To help the penitent.
What is the testimony of your conscience, expect such from God and judgment for yourself.
St. Filaret of Moscow
Page 2, (Page 1, Page 3)
Sins are usually called not only sinful deeds, i.e. actions, deeds, words, thoughts, feelings that are contrary to the commandments of God, the Christian moral law, but often the causes of sinful deeds are the passions and sinful habits of the human soul, as contrary to God’s plan for man, perverting the perfection of human nature, created in the likeness of God. Our daily home prayers remind us of our sins: the evening prayer to the Holy Spirit, the daily confession of sins at the end of the evening prayers, as well as the fourth prayer for Holy Communion: “For at Your terrible and impartial judgment seat stands” (placed, however, not in all prayer books) , and others. In most manuals for those preparing for the sacrament of confession, sins are distributed according to the ten commandments of the Law of God and the commandments of the Gospel. It should be noted that the Gospel understanding of the commandments of the Law of God, given through the prophet Moses to the ancient people of Israel, is much broader and deeper than the Old Testament. Violation of a commandment is considered a sin not only in deed, but also in thought and desire. However, the last, tenth commandment, as if preparing the Old Testament people for a perfect understanding of the Law, says: “You shall not covet.” Eight major sinful passions with their divisions and branches
1. gluttony
Intoxication, drunkenness, failure to keep and allow fasts, secret eating, delicacy, and generally violation of abstinence. Incorrect and excessive love of the flesh, its belly and rest, which constitutes self-love, which leads to failure to maintain fidelity to God, the Church, virtue and people. 2. fornication
Prodigal fervor, prodigal sensations and attitudes of the soul and heart / rolling - external and internal tickling, itching, caressing /, acceptance of unclean thoughts, conversation with them, delight in them, permission for them, slowness in them. Prodigal dreams and captivity. Desecration by suit / i.e. in bed with hugs, about objects /. Failure to preserve the senses, especially the sense of touch, is the insolence that destroys all virtues. Foul language and reading voluptuous books. Natural prodigal sins: fornication and adultery. Sins of prodigal unnatural: malakia / fornication /, sodomy, lesbianism / woman with woman /, bestiality and the like
3. love of money
The love of money, in general the love of movable and immovable property. The desire to get rich. Thinking about the means to get rich. Dreaming of wealth. Fear of old age, unexpected poverty, illness, exile. Stinginess. Selfishness. Disbelief in God, lack of trust in his providence. Addictions or painful excessive love for various perishable objects, depriving the soul of freedom. Passion for vain concerns. Loving gifts. Appropriation of someone else's. Likhva. Cruelty towards the poor brethren and all those in need. Theft. Robbery
4. anger
Hot temper, acceptance of angry thoughts: dreams of anger and revenge, indignation of the heart with rage, darkening of the mind with it: obscene shouting, argument, swearing, cruel and cutting words, stress, pushing, murder. Malice, hatred, enmity, revenge, slander, condemnation, indignation and insult to one’s neighbor.
5. sadness
Sadness, melancholy, cutting off hope in God, doubt in God’s promises, ingratitude to God for everything that happens, cowardice, impatience, lack of self-reproach, sorrow for one’s neighbor, grumbling, renunciation of the cross, an attempt to descend from it.
6. despondency
Laziness in every good deed, especially in prayer. Abandonment of church and cell rules. Abandonment of unceasing prayer and soul-helping reading. Inattention and haste in prayer. Neglect. Irreverence. Idleness. Excessive calming by sleeping, lying down and all kinds of restlessness. Moving from place to place. Frequent exits from cells, walks and visits with friends. Celebration. Shchutki. Blasphemers. Abandonment of bows and other physical feats. Forgetting your sins. Forgetting the commandments of Christ. Negligence. Captivity. Deprivation of the fear of God. Bitterness. Insensibility. Despair.
7. vanity
The search for human glory. Boasting. Desire and search for earthly and vain honors. Love of beautiful clothes, carriages, servants and cell things. Attention to the beauty of your face, the pleasantness of your voice and other qualities of your body. A disposition towards the sciences and arts that are dying in this century, a desire to succeed in them in order to acquire temporary, earthly glory. Shame to confess your sins. Hiding them before people and the spiritual father. Craftiness. Self-justification. Disclaimer. Making up your mind. Hypocrisy. Lie. Flattery. People-pleasing. Envy. Humiliation of one's neighbor. Changeability of character. Indulgence. Unconscionability. The character and life are demonic.
8. pride
Contempt for one's neighbor. Preferring yourself to everyone. Insolence. Darkness, dullness of the mind and heart. Nailing them to the earthly. Hula. Disbelief. False mind. Disobedience to the Law of God and the Church. Following your carnal will. Reading books that are heretical, depraved and vain. Disobedience to authorities. Caustic ridicule. Abandonment of Christ-imitating humility and silence. Loss of simplicity. Loss of love for God and neighbor. False philosophy. Heresy Irreligion. Ignorance. Death of the soul.
Mortal sins, that is, those that make a person guilty of eternal death or destruction
1. Pride, despising everyone, demanding servility from others, ready to ascend to heaven and become like the Most High: in a word - pride to the point of self-adoration.
2. An insatiable soul, or Judas’s greed for money, mostly combined with unrighteous acquisitions, not allowing a person even a minute to think about spiritual things.
3. Fornication, or the dissolute life of the prodigal son, who squandered all his father’s estate on such a life.
4. Envy, leading to every possible crime against one’s neighbor.
5. Gluttony or carnal pleasure, not knowing any fasting, combined with a passionate attachment to various amusements, following the example of the Evangelical rich man, who had fun all day long.
6. Uncompromising anger and resolving to terrible destruction, following the example of Herod, who in his anger beat the Bethlehem babies.
7. Laziness, or complete carelessness about the soul, carelessness about repentance until the last days of life, as for example in the days of Noah.
Sins of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit
Excessive trust in God, or continuation of a gravely sinful life in the sole hope of God’s mercy.
Despair or the feeling opposite to excessive trust in God in relation to God’s mercy, which denies the fatherly goodness in God and leads to thoughts of suicide.
Stubborn unbelief, not convinced by any evidence of truth, even obvious miracles, rejecting the most established truth.
Sins crying out to heaven for vengeance
In general, deliberate homicide / abortion /, and especially parricide / fratricide and regicide /.
Sin of Sodom.
Unnecessary oppression of a poor, defenseless person, a defenseless widow and young orphans.
Withholding from a wretched worker the wages he deserves.
Taking away from a person in his extreme situation the last piece of bread or the last mite, which he obtained with sweat and blood, as well as the violent or secret appropriation of alms, food, warmth or clothing from prisoners in prison, which are determined by him and generally oppressing them.
Sadness and insults to parents to the point of daring beatings.
Sins tortured at ordeals
The essence of the doctrine of ordeals is expounded by St. Cyril of Alexandria in the word “On the Exodus of the Soul.” Ordeal is the inevitable path by which all human souls, both evil and good, make their transition from temporary earthly life to eternal lot. During the ordeals, the soul, in the presence of angels and demons, but also before the eye of the all-seeing God, is gradually and thoroughly tested in all deeds, words and thoughts. Good souls, justified in all ordeals, are ascended by angels to the heavenly abodes for the beginning of eternal bliss, and sinful souls, detained at one or another ordeal, are drawn, by the verdict of an invisible court, by demons to their dark abodes for the beginning of eternal torment.
Thus, ordeals are a private judgment that is carried out invisibly by the Lord himself through his angels over each human soul, including the evil tax collectors who accuse demons. In the life of Rev. Vasily the New (Ch.M. March 26) it is narrated that the student of his reverend. Gregory (also on March 26) were revealed in detail in a vision both the circumstances of the hour of death and the journey through the ordeals of St. Theodora (Dec. 8). Here the 20 ordeals are calculated in detail.
The questions begin in the ordeal with sins, as we call them, “small”, universal ones (idle talk) and the further they go, the more important they concern sins and end in the 20th ordeal with unmercifulness and harshness towards one’s neighbor - the most serious sins, for which, according to According to the word of God, there is “judgment without mercy” for those who have not shown mercy.
Sin in words: lack of speech, verbosity, idle talk, idle talk, idle talk, slander, foul language, jokes, obscenity, vulgarity, distortion of words, simplification, grandiosity, absurdity, ridicule, laughter, laughter, name-calling, singing passionate songs, rumors, grumpiness, tongue-tiedness, vileness, incitement, blasphemy, desecration of people and the name of God, remembering in vain, rudeness.
Lies: flattery, sycophancy, pleasing with cunning, meanness, cowardice, antics, vanity, isolation, imagination, artistry, perjury, perjury, concealing sins in confession, secrecy, breaking the promise given in confession not to repeat sins, deceit.
Slander: insults, condemnation, distortion of the truth, sneaking, complaints, abuse, mockery, promoting the sins of others, impudence, cynicism, moral pressure, threats, mistrust, doubts.
Gluttony: gluttony, heavy drinking, smoking, secret eating, breaking fasts, feasting, drunkenness, drug addiction, substance abuse, etc., gluttony
Laziness: neglect, inattention, oblivion, oversleeping, idleness, despondency, carelessness, cowardice, weakness of will, idleness, forgetfulness, carelessness, hackwork, parasitism, unnecessaryness, coldness and lukewarmness towards the spiritual, carelessness about prayer, carelessness about salvation, insensibility.
Theft: theft, theft, sharing, adventures, scams, complicity, use of stolen goods, fraud, misappropriation in the form of seizure, sacrilege.
Love of money: self-interest, search for profit, over-concern, acquisitiveness, greed, stinginess, hoarding, lent money at interest, speculation, bribes.
Extortion: extortion, robbery, robbery, deceit, tricks, non-repayment of debts.
Untruth: deception, falsehood, bribery, unjust trial, dishonor, extravagance, suspicion, concealment, complicity.
Envy: in material goods, in spiritual merits, partiality, desire for someone else's.
Pride: conceit, self-will, self-aggrandizement, exaltation, vanity, arrogance, hypocrisy, self-adoration, disobedience, non-compliance, disobedience, contempt, shamelessness, shamelessness, blasphemy, ignorance, insolence, self-justification, stubbornness, unrepentance, arrogance.
Malice: rancor, gloating, revenge, vindictiveness, sabotage, bullying, tricks, slander.
Anger: intransigence, hot temper, hatred, rage, blows, kicks, insolence, bitterness, despair, quarrels, squabbles, hysterics, scandal, treachery, mercilessness, rudeness, resentment.
Murder: (in thought, word, deed), fights, use of all kinds of weapons or drugs for murder, abortion (or complicity)
Witchcraft: fortune telling, divination, astrology, horoscopes, fashion seduction, healing (extrasensory perception) hiding behind the name of God, levitation, witchcraft, witchcraft, sorcery, shamanism, witchcraft
Fornication: carnal cohabitation outside of church marriage, voluptuous views, lustful thoughts, dreams, fantasies, raptures, pleasures, permission to sin, desecration of chastity, nightly desecrations, pornography, watching depraved films and programs, masturbation.
Adultery: adultery and also seduction, violence, fall, violation of the vow of celibacy.
Fornication of Sodom: perversion of nature, self-satisfaction, self-torture, violence, kidnapping, incest, corruption of minors (direct and indirect)
Heresies: unbelief, superstition, distortions and perversions of truth, distortions of Orthodoxy, doubts, apostasy, violation of church decrees, participation in heretical gatherings: Jehovah's Witnesses, Scientology, Mother of God Center, Ivan, Roerich, etc., as well as in other atheistic associations and structures.
Unmercifulness: insensibility, ruthlessness, persecution of the weak, cruelty, petrification, callousness, did not care about children, the elderly, the sick, did not give alms, did not sacrifice themselves and their time for the sake of others, inhumanity, heartlessness.
All passions, if they are allowed freedom, act, grow, intensify in the soul, and finally embrace it, take possession of it and separate it from God. These are the heavy burdens that fell on Adam after he ate of the tree. Our Lord Jesus Christ killed these passions on the cross. These are those old wineskins into which new wine is not poured (Matt. 9:17). These are the swaddling clothes with which Lazarus was bound (John 11:44). These are demons sent by Christ into the herd of pigs (Matthew 8:31-32). This is the old man, whom the Apostle commands the Christian to put off (1 Cor. 15:49). These are the thistles and thorns that the earth began to spew out for Adam after he was cast out of paradise (Gen. 3:18).
Abba Isaiah was asked: what does repentance consist of?
He answered: The Holy Spirit teaches us to withdraw from sin and no longer fall into it. This is what repentance consists of.
Those who bring true repentance are no longer engaged in condemning their neighbors, they are engaged in mourning their sins.
He who condemns sinners drives repentance out of himself.
He who justifies himself alienates himself from repentance.
Love humility: it will cover you from your sins.
Humility consists in a person recognizing himself as a sinner before God, who has not done a single good deed before God.
I beg every person who wants to bring repentance to God to stop drinking wine in large quantities. Wine revives extinguished passions in the soul and drives out the fear of God from it.
Do not argue with each other on any occasion, do not speak ill of anyone, do not judge anyone, do not condemn or humiliate anyone either in word or in your heart, do not grumble at anyone, do not suspect anyone of any evil.
Do not show contempt to anyone because of his physical defect.
If someone glorifies you and you accept praise with delight, then there is no fear of God in you.
If they say something unfair about you and you become embarrassed, then you have no fear of God.
If, when talking with brethren, you seek for your word to prevail over the words of others, then you do not have the fear of God.
If your word is neglected and you are offended by this, then you have no fear of God.
Do not be curious and do not ask about the vain affairs of the world.
Do not consult with everyone about your thoughts: consult about them only with your fathers. Otherwise you will bring grief and embarrassment upon yourself.
Do not reveal your thoughts to everyone, so that this does not cause stumbling for your neighbor.
Beware of lies: they drive out the fear of God from a person.
From the love of human glory lies are born. Whoever behaves deceitfully towards his brother will not be able to avoid heartbreak.
Do not seek friendship with the glorious of this world, lest the glory of God be extinguished in your heart.
Do not get carried away by the delightful memory of the sins you have committed, so that the feeling of these sins is not renewed in you.
Remember the Kingdom of Heaven, and little by little this remembrance will attract you to it.
Remember also about Gehenna and hate the deeds that lead you to it.
Every morning, when you rise from sleep, remember that you must give an account to God of all your deeds, and you will not sin before Him: His fear will dwell in you.
Consider your sins daily, pray about them, and God will forgive you for them.
He who expects imminent death will not fall into many sins. On the contrary, he who hopes to live long is entangled in many sins.
Live as if every day you experience were the last in your life, and you will not sin before God.
According to the “Fatherland,” compiled by Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov).
The end and glory to God.
*********************************************************
The sacrament of confession is a test for the soul. It consists of a desire to repent, verbal confession, repentance for sins. When a person goes against the laws of God, he gradually destroys his spiritual and physical shell. Repentance helps to cleanse yourself. It reconciles a person with God. The soul is healed and receives strength to fight sin.
Confession allows you to talk about your wrongdoings and receive forgiveness. In excitement and fear, you can forget what you wanted to repent of. The list of sins for confession serves as a reminder, a hint. It can be read in full or used as an outline. The main thing is that the confession is sincere and truthful.
Sacrament
Confession is the main component of repentance. This is an opportunity to ask for forgiveness for your sins and to be cleansed of them. Confession gives spiritual strength to resist evil. Sin is a discrepancy in thoughts, words, and actions with God's permission.
Confession is a sincere awareness of wicked actions, a desire to get rid of them. No matter how difficult and unpleasant it may be to remember them, you should tell the clergyman in detail about your sins.
This sacrament requires a complete relationship between feelings and words, because the everyday listing of one’s sins will not bring true cleansing. Feelings without words are as ineffective as words without feelings.
There is a list of sins for confession. This is a large list of all obscene actions or words. It is based on the 7 deadly sins and 10 commandments. Human life is too diverse to be absolutely righteous. Therefore, confession is an opportunity to repent of sins and try to prevent them in the future.
How to prepare for confession?
Preparation for confession must take place several days in advance. A list of sins can be written on a piece of paper. You should read special literature about the sacraments of confession and communion.
One should not look for excuses for sins, one must recognize their wickedness. It is best to analyze your every day, analyzing what was good and what was bad. This daily habit will help you be more attentive to your thoughts and actions.
Before confession, you should make peace with everyone who was offended. Forgive those who offended. Before confession, it is necessary to strengthen the prayer rule. Add to the nightly reading the Canon of Repentance, the canons of the Theotokos.
One should separate personal repentance (when a person mentally repents of his actions) and the sacrament of confession (when a person talks about his sins in the desire to be cleansed of them).
The presence of a third party requires a moral effort to understand the depth of the offense and, through overcoming shame, will force you to look more deeply at the wrong actions. That is why a list of sins is so necessary for confession in Orthodoxy. It will help to identify what was forgotten or wanted to be hidden.
If you have difficulty compiling a list of sinful actions, you can purchase the book “Full Confession.” It is in every church shop. There is a detailed list of sins for confession and the features of the sacrament. Samples of confession and materials for preparing for it have been published.
Rules
Is there a heaviness in your soul, do you want to speak out, ask for forgiveness? After confession it becomes much easier. This is an open, sincere recognition and repentance of the wrongdoings committed. You can go to confession up to 3 times a week. The desire to be cleansed of sins will help overcome the feeling of stiffness and awkwardness.
The less frequent the confession, the more difficult it is to remember all the events and thoughts. The best option for holding the sacrament is once a month. Help in confession - a list of sins - will prompt you with the necessary words. The main thing is that the priest understands the essence of the offense. Then the punishment for sin will be justified.
After confession, the priest imposes penance in difficult cases. This is punishment, excommunication from the holy sacraments and God's grace. Its duration is determined by the priest. In most cases, the penitent faces moral and correctional work. For example, fasting, reading prayers, canons, akathists.
Sometimes the priest reads out the list of sins for confession. You can independently write a list of what has been done. It is better to come to confession after the evening service or in the morning, before the liturgy.
How does the sacrament work?
In some situations, you should invite the priest to confession at home. This is done if the person is seriously ill or near death.
Upon entering the temple, you must line up for confession. During the entire sacrament, the cross and the Gospel lie on the lectern. This symbolizes the invisible presence of the Savior.
Before confession begins, the priest may start asking questions. For example, about how often prayers are said, whether church rules are followed.
Then the sacrament begins. It is best to prepare your list of sins for confession. A sample of it can always be purchased at the church. If the sins forgiven at the previous confession were repeated, then they should be mentioned again - this is considered a more serious offense. You should not hide anything from the priest or speak in hints. You should clearly explain in simple words the sins you repent of.
If the priest tore up the list of sins for confession, it means that the sacrament is over and absolution has been granted. The priest places an epitrachelion on the head of the penitent. This means the return of God's favor. After this, they kiss the cross and the Gospel, which symbolizes readiness to live according to the commandments.
Preparing for Confession: List of Sins
Confession is intended to comprehend your sin and desire to improve. It is difficult for a person far from the church to understand what actions should be considered wicked. That's why there are 10 commandments. They clearly state what not to do. It is better to prepare a list of sins for confession according to the commandments in advance. On the day of the sacrament, you can get excited and forget everything. Therefore, you should calmly, a few days before confession, re-read the commandments and write down your sins.
If it is the first confession, then it is not easy to figure out the seven deadly sins and the ten commandments on your own. Therefore, you should approach the priest in advance and tell him about your difficulties in a personal conversation.
A list of sins for confession with an explanation of the sins can be purchased at the church or found on the website of your temple. The transcript describes in detail all the alleged sins. From this general list it is necessary to isolate what was done personally. Then write down your list of offenses.
Sins committed against God
- Lack of faith in God, doubt, ingratitude.
- Lack of a cross on the body, unwillingness to defend the faith in front of detractors.
- Swearing in the name of God, pronouncing the name of the Lord in vain (not during prayer or conversations about God).
- Visiting sects, casting fortunes, treating with all kinds of magic, reading and spreading false teachings.
- Gambling, suicidal thoughts, swearing.
- Failure to attend church, lack of a daily prayer rule.
- Failure to observe fasts, reluctance to read Orthodox literature.
- Condemnation of clergy, thoughts about worldly things during worship.
- A waste of time on entertainment, watching TV, inactivity at the computer.
- Despair in difficult situations, excessive reliance on oneself or someone else’s help without faith in God’s providence.
- Concealing sins in confession.
Sins committed against neighbors
- Hot temper, anger, arrogance, pride, vanity.
- Lies, non-interference, ridicule, stinginess, extravagance.
- Raising children outside of faith.
- Non-repayment of debts, non-payment for work, refusal to help those who ask and need.
- Unwillingness to help parents, disrespect for them.
- Theft, condemnation, envy.
- Quarrels, drinking alcohol at funerals.
- Murder with words (slander, incitement to suicide or illness).
- Killing a child in the womb, inducing others to have an abortion.
Sins committed against oneself
- Foul language, pride, idle talk, gossip.
- Desire for profit, enrichment.
- Displaying good deeds.
- Envy, lies, drunkenness, gluttony, drug use.
- Fornication, adultery, incest, fornication.
List of sins for a woman to confess
This is a very sensitive list, and many women refuse to confess after reading it. You should not trust any information you read. Even if a brochure with a list of sins for a woman was purchased at a church store, be sure to pay attention to the stamp. There should be an inscription “recommended by the publishing council of the Russian Orthodox Church.”
The clergy do not divulge the secret of confession. Therefore, it is best to undergo the sacrament with a permanent confessor. The Church does not intrude into the sphere of intimate marital relationships. Issues of contraception, which is sometimes equated to abortion, are best discussed with a priest. There are drugs that do not have an abortifacient effect, but only prevent the birth of life. In any case, all controversial issues should be discussed with your spouse, doctor, or confessor.
Here is a list of sins for confession (brief):
- She rarely prayed and did not attend church.
- I thought more about worldly things during prayer.
- Allowed sexual activity before marriage.
- Abortion, inducing others to it.
- Had unclean thoughts and desires.
- I watched films, read books with pornographic content.
- Gossip, lies, envy, laziness, resentment.
- Excessive exposure of the body to attract attention.
- Fear of old age, wrinkles, thoughts of suicide.
- Addiction to sweets, alcohol, drugs.
- Avoiding helping other people.
- Seeking help from fortune tellers and fortune tellers.
- Superstition.
List of sins for a man
There is debate about whether a list of sins should be prepared for confession. Some believe that such a list harms the sacrament and promotes the formal reading of offenses. The main thing in confession is to realize your sins, repent and prevent their repetition. Therefore, the list of sins may be a short reminder or absent altogether.
Formal confession is not considered valid, since there is no repentance in it. Returning after the sacrament to your former life will add hypocrisy. The balance of spiritual life lies in understanding the essence of repentance, where confession is only the beginning of awareness of one’s sinfulness. This is a long process consisting of several stages of internal work. The creation of spiritual resources is a systematic adjustment of conscience, responsibility for one’s relationship with God.
Here is a list of sins for confession (brief) for a man:
- Sacrilege, conversations in the temple.
- Doubt about faith, the afterlife.
- Blasphemy, mockery of the poor.
- Cruelty, laziness, pride, vanity, greed.
- Evasion from military service.
- Avoiding unwanted work, shirking responsibilities.
- Insults, hatred, fights.
- Slander, disclosure of other people's weaknesses.
- Temptation to sin (fornication, drunkenness, drugs, gambling).
- Refusal to help parents and other people.
- Theft, aimless collecting.
- Tendency to boast, argue, and humiliate others.
- Impudence, rudeness, contempt, familiarity, cowardice.
Confession for a child
For a child, the sacrament of confession can begin at the age of seven. Until this age, children are allowed to receive Communion without this. Parents must prepare the child for confession: explain the essence of the sacrament, tell why it is being performed, and remember with him possible sins.
The child must be made to understand that sincere repentance is preparation for confession. It is better for a child to write a list of sins himself. He must realize what actions were wrong and try not to repeat them in the future.
Older children make their own decisions about whether to confess or not. You should not limit the free will of a child or teenager. The personal example of parents is much more important than all conversations.
The child must remember his sins before confession. A list of them can be compiled after the child answers the questions:
- How often does he read prayers (in the morning, in the evening, before meals), which ones does he know by heart?
- Does he go to church, how does he behave during the service?
- Does he wear a cross on his body, and is he distracted or not during prayers and services?
- Have you ever deceived your parents or priest during confession?
- Weren't you proud of your successes and victories, weren't you arrogant?
- Does it fight or not with other children, does it offend children or animals?
- Does he snitch on other children to protect himself?
- Have you ever committed theft or been jealous of anyone?
- Have you laughed at other people's physical disabilities?
- Did you play cards (smoked, drank alcohol, tried drugs, used foul language)?
- Is he lazy or helps his parents around the house?
- Did you pretend to be sick to avoid your responsibilities?
- A person himself determines whether to confess or not, how many times to attend the sacrament.
- You should prepare a list of sins for confession. It is better to take a sample in the church where the sacrament will take place, or find it yourself in church literature.
- It is optimal to go to confession with the same clergyman, who will become a mentor and will contribute to spiritual growth.
- Confession is free of charge.
First you need to ask on what days confessions are held in the church. You should dress appropriately. For men - a shirt or T-shirt with sleeves, trousers or jeans (not shorts). For women - a scarf on the head, no makeup (at least lipstick), a skirt no higher than the knees.
Sincerity of Confession
A priest as a psychologist can recognize how sincere a person is in his repentance. There are confessions that offend the sacrament and the Lord. If a person mechanically talks about sins, has several confessors, hides the truth - such actions do not lead to repentance.
Behavior, tone of speech, words with which confession is pronounced - it all matters. This is the only way the priest understands how sincere the penitent is. Pangs of conscience, embarrassment, worries, shame contribute to spiritual cleansing.
Sometimes the personality of the priest is important for the parishioner. This is not a reason to condemn and comment on the actions of clergy. You can go to another church or turn to another holy father for confession.
It can be difficult to voice your sins. The emotional experiences are so strong that it is more convenient to make a list of unrighteous actions. Father is attentive to every parishioner. If, due to shame, it is impossible to tell about everything and the repentance is deep, then the priest has the right to forgive the sins, a list of which was compiled before confession, without even reading them.
The meaning of confession
Having to talk about your sins in front of a stranger is embarrassing. Therefore, people refuse to go to confession, believing that God will forgive them anyway. This is the wrong approach. The priest acts only as an intermediary between man and God. His task is to determine the measure of repentance. The priest has no right to condemn anyone; he will not expel a repentant person from the church. During confession, people are very vulnerable, and clergy try not to cause unnecessary suffering.
It is important to see your sin, recognize and condemn it in your soul, and voice it before the priest. Have a desire not to repeat your misdeeds again, try to atone for the harm done through acts of mercy. Confession brings revival of the soul, re-education and access to a new spiritual level.
Sins (list), Orthodoxy, confession imply self-knowledge and the search for grace. All good deeds are done through strength. Only by overcoming yourself, doing works of mercy, and cultivating virtues in yourself, can you receive God's grace.
The meaning of confession lies in understanding the typology of sinners, the typology of sin. At the same time, an individual approach to each repentant is akin to pastoral psychoanalysis. The sacrament of confession is the pain of awareness of sin, recognition of it, the determination to voice and ask for forgiveness for it, cleansing of the soul, joy and peace.
A person must feel the need to repent. Love for God, love for oneself, love for one's neighbor cannot exist separately. The symbolism of the Christian cross - horizontal (love for God) and vertical (love for oneself and one's neighbor) - lies in the awareness of the integrity of spiritual life, its essence.
The beginning, foundation and peak of spiritual life in Orthodoxy is deep repentance. This is the same difficult and narrow path that the Savior commanded us to follow. On this path we encounter many obstacles, stumbling blocks, and perplexities.
And so - the famous Russian, a deep and subtle connoisseur of the human soul, who himself has gone through the sorrowful path of repentance and now prays to God for us sinners, teaches us priceless lessons.
Eight major passions with their divisions and industries
1. Gluttony
Binge eating, drunkenness, non-keeping and allowing fasting, secret eating, delicacy, and generally violation of abstinence. Incorrect and excessive love of the flesh, its belly and rest, which constitutes self-love, which leads to failure to remain faithful to God, the Church, virtue and people.
2. Fornication
Prodigal lust, prodigal sensations and attitudes of the soul and heart. Acceptance of unclean thoughts, conversation with them, delight in them, permission for them, slowness in them. Prodigal dreams and captivities. Failure to preserve the senses, especially the sense of touch, is the insolence that destroys all virtues. Foul language and reading voluptuous books. Natural prodigal sins: fornication and adultery. Prodigal sins are unnatural.
3. Love of money
The love of money, in general the love of property, movable and immovable. The desire to get rich. Reflection on means of enrichment. Dreaming of wealth. Fears of old age, unexpected poverty, illness, exile. Stinginess. Selfishness. Disbelief in God, lack of trust in his providence. Addictions or painful excessive love for various perishable objects, depriving the soul of freedom. Passion for vain concerns. Loving gifts. Appropriation of someone else's. Likhva. Cruelty towards the poor brethren and all those in need. Theft. Robbery.
4. Anger
Hot temper, acceptance of angry thoughts: dreams of anger and revenge, indignation of the heart with rage, darkening of the mind with it: obscene shouting, argument, swearing, cruel and caustic words, stress, pushing, murder. Malice, hatred, enmity, revenge, slander, condemnation, indignation and insult to one’s neighbor.
5. Sadness
Sadness, melancholy, cutting off hope in God, doubt in God’s promises, ingratitude to God for everything that happens, cowardice, impatience, lack of self-reproach, grief towards one’s neighbor, grumbling, renunciation of the cross, attempt to descend from it.
6.Despondency
Laziness towards any good deed, especially prayer. Abandonment of church and cell rules. Abandoning unceasing prayer and soul-helping reading. Inattention and haste in prayer. Neglect. Irreverence. Idleness. Excessive calming by sleeping, lying down and all kinds of restlessness. Moving from place to place. Frequent exits from cells, walks and visits with friends. Celebration. Jokes. Blasphemers. Abandonment of bows and other physical feats. Forgetting your sins. Forgetting the commandments of Christ. Negligence. Captivity. Deprivation of the fear of God. Bitterness. Insensibility. Despair.
7. Vanity
The search for human glory. Boasting. Desire and search for earthly and vain honors. Love of beautiful clothes, carriages, servants and cell things. Attention to the beauty of your face, the pleasantness of your voice and other qualities of your body. A disposition towards the dying sciences and arts of this age, a desire to succeed in them in order to acquire temporary, earthly glory. Shame to confess your sins. Hiding them before people and the spiritual father. Craftiness. Self-justification. Disclaimer. Making up your mind. Hypocrisy. Lie. Flattery. People-pleasing. Envy. Humiliation of one's neighbor. Changeability of character. Indulgence. Unconscionability. The character and life are demonic.
8. Pride
Contempt for one's neighbor. Preferring yourself to everyone. Insolence. Darkness, dullness of the mind and heart. Nailing them to the earthly. Hula. Disbelief. False mind. Disobedience to the Law of God and the Church. Following your carnal will. Reading books that are heretical, depraved and vain. Disobedience to authorities. Caustic ridicule. Abandonment of Christ-like humility and silence. Loss of simplicity. Loss of love for God and neighbor. False philosophy. Heresy. Godlessness. Ignorance. Death of the soul.
Such are the ailments, such are the ulcers that constitute the great ulcer, the decay of the old Adam, which was formed from his fall. The holy prophet Isaiah speaks about this great plague: “from the feet even to the head there is no integrity in it: neither a scab, nor an ulcer, nor a burning wound, do not apply a plaster, below the oil, below the bandage”(). This means, according to the explanation of the Fathers, that the ulcer - sin - is not private, and not on just one member, but on the entire being: it has embraced the body, embraced the soul, taken possession of all the properties, all the powers of a person. God called this great plague when, forbidding Adam and Eve from eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he said: “If you take a day away from it, you will die.”(). Immediately after eating the forbidden fruit, the forefathers felt eternal death; a carnal feeling appeared in their gaze; they saw that they were naked. The knowledge of the nakedness of the body reflected the nakedness of the soul, which had lost the beauty of innocence on which the Holy Spirit rested. There is a carnal sensation in the eyes, and in the soul there is shame, in which is the accumulation of all sinful and shameful sensations: pride, impurity, sadness, despondency, and despair. The great plague is spiritual; the decay that occurred after the loss of the Divine likeness is incorrigible! The Apostle calls the great plague the law of sin, the body of death (), because the mortified mind and heart have completely turned to the earth, slavishly serve the corruptible desires of the flesh, have become darkened, burdened, and become flesh themselves. This flesh is no longer capable of communicating with God! (). This flesh is not capable of inheriting eternal, heavenly bliss! (). The great plague spread over the entire human race and became the unfortunate property of every person.
Considering my great ulcer, looking at my mortification, I am filled with bitter sadness! I'm perplexed, what should I do? Will I follow the example of the old Adam, who, seeing his nakedness, hastens to hide from God? Will I, like him, justify myself by placing the blame on the guilt of sin? It is in vain to hide from the All-Seeing One! It is in vain to make excuses before the One who always wins, “never to judge” Him ().
Instead of fig leaves, I will clothe myself with tears of repentance; Instead of justification, I will bring sincere consciousness. Clothed in repentance and tears, I will appear before the face of my God. Is it in heaven? I have been expelled from there, and the cherub standing at the entrance will not let me in! By the very burden of my flesh I am nailed to the ground, my prison!
Sinful descendant of Adam, take heart! A light has shone in your prison: God has descended into the low country of your exile to lead you to your lost highland fatherland. You wanted to know good and evil: He leaves you this knowledge. You wanted to become like God, and from this you became like the devil in your soul, like cattle and beasts in your body; God, uniting you with Himself, makes you God by grace. He forgives your sins. This is not enough! He will remove the root of evil from your soul, the very infection of sin, hell, cast into your soul by the devil, and will give you medicine for the entire path of your earthly life for healing from sin, no matter how many times you become infected with it, due to your weakness. This healing is the confession of sins. Do you want to put off the old Adam, you, who through holy baptism have already been clothed in the New Adam, but through your own iniquities managed to revive old age and death in yourself, to choke life, to make it half-dead? Do you want, enslaved to sin, drawn to it by the violence of habit, to regain your freedom and righteousness? Immerse yourself in humility! Conquer vainglorious shame, which teaches you to hypocritically and craftily pretend to be righteous and thereby preserve and strengthen your soul. Cast out sin, enter into hostility with sin by sincere confession of sin. This healing must precede all others; without it, healing through prayer, tears, fasting and all other means will be insufficient, unsatisfactory, fragile. Go, proud one, to your spiritual father, at his feet find the mercy of the Heavenly Father! One, one sincere and frequent confession can free one from sinful habits, make repentance fruitful, and correction lasting and true.
In a brief moment of tenderness, in which the eyes of the mind are opened for self-knowledge, which comes so rarely, I wrote this as an accusation to myself, as an admonition, reminder, instruction. And you, who with faith and love for Christ read these lines and, perhaps, find in them something useful for yourself, bring a heartfelt sigh and prayer for the soul that has suffered much from the waves of sin, that has often seen drowning and destruction before itself, that has found rest in one refuge: in confession of one’s sins.
On the virtues opposite to the eight main sinful passions
1. Abstinence
Avoidance of excessive consumption of food and nutrition, especially excessive consumption of wine. Maintaining strict fasts, established fasts, curbing the flesh with moderate and constantly equal consumption of food, from which all passions in general begin to weaken, and especially self-love, which consists of a wordless love of the flesh, its life and peace.
2. Chastity
Avoidance of all kinds of fornication. Avoidance of voluptuous conversations and reading, from the pronunciation of voluptuous, nasty and ambiguous words. Storing the senses, especially sight and hearing, and even more so the sense of touch. Modesty. Rejection of the thoughts and dreams of prodigals. Silence. Silence. Ministry to the sick and disabled. Memories of death and hell. The beginning of chastity is a mind that does not waver from lustful thoughts and dreams; the perfection of chastity is purity that sees God.
3. Non-covetousness
Satisfying yourself with one thing necessary. Hatred of luxury and bliss. Mercy for the poor. Loving the poverty of the Gospel. Trust in God's providence. Following Christ's commandments. Calmness and freedom of spirit and carelessness. Softness of heart.
4. Meekness
Avoidance of angry thoughts and indignation of the heart with rage. Patience. Following Christ, who calls His disciple to the cross. Peace of the heart. Silence of the mind. Christian firmness and courage. Not feeling insulted. Kindness.
5. Blessed crying
A feeling of decline, common to all people, and of one’s own spiritual poverty. Lamentation about them. Cry of the mind. Painful contrition of the heart. The lightness of conscience, grace-filled consolation and joy that vegetates from them. Hope in God's mercy. Thanks be to God in sorrows, their humble enduring from the sight of their many sins. Willingness to endure. Cleansing the mind. Relief from passions. Mortification of the world. The desire for prayer, solitude, obedience, humility, confession of one’s sins.
6. Sobriety
Zeal for every good deed. Non-slothful correction of church and cell rules. Attention when praying. Careful observation of all your deeds, words, thoughts and feelings. Extreme self-distrust. Continuous stay in prayer and the Word of God. Awe. Constant vigilance over oneself. Keeping yourself from a lot of sleep and effeminacy, idle talk, jokes and sharp words. Love of night vigils, bows and other feats that bring cheerfulness to the soul. Rare, if possible, departure from cells. Remembrance of eternal blessings, desire and expectation of them.
7. Humility
Fear of God. Feeling it during prayer. Fear that arises during especially pure prayer, when the presence and greatness of God is felt especially strongly, so as not to disappear and turn into nothing. Deep knowledge of one's insignificance. A change in view of neighbors, and they, without any coercion, seem to the humbled person to be superior to him in all respects. The manifestation of simplicity from living faith. Hatred of human praise. Constant blaming and beating yourself up. Rightness and directness. Impartiality. Deadness to everything. Tenderness. Knowledge of the mystery hidden in the Cross of Christ. The desire to crucify oneself to the world and passions, the desire for this crucifixion. Rejection and oblivion of flattering customs and words, modest due to compulsion or intent, or the skill of pretending. Perception of the riot of the gospel. Rejection of earthly wisdom as obscene before God (). Leaving word justification. Silence before those who offend, studied in the Gospel. Putting aside all your own speculations and accepting the mind of the Gospel. The casting down of every thought placed upon the mind of Christ. Humility or spiritual reasoning. Conscious obedience to the Church in everything.
Thy Mystical Supper this day, O Son of God, accept me as a partaker; I will not tell your enemies the secret, nor give you a kiss like Judas, but like a thief I will confess to you: remember me, O Lord, in your kingdom.
May the communion of Your Holy Mysteries be not for judgment or condemnation for me, Lord, but for the healing of soul and body. Amen.
Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov)
To help the penitent: from the writings of St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov) and the works of the holy fathers
About virtues
1. Abstinence
Abstinence from excessive consumption of food and drink, especially from excessive consumption of wine. Keeping fasts established by the Church. Curbing the flesh by moderate consumption of monotonous food, from which all passions in general begin to weaken, and especially selfishness, which consists of pleasing the flesh.
2. Chastity
Avoidance of all kinds of fornication. Avoidance of voluptuous conversations, reading depraved books and looking at shameful images, and uttering voluptuous, nasty and ambiguous words. Storing the senses, especially sight and hearing, and even more so the sense of touch. Modesty. Rejection of the thoughts and dreams of prodigals. Silence. Silence. Ministry to the sick and disabled. Memories of death and hell. The beginning of chastity is a mind that does not waver from lustful thoughts and dreams; the perfection of chastity is purity that sees God.
3. Non-covetousness
Limiting yourself to the essentials in life. Hatred of luxury and bliss. Mercy for the poor. Loving the poverty of the Gospel. Trust in the Providence of God, that everything necessary for life will be provided by God. Calmness, freedom of spirit and carelessness.
4. Meekness
Avoidance of angry thoughts and indignation of the heart with rage. Patience. Following Christ, calling His disciple to the Cross. Peace of the heart. Silence of the mind. Christian firmness and courage. Not feeling insulted. Kindness.
5. Blessed crying
A feeling of decline, common to all people, and of one’s own spiritual poverty. Lamentation about them. Cry of the mind. Painful contrition of the heart. The lightness of conscience, grace-filled consolation and joy that vegetates from them. Hope in God's mercy. Thanking God in sorrows, humbly enduring them from the sight of the multitude of one’s sins. Willingness to endure. Cleansing the mind. Relief from passions. Mortification of the world. The desire for prayer, solitude, obedience, humility, confession of one’s sins.
6. Sobriety
Zeal for every good deed. Non-slothful correction of church and home rules. Attention when praying. Careful observation of all your deeds, words, thoughts and feelings. Distrust of one's own mind. Submitting your opinions to the judgment of your spiritual father. Constantly remain in prayer and meditation on the Holy Scriptures. Awe. Keeping yourself from a lot of sleep and effeminacy, idle talk, jokes and sharp words. Love of night vigils, bows and other feats that bring cheerfulness to the soul. Remembrance of eternal blessings, desire and expectation of them.
7. Humility
Fear of God. Feeling it during prayer. Extreme humility, seeing oneself as unworthy, guilty of righteous condemnation for sins. Losing all hope in everything and everyone except God. Deep knowledge of yourself. A change in the view of one’s neighbors, and they, without any coercion, seem to the humbled person to be superior to him in all respects. The manifestation of wise simplicity from living faith. Hatred of human praise. Constant blaming and beating yourself up. Truthfulness and directness. Impartiality. Deadness to everything that moves away from God. Tenderness. Knowledge of the saving Mystery hidden in the Cross of Christ. The desire to crucify oneself to the world and passions, the desire for this crucifixion. Rejection and oblivion of false customs and words, deceit and hypocrisy. Perception of evangelical humility. Rejection of earthly wisdom as obscene before God. Contempt for everything that is high in people, that's an abomination to God(see: Luke 16, 15). Leaving word justification. Silence before those who offend. Putting aside all your own speculations and accepting the mind of the Gospel.
The overthrow of every ungodly thought. Humility, or spiritual reasoning. Conscious and complete obedience to the Holy Orthodox Church in everything.
Achieving the love of God during prayer, accompanied by the fear of God. Loyalty to the Lord, proven by the constant rejection of every sinful thought and feeling. The indescribable, sweet attraction of the whole person with love for the Lord Jesus Christ and for the worshiped Holy Trinity. Seeing the image of God and Christ in others; resulting from this spiritual vision, the preference for oneself over all neighbors, their reverent veneration for the Lord. Love for neighbors is brotherly, pure, equal to everyone, impartial, joyful, flaming equally towards friends and enemies.
Admiration for prayer and love of the mind, heart and whole body. Unspeakable spiritual joy. Spiritual intoxication. Deep peace of heart, soul and body. Inactivity of the bodily senses during prayer. Resolution from the muteness of the heart's tongue. Stopping prayer from spiritual sweetness. Silence of the mind. Enlightening the mind and heart. Prayer power that overcomes sin. Peace of Christ. Retreat of all passions. The absorption of all understandings into the all-surpassing mind of Christ. Theology. Cognition in everything of the all-perfect Providence of the Divine. Sweetness and abundant consolation in times of sorrow. Vision of human structures. The depth of humility and the most humiliating opinion of oneself...
The end is endless!
Eight major passions with their divisions and industries
1. Fullness of the belly
Binge eating, drunkenness, non-keeping and unauthorized breaking of fasts, secret eating, delicacy, and generally violation of abstinence. Incorrect and excessive love of the flesh, its contentment and peace, which constitutes self-love, which leads to failure to maintain fidelity to God, the Church, virtue and people.
2. Fornication
Prodigal kindling, prodigal sensations and desires of the body, soul and heart. Acceptance of unclean thoughts, conversation with them, delight in them, permission for them, slowness in them. Prodigal dreams and captivities. Desecration by suit. Failure to preserve the senses, especially the sense of touch, is the insolence that destroys all virtues. Foul language and reading voluptuous books. Natural prodigal sins: fornication and adultery. Fornication sins are unnatural: malakia (fornication), sodomy (man with man), lesbianism (woman with woman), bestiality and the like.
3. Love of money
The love of money, in general the love of property, movable and immovable. The desire to get rich. Thinking about the means to get rich. Dreaming of wealth. Fear of old age, unexpected poverty, illness, exile. Stinginess. Selfishness. Disbelief in God, lack of trust in His Providence. Addictions or painful excessive love for various perishable objects, depriving the soul of freedom. Passion for vain concerns. Desire to receive gifts. Appropriation of someone else's. Likhva. Cruelty towards the poor brethren and all those in need. Theft. Robbery.
Hot temper, adoption of angry thoughts; dreaming in thoughts of anger and revenge, indignation of the heart with rage, darkening of the mind by it; obscene shouting, arguing, swearing, cruel and cutting words, hitting, pushing, killing. Malice, hatred, enmity, revenge, slander, condemnation, indignation and insult to one’s neighbor.
Sadness, melancholy, cutting off hope in God, doubt in God’s promises, ingratitude to God for everything that happens, cowardice, impatience, lack of self-reproach, sorrow for one’s neighbor, grumbling, renunciation of the labors of the difficult Christian life, an attempt to leave this field. Avoidance of the burden of the cross - the struggle with passions and sin.
Laziness towards any good deed, especially prayer. Abandonment of church and prayer rules. Loss of memory of God. Abandoning unceasing prayer and soul-helping reading. Inattention and haste in prayer. Neglect. Irreverence. Idleness. Excessive calming of the flesh by sleep, lying down and all kinds of restlessness. Seeking an easy salvation. Moving from place to place in order to avoid hardships and hardships. Frequent walks and visits with friends. Celebration. Blasphemous statements. Abandonment of bows and other physical feats. Forgetting your sins. Forgetting the commandments of Christ. Negligence. Captivity. Deprivation of the fear of God. Bitterness. Insensibility. Despair.
7. Vanity
The search for human glory. Boasting. Desire and search for earthly and vain honors. Love of beautiful clothes, carriages, servants and luxurious things. Attention to the beauty of your face, the pleasantness of your voice and other qualities of your body. Engaging in the sciences and arts of this age for the sake of temporary, earthly glory. It is a false shame to confess your sins to your confessor. Craftiness. Self-justification. Disclaimer. Following your mind. Hypocrisy. Lie. Flattery. People-pleasing. Envy. Humiliation of one's neighbor. Changeability of character. Indulgence of passions, dishonesty. Similarity in morals and life to demons.
8. Pride
Contempt for one's neighbor. Preferring yourself to everyone. Insolence. Darkness, dullness of the mind and heart. Nailing them to the earthly. Hula. Disbelief. False mind. Disobedience to the Law of God and the Church. Following your carnal will. Reading heretical and vain books. Disobedience to authorities. Caustic ridicule. Abandonment of Christ-like humility and silence. Loss of simplicity. Loss of love for God and neighbor. False philosophy. Heresy. Godlessness. Death of the soul.
To help the penitent: Main prayers, Seven Sacraments of the Church, Beatitudes of the Gospel, Ten Commandments, Definition of sins according to the Ten Commandments, Prayer before confession, Second prayer before confession, Prayer for the forgiveness of forgotten sins, Confession, Prayer after confession of sins.
Main prayers.
Lord's Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven! Hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, as it is in heaven and on earth. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our debts, just as we forgive our debtors; and do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
Jesus Prayer
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
Seven Sacraments of the Church.
1. Baptism
2. Confirmation
3. Eucharist
4. Repentance
5. Priesthood
6. Marriage
7. Blessing of Anointing (Unction)
Ten Commandments.
1. I am the Lord your God; Let there be no gods for you other than Me (except Me).
2. Thou shalt not make for thyself an idol or any likeness, such as the tree in heaven, and the tree below on earth, and the tree in the waters under the earth: thou shalt not bow down to them, nor serve them.
3. Thou shalt not take (say) the name of the Lord thy God in vain (in vain).
4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy: six days you shall do it, and in them you shall do all your work; but on the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God.
5. Honor your father and your mother, may you be well, and may you live long on earth.
6. Thou shalt not kill.
7. Do not commit adultery.
8. Don't steal.
9. Do not listen to false testimony against your friend (do not bear false testimony against your neighbor).
10. Thou shalt not covet thy sincere wife, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, nor his village, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor any of his livestock, nor anything that is thy neighbor's.
The Lord Jesus Christ stated the essence of these commandments as follows: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. The second is similar to this: love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22, 37–39.)
Gospel beatitudes.
Gospel of Matthew. Chapter 5, verses 3-12
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for to them is the Kingdom of Heaven.
Blessed are those who cry, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.
Blessed be the mercy, for they will receive mercy.
Blessed are those who are pure in heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for these shall be called sons of God.
Blessed is the expulsion of truth for the sake of them, for those are the Kingdom of Heaven.
Blessed are you when they revile you, and ridicule you, and say all sorts of evil things about you lying to Me for my sake.
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is abundant in heaven.
Definition of sins according to the Ten Commandments.
According to the first commandment
Do you have a constant memory of God and the fear of God in your heart?
Is your faith in God shaken by lack of faith and doubt?
Have you doubted the holy dogmas of the Orthodox Faith?
Do you pray to the Lord God to strengthen your faith?
Have you lost hope in God's mercy and help?
Do you pray to God every day, morning and evening? Is your prayer earnest?
Is it always possible to attend church services? Are you leaving them out without important reasons?
Do you like to read religious and moral books and do you read them? Have you read godless and heretical books out of sinful curiosity?
Do you willingly donate, at the call of the Church, for charitable purposes and for St. temple?
Did you resort to fortune telling? Did you participate in sessions of communication with evil spirits?
Don't you forget about the main thing, about living according to God's Law, about preparing for eternity and answering before God, indulging in vanity, laziness, pleasures, carelessness?
According to the second commandment
Does God come first for you? Maybe it’s not God that comes first for you, but something else, for example: collecting money, acquiring property, pleasures, entertainment, food, drinks, clothing, jewelry, the desire to attract attention, to play the first role, to receive praise, spend time absentmindedly, reading empty books, etc.?
Does your passion for television, cinema, theater, and cards distract you from the Lord God?
Maybe because you care about yourself and your family, you forget God and do not live according to His commandments and do not fulfill the rules of our Mother Church?
If so, then it means that you serve your “idol”, your idol, he is in your first place, and not the Lord God and His teaching.
Maybe art, sports, science occupy first place for you? Perhaps some passion (love of money, gluttony, carnal love, etc.) has taken possession of your heart.
Are you making yourself an “idol” out of pride, out of selfishness? Check yourself.
According to the third commandment
Did you not swear in ordinary, everyday conversations, did you use the name of God frivolously, without reverence, or, even worse, did you turn the shrine into a joke? Or, God forbid, in a fit of bitterness, anger, despair, did you allow yourself to boldly murmur against God or even blaspheme God?
Or having made some oath or oath, then violated it?
Have you given in to despondency?
Is your prayer to God scattered and inattentive?
According to the fourth commandment
Are you violating the sanctity of Sundays and great holidays established by St. Church?
Aren't you working for profit these days?
Instead of festive services, did you spend time at some kind of entertainment, at a ball, in the theater, cinema or at any kind of meeting where there is no talk about God, where there is no prayer with which to celebrate the holiday? Didn’t he himself organize such amusements and meetings, thus distracting people from attending church?
Do you carefully attend church services? Do you come to church very late, towards the middle or end of the service?
Do you visit the sick on Sundays and holidays? Do you help the poor and needy?
Didn't St. violate posts?
Have you been drinking alcohol?
According to the fifth commandment
Were there any cases of disrespectful attitude towards parents, inattention to their care and their advice? Did he take care of them in their illnesses and in their old age?
If your parents have died, do you often pray for the repose of their souls in church and in prayer at home?
Were there any cases of disrespect towards the pastors of the Church?
Didn't he condemn them? Didn’t you get angry with them when they reminded you of eternity, of preparation for it, of the salvation of the soul, of sins? When do they call for following the Church and its teachings?
Did he offend anyone older than himself, especially his benefactors?
According to the sixth commandment
You did not kill anyone physically in the direct and literal sense, but perhaps you caused the death of someone in an indirect way: you could have helped the poor or sick and did not do it, you did not feed the hungry, you did not give drink to the thirsty, you did not accept the stranger, you did not clothe the naked , did not visit the sick and those in prison (Matthew 25:34–36)?
Have you not committed spiritual murder, that is, have you seduced someone from the good path of life, have you drawn someone into heresy or church schism, or tempted someone to sin?
Did you sinfully kill someone by showing anger and hatred towards him?
Do you forgive those who offend you? Have you been harboring anger and resentment in your heart for a long time?
Do you blame yourself for everything or just others?
Did she resort to illegal operations, which is also murder, a sin for both the wife and the husband?
According to the seventh commandment
Have you cohabited with a person of the opposite sex, being in a carnal relationship with him, without a church marriage or content with only a civil marriage? Don't you persist in this, avoiding church marriage?
Do you allow yourself to treat people of the other sex frivolously?
Are you not defiling yourself by allowing yourself to indulge in unclean and depraved thoughts and lusts? Reading unclean books, looking at unclean pictures?
Remember sinful songs, passionate dances, jokes, foul language, immodest shows, dresses, drunkenness and similar sins.
Most people die because of the violation of the 7th commandment, since people are ashamed to confess their sins against this commandment, as can be seen from the words of the Angel to St. Theodora during her ordeal. After the Venerable Theodora went through the 16, 17, 18 ordeals, the angel said to Theodora: You have seen the terrible, disgusting ordeals of fornication, know that a rare soul passes them freely, the whole world is immersed in the evil of temptations and defilements, all people are voluptuous. Most of them, having reached here, perish: the fierce torturers of prodigal sins kidnap the souls of fornicators and bring them down to hell.
Be courageous, Christian, and repent while you are alive, before it is too late.
According to the eighth commandment
Did you appropriate someone else's property directly or indirectly? By deception, various tricks, combinations? Maybe you didn’t do as you should what you were obliged to do for the reward you received?
Have you been overly addicted to earthly goods, not wanting to share them with others who need them?
Is not stinginess taking possession of your soul?
Did you accept stolen goods? Did you dispose of someone else's property in good conscience if it was entrusted to you?
According to the ninth commandment
Have you slandered your neighbor? Have you often condemned others, slandered them, reviled them, whether for their real sins and vices or only for apparent ones?
Don’t you like to hear bad rumors about someone, and then willingly spread them, getting carried away by all sorts of gossip, gossip, and idle talk?
Don't you sometimes resort to lies and untruths? Do you always try to be truthful?
According to the tenth commandment
Don't you envy others? If you envy what other people have that is good or valuable, then this feeling can lead you to some serious crime. Remember that the evil envy of the scribes and Pharisees led the Son of God Himself, who came to earth to save people, to the cross.
Envy always leads to anger and hatred and can lead to the most insane actions, even murder.
Prayer before confession.
(Reverend Simeon the New Theologian)God and Lord of all! You who have the power of every breath and soul, who alone is able to heal me, hear the prayer of me, the accursed one, and the serpent nesting in me, by the influx of the All-Holy and Life-Giving Spirit, slaying: and from me poverty and nakedness all the virtues exist, at the feet of my holy (spiritual) father with tears grant him the honor, and his holy soul, to be merciful, so that you may be merciful to me. And grant, Lord, in my heart humility and good thoughts, befitting a sinner who has agreed to repent to You, and may you not completely abandon the one soul that united with You and confessed You, and instead of the whole world chose and preferred You: weigh for, Lord, as I want to be saved, even if my evil custom is an obstacle: but it is possible for You, Master, the essence of everything, what is impossible is of man. Amen.
Second prayer before confession
Lord, help me to sincerely repent.
Confession.
This text is read by the priest before confession and is presented here as one of the samples of confession, in order to better prepare the believer for this sacrament, as well as to better understand his sinfulness and arouse repentant feelings during home prayer.
I confess, I, a great sinner (name), to the Lord God and our Savior Jesus Christ and to you, honorable father, all my sins and all my evil deeds, which I have done in all the days of my life, which I have thought even to this day.
He sinned: he did not keep the vows of Holy Baptism, he did not keep his monastic promise, but he lied about everything and created indecent things for himself before the Face of God.
Forgive us, Merciful Lord (for the people).
Forgive me, honest father (for singles).
I sinned: before the Lord by lack of faith and sluggishness in thoughts, all from the enemy against faith and the Holy. Churches; ingratitude for all His great and unceasing benefits, calling on the Name of God without need - in vain.
Forgive me, honest father.
I sinned: lack of love for the Lord below fear, failure to fulfill the holy. His will and St. Commandments, careless depiction of the sign of the cross, irreverent veneration of St. icons; did not wear a cross, was ashamed to baptize and confess the Lord.
Forgive me, honest father.
I sinned: I did not preserve love for my neighbor, did not feed the hungry and thirsty, did not clothe the naked, did not visit the sick and prisoners in prison; The law of God and St. I did not learn the traditions of my fathers from laziness and negligence.
Forgive me, honest father.
I sinned: by not fulfilling church and cell rules, by going to the temple of God without diligence, with laziness and negligence; leaving morning, evening and other prayers; during a church service - he sinned by idle talk, laughter, dozing, inattention to reading and singing, absent-mindedness, leaving the temple during the service and not going to the temple of God due to laziness and negligence.
Forgive me, honest father.
I sinned: by daring to go to the temple of God in uncleanness and touch all holy things.
Forgive me, honest father.
Sinned: by not honoring the feasts of God; violation of St. fasting and non-keeping of fast days - Wednesday and Friday; intemperance in food and drink, polyeating, secret eating, disordered eating, drunkenness, dissatisfaction with food and drink, clothing, parasitism; one’s own will and reason through fulfillment, self-righteousness, self-indulgence and self-justification; not properly honoring parents, not raising children in the Orthodox faith, cursing their children and their neighbors.
Forgive me, honest father.
I sinned: by unbelief, superstition, doubt, despair, despondency, blasphemy, false worship, dancing, smoking, playing cards, fortune telling, witchcraft, sorcery, gossip, remembering the living for their repose, eating the blood of animals.
Forgive me, honest father.
I sinned: pride, conceit, arrogance, self-love, ambition, envy, conceit, suspicion, irritability.
Forgive me, honest father.
I sinned: by condemning all people - living and dead, by slander and anger, by memory, hatred, evil for evil by retribution, slander, reproach, wickedness, laziness, deception, hypocrisy, gossip, disputes, stubbornness, unwillingness to give in and serve one's neighbor; sinned with gloating, malice, malice, insult, ridicule, reproach and man-pleasing.
Forgive me, honest father.
Sinned: incontinence of mental and physical feelings; spiritual and physical impurity, pleasure and procrastination in unclean thoughts, addiction, voluptuousness, immodest views of wives and young men; in a prodigal night's dream; defilement, intemperance in married life.
Forgive me, honest father.
I sinned: by impatience with illnesses and sorrows, by loving the comforts of this life, by captivity of the mind and hardening of the heart, by not forcing myself to do any good deed.
Forgive me, honest father.
I sinned: by inattention to the promptings of my conscience, negligence, laziness in reading the Word of God and negligence in acquiring the Jesus Prayer. I sinned through covetousness, love of money, unrighteous acquisition, embezzlement, theft, stinginess, attachment to various kinds of things and people.
Forgive me, honest father.
I sinned: by condemning and disobeying my spiritual fathers, by murmuring and resenting them and by not confessing my sins to them through oblivion, negligence and false shame.
Forgive me, honest father.
Sinned: by unmercifulness, contempt and condemnation of the poor; going to the temple of God without fear and reverence, deviating into heresy and sectarian teaching.
Forgive me, honest father.
Sinned: by laziness, relaxation, love of bodily rest, excessive sleeping, voluptuous dreams, biased views, shameless body movements, touching, fornication, adultery, corruption, masturbation, unmarried marriages, those who performed abortions on themselves or others or seduced someone committed a grave sin. to this great sin - infanticide. He spent his time in empty and idle pursuits, in empty conversations, jokes, laughter and other shameful sins.
Forgive me, honest father.
I sinned: despondency, cowardice, impatience, murmuring, despair of salvation, lack of hope in God’s mercy, insensibility, ignorance, arrogance, shamelessness.
Forgive me, honest father.
I sinned: by slandering my neighbor, anger, insult, irritation and ridicule, non-reconciliation, enmity and hatred, dissent, spying on other people's sins and eavesdropping on other people's conversations.
Forgive me, honest father.
I sinned: by coldness and insensitivity in confession, by belittling sins, by blaming others rather than by condemning myself.
Forgive me, honest father.
I sinned: against the Life-giving and Holy Mysteries of Christ, approaching them without proper preparation, without contrition and the fear of God.
Forgive me, honest father.
I sinned: in word, in thought and with all my senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch - voluntarily or involuntarily, knowledge or ignorance, in reason and unreason, and it is not possible to list all my sins according to their multitude. But in all of these, as well as in those unspeakable through oblivion, I repent and regret, and henceforth, with the help of God, I promise to take care.
You, honest father, forgive me and release me from all of this and pray for me, a sinner, and on that day of judgment testify before God about the sins I have confessed. Amen.
Prayer after confession of sins.
As someone who is weak and completely powerless in himself to do good deeds, I humbly and with tears pray to You, O Lord, my Savior, help me to be confirmed in my intention: to live the rest of my life for You, my beloved God, in a godly manner, and forgive my past sins with Your mercy. and forgive all my sins spoken before You, as a good Lover of mankind. I also humbly pray to You, Most Holy Theotokos, and you, the heavenly powers and all the saints of God, help me correct my life.
Prayer for forgiveness of forgotten sins.
(Reverend Barsanuphius the Great)Master Lord, since it is a sin to forget one’s sins, I have sinned in everything against You, the One Knower of the Heart; You forgive me everything according to Your love for mankind; This is how the splendor of Your glory is revealed when You do not repay sinners according to their deeds, for You are glorified forever. Amen.