest is only a witness to your repentance (after your death he will intercede for you before God and say that you repented if it was, in turn, the demons will talk about what you did not repent of ) do not complicate the future either for the father or for yourself. You don't need to hide sins, you don't need to hide them otherwise in this way you will increase them in number for yourself. We must honestly tell the whole truth about our evil deeds, not justifying ourselves, but condemning ourselves for them. Repentance is the correction of thoughts and life. After confession, you kiss the cross and the Gospel as a promise to God to fight the sins that you have confessed. Look for God! Guardian Angel!

Reply

Church life is filled with different rules and rituals. But there is one most important - this is the Sacrament of Communion. However, it is necessary to know exactly how to take communion in church. Otherwise, you can violate the strict church orders. It is believed that this offends God, one should not allow such a sin. Therefore, this issue should be taken seriously.

What is Communion

Before you take communion in church, you need to devote several days to preparation. This is the most important Sacrament of the seven that are in Orthodoxy. Catholics have similar sacraments. Protestant churches have different views on this issue.

During the Last Supper, Christ for the first time communed his disciples, we will offer them bread and wine. Until the moment of the Savior's death on the cross, people sacrificed animals as a prototype of the future trials of the Son of God. After He was resurrected, there was no need for other offerings. Therefore, now prayers are read over bread and wine. They also take Communion.

Why does the church demand that parishioners take communion and confess? How to do it right? It is a symbol of the unity of God with man. Christ Himself commanded people to do this. The sacrament turns bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Jesus. By accepting them, the believer receives the Lord into himself. He maintains his spiritual strength at the proper level.

Communion gives a great "charge" of spirituality. It is especially important that this Sacrament be performed over the sick and dying. The living must come to it regularly. At least once a fast, preferably on every big holiday.

How to Prepare for Communion

Everyone is not allowed to the sacrament in the Orthodox Church. A number of conditions must be met:

• be an Orthodox Christian;

• maintain a strict fast (at least 3 days);

• read all the necessary prayers;

• go to confession after the All-Night Vigil;

• come to Liturgy in the morning.

Only if all these conditions are fulfilled, the parishioner will be able to properly take communion in the Church. In some churches, confession is not received the night before, but in the morning during the service. But then it turns out that during the Divine service people are distracted by standing in lines. Still, it is better to confess when there is no need to rush and there is no pandemonium around.

Without confession, the following are allowed to the Sacrament:

• infants (children under 6 years old) - however, it is undesirable to feed them before the service;

• those who received Baptism the day before - but they also need to fast and also read prayers.

Fasting must be strict - it is required to give up all animal food (meat, fish, all dairy, eggs). The church calendar will help you navigate. It indicates which products are allowed. On some days, vegetable oil may be banned. For the sick and the elderly, the priest can make an exception, but in general it is not customary to relax the fast. Also, you can not drink after 12 at night and until the very moment of Communion.

Many are also concerned about the question of how to properly confess in church - embarrassment and inexperience interfere. But in order to prove to God your firm desire to improve, you will have to overcome your fears. The priest is only a witness, he has seen and heard a lot, so it is unlikely that he will be very surprised. But before you approach the confessor, you need to prepare.

Since many are overwhelmed at confession, there is a tradition to write down their sins on a piece of paper. At the end of the confession, the priest takes this “list” and tears it up, as a sign that the Lord forgives everything. To compose a confession, you can use a special brochure, or simply take 10 commandments and think about what you have sinned against each.

• Do not blame others in confession, thereby justifying your negative behavior. Example: the wife yelled at her husband and says that he is “to blame” because he came drunk. So be it, but in any situation one must restrain oneself, act with love, without insults. As well as confessing in the church, it is necessary, talking only about yourself, and not about others.

• There is also no need to boast that there are no sins against some commandments. Yes, and is it? Adultery is considered not only physical adultery, but even the thought of it. Smoking is a slow form of suicide, and it is the gravest sin. In addition, the smoker harms others, exacerbating guilt. It is necessary to repent of this sin, because a Christian must maintain order not only in the soul, but also monitor the health of the body.

• No need to argue with the priest. This is a pure sin, for which they can generally be excommunicated from communion. Most likely, there are things that you still do not understand. You should reflect on what has been said.

There are no strict rules governing what to say in church during confession. It is important to show a sincere desire to improve. Confessors usually help those who are having difficulty by asking questions. There is no need to enumerate every sin whose name is read in the books. Many have a common root - pride, greed, unwillingness to work on themselves, dislike for others.

Prayers and worship

After the sins are named, the priest will cover his head with an epitrachelion (part of the vestment, a long embroidered strip), and read a special prayer. During it, you will need to give your name. After that, take a blessing from the priest, listen to instructions, if any. Then you need to go home to prepare further.

Before taking communion, one should read the daily prayer rule and special sacramental canons. They are published in all prayer books. The canon is a kind of church poetry that sets the soul in the right mood. You can read them in church before going to confession.

After the canons, prayers follow, they can be read in the morning, if there is time, only not during the Liturgy, but before it. The sacramental rule is sometimes broken into several parts to be read over the course of three days. But then the necessary mood is not reached. In case of doubt, you should ask the priest for advice - he will tell you how best to proceed.

We must try to maintain peace of mind during fasting days, not to quarrel with anyone, or all preparation will be lost. Many holy fathers teach that abstaining from certain foods is not as important as abstaining from anger, bad deeds.

• You must come to the Liturgy without delay.

• Small children are usually brought to Communion later - the priest will tell you what time to come.

• Women should not put on much perfume and make up - the Church is not a secular party, but the Temple of God.

• If a remark was made in the church, it is better not to be offended, but to thank and step aside.

• If after confession they committed some kind of sin, you should try to find your confessor and tell him about it. Usually, before Communion, one of the clergy leaves the altar to maintain order.

• Before you go to the Cup, you need to fold your hands on your chest so that the right one is on top. Make earthly bows in advance!

If a person has just accepted Baptism, he is obliged to come to the next Liturgy. He will be admitted to Communion without confession. Otherwise, the "Christian" demonstrates a complete disregard for everything on which the spiritual life is built. Baptism as a ritual does not guarantee salvation, for this it is necessary to constantly improve.

Now you know how to take communion and confess in church. Over time, most questions disappear by themselves, yesterday's newcomer becomes an experienced parishioner. May there be the acceptance of the Holy Mysteries of Christ for the salvation of soul and body!

How to Confess for the First Time