Every Orthodox person knows that the life of a believer who regularly attends divine services is simply unthinkable without regular confession and communion. However, for people who have just set foot on the path of Orthodoxy, many rules seem complicated and incomprehensible. How to prepare for confession? What prayers to read before confession? Or maybe there are some canons?
Confession
Confession is one of the sacraments of the Orthodox Church. During confession, in a supernatural and incomprehensible way for the human mind, the forgiveness of sins occurs, in which a person confessed to a priest. Confession precedes Communion, another of the sacraments of the Church, one of the most important. Children under the age of 7 can receive Communion without confession, but adults are not allowed to receive Communion without confession.
What prayers to read before confession? In fact, there is no strict rule for reading any specific prayers just before confession, in contrast to Communion, where it is simply necessary to read prayers that prepare and set the person for this sacrament. Something else is important before confession. What exactly?
Requiredconditions for confession
In order for confession to really be what is expected of it, and not some random episode in a person's life, it should be approached consciously and seriously. Prayer before confession is necessary, just like prayer in general in the life of an Orthodox person. First of all, a person starting confession must be aware of his sins, repent of them and have a firm desire not to repeat them again.
It seems that everything does not sound so complicated, but sometimes it is very difficult to fulfill these three rules, rather than just read certain canons before confession. The reason for these difficulties lies in the fact that we have lost the Orthodox faith and several generations lived before us, no longer having faith, which had a detrimental effect on the spiritual life of an entire people. The spiritual life is incredibly difficult, which is why many people don't even try to start living it.
Consciousness of sin
If you ask any person, they will answer you: of course, prayers are needed before confession. Orthodoxy says that a believer needs prayer all the time, and not only in this case. A person whose gaze is fixed on God must compare any step with God's will, asking Him for blessings for any undertaking.
And before confession, you must, first of all, remember your sins and realize that they really are. Many people consciously or unconsciously do not consider this or that sin to be a sin. Some are simply not familiar with the Orthodoxdoctrine and do not even know that what they are doing is a sin. They think that prayer before confession is more than enough, and, having no doubt that they are right, they go to confession. Actually, this is not good. On the contrary, it is detrimental to the human soul. Such people simply turn into lawyers who think that an Orthodox prayer before confession will save them. However, we all know that the Lord Jesus Christ denounced the scribes and Pharisees, and the prudent thief, hanging not far from the crucified Savior, was the first to enter Paradise with Him, although he did not read a single special prayer. The only thing is that this thief realized his sin, and realizing it, repented of it.
Repentance
Repentance is the next stage necessary for confession to be made for the salvation of a person, and not for his destruction. Without repentance in general, the life of an Orthodox person cannot be called correct. The whole life of believers should be permeated with repentance. Every morning you need to wake up with repentance in your heart and fall asleep in the same way. Our salvation is impossible without repentance, and the prudent thief gave us an example of how repentance can save the soul of a person. But the life of this robber was very far from perfect! We do not know how many atrocities he committed, but most likely a lot, otherwise he would not have been subjected to such a terrible and shameful death.
Besides repentance, there must also be a desire not to repeat committed sins in the future. Any believer knows how deceitful his heart is, and thattrusting your feelings and thoughts is dangerous. Nevertheless, at the time of confession, there must be a strong desire not to repeat the sins committed, even if there is no clear certainty that they will not be repeated.
Prayer before confession is necessary because it sets a person in the right mood, as a musician does before performing a piece of music. In general, prayer is what a believer needs like air, and it does not matter whether it is before confession or after it. You need to pray the way you are used to, using the prayers that you use every day, for example, "Theotokos", "Our Father", "I Believe", prayers to the Guardian Angel, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Holy Communion
When confession is already behind, Communion awaits a person ahead. This is another one of the 7 Sacraments of the Orthodox Church, very important and necessary. During Communion, a person unites with Christ, the person’s body becomes His body, and the person’s blood becomes the blood of Christ. It is advisable to take communion regularly, because this sacrament helps a believer to cope with the temptations that are constantly encountered on the path of spiritual life.
Before Communion, it is necessary to read prayers and canons that are designed specifically to prepare for this holy sacrament. As a rule, these are the combined canons "To Jesus Christ" and the prayer canon "To the Guardian Angel and the Most Holy Theotokos". In any prayer book, you can easily find these prayers and prepare for Communion,carefully and thoughtfully reading them, thus setting the soul in the right way. It is advisable to read them not in one go, but in a few days, so that the preparation is more meaningful. Prayers before communion and confession do not accept fuss, just like the spiritual life itself, which fuss simply kills.
Conclusion
The life of an Orthodox believer is filled with prayer, with which he begins any business in his life. Prayer is needed always and everywhere, it serves as a guiding star and guides a person along the right path. This is communion with God, which is why it does not matter whether a prayer is read before confession or not. The main thing is the presence of prayer itself, which is a kind of indicator indicating whether everything is normal in a person’s spiritual life. If prayer appears rarely and in extreme cases, then there is reason to wonder why this happens. And again there is a reason to repent!
