How to Confess in the Orthodox Church. Confession is essential in a person's life

Confession is one of the most important church sacraments, during which Christians repent for their sins. Confession takes place in the presence of a priest, however, all sins are resolved by God himself.

Confession is of great importance to anyone Orthodox Christian because repentance and atonement for sins are the work of his whole life. Without it, the laity are not allowed to the Sacrament of the Eucharist (communion) and cannot partake of the Holy Gifts.

What is confession and why is it needed

The Holy Fathers teach that sin is the main barrier between man and God. And this barrier is so huge that people are not able to overcome it on their own. It is possible to cope with it only with God's help, but for this a person must first acknowledge his sin and repent of it.

Just to get rid of sin and there is the sacrament of confession. When our body is infected with a dangerous virus, we usually go to the hospital for a cure. However, sin is the same deadly virus, only it affects not the body, but the soul. And in order to recover from it, a person needs the help of the church.

The sacrament of repentance is often compared to baptism. During the baptism of new converts, a Christian gets rid of original sin inherited from our forefathers - Adam and Eve. Confession, on the other hand, helps to get rid of those sins that were committed after baptism and by the person himself personally.

Typically, for a Christian, repentance consists of three stages:

1. Repent immediately after sin.
2. Ask God for forgiveness in the evening, before going to bed.
3. Go to confession, during which the Lord will finally resolve this sin.

You can also confess if your heart is heavy or your conscience is tormenting. And here the sacrament of repentance plays the role of an ambulance, as it helps to get rid of the suffering caused by sin and restore lost mental health.

It is very important to learn to ask for forgiveness from those whom we have offended. But even more important is repentance before God, since we have much more sins before Him than before any of the people.

Many people ask why it is necessary to go to church and confess in the presence of a priest. Is it not enough that we ask God for forgiveness, that our conscience torments us, and we repent of our deeds?

No, not enough. Usually priests give this explanation: if a person, for example, gets dirty, he will not become clean just because he realized his dirt and was ashamed of it. For purification, he needs some external source of water in which he can bathe. The Holy Church plays the role of such a source for a Christian.

However, it is important to remember that confession is not only repentance and deliverance from sin. It is also a firm determination not to repeat sinful acts anymore and to bring your life into real conformity with Christian teaching.

How is the sacrament

Unlike other sacraments Confession does not require the observance of a large number of rituals. It does not require long fasts or any special conditions, nor specific days. The sacrament of repentance can be performed anytime and anywhere: it requires only complete repentance and the presence of a priest. Any member of the Orthodox Church from 7 years of age and older can confess.

In the temple itself, this sacrament can be performed at different hours:

• After evening worship.
• In the morning, just before the liturgy.
• During the liturgy itself, before communion.

If there are too many people in the church, you can arrange with the priest for another time. Confession begins with a priestly prayer and an appeal to the penitent (“Behold a child, Christ…”). Then the priest covers the head of the penitent with an epitrachelion (optional), asks what his name is and what he wants to confess.

During confession, the priest can ask clarifying questions, give instructions or advice. In some cases, he imposes penance, that is, it orders certain actions for the atonement of sin. For example, if a penitent stole something, he may be asked to return the stolen goods or compensate for the damage. However, penance is prescribed quite rarely.

When the confession ends, the priest puts the edge of the stole on the person’s head and says a permissive prayer. After that, the parishioner kisses the Gospel and the cross, which lie on the lectern, and asks the priest for blessings.

It is necessary to confess at least before each communion. And a churched Christian should take communion from once a day to once every three weeks. There is no maximum for the number of confessions.

How to Prepare for the Sacrament of Penance

Preparation for confession comes down to a thorough analysis of all your actions, words and thoughts. However, they must be considered not from the point of view of man, but from the point of view of God's commandments.

Such introspection requires a person to be extremely honest with himself. Truthfully evaluating his works, a Christian must cast aside pride and false shame, since these shortcomings make us keep silent about our sins and even justify them.

Preparing for Repentance Requires the Right Attitude. It is necessary not just to mechanically remember everyday sins, but with all your heart to strive to ensure that they are left behind. It is also desirable to first make peace with those before whom we have sinned, and ask their forgiveness.

In order not to forget about your sins, you can write them down on a piece of paper. No need to create a detailed bureaucratic report - just an approximate "cheat sheet" will suffice. It will help you quickly refresh your memory before confession and not forget anything.

If you are afraid to miss something important, use the special lists of sins for confession. In Orthodoxy, they play the role of a kind of “checklist” and allow us to notice what we, for some reason, did not pay attention to. This is the Pochaev Leaflet, which helps to remember sins at confession, lists for women, men, children and adolescents.

However, at the confession itself, no lists and texts should be used. It is better to speak in your own words and from a pure heart , and reading from a piece of paper can turn the sacrament into an empty formality.

Another way to remember forgotten sins - consider them by type:

• Sins against God: unbelief, lack of faith, pride, breaking the commandments, mentioning the Lord in vain, turning to psychics, not attending church, and the like.
• Sins against neighbor: theft, slander, gossip, resentment and betrayal.
• Sins against oneself: gluttony, drunkenness, fornication, smoking, despondency and other deeds that destroy the body and soul.

Often Christians only remember what happened after last confession. But to this it is necessary to add those actions that we kept silent about last time because of shame or forgetfulness. Also at confession, you can talk about those sins that we confessed last time without proper repentance.

Some people ask: is it permissible to confess the same sin repeatedly? In principle, this is allowed, since the memory of past sins strengthens a person in humility. However, it is not necessary to do so if repentance was truly sincere.

It is better to find out about the time of the Sacrament of Penance in advance. If there are many people who want to confess on this day, it is better to arrange a separate meeting with the priest.

How to prepare for your very first confession

The very first confession in the life of a Christian is called the general confession. It is necessary to prepare for it especially carefully, since it is it that washes away the most old and ingrained dirt from our souls. It is customary to remember all your sins on it, and not only adults, but also children (starting from the age of six).

Before such a confession, it is advisable to familiarize yourself with Christian literature on this topic. But before buying books or downloading them from the Internet, you should definitely consult with your confessor. The fact is that some books on repentance may be too difficult for a layman, and some are of dubious origin and written by sectarians.

If your church is large and many people gather for Sunday service, general confession can be held in it. In this case, the priest simply lists the main sins, and the parishioners repeat after him. But such short form confession is not suitable for the first time, so it is better to visit the temple on a weekday, when there are usually few people in it.

Immediately before the sacrament, you must definitely tell the priest that you are at confession for the first time. In this case, he will prompt you and direct the confession in the “right direction”, and then tell you what to do next.

How to confess properly

The main rule of confession is this: all actions must be as sincere as possible. During the sacrament, formalism must be avoided by all means so as not to turn it into a ritual “for show”. Here, sincerity is more important than following external prescriptions.

Dressing for confession is the same as for regular church attendance. Men should wear long pants and a shirt that covers the elbows. For a woman - a long skirt and clothes that cover the shoulders and décolleté. Going to church, you can not use cosmetics, especially lipstick. A woman must have a headscarf on her head.

Arriving at the temple, you need to stand in line for confession. At the same time, it is necessary to keep a certain distance from the others so as not to disturb anyone and not to hear other people's repentant words.

Having waited for your turn, you need to go to the lectern (the table where the cross and the Gospel lie) and bow your head. You can also kneel, but it is not necessary at all. Remember that kneeling prayer is canceled on Sundays, on great holidays and in the period from Easter to Trinity.

At confession, it is customary to talk not only about individual sinful deeds, but also about pernicious passions inherent in a person. For example, if a penitent is characterized by the love of money, then specific manifestations of greed or stinginess will be sins for him.

If you are unfamiliar with the church names of sins and passions, then simply retell everything in your own words. It is necessary to name only the sin itself, briefly and without unnecessary details. If necessary, the priest himself will clarify everything.

If the Lord sees sincere repentance, he will forgive all sins, even those that we ourselves have forgotten. However, it is impossible to deliberately hide sins, because in this case there will be no forgiveness.

How exactly do you talk about your sins? Here are some recommendations that priests usually give:

• Do not approach confession formally. This is not a rite of "enumeration of sins": sincere repentance is more important here.
• Avoid "blanks", that is, pre-memorized phrases and expressions. The best words are those that come from a pure heart.
• Do not make excuses and do not shift your sins onto others, because in this case the meaning of repentance itself disappears.
• Don't just talk about your life. The purpose of confession is not to pour out the soul, but to get rid of the burden of sin.
• Crying during confession is normal, but you don’t need to do it on purpose and for show.

And most importantly: it is necessary to remember that in fact all sins are confessed before God. The priest only performs the duty of a witness and intercessor before Him.

During the confession, the priest can sometimes ask or clarify something. In this case, you just need to calmly answer all the questions. And vice versa, if something from the instructions of the priest remains incomprehensible, then ask him to explain.

After the priest has listened to the confession and is convinced of the sincerity of the person, he covers his head with the edge of the stole and reads a permissive prayer. After it, you need to cross yourself and kiss the cross and the Gospel.

Immediately after confession, a blessing is taken from the priest. To do this, fold your hands palms up and right palm put on the left. Then you need to bow your head and say: "Bless, father." The priest will make a blessing sign and place his palm on his folded arms. The priest should put his mouth to the hand as to the image of the blessing right hand of the Lord.

If you plan to take communion, you should also take a blessing for this. You can simply ask: “Batiushka, do you bless me to take communion?” In this case, the priest can clarify the observance of the fasts and prayers required for the Sacrament of the Eucharist.

What to do after confession

The very first thing to do is to thank the Lord for the forgiveness of sins. Unfortunately, some people forget about it. But this is His great gift, thanks to which the human soul is cleansed of filth.

You also need to make a firm decision to change your life. It is not enough to simply confess a sin before God: one must try never to repeat such a thing again in the future. It is important to remember that for a Christian, repentance and the fight against sin is a life's work that never ends.

With sincere repentance at confession, all sins are forgiven. But this does not mean that you can immediately forget about them. No, the sins committed earlier should always be remembered, for this is necessary for us to humble ourselves and to protect ourselves from possible falls in the future.

If you confess regularly enough, then over time it becomes difficult to remember your sins. But this does not mean that they do not exist: they simply begin to “hide” from us. In this case, you can ask the Lord to give us a vision of our own sins.

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

What is Communion

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

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

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

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

How to Prepare for Communion

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

• be an Orthodox Christian;

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

• read all the necessary prayers;

• go to confession after the All-Night Vigil;

• come to Liturgy in the morning.

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

Without confession, the following are allowed to the Sacrament:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

There doesn't exist any strict rules governing what to say in church during confession. It is important to show a sincere desire to improve. Confessors usually help those who are having difficulty by asking questions. There is no need to enumerate every sin whose name is read in the books. Many have a common root - pride, greed, unwillingness to work on themselves, dislike for others.

Prayers and worship

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

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

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

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

• You must come to the Liturgy without delay.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

How to Confess for the First Time

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 faith in 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 reliance, i.e., excessive hope for own forces and on someone's help, without the 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. No need to tell the confessor long stories 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 do you bear?

Did you go to church every Sunday?

Was he not fond of various amusements in 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 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 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 celebrated - bread and wine mysteriously are transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ, and the communicants, receiving 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 listen carefully thanksgiving prayers 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, the Holy Mysteries are not performed prostrations, 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 Orthodox parish in the name of the Reverend Seraphim of Sarov, Novosibirsk.

Dear readers, on this page of our site you can ask any question related to the life of the Zakamsky deanery and Orthodoxy. Your questions are answered by the clergy of the Holy Ascension Cathedral in the city of Naberezhnye Chelny. We draw your attention to the fact that it is better, of course, to resolve issues of a personal spiritual nature in live communication with a priest or with your confessor.

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Date: 03/22/2017 19:01:58

What words should be used to start and end a confession?

Protodeacon Dmitry Polovnikov answers

Good day. Write what words you need to start (I have sinned in word, deed, thought - it’s embarrassing that I can’t remember everything), and how to end (whether to ask the priest for permission of sins) confession? Thanks.

There is no special wording for the beginning and end of confession, and it is not necessary. Each penitent chooses the words of repentance from his heart. But approximate examples of the construction of a confession exist and are set out in numerous brochures "To Help the Penitent", which are sold in church shops. The reference point for confession should be on the Commandments given in the Bible, each phrase can begin with the words: "I have sinned in that ...".

You can end confession in different ways, you can say both “I have sinned in word, deed, thought”, and “Lord forgive me for the sins that I did not confess due to forgetfulness or misunderstanding.” We cannot remember and confess all sins, but we can ask the Lord for forgiveness for our negligence and forgetfulness.

Confession must be sincere and complete, and verbal formulas may be different.

Hieromonk Evstafiy (Khalimankov)

This question arises for many people who want to change their lives with the help of the Church and the sacrament of Penance. However, not always independent search leads to the correct answer. Let's try to give an answer based on the real experience of the clergy of the Zhirovitsky monastery.

Coming to confession, one should always ask oneself a clear and precise question: why am I doing this? Am I going to change my life, which actually means the very word "repentance" (from the Greek. Throwing - a change in mind, worldview, a smart approach to everything)?

In the sacrament of repentance, one can distinguish three main points or a kind of penitential stage. Only by successively passing through all these stages, a person can hope for victory over sin in himself. Consider the parable of the prodigal son. After younger son received his share from his father and squandered it, "living prodigally", the "moment of truth" comes. It becomes clear that no one needs him. And then the youngest son remembers his father: “When he came to his senses, he said: how many hirelings my father has in abundance in bread, and I am dying of hunger!” ().

So, first stage repentance is to “come to your senses”, to think about your life: to realize that I still live wrong and ... remember that there is always a way out in any situation. And the only way out is the Lord. We all begin to remember God only in sorrows, illnesses, etc. Including church people: those who more or less regularly attend the temple confess and take communion; even they remember about God - that all problems are solved in Him - not immediately.

Second phase- determination to part with sin and direct confession of sin. Prodigal son makes this the only correct decision: “I will get up, go to my father and say to him: Father! I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son; accept me as one of your hired hands. He got up and went to his father. And while he was still far away, his father saw him and had compassion; and, running, fell on his neck and kissed him. The son said to him: Father! I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. And the father said to his servants: Bring best clothes and clothe him, and put a ring on his hand, and sandals on his feet; and bring a fattened calf, and kill it; Let's eat and be merry! for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found. And they began to have fun ”(). The person has already understood that it is impossible to live the way he lives now, so he takes concrete steps to change the situation.

The Lord, like the father from the gospel parable, is waiting for each of us. The Lord, so to speak, longs for our repentance. None of us is as concerned about our own salvation as God is. Each of us, I believe, experienced that joy, relief, deep world soul after a really serious confession? The Lord expects from us this depth, seriousness in relation to Himself. We take a step towards God, and He takes a few steps towards us. If only we would make up our minds and take this saving step forward… And this is exactly what is manifested, first of all, in confession.

What do we say in confession to God? This, in fact, is the main topic of this article. Let's start with the fact that sometimes a person does not even understand what to repent of: "I didn't kill anyone, I didn't steal", etc. And if in the Old Testament system of coordinates, at the level of the ten Mosaic commandments (to which the so-called “universal values” are close), we somehow orientate ourselves, then the Gospel remains for us some kind of distant, transcendent reality, in no way connected with life. But it is precisely the commandments of the Gospel that are for Christians the law that should regulate their whole life. Therefore, to begin with, we must take the trouble to at least learn about these commandments. It is best to read the Gospel with the interpretation of the holy fathers. You ask: what, we ourselves will not be able to understand on our own New Testament? Well, start reading and I think you will have a lot of questions. To find answers to them, you can read the book of the archbishop "The Four Gospels". You can also recommend the wonderful book "The Interpretation of the Gospel", which very successfully synthesized the patristic experience. A similar work belongs to: “The Four Gospels. Study guide Holy Scripture". All these texts can now be found without any problems in church shops, stores, or, in any case, on the Internet.

When the prospect of a gospel life opens up to a person, he will finally realize how much he own life far from the most elementary foundations of the gospel. Then, by itself, it will become clear what you need to repent of and how to continue to live.

Now it is necessary to say a few words about how to confess. It turns out that this also needs to be learned and, sometimes, throughout life. How often do you hear in confession a dry, formal enumeration of sins read out in some church (or near-church) pamphlet. Once, in confession, a young man read from a piece of paper, among other sins, “love of carriages.” I asked him - does he know what it is? He honestly said, “Approximately,” and smiled. When you listen to these treatises at confession, then over time you begin to identify the primary sources: “Yeah, this is from the book “To Help the Penitent”, and this is from “The Cure for Sin ...”.

Of course there is really good benefits which can be recommended to beginning confessors. For example, “The Experience of Building a Confession” by the archimandrite or the book “To Help the Penitents”, already mentioned by us, compiled according to creations. Of course, they can be used, but only with a certain reservation. You can't "get stuck" on them. A Christian must also progress in confession. For example, a person can go to confession for years and, like a well-learned lesson, repeat the same thing: “I sinned in deed, word, thought, condemnation, idle talk, negligence, absent-mindedness in prayer ...” - then follows a certain set of so-called common sins so-called church people. What is the problem here? Yes, in the fact that a person loses the habit of spiritual work on his soul and gradually gets used to this sinful "gentleman's set" so much that he almost feels nothing at confession. Very often a person hides real pain and shame from sin behind these general words. After all, it’s one thing to mutter, among other things, “condemnation, idle talk, viewing bad images”, and quite another to courageously expose a specific sin in all its ugliness: sling mud at a colleague behind his back, reproach his friend for not lending me money watching a porn movie...

You can, of course, fall into the other extreme, when a person plunges into petty, painful self-digging. You can get to the point where the confessor will even experience pleasure from sin, as if reliving it again, or he will begin to be proud: they say, what a deep person I am with a complex and rich inner life ... The main thing to say about sin is its essence, and no, sorry, smear ...

It is also useful to recall that when we confess any sins, we thereby undertake the obligation not to commit them, or at least to fight against them. Just talking about sins in confession is a great irresponsibility. At the same time, some also begin to theologize: I have no humility, because there is no obedience, and there is no obedience, because there is no confessor, and good confessors cannot be found now, because “the last times” and “the elders of our time have not been given” ... Others they generally begin to confess the sins of their relatives, acquaintances ... but not their own. In this way, our crafty nature tries to justify itself before God even at confession and “shift” the blame onto someone else. Therefore, sin must really ... mourn at confession, expose without concealment all its abomination - denounce. If a person is ashamed in confession, then this good sign. It means that the grace of God has already touched the soul.

Sometimes a person repents (even with tears in his eyes) that he ate a non-fasting gingerbread on a fast day or tempted soup with sunflower oil ... At the same time, he does not notice at all that he has been living at enmity with his daughter-in-law or husband for many years, indifferently passes by someone else's misfortune ; completely disregarding his family or official duties ... Blind people who can’t see beyond their own noses, “straining a mosquito and swallowing a camel” ()! ) to the temple of God and ... at the same time they live in some kind of world invented by themselves - there is no God there, because there is no main thing: love for people. How the Lord Jesus Christ denounced us in this moral blindness and grieved over the “leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees,” which we are all more or less afflicted with… We immediately see a girl who walks in in trousers or a tipsy guy and, like kites, pounce on them: let’s go Get out of our church!

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, that you are like painted tombs, which look beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of the bones of the dead and all kinds of uncleanness; so you, outwardly, seem righteous to people, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness ”().

So, one must confess concretely, succinctly, ruthlessly in relation to oneself (to one's "old man"), without concealing anything, without embellishing, without belittling sin. First you need to confess the grossest, most shameful, disgusting sins - resolutely dump these dirty, mossy stones from the house of the soul. Then already collect the rest of the pebbles, sweep, scrape the bottom of the barrel ...

You need to prepare for confession in advance, and not hastily, somehow, already standing in the temple. You can prepare in a few days (this process is on church language is called gossip). Preparation for the Sacraments of Confession and Communion is not only a food diet (although this is also important), but also a deep study of one’s soul, and a prayerful invocation God's help. For the latter, by the way, the so-called Rule for Communion is intended, which can be different depending on the level of the Christian's churching. I am convinced that to force a person who is taking his first steps in the Church to read everything big rule in a Church Slavonic language that was incomprehensible to him, it is “to impose burdens that are unbearable” (). The measure of fasting and prayer rules must be agreed with the priest.

Now consider third stage repentance is probably the most difficult. After the sin is recognized and confessed, the Christian must prove repentance by his life. It means a very simple thing: no more committing the confessed sin. And this is where the most difficult, the most painful begins... The man thought that, having confessed, having experienced the grace-filled consolation of confession, he had fulfilled everything, and now, finally, one could enjoy life in God. But it turns out that everything is just beginning! A fierce battle with sin begins. Or rather, it should have started. In fact, often a person gives in to this struggle and again falls into sin.

I would like to draw your attention to one strange (at first glance) regularity. Here is a man confessing some sin. For example, angry. And for some reason, immediately - either on this day, or in the near future - there is again a reason for irritation. The temptation is right there. Even sometimes in an even more severe form than it was before confession. For this reason, some Christians are even afraid to go to confession and take communion often—they are afraid of “increasing temptations.” But the fact of the matter is that the Lord, accepting our repentance, gives us the opportunity to prove the seriousness of our confession and to carry out this repentance in practice. The Lord offers a kind of "work on mistakes" so that this time a person does not succumb to sin, but does the right thing: in the gospel way. And most importantly, a person is already equipped to fight sin with the grace of God received in the Mystery of Confession. To the extent of our sincerity, seriousness, and depth shown in confession, the Lord gives us His grace-filled strength to fight sin. Don't miss this divine opportunity! There is no need to be afraid of new temptations, one must be ready for them in order to courageously meet them and ... not to sin. Only then will an end be put to our repentant epic and victory will be won over some particular sin. This moment is very important - it is necessary to focus on the struggle, first of all, with some particular sin. As a rule, we begin to eradicate the most obvious, gross sins in ourselves - such as fornication, drunkenness, drugs, smoking ... Only by plucking these gross sins from our souls, a person will begin to see other, more subtle (but no less dangerous) sins in himself : vanity, condemnation, envy, irritability ...

The monk of Optina said this about this: “You need to know what passion worries you the most, and you need to fight it especially. To do this, you need to check your conscience daily ... ". It is not only necessary to repent of sins at confession, but it is good if a Christian in the evening, before going to bed, for example, remembers the day he lived and repents before the Lord of his sinful thoughts, feelings, intentions or aspirations ... “Cleanse me from my secrets” (), - Psalmist David prayed.

So, it is necessary to focus on a specific sin that really interferes with life, hinders our entire spiritual life, and take up arms against this sin. Constantly confess it, fight it with all the means available to us; read the writings of the holy fathers about ways to deal with this sin, consult with a confessor. It is good if a Christian eventually finds a confessor for himself - this is a great help in spiritual life. We need to pray to the Lord that He would vouchsafe such a gift: a real confessor. It does not have to be an elder (and where can you find them, elders, in our time?). It is enough to find a sober-minded priest who is familiar with patristic tradition and has at least a minimal spiritual experience.

Confession must be regular (as well as communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ). The frequency of confession and Communion is individual for each person. This issue is resolved with the confessor. However, in any case, a Christian must at least once a month go to confession and receive communion. This is important precisely because the soul is regularly clogged with all sorts of sinful rubbish. No one has any questions why it is necessary to regularly wash your face, brush your teeth, see a doctor ... In the same way, our soul needs careful care for it. Man is a whole being, consisting of soul and body. And if we take care of the body, then about the soul - alas! - we often completely forget ... It is precisely because of the above-mentioned integrity of a person that carelessness about the soul then affects bodily health, and indeed on the whole life of a person. You can (and should!) confess more often (without Communion), as needed. It hurts - we immediately run to the doctor. Therefore, we must remember that the Doctor is always waiting for us in the temple.

Yes, the inertia of sin is great. The habit of sin, which has been developed over the years, cannot help but drag a person to the bottom. Fear of this skill fetters our will and fills our souls with despondency: no, I cannot conquer sin... Thus, faith that the Lord can help is lost. A person goes to confession for months, then for years and repents of the same stereotyped sins. And… nothing, no positive changes.

And here it is very important to remember the words of the Lord that “The Kingdom of Heaven is taken by force, and those who use force take it away” (). To use force in the Christian life means to struggle with sin in oneself. If a Christian really struggles with himself, he will soon feel how, from confession to confession, the octopus of sin begins to weaken its tentacles and the soul begins to breathe more and more freely. Necessary - necessary, like air! - to feel this taste of victory. It is the cruel, uncompromising struggle against sin that strengthens our faith - “and this is the victory that conquered the world, our faith” ().