Rules of confession in the Orthodox Church. How to confess in church for the first time - examples of what to say to the priest

Confession is a sacrament when a believer confesses their sins to a priest. The representative of the church has the right to forgive sins in the name of the Lord and Jesus Christ.

According to biblical legends, Christ endowed the apostles with such an opportunity, which was later passed on to the clergy. During repentance, a person not only talks about his sins, but also gives his word not to commit them again.

What is confession?

Confession is not only cleansing, but also a test for the soul. It helps to remove the burden and cleanse yourself before the face of the Lord, reconcile with him and overcome internal doubts. You need to go to confession once a month, but if you want to do it more often, you should follow the urges of your soul and repent any time you want.

For especially serious sins, a church representative can impose a special punishment called penance. This can be long prayer, fasting or abstinence, which are ways to purify oneself. When a person violates God's laws, it negatively affects his mental and physical well-being. Repentance helps to gain strength and fight the temptations that push people to sin. The believer gets the opportunity to talk about his misdeeds and remove the burden from his soul. Before confession, it is necessary to make a list of sins, with the help of which you can correctly describe the sin and prepare the correct speech for repentance.

How to start a confession to the priest with what words?

The seven deadly sins, which are the main vices, look like this:

• gluttony (gluttony, excessive food abuse)
• fornication (dissolute life, infidelity)
• anger (hot temper, vindictiveness, irritability)
• love of money (greed, desire for material values)
• despondency (laziness, depression, despair)
• vanity (selfishness, sense of narcissism)
• envy

It is believed that when committing these sins, the human soul can perish. By committing them, a person moves further and further away from God, but all of them can be released during sincere repentance. It is believed that it was mother nature who laid them in every person, and only the strongest in spirit can resist temptations and fight evil. But it is worth remembering that every person can commit a sin while going through a difficult period in life. People are not immune from misfortunes and difficulties that can drive everyone to despair. You need to learn to fight passions and emotions, and then no sin will be able to overcome you and ruin your life.

Preparing for Confession

It is necessary to prepare for repentance in advance. First you need to find a temple where the sacraments are held and choose the appropriate day. Most often they are held on holidays and weekends. At this time, there are always a lot of people in the temple, and not everyone will be able to open up when strangers are nearby. In this case, you need to contact the priest and ask him to make an appointment on another day when you can be alone. Before repentance, it is recommended to read the Canon of Repentance, which will allow you to tune in and put your thoughts in order.

You need to know that there are three groups of sins that can be written down and taken with you to confession.

1. Vices against God:

These include blasphemy and insulting the Lord, blasphemy, interest in occult sciences, superstition, thoughts of suicide, excitement, and so on.

1. Vices against the soul:

Laziness, deception, use of obscene words, impatience, disbelief, self-delusion, despair.

1. Vices against neighbors:

Disrespect for parents, slander, condemnation, rancor, hatred, theft, and so on.

How to confess correctly, what should you say to the priest at the beginning?

Before approaching a church representative, get rid of bad thoughts and be prepared to bare your soul. You can start confession in the following way: how to confess correctly, what to say to the priest, for example: “Lord, I have sinned before you,” and after that you can list your sins. There is no need to tell the priest about the sin in great detail; it is enough to just say “Committed adultery” or confess to another vice.

But to the list of sins you can add “I sinned with envy, I constantly envy my neighbor...” and so on. After listening to you, the priest will be able to give valuable advice and help you act correctly in a given situation. Such clarifications will help identify your greatest weaknesses and combat them. The confession ends with the words “I repent, Lord! Save and have mercy on me, a sinner!”

Many confessors are very ashamed to talk about anything; this is an absolutely normal feeling. But at the moment of repentance, you need to overcome yourself and understand that it is not the priest who condemns you, but God, and that it is God who you tell about your sins. The priest is just a conductor between you and the Lord, do not forget about this.

List of sins for a woman

Many representatives of the fair sex, having become familiar with it, decide to refuse confession. It looks like this:

• Rarely prayed and came to church
• During prayer I thought about pressing problems
• Had sex before marriage
• Had unclean thoughts
• I turned to fortune tellers and magicians for help
• Believed in superstitions
• I was afraid of old age
• Abused alcohol, drugs, sweets
• Refused to help other people
• Performed abortions
• Wearing revealing clothes

List of sins for a man

• Blasphemy against the Lord
• Disbelief
• Ridicule of those who are weaker
• Cruelty, pride, laziness, greed
• Evasion of military service
• Insults and use of physical force against others
• Slander
• Inability to resist temptations
• Refusal to help relatives and other people
• Theft
• Rudeness, contempt, greed

A man needs to take a more responsible approach to this issue, since he is the head of the family. It is from him that children will take their role model.

There is also a list of sins for a child, which can be compiled after he answers a series of specific questions. He must understand how important it is to speak sincerely and honestly, but this already depends on the approach of the parents and their preparation of their child for confession.

The importance of confession in the life of a believer

Many holy fathers call confession the second baptism. This helps to establish unity with God and cleanse oneself of filth. As the Gospel says, repentance is a necessary condition for cleansing the soul. Throughout his life's journey, a person must strive to overcome temptations and prevent vice. During this sacrament, a person receives liberation from the shackles of sin, and all his sins are forgiven by the Lord God. For many, repentance is a victory over oneself, because only a true believer can admit what people prefer to remain silent about.

If you have confessed before, then you should not talk about old sins again. They have already been released and there is no point in repenting for them anymore. When you finish confessing, the priest will give his speech, give advice and instructions, and also say a prayer of permission. After this, the person must cross himself twice, bow, venerate the crucifix and the Gospel, then cross himself again and receive a blessing.

How to confess for the first time - an example?

The first confession may seem mysterious and unpredictable. People are frightened by the expectation that they might be judged by a priest and experience a feeling of shame and embarrassment. It is worth remembering that representatives of the church are people who live according to the laws of the Lord. They do not judge, do not wish harm to anyone and love their neighbors, trying to help them with wise advice.

They will never express a personal point of view, so you should not be afraid that the priest’s words may somehow hurt, offend or shame you. He never shows emotion, speaks in a low voice and speaks very little. Before repentance, you can approach him and ask for advice on how to properly prepare for this sacrament.

There is a lot of literature in church shops that can also help and give a lot of important information. During repentance, you should not complain about others and your life; you need to talk only about yourself, listing the vices to which you have succumbed. If you adhere to fasting, then this is the best moment for confession, because by limiting themselves, people become more restrained and improve, contributing to the purification of the soul.

Many parishioners end their fast with confession, which is the logical conclusion of long abstinence. This sacrament leaves in a person’s soul the most vivid emotions and impressions that are never forgotten. By relieving the soul from sins and receiving their forgiveness, a person gets a chance to start life anew, resist temptations and live in harmony with the Lord and his laws. Article found on alabanza.ru

What is confession?

Why is it needed, and how to correctly name sins in confession?

Why do you need to confess to a priest?

How to properly prepare for the sacrament for those who want to repent for the first time?

Sooner or later, every Orthodox person asks himself all these questions.

Let's figure out all the intricacies of this sacrament together.

Confession for an Orthodox person - what is it?

Repentance or confession is a sacrament during which a person verbally reveals his sins to God in the presence of a priest who has the authority to forgive sins from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. During his earthly life, the Lord gave his apostles, and through them, all priests, the power to forgive sins. During confession, a person not only repents of his sins, but also makes a promise not to repeat them again. Confession is the cleansing of the soul. Many people think: “I know that all the same, even after confession, I will commit this sin again (for example, smoking). So why should I confess?” This is fundamentally wrong. You don’t think: “Why should I wash if I’m going to get dirty tomorrow anyway?” You still take a bath or shower because the body needs to be clean. Man is weak by nature and will continue to sin throughout his life. This is why confession is needed, to cleanse the soul from time to time and work on one’s shortcomings.

Confession is very important for an Orthodox person, because during this sacrament reconciliation with God occurs. You need to confess at least once a month, but if you have a need to do it more often, please do so. The main thing is to know how to correctly name sins in confession.

For some particularly serious sins, the priest may assign penance (from Greek “punishment” or “special obedience”). This could be prolonged prayer, fasting, almsgiving or abstinence. This is a kind of medicine that will help a person get rid of sin.

Some recommendations for those who want to confess for the first time

As before any sacrament, you need to prepare for confession. If you have decided to repent for the first time, then you need to find out when the sacrament is usually held in your temple. It is mainly held on holidays, Saturday and Sunday.

As a rule, on such days there are many people who want to confess. And this becomes a real obstacle for those who want to confess for the first time. Some are shy, while others are afraid of doing something wrong.

It would be good if, before your first confession, you contact the priest with a request to set up a time for you when you and the priest will be alone. Then no one will embarrass you.

You can make yourself a little “cheat sheet”. Write down your sins on a piece of paper so that you don’t miss anything out of excitement during confession.

How to correctly name sins in confession: what sins should be named

Many, especially those who have just begun their path to God, rush from one extreme to another. Some dryly list common sins, copied, as a rule, from church books on repentance. Others, on the contrary, begin to describe each sin committed in such detail that it no longer becomes a confession, but a story about themselves and their lives.

What sins should you name in confession? Sins are divided into three groups:

1. Sins against the Lord.

2. Sins against neighbors.

3. Sins against your soul.

Let's take a closer look at each one individually.

1. Sins against the Lord. Most modern people have become alienated from God. They don’t visit churches or do it extremely rarely, and at best they’ve only heard about prayers. However, if you are a believer, have you been hiding your faith? Maybe you were embarrassed to cross yourself in front of people or say that you are a believer.

Blasphemy and murmuring against God- one of the most serious and grave sins. We commit this sin when we complain about life and believe that no one in the world is more unhappy than us.

Blasphemy. You have committed this sin if you have ever mocked the customs or sacraments of the Church about which you understand nothing. Jokes about God or the Orthodox faith are also blasphemy. It doesn’t matter whether you listen to them or tell them.

False oath or piety. The latter says that man has no fear of the greatness of the Lord.

Failure to fulfill your vows. If you made a vow to God to do some good deed, but did not keep it, this sin must be confessed.

We don’t pray every day at home. It is through prayer that we communicate with the Lord and the Saints. We ask for their intercession and help in the fight against our passions. Without prayer there can be neither repentance nor salvation.

Interest in occult and mystical teachings, as well as pagan and heterodox sects, sorcery and fortune telling. In fact, such interest can be not only destructive for the soul, but also for the mental and physical state of a person.

Superstition. In addition to the superstitions that we inherited from our pagan ancestors, we began to get carried away by the absurd superstitions of new-fangled teachings.

Neglect of your soul. Moving away from God, we forget about our soul and stop paying due attention to it.

Suicidal thoughts, gambling.

2. Sins against neighbors.

Disrespectful attitude towards parents. We should treat our parents with reverence. The same applies to the attitude of students towards their teacher.

Offense inflicted on one's neighbor. By causing offense to loved ones, we harm his soul. We also commit this sin when we advise our neighbors something vicious or bad.

Slander. Speak falsehoods to people. Accusing a person without being sure of his guilt.

Schadenfreude and hatred. This sin is equivalent to murder. We must help and have compassion for our neighbors.

Grudge. It shows that our heart is filled with pride and self-justification.

Disobedience. This sin becomes the beginning of more serious evils: insolence against parents, theft, laziness, deception and even murder.

Condemn. The Lord said: “Judge not, lest ye be judged, for with the same judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged; and with the measure you use, I will measure it to you." By judging a person for this or that weakness, we can fall into the same sin.

Theft, stinginess, abortion, theft, remembrance of the dead with alcoholic beverages.

3. Sins against your soul.

Laziness. We don’t go to church, we shorten our morning and evening prayers. We engage in idle talk when we should be working.

Lie. All bad deeds are accompanied by lies. No wonder Satan is called the father of lies.

Flattery. Today it has become a weapon to achieve earthly benefits.

Foul language. This sin is especially common among young people today. Foul language makes the soul coarse.

Impatience. We must learn to restrain our negative emotions so as not to harm our soul or offend loved ones.

Lack of faith and disbelief. A believer should not doubt the mercy and wisdom of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Charm and self-delusion. This is an imaginary closeness to God. A person suffering from this sin considers himself practically a saint and places himself above others.

Long Hiding of Sin. As a result of fear or shame, a person cannot reveal the sin he has committed in confession, believing that he can no longer be saved.

Despair. This sin often haunts people who have committed serious sins. It must be confessed in order to prevent irreparable consequences.

Blaming others and self-justification. Our salvation lies in the fact that we can recognize ourselves and only ourselves as guilty of our sins and actions.

These are the main sins that almost every person commits. If earlier during confession sins were voiced that were not repeated again, then there is no need to confess them again.

Fornication (including marriage without a wedding), incest, adultery (treason), sexual relations between people of the same sex.

How to correctly name sins during confession - is it possible to write them on paper and simply give them to the priest?

Sometimes, in order to get ready for confession and not worry about forgetting something during the sacrament, they write their sins on paper. In this regard, many people ask the question: can you write your sins on a piece of paper and just give it to the priest? A clear answer: No!

The meaning of confession is precisely for a person to voice his sins, mourn them and hate them. Otherwise, it will not be repentance, but writing a report.

Over time, try to completely abandon any paperwork, and tell in confession exactly what is weighing on your soul at this very moment.

How to correctly name sins in confession: where to start confession and how to end it

When approaching the priest, try to throw thoughts about earthly things out of your head and listen to your soul. Start your confession with the words: “Lord, I have sinned before You” and begin to list your sins.

There is no need to list sins in detail. If, for example, you stole something, then you do not need to tell the priest where, when and under what circumstances it happened. It’s enough to just say: I sinned by stealing.

However, it’s not worth listing sins completely dryly. For example, you come up and start saying: “I sinned with anger, irritation, condemnation, etc.” This is also not entirely correct. It would be better to say this: “I sinned, Lord, by being irritable to my husband” or “I constantly condemn my neighbor.” The fact is that during confession the priest can give you advice on how to deal with this or that passion. It is these clarifications that will help him understand the reason for your weakness.

You can end your confession with the words “I repent, Lord! Save and have mercy on me, a sinner!”

How to correctly name sins in confession: what to do if you are ashamed

Shame during confession is a completely normal phenomenon, because there are no people who would be pleased to talk about the not so pleasant sides of themselves. But you don’t need to fight it, but try to survive it, endure it.

First of all, you must understand that you are not confessing your sins to a priest, but to God. Therefore, one should be ashamed not before the priest, but before the Lord.

Many people think: “If I tell the priest everything, he will probably despise me.” This is absolutely not important, the main thing is to ask God for forgiveness. You must clearly decide for yourself: to receive deliverance and cleanse your soul, or to continue to live in sins, plunging more and more into this dirt.

The priest is only an intermediary between you and God. You must understand that during confession the Lord Himself stands invisibly before you.

I would like to say once again that only in the sacrament of confession does a person with a contrite heart repent of his sins. After which a prayer of permission is read over him, which frees the person from sin. And remember, the one who hides sin during confession will acquire an even greater sin before God!

Over time, you will get rid of shame and fear and will better understand how to correctly name sins in confession.

Isn't it time for us all to learn how to confess correctly? – the employees of the “Orthodox Life” portal decisively and without hesitation asked the confessor of the Kyiv theological schools, KDA teacher Archimandrite Markell (Pavuk).

Photo: Boris Gurevich fotokto.ru

– A large number of people do not know what to repent of. Many go to confession and remain silent, waiting for leading questions from the priests. Why does this happen and what does an Orthodox Christian need to repent of?

– Usually people don’t know what to repent of for several reasons:

1. They lead a distracted life (busy with thousands of things), and they have no time to take care of themselves, look into their souls and see what is wrong there. Nowadays there are 90% of such people, if not more.

2. Many suffer from high self-esteem, that is, they are proud, and therefore are more inclined to notice and condemn other people’s sins and shortcomings than their own.

3. Neither their parents, nor teachers, nor priests taught them what and how to repent.

And an Orthodox Christian should repent, first of all, of what his conscience denounces him of. It is best to build a confession according to the Ten Commandments of God. That is, during Confession, we must first talk about what we have sinned against God (these could be sins of unbelief, lack of faith, superstition, deity, oaths), then repent of sins against our neighbors (disrespect, inattention to parents, disobedience to them, deception, cunning, condemnation, anger against neighbors, hostility, arrogance, pride, vanity, stinginess, theft, seducing others into sin, fornication, etc.). I advise you to read the book “To Help the Penitent,” compiled by St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov). The work of Elder John Krestyankin presents a sample of confession according to the Ten Commandments of God. Based on these works, you can compose your own informal confession.

– How detailed should you talk about your sins during confession?

– It all depends on the degree of your repentance for your sins. If a person has determined in his heart not to return to this or that sin again, then he tries to uproot it and therefore describes everything to the smallest detail. And if a person repents formally, then he gets something like: “I sinned in deed, in word, in thought.” The exception to this rule is the sins of fornication. In this case, there is no need to describe the details. If the priest feels that a person is indifferent even to such sins, then he can ask additional questions in order to shame such a person at least a little and encourage him to true repentance.

– If you don’t feel at ease after confession, what does that mean?

– This may indicate that there was no genuine repentance, confession was made without heartfelt contrition, but only a formal listing of sins with an unwillingness to change one’s life and not sin again. True, sometimes the Lord does not immediately give a feeling of lightness, so that a person does not become proud and immediately fall into the same sins again. Ease also does not immediately come if a person confesses old, deeply rooted sins. For ease to come, you need to shed a lot of tears of repentance.

– If you went to confession at Vespers, and after the service you managed to sin, do you need to go to confession again in the morning?

– If these are prodigal sins, anger or drunkenness, then you definitely need to repent of them again and even ask the priest for penance, so as not to commit previous sins so quickly. If sins of another kind have been committed (condemnation, laziness, verbosity), then during the evening or morning prayer rule one should sincerely ask forgiveness from the Lord for the sins committed, and confess them at the next confession.

– If during confession you forgot to mention some sin, and then after a while you remembered it, do you need to go to the priest again and talk about it?

– If there is such an opportunity and the priest is not very busy, then he will even rejoice for your diligence, but if there is no such opportunity, then you need to write down this sin so as not to forget it again, and repent of it during the next confession.

– How to learn to see your sins?

– A person begins to see his sins when he stops judging other people. In addition, seeing one’s weakness, as St. Simeon the New Theologian writes, teaches one to carefully fulfill God’s commandments. As long as a person does one thing and neglects the other, he will not be able to feel what a wound his sins inflict on his soul.

– What to do with the feeling of shame during confession, with the desire to obscure and hide your sin? Will this hidden sin be forgiven by God?

– Shame in confession is a natural feeling, which indicates that a person’s conscience is alive. It's worse when there is no shame. But the main thing is that shame does not reduce our confession to formality, when we confess one thing and hide another. It is unlikely that the Lord will be pleased with such a confession. And every priest always feels when a person is hiding something and formalizing his confession. For him, this child ceases to be dear, one for whom he is always eagerly ready to pray. And, conversely, regardless of the severity of the sin, the deeper the repentance, the more the priest rejoices for the repentant. Not only the priest, but also the Angels in heaven rejoice for a sincerely repentant person.

– Is it necessary to confess a sin that you are absolutely sure to commit in the near future? How to hate sin?

– The Holy Fathers teach that the greatest sin is unrepentant sin. Even if we do not feel the strength to fight sin, we still need to resort to the Sacrament of Repentance. With God's help, if not immediately, then gradually we will be able to overcome the sin that has taken root in us. But don't overestimate yourself too much. If we lead a correct spiritual life, we will never be able to feel completely sinless. The fact is that we are all compliant, that is, we very easily fall into all kinds of sins, no matter how many times we repent of them. Each of our confessions is a kind of shower (bath) for the soul. If we constantly take care of the purity of our body, then all the more we need to take care of the purity of our soul, which is much more expensive than the body. So, no matter how many times we sin, we must immediately run to confession. And if a person does not repent of repeated sins, then they will entail other, more serious offenses. For example, someone is used to lying about little things all the time. If he does not repent of this, then in the end he may not only deceive, but also betray other people. Remember what happened to Judas. He first quietly stole money from the donation box, and then betrayed Christ Himself.

A person can hate sin only by fully experiencing the sweetness of God’s grace. While a person’s sense of grace is weak, it is difficult for him not to fall into a sin for which he has recently repented. The sweetness of sin in such a person turns out to be stronger than the sweetness of grace. That is why the holy fathers and especially St. Seraphim of Sarov so insist that the main goal of Christian life should be the acquisition of the grace of the Holy Spirit.

– If a priest tears up a note with sins without looking at it, are these sins considered forgiven?

– If the priest is perspicacious and knows how to read what is written in the note without looking into it, then, thank God, all sins are forgiven. If the priest does this because of his haste, indifference and inattention, then it is better to go to confession to another or, if this is not possible, confess your sins out loud, without writing them down.

– Is there a general confession in the Orthodox Church? How to feel about this practice?

– General confession, during which special prayers from the Trebnik are read, is usually held before individual confession. Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt practiced general confession without individual confession, but he did this forcedly because of the multitude of people who came to him for consolation. Purely physically, due to human weakness, he did not have enough strength to listen to everyone. In Soviet times, such confessions were also sometimes practiced, when there was one church for an entire city or region. Nowadays, when the number of churches and clergy has increased significantly, there is no need to make do with one general confession without individual ones. We are ready to listen to everyone, as long as there is sincere repentance.

Interviewed by Natalya Goroshkova

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

He is given the opportunity to change through a revision of his own views and recognition of the sins he has committed and proper repentance for them. Having been cleansed of sins and taken the path of correction, a person will not be able to fall again.

The need to confess arises in someone who:

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

Children up to the age of seven, and parishioners who were baptized on this day, can receive communion for the first time without confession.

Note! You are allowed to go to confession when you reach seven years of age.

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

There is no need to rush, we remember everything, write down the list of sins on a piece of paper. The priest is a witness to the Sacrament; one should not be embarrassed or ashamed of him, just like the all-forgiving God himself.

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

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

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

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

Confession takes place in the following order:

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

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

We speak without details, we formulate only the sin itself, unless the priest himself asks for details.

If you need God's forgiveness, you must sincerely repent of your actions.

It is stupid to hide anything from a priest; he is an assistant to the all-seeing God.

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

What is considered a sin?

The well-known biblical commandments will help you determine what sins to call your priest during confession:	Types of sins	Sinful actions
The Essence of Sin	Relationship to the Almighty Doesn't wear a cross. Confidence that God is in the soul and there is no need to go to church. Celebrating pagan traditions, including Halloween. Attending sectarian meetings, worshiping incorrect spirituality. Appeal to psychics, fortune tellers, horoscopes and signs.	He pays little attention to reading the Holy Scriptures, does not teach prayer, and neglects observing Fasts and attending church services. Unbelief, departure from faith. Feeling of pride. A mockery of the Orthodox faith. Lack of belief in the unity of God. Communication with evil spirits.
Violation of the commandment to spend a day off.	Attitude towards loved ones Disrespect for parents. Inconsiderateness and interference in the personal and intimate lives of adult children. Taking the life of living beings and humans, mocking and violent actions.	Engaging in extortion and illegal activities. Violation of the commandment to honor parents. Violation of the commandment to respect loved ones. Violation of the commandment “Thou shalt not kill.” A sin associated with the corruption of teenagers and children.
Violation of biblical commandments related to theft, envy and lies.	Attitude towards yourself Cohabitation without marriage, sexual perversion, interest in erotic films. Abuse of smoking, alcoholic beverages, drugs. Passion for gluttony and gluttony. The desire to flatter, chat, brag about good deeds, admire oneself.	Carnal sin - adultery, fornication. The sin of profanity. Neglect of what God has given - health. The sin of arrogance.

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

An example of confession in church: what sins should I say?

Let's look at how to confess correctly, what to say to the priest, an example of confession.

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

Orthodoxy welcomes the example of confession:

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

Related Posts

Discussion: 3 comments

And if there are still few sins, but it’s as if my conscience is not very clear, and I promised my MC that I would definitely join the church. His first demand is to go to confession and repent of all the serious things. Which, fortunately, I don’t have a lot of. And this is a real problem for me now. What if you confess on the Internet? Who thinks about this topic? Well, as I understand it, you post your website and there the priest prays for you and absolves you of sin. Not?

Answer

1. Forgive me, in my opinion there is no need to go to church at the request of the MCH. What is this for? This is done for GOD, for the purification of the soul, and not because someone “demands” it. As far as I understand, you do not have this need. You cannot deceive God - neither through the Internet, nor in church.

   Answer

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

Answer

Confession (repentance) is one of the seven Christian Sacraments, in which the penitent, confessing his sins to the priest, with visible forgiveness of sins (reading a prayer of absolution), is invisibly absolved from them. By the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. This sacrament was established 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, chapter 18, verse 18). And in another place: “Receive the Holy Spirit: whose sins you forgive, their sins are forgiven; on whomever you leave it, it will remain on him” (Gospel of John, chapter 20, verses 22-23). The apostles 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 the second baptism: if at baptism a person is cleansed from the power of original sin, transmitted to him at birth from our first parents 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 be accomplished, the following are necessary on the part of the penitent: awareness of his sinfulness, sincere heartfelt repentance for his sins, the desire to leave the sin and not repeat it, faith in Jesus Christ and hope in His mercy, faith that the Sacrament of Confession has the power to cleanse and wash away, through the prayer of the 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, chapter 1, verse 7). At the same time, you hear from many: “I don’t kill, I don’t steal, I don’t

I commit adultery, so what should I repent of?” But if we carefully study God’s commandments, we will discover 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 one's disbelief through an atheistic upbringing.

Apostasy, cowardly silence when the faith of Christ is blasphemed, not wearing a cross, visiting various sects.

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

Oath in the name of the Lord.

Fortune telling, 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 about suicide.

Playing cards and other gambling games.

Failure to comply with morning and evening prayer rules.

Failure to visit the temple of God on Sundays and holidays.

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

Careless (non-daily) reading of the Holy Scriptures and soul-helping literature.

Breaking vows made to God.

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

Absent-mindedness during prayer, thoughts about everyday things during worship.

Condemnation of the Church and its ministers.

Addiction to various earthly things and pleasures.

Continuation of a sinful life in the sole hope of God’s mercy, that is, excessive trust in God.

It’s a waste of time watching TV shows and reading entertaining books to the detriment of time for prayer, reading the Gospel and spiritual literature.

Concealing sins during confession and unworthy communion of the Holy Mysteries.

Arrogance, self-reliance, i.e. excessive hope in one’s own strength and in someone else’s help, without trusting that everything is in God’s hands.

Raising children outside the Christian faith.

Hot temper, anger, irritability.

Arrogance.

Perjury.

Mockery.

Stinginess.

Non-repayment of debts.

Failure to pay money earned for work.

Failure to provide assistance to those in need.

Disrespect for parents, irritation with their old age.

Disrespect for elders.

Lack of diligence in your work.

Condemnation.

Appropriation of someone else's property is theft.

Quarrels with neighbors and neighbors.

Killing your child in the womb (abortion), inducing others to commit murder (abortion).

Murder with words is bringing a person through slander or condemnation to a painful state and even to death.

Drinking alcohol at funerals for the dead instead of intense prayer for them.

Verbosity, gossip, idle talk. ,

Reasonless laughter.

Foul language.

Self-love.

Doing good deeds for show.

Vanity.

The desire to get rich.

Love of money.

Envy.

Drinking, drug use.

Gluttony.

Fornication - inciting lustful thoughts, unclean desires, lustful touching, watching erotic films and reading such books.

Fornication is the physical intimacy of persons not related by marriage.

Adultery is a violation of marital fidelity.

Unnatural fornication - physical intimacy between persons of the same sex, masturbation.

Incest is physical intimacy with close relatives or nepotism.

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

Anyone who wants to repent before God for their sins must prepare for the Sacrament of Confession. You need to prepare for confession in advance: it is advisable to read literature on the Sacraments of Confession and Communion, remember all your sins, you can write them down on

a separate piece of paper to review before confession. Sometimes a piece of paper with the listed sins is given to the confessor to read, but the sins that especially burden the soul must be told out loud. 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 judging your relatives or neighbors. What is important to God and the confessor is not the list of sins, but the repentant feeling of the person being confessed, not detailed stories, but a contrite heart. We must remember that confession is not only an awareness of one’s own shortcomings, but, above all, a thirst to be cleansed of them.

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 your confessor.

It is necessary to reconcile with your neighbors and ask for forgiveness from everyone who was offended.

When preparing for confession, it is advisable to strengthen your evening prayer rule by reading the Canon of Repentance, which is found in the Orthodox prayer book.

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

Children under seven years of age (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 ordinariness of what is happening. It is advisable to prepare infants 2-3 days in advance for the upcoming Communion: read the Gospel, lives of saints, and other soul-helping books with them, reduce, or better yet completely eliminate, television viewing (but this must be done very tactfully, without developing negative associations in the child with preparation for Communion ), follow their prayer in the morning and before bed, talk with the child about the past days and lead him to a feeling of shame for his own misdeeds. The main thing to remember is that there is nothing more effective for a child than the personal example of parents.

Starting from the age of seven, children (adolescents) begin the Sacrament of Communion, like adults, only after first performing 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 motivate children to sincere repentance, you can pray for them to read the following list of possible sins:

Did you lie in bed in the morning and therefore skip the morning prayer rule?

Have you been carried away by various amusements on church holidays instead of visiting the temple of God?

Did you behave properly at church services, did you not run around the church, did you not have empty conversations with your peers, thereby leading them into temptation?

Did you pronounce the name of God unnecessarily?

Are you performing the sign of the cross correctly, are you not in a hurry, are you not distorting the sign of the cross?

Were you distracted by extraneous thoughts while praying?

Do you read the Gospel and other spiritual books?

Do you wear a pectoral cross and are you not embarrassed by it?

Aren't you using a cross as a decoration, which is sinful?

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

Didn’t you tell fortunes, didn’t you tell fortunes?

Didn’t you hide your sins before the priest in confession out of false shame, and then receive communion unworthily?

Were you not proud of yourself and others of your successes and abilities?

Have you ever argued with someone just to gain the upper hand in the argument?

Did you deceive your parents for fear of being punished?

During Lent, did you eat something like ice cream without your parents’ permission?

Did you listen to your parents, didn’t you argue with them, didn’t you demand an expensive purchase from them?

Have you ever beaten anyone? Did he incite others to do this?

Did you offend the younger ones?

Did you torture animals?

Did you gossip about anyone, did you snitch on anyone?

Have you ever laughed at people with any physical disabilities?

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

Didn't you use foul language?

Didn't you play cards?

Have you ever engaged in handjobs?

Did you appropriate someone else's property for yourself?

Have you ever had the habit of taking without asking what does not belong to you?

Weren't you too lazy to help your parents around the house?

Was he pretending to be sick to evade his responsibilities?

Were you jealous of others?

The above list is only a general outline of possible sins. Each child may have his own, individual experiences associated with specific cases. The task of parents is to prepare the child 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 you should not do this 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 performed in churches either in the evening after the evening service, or in the morning before the start of the liturgy. Under no circumstances should you be late for the start of confession, since the Sacrament begins with the reading of the rite, in which everyone who wishes to confess must prayerfully participate. When reading the rite, the priest turns to the penitents so that they say their names - everyone answers in an undertone. Those who are late for the start of confession are not allowed to the Sacrament; the priest, if there is such an opportunity, at the end of confession reads the rite for them again and accepts confession, or schedules it for another day. Women cannot begin the Sacrament of Repentance during the period of monthly cleansing.

Confession usually takes place in a church with a crowd of people, so you need to respect the secret of confession, not crowd next to the priest receiving confession, and not embarrass the person confessing, revealing his sins to the priest.

Confession must be complete. You cannot confess some sins first and leave others for next time. Those sins that the penitent confessed in pre-

previous confessions and those that were already released to him are not mentioned again. If possible, you should confess to the same confessor. You should not, having a permanent confessor, look for another to confess your sins, which a feeling of false shame prevents your familiar confessor from revealing.

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

After confessing sins and reading the prayer of absolution by the priest, the penitent kisses the Cross and the Gospel lying on the lectern and, if he was preparing for communion, takes a blessing from the confessor 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, expressed through the priest, requiring mandatory fulfillment for the healing of the soul of the penitent. If it is impossible for various reasons to perform penance, you should contact the priest who imposed it to resolve the difficulties that have arisen.

Those who wish not only to confess, but also to receive communion, must prepare worthily and in accordance with the requirements of the Church 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. Meal food is excluded from the diet - meat, dairy products, eggs, and on days of strict fasting - fish. Spouses refrain from physical intimacy. The family refuses entertainment and watching television. If circumstances permit, you should attend church services on these days. The morning and evening prayer rules are followed more diligently, with the addition of the reading of the Penitential Canon.

Regardless of when the Sacrament of Confession is celebrated in the church - in the evening or in the morning, it is necessary to attend the evening service on the eve of communion.

It is quite difficult for children to follow all the prayer rules for preparing for communion. Parents, together with their confessor, need to choose the optimal number of prayers that the child can handle, 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, others do not confess or receive communion for years.

Many people confuse preparation for confession (which does not require such a large volume of prayers read) and preparation for communion. Such people can be recommended to begin the Sacraments of Confession and Communion in stages. First, you need to properly prepare for confession and, when confessing your sins, ask your confessor for advice. We need to pray to the Lord to help us overcome difficulties and give us strength to adequately prepare for the Sacrament of Communion.

Since it is customary to begin the Sacrament of Communion on an empty stomach, from twelve o'clock at night 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, and if possible earlier) must be accustomed to the existing rule.

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, receiving Them during Communion, mysteriously, incomprehensible to the human mind, are united with Christ Himself, since He is all contained in every Particle of the Sacrament .

Communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ is necessary to enter eternal life.

The Savior Himself speaks about 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.

He who eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day...” (Gospel of John, chapter 6, verses 53 - 54).

The Sacrament of Communion is incomprehensibly great, and therefore requires preliminary cleansing by the Sacrament of Repentance; the only exception is infants under seven years of age, who receive communion without the preparation required for the laity. Women need to wipe off lipstick from their lips. Women should not receive communion during the period of monthly cleansing. Women after childbirth are allowed to take communion only after the cleansing prayer of the fortieth day is read over them.

After receiving the warmth, the communicants do not leave the church and pray with everyone until the end of the service. After the emptiness (the final words of the service), the communicants approach the Cross and listen carefully to the prayers of thanksgiving after Holy Communion. After listening to the prayers, the communicants ceremoniously disperse, trying to preserve the purity of their souls, cleansed of sins, for as long as possible, without wasting time on empty talk and deeds that are not good for the soul. On the day after communion of the Holy Mysteries, bows to the ground are not made, and when the priest gives a blessing, they are not applied to the hand.

You can only venerate icons, the Cross and the Gospel. The rest of the day must be spent piously: avoid verbosity (it is better to remain silent in general), watch TV, exclude marital intimacy, it is advisable for smokers to abstain from smoking.

It is advisable to read prayers of thanksgiving at home after Holy Communion. It is a prejudice that you cannot shake hands on the day of communion. Under no circumstances should you receive communion several times in one day.

In cases of illness and infirmity, you can receive communion at home. For this purpose, a priest is invited to the house. Depending

Based on his condition, the sick person is adequately prepared for confession and communion. In any case, he can receive communion only on an empty stomach (with the exception of dying people). Children under seven years of age do not receive communion at home, since they, unlike adults, can only receive communion with the Blood of Christ, and the reserve Gifts with which the priest administers communion 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.

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

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

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