A visit to the temple has a beneficial effect on a person, even if he simply stood before the icons, without waiting for the start of the service. Having once felt a blessed state reigning in the soul after the church, a person seeks to experience it again.
Accordingly, he begins not only to enter the temple in passing, but quite consciously attends services. Over time, a feeling or understanding of the need for confession comes.
What is confession?
As a rule, people remember and ponder their own sins before confession, without thinking about what it is. This is not a completely correct position, since it leads to a simple enumeration of unseemly acts, and not to an understanding of why they need to be told about 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 to repeat any unseemly act in life and, of course, a feeling of shame for what has already been done. Of course, confession cannot be perfect, but its task is not this, but to facilitate the experience of the sinner, to give him the strength to live on.
There is no doubt that the list of sins, compiled by many believers before the confession, who are afraid to forget to mention any wrongdoing, 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 the committed sins and forgiveness of them by the priest, that is, granting a person forgiveness from above. In other words, confession is an external rite or ritual, as opposed to repentance.
Repentance is denoted by the term "metanoia". This is not an external, but an internal rite, personal, characteristic of the soul of every person. Confession of sins before the sacrament without repentance is a simple fiction, a kind of administrative procedure âfor showâ. Repentance contains the whole essence of the sacrament of confession, it is the motive for participating in it.
Repentance is a state of cardinally changing consciousness in relation to any actions, thoughts, phenomena or actions. That is, this is a change in the perception of the perfect that happened in the minds of a particular person, a kind of âspiritual revolutionâ. This change is accompanied by the deepest repentance of what has already been done, by the firm intention to never repeat this action and by the realization of its unacceptability, antithesis. There is also a spiritual need to share your own emotional state, to be forgiven for something. In former times, people often made vows, imposed restrictions on themselves as a sign of repentance. Convinced of the need to reinforce repentance and earn forgiveness, they committed charitable deeds or suffered hardships. In deprivations, as a rule, repentance was carried out by priests.
It is understood that a person who has come to confession has already experienced inner repentance and needs the relief of his soul, the remission of sins. It is worth considering this, compiling a reminder list of sins before confession. There is no need to include in it that which does not cause internal disgust or the desire to cry, intentions to never repeat. In other words, one does not need to tell the clergyman in detail about what are ordinary trifles and do not cause mental confusion. Sin should at least disturb the person 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 first Christians did not compile a list of sins before confession, either as a reminder or for any other purpose. And the sacrament itself was carried out quite differently from what is happening now.
Confession in early Christianity was very reminiscent of a session of group psychotherapy. Believers did not retire with the priest. They simply sat in a circle and publicly repented in turn for their sins. All those present prayed for the repentant, sharing with him the burden of sin and asking for forgiveness from the Lord for him.
A similar tradition of confession lasted until the fifth century. However, the first changes in the order of the sacrament were made earlier than the fifth century. For example, in the IV century, secluded confessions were introduced, which were visited by infidels to their wives. Subsequently, civil servants began to use the right of seclusion, as they feared the disclosure of important secrets, which were mentioned during the confession.
The order of the ritual that believers are facing today arose in the 17th century. However, some church leaders and priests believed that public confession was more effective. Its usefulness, in particular, was spoken by John of Kronstadt.
What is sin?
What should confession be dedicated to? Sins before God are not equal, because it is not without reason that âmortalâ transgressions and violations of the commandments are singled out in church teachings. To understand what to talk about and what you should not 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", "fault", "going beyond the permissible." Understanding sin in Christianity is similar to the meaning of the word.
Sin is a perfect or conceived action that runs counter to righteousness, moral and ethical standards, spiritual traditions and rules. Certainly, violation of God's commandments is a sin.
Particularly noteworthy are sins not committed, but pondered. That is, people can transgress God's laws not only in reality, but also in their thoughts. Priests consider such thoughts extremely dangerous. Once a flashed thought is able to get stuck in the head, turn into an obsessive desire and lead a person to the fall.
It is also considered a sin and a deliberate opposition to the will of the Lord, unwillingness to follow his commandments, blasphemy and other similar thoughts or actions. Of course, the sins falling under the concept of âmortalsâ should lead the list of sins compiled by a believer before confession.
What is included in mortal sins?
These are the main, so to speak, cornerstones of vices, giving rise to a whole string of unseemly acts and leading the soul of a Christian to perdition.
There are only seven of them, and it is from them that confession should be begun before the sacrament. The list of sins:
- greed;
- vanity or exorbitant pride;
- envy;
- lust;
- anger;
- gluttony;
- discouragement or laziness.
These are extremely dangerous conditions for the soul of a believer, and almost every person is subject to them several times a day. How to lighten the soul, what to repent of, what to tell the priest? What sins before confession do you need to remember? The questions are by no means idle, especially those people who have just begun to attend the temple of God. After listing the mortal sins, it should be remembered whether you have violated the commandments, and leave all other sins, not so serious, but still oppressive, to the end.
How are sins divided?
Practically any Christian, in answering such a question, will single out mortal sins, which must be remembered first before confession; also the believer will not forget about the violation of the commandments. Many will divide sins into perfect in reality and flickering in thoughts.
Churchmen divide sins into two large groups, in accordance with their nature:
Personal - this is misconduct directed against norms and rules, traditions of life, violation of commandments and actions that are not combined with morality and conscience. Original sins do not depend on the will of man, these are acts committed due to the weakness of his physical nature. A kind of consequence of the first fall committed by Adam.
How to make a list? What to talk about?
Exclusively for himself, as a memo, the believer writes down sins before confession. The Orthodox list, like the Catholic one, is more convenient to compose in the order in which it will be announced.
First, mortal sins should be recorded. Often people do not quite understand its nature and are sincerely mistaken, believing that they have not done anything like that. In fact, these basic vices lie in wait for people everywhere, and, as already mentioned, every day people succumb to them more than once. For example, someone squeezed a leg in a transport, and a man in response very loudly and rudely cursed. This is anger. Sin? Sin! At work, someone came in a new and beautiful dress, and the desire to purchase the same or the best pursued all day, making it difficult to concentrate? Gnawed gradually? This is envy.
The list of examples goes on and on. The danger of mortal sin lies precisely in the fact that it is often not given importance. Such a sin disguises itself as ordinary and slowly corrodes a personâs soul.
Of course, there is no need to describe in detail each situation in which a person has flared up, envied, got angry, overeaten 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 clergymen 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 go on to violate the commandments (if any) and record the sins that fall under this action. Before confession, it makes sense to refresh the notion of âcommandmentâ. And it is important not to confuse mortal sins with him. For example, the commandment âDo not desire your neighborâs wife,â which in its entirety includes a reference to fields, slaves, and livestock, is more relevant today than ever before. People often wish to receive property, real estate, and other workers. 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 you write sins before confession, they need to be analyzed, to understand the essence. This is extremely important not only for the priest (he will accept the confession in any form, if he is sure of the repentance of the Christian), but for the believer, because without the recognition 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 commandments, including sinful thoughts, you need to record other misconduct and feelings that do not give a person peace. For example, a believer is worried that he too rarely attends church. It is necessary to mention this, because anxiety is the first signal of the soul that something is going wrong.
Of course, you donât need to talk about everything in a row, for example, about dissatisfaction with bad weather or the situation in the world, in the political sphere. Concluding the confession, they recall only that it does not seem to fall under the concept of sin, but torments a person and does not give him rest.
What is such a list for?
Having dealt with the question of how to correctly write your sins before confession, many think about why this should be done at all. Indeed, clergymen do not expect any notes from believers before the previous Communion. Accordingly, how to write sins before confession and whether to fix them on paper in general is a personal matter of each parishioner.
However, compiling a list is not only a memo. That is, you should not perceive it in the same way as the list of necessary purchases compiled before visiting the store. Such a list is a kind of brief confession preceding the church sacrament. Before the sacrament, the list of sins pre-recorded will certainly come in handy, but the main point of the action is not a reminder.
When compiling a list, a Christian recalls his misconduct, recognizes vices. That is, such recordings help to focus, to look at your life differently, as if to behold yourself from the side. In other words, this is part of the spiritual work on oneself that should not be neglected.
When is confession obligatory for the Orthodox?
According to Russian Orthodox traditions, it is obligatory for the laity to confess sins before the sacrament. However, not all Orthodox churches have the same order. For example, in Serbian churches it is customary to receive communion every week, but to confess - according to personal need.
In addition, you need to confess on the eve of the sacraments, for example, the wedding or baptism of a child. It is necessary to do this before important or dangerous events - the operation, departure to the "hot" spots, childbirth and other things.
How to confess briefly?
Thinking over what sins are said in the confession before the sacrament, people always ask questions about how the ritual itself goes. After all, it is unlikely that during the church service you can retire with the priest and list in detail your offenses to him.
You can confess both during the service and at the time appointed by the priest. Of course, in the first case, the confession will be very short and not solitary (before the sacrament). What sins need to be listed on it? The same as in solitude. But you should not go into details, you just need to list those vices that a person indulged in, and those actions or thoughts that run counter to the commandments. The idea can be formulated as follows: "I was angry, envied, indulged in lust and gluttony in reality and in thoughts." That will be quite enough.
And remember: to dissemble, to conceal something before the priest is also a sin. Before confession, in the service, it happens that a person is full of determination, but as he approaches the priest, he begins to be shy. Do not do this. The priest is not a judge, he is only a mediator between parishioners and God.
How is the confession going?
The order of the sacrament of confession in church service in Orthodoxy includes the following main points:
- a man talks about sins and repents;
- the priest reads penance and permissive prayer or simply touches his shoulder, and pronounces the texts later, 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 the confession, since it is quite possible to get confused and feel uncomfortable due to the delay of other believers.
In a personal confession conducted outside the service, the order of the rite does not change, but includes additional nuances. The clergyman accepts confession before lectern. The head of the penitent is usually covered with epitrachilla, after which the clergyman reads a prayer and takes an interest in the name of the believer, then asks what he wants to confess. After this question, we should begin to talk about our sins. At the end of the confession, the priest gives instructions and reads a permissive prayer, which symbolizes the remission of sins.
How is the sacrament of confession in Catholicism organized?
In Catholicism, confession is required once a year. Of course, this is a confession obligatory for believers. If a need arises for spiritual purification, 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 barred or tightened fabric window that can be closed or opened. Thus, the priest cannot see the face of the confessed, however, as well as vice versa.
Confession begins with the conversion of the believer to the priest. They donât ask for the name of the parishioner, using the words âsonâ or âdaughterâ. The confession itself does not need a preliminary compilation of a list of sins or a specific order for their listing. She is more like a conversation or a monologue. Everything ends with absolution, before which the priest often obliges the believer to something, for example, to read Ave Maria tenfold.
The believer is the first to leave the booth. The priest spends a few minutes in it and only then leaves, unless, of course, another parishioner who wants to confess does not look into the confessional.
Confession is also possible outside the confessional, especially if it is needed by a regular parishioner, with whom the clergyman is personally acquainted.
The Secret of Confession
Most people - both believers and skeptics of religion - are familiar with the concept of âsecret confessionâ. As a rule, they understand him literally, believing that everything said to the priest will not extend beyond his ears.
For Catholics, this is true. On the lips of priests lies the "seal of silence." They are not entitled to not only retell or somehow use the information received in confession - they cannot be divulged the contents of ordinary spiritual conversations with believers. Of course, with regard to conversation, the rules are less stringent than the requirements for maintaining the confidentiality of confession. This tradition has existed since the beginning of the VI century, and its violation is punished very harshly, as a rule, by excommunication. In the Middle Ages, violation was punishable by life imprisonment in the monastery walls.
In Russian Orthodoxy, the concept of âsecret confessionâ is not so clear and categorical. Although the Orthodox priest is also not allowed to disclose the information received, this prohibition is far from valid in all cases.
For the first time, priests were told about the need to break the secret of confession during the reign of Peter the Great. In those years, the âSpiritual Regulationâ was issued, containing amendments to the ordinances of the sacraments described in the requisitions. Priests were instructed to disclose what they heard in confession if the information concerned:
- creating false miracles;
- state crimes;
- intent on the assassination of public servants, including the emperor.
According to the Orthodox Theological Encyclopedic Dictionary, published in 1913, the concept of secrecy did not extend to confession if it said it contained information about the danger to the state, the monarch or members of the imperial family.
Nowadays, according to the Code of Criminal Procedure, a priest should not be involved or interrogated as a witness about circumstances known to him from confession. However, the fact that the priest cannot be forced to tell about what he heard does not mean that he himself will not follow the âSpiritual Regulationâ if he considers it necessary.