When a person begins to take the first steps towards the Lord, he encounters various problems. How to dress properly in the temple? Is it possible to come to church with makeup on, to venerate icons while being unclean (“critical days” for women)? How to behave in the temple? And questions concerning certain sacraments constantly baffle neophytes.
Let's talk about the sacrament of confession, discuss what sins to list at confession, how to prepare and correctly tell about the most secret.
What is sin?
Before you start talking about confessing sins, you need to find out the meaning of this word. Sin is a transgression of the commandments of God, a violation of the established law. When a worldly person transgresses the law, he is punished. In spiritual terms, everything is much more complicated. You can often hear from people that God punishes sinners. God is merciful, He sent His Son to earth in order to save"lost sheep". The Lord is hardly such a formidable and cruel punisher; God loves both sinners and the righteous. When committing a sin, a person voluntarily gives himself into the hands of unclean spirits. The sinner retreats from God, forgets the Savior and falls into the power of the enemy of the Creator.
The Ten Commandments
"What sins to list at confession?" - such a question is asked by those who begin their journey to the Lord. The Savior gave people ten commandments, and by breaking them, a person sins.
For those who do not know about the commandments, we publish all ten for reference:
- I am the Lord your God; may you have no other gods before me.
- Do not make for yourself an idol and no image of what is in the sky above, and what is on the earth below, and what is in the water below the earth; do not worship or serve them.
- Do not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
- Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy; Work six days and do all your work, and the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God.
- Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long on earth.
- Don't kill.
- Do not commit adultery.
- Don't steal.
- Don't bear false witness against your neighbor.
- Do not covet thy neighbor's house; Thou sh alt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is thy neighbor's.
List of sins
What sins to list in confession? Let's start by using a little hint. There are numerous brochurestalking about human sins. A very good hint book was compiled by Father John (Krestyankin). It is sold in any church shop, it is quite cheap (up to 100 rubles), the essence of sin is explained in it very capaciously.
We will arm ourselves with a little book published in 2004 with the blessing of Metropolitan Sergius of Ternopil. The book is called "List of the most common sins with an explanation of their spiritual meaning." The enumeration will become the most understandable for a neophyte, many began the path to God with this hint book.
Metropolitan Sergius divides sins into several groups:
- Against God and the church.
- Against the neighbor.
- Against myself.
- Deadly sins.
- Special mortal sins.
- Sins crying out to Heaven for vengeance.
Now let's talk about each group in more detail.
Sins against God and the church
What is included in this subgroup? What sins to list at confession related to it? Be patient, we will tell you everything in order.
Sins against God is a crime of the first three commandments. This includes lack of faith, doubt about the truth of Holy Scripture and Tradition, little zeal for the knowledge of Christian teaching, passion for heresy and superstition, distrust of God, murmuring and ingratitude towards the Creator. Lack of spiritual life is another sin against the Savior. A person does not pray at all, does not visit the temple and does not proceed to the Sacraments of confession and communion, or approachesA bowl without proper preparation and reverence.
The lack of fear of the Lord, disobedience to His will, ignoring the memory of death and soberness in prayer - these sins belong to this subgroup.
Sins against neighbor
What sins to list at confession? Is there a list of sins? Each person should talk about what worries you, what you want to get rid of as soon as possible. Everyone has their own list, we can only suggest the main sins, which is what we are doing now.
First place in the list of sins against one's neighbor is condemnation. People love to wash the bones of others, what can I say. There is a wonderful story about this. An old man of high spiritual life lived in the world. He lived in a monastery, one day one of the brethren complained to the elder about the unworthy behavior of another brother. The wise father shook his head and only said: "Yes, my brother acted badly."
Time passed, that brother who sinned died. The angels took his soul and brought it to the elder so that he could decide where to send it. Once upon a time, the elder uttered only four words, but how heavy was the sin of condemnation.
Vanity and pride are sins in which a person boasts of his education, good life, prosperity. The ex altation of one's person over others, reverence for oneself as the best and the very best refers to self-love.
Loy alty - the desire for leadership over others. It is not at all necessary to sit in the boss's chair for this, the ability to poke your nose into other people's affairs and give extra advice belongs toarrogance.
People's pleasure is the opposite of the above sin. In an effort to please someone, to win the location of this object, a person begins to fawn, flatter, humiliate himself, elevating him. Because of the sin of pleasing people, pretty terrible things happen.
Envy, gloating - these sins are understandable without explanation. This also includes vindictiveness, vindictiveness, inability to forgive insults.
Failure to help the persecuted, neighbor. A sin that we fall into because of our own cowardice and cowardice. People forget the words about the need to "bear each other's burdens", that is, to sacrifice oneself in order to help one's neighbor.
Sins against oneself
What does the list of sins look like? What sins to list at confession? It is noted above that each person has his own list. However, there are hint books that will help you remember long-forgotten sins. If a person starts confession for the first time, then the pamphlets will help prepare for the sacrament, direct the neophyte on the true path.
What sins should be listed at confession? When it comes to oneself, sins look like this:
- Despondency and despair, indicating distrust of God. Especially the admission of thoughts of suicide is repugnant to the Savior. This needs to be repented of.
- Bodily excesses. Lying in bed in the morning? Eat extra treats? Smoke or drink? All of the above refers to bodily excesses that must be combated.
- Bad faith, wastefulness, idleness, attachment to things - these sins hardly need explanation.
Deadly sins
The falling away of man from God, as a result of which the soul perishes. Hence the name - mortal sins. By them are meant the seven passions that captivate a person. On your own, without the help of God, it is impossible to overcome these passions.
We talked about what sins should be listed in confession. The seven deadly sins are among the obligatory ones that must be repented of. To repent and not to commit in the future, and not to tell the priest about them, and then, leaving the temple, to return to the old. A person must reconsider his life, correct himself and fight all sins, especially these ones.
The seven deadly sins are pride, discouragement, gluttony, fornication, envy, anger and idleness.
Special Sins
Special sins mean blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Everything is forgiven by God, except for this sin. Of course, when the detractor repents and corrects his life, there is a chance to be forgiven.
Despair or overreliance on the will of God. It would seem, why is the second act bad? The fact is that a person continues to lead a particularly difficult and sinful life, completely unwilling to repent of this, but he trusts in the mercy of the Lord. Like, God have mercy, He is kind.
Stubborn disbelief in God. When an individual is tried to be convinced of the existence of the Lord, the Savior performs various miracles"Unbelieving Thomas", but he continues to stubbornly ignore phenomena and beliefs, then - forgive me. The Lord did everything to convince the unbeliever, for the rest the person is responsible on his own. In which case, you should not blame God later.
Sins crying out to Heaven for vengeance
What sins are listed during confession? All available, and those listed in this section, require special repentance:
- Murder is one of the worst sins. This also includes abortions, we will talk about this below.
- Sodomy sin. The current trend of same-sex love is called Sodom sin. Do you know where the name came from? From the destroyed city of Sodom. The Lord burned him for sins, including the sin of same-sex love.
- Grievance inflicted on an orphan, widow, wretched and defenseless person.
- Withholding earnings from an employee.
- Taking the last piece of bread or the last penny from the poor.
- Grieves and insults inflicted on parents, beatings.
Do women's sins exist?
What does the list of sins for confession look like for women? And does it exist in principle? "Women's" sins include abortion, although with the participation of a spouse in this matter, the sin falls on both. Under the participation of the spouse is meant his insistence on the abortion.
What list of sins in confession for women can be? Abortion has been discussed above. This list also includes entering the temple, being "unclean", kissing(kissing) icons in this state, touching the shrine (light a candle). Confession and communion in an unclean form are also prohibited.
An impure woman - in a state of monthly cleansing. There are disputes about whether it is possible to venerate icons in this state and proceed to the sacraments. Young priests allow, older ones swear a lot. Who to listen to?
According to the decision of the Bishops' Conference of 2015, a woman is forbidden to start the sacrament of the sacrament, being in a state of impurity, without any special reason. A special situation is the threat of death without repentance and communion.
These are the sins women need to talk about in confession, if they took place. Oh yes, one more thing! Make-up, manicures and hair coloring are considered sinful acts that must be repented.
How to confess?
How to correctly name your sins in confession is a question that often arises among neophytes. A person is embarrassed to list his own sins or does not know how to do it.
False shame - from the evil one. He dreams of taking possession of the human soul, therefore, he evokes thoughts that it is shameful to talk about some sins. Drop false doubts! Concealment of sin is unacceptable.
What about those who have a sense of shame prevails over everyone else? There are two types of confession. According to the first, a person lists his sins orally, according to the second, he writes on paper. Particularly shy confessors write down a confession, and then give it to the priest or read it outalone, standing in front of the lectern.
For those wishing to confess orally - a hint: a piece of paper will help not to forget this or that sin. The most daring approach confession without any notes, focusing on their own memory. Once near the lectern, they begin to get lost. Not from forgetfulness, but from fear of the priest. There is no need to be afraid or shy, feel free to talk about your misconduct - serious and not so. How to name sins in confession? It's simple: we say "sinned / sinned", and then follows the enumeration of sins. By word, deed, thought, condemnation, envy, and so on. What sins should be listed at confession - described above.
The same principle works when writing down sins on paper. People sometimes write real essays in the style: "I went to a neighbor to drink tea. And the neighbor scolded my daughter, and I answered. I shouldn't have, but she herself is to blame." This is not confession, but self-justification. A person going to repentance should be firmly aware of his misdeeds and talk about them, and not tell the priest about a malicious neighbor.
First Confession
When a person is just beginning his acquaintance with God and the church, he does not know how to confess. The first confession has a second name - general. The beginner remembers and confesses all his sins from the age of seven. Until the age of seven, children are considered sinless and do not require the sacrament of repentance.
"I'm going to confession for the first time, what sins should I list?" - a question often asked by a newbie going toGod. To help the penitent - hint books, which are discussed above. There are brochures concerning children's confession. Such hints will be useful to a person preparing for a general confession. Remembering the sins committed at the age of seven is quite difficult.
So, agreed? Buy pamphlets, write a confession on paper (so as not to forget anything), come to the priest and lay out everything as if in spirit. What is confession, how to correctly name your sins to the priest, you now know.
By the way, about confession time. There is a very large flow of people in the parishes, and the priest has a catastrophically little time. Rarely where do you meet priests who are ready to listen to a novice for more than an hour. The first confession is very long, so if possible, go to the nearest monastery. The monks devote much more time to confessors than an ordinary priest can afford.
And what to do in the absence of such an opportunity? Choose the church where you want to confess, and go to the priest in advance, explaining your situation. It is possible that the priest will appoint a separate day for the first confession or indicate the hours when it is better to approach him.
A little more about confession
What does every newcomer who is about to start the sacrament of confession need to know? There are several points that should be discussed separately.
First, time. In some churches, confession begins before the service (on Sunday), we are talking about a church where one priest serves. This point must be taken into account when planningconfess. How can I find out about the schedule of a particular temple? Call or come in person and clarify your question.
Second moment - evening confession. Believe me, the best option for telling the priest more and, as a result, repenting is Saturday evening. As a rule, closer to the end of the Divine service or after it, the priests go to confession. In the evening there is more time and opportunity to give the necessary attention to each penitent than on Sunday, when a good part of the confessors gathered to take communion.
Priests are different. Someone is kind, supports and reassures during confession, while others are strict and act in such a way as to sober up a person. When you hear something that you don’t want at all, wait to be disappointed and leave the church forever. Better think about the words of the priest, delve into yourself. Sometimes the most offensive words and teachings turn out to be the most correct impetus for correcting one's own life.
And the last thing: when approaching the sacrament of repentance, speak softly. Sometimes confessors so sincerely and loudly repent of their sins that they hear not only the line standing behind, but also most of the temple. Therefore, when the priest asks to speak quietly, you should not be offended.
Conclusion
So we got acquainted with the lists of sins, talked about how to behave at confession, and touched on women's repentance. Confession is a sacrament, it is necessary to prepare for it properly. And of course, you need to start confession and communion as often as possible. Communion once a week is the best option for the Orthodoxa Christian who attends the temple regularly.
