Confession and Communion: how inseparable is their connection? Confession: how it goes, how to prepare, what to say to the priest

Every believer must understand that in confession he confesses his deeds to the Lord. Each of his sins must be covered by the desire to atone for his guilt before the Lord, the only way to achieve his forgiveness.

If a person feels that his heart is heavy, then it is necessary to go to church and go through the sacrament of confession. After repentance, you will feel much better, and a heavy burden will fall from your shoulders. The soul will become free and conscience will no longer torment you.

What is needed for confession

Before you properly confess in church, you need to understand what to say there. Before confession, you need to make the following preparations:

• realize your sins, sincerely repent of them;
• have a sincere desire for sin to be left behind, with faith in the Lord;
• sincerely believe in the fact that confession will help to purify spiritually with the help of prayers and sincere repentance.

Confession will help remove sins from the soul only if repentance is sincere and the person's faith is strong. If you said to yourself “I want to confess”, then your conscience and faith in the Lord should tell you where to start.

How is confession

If you are thinking about how to confess in church correctly, then you must first understand that all actions must be as sincere as possible.. In its process, it is necessary to open your heart and your soul, fully repenting of your deed. And if there are people who do not understand its meaning, who do not feel relief after it, then these are simply unbelieving people who have not really realized their sins and certainly have not repented of them.

It is important to understand that confession is not just a listing of all your sins. Many people think that the Lord already knows everything about them. But that's not what He expects from you. In order for the Lord to forgive you, you should be willing to get rid of sins, repent of them. Only then can relief be expected after confession.

What to do during confession

People who have never done the sacrament of confession do not have the slightest idea how to properly confess to a priest. In churches, all people who are ready to confess are welcome. Even for the biggest sinners, the way there is never closed. Moreover, priests often help their parishioners in the process of confession, pushing them to the right actions. Therefore, there is no need to be afraid of confession, even if you do not know how to confess correctly for the first time.

During individual confession, one should not forget about those sins that were mentioned during the general sacrament. You can do this with any words, since the form of repentance does not matter. You can express your sin in one word, such as “stole,” or you can tell more about it. You need to speak from the heart, with the words that your heart tells you. After all, you pour out your thoughts before God, and it does not matter to him what the priest may think at this time. Therefore, there is no need to be ashamed of your words.

What to do if you forgot to name some sin?

Every person can get excited. You can then just go to the priest and tell everything. There is nothing criminal in this.

Many parishioners write down their sins on a piece of paper and so come to confess. This has its advantages. Firstly, this way you will not forget about the main thing, and secondly, by writing down, you will consider your actions and understand that you did wrong.

But here, too, one should not overdo it, as this process can make confession a mere formality.

At the first confession, a person must remember all his misdeeds, starting from the age of six. After that, it is no longer necessary to remember those sins that have already been named before. If they, of course, did not commit more of this sin.

If the above offenses are not considered a sin, then the priest should tell the person about it, and together they should think about why this act bothers the parishioner so much.

How to confess

Having made the decision to confess, you should find out how such a procedure takes place. After all, for this there is a whole Orthodox ritual that takes place in a specially designated place called the lectern. It is a table with four kuts, on which you can see the Holy Gospel and the cross.

Before repenting of sins, it is necessary to approach him and put two fingers on the Gospel. After that, the priest can already put an epitrachelion on his head. In appearance, it somewhat resembles a scarf.

But a priest can do this even after he has listened to the sins of a person. After that, the clergyman will read a prayer for the remission of sins. The priest baptizes a parishioner.

At the end of the prayer, the epitrachelion is removed from the head. Even then you need to cross yourself, kiss the holy cross. Only then can you receive a blessing from the priest.

The priest after confession can assign a penance to a person. Recently, this has happened quite rarely, but you don’t need to be afraid of such a step - these are just actions, the purpose of which is to quickly eradicate sins from a person’s life.

But the priest can soften or even cancel the penance if the person asks for it. Of course, for such a step, you need to have a good reason. Very often, prayers, prostrations, or other actions are prescribed as penance, which should become an act of mercy on the part of the confessing person. But lately, priests most often prescribe penance only if the person himself asked for it.

How to confess correctly - advice from a priest

It often happens that during confession, tears flow from a person. There is no need to be ashamed of this, but one should not turn tears of repentance into hysteria either.

What is the best way to go to confession?

Before you go to confession, you should review your wardrobe. Men must come in long pants, long-sleeved shirts or T-shirts. It is very important that the clothes do not depict various mythical characters, women without clothes or scenes with elements of smoking or drinking alcohol. In the warm season, men should stay in the church without hats.

Women should dress very modestly for confession. Outerwear must necessarily cover the shoulders and décolleté. The skirt should not be too short, maximum to the knees. There should also be a scarf on the head. It is very important not to make up and, moreover, not to use lipstick. because you need to kiss the cross and the Gospel. You should not wear shoes with long heels, as the service can go long enough and your legs will get tired.

Preparing for Confession and Communion

Confession and communion can take place on the same day, but this is not necessary. You can confess during any Divine service, but you need to prepare much more seriously for the second sacrament, since it is very important to take the sacrament correctly.

Before the sacrament, communion must go at least three days of strict fasting. A week before this, it is necessary to read akathists to the Mother of God and the Saints. On the day before communion, it is worth attending the evening Service. Do not forget about the proofreading of three canons:

• Savior;
• Mother of God;
• Guardian Angel.

You are not allowed to eat or drink anything before taking communion. It is also necessary to read morning prayers after sleep. At confession, the priest will definitely ask the question of whether the person observed the fast before communion and read all the prayers.

Preparing for the sacrament includes avoiding marital obligations, smoking, and drinking alcohol. It is not worth while preparing for this sacrament to swear, gossip about other people. This is very important, because preparations are underway to receive the Blood and Body of Christ.

Before the Chalice of Christ, you need to stand with your arms crossed on your chest and, before drinking wine and bread, say your name.

How to Confess for the First Time

If a person wants to confess for the first time, then he needs to understand that it is not just repentance that awaits him. Such a confession is usually called a general confession. It must be approached consciously and very carefully. It is important for a person to concentrate and remember all his sins from the age of six (next times this will not be necessary).

Church ministers recommend fasting during the preparation period and abandoning relationships with members of the opposite sex. How long to fast depends on the person. You need to listen to the needs of your soul and follow them.

Do not forget these days about reading prayers and reading the Bible. In addition, it is necessary to familiarize yourself with the literature that exists on this topic. Some books may be recommended by a priest. But before reading unverified publications, it is better to consult with your priest.

In confession, you should not use any memorized words or phrases. After the person talks about the sins, the priest can ask some more questions. They need to be answered calmly, even if they confuse a person. Exciting questions can be asked by the parishioner himself, because the first confession exists so that a person embarks on the true path and does not leave it.

But do not forget about other people who came to the Liturgy and also want to confess. No need to take a very long time, even if there are still some questions. They can be given to the priest after the Service.

The sacrament of confession has its own purpose - it cleanses human souls from sins. But do not forget that you need to confess constantly. After all, in our troubled times it is impossible to live without sinning. And all sins are a heavy burden on our soul and our conscience.

What to say in confession - a list of women's sins

1. She violated the rules of good behavior for those who pray in the holy temple.
2. She had dissatisfaction with her life and people.
3. She performed prayers without zeal and a low bow to the icons, she prayed lying down, sitting (without need, out of laziness).
4. She sought fame and praise in virtues and labors.
5. I was not always content with what I had: I wanted to have beautiful, varied clothes, furniture, delicious food.
6. Annoyed and offended when she received a refusal of her desires.
7. She did not abstain from her husband during pregnancy, on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, on fasts, in uncleanness, by agreement, she was with her husband.
8. Sinned with disgust.
9. After committing a sin, she did not repent immediately, but kept it to herself for a long time.
10. She sinned with idle talk, dishonesty. I remembered the words spoken against me by others, I sang shameless worldly songs.
11. She complained about a bad road, about the length and tediousness of the service.
12. I used to save money for a rainy day, as well as for a funeral.
13. She was angry with her loved ones, scolded her children. She did not tolerate remarks from people, fair reproaches, she immediately fought back.
14. She sinned with vanity, asking for praise, saying “you cannot praise yourself, no one will praise you.”
15. The deceased was commemorated with alcohol; on a fast day, the memorial table was modest.
16. Didn't have a firm determination to give up sin.
17. Doubted the honesty of others.
18. Missed chances to do good.
19. She suffered from pride, did not condemn herself, was not always the first to ask for forgiveness.
20. Allowed spoilage of products.
21. She did not always reverently keep the shrine (artos, water, prosphora spoiled).
22. I sinned for the purpose of “repenting.”
23. She objected, justifying herself, got annoyed at the stupidity, stupidity and ignorance of others, made reprimands and remarks, contradicted, divulged sins and weaknesses.
24. Attributed sins and weaknesses to others.
25. She succumbed to rage: scolded loved ones, insulted her husband and children.
26. Made others angry, irritable, indignant.
27. She sinned by condemning her neighbor, blackened his good name.
28. Sometimes she was despondent, carried her cross with a murmur.
29. Intervened in other people's conversations, interrupted the speaker's speech.
30. She sinned with quarrelsomeness, compared herself with others, complained and became angry at offenders.
31. She thanked people, she did not extend her eyes of gratitude to God.
32. Fell asleep with sinful thoughts and dreams.
33. I noticed bad words and deeds of people.
34. Drank and ate food that was harmful to health.
35. She was embarrassed by the spirit of slander, considered herself better than others.
36. She sinned by indulgence and indulgence in sins, self-complacency, self-indulgence, disrespect for old age, untimely eating, intransigence, inattention to requests.
37. I missed the opportunity to sow the word of God, to bring benefits.
38. She sinned with gluttony, larynx: she loved to eat too much, savor tidbits, and enjoyed drunkenness.
39. She was distracted from prayer, distracted others, emitted bad air in the temple, went out when necessary, without saying it at confession, hastily prepared for confession.
40. She sinned with laziness, idleness, exploited other people's labor, speculated in things, sold icons, did not go to church on Sundays and holidays, was lazy to pray.
41. Hardened towards the poor, did not accept strangers, did not give to the poor, did not clothe the naked.
42. Trusted in man more than in God.
43. Was visiting drunk.
44. I did not send gifts to those who offended me.
45. Was upset at a loss.
46. ​​I fell asleep during the day without need.
47. I was burdened by regrets.
48. I did not protect myself from colds, I was not treated by doctors.
49. Deceived in a word.
50. Exploited someone else's labor.
51. I was despondent in sorrows.
52. She was hypocritical, pleasing to people.
53. Wished evil, was cowardly.
54. Was inventive for evil.
55. Was rude, not condescending to others.
56. I did not force myself to do good deeds, to pray.
57. Angered the authorities at rallies.
58. Reduced prayers, skipped, rearranged words.
59. Envy others, wished for honor.
60. She sinned with pride, vanity, self-love.
61. I watched dances, dances, various games and spectacles.
62. She sinned with idle talk, secret eating, petrification, insensitivity, neglect, disobedience, intemperance, stinginess, condemnation, greed, reproach.
63. Spent the holidays in booze and earthly amusements.
64. She sinned with sight, hearing, taste, smell, touch, inaccurate observance of fasts, unworthy communion of the Body and Blood of the Lord.
65. She got drunk, laughed at someone else's sin.
66. She sinned with lack of faith, infidelity, treason, deceit, lawlessness, groaning over sin, doubt, freethinking.
67. She was inconstant in good deeds, did not take pleasure in reading the holy Gospel.
68. Made up excuses for my sins.
69. She sinned with disobedience, arbitrariness, unfriendliness, malice, disobedience, insolence, contempt, ingratitude, severity, slander, oppression.
70. She did not always conscientiously fulfill her official duties, was careless in her affairs and hastily.
71. She believed in signs and various superstitions.
72. Was an instigator of evil.
73. Went to weddings without a church wedding.
74. I sinned with spiritual insensitivity: hope for myself, for magic, for divination.
75. Did not keep these vows.
76. Hiding sins at confession.
77. Tried to learn other people's secrets, read other people's letters, eavesdropped on telephone conversations.
78. In great sorrow she wished for herself death.
79. Wore immodest clothes.
80. Talked during the meal.
81. I drank and ate what was said, “charged” by Chumak water.
82. Worked through strength.
83. I forgot about my Guardian Angel.
84. She sinned with laziness to pray for her neighbors, she did not always pray when asked about it.
85. I was ashamed to cross myself among unbelievers, took off the cross, going to the bathhouse and to the doctor.
86. She did not keep the vows given at Holy Baptism, did not preserve the purity of her soul.
87. She noticed the sins and weaknesses of others, divulged and reinterpreted them for the worse. She swore, swore by her head, by her life. Called people "devil", "Satan", "demon".
88. She called the dumb cattle the names of saints: Vaska, Masha.
89. She did not always pray before eating food, sometimes she had breakfast in the morning before the celebration of the Divine Service.
90. Being previously an unbeliever, she tempted her neighbors into unbelief.
91. She set a bad example with her life.
92. I was lazy to work, shifting my work onto the shoulders of others.
93. She did not always treat the word of God with care: she drank tea and read the Holy Gospel (which is irreverence).
94. Took Epiphany water after eating (without need).
95. I tore lilacs at the cemetery and brought them home.
96. She did not always keep the days of communion, she forgot to read thanksgiving prayers. I ate these days, slept a lot.
97. She sinned with idleness, late arrival to the temple and early departure from it, rare going to the temple.
98. Neglected menial work when it was in dire need.
99. She sinned with indifference, was silent when someone blasphemed.
100. She did not exactly observe fast days, during fasts she was fed up with fast food, she tempted others to eat tasty and inaccurate according to the charter: a hot loaf, vegetable oil, seasoning.
101. She was fond of negligence, relaxation, carelessness, trying on clothes and jewelry.
102. She reproached the priests, employees, spoke about their shortcomings.
103. Gave advice on abortion.
104. Violated someone else's dream through negligence and insolence.
105. Read love letters, copied, memorized passionate poems, listened to music, songs, watched shameless movies.
106. She sinned with immodest glances, looked at someone else's nakedness, wore immodest clothes.
107. I was tempted in a dream and passionately remembered it.
108. I suspected in vain (slandered in my heart).
109. She recounted empty, superstitious tales and fables, praised herself, did not always tolerate the revealing truth and offenders.
110. Showed curiosity to other people's letters and papers.
111. She idly inquired about the weaknesses of her neighbor.
112. Not freed from the passion to tell or ask about the news.
113. I read prayers and akathists copied with errors.
114. I considered myself better and more worthy than others.
115. I do not always light lamps and candles in front of icons.
116. Violated the secrecy of her own and someone else's confession.
117. Participated in bad deeds, persuaded to a bad deed.
118. Stubborn against good, did not listen to good advice. Boasted beautiful clothes.
119. I wanted everything to be my way, I was looking for the perpetrators of my sorrows.
120. After praying, she had evil thoughts.
121. Spent money on music, cinema, circus, sinful books and other amusements, lent money for obviously bad deeds.
122. Plotted in thoughts, inspired by the enemy, against the holy faith and the Holy Church.
123. Violated the peace of mind of the sick, looked at them as sinners, and not as a test of their faith and virtue.
124. Yielded to untruth.
125. I ate and went to bed without praying.
126. Ate until mass on Sundays and holidays.
127. She spoiled the water when she bathed in the river from which they drink.
128. She talked about her exploits, labors, boasted of her virtues.
129. With pleasure I used fragrant soap, cream, powder, dyed my eyebrows, nails and eyelashes.
130. Sinned with hope “God will forgive”.
131. I hoped for my strength, abilities, and not for the help and mercy of God.
132. She worked on holidays and weekends, from work on these days she did not give money to the poor and the poor.
133. I visited a healer, went to a fortune-teller, was treated with “biocurrents”, sat at sessions of psychics.
134. She sowed enmity and discord among people, she herself offended others.
135. Sold vodka and moonshine, speculated, drove moonshine (was present at the same time) and took part.
136. Suffered from gluttony, even got up to eat and drink at night.
137. She drew a cross on the ground.
138. I read atheistic books, magazines, “tracts about love”, looked at pornographic pictures, maps, half-naked images.
139. Distorted Holy Scripture (mistakes in reading, singing).
140. She was exalted with pride, she sought primacy and supremacy.
141. In anger, she mentioned evil spirits, invoked a demon.
142. Was engaged in dancing and playing on holidays and Sundays.
143. In uncleanness she entered the temple, ate prosphora, antidor.
144. In anger, I scolded and cursed those who offended me: so that no bottom, no tire, etc.
145. Spent money on amusements (attractions, carousels, all sorts of spectacles).
146. She took offense at her spiritual father, grumbled at him.
147. Disdain to kiss icons, take care of the sick, old people.
148. She teased deaf-mutes, weak-minded, minors, angered animals, repaid evil for evil.
149. Tempted people, wore translucent clothes, miniskirts.
150. She swore, was baptized, saying: “I’ll fail in this place,” etc.
151. Retelling ugly stories (sinful in their essence) from the life of her parents and neighbors.
152. Had a spirit of jealousy for a friend, sister, brother, friend.
153. She sinned with quarrelsomeness, self-will, lamenting that there is no health, strength, strength in the body.
154. Envy rich people, the beauty of people, their intelligence, education, prosperity, goodwill.
155. She did not keep her prayers and good deeds secret, she did not keep church secrets.
156. She justified her sins by illness, infirmity, bodily weakness.
157. She condemned other people's sins and shortcomings, compared people, gave them characteristics, judged them.
158. Revealed other people's sins, mocked them, ridiculed people.
159. Deliberately deceived, told a lie.
160. Hastily read the holy books, when the mind and heart did not assimilate what they read.
161. She left prayer because of fatigue, justifying herself with infirmity.
162. She rarely wept that I was living unrighteously, forgot about humility, self-reproach, about salvation, and about the terrible judgment.
163. In life, she did not betray herself to the will of God.
164. Ruined her spiritual home, mocked people, discussed the fall of others.
165. She herself was an instrument of the devil.
166. She did not always cut off her will before the elder.
167. I spent a lot of time on empty letters, and not on spiritual ones.
168. Didn't have a sense of the fear of God.
169. Was angry, shook her fist, cursed.
170. Read more than pray.
171. Yielded to persuasion, temptation to sin.
172. Powerfully ordered.
173. She slandered others, forced others to swear.
174. Turned her face away from those who asked.
175. She violated the peace of mind of her neighbor, had a sinful mood of spirit.
176. She did good without thinking about God.
177. Was conceited with a place, title, position.
178. The bus did not give way to the elderly, passengers with children.
179. When buying, she bargained, fell into curiosity.
180. She did not always accept the words of the elders and confessors with faith.
181. Watched with curiosity, asked about worldly things.
182. Unlived flesh with a shower, bath, bath.
183. Traveled aimlessly, for the sake of boredom.
184. When the visitors left, she did not try to free herself from sinfulness by prayer, but remained in it.
185. She allowed herself privileges in prayer, pleasures in worldly pleasures.
186. She pleased others for the sake of the flesh and the enemy, and not for the benefit of the spirit and salvation.
187. She sinned with a non-soul-beneficial attachment to friends.
188. Was proud of herself when doing a good deed. I did not humiliate myself, I did not reproach myself.
189. She did not always feel sorry for sinful people, but scolded and reproached them.
190. Was dissatisfied with her life, scolded her and said: "When only death will take me."
191. There were times when she called annoyingly, knocked loudly to open.
192. While reading, I didn't think about the Holy Scripture.
193. She did not always have cordiality towards visitors and the memory of God.
194. She did things out of passion and worked without need.
195. Often kindled by empty dreams.
196. She sinned with malice, did not remain silent in anger, did not move away from the one who provoked anger.
197. In illness, she often used food not for satisfaction, but for pleasure and enjoyment.
198. Coldly received mentally useful visitors.
199. I grieved for the one who offended me. And grieved at me when I offended.
200. At prayer, she did not always have repentant feelings, humble thoughts.
201. Insulted her husband, who avoided intimacy on the wrong day.
202. In anger she encroached on the life of her neighbor.
203. I have sinned and am sinning fornication: I was with my husband not to conceive children, but out of lust. In the absence of her husband, she defiled herself with masturbation.
204. At work, she experienced persecution for the truth and grieved about it.
205. Laughed at the mistakes of others and made comments out loud.
206. She wore women's whims: beautiful umbrellas, magnificent clothes, other people's hair (wigs, hairpieces, braids).
207. She was afraid of sufferings, endured them reluctantly.
208. She often opened her mouth to show off her gold teeth, wore gold-rimmed glasses, an abundance of rings and gold jewelry.
209. Asked for advice from people who do not have a spiritual mind.
210. Before reading the word of God, she did not always call on the grace of the Holy Spirit, she took care to only read more.
211. Transferred the gift of God to the womb, voluptuousness, idleness and sleep. Did not work, having talent.
212. I was too lazy to write and rewrite spiritual instructions.
213. Dyed her hair and rejuvenated, visited beauty salons.
214. When giving alms, she did not combine it with the correction of her heart.
215. She did not evade flatterers, and did not stop them.
216. She had a predilection for clothes: care, as it were, not to get dirty, not to get dusty, not to get wet.
217. She did not always wish her enemies salvation and did not care about it.
218. At prayer she was a "slave of necessity and duty."
219. After fasting, she leaned on fast food, ate to the point of heaviness in the stomach and often without time.
220. She rarely prayed at night. She sniffed tobacco and dabbled in smoking.
221. She did not avoid spiritual temptations. Had a soulful date. Fell in spirit.
222. On the road, she forgot about prayer.
223. Intervened with instructions.
224. Didn't sympathize with the sick and mourners.
225. Didn't always lend.
226. Feared sorcerers more than God.
227. She spared herself for the good of others.
228. Dirty and spoiled sacred books.
229. She spoke before the morning and after the evening prayer.
230. She brought glasses to the guests against their will, treated them beyond measure.
231. She did the works of God without love and diligence.
232. Often did not see her sins, rarely condemned herself.
233. She amused herself with her face, looking in the mirror, making grimaces.
234. She spoke about God without humility and caution.
235. Weary of service, waiting for the end, hurrying to the exit as soon as possible in order to calm down and take care of worldly affairs.
236. Rarely did self-tests, in the evening I did not read the prayer “I confess to you ...”
237. Rarely thought about what she heard in the temple and read in Scripture.
238. She did not look for traits of kindness in an evil person and did not talk about his good deeds.
239. Often did not see her sins and rarely condemned herself.
240. I took contraceptives. She demanded protection from her husband, interruption of the act.
241. Praying for health and repose, she often went over names without the participation and love of her heart.
242. She uttered everything when it would be better to remain silent.
243. In a conversation, she used artistic techniques. She spoke in an unnatural voice.
244. She was offended by inattention and neglect of herself, was inattentive to others.
245. She did not abstain from excesses and pleasures.
246. She wore other people's clothes without permission, spoiled other people's things. In the room she blew her nose on the floor.
247. I was looking for benefits and benefits for myself, and not for my neighbor.
248. Forced a person to sin: to lie, steal, peep.
249. To inform and retell.
250. I found pleasure in sinful dates.
251. Visited places of wickedness, debauchery and godlessness.
252. She turned her ear to hear evil.
253. She attributed her successes to herself, and not to God's help.
254. While studying the spiritual life, she did not fulfill it in deeds.
255. In vain she disturbed people, did not calm the angry and sad.
256. Often washed clothes, wasted time without need.
257. Sometimes she fell into danger: she ran across the road in front of transport, crossed the river on thin ice, etc.
258. She towered over others, showing her superiority and wisdom of mind. She allowed herself to humiliate another, mocking the shortcomings of the soul and body.
259. Postponed the deeds of God, mercy and prayer for later.
260. She did not mourn herself when she did a bad deed. With pleasure she listened to slanderous speeches, blasphemed life and the treatment of others.
261. Didn't use surplus income for spiritually useful things.
262. She did not save from the days of fasting in order to give to the sick, the needy, and children.
263. Worked reluctantly, grumbling and vexed because of the small pay.
264. She was the cause of sin in family discord.
265. Without gratitude and self-reproach she endured sorrows.
266. She didn't always go into seclusion in order to be alone with God.
267. She lay and basked in bed for a long time, did not immediately get up to pray.
268. She lost self-control while defending the offended, kept hostility and evil in her heart.
269. Didn't stop talking gossip. She herself often passed on to others and with an increase from herself.
270. Before the morning prayer and during the prayer rule, she did household chores.
271. She autocratically presented her thoughts as the true rule of life.
272. Ate stolen food.
273. She did not confess the Lord with her mind, heart, word, deed. Had an alliance with the wicked.
274. At the meal she was too lazy to treat and serve her neighbor.
275. She was sad about the deceased, that she herself was ill.
276. I was glad that the holiday had come and I didn’t have to work.
277. I drank wine on holidays. Loved going to dinner parties. I got fed up there.
278. She listened to teachers when they said something harmful to the soul, against God.
279. Used perfumes, smoked Indian incense.
280. Engaged in lesbianism, with lust touched someone else's body. With lust and voluptuousness she watched the mating of animals.
281. Cared beyond measure for the nourishment of the body. Accepted gifts or alms at a time when it was not necessary to accept it.
282. Didn't try to be away from a person who likes to chat.
283. Didn't get baptized, didn't read prayers at church bell ringing.
284. Under the guidance of her spiritual father, she did everything according to her own will.
285. She was naked when bathing, sunbathing, exercising, in case of illness she was shown to a male doctor.
286. She did not always recall and count her violations of the Law of God with repentance.
287. While reading prayers and canons, she was too lazy to bow.
288. When she heard that a person was ill, she did not rush to help.
289. With thought and word she exalted herself in the good done.
290. Believed in slander. She didn't punish herself for her sins.
291. During the service in the church she read her house rule or wrote a commemorative book.
292. She did not abstain from her favorite foods (although fasting ones).
293. Unfairly punished and lectured children.
294. Didn't have a daily memory of God's Judgment, death, the Kingdom of God.
295. In times of sorrow, she did not occupy her mind and heart with the prayer of Christ.
296. She did not force herself to pray, to read the Word of God, to weep over her sins.
297. Rarely performed commemoration of the dead, did not pray for the departed.
298. With unconfessed sin she approached the Chalice.
299. In the morning I did gymnastics, and did not dedicate my first thought to God.
300. When praying, I was too lazy to cross myself, sorted out my bad thoughts, did not think about what awaits me beyond the grave.
301. She was in a hurry to pray, out of laziness she shortened it and read without proper attention.
302. She told her neighbors and acquaintances about her grievances. I visited places where bad examples were set.
303. Admonished a man without meekness and love. Irritated when correcting my neighbor.
304. She did not always light a lamp on holidays and Sundays.
305. On Sundays, I didn’t go to the temple, but for mushrooms, berries ...
306. Had more savings than necessary.
307. She spared her strength and health in order to serve her neighbor.
308. She reproached her neighbor for what had happened.
309. Walking on the way to the temple, I did not always read prayers.
310. Assented when condemning a person.
311. She was jealous of her husband, remembered her rival with malice, wished for her death, used a healer's slander to torment her.
312. I used to be demanding and disrespectful to people. Gained the upper hand in conversations with neighbors. On the way to the temple, she overtook older than me, did not wait for those who lagged behind me.
313. She turned her abilities to earthly goods.
314. Had jealousy for the spiritual father.
315. I tried to be always right.
316. Asked unnecessary things.
317. Wept for the temporary.
318. Interpreted dreams and took them seriously.
319. Boasted of sin, committed evil.
320. After communion, she was not guarded from sin.
321. Kept atheistic books and playing cards in the house.
322. She gave advice, not knowing whether they were pleasing to God, she was negligent in the affairs of God.
323. She accepted prosphora, holy water without reverence (she spilled holy water, spilled crumbs of prosphora).
324. I went to bed and got up without prayer.
325. She spoiled her children, not paying attention to their bad deeds.
326. During fasting she was engaged in larynx, she liked to drink strong tea, coffee, and other drinks.
327. I took tickets, food from the back door, went on the bus without a ticket.
328. She placed prayer and the temple above serving her neighbor.
329. Endured sorrows with despondency and grumbling.
330. Irritated in fatigue and illness.
331. Had free treatment of persons of the opposite sex.
332. At the recollection of worldly affairs, she gave up prayer.
333. Forced to eat and drink the sick and children.
334. Contemptuously treated vicious people, did not seek their conversion.
335. She knew and gave money for a bad deed.
336. She entered the house without invitation, peeped through the crack, through the window, through the keyhole, eavesdropped at the door.
337. Entrusted secrets to strangers.
338. Used food without need and hunger.
339. I read prayers with errors, got lost, skipped, put stress incorrectly.
340. Lived lustfully with her husband. She allowed perversions and carnal pleasures.
341. She gave loans and asked for debts back.
342. She tried to learn more about divine things than was revealed by God.
343. Sinned with body movement, gait, gesture.
344. She set herself as an example, boasted, boasted.
345. She spoke passionately about earthly things, delighted in the remembrance of sin.
346. Went to the temple and back with empty talk.
347. I insured my life and property, I wanted to cash in on insurance.
348. Was greedy for pleasure, unchaste.
349. She passed on her conversations with the elder and her temptations to others.
350. She was a donor not out of love for her neighbor, but for the sake of drinking, free days, for money.
351. Boldly and willfully plunged herself into sorrows and temptations.
352. I was bored, I dreamed about traveling and entertainment.
353. Made wrong decisions in anger.
354. Was distracted by thoughts during prayer.
355. Traveled south for carnal pleasures.
356. Used the time of prayer for worldly affairs.
357. She distorted words, distorted the thoughts of others, expressed her displeasure aloud.
358. I was ashamed to confess before my neighbors that I was a believer, and I visit the temple of God.
359. She slandered, demanded justice in higher instances, wrote complaints.
360. She denounced those who do not attend the temple and do not repent.
361. I bought lottery tickets with the hope of getting rich.
362. She gave alms and rudely slandered the one who asked.
363. She listened to the advice of egoists who were themselves slaves of their womb and carnal passions.
364. Engaged in self-aggrandizement, proudly expected a greeting from her neighbor.
365. I was weary of fasting and looked forward to its end.
366. She could not bear the stench from people without disgust.
367. She denounced people in anger, forgetting that we are all sinners.
368. She lay down to sleep, did not remember the affairs of the day and did not shed tears about her sins.
369. She did not keep the Rule of the Church and the traditions of the holy fathers.
370. She paid for help with household chores with vodka, tempted people with drunkenness.
371. In fasting she made tricks in food.
372. Distracted from prayer when bitten by mosquitoes, flies and other insects.
373. At the sight of human ingratitude, she refrained from doing good deeds.
374. She shied away from dirty work: clean the toilet, pick up the trash.
375. During the period of breastfeeding, she did not abstain from married life.
376. In church she stood with her back to the altar and the holy icons.
377. Cooked sophisticated dishes, tempted with guttural insanity.
378. I read entertaining books with pleasure, but not the Scriptures of the Holy Fathers.
379. I watched TV, spent whole days at the “box”, and not in prayers in front of the icons.
380. Listened to passionate secular music.
381. She sought consolation in friendship, yearned for carnal pleasures, loved kissing men and women on the lips.
382. Engaged in extortion and deceit, judged and discussed people.
383. While fasting, she felt disgusted with monotonous, lenten food.
384. The Word of God spoke to unworthy people (not “cast pearls before swine”).
385. She neglected the holy icons, did not wipe them from dust in time.
386. I was too lazy to write congratulations on church holidays.
387. Spent time in mundane games and entertainments: checkers, backgammon, loto, cards, chess, rolling pins, ruffles, Rubik's cube and others.
388. Spoke illnesses, gave advice to go to fortune-tellers, gave addresses of sorcerers.
389. She believed in signs and slander: she spat over her left shoulder, a black cat ran, a spoon, fork, etc. fell.
390. She responded sharply to an angry person to his anger.
391. Tried to prove the justification and justice of her anger.
392. Was annoying, interrupted people's sleep, distracted them from the meal.
393. Relaxed by social conversations with young people of the opposite sex.
394. Engaged in idle talk, curiosity, hung out on fires and was present at accidents.
395. She considered it unnecessary to be treated for illnesses and visit a doctor.
396. I tried to calm myself by hasty execution of the rule.
397. Excessively troubled herself with work.
398. I ate a lot in the meat-fare week.
399. Gave wrong advice to neighbors.
400. She told shameful anecdotes.
401. To please the authorities, she closed the holy icons.
402. She neglected a man in his old age and poverty of his mind.
403. She stretched out her hands to her naked body, looked and touched secret uds with her hands.
404. She punished children with anger, in a fit of passion, with scolding and cursing.
405. Taught children to peep, eavesdrop, pimp.
406. She spoiled her children, did not pay attention to their bad deeds.
407. Had a satanic fear for the body, was afraid of wrinkles, gray hair.
408. Burdened others with requests.
409. She drew conclusions about the sinfulness of people according to their misfortunes.
410. Wrote insulting and anonymous letters, spoke rudely, interfered with people on the phone, making jokes under an assumed name.
411. Sit on the bed without the permission of the owner.
412. In prayer, she imagined the Lord.
413. Satanic laughter attacked when reading and listening to the Divine.
414. She asked advice from people who were ignorant of the matter, she believed crafty people.
415. Strived for superiority, rivalry, won interviews, participated in competitions.
416. She treated the Gospel as a divinatory book.
417. Picked berries, flowers, branches in other people's gardens without permission.
418. During the fast, she did not have a good disposition towards people, she allowed violations of the fast.
419. She did not always realize and regret the sin.
420. Listened to worldly records, sinned by watching video and porn movies, relaxed in other worldly pleasures.
421. She read a prayer, having enmity against her neighbor.
422. She prayed in a hat, with her head uncovered.
423. Believed in omens.
424. Used indiscriminately the papers on which the name of God was written.
425. She was proud of her literacy and erudition, imagined, singled out people with higher education.
426. Assigned found money.
427. In the church, I put bags and things on the windows.
428. Ride for pleasure in a car, motorboat, bicycle.
429. Repeated other people's bad words, listened to people cursing obscenities.
430. I read newspapers, books, secular magazines with enthusiasm.
431. She abhorred the poor, the poor, the sick, who smelled bad.
432. Was proud that she did not commit shameful sins, grievous murder, abortions, etc.
433. She ate and drank before the onset of the fasts.
434. Acquired unnecessary things without having to do so.
435. After a prodigal dream, she did not always read prayers for defilement.
436. Celebrated the New Year, put on masks and obscene clothes, got drunk, swearing, overeating and sinning.
437. She caused damage to her neighbor, spoiled and broke other people's things.
438. She believed the nameless "prophets", in "holy letters", "the dream of the Mother of God", she copied them herself and passed them on to others.
439. She listened to sermons in church with a spirit of criticism and condemnation.
440. She used her earnings for sinful lusts and amusements.
441. She spread bad rumors about priests and monks.
442. Huddled in the temple, hurrying to kiss the icon, the Gospel, the cross.
443. She was proud, in want and poverty she was indignant and murmured against the Lord.
444. Pee in public and even joke about it.
445. She did not always repay what she borrowed on time.
446. Belittled her sins at confession.
447. She gloated at the misfortune of her neighbor.
448. Instructed others in an instructive, imperative tone.
449. She shared their vices with people and affirmed them in these vices.
450. Quarreled with people for a place in the temple, at the icons, near the eve table.
451. Inadvertently caused pain to animals.
452. Left a glass of vodka on the grave of relatives.
453. She did not sufficiently prepare herself for the sacrament of confession.
454. She violated the holiness of Sundays and holidays with games, visits to spectacles, etc.
455. When crops were damaged, she swore at the cattle with dirty words.
456. Arranged dates in cemeteries, in childhood they ran and played hide and seek there.
457. Allowed sexual intercourse before marriage.
458. She deliberately got drunk in order to decide on a sin, along with wine she used medicines in order to get more drunk.
459. Begged for alcohol, pawned things and documents for this.
460. To draw attention to herself, to make her worry, she tried to commit suicide.
461. In childhood, she did not listen to teachers, prepared lessons poorly, was lazy, disrupted classes.
462. Visited cafes, restaurants arranged in temples.
463. She sang in a restaurant, on the stage, danced in a variety show.
464. In crowded transport, she felt pleasure from touches, did not try to avoid them.
465. She was offended by her parents for punishment, remembered these insults for a long time and told others about them.
466. She consoled herself with the fact that worldly cares prevent her from doing things of faith, salvation and piety, she justified herself by the fact that in her youth no one taught the Christian faith.
467. Wasted time on useless chores, fuss, talk.
468. Engaged in the interpretation of dreams.
469. With impatience she objected, fought, scolded.
470. She sinned with thefts, in childhood she stole eggs, handed them over to the store, etc.
471. She was vain, proud, did not honor her parents, did not obey the authorities.
472. Engaged in heresy, had an incorrect opinion about the subject of faith, doubt and even apostasy from the Orthodox faith.
473. She had the sin of Sodom (copulation with animals, with the wicked, entered into an incestuous relationship).

In which he who sincerely confesses his sins, with a visible expression of forgiveness from the priest, is invisibly resolved from sins by God Himself. The priest accepts confession or.

Why is it necessary to confess in the presence of a priest, and not just ask for forgiveness from God?

Sin is filth, and so, confession is a bath that cleanses the soul from this spiritual filth. Sin is a poison for the soul - and so, confession is the treatment of a poisoned soul, its cleansing from the poison of sin. A person will not take a bath in the middle of the street, he will not be cured of poisoning on the go: for this, appropriate institutions are needed. In this case, such a God-established institution is the Holy Church. They will ask: “But why is it necessary to confess precisely in the presence of a priest, in the atmosphere of precisely the church sacrament? Doesn't God see my heart? If I did badly, I sinned, but I see it, I am ashamed of it, I ask God for forgiveness - is this not enough? But, my friend, if, for example, a person fell into a swamp and, having got out on the shore, is ashamed of being covered in mud, is that enough to become clean? Has he already washed himself with a feeling of disgust? To wash away the dirt, you need an external source of clean water, and clean washing water for the soul is the grace of God, the source from which water pours out is the Church of Christ, the process of washing is the Sacrament of Confession.

A similar analogy can be drawn if we look at sin as a disease. Then the Church is a hospital, and confession is a cure for a disease. Moreover, confession itself in this example can be considered as an operation to remove a tumor (sin), and the subsequent communion of the Holy Gifts - the Body and Blood of Christ in the Sacrament of the Eucharist - as postoperative therapy for healing and restoration of the body (soul).

How easy it is for us to forgive a penitent, how necessary it is for us ourselves to repent before those whom we have offended!.. But isn't our repentance before God, the Heavenly Father, even more necessary? Such a sea of ​​sins, as before Him, we do not have before a single person.

How does the Sacrament of Penance take place, how to prepare for it and how to proceed?

The rite of confession : the beginning is usual, priestly prayers and an appeal to the penitents " Behold, child, Christ stands invisibly, accepting your confession...”, actually a confession. At the end of confession, the priest lays the edge on the head of the penitent and reads a permissive prayer. The penitent kisses the Gospel and the cross lying on the lectern.

It is customary to make confession after the evening or in the morning, immediately before, since the laity are traditionally allowed to receive communion after confession.

Preparation for confession is not outwardly formal. Unlike the other great Sacrament of the Church - confession can be performed always and everywhere (if there is a legitimate sacramental performer - an Orthodox priest). In preparing for confession, the church charter does not require either a special fast or a special prayer rule, but only faith and repentance are needed. That is, the confessing person must be a baptized member of the Orthodox Church, a conscious believer (recognizing all the foundations of the Orthodox dogma and recognizing himself as a child of the Orthodox Church) and repenting of his sins.

Sins must be understood both in a broad sense - as passions inherent in fallen human nature, and in a more concrete sense - as actual cases of transgression of God's commandments. The Slavic word “repentance” means not so much “apology” as “change” – the determination not to allow the same sins to be committed in the future. Thus, repentance is a state of uncompromising self-condemnation for one's past sins and the desire to continue to fight stubbornly with passions.

So, to prepare for confession means to take a look at your life with a repentant look, analyze your deeds and thoughts from the point of view of the commandments of God (if necessary, write it down for memory), pray to the Lord for the forgiveness of sins and the granting of true repentance. As a rule, for the period after the last confession. But you can also confess past sins - either previously, due to forgetfulness or false shame, not confessed, or confessed without due repentance, mechanically. At the same time, you need to know that sincerely confessed sins are always and irreversibly forgiven by the Lord (the dirt is washed away, the disease is healed, the curse is removed), this immutability is the meaning of the Sacrament. However, this does not mean that sin should be forgotten - no, it remains in memory for humility and protection from future falls; it can disturb the soul for a long time, just as a healed wound can disturb a person - no longer fatal, but still palpable. In this case, it is possible to confess the sin again (for the pacification of the soul), but not necessarily, since it has already been forgiven.

And - go to the temple of God to confess.

Although, as already mentioned, you can confess in any situation, confession in a church is generally accepted - before or at a time specially appointed by the priest (in special cases, for example, for confessing a sick person at home, you need to individually agree with the clergyman).

The usual time for confession is before. They usually confess at the evening service, sometimes they set a special time. It is advisable to find out about the time of confession in advance.

As a rule, the priest confesses in front of the lectern (Analoe is a table for church books or icons with an inclined upper surface). Those who come to confession stand one after another in front of the lectern, where the priest confesses, but at some distance from the lectern, so as not to interfere with someone else's confession; stand quietly, listening to church prayers, lamenting in their hearts about their sins. When their turn comes, they come to confession.

Approaching the lectern, bow your head; at the same time, you can kneel (optional; but on Sundays and great holidays, as well as from Easter to the day of the Holy Trinity, kneeling is canceled). Sometimes the priest covers the head of the penitent with epitrachelion (Epitrachelion is a detail of the priest's vestment - a vertical strip of fabric on the chest), prays, asks the name of the confessor and what he wants to confess before God. Here the penitent must confess, on the one hand, a general awareness of his sinfulness, specifically naming the passions and weaknesses most characteristic of him (for example: lack of faith, avarice, anger, etc.), and on the other hand, name those specific sins that he is for he sees himself, and especially those that lie like a stone on his conscience, for example: abortion, insulting parents or loved ones, theft, fornication, the habit of cursing and blasphemy, non-observance of God's commandments and church institutions, etc., etc. n. The “General Confession” section will help you sort out your sins.

The priest, having listened to the confession, as a witness and intercessor before God, asks (if he considers it necessary) questions and says instructions, prays for the forgiveness of the sins of the repentant sinner, and when he sees sincere repentance and the desire for correction, he reads a “permissive” prayer.

The Sacrament of forgiveness of sins itself is performed not at the moment of reading the “permissive” prayer, but by the entirety of the rites of confession, however, the “permissive” prayer is, as it were, a seal certifying the performance of the Sacrament.

So - confession is made, with sincere repentance, sin is forgiven by God.

The forgiven sinner, crossing himself, kisses the cross, the Gospel and takes the blessing from the priest.

To take a blessing is to ask the priest by his priestly authority to send down the strengthening and sanctifying grace of the Holy Spirit on himself and on his deeds. To do this, you need to fold your hands with your palms up (right to left), bow your head and say: “Bless, father.” The priest baptizes a person with the sign of a priestly blessing and places his hand on the folded palms of the one being blessed. One should kiss the priest's hand with one's mouth - not as a human hand, but as an image of the blessing right hand of the Giver of all the blessings of the Lord.

If he was preparing for communion, he asks: “Bless me to take communion?” - and with a positive answer, he goes to prepare for the reception of the Holy Mysteries of Christ.

Are all sins forgiven in the Sacrament of Repentance, or only those that have been named?

How often should you go to confession?

The minimum is before each Communion (according to church canons, the faithful receive communion no more than once a day and at least once every 3 weeks), the maximum number of confessions is not established and is left to the discretion of the Christian himself.

At the same time, it should be remembered that repentance is a desire to be reborn, it does not begin with confession and does not end with it, it is the work of a lifetime. Therefore, the Sacrament is called the Sacrament of Repentance, and not the "Sacrament of enumeration of sins." Repentance for sin consists of three stages: Repent of sin as soon as it is committed; remember him at the end of the day and again ask God for forgiveness for him (see the last prayer in Vespers); confess it and receive permission from sins in the Sacrament of Confession.

How to see your sins?

At first, this is not difficult, but with regular Communion, and, accordingly, confession, this becomes more and more difficult. You need to ask God for this, because the vision of your sins is a gift from God. But we must be ready for temptations if the Lord fulfills our prayer. At the same time, it is useful to read the lives of the saints and study.

Can a priest refuse confession?

Apostolic Canons (52nd Canon)" If anyone, a bishop or a presbyter, does not accept the one who turns from sin, let him be deposed from the holy order. For [he] grieves Christ, who said: There is joy in heaven over one repentant sinner ()».

You can refuse confession if, in fact, there is none. If a person does not repent, does not consider himself guilty of his sins, does not want to be reconciled with his neighbors. Also, those who are not baptized and excommunicated from church fellowship cannot receive permission from sins.

Can I confess by phone or in writing?

In Orthodoxy, there is no tradition of confessing sins by phone or via the Internet, especially since this violates the secrecy of confession.
It should also be borne in mind that the sick may invite a priest to their home or hospital.
Those who have left for distant lands cannot justify themselves by this, because falling away from the Holy Sacraments of the Church is their choice, and it is inappropriate to profane the Sacrament for this.

What rights does a priest have in imposing penance on a penitent?

"I repented that I hate you." When confession does not become repentance, is it possible to receive communion without mumbling at least something under the epitrachelion, and what is better - to accumulate sins or constantly delve into them, Hieromonk Theodorit (Senchukov) and biblical scholar Andrei Desnitsky discussed.

1. What experience of confession have you had?

Andrey Desnitsky, biblical scholar, translator, Doctor of Philology:

– I had experiences of various confessions, from a purely formal one, which just made me feel bad afterwards, and I thought why it all happened: they covered me, let me through, and that’s it. And what was there - was not ... I'm not at all sure that something was forgiven me, because I did not name anything.

But there were experiences of confession extremely deep and strong. I remember very well when I confessed in Russian to a priest who knew practically no Russian. I could confess to him in English, but I realized that I did not want to speak English with God, it is not my native language, although I speak English fluently. But this is not the language of my conversation with God. I thought that it would be better for God to say this, I was honest to the last word and did not look for the correct verb form. It went very well, despite the fact that the priest did not understand much of it, but he was there, he was present in this conversation. This is one experience.

Another experience, with a very good priest, whom I love and am grateful for many things. At first, he always told me some things in confession, sometimes he scolded me, sometimes he advised, and then he stopped. All that's left is to pray. At first, I missed it terribly, let him scold or say something sharp, but I really behaved badly.

Then I realized that he probably thought I was an adult. Not according to the passport, of course. What I don’t need is: “Oh, father, swear, I’m so bad, but you still love me.” At that moment, I no longer needed it, and then I agreed with this, I don’t expect it anymore.

Andrey Desnitsky

Hieromonk Theodorit (Senchukov), resuscitator:

I have had different experiences in my life. In particular, there was the experience of a very rare confession, two periods of life, in my youth. I came to faith in such a rational way, once in my childhood, being unbaptized, I came to churches and looked. And being a well-read child and, I hope, not stupid, I came to the conclusion that there is a God. And I realized that Orthodox Christianity is right, I came to faith without meeting at that stage any special confessor, without being in any circles of secret Christians.

I became church very gradually, and at one time confession was quite a rare occurrence for me. I knew that I needed to confess, I realized my sins, I went, confessed, took communion. Later, I realized that sin is not only that you robbed and killed someone, but much simpler things, ordinary.

And then I became a monk, a monk, became a clergyman and served in a small village in the Luhansk region. There the deacon could not support the parish, I continued to work in Moscow and every week went to serve there. And then I began to get sick often and missed some weeks. And also, when my confessor, then, when he tonsured me, he said: now you confess only to me.

And so I remained without confession, not only a week, but 2-3, more. And I began to understand that it was very hard for me, that I was beginning to choke on these sins. Moreover, I begin to forget them, but I didn’t kill anyone, really, I didn’t kill, didn’t steal, nothing, I didn’t commit any such great sins.

But with this little thing you start to choke, it starts to crush you, crush, crush. I just realized that I can't live without confession.

Then life changed, now, thank God, in the monastery, I have the opportunity to confess as much as I want. This frequency was established - about once a week. I try not to commit any serious sins, but everyday sins accumulate in a week just so much that they are no longer worth enduring.

Hieromonk Theodorit (Senchukov)

2. In what cases does confession not become repentance?

Andrey Desnitsky: What does this practice of mass confession lead to? And something that I myself have gone through many times. 50 communicants, there is a liturgy, the epitrachelion clap-clap, it’s good if the priest said a good prayer of repentance before that. And people at least 90 percent of what is in their hearts heard in this prayer, and something moved inside them. Very often, after all, this is not something that is formal, but habitual.

I remember very well the words of the late father Georgy Chistyakov, he was an absolutely fiery person, without the slightest shadow of guile he said what he thought, and maybe that's why, unfortunately, he did not live very long. He suddenly came out during a penitential sermon and said: here we are coming to Christ, here the invisible Cherubim are coming, and we go in a crowd and say - I am irritable, I am touchy, I am lazy, I am not obligatory, boo-boo-boo. And now we are moving away, we are still the same: in this I am irritable, in this I am lazy, I am not obligatory - we live in this.

At some point, he said that after “the door, the door, let us pay attention to wisdom” there will be no confession at all. If you want, take communion without confession, if you want, wait for the next liturgy, but let's you participate.

I understand that all this is technically solvable, that confession can be held on the eve or before the service, or, for example, in a separate aisle, as is often the case. True, then it turns out that a person stands in line for confession during the liturgy, thinks about his sins, then went, took communion, then left.

But I'm even talking about something else. A thought struck me some time ago. At first I drove her away from me, as a temptation, then I agreed with her.

If I have a business relationship with a person and I know that he is Orthodox, then I expect that he will be much less obliging, diligent and honest in business than a non-Orthodox. I was very surprised at first - how, he believes in God. Then I understood. He comes once a week or a month and mutters: "I'm optional, I'm non-executive, I'm lazy", they tell him: "God forgives, go."

I know that only from the Orthodox one can hear such a phrase: “I repented at confession that I hate you, you bastard.” And received an indulgence to hate further.

What do I care whether you repented in confession or not, if you think that you offended me, then apologize to me. If you have something wrong in your relationship with God, then why should I know about it, it's none of my business.

Indeed, I very often saw in myself and those around me, when I tried to take communion with confession the day before, that this confession is very rarely repentant. It is always a sacrament, I don’t deny it, always a certain meeting of a person with God, but repentance is like a change ... Probably, many people have had an experience of confession in their lives, which can be called repentance, which changes life, after which you really look with hatred at that the sin you brought. I have had this experience 2-3 times in my life.

Probably, as in family relationships, this is not always a honeymoon, not always crazy passionate love, sometimes just a smooth, benevolent life. But when it's just a habit, when it's just a ritual that needs to be skipped in order to live on, I think it would be better if it didn't exist.

Because a person deceives himself, and maybe he tries to deceive God when he calls it repentance. Maybe I'm wrong, I'm saying it again, I don't know how to.

I just want to respond here.

If a person says: I repented at confession, but I hate you, then this is not repentance, this is a report on the sins committed, it has nothing to do with repentance.

The man simply reported: I have sinned. Repentance implies, at a minimum, an attempt to correct what has been done. Not just to say: God, I have sinned, but also an attempt to correct.

It’s not even that “I won’t do it again”, this is one side of the coin, but the second - if you offended and offended someone, then go and reconcile with your brother, as it is said, if you stole - return it. If you can’t return it to a specific person, then do something else, do something good for others. Then it will be repentance, and not just a report.

It is important when a person has a sincere desire to come to God, when he sincerely wants to conquer sin in himself, let him mumble that he is irritable or that he is a glutton, he has fornication thoughts. Yes, it will most likely break. Here I am a fat man, prone, probably, to gluttony. And every time I repent of gluttony, and I will probably break loose at some point and eat something extra. But this means that I am trying to somehow get rid of it in myself. Maybe next time I will be more careful, realizing that I am sinning. I am trying to get rid of sin, I ask for help in this sacrament, God's help.

I'm talking about gluttony, which, in general, is a sin, but is connected with physiology, and there are sins that are not directly related to physiology. And if a person says: “I am irritable, I swear at my neighbors” and tries to get rid of it in himself, asks God to forgive him this sin, then step by step he will get rid of this sin.

As it is said, the Kingdom of Heaven is taken with labor. You see, maybe for someone that he switched from swearing at his child to just mumbling is already a plus. Because he is holding himself back, trying to somehow fix it.

You see, it's not about going to confession right before the service. Of course, it's crazy when a person stands at the Liturgy and, instead of praying, confesses. Of course, you need to confess the day before. Moreover, it would be great if confession were not directly related to this particular communion at all, but this does not mean that one rarely needs to confess. It is necessary to confess, again, my opinion - as often as possible.

It is very rare for a lay person to have such a relationship with a spiritual father that he can confess his thoughts to him every day. With all this, for a week you definitely accumulated sins not only in your thoughts, as if you offended someone, offended, offended yourself, looked at the woman with lust, it doesn’t matter, overeat, drank, laughed crazy. You still have it - at least you scored in a week.

3. Do I need to go to confession as often as possible?

Andrey Desnitsky: Russians come to a Serbian church, an ordinary church of the canonical Serbian Patriarchate, and want to take communion. They approach the priest, introduce themselves, ask if it is possible to take communion? Answer: Yes, you can. The next question is: “Do you need to confess?” He says, “How do I know if you need to confess. If you need, then come on Friday. Or, if you really need it, you can delay the service now. That is, it does not involve confession before communion.

This is usually very scary for Russians, it scares them, then they get used to it. When this summer I ran into a priest who sees me for the first time, okay, before that I did introduce myself somehow, he already knew me. And then I just came to the temple, someone replaced. I went up to the Cup - no questions, no questions at all. It turns out that this is also possible, and for me it was not that much of a discovery. I know very well that there are churches in Russia, although there are not many of them, where a person confesses as needed.

When he has an idea that he has committed some serious sin, not a glass of kefir in fasting, not a fight with a neighbor, not stepped on his foot in the subway, but really a person has committed something not everyday or he has accumulated, he really comes to the priest. With what regularity? It's pointless to discuss. How often do you go to the doctor? Some once or twice a week, some once a year.

I am far from thinking that I know how to. And in general, the older I get, and I'm 49, the less I understand how to do it. When I was 18, I was baptized, that was 31 years ago, I was almost sure that I knew how to do it.

Hieromonk Theodorit (Senchukov): You are absolutely right, no one knows how to. There is a certain custom of this or that church, and there is what is called the practice of necessity, if I may say so. Clumsy phrase, but it's true. Of course, nowhere does any church canon provide for the frequency of confession. There is a typikon of Joachim, which speaks of the need for a seven-day fast, of obligatory confession.

But we must remember that the Joachim Typicon is a rather late edition of the Typikon. In the typikon of Saint Sava, which was taken as a basis in the modern Church, this is not the case.

The fact is that the connection “confession-communion” appeared in the Russian Church not out of great joy.

This was when people began to rarely take communion and came to communion, having accumulated a huge amount of sins. Naturally, there was a need to confess and repent of these sins. We remember that David repented, Lot repented. That is, repentance is a necessity, it is a sacrament established by God.

But the frequency of repentance, of course, is individual for each person. But when we talk about the Serbian Church, about the Greek Church, we must remember that there are slightly different conditions.

For example, in the Greek Church they do not confess before each communion. The Greeks take communion quite often, but confess rarely, but in Greece there is a different system for accepting confession. Not every priest, except in a situation of fear for the sake of a mortal, accepts repentance from an ordinary layman. There is a diocesan confessor. Who travels around the diocese, arrives at every church according to the schedule, where everyone can repent. Many Greeks have their own confessors, to whom they go. Therefore, naturally, there can be no connection here between confession and communion.

Therefore, of course, there is no direct connection, these are different sacraments. But is it worth it to go to communion if you accumulate sins. Is it possible to go to God with unrepentant sins?

4. And if there are no sins for a week?

Hieromonk Theodorit (Senchukov): Is there no sin for the week? Not located? I'll find now! You see, if a person does not have sins for a week, then we are dealing with a great saint, only the Mother of God did not have sin with us. I probably won’t find such a saint that a person doesn’t have sins in a week. Or the second option: a person, perhaps, does not realize his sins, then he will not even go to confession.

Andrey Desnitsky: He will go if he wants to take communion and knows what it should be.

Hieromonk Theodorit (Senchukov): But if he goes, it means that he knows about his sins, which means that he will say something at confession. He will not come and say: but I have no sins, father, I am sinless.

Andrey Desnitsky: He will say: "Sinful to all."

Hieromonk Theodorit (Senchukov): Sinful to everyone? And this is a question for the priest, whether you will let go of a person who is a sinner to everyone. I usually ask this sacramental question: how many planes hijacked. How many planes did you hijack in a week? And it begins to turn out that there are many sins.

Andrey Desnitsky: I don’t argue with this, I’ll just give the last example from the practice of my confession, a good confession, when I talk about various sins and hear a question from the priest: what do you think, which of them is the most important? I call. No, he says, this is not the absence of love. What I did not name at all and was not going to name. It was one of those confessions that turned me around.

And I thought that I spent a very long time delving into what I did in a week, a month, or a reporting period.

I didn’t think at all what the difference is between my image in the eyes of God and the real me, that sin is just a lack.

There is a shortage in the cash register, there is less money than it should be, and not that the spots on some coins are small, the bill is torn. Although - this is also bad, no one argues with this - this is also a sin.

Hieromonk Theodorit (Senchukov): It turns out that the confession was useful?

Andrey Desnitsky: I am by no means saying that confession is useless, that we should abolish it and generally live without it.

Hieromonk Theodorit (Senchukov): The fact of the matter is that confession is useful in any case. If you just came with a sincere feeling of repentance, with a feeling of desire to get rid of your sins, even if you listed the usual ones, but you want to get rid of them, this is useful.

If the Lord pointed out to you such a sin as the lack of love, it is even more useful. Even the smallest step towards deification is already good, it is already necessary, and it doesn’t matter how much there is a connection to a particular communion.

The important thing is that these are simply two sacraments that run in parallel, they do not depend on each other, but they go like this. And a person who defiantly takes communion every week, but goes to confession once every six months, in my opinion, is not doing the right thing.

Andrey Desnitsky: And in my opinion - this is one of the possible options, each person should decide for himself. Who himself, and who in agreement with the spiritual father. Although the topic of confessorship is a separate, large, I would say, painful topic, because often it is a reenactment and a game, but someone has real spiritual fathers. Once again I say, I do not know how to, I know how it was with me.

At some point in my life, I realized that confession before each communion is not necessary for me, and there are churches that completely allow me to live in such a regime. And man is sinful by definition, even a saint. Man does not cease to sin throughout his human life.

Yes, Father Theodoret is absolutely right about this - it is important for God not to accept our sins, but to accept at least the intention to get rid of them. Because this task is very complex and is only partially solved throughout life.

But it seems very naive to me that sins are something like fines in the traffic police. For a month, I accumulated a couple of fines, I paid them through the State Services portal, that's it, I'm clean. Or I have accumulated 50 sins in a week, I brought them, laid them out, that's it, I'm clean. Oh, no, there is this bag, and we drag it through life, and we are constantly reviewing our lives. It’s just that I’m afraid that a dull enumeration of something not right eaten on Wednesday, said to a neighbor, watched on TV can replace a person’s powerful work on himself.

I still read the Bible a lot, it just so happened. If we look there, what is called sin there, we will see that it is, first of all, a relationship with God and with one's neighbor. In practice, we do not meet there who looked at whom, how, if it did not work out, as with David and Bathsheba. Or someone there ate something wrong at one time or another.

And just now I'm afraid that digging in this bag of absolutely identical, stereotypical sins from week to week in a huge number of cases for a person replaces very serious work on oneself, rethinking what happened.

For example, I have three children, they all grew up. They are from 30 to 18 years old, and now, looking back at what a father I was in my youth, and our children started very early, I understand that my idea of ​​a correct Orthodox family hindered me to a great extent, that I drove my children.

I was sometimes not crazy, but tough, I drove them into some kind of ideas about how all this should be done, and I achieved something from them.

It seemed to me that if we did not go to the liturgy, it was a sin. And now I think that it was just a sin that I dragged this child to the liturgy when he did not want it at all.

5. Should every sin be examined under a microscope?

Hieromonk Theodorit (Senchukov): Is it good to delve into sins? Digging for the sake of rubbing yourself again is probably bad. But to be aware of your sins, to understand that what you have done is still a sin, it is good.

You see, a glass of kefir can be drunk on Wednesday for various reasons. You can drink, because oh, how you wanted to eat, and you had to. This is one thing. And the other is when you deliberately drink it to show that you are higher than the Church, when such pride speaks in you: I am higher, I can do it.

In the first case, it so happened, yes, maybe I couldn’t resist, maybe I didn’t have enough strength, yes, probably a sin, but not a great one. And in the second case, this is the sin of pride, which you must immediately run to confess. And here you must understand why you did it, why you suddenly found it possible for yourself not to observe fasts.

People come to me from time to time and say: “Father, I broke the fast.” I always ask: “Why? Why are you breaking the fast? If some old woman comes up to me: “Father, I have no money except for milk and bread,” well, what will you do with you, dear, you have no money, then you eat your own milk. It is clear that she does not eat tiramisu in a cafe.

And if it goes - “why are posts needed”, then let's talk about why posts are needed. Maybe you really don't understand it, or maybe you're so proud. Then you need to repent not for breaking the fasts, but for going against God.

6. Drinking kefir in fasting is still a sin or not?

Hieromonk Theodorit (Senchukov): And what about kefir? Why kefir? Where did this kefir come from?

Andrey Desnitsky: From the store.

Hieromonk Theodorit (Senchukov): And why did he end up on your desk on Wednesday? What for?

Andrey Desnitsky: Here we can talk for a very long and interesting time about how people who work and have children eat.

Hieromonk Theodorit (Senchukov): I'm working. I continue to work in an ambulance, I am a resuscitator, I do not break the posts. This is not the question. I perfectly understand that if this is a mother with children and she eats up after the child, of course, who will put it in her sin, this is one story.

It's another matter if I say now: I'm just such a wonderful holy father Theodoret, I can't give a damn about all the settings of the Church. Because I work as a resuscitator, I have a hard job, so I will now defiantly sip kefir on Wednesday. It will be a different sin, no one will impute this sin to mom, children will grow up, and she will stop eating after them, and will not sin.

Andrey Desnitsky: Here, father Theodorit, I'm talking about this kefir. I am always very surprised when Great Lent begins and, for example, in a cafe in the city center, an option appears: a fast menu - 300 rubles, and a fast business lunch - 400. Because it is more difficult to cook, because avocado instead of chicken breast. I'm not sure if this is about the post, it's about something else, I think.

Hieromonk Theodorit (Senchukov): You understand, a person can choose for himself, he can eat chicken breast, if it is possible for him. I once ate a chicken breast on a plane during Lent. I almost threw up afterwards, sorry, it’s not good to say such things on camera. I just flew on an airplane, there was a breast, well, I'm traveling, in general, chicken is not a bird, I'll eat it. How bad I felt afterward. Not bad from the chicken, from breaking the fast.

I just felt in my gut that it was impossible to break the fasts. But for someone, maybe it is possible, for someone it is really a question. Again, 300-400 rubles, probably the difference is not so great. It's probably not fatal. If you want to fast, you can make the same avocado sandwich at home, it will be cheaper, and drink tea in a cafe. You can, after all, you can find options if you want to do it.

7. Why do priests insist on compulsory confession before communion?

Andrey Desnitsky: Imagine a typical priest who was most likely born into an atheistic family. Now there are young people who were born in families that were churched in the early 90s. However, in the overwhelming majority of cases, this is a former pioneer, a member of the Komsomol, who accepted the faith, who subtracted his tradition from books, who either took up a typikon, or Shmelev’s “Summer of the Lord,” or something else.

And his traditional character is the traditional character of the reenactor. Sorry for using such a harsh word. Who reconstructs medieval battles, who elves and dwarves, and who is the holy Orthodox Russia of the 19th century. The degree of certainty is the same. These are our ideas, read from books, purely speculative, how we should be a hobbit, how we should be an English archer Robin Hood or an Orthodox Christian of the 19th century.

And now they take their reconstructions very seriously, they are ready to fight for them. It seems to me that this story is about the obligation of confession, just from the series "Let's reconstruct Russia in the 19th century, let's introduce strict rules." It looks like a Robin Hood shooting range, where a man stands at the entrance and does not let people in modern clothes, only in English medieval ones.

This is how we have people who are very serious about this fictitious tradition, begin to come up with something of their own. I don't mean anyone personally.

And we Russians also have a national trait that if communism, then we have such communism that would make Marx sob. And if we have Orthodoxy, then such Orthodoxy that Seraphim Rose is resting.

I remember how, the story is also real, a priest comes out with a Cup and someone wants to take communion, from his point of view, unworthy. And the priest shouts: “Eat my flesh, gnaw me, I will not give the body of my Lord!” It seems like fiery faith, but I have a question: “Dear, who told you that you give them this Body, what depends on you, to give or not to give?”

Hieromonk Theodorit (Senchukov): I am a little older than you, by 5 years, and we went to church at about the same time. From the very first day I have been a parishioner of the Jerusalem Compound of the Church of the Resurrection of the Word on the Arbat, Filippovsky, which has never been closed and has been standing since the 17th century. And before that, there was another temple, which was built by Metropolitan Philip, our saint.

There were no Renovationists and old priests served: Father Vasily Serebryannikov, the Moscow elder Father Vladimir Frolov, also an old priest, who was my first spiritual father. And somehow I learned this tradition - that it is necessary to confess. Although there were no reenactors, either historical or non-historical, it was a normal, traditional Moscow church.

Then, when the Jerusalem Compound was restored there, there was an absolutely wonderful rector, Father Theophylact, who is now the Archbishop of Jordan in Bethlehem. He was a Greek, spoke Russian well, and confessed himself. Therefore, I have formed a respectful attitude towards confession, let's say so.

The question is not that the priest is the guardian of the Chalice. The question is to what extent a person is ready to receive communion without confession, to what extent a person understands this “terrible Christ's mysteries”. Why are they scary? Because it is terrible to touch the Living God. Here is God - and you, man, you touch Him, you unite with Him, so how can you go to God without at least trying to cleanse yourself.

Andrey Desnitsky: Sometimes, indeed, the advice of a priest is good and useful, but he does not have an hour from week to week to listen to all the nonsense that you bring to him. To swear and put up with you, to give you some completely external advice, he does not and cannot have this time.

And a person comes and expects that in 20-30 seconds, well, in 5 minutes he will receive some advice. I'm talking about the laity, about everyone who comes to confession. We cling to this form so much because even though the priest loves us, even though he, at least according to his position, shows some kind of sympathy, attention, even though we can tell him. We can't do anything to anyone, but we can do it to him. And this is not what should be in confession, in my opinion.

Of course, it’s good when it exists, but these relationships are extremely, extremely rare, I don’t know, among monks – not among monks. This is not the norm, and you do not need to look for it. If there is a need to find a person who listens to you, does not judge and helps you deal with this, sorry, this is a psychotherapist. It's also very hard to find, by the way.

Winston Churchill, I think it was him, said that Russia is an amazing country in which everything that is not forbidden is obligatory.

It seems to me that it is time for us to move away from this: either this way or nothing at all. There are different people, different needs, different rhythms of life, including the spiritual one. It seems to me that we just need to accept that there are no single recipes here and cannot be.

9. How to prepare for confession?

Andrey Desnitsky: I agree with those who say that the best preparation for confession is the life of a Christian. This life naturally includes and should include fasting, and prayer, and everything else.

But when communion becomes some kind of special event, for which certain procedures are prepared, it is very easy to miss this simple thought: if you live like a Christian, then you take communion. If you're not living, then any means to do something and become worthy of the sacrament simply doesn't work.

Hieromonk Theodorit (Senchukov): Here I agree that, of course, the main thing is the Christian life. And the Christian life includes, in particular, repentance. And to prepare specially for confession… well, how can one prepare on purpose. Every person has their own ways. It may be helpful for some to write down their sins. For some, it's not useful. It may be useful for someone to read before confession, just before confession, the three canons. Some may not need this, because they have such a strong feeling of repentance that they don't need any canons, they don't need any formalities, they just come and confess.

It is important that a person wants to meet God, so that a person goes to God, but how does he technically do it ... The Church established the sacraments precisely so that a person can be deified, and everyone has his own technique.

Confession (repentance) is one of the seven Christian Sacraments, in which a penitent who confesses his sins to a priest, with a visible forgiveness of sins (reading a permissive prayer), is invisibly resolved from them. by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. This sacrament was instituted by the Savior, who said to His disciples: “Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose (untie) on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Gospel of Matthew, ch. 18, verse 18). And in another place: “Receive the Holy Spirit: to whom you forgive sins, they will be forgiven; on whom you leave, on that they will remain ”(Gospel of John, ch. 20, verses 22-23). The apostles, however, transferred the power to "bind and loose" to their successors - the bishops, who, in turn, when performing the Sacrament of ordination (priesthood) transfer this power to the priests.

The Holy Fathers call repentance a second baptism: if at baptism a person is cleansed from the power of original sin, transferred to him at birth from our forefathers Adam and Eve, then repentance washes him from the filth of his own sins committed by him after the Sacrament of Baptism.

In order for the Sacrament of Repentance to take place, the penitent needs: awareness of his sinfulness, sincere heartfelt repentance for his sins, a desire to leave sin and not repeat it, faith in Jesus Christ and hope in His mercy, faith that the Sacrament of Confession has the power to purify and wash away, through the prayer of a priest, sincerely confessed sins.

The Apostle John says: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1st Epistle of John, ch. 1, verse 7). At the same time, we hear from many people: “I don’t kill, I don’t steal, I don’t

I commit adultery, so why should I repent? But if we carefully study God's commandments, we will find that we sin against many of them. Conventionally, all sins committed by a person can be divided into three groups: sins against God, sins against neighbors and sins against oneself.

Ingratitude to God.

Disbelief. Doubt in faith. Justifying your disbelief with an atheistic upbringing.

Apostasy, cowardly silence, when they blaspheme the faith of Christ, not wearing a pectoral cross, visiting various sects.

Mentioning the name of God in vain (when the name of God is mentioned not in prayer and not in pious conversation about Him).

Oath in the name of the Lord.

Divination, treatment with whispering grandmothers, turning to psychics, reading books on black, white and other magic, reading and distributing occult literature and various false teachings.

Thoughts of suicide.

Playing cards and other games of chance.

Failure to fulfill the morning and evening prayer rule.

Not visiting the temple of God on Sundays and holidays.

Failure to observe fasts on Wednesday and Friday, violation of other fasts established by the Church.

Reckless (non-daily) reading of the Holy Scriptures, soulful literature.

Breaking vows to God.

Despair in difficult situations and disbelief in the Providence of God, fear of old age, poverty, illness.

Absent-mindedness at prayer, thoughts about worldly things during worship.

Condemnation of the Church and her ministers.

Addiction to various earthly things and pleasures.

The continuation of a sinful life in one hope of God's mercy, i.e., excessive hope in God.

A waste of time watching TV, reading entertainment books at the expense of time for prayer, reading the gospel and spiritual literature.

Concealment of sins at confession and unworthy communion of the Holy Mysteries.

Self-confidence, human-confidence, that is, excessive hope in one's own strength and in someone else's help, without hope that everything is in the hands of God.

Raising children outside the Christian faith.

Irritability, anger, irritability.

Arrogance.

Perjury.

mockery.

Avarice.

Non-repayment of debts.

Non-payment for hard earned money.

Failure to help those in need.

Disrespect for parents, irritation with their old age.

Disrespect for elders.

Restlessness in your work.

Condemnation.

Taking someone else's is theft.

Quarrels with neighbors and neighbors.

Killing one's child in the womb (abortion), persuading others to commit murder (abortion).

Murder with a word - bringing a person by slander or condemnation to a painful state and even to death.

Drinking alcohol at the commemoration of the dead instead of intensified prayer for them.

Verbosity, gossip, idle talk. ,

Unreasonable laughter.

Foul language.

self-love.

Doing good deeds for show.

Vanity.

Desire to get rich.

Love of money.

Envy.

Drunkenness, drug use.

Gluttony.

Fornication - inciting fornication thoughts, impure desires, fornication touches, watching erotic films and reading similar books.

Fornication is the physical intimacy of persons who are not bound by marriage.

Adultery is adultery.

Fornication is unnatural - the physical proximity of persons of the same sex, masturbation.

Incest - physical intimacy with relatives or nepotism.

Although the sins listed above are conditionally divided into three parts, in the end they are all sins against God (because they violate His commandments and thereby offend Him) and against neighbors (because they do not allow true Christian relationships and love to be revealed). ), and against themselves (because they hinder the salvific dispensation of the soul).

Whoever wants to bring repentance before God for his sins must prepare for the Sacrament of Confession. You need to prepare for confession in advance: it is advisable to read the literature devoted to the Sacraments of Confession and Communion, remember all your sins, you can write them out on

a separate piece of paper to review it before confession. Sometimes a sheet with the listed sins is given to the confessor for reading, but sins that especially weigh on the soul must be told aloud. There is no need to tell the confessor long stories, it is enough to state the sin itself. For example, if you are at enmity with relatives or neighbors, you do not need to tell what caused this enmity - you need to repent of the very sin of condemning relatives or neighbors. It is not the list of sins that is important to God and the confessor, but the repentant feeling of the confessed, not detailed stories, but a contrite heart. It must be remembered that confession is not only an awareness of one's own shortcomings, but above all, a thirst to be cleansed of them. In no case is it unacceptable to justify oneself - this is no longer repentance! Elder Silouan of Athos explains what real repentance is: “Here is the sign of the forgiveness of sins: if you hated sin, then the Lord forgave you your sins.”

It is good to develop the habit of analyzing the past day every evening and bringing daily repentance before God, writing down serious sins for future confession with a confessor. It is necessary to reconcile with your neighbors and ask for forgiveness from all those who have offended. When preparing for confession, it is advisable to strengthen your evening prayer rule by reading the Penitential Canon, which is found in the Orthodox prayer book.

In order to confess, you need to find out when the Sacrament of Confession takes place in the temple. In those churches where the service is performed every day, the Sacrament of Confession is also performed every day. In those churches where there is no daily service, you must first familiarize yourself with the schedule of services.

Children up to seven years old (in the Church they are called babies) begin the Sacrament of Communion without prior confession, but it is necessary from early childhood to develop in children a sense of reverence for this great

Sacrament. Frequent communion without proper preparation can develop in children an undesirable sense of the routine of what is happening. It is advisable to prepare babies for the upcoming Communion 2-3 days in advance: read the Gospel, the lives of saints, other spiritual books with them, reduce, or better, completely eliminate TV viewing (but this must be done very tactfully, without developing negative associations with the preparation for Communion in the child ), follow their prayer in the morning and before bedtime, talk with the child about the past days and bring him to a sense of shame for his own misdeeds. The main thing to remember is that there is nothing more effective for a child than a personal example of parents.

Starting from the age of seven, children (youths) already begin the Sacrament of Communion, like adults, only after the preliminary celebration of the Sacrament of Confession. In many ways, the sins listed in the previous sections are also inherent in children, but still, children's confession has its own characteristics. To set the children up for sincere repentance, it is pleaded that they be given the following list of possible sins to read:

Did you lie in bed in the morning and did you miss the morning prayer rule in connection with this?

Didn't he sit down at the table without praying and didn't he go to bed without prayer?

Do you know by heart the most important Orthodox prayers: “Our Father”, “Jesus Prayer”, “Virgin Mother of God, rejoice”, a prayer to your Heavenly patron, whose name you bear?

Did you go to church every Sunday?

Didn't he get carried away with various amusements on church holidays instead of visiting the temple of God?

Did he behave properly in the church service, didn’t he run around the temple, didn’t he conduct empty conversations with his peers, thereby introducing them into temptation?

Did he not pronounce the name of God unnecessarily?

Are you making the sign of the cross correctly, are you in no hurry to do so, are you not distorting the sign of the cross?

Did you get distracted by extraneous thoughts while praying?

Do you read the Gospel, other spiritual books?

Do you wear a pectoral cross and are you not ashamed of it?

Do you use a cross as a decoration, which is a sin?

Do you wear various amulets, for example, signs of the zodiac?

Didn't he guess, didn't he tell?

Didn’t he hide his sins before the priest at confession because of false shame, and then take communion unworthily?

Was he not proud of himself and others of his successes and abilities?

Have you argued with anyone - just to get the upper hand in the argument?

Did you lie to your parents out of fear of being punished?

Didn’t you eat fast food, for example, ice cream, without the permission of your parents?

Did he listen to his parents, argue with them, demand an expensive purchase from them?

Did he hit anyone? Have you encouraged others to do so?

Did he offend the younger ones?

Have you tortured animals?

Didn't he gossip about anyone, didn't he snitch on anyone?

Have you laughed at people who have any physical handicaps?

Have you tried smoking, drinking, sniffing glue, or using drugs?

Didn't he swear?

Have you played cards?

Did you do any handicraft?

Did you take someone else's for yourself?

Have you been in the habit of taking without asking what does not belong to you?

Are you too lazy to help your parents around the house?

Was he pretending to be sick to avoid his duties?

Did you envy others?

The above list is only a general scheme of possible sins. Each child may have their own, individual experiences associated with specific cases. The task of parents is to set the child up for repentant feelings before the Sacrament of Confession. You can advise him to remember his misdeeds committed after the last confession, write his sins on a piece of paper, but this should not be done for him. The main thing: the child must understand that the Sacrament of Confession is a Sacrament that cleanses the soul from sins, subject to sincere, sincere repentance and the desire not to repeat them again.

Confession is made in churches either in the evening after the evening service, or in the morning before the start of the liturgy. 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. When reading the rites, the priest addresses the penitents so that they give their names - everyone answers in an undertone. Those who are late for the beginning of confession are not allowed to the Sacrament; the priest, if there is such an opportunity, at the end of the confession, reads the rites again for them and accepts the confession, or appoints it for another day. It is impossible for women to start the Sacrament of Repentance during the period of monthly cleansing.

Confession usually takes place in a church with a confluence of people, so you need to respect the secrecy of confession, not crowd around the priest who is taking confession, and not embarrass the confessor who reveals his sins to the priest. The confession must be complete. It is impossible to confess some sins first, and leave others for the next time. Those sins that the penitent confessed in pre-

previous confessions and which have already been released to him are not named again. If possible, you need to confess to the same confessor. You should not, having a permanent confessor, look for another to confess your sins, which a sense of false shame prevents a familiar confessor from revealing. Those who do this are trying to deceive God Himself by their actions: at confession we confess our sins not to the confessor, but together with him - to the Savior Himself.

In large churches, due to the large number of penitents and the impossibility of the priest to accept confession from everyone, a “general confession” is usually practiced, when the priest lists the most common sins aloud and the confessors standing in front of him repent of them, after which everyone in turn comes under the permissive prayer . Those who have never been to confession or have not confessed for several years should avoid general confession. Such people need to go through private confession - for which you need to choose either a weekday, when there are not so many confessors in the church, or find a parish where only private confession is performed. If this is not possible, you need to go to the priest at a general confession for permissive prayer among the last, so as not to detain anyone, and, having explained the situation, open yourself to him in the sins you have committed. The same should be done by those who have grave sin.

Many ascetics of piety warn that a grave sin, about which the confessor kept silent at the general confession, remains unrepentant, and therefore not forgiven.

After the confession of sins and the reading of the permissive prayer by the priest, the penitent kisses the Cross and the Gospel lying on the lectern and, if he was preparing for communion, takes from the confessor a blessing for communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ.

In some cases, the priest may impose penance on the penitent - spiritual exercises intended to deepen repentance and eradicate sinful habits. Penance must be treated as the will of God, spoken through a priest, requiring obligatory fulfillment in order to heal the soul of the penitent. If it is impossible for various reasons to fulfill the penance, one should turn to the priest who imposed it to resolve the difficulties that have arisen.

Those wishing not only to confess, but also to take communion, must adequately and in accordance with the requirements of the Church prepare for the Sacrament of Communion. This preparation is called fasting.

The days of fasting usually last a week, in extreme cases - three days. Fasting is prescribed on these days. Modest food is excluded from the diet - meat, dairy products, eggs, and on days of strict fasting - fish. Spouses abstain from physical intimacy. The family refuses entertainment and TV viewing. If circumstances permit, these days one should attend services in the temple. The morning and evening prayer rules are more diligently carried out, with the addition of reading the Penitential Canon to them.

Regardless of when the Sacrament of Confession is performed in the temple - in the evening or in the morning, it is necessary to attend the evening service on the eve of communion. In the evening, before reading the prayers for the future, three canons are read: Penitent to our Lord Jesus Christ, the Mother of God, Guardian Angel. You can read each canon separately, or use prayer books where these three canons are combined. Then the canon for Holy Communion is read until the prayers for Holy Communion, which are read in the morning. For those who find it difficult to make such a prayer rule in

one day, they take a blessing from the priest to read three canons in advance during the days of fasting.

It is quite difficult for children to follow all the prayer rules for preparing for the sacrament. Parents, together with the confessor, need to choose the optimal number of prayers that the child will be able to do, then gradually increase the number of necessary prayers needed to prepare for Communion, up to the full prayer rule for Holy Communion.

For some, it is very difficult to read the necessary canons and prayers. For this reason, some do not go to confession and do not receive communion for years. Many people confuse preparation for confession (which does not require such a large volume of prayers to be read) and preparation for communion. Such people can be recommended to approach the Sacraments of Confession and Communion in stages. First, you need to properly prepare for confession and, when confessing sins, ask your confessor for advice. It is necessary to pray to the Lord that He will help to overcome difficulties and give strength to adequately prepare for the Sacrament of Communion.

Since it is customary to start the Sacrament of Communion on an empty stomach, from twelve o'clock in the morning they no longer eat or drink (smokers do not smoke). The exception is infants (children under seven years of age). But children from a certain age (starting from 5-6 years old, and if possible even earlier) must be accustomed to the existing rule.

In the morning they also do not eat or drink anything and, of course, do not smoke, you can only brush your teeth. After reading the morning prayers, prayers for Holy Communion are read. If it is difficult to read the prayers for Holy Communion in the morning, then you need to take a blessing from the priest to read them the evening before. If confession is performed in the church in the morning, it is necessary to arrive on time, before the start of confession. If confession was made the night before, then the confessor comes to the beginning of the service and prays with everyone.

Communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ is a Sacrament established by the Savior Himself during the Last Supper: “Jesus took bread and, blessing, broke it and, distributing it to the disciples, said: take, eat: this is My Body. And, taking the cup and giving thanks, he gave it to them and said: drink from it all, for this is My Blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins ”(Gospel of Matthew, ch. 26, verses 26-28).

During the Divine Liturgy, the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist is performed - bread and wine are mysteriously transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ, and the communicants, taking Them during Communion, mysteriously, incomprehensibly to the human mind, are united with Christ Himself, since He is all contained in each Particle of Communion .

Communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ is necessary in order to enter eternal life. The Savior Himself speaks of this: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink His Blood, you will not have life in you. Whoever eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day ... ”(Gospel of John, ch. 6, verses 53-54).

The Sacrament of Communion is incomprehensibly great, and therefore requires preliminary purification by the Sacrament of Penance; the only exceptions are infants under seven years of age, who receive communion without the preparation prescribed for the laity. Women need to wipe lipstick off their lips. It is forbidden for women to receive communion during the month of cleansing. Women after childbirth are allowed to take communion only after the fortieth day prayer of cleansing has been read over them.

During the exit of the priest with the Holy Gifts, the communicants make one earthly (if it is a weekday) or waist (if it is a Sunday or holiday) bow and carefully listen to the words of the prayers read by the priest, repeating them to themselves. After reading the prayers

private traders, with their hands crossed on their chests (the right over the left), decorously, without crowding, in deep humility approach the Holy Chalice. A pious custom has developed to let the children go first to the Chalice, then the men come up, after them the women. One should not be baptized at the Chalice, so as not to accidentally touch it. Having called his name aloud, the communicant, opening his mouth, accepts the Holy Gifts - the Body and Blood of Christ. After communion, the deacon or sexton wipes the mouth of the communicant with a special cloth, after which he kisses the edge of the holy Chalice and goes to a special table, where he takes a drink (warmth) and eats a particle of prosphora. This is done so that not a single particle of the Body of Christ remains in the mouth. Without accepting warmth, one cannot venerate either icons, or the Cross, or the Gospel.

After receiving the warmth, the communicants do not leave the temple and pray with everyone until the end of the service. After the dismissal (the final words of the service), the communicants approach the Cross and carefully listen to the prayers of thanksgiving after Holy Communion. After listening to the prayers, the communicants sedately disperse, trying to keep the purity of their soul cleansed of sins for as long as possible, not exchanging for empty talk and deeds that are not useful for the soul. On the day after communion of the Holy Mysteries, prostrations are not performed; with the blessing of the priest, they are not applied to the hand. You can apply only to icons, the Cross and the Gospel. The rest of the day must be spent piously: avoiding verbosity (it is better to be silent more in general), watching TV, excluding marital intimacy, it is advisable for smokers to refrain from smoking. It is advisable to read thanksgiving prayers at home after Holy Communion. The fact that on the day of the sacrament one cannot shake hands is a prejudice. Under no circumstances should you take communion several times in one day.

In cases of illness and infirmity, communion can be done at home. For this, a priest is invited to the house. Depending on

Depending on his condition, the sick person is properly prepared for confession and communion. In any case, he can take communion only on an empty stomach (with the exception of the dying). Children under the age of seven do not receive communion at home, since, unlike adults, they can only partake of the Blood of Christ, and the spare Gifts that a priest communes at home contain only particles of the Body of Christ saturated with His Blood. For the same reason, infants do not receive communion at the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts celebrated on weekdays during Great Lent.

Each Christian either determines the time when he needs to confess and take communion, or does it with the blessing of his spiritual father. There is a pious custom to take communion at least five times a year - on each of the four multi-day fasts and on the day of your Angel (the day of memory of the saint whose name you bear).

How often it is necessary to take communion, St. Nikodim the Holy Mountaineer gives pious advice: The heart then partakes of the Lord spiritually.

But just as we are constrained by the body, and surrounded by external affairs and relationships, in which we must take part for a long time, the spiritual tasting of the Lord, due to the bifurcation of our attention and feelings, is weakened day by day, obscured and hidden ...

Therefore, the zealots, sensing its impoverishment, hasten to restore it in strength, and when they restore it, they feel that they are, as it were, eating the Lord again.

Published by the Orthodox parish in the name of St. Seraphim of Sarov, Novosibirsk.

Repentance or confession is a sacrament in which a person who confesses his sins to a priest, through his forgiveness, is resolved from sins by the Lord Himself. The question of whether, father, is asked by many people who join church life. The preliminary confession prepares the soul of the penitent for the Great Meal - the Sacrament of Communion.

The essence of confession

The Holy Fathers call the Sacrament of Repentance the second baptism. In the first case, at Baptism, a person receives cleansing from the original sin of the forefathers Adam and Eve, and in the second, the penitent is washed away from his sins committed after baptism. However, because of the weakness of their human nature, people continue to sin, and these sins separate them from God, standing between them as a barrier. They cannot overcome this barrier on their own. But the Sacrament of Penance helps to be saved and acquire that unity with God acquired at Baptism.

The Gospel says about repentance that it is a necessary condition for the salvation of the soul. A person throughout his life must continuously struggle with his sins. And, despite all sorts of defeats and falls, he should not lose heart, despair and grumble, but repent all the time and continue to carry his life's cross, which the Lord Jesus Christ laid on him.

Consciousness of one's sins

In this matter, the main thing is to learn that in the Sacrament of Confession, a penitent person is forgiven all his sins, and the soul is freed from sinful bonds. The ten commandments received by Moses from God and the nine commandments received from the Lord Jesus Christ contain the entire moral and spiritual law of life.

Therefore, before confessing, it is necessary to turn to your conscience and remember all your sins from childhood in order to prepare a real confession. How it passes, not everyone knows, and even rejects, but a true Orthodox Christian, overcoming his pride and false shame, begins to spiritually crucify himself, honestly and sincerely admit his spiritual imperfection. And here it is important to understand that unconfessed sins will be defined for a person in eternal condemnation, and repentance will mean victory over oneself.

What is real confession? How does this sacrament work?

Before confessing to a priest, it is necessary to seriously prepare and realize the necessity of cleansing the soul from sins. To do this, you need to reconcile with all the offenders and those who were offended, refrain from gossip and condemnation, all kinds of obscene thoughts, watching numerous entertainment programs and reading lightweight literature. It is better to devote your free time to reading the Holy Scriptures and other spiritual literature. It is advisable to confess a little in advance at the evening service, so that during the morning Liturgy you will no longer be distracted from the service and devote time to prayerful preparation for Holy Communion. But already, as a last resort, you can confess in the morning (mostly everyone does this).

For the first time, not everyone knows how to confess correctly, what to say to the priest, etc. In this case, you need to warn the priest about this, and he will direct everything in the right direction. Confession, first of all, involves the ability to see and realize one's sins; at the moment of uttering them, the priest should not justify himself and shift the blame onto another.

Children under 7 years of age and all newly baptized communion on this day without confession, this should not be done only by women who are in purification (when they have their period or after childbirth until the 40th day). The text of the confession can be written on a piece of paper so as not to stray later and remember everything.

Confession order

A lot of people usually gather in the church for confession, and before approaching the priest, you need to turn your face to the people and say out loud: “Forgive me, a sinner,” and they will answer: “God will forgive, and we forgive.” And then it is necessary to go to the confessor. Approaching the lectern (high book stand), crossing yourself and bowing at the waist, without kissing the Cross and the Gospel, bowing your head, you can proceed to confession.

Previously confessed sins do not need to be repeated, because, as the Church teaches, they have already been forgiven, but if they are repeated again, then they must be repented of again. At the end of your confession, you must listen to the words of the priest, and when he finishes, cross yourself twice, bow at the waist, kiss the Cross and the Gospel, and then, again crossing and bowing, accept the blessing of your father and go to your place.

What to repent about

Summing up the topic “Confession. How does this sacrament go”, you need to familiarize yourself with the most common sins in our modern world.

Sins against God - pride, lack of faith or unbelief, renunciation of God and the Church, careless execution of the sign of the cross, not wearing a pectoral cross, violation of the commandments of God, mentioning the name of the Lord in vain, careless fulfillment of not attending church, prayer without diligence, talking and walking in the temple during services, belief in superstitions, turning to psychics and fortune tellers, thoughts of suicide, etc.

Sins against one's neighbor - upsetting parents, robbery and extortion, stinginess in almsgiving, hardness of heart, slander, bribery, resentment, barbs and cruel jokes, irritation, anger, gossip, gossip, greed, scandals, hysteria, resentment, betrayal, treason, etc. d.

Sins against oneself - vanity, arrogance, anxiety, envy, vindictiveness, striving for earthly glory and honors, addiction to money, gluttony, smoking, drunkenness, gambling, masturbation, fornication, excessive attention to one's flesh, despondency, longing, sadness etc.

God will forgive any sin, nothing is impossible for him, a person only needs to truly realize his sinful deeds and sincerely repent of them.

Participle

They usually confess in order to take communion, and for this you need to pray for several days, which means prayer and fasting, attending evening services and reading at home, in addition to evening and morning prayers, the canons: the Mother of God, the Guardian Angel, the Penitent One, for Communion, and, if possible, , or rather, at will - Akathist to Jesus the Sweetest. After midnight they no longer eat or drink, they proceed to the sacrament on an empty stomach. After receiving the Sacrament of Communion, one must read the prayers for Holy Communion.

Don't be afraid to go to confession. How is she going? You can read about this exact information in special brochures that are sold in every church, they describe everything in great detail. And then the main thing is to tune in to this true and saving deed, because an Orthodox Christian must always think about death so that it does not take him by surprise - without even taking communion.