A visit to the temple has a beneficial effect on a person, even if he just stood in front of the icons, without waiting for the start of the service. Having once felt the blissful state that reigns in the soul after the church, a person seeks to experience it again.
Accordingly, he begins not just to enter the temple in passing, but quite consciously attends services. With time comes the feeling or understanding of the need for confession.
What is confession?
As a rule, people remember and ponder their own sins before confession, without thinking about what it is. This is not an entirely correct position, since it leads to a simple enumeration of unseemly acts, and not to an understanding of why they need to be told and how to do it.
Confession is not only a listing of committed sins, it involves the repentance of a person in them. That is, a firm and unshakable decision never in my life to repeat any unseemly act and, of course, a sense of shame forwhat has already been done. Of course, confession cannot correct what has been done, but its task is not this, but to alleviate the feelings of the sinner, to give him the strength to live on.
Without a doubt, and the list of sins compiled before confession by many believers who are afraid to forget to mention any offense should not include everything.
What is the difference between confession and repentance?
Confession is a sacrament that includes repentance. This sacrament consists in the voluntary recognition of committed sins and their remission by the priest, that is, the granting of forgiveness to a person from above. In other words, confession is an external rite or ritual, in contrast to repentance.
Repentance is denoted by the term "metanoia". This is not an external, but an internal rite, personal, peculiar to the soul of each person. Confession of sins before communion without repentance is a mere fiction, a kind of administrative procedure "for show". Repentance contains the whole essence of the sacrament of confession, it is the motivating reason for participating in it.
Repentance is a state of radical change of consciousness in relation to any actions, thoughts, phenomena or deeds. That is, this is a change in the perception of the perfect, which happened in the mind of a particular person, a kind of "spiritual upheaval". This change is accompanied by the deepest repentance for what has already been done, a firm intention never to repeat this action and the realization of its unacceptability, opposition. There is also a spiritual need to share one's ownemotional state, to be forgiven for something. In the old days, people often made some kind of vows, imposed restrictions on themselves as a sign of repentance. Convinced of the need to reinforce repentance and earn forgiveness, they did pious deeds or suffered hardships. In deprivation, as a rule, repentance was carried out by the clergy.
It is understood that the person who came to confession has already experienced inner repentance and needs to ease his soul, forgiveness of sins. It is worth thinking about this when compiling a memo-list of sins before confession. There is no need to include in it that which does not cause internal disgust or desire to cry, the intention to never repeat. In other words, there is no need to tell the clergyman in detail about what are ordinary trifles and do not cause spiritual confusion. The transgression should at least disturb the one who confesses.
Thus, the sacrament of confession is an external manifestation of repentance and at the same time its logical conclusion.
How did the first Christians confess?
The early Christians did not make a list of sins before confession, either as a reminder or for any other purpose. And the sacrament itself was not carried out in the same way as it is happening now.
Confession in early Christianity was very reminiscent of a group psychotherapy session. Believers did not seclude themselves with the priest. They simply sat in a circle and publicly repented in turn of their sins. All those present offered prayers forpenitent, sharing with him the burden of sin and asking forgiveness from the Lord for him.
This tradition of confession lasted until the fifth century. However, the first changes in the order of the sacrament were made before the fifth century. For example, in the 4th century, solitary confessions were introduced, which were attended by wives who were unfaithful to their spouses. Subsequently, civil servants began to use the right of seclusion, as they were afraid of divulging important secrets that were mentioned during confession.
The order of the ceremony that believers face today originated in the 17th century. However, some church leaders and priests believed that public confession was more effective. John of Kronstadt, in particular, spoke about its usefulness.
What is sin?
What should confession be about? Sins before God are not equal, because it is not for nothing that “mortal” offenses, violations of the commandments stand out in church teachings. To figure out what to talk about and what not to include in your speech, you need to understand what sin is.
The word “sin” itself is very ancient, it means the following: “mistake”, “miss”, “not hitting the target”, “offense”, “going beyond what is permitted”. The understanding of sin in Christianity is similar to the meaning of the word.
Sin is a committed or intended action that goes against righteousness, moral and ethical standards, spiritual traditions and rules. Of course, breaking God's commandments is a sin.
Special attention should be paid to sins that are not committed, but are considered. Thatpeople can transgress God's laws not only in reality, but also in their thoughts. Priests consider such thoughts extremely dangerous. Once a flashing thought can get stuck in the head, turn into an obsessive desire and lead a person to sin.
It is also considered a sin to consciously resist the will of the Lord, unwillingness to follow his commandments, blasphemy and other similar thoughts or actions. Of course, the list of sins compiled by the believer before confession should be headed by sins that fall under the concept of “mortals.”
What are the deadly sins?
These are the main, so to speak, cornerstone vices that give rise to a whole string of unseemly acts and lead the soul of a Christian to death.
There are only seven of them, and it is with them that confession before communion should begin. List of sins:
- greed;
- vanity or exorbitant pride;
- envy;
- lust;
- anger;
- gluttony;
- despondency or laziness.
These are extremely dangerous conditions for the soul of a believer, and almost every person is exposed to them several times a day. How to lighten the soul, what to repent of, what to say to the priest? What sins must be remembered before confession? The questions are by no means idle, exciting especially those people who have just begun to visit the temple of God. After listing the mortal sins, you should remember if you have violated the commandments, and all other sins, not so serious, but still oppressivesoul, save for last.
How are transgressions divided?
Almost any Christian, when answering such a question, will highlight the mortal sins, which must be remembered first of all before confession; also the believer will not forget about breaking the commandments. Many will divide sins into those committed in reality and flickering in thoughts.
Churchmen divide sins into two large groups, according to their nature:
- personal;
- originals.
Personal - these are offenses directed against the norms and rules, traditions of the way of life, violation of the commandments and actions that are not combined with morality and conscience. Original sins do not depend on the will of a person, these are acts committed due to the weakness of his physical nature. A kind of consequence of Adam's first fall into sin.
How to make a list? What to talk about?
Exclusively for himself, as a reminder, the believer writes down the sins before confession. The Orthodox list, like the Catholic one, is more convenient to compile in the order in which it will be announced.
The deadly sins should be written down first. Often people do not quite understand its nature and are sincerely mistaken, believing that they have not done anything like this. In fact, these basic vices lie in wait for people everywhere, and, as already mentioned, a person succumbs to them more than once every day. For example, someone crushed his leg in transport, and the person in response cursed very loudly and rudely. This is anger. Sin? Sin! At work, someone came in a new and beautiful dress, and the desireto acquire the same or better haunted all day, making it difficult to concentrate? Gnawing bit by bit? This is envy.
The list of examples is endless. The danger of mortal sin lies precisely in the fact that it is often not given importance. Such a sin disguises itself as everyday life and slowly corrodes the soul of a person.
Of course, there is no need to describe in detail every situation in which a person flared up, envied, got angry, ate too much or did something else. It is enough for a believer to simply say that he feels anger, anger, envy, that he is visited by lustful fantasies, and so on. In the event that the priest deems it necessary to find out the details of the manifestation of mortal sin, he will ask questions. However, Orthodox clergy are not likened to psychotherapists, unlike Catholic ones, and there is no need to talk about life situations.
After completing the list of mortal vices, you need to move on to breaking the commandments (if any) and write down the sins that fall under this action. Before confession, it makes sense to refresh the concept of "commandment" in memory. And it is important not to confuse mortal sins with it. For example, the commandment “Thou sh alt not covet thy neighbor's wife”, which in its full version includes mention of fields, slaves, livestock, is more relevant today than ever before. People often want to get property, real estate, employees of others. But much more often they confuse the desire to take possession of someone else's property with envy of the one who possesses it.
Before writing sins beforeconfession, they need to be analyzed, to understand the essence. This is extremely important not so much for the priest (he will accept confession in any form if he is sure of the repentance of the Christian), but for the believer, because without the awareness of sin, understanding of its essence, there is no repentance. And repentance is a condition necessary for confession.
After completing the list of everything that falls under the violation of the commandments, including sinful thoughts, you need to write down other offenses and feelings that haunt a person. For example, a believer worries about attending church too infrequently. It should be mentioned, because anxiety is the first signal of the soul that something is going wrong.
Of course, you don't need to talk about everything, for example, about dissatisfaction with bad weather or the situation in the world, in the sphere of politics. At the end of the confession, they only remember what does not seem to fall under the concept of sin, but torments a person and does not give him peace.
What is this list for?
Having de alt with the question of how to write down their sins before confession, many are wondering why this should be done at all. Indeed, the clergy do not expect any notes from the faithful before the confession preceding Communion. Accordingly, how to write sins before confession and whether to record them on paper at all is a private matter for each parishioner.
However, making a list is not only a reminder. That is, you should not take it in the same way as a list of necessary purchases compiled before visiting the store. Such a list is a kind of preliminary church sacramentshort confession. Before communion, a list of sins, previously written down, will certainly come in handy, but the main point of the action is not a reminder.
When making a list, a Christian remembers his misdeeds, realizes his vices. That is, such records help to focus, to look at your life differently, as if to see yourself from the outside. In other words, this is a part of spiritual work on oneself, which should not be neglected.
When is confession obligatory for the Orthodox?
According to Russian Orthodox traditions, confession of sins is obligatory for the laity before communion. However, not all orthodox churches have the same order. For example, in Serbian churches it is customary to take communion every week, but confession is done according to personal needs.
In addition, you need to confess on the eve of the sacraments, for example, a wedding or baptism of a child. You need to do this before important or dangerous events - an operation, departure to "hot" spots, childbirth, and so on.
How to confess briefly?
Thinking about what sins are said at confession before communion, people invariably ask questions about how the rite itself goes. After all, it is hardly possible during a church service to retire with a priest and list your misdeeds in detail.
You can confess both during the service and at the hour appointed by the priest. Of course, in the first case there will be a very short and not solitary confession (before communion). What sins should be listed on it? The same as in seclusion. Butone should not go into details, one should simply list those vices to which a person indulged, and those actions or thoughts that go against the commandments. The thought can be formulated as follows: “I was angry, envied, indulged in lust and gluttony in reality and in my thoughts.” This will be enough.
And remember: to dissemble, to conceal something in front of a priest is also a sin. Before confession, at the service, it happens that a person is full of determination, but when he approaches the priest, he begins to be shy. Do not do this. The priest is not a judge, he is only an intermediary between parishioners and God.
How is confession going?
The procedure for performing the sacrament of confession in a church service in Orthodoxy includes the following main points:
- a person talks about sins and repents;
- priest reads penance and permissive prayer, or simply touches his shoulder, and then pronounces the texts, for all those gathered at the same time.
Those who participate in the sacrament for the first time will need a memo in which sins were recorded before confession, since it is quite possible to get confused and feel uncomfortable due to the delay of other believers.
In case of a personal confession conducted outside of worship, the order of the ceremony does not change, but includes additional nuances. The clergyman takes confession before the lectern. The head of the penitent is usually covered with an epitrachelion, after which the clergyman reads a prayer and is interested in the name of the believer, then asks what he wants to confess. After this question, you should start talking about yoursins. At the end of confession, the priest pronounces instructions and reads a permissive prayer, which symbolizes the remission of sins.
How is the sacrament of confession organized in Catholicism?
In Catholicism, confession is required once a year. Of course, we are talking about mandatory confession for believers. If there is a need for spiritual cleansing, you can confess at any time and as many times as you like.
The confession itself is very private. The believer enters a booth called a confessional. It is divided into two parts, in one there is a parishioner, in the other a priest. These compartments are separated by a partition with a window barred or covered with fabric, which can be closed or opened. Thus, the priest cannot see the face of the confessing person, however, as well as vice versa.
Confession begins with the address of the believer to the priest. The name of the parishioner is not asked, referring to the words "son" or "daughter". Confession itself does not require a preliminary compilation of a list of sins or a specific order in which they are listed. It is more like a conversation or a monologue. It all ends with the absolution of sins, before which the priest often obliges the believer to do something, for example, to read Ave Maria ten times.
The believer leaves the booth first. The priest spends several minutes in it and only then leaves, unless, of course, another parishioner looks into the confessional who wants to confess.
Confession is possible outside the walls of the confessional, especially if it is neededa regular parishioner with whom the clergyman knows personally.
On the mystery of confession
Most people - both believers and skeptics of religion - are familiar with the concept of "secret confession". As a rule, he is taken literally, believing that everything said to the priest will not spread beyond his ears.
For Catholics, this is true. On the lips of the priests lies the "seal of silence." Not only do they not have the right to retell or somehow use the information received at confession, they are also not allowed to divulge the content of ordinary spiritual conversations with believers. Of course, with regard to the conversation, the rules are less stringent than the requirements for maintaining the secrecy of confession. This tradition has existed since the beginning of the 6th century, and its violation is punished very severely, as a rule, by excommunication. In the Middle Ages, violation was punishable by life imprisonment within the walls of the monastery.
In Russian Orthodoxy, the concept of "mystery of confession" is not so unambiguous and categorical. Although an Orthodox priest is also not allowed to disclose the information received, this prohibition is far from being valid in all cases.
For the first time the priests were told about the need to violate the secrecy of confession during the reign of Peter the Great. In those years, the "Spiritual Regulations" were issued, containing amendments to the rites of the sacraments described in the breviaries. Priests were instructed to divulge what they heard in confession if the information concerned:
- creating false miracles;
- state crimes;
- intent to assassinate government officials, including the emperor.
According to the Orthodox Theological Encyclopedic Dictionary, published in 1913, the concept of a secret did not apply to confession if what was said in it contained information about a danger to the state, the monarch or members of the imperial family.
Today, according to the Code of Criminal Procedure, a priest cannot be called or interrogated as a witness about circumstances known to him from a confession. However, the fact that a priest cannot be forced to tell about what he has heard does not mean at all that he himself will not follow the “Spiritual Regulations” if he deems it necessary.
