What is repentance. What is repentance and why is confession needed? Why does a person need confession? What does she give

The word of Greek origin "repentance" is inextricably included in the concept of Christianity. Repentance is a sigh for sins and an indispensable desire not to commit them again, such a certain state of the soul, to which sincere prayer, contrition and subsequent joy are added. But without awareness of the sinfulness of human nature, it is impossible to bring the true leads to the need to understand what sin is.

Christian perception of sin

Many holy ascetics repeatedly described the essence of sin, trying to explain its nature and give a specific definition. Obviously, sin is a deviation from the commandments given by God. Of course, sin is a voluntary choice, regardless of the circumstances in which it is committed, because being absolutely free in action from birth, a person can refrain from evil and vice or, conversely, succumb to his heart, creating a spiritual illness. It will grow and cover the whole soul, subduing through a certain passion, bad habit or inclination of the whole person, thereby moving away from God.

There is an erroneous approach to the spiritual side of life, in which the formal observance of certain commandments is carried out, which are considered only as strict rules. And if the external manifestation of such a life may seem pious and based on serious moral piles, then a deep analysis shows the presence of great pride, narcissism, vanity, lack of faith and other "hidden" vices.

In other words, a person may not lie, not be rude, not steal, be always deliberately kind and sympathetic, regularly attend worship services and observe fasts, but have contempt, hatred in his soul and, most importantly, there may not be room for love in him.

Conventionally, sins can be divided into several types: against God, against neighbor and against oneself.

Sins against God

The opinion often arises that any sin is a confrontation with God, but for all the irrefutability of this statement, one should distinguish between special deviations that directly affect the Divine essence.

These are lack of faith, superstition and lack of faith. Sometimes there is a formal visit to the temple, without fear or as a kind of ritual, which is also unacceptable in Christianity. grumbling, broken vows, vows taken in haste, defiled icons, relics, books of Holy Scripture, crosses and prosphora - all such actions can occur quite by accident, but should lead to the thought of repentance.

This is also important for those parishioners of churches who conduct secular conversations during services, make jokes and burst into loud laughter, are late for services and leave it before the end without good reason. It is unacceptable to intentionally hide sins by performing the sacrament of repentance, because in this case the sin remains not only unrepentant, but also multiplies additional ones. Direct apostasy can be considered an appeal to various psychics and similar people, a passion for witchcraft, magic and adherence to sectarian creeds.

Sins against neighbor

One of the main commandments is to love your neighbor. Not only relatives and close friends are meant by the call to “love,” the Lord means any person, even an enemy, for whom a true Christian must find the strength to say a prayer. IN modern world It is extremely difficult for people to forgive, not to gloat and not to condemn. Each person is under enormous pressure from the streams of incessant negative information, shaken moral guidelines, among which there is sometimes a place for the most obscene and disgusting things. A person is constantly in tension and in stressful situations, at work, at home, on the road.

It is not easy to resist the realities, the majority hardens, allowing the heart to cool. Ridicule, insults, assault, indifference to other people's sorrows and troubles, greed and complete unwillingness to share with those in need have become a habit; such sins are committed daily by many Christians and have taken root so much that they are often no longer noticed. Increasingly, people put on a mask of hypocrisy and flattery, resort to self-interest, lies and slander, deceit and envy, such negative qualities are encouraged today and are considered indispensable inclinations of a leader. You can also note a very painful sin, it is the voluntary termination of pregnancy - abortion.

Sins against oneself

Cultivating exorbitant love for oneself, a person encourages a very insidious sin - pride. Pride itself is a combination of other vices, vanity, despair, despondency, arrogance. The soul, drawn into such vices and qualities, is destroyed from within.

Pushing aside the real ones, overwhelmed by endless pleasures and hobbies, she quickly gets fed up and tries to find something more. Often, in search of additional pleasures, a person finds attachment to drugs or alcohol. Constant idleness, laziness and anxiety only about bodily comfort completely weaken the moral principles, unnecessarily liberate and create a feeling of the dominance of the body over the soul.

Repentance preached to many enables its followers to bring true repentance. The souls of people, weighed down by bad deeds and vices, need such spiritual, intangible help. The service of this sacrament begins with the removal of the Cross and the Gospel and putting them on the lectern.

The priest pronounces prayers and troparia, which set people preparing to confession in a certain, very subtle way. Then the confessor approaches the priest, a personal confession takes place, which is an absolute secret, its disclosure is unacceptable.

The priest can ask questions or say words of parting words, then he covers the head of the confessor with an epitrachelion and, after reading the permissive prayer, overshadows. Next, the parishioner kisses the Cross and the Gospel. It should be noted that repentance is an important step towards Communion, which is allowed without confession only in strictly defined cases. In each specific situation, the decision is made by the priest and takes full responsibility.

The archimandrite compared a non-repentant person with one who does not wash off the material dirt from the body for a long time. Repentance is the basis of spiritual life, a kind of instrument with the help of which purification of the soul is achieved, its tranquility. Without it, it is impossible to feel the nearness of God and to eradicate sinful traits and inclinations. Healing is a long and hard way. There is never too much repentance, because a person always has something to repent of, having carefully peered into himself, without self-justification and other inherent “tricks”, he is able to discern the impartial corners of his soul and bring them to confession.

But, unfortunately, it is not uncommon for a formal enumeration of sins in the complete absence of repentance and repentance.

Such an attitude cannot bring relief to a person. Without experiencing shame and pain, measuring the depth of the fall, leaving sin, and even more so its forgiveness, is impossible. It is very important to firmly decide for yourself to fight, eradicating vices and moral "holes" one by one. Repentance should bring change, it is designed to change the worldview and worldview.

The connection between fasting and repentance

Fasting is the most suitable time for analyzing your own sins and spiritual shortcomings. Repentance for sins and fasting pose the same task for a Christian - cleansing the soul and changing it for the better. Both of these concepts should be considered as a kind of weapon that can be used to confront one's own passions. Fasting calls for bodily and spiritual abstinence, this is the time for sincere prayer, a deep analysis of one's spiritual canvas, reading instructive books and writings. The time of fasting can be imagined as a small feat, each believer goes through it on a very individual path, with a completely different emotional and psychological background and mental attitude.

Discretion and understanding are extremely important, that the main thing is not the rejection of a certain type of food, going to the cinema and other worldly amusements, but spiritual meekness, looking only at the inner self, rejection of condemnation, cruelty, rudeness. When a person is immersed in relative "silence" for several weeks, moving away from the "world" as much as possible, he gets time to come closer to the realization of sin and use this understanding for true repentance.

Repentance in Orthodoxy

An Orthodox Christian repents solely of his own free will. His personality is aware of the sinfulness of nature, his conscience convicts evil deeds and thoughts, but there is hope for the mercy of God in him, he repents not as a criminal who is afraid only of punishment, but sincerely as a son from his father. It is how the Father should be perceived that God is taught by the Orthodox Church and Orthodox repentance, although very often the attitude and feeling of God stop at seeing in Him a strict and harsh punishing judge. And in view of such an incorrect approach, repentance occurs only because of the fear of a terrible retribution, while repentance should come from love for God and the desire to approach him in a more righteous way of life.

Conclusion

Repentance is undoubtedly a religious concept. But many interpret this species internal purification and spiritual self-development as a kind of ability to bring purely personal secrets on display, to suppress oneself and humiliate oneself. It should be understood that repentance in itself is in full accordance with human nature, because nature has been damaged and now needs regular healing.

Dictionary Ushakov

Repentance

repentance, repentance, cf.

1. Voluntary confession in a committed misconduct, in one's mistake ( books.).

2. Confession, confession by a believer of his sins before a priest ( church).

3. The punishment imposed by the pre-revolutionary court for certain crimes consisted of forced and controlled prayer ( dorev.). Sentence to church repentance.

Release the soul to repentance ( unfold joke.) - leave someone alone, stop pestering someone, stop pestering someone.

Catholic Encyclopedia

Repentance

In the sacrament of Repentance (or Reconciliation), a Christian who sincerely repents of his sins receives forgiveness of sins from God through the Church, thereby reconciling himself with God and with the Mystical Body of Christ - the Church, from which every grave sin excommunicates the believer.

One of the important requirements of repentance is the recognition, confession of one's sins. Therefore, an essential element of church repentance is confession - confession by the penitent of his sins before the face of God in the presence of a priest: the believer confesses to God, and the priest is only a witness to his confession (this action of the priest is said to "accept confession", "to confess"). A priest who accepts confession is called a confessor (a priest to whom a believer constantly confesses is called a confessor; he can also be called a spiritual father, or spiritual mentor - especially in those cases when he really does mentoring; a spiritual father, or spiritual mentor is also called permanent confessor in a monastery or seminary). A believer who proceeds to the sacrament of Repentance (performs repentance in the Church) is called a penitent, or a confessor. It is none other than God Himself who forgives the penitent's sins, but the priest, by the authority given to him by Christ through the apostles, gives the penitent permission [from] sins, or remission of sins. At the same time, he pronounces a permissive prayer over the penitent, which is a sacramental formula of the sacrament of Repentance: “God, the Father of mercy, by the death and resurrection of His Son, reconciled the world to Himself and sent down the Holy Spirit for the remission of sins, through His Church, may He grant you forgiveness and peace. And I forgive you your sins in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen."

Another important element of the sacrament of Repentance is penance - the actions of "satisfaction" offered by the priest to the penitent in the form of prayers, deeds of piety or mercy (the priest assigns penance, and the penitent must perform penance).

Recently, special penitential services are often organized for believers, which are also called liturgies of repentance. IN emergency situations, especially in cases of a threat to the lives of many people, the communal celebration of the sacrament of Reconciliation is allowed, with a common confession (when penitents do not confess their sins to a priest, but only repent of them in their souls) and a common absolution.

Pedagogical terminological dictionary

Repentance

confession of wrongdoing, confession of sins and aversion from them. The ancient Greeks have the concept of "P." meant remorse for certain actions. In Holy Scripture, it acquires a purely religious and moral meaning. The call to P. begins the preaching work of Christ. P. assumes not just the acquisition by a person of new goals and motives, but the entry into such a relationship with God that is no longer in conflict with his will; thus, P. becomes the basis of the moral and religious revival of man. P. implies not only refraining from evil, but also doing good, love as faith in God, hope for forgiveness. Unlike repentance, which also means the recognition of one's sins, P. contains important point their practical overcoming. P. and faith are two sides of the inseparable act of turning a person to Christ. If in the state of the fall a person puts himself at the center of being, then in repentant faith he, on the contrary, strives to serve only God - this is the essence of the religious meaning of P. - one of the seven Christian sacraments. P. finds a natural expression in confession. The result of P. is the free overcoming of sin and the appeal to virtue - this is the moral self-determination of man.

(Bim-Bad B.M. Pedagogical encyclopedic Dictionary. - M., 2002. S. 203-204)

Bible encyclopedia arch. Nicephorus

Repentance

(Mk 1:4,5, 2 Cor 7:10) - there is a sacrament in which a believer, when confessing his sins orally before a priest, receives through him an invisible resolution of sins from Jesus Christ himself. Repentance was partly in the Old Testament Church. Those who sacrificed for their sins according to the law of Moses repented of them before God and received their cleansing. Likewise, those who came to John the Baptist for baptism first confessed their sins to him. But, as a sacrament of the New Testament Church, repentance was established by Jesus Christ himself. First, He promised the apostles to grant the power to forgive sins: “whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Mt 18:18). After His resurrection, He actually gave them this power when He said: “Receive the Holy Spirit: to whom you forgive sins, they will be forgiven; on whom you leave, on him they will remain" (Jn 20:22-23). From the penitent is required: sincere contrition for sins and their oral confession, a firm intention to correct their lives, faith in Christ and confidence in His mercy. In addition, as a preparation for repentance, fasting and prayer are necessary, which can dispose the penitent to repentance for sins and to confidence in God's mercy. True penitents can receive permission for all their sins, because there is no such sin that would exceed the mercy of God. If, however, sins against the Holy Spirit (stubborn denial of obvious manifestations of Divine power, extreme hardness of heart and despair) are recognized as unforgivable, then it is not due to a lack of God’s mercy, but because people who fall into them themselves, due to their hardness and stubbornness, are not able to turn to God with repentance for them.

Orthodoxy. Dictionary-reference

Dictionary of forgotten and difficult words of the 18th-19th centuries

Repentance

, I , cf.

Voluntary confession of a committed misconduct, a mistake; confession before a priest.

* [Katerina:] Die me without repentance. // Ostrovsky. Storm // *

◘ RELEASE THE SOUL FOR REPENTANCE.

Encyclopedia of Judaism

Repentance

(Viduy)

Interceding for Israel before the Lord, the prophet Shmuel said to Him: "Almighty, you do not condemn a person until he says to You:" I am sinless "[if he does not confess his sin]." And it is said (Jer. 11:35): "Behold, I condemn you for what you said: I am sinless." The Midrash* interprets the verse "Death and life in the power of the tongue" as follows: a man's tongue brings him to life in the world to come. Why was David worthy of life in the world to come? - For what he said: "I am a sinner."

The Torah obliges the sinner to leave the path of sin and repent of sins before the Lord, and it is said: "A man or woman who has committed any of the sins of men, [...] let him repent of his sin ..." (Num. V, . -7).

There is no "canonical" text P in the Torah. Everyone finds suitable words for himself. However, in the midrashim of the halacha* we already find the formulas of P. The brief formula: "I sinned, I violated, I transgressed" is obviously the most ancient. She served as the beginning of the P. High Priest in the Temple on Yom Kippur*. And so the high priest said: "Have mercy, Lord, I have sinned, violated, transgressed before You, I and my house; have mercy, Lord, forgive the sins, violations and crimes committed before You by me and my house." There is also a later version of the text. P. Amoraim* introduced new formulas of repentance, some of which have become part of our traditions. P. Rava *, beginning with the words: "You know the secrets of the world" and "But we have sinned", have been completely preserved. There is a special text P., which is pronounced by the patient at death.

Bible Dictionary to the Russian Canonical Bible

Repentance

repentance - awareness of one's sinfulness, the experience associated with such awareness. This is not only regret about transgressions, about everything untrue in one's life, in oneself, but something more - condemnation of all this and moving away from it (2 Corinthians 7:10). Repentance cannot be without conversion (Acts 26:20), trust in God and striving to bear good fruit (Mat. 3:8). The righteous have no need for repentance (Luke 15:7) (but are there any righteous on earth?). Repentance is a gift of God (Acts 5:31; Acts 11:18; 2 Tim. 2:25). ( cm. )

Orthodox Encyclopedic Dictionary

Repentance

one of the seven Christian sacraments established by Jesus Christ Himself. In it, the one who confesses to the Lord (with the testimony of the priest and when the priest reads the appropriate prayers) receives from Jesus Christ Himself the forgiveness of confessed sins. For the effectiveness of the sacrament, sincere heartfelt repentance and a firm intention to improve, faith in the Lord and hope in His mercy are necessary (See also).

Culture of speech communication: Ethics. Pragmatics. Psychology

Repentance

voluntary confession of a wrongdoing. positive phenomenon. Repentance must be sincere, come from internal spiritual and moral considerations, and not forced by practical considerations, in the latter case it is assessed negatively by people.

* Wed Raskolnikov's repentance in the novel "Crime and Punishment" by F. Dostoevsky. *

Bible: Topical Dictionary

Repentance

♦ sorrow from a perfect sin and turning to God

A. Topics in the Bible

REPENTANCE as a theme:

♦ Joel:

♦ Zechariah:

B. The commandment to repent

♦ God calls all people to repent:

Jer 18:11; Ezekiel 18:30–32; Acts 17:30; 2 Pet 3:9

♦ Christ calls people to repent:

Mark 1:14,15; Luke 13:1-5; Rev 2:5,16; Rev 3:3

♦ John the Baptist called the people to repentance:

♦ The apostles called the people to repentance:

Mark 6:12; Acts 2:38; Acts 3:19,20; Acts 26:20

♦ The call must still sound today:

IN. Essential Aspects of Repentance

♦ acknowledging that we are lost in sin:

♦ sorrow from sin:

Luke 5:32; Acts 2:37,38; Acts 8:22; 2 Corinthians 7:9,10

♦ return to the Father:

♦ faith in Jesus Christ:

Mark 1:15; Acts 20:21; Rev 3:19,20

♦ good deeds:

Jer 18:11,12; Mt 3:8; Acts 26:20; Rev 2:4,5

G. Results of repentance

♦ disaster prevention:

♦ forgiveness:

1 Kings 8:46-50; Acts 2:38

♦ the rescue:

♦ new heart and new spirit:

♦ knowledge of the truth:

♦ immortal life:

♦ regret without repentance brings death:

Mt 27:3-5; 2 Corinthians 7:10

Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms

Repentance

/ Remorse

♦ (ENG repentance)

(other Hebrew Shub, Greek metanoia, lat. poenitentia)

an act of sincere repentance sin. The linguistic roots of this term point to its theological meaning: a change in the direction of mind and life as an initial step in the expression of Christian faith(Acts 26:20).

Ozhegov's dictionary

BYE I NIE, I, cf.

1. Voluntary confession in a committed misconduct, in a mistake (book). Bring p.

2. Same as (in 1 digit). Church p. P. in sins.

Release the soul to repentance(colloquial jest.) leave the cogon. at rest, stop pestering chemn.

Dictionary of Efremova

Repentance

1. cf.
   1. :
      1. Voluntary confession of wrongdoing.
      2. Admitting one's guilt in smth., smth. errors.
   2. Confession of one's sins before a priest; confession.
   3. unfold Remorse for smth.

Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron

Repentance

One of the seven Christian sacraments, established by J. Christ himself (John XX, 21-23: Matt. XVI, 19; XVlII, 17-18). In it, according to Orthodox teaching, one who verbally confesses his sins before a priest, with a visible expression of forgiveness from him, is invisibly resolved from all sins by Jesus Christ himself, so that he again becomes innocent and sanctified, as after baptism. For the sacrament to be effective, sincere heartfelt repentance and a firm intention to improve one's life are necessary, faith in Jesus Christ and hope for his mercy, an oral statement of sins before the priest and the priest's permission, also oral, according to the well-known formula ("The Order" of confession is printed in the "Trebnik" , as well as separately). IN Old Testament P. at first consisted of external cleansing rites, fasting, etc.; later the prophets exalted the concept of P. and demanded, in addition to external purifications and sacrifices, a contrite and humble heart to God (Psalm LI, 19) and a change of life for the better (Isaiah I, 16-17; Ezekiel XXXIII, 14-15). The gospel understands P. not just as repentance, but also as a rebirth, a complete change (μετανοία) of the being. In apostolic times, two types of P. are designated: secret, before the priest, and open, public, before the whole church community (Acts XIX, 58; James V, 16). In the II and III centuries. Irenaeus, Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and Cyprian speak of the existence of public P.. In the III century. P. was regulated in detail for the so-called fallen (lapsi), that is, those who renounced Christ during the persecution, but then returned to the church again. For them, four degrees of P. were determined (according to some scientists, three or five): crying (προσκλαίωντες), listening (άκροώμενοι), falling (προσπιπτοντες, ύποπίπτοντες) and upcoming, or standing together (συν ισταμενοι). The "weeping ones", kneeling in the outer vestibule of the church, asked those entering the temple to pray for them and intercede for a speedy acceptance into the church; the "hearers" stood in the inner porch of the temple, in front of the catechumens, and together with them they left the temple; the "crouching" stood in the temple itself, at the entrance, in front of the widows and elders; upon the exit of the "hearers" they "fell down" on their faces, confessed their sin and then left the temple; the “upcoming” occupied a place in the church on the left in front and differed from the faithful only in that they could neither make offerings to the church nor partake of St. mystery. Public P. in the ancient church was subjected not only to lapsi, but also to those who fell into heresy and especially grave sins. The term of public P. was sometimes very long: P. of the fallen continued according to the rules of Peter of Alexandria for 4 years, according to the rules of the Ancyra Council - 6 years, according to the rules of the First Ecumenical Council - 20 years. At the request and insistence of the civil authorities, the term of public P. was sometimes reduced; sometimes such a reduction was made at the discretion of the church itself. There were cases of voluntary public P., as a special kind of asceticism of the pious, out of humility, and not out of real guilt. The sins that were cleansed by public P. by the court of the church were: sacrilege, murder, fornication, incest, lèse majesté, and making counterfeit coins. Since confession before everyone presented some inconvenience, then from the middle of the 3rd century. in the churches, a special rank of priest-confessor was established (πρεσβιτερος επί της μετανοίας, poenitentiarius), who listened in private. confession subject to public repentance; but this institution was soon abolished, and after that public P. ceased to exist in the East (about 400). In the West, it stopped no earlier than the 7th century. His place is taken by intensified prayers, special deeds of charity and other feats of piety performed under the supervision and guidance of the presbyter, and in extreme cases - excommunication from communion for one or another period (see "Confession of Faith of the Eastern Church" by Mitrofan Krytopul and "Answer of Patriarch Jeremiah Lutherans" on the Augsburg Confession). The IVth Lateran Council determined that all those who came "at a reasonable age" should certainly proceed to the sacrament of P. once a year, under the threat of excommunication and deprivation of a Christian burial. This definition was confirmed by the Council of Trient, which ordered the same for the priests. In the XII century. in the West, oral confession with a list of sins was not considered by everyone necessary to receive forgiveness; some recognized as sufficient one inner repentance. Richard of St. Victor taught that the priest could release from the punishment of sin, but not from guilt; Thomas Aquinas - that the priest cannot free from sins, but can free from guilt and punishment. The Cafarians and the Waldensians rejected oral confession. From the 12th century the former formula of permission: "misereatur tui omnipotens Deus et dimitiat tibi omnia peccata tua, et perducet te in vitam aeternam" is replaced by the words of the priest: "ego absolvo te". Luther at first kept P. among the sacraments, retaining both oral confession (although he did not consider it necessary to have a complete list of sins for those confessing), and the permission of the pastor for those preparing for communion (Augsburg confession II, 12, 25), but then recognized the permission of the pastor not necessary, seeing the essence of P. in true repentance and sorrow for sin. In the course of time, the oral confession of sins went out of the custom among the Lutherans; later efforts to restore it were unsuccessful. At present, in orthodox Lutheranism, there is only a general public P. and a general resolution taught by the pastor. In the church, the Reformed oral confession does not exist at all; according to her teaching, it is necessary to confess only to God, no matter whether it is a common confession or individually, in the temple. It is also allowed to confess to one of your relatives or to a pastor in order to hear from them instruction or consolation (Confessio Helvet. , 1.14); Today, however, such confession is not practiced. In the Orthodox Church, there is a rule according to which every Orthodox must proceed to the sacrament of P. at least once a year (usually - in Great Lent, as well as in the other three fasts - Christmas, Assumption and Petrov). The priest is obliged to keep the confession secret - for the publicity of the sins confessed to him, he is subjected to defrocking according to the spiritual regulations. If, however, someone in confession announced his evil intent against the sovereign and public order, and at the same time did not express repentance and determination to abandon his intention or secretly, but deliberately provoked a temptation among the people that could have harmful consequences for the church and society (for example, a fictional miracle) and, while confessing, did not express the intention to destroy the temptation by public repentance for deceit, the priest must immediately report everything to the bishop; the details of what was confessed, however, he does not report before, as at a formal trial. A priest does not have the right to confess several people at once, even minors. A priest is forbidden to use confession as a means for any extortion or personal requests. Payment to a priest for confession is prohibited by both state and church regulations. Of the monastics, only those with a rank not lower than a hieromonk can confess, and only with the permission of the bishop. Wed Confessional books (murals). See V. I. Dolitsky, "On Confession" ("Christian Reading", 1842); "Repentance" (ibid., 1825); "Church Prohibition and Permission" ("Orthodox Interlocutor", 1860); A. Shostin, "The Superiority of the Orthodox Confession over the Catholic" ("Faith and Reason", 1887, 1); Almazov, "Secret Confession" (1894).

repentance

repentance, cf.

Voluntary confession of a committed misconduct, of one's mistake (book).

Confession, confession by the believer of his sins before the priest (church).

The punishment imposed by the pre-revolutionary court for certain crimes, consisting in forced and controlled prayer (pre-revolutionary). Sentence to church repentance. Release the soul to repentance (colloquial jest.) - leave someone. in peace, stop pestering someone. stop picking on someone.

Explanatory dictionary of the Russian language. S.I. Ozhegov, N.Yu. Shvedova.

repentance

Voluntary confession in a committed misconduct, in a mistake (book). Bring p.

The same as confession (in 1 meaning). Church p. P. in sins. * Release the soul to repentance (colloquial jest.) - leave someone. at rest, stop pestering something.

New explanatory and derivational dictionary of the Russian language, T. F. Efremova.

repentance

1. Voluntary confession of wrongdoing.

   Admitting one's guilt in smth., smth. errors.

Confession of one's sins before a priest; confession.

unfold Remorse for smth.

Encyclopedic Dictionary, 1998

Repentance

church, confession, Christian sacrament (magic-cult rite). See Art. Sacraments.

Wikipedia

Repentance

Repentance:

• Repentance
• Repentance is the realization of one's sins before God.
• Confession is the sacrament of repentance in historical churches.
• metanoia
• Repentance
• Repentance is an album by the group "Bekhan".

Repentance (film)

"Repentance"- Soviet feature film, filmed in the genre of drama in 1984 directed by Tengiz Abuladze. Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival in 1987.

This film, shot before the start of Perestroika in the USSR, was released in January 1987 and almost immediately became a landmark for Russian cinema. In 1988, the film was awarded the "Nika" award in six categories, including as Best movie.

The third film in the director's trilogy ("Prayer" - " wish tree» - « Repentance»).

Examples of the use of the word repentance in the literature.

And in the prayer houses of the Adventists, there is emptiness, and nothing encourages repentance and humility.

In reality, the Albigensians were ordinary people to whom their faith gave refuge from the strictness of orthodox Catholicism and liberation from the burdensome church tithe, repentance, taxes on baptism, burial, etc.

Springel scolds him for being a fool who himself climbs under the whip when he could get off with a church repentance- Ananias is not afraid of punishment, firmly believing in its redemptive power.

Fedoska the heresiarch and those like him clearly began to fight the whole church, ruin the posts, repentance and turn the mortification of the flesh into a kind of fable, turn womanlessness and self-willed squalor into laughter, and turn other obstinate and narrow paths of cruel Christian life into smooth and spacious paths to change.

You will see that I made extensive use of the permission of the Benedictine and changed everything that was too flattering to the Roman Church, which I hate if only because of the fasts and repentance.

Mentors of the Epiphany Brotherhood later repentance they atoned for their indiscretion, expressed in the fact that their students, including those of older ages, were placed on the left wing of the cathedral, in the female half, near the kliros.

A deputation went to the Buddha, she brought a complete repentance, and the Perfect One, having forgiven the disciples, returned to the community.

But Bishop Vakula praised even more when he learned that he withstood the church repentance and painted the entire left wing for free with green paint with red flowers.

Descendant of Jewish ancestors, grandson of a woman burned for apostasy, husband of a person who was sentenced to public repentance By the Saragossa Inquisition, himself reconciled with the Church and pardoned conditionally, Alfonso married a second marriage to Doña Isabella de Haro, by whom he had two sons and two daughters who married persons from the noble families of the kingdom of Aragon.

This recognition was introduced by the Reformed Churches in place of the present repentance when they separated from the Roman Catholics, on the basis of their teaching that faith is imputed, and alone, without mercy, and therefore without repentance also, carries out the forgiveness of sins and regenerates a person.

From excessive incontinence, their body is constantly weakening, and they, according to the number of their years, should have lived for a long time, die without repentance leaving the family in shame, sorrow and poverty.

The successful outcome of the demonological legend was supposed to testify to the power of the Christian church, which overcomes the machinations of the devil, to the possibility of forgiveness of the sinner through repentance, about the saving role of the intercession of the saints and especially the Mother of God.

He wanted to give him an honorable place at court, but Gakebolius refused, considering himself unworthy of such an honor and intending to prepare his soul for the Hellenic virtues by a long trial and repentance, cleanse the heart from the wickedness of Galilee by serving one of the ancient gods.

The Essenes met every year for a common repentance and confirmation of allegiance to the renewed Covenant.

Finally, few hit repentance, in atonement for sins, in order to earn forgiveness with repentance, to somehow compensate for the harm done, to fraternize with the surviving victims in the conviction - as desperate and noble as it is erroneous - that here, in general, someone is free to give absolution, as if any was a person, organization or government able to act as an intermediary between the Germans and their crime.

As you live your life, you put a lot of effort into taking care of your body. Washing off the bodily dirt, he cleanses the body, which is actually perishable. This is our temporary home. But if we keep our body clean, isn't it worth it to take care of our soul, washing off spiritual dirt from it? Spiritual filth is the sins with which our soul grows over the course of its life. Diseases and impurities of the soul are healed through the sacrament of Penance.

What is repentance to the Lord

What is this sacrament? Repentance is a sacred act that brings grace. After a believer repents of his sins, he receives their remission. The priest acts as an intermediary between God and man in the sacrament of repentance. Through him, the penitent person receives the remission of his sins from Jesus Christ Himself. This sacrament contains two main actions:

1. Confessing all your sins to a priest.
2. The resolution of sins, which is pronounced by the pastor of the Church.

The sacrament of repentance is also called confession, although it is only one component. However, this component is really the most important, because without the realization of one's sins there will be no forgiveness.

The most important thing is to understand that confession is not an interrogation or “pulling out” sins from the soul by force. It does not condemn the sinner. Repentance is also not a conversation about one's shortcomings, not informing the priest about one's sins, and not just a good tradition. Confession is a sincere repentance of one's sins, it is an urgent need for the purification of the soul, "mortification" of oneself for sin and resurrection for holiness.

Is it necessary to repent before a priest?

Confessing, a person brings repentance for sins not to the priest, but to God. The priest is also a man, respectively, he is also not sinless. In this sacrament, he is only an intermediary between the penitent and the Lord. Only God Himself is the real mystery maker, and no one else. The shepherd of the Church acts as an intercessor before Him and sees to it that the sacrament is performed properly.

There is another important aspect in confessing to a priest. When we admit our sins to ourselves, this is, of course, very important. But this is much easier to do than, for example, to tell a third party about them. By repenting of his sins before the servant of the Church, a person also overcomes such a sin as pride. He overcomes shame, admits his sinfulness, telling those things that people usually try to keep silent about. These mental sufferings make confession even deeper and more significant for the purification of the soul.

Are all people sinners?

Some feel they have nothing to repent of. They do not commit murder, theft and other serious crimes. However, this is fundamentally wrong. constant companions human life there are such feelings as laziness, envy, revenge, anger, vanity, irritability and other states of the soul that are displeasing to God. In addition, some women commit the sin of infanticide (abortion), the fault for which lies both with the woman and the man who supported her or even persuaded her to this decision. And what about adultery, turning to fortune-tellers and other actions? If we take into account all these points, it turns out that we are all sinners before God, and therefore each of us needs repentance and forgiveness of sins.

Repentance is the only true path to the Lord. The one who does not consider himself a sinner is more sinful than the one who recognizes his sins, even if he has more of them than an unrepentant person.

How to Destroy Your Sin

Sin is the voluntary violation of God's commandments. It has this property: increasing from smaller to larger. What harm does sin bring? It leads to degeneration, can shorten earthly life, and the worst thing is that it can deprive eternal life. The source of sin is a fallen world. And the person in it is a conductor.

Sin has the following phases of involvement:

• Addiction is the emergence of a sinful desire, thought.
• Combination - fixing attention on a sinful thought, accepting it in one's thoughts.
• Captivity - obsession with this desire, agreement with this thought.
• Falling into sin is the embodiment in practice of what was present in the sinful desire.

Repentance is the beginning of the fight against sin. To overcome sin, you need to recognize it and repent. You need to have a firm intention to fight it, in order, in the end, to eradicate it in yourself. To atone for sin, you need to do good deeds, as well as build your life according to God's commandments. Life must be spent in obedience to the Lord, the Church, and also to your spiritual mentor.

Is it possible to live without repentance?

Often people live without thinking about what they are doing. It seems to them that there is still enough time ahead to change for the better, repent and atone for their sins. They live for their own pleasure, not really caring about the soul. But in fact, repentance is something that cannot be postponed until later. What happens when we are in no hurry to understand ourselves and analyze our actions, correlating them with God's commandments? Not a single bright spot remains on our “spiritual clothing”. And this is fraught with the fact that conscience - this Divine spark - is gradually fading away. We will begin to move towards spiritual death.

Speaking figuratively, the soul without repentance becomes open to sinful thoughts, passions and evil deeds. In turn, because of this, a difficult period in a person’s earthly life can begin. And even if during life a person does not experience the full burden of his sinfulness, then after death, when it will be too late to correct anything, the consequence of an unrepentant soul will be its death.

Can repentance be invalid?

The essence of repentance is not to formally tell the priest about your shortcomings. Repentance cannot be accepted by the Lord if it is not sincere, done in order to pay tribute to fashion, look better in someone's eyes, or if a person repents to ease his conscience, without a firm intention to correct his sins. Cold, dry and mechanical repentance is not considered valid. It will do no good to the penitent sinner. In order for repentance to really serve the good of a person, it must come from the very heart, conscious and ardent. Moreover, mere awareness and repentance is also not enough. Man must be determined to fight his sin. He must call on the Lord to be his helpers, because human flesh is weak, and it is almost impossible to fight your sinful nature on your own. But it is God who helps us in this difficult matter. The most important thing is to have a strong desire.

How to prepare for confession

In order to prepare for confession, you first need to analyze your life alone with yourself and realize all your sins. Correlating all our thoughts and actions with God's commandments, one can easily understand what we did wrong, where we angered the Lord. Repentance of the soul should consist in acknowledging each sin separately, repenting of it and confessing it before the priest. For convenience, before confession, you can write out all your sins on paper so as not to forget anything. There are special brochures that list the sins. It happens that a person does not even suspect that he is a sinner in certain matters, and is very surprised when among this list there are many acts contrary to God that he committed in his life. A person who decides to go to confession must:

• firmly believe and hope in the Lord;
• to regret having angered the Lord;
• forgive the offenders all insults and not hold grudges against anyone;
• declare before the priest all your sins without concealment;
• to firmly resolve in the future not to anger the Lord and live according to His commandments.

The School of Repentance can help a person who has decided to confess. The materials and lectures describe the whole process in detail, not a single nuance of this sacred rite is missed.

What you need to know when preparing for confession

You can confess at any time, when possible, in the church. You need to do this as often as possible. Confession is especially necessary before communion. At confession, you need to remember that this is not a conversation with a priest. If you have any questions for him, they should be discussed at another time. At confession, you need to list your sins, while not trying to justify yourself or blame someone. In no case should you proceed to confession, and then to communion, if you have not reconciled with everyone and hold evil or resentment against someone. This will be a big sin. If the priest does not have time to listen in detail to all the sins - this is not scary, you can tell them briefly. However, especially oppressive ones can be told in more detail, and ask the priest to listen to them. Either way, the Lord knows your true intentions. Let your candle of repentance be lit. And the Lord will surely hear you.

Is it possible to confess not all sins

The Lord can accept repentance only if it is sincere. And what reason can there be to hide some sin? After all, a person seeking to get rid of the burden of sin, on the contrary, will delve into himself with special care so as not to leave the slightest sin. The sincerely repentant sinner's desire to be cleansed is so great that he, without the slightest shame and pride, will hasten to tell everything to the priest at confession. If a person hides his sins, it means that he suffers from the sin of pride, lack of faith, false shame, or does not realize the full importance of this sacrament. Unconfessed sin is not forgiven. Moreover, if a person does not confess to a priest in any misconduct, then, perhaps, subconsciously, he does not want to part with him. Such a confession will do no good. Moreover, there can be even more harm from it, since additional ones listed above will be added to all other sins.

How often should you confess

It is advisable to do this as often as possible. However, in this case, repentance must come from the soul, i.e., quality should not turn into quantity. Listen to your heart - it will tell you when the urgent need comes to be cleansed from the burden of sin.

Does God forgive all sins?

You can be sure that God will forgive all your sincerely confessed sins. If you follow all the requirements and rules described in this article, the Lord will surely hear you. It is not for nothing that the first person who entered the Kingdom of God was a robber.

Precisely because he sincerely repented of his sins and believed in the Mercy of God, he was heard and forgiven.

K. Lebedev. Confession of a penitent

Confession (repentance) is one of the seven Christian Sacraments, in which a penitent who confesses his sins to a priest, with a visible forgiveness of sins (reading a permissive prayer), is invisibly resolved from them by Jesus Christ Himself.

This sacrament was instituted by the Savior, who said to His disciples: Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose (untie) on earth will be loosed in heaven". And elsewhere: Receive the Holy Spirit: to whom you forgive sins, they will be forgiven; on whom you leave, on that they will remain". The apostles, however, transferred the power to "bind and loose" to their successors - the bishops, who, in turn, when performing the Sacrament of ordination (priesthood) transfer this power to the priests.

The Holy Fathers call repentance the second baptism: if at baptism a person is cleansed from the power of original sin, transferred to him at birth from our forefathers Adam and Eve, then repentance washes him from the filth of his own sins committed by him after the Sacrament of Baptism.

... Repentance has three properties, or parts: purification of thoughts, patience in finding sorrows and prayer, i.e. invoking God's help against the evil pretexts of the enemy. These three things, one without the other, do not happen. If one part breaks somewhere, then the other two parts are not solid there either.
Rev. Ambrose of Optina

In order for the Sacrament of Repentance to take place, on the part of the penitent, it is necessary: ​​awareness of one’s sinfulness, sincere heartfelt repentance for one’s sins, a desire to leave sin and not repeat it, faith in Jesus Christ and hope for, faith that the Sacrament of Confession has the power to purify and wash away, through the prayer of the priest, sincerely confessed sins.

Repentance must be sincere and completely free, and in no way forced by time and custom or by the person confessing. Otherwise it will not be repentance. Repent, it is said, for the Kingdom of Heaven has drawn near (Mt 3:2), it has come, that is, it has come itself, you do not need to look for it for a long time, it is looking for you, your free disposition, that is, repent yourself with contrition of heart.

The Apostle John says: "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." At the same time, one hears from many: “I don’t kill, I don’t steal, I don’t commit adultery, so why should I repent?” But if we carefully study God's commandments, we will find that we sin against many of them. Conventionally, all sins committed by a person can be divided into three groups: sins against God, sins against neighbors and sins against oneself.

About the beginning Christian life through repentance or about repentance and the conversion of the sinner to God

The grace-filled Christian life begins in Baptism. But few retain this grace, most Christians lose it. We see that some are more or less corrupted, with bad principles that are allowed to develop in them and take root. In others, perhaps, good beginnings are laid, but in the early years, young men, either by their own inclination or by the temptation of others, forget them, begin to get used to bad things and get used to them. All such do not already have a truly Christian life in themselves; they have to start it again. Our holy faith offers the Sacrament of Penance for this. “And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1). If you have sinned, recognize the sin and repent. God will forgive sin and again give you “a new heart and a new spirit” (Ezekiel 36:26). There is no other way: either do not sin, or repent. Even, judging by the large number of sinners after baptism, it must be said that repentance has become for us the only source of a truly Christian life.
In the Sacrament of Penance, only the gift of grace-filled life, already received and acting in them, is cleansed in some; for others, this life is just beginning or is given anew. We will consider it from this last side.
For the second, there is a sharp change for the better, a change in will, a renunciation of sin and an appeal to God, or a kindling of a fire of concern only for pleasing God with the rejection of oneself and everything else. Most characteristic is a painful fracture of the will. A person is accustomed to bad things, now one must, as it were, tear oneself apart. He offended God, now we must burn in the fire of an honest judgment. The penitent experiences the illnesses of those who give birth and in the feelings of the heart in some way touches the torments of hell. Weeping Jeremiah was commanded by the Lord to “destroy… build up and plant” (Jeremiah 1:10). And the deplorable spirit of repentance was sent by the Lord to the earth, so that, passing through those who receive it “to the division of soul and spirit, joints and marrow” (Heb. 4:12), it would destroy the former person and lay the foundations for creating a new one. In the penitent, now fear, now light hope, now suffering, now light consolation, now almost the horrors of despair, now a breath of the joy of mercy are replaced by one another and lead or keep him in a state of perishing or parting with life, but in the hope of a new one.
It is painful, but salutary, and so inevitable that whoever has not felt such a painful fracture has not yet begun to live through repentance. And there is no hope that a person could and began to purify himself in everything without going through this crucible. Decisive and lively resistance to sin comes only from hatred for it; hatred for him - from a feeling of evil from him; the feeling of evil from it is experienced in all its strength in this painful fracture in repentance. Only here a person feels with all his heart what a great evil sin is, and therefore after that he will run away from it, as from hellish fire. Without this same painful test, although someone else will begin to purify himself, he will purify only slightly, more outwardly than inwardly, more in deeds than in thoughts, and therefore his heart will still remain impure, like unmelted ore.
Such a change is produced in the human heart by Divine grace. It alone can inspire a person to raise his hand against himself in order to offer himself as a sacrifice to God. “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him” (John 6:44). “A new heart and a new spirit are given by God Himself” (Ezek. 36:26). The man feels sorry for himself. Having merged with flesh and sin, he became one with them. Separate it and arm against itself can only be external, high power.
Thus, the change of the sinner produces grace, but not without free will. In Baptism, grace is given to us at the moment this Sacrament is performed on us, and free will comes later and accepts the given. In Repentance, however, free will must participate in the change itself.
A change for the better, an appeal to God, as if it should be instantaneous or minute, as it happens. But beforehand, it goes through several turns, which mean the combination of freedom with grace, where grace takes possession of freedom and freedom is subject to grace - turns necessary for everyone. Some go through them quickly, while others go on for years. Who can trace everything that happens here, especially when the ways of beneficial influence on us are very diverse and the states of people on whom it begins to act are countless? But with all the diversity, there is one general order of change here, which no one can escape. Every penitent lives in sin - and everyone is transformed by grace. Therefore, on the basis of the concept of the state of the sinner in general and the relation of freedom to grace, it is now possible to show this order and determine the rules.
1. THE STATE OF THE SINNER
The sinner who needs to be renewed in repentance is usually depicted in the word of God as plunged into a deep sleep. Distinctive feature such people are not always an obvious depravity, but actually the absence of this inspired, self-sacrificing concern for pleasing God with a resolute aversion to everything sinful. With them, piety is not the main goal of cares and labors; they, caring about many other things, are completely indifferent to their salvation, do not feel the danger they are in, do not strive for virtue, and lead a cold life towards faith, although sometimes neat and outwardly impeccable.
Turning away from God, a person stops at himself and makes himself the main goal of his whole life and activity. This is at least because after God there is nothing higher for him than himself, but especially because, having previously received all the fullness from God, and now left without Him, he hastens to fill himself with something. The emptiness that has formed in him due to falling away from God constantly kindles in him an unsatisfied thirst - indefinite, but unceasing. Man has become a bottomless abyss, he intensely cares to fill this abyss, but does not see and does not feel the filling. Therefore, all his life he is in sweat, work and huge troubles: he is busy with various deeds, with which he hopes to quench his thirst that devours him. These affairs absorb all his attention, all the time and all the activities. They are the first good in which he lives with his heart. From this it is clear why a person, considering himself an exclusive goal, is never in himself, but everything is outside of himself, in things created or invented by vanity. From God, Who is the fullness of everything, he fell away, he himself is empty, it remains, as it were, to spill over into infinitely diverse things and live in them. That's why characteristic sinful life - this is, with carelessness about salvation, concern for many things.
The types and differences of this care depend on the nature of the voids formed in the soul. The emptiness of the mind, which has forgotten about the One Who is everything, gives rise to concern for omniscience, learning, testing, curiosity. The emptiness of the will, deprived of the possession of the One Who is everything, produces the desire for much or everything, so that everything is in our will, in our hands, this is possession. The emptiness of the heart, deprived of the enjoyment of the One Who is all, creates a craving for many and varied pleasures, or a search for innumerable things with which we hope to satisfy our senses, internal and external. Thus, the sinner is always concerned about knowledge, possession, enjoyment, delights, possesses, learns. This is the cycle in which he spins all his life. Curiosity attracts, the heart hopes to get pleasure and captivates the will. That this is so, anyone can verify for himself by observing the movements of his soul for at least one day.
In this cycle the sinner would live if he were left alone: ​​such is our nature when we slavishly serve sin. But this cycle increases a thousand times and becomes more complicated because the sinner is not alone. There is a whole world of people who only do what they find out, enjoy, extract, who have put in order all the methods necessary for this, subordinated to laws, made it necessary for everyone belonging to their power. They, uniting, inevitably coming into contact, rub each other and in this friction only elevate curiosity, possession and delight to the tenth, hundredth and thousandth degrees, seeing in them all happiness, bliss and life. This is a vain world; its occupations, customs, rules, connections, language, entertainments, concepts - everything, from small to great, is imbued with the spirit of these three kinds of concern and leads to a joyless spiritual death for those who love this world. Lively connected with this whole world, every sinner is entangled in its thousand-woven net, wrapped in it deeply, deeply, so that he himself is not visible. A heavy burden rests on the sinner who loves the world and on every part of it, so that he cannot move something unworldly, because then he needs to lift, as it were, a thousand-pound weight. Therefore, no one undertakes such an insurmountable task, and no one thinks to undertake it, but everyone lives, moving along the track into which they have fallen.
To even greater trouble, this world has its own prince, inimitable in cunning, malice and experience in deceit. Through the flesh and materiality, with which the soul was united after the fall, he has free access to it and, approaching, inflames curiosity, lust for power, sensual self-satisfaction in it in various ways. With various temptations, he constantly keeps in these states, learns how to satisfy them, and then either helps to fulfill these plans, or hinders, pointing to other, stronger ones, all with one goal - to prolong and deepen the stay in them. This is the change of worldly failures and successes, not blessed by God. This prince has a whole horde of servants, spirits of evil subordinate to him. At every moment, they quickly rush throughout the entire inhabited world in order to sow one thing there, another elsewhere, to deepen those entangled in the network of sin, to renew the ropes that have weakened and torn, and especially to make sure that no one takes it into his head to untie them and go free. In this last case, they hurriedly gather around the willful, first one at a time, then in detachments and legions, finally, with the whole horde - and this is in different types and techniques to block all exits, repair the threads and nets and, in another comparison, again push into the abyss the one who began to get out of it along the cliff.
This invisible realm of spirits has special places - throne rooms, where plans are made, orders are received, reports are accepted with approval or condemnation. These are the depths of Satan, according to St. John the Evangelist. On earth, among the people subject to them, these places are unions of villains, lechers, especially unbelievers-blasphemers, who by deed, word and writing pour sinful darkness everywhere and obscure the light of God. They express their will and power here with the help of worldly customs, saturated with sinful elements, always stupefying and distracting from God.
This is how the power of sin works! Every sinner is wholly in it, but is kept mainly by something alone. And this alone, perhaps, in appearance is sometimes quite tolerable and even approving. Satan has only one concern, so that what a person is all occupied with, where his consciousness, attention, heart, is not God alone and exclusively, but something outside of Him, so that, clinging to this with his mind, will and heart, he has this instead of He only cared about God, found out about that, enjoyed and possessed that. Here, not only bodily and spiritual passions, but also decent things - learning, art, concern for worldly things - can serve as shackles with which Satan holds blinded sinners in his power, preventing them from coming to their senses.
If you look at a sinner in his inner mood and state, it turns out that he sometimes knows a lot, but is blind in relation to the works of God and to the cause of his salvation; that although he is always in trouble and worries, he does not think and does nothing for his salvation; that although he always experiences anxiety or pleasure, he is completely insensitive to everything spiritual. In this regard, all his powers are affected by sin, and blindness, indifference and insensitivity operate in the sinner. He does not see his condition, and therefore does not feel the danger of his position, does not feel the danger of his own, and therefore does not care to get rid of it. It never occurs to him that he needs to change and be saved. He is in complete, unshakable confidence that he is in his right state, that he has nothing to desire, that everything should remain as it is. And therefore, he considers any reminder of another kind of life superfluous for himself, he does not listen, he cannot even understand what it is for, he avoids it and avoids it.
2. THE OPERATION OF GOD'S GRACE
We have said that a sinner is the same as a man plunged into a deep sleep. Just as one who is fast asleep, no matter what danger approaches, will not wake up on his own and will not get up unless someone else comes up and wakes him up, so one who is immersed in a sinful sleep will not come to his senses and will not get up unless Divine grace comes to his aid. . By the boundless mercy of God, she is ready for everyone, bypasses everyone and calls in such a way that everyone can hear: Arise, sleeping one, and rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you (Eph. 5:14).
Such a comparison of sinners with sleepers helps to comprehensively consider their conversion to God. Namely: the sleeper wakes up, gets up, is going to go to work. And the sinner, who turns and repents, wakes up from his sinful sleep, comes to the decision to change (gets up) and, finally, receives strength to new life in the Sacraments of Repentance and Communion (ready for work).
(Bishop Theophan the Recluse)

Sins against God

Ingratitude to God.
- Unbelief. Doubt in faith. Justifying your disbelief with an atheistic upbringing.
- Apostasy, cowardly silence, when they blaspheme the faith of Christ, not wearing a pectoral cross, visiting various sects.
- Mentioning the name of God in vain (when the name of God is mentioned not in prayer and not in a pious conversation about Him).
- Oath in the name of the Lord.
- Divination, treatment with grandmothers - whispering, turning to psychics, reading books on black magic, reading and spreading various false teachings.
- Thoughts of suicide.
- Breaking vows to God.
- Despair in difficult situations and unbelief in the Providence of God, fear of old age, poverty, illness.
- Condemnation of the Church and its servants.
- Continuation of a sinful life in one hope of God's mercy, that is, excessive hope in God.

Sins against neighbors

Irritability, anger, irritability. An obscene cry, an argument. Swearing, cruel and caustic words.
- Arrogance.
- Perjury.
- Revenge.
- mockery.
- Avarice.
- Failure to return debts.
- Non-payment for labor earned money.
- Failure to help those in need.
- Disrespect for parents, irritation with their old age.
- Disrespect for elders.
- Recklessness in their work.
- Condemnation.
- Appropriation of someone else's - theft.
- Quarrels with neighbors and neighbors.
- Killing one's child in the womb (abortion), inducing others to commit murder (abortion).
- Murder with a word - bringing a person by slander or condemnation to a painful state and even to death.
- Drinking alcohol at the commemoration of the dead instead of intensified prayer for them.

Sins against oneself

Verbosity, gossip, idle talk.
- Unreasonable laughter.
- Cursing.
- Self-love.
- Doing good deeds for show.
- Vanity.
- Desire to get rich (love of money) - love for money, for property. Reflection on the means to enrichment. Dream of wealth. Covetousness, covetousness. Addictions or painful excessive love for various subjects that deprive the soul of freedom. Interests in vain cares. Love for gifts.
- Envy.
- Lie.
- Drug use, smoking.
- Gluttony (gluttony) - gluttony, drunkenness, secret eating, delicacy, generally a violation of abstinence.
- Fornication - inciting fornication thoughts, impure desires, fornication touches, watching erotic films and reading similar books.
- Fornication is a purely carnal attraction without any spiritual intimacy.
- - this is the closeness between people who do not have loving feelings for each other.
- Fornication unnatural - the physical proximity of persons of the same sex, masturbation.
- Incest - physical intimacy with relatives or nepotism.

Although the sins listed above are conditionally divided into three parts, in the end they are all sins against God (because they violate His commandments and thereby offend Him) and against neighbors (because they do not allow true Christian relationships and love to be revealed). ), and against themselves (because they hinder the salvific dispensation of the soul).

How to prepare for confession?

The penitent asks God for grace-filled help: the ability to see his sins, the courage to openly confess them, the determination to forgive the sins of his neighbors against himself. With prayer, he proceeds to test his conscience. Samples of prayers imbued with a deep repentant feeling have been left to us by the great ascetics of the Church.

Whoever wants to bring repentance before God for his sins must prepare for the Sacrament of Confession. You need to prepare for confession in advance: it is advisable to read the literature on the Sacraments of Confession and Communion, remember all your sins, you can write them out on a separate sheet so that you can review it before confession. Sometimes a sheet with the listed sins is given to the confessor for reading, but sins that especially weigh on the soul must be told aloud. There is no need to tell the confessor long stories, it is enough to state the sin itself. For example, if you are at enmity with relatives or neighbors, you do not need to tell what caused this enmity - you need to repent of the very sin of condemning relatives or neighbors. It is not the list of sins that is important to God and the confessor, but the repentant feeling of the confessed, not detailed stories, but a contrite heart. It must be remembered that confession is not only an awareness of one's own shortcomings, but above all, a thirst to be cleansed of them. In no case is it unacceptable to justify oneself - this is no longer repentance! Elder Silouan of Athos explains what real repentance is: “Here is the sign of the forgiveness of sins: if you hated sin, then the Lord forgave you your sins.”

It is good to develop the habit of analyzing the past day every evening and bringing daily repentance before God, writing down serious sins for future confession with a confessor. It is necessary to reconcile with your neighbors and ask for forgiveness from all those who have offended. When preparing for confession, it is advisable to strengthen your evening prayer rule reading the Penitential Canon, which is found in the Orthodox Prayer Book.

In order to confess, you need to find out when the Sacrament of Confession takes place in the temple. In those churches where the service is performed every day, the Sacrament of Confession is also performed every day. In those churches where there is no daily service, you must first familiarize yourself with the schedule of services.

Every sin requires repentance. Often you need to repent and reconsider your soul. Whoever does not repent and does not care about repentance, he extremely launches his heart field and allows all kinds of sinful tares to grow in it, stagnates in sins, makes repentance and correction difficult for himself.
Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt

Great Wednesday

Great Wednesday is usually the day of confession for believers on the eve of Great Thursday. The fact is that on Thursday, Orthodox Christians try to take communion on Strastnaya Street - but not all parishioners can have time to confess on this day itself, so there is a big confession in churches the day before. The clergy note that Wednesday evening is a unique opportunity for parishioners to confess in more detail than on ordinary days, and they urge them to take advantage of it.
Cm.

Those wishing to worthily make holy confession and then proceed to Holy Communion Orthodox Church learn to do the following:
- During the week that you have chosen to prepare for confession, it is advisable to appear every day in God's temple at the beginning of each service and pray with contrition before God with warm tears. Only in case of special obstacles or a good reason and illness can one shorten the preparation for confession by two or three days.
- At the time you have chosen for fasting, it is necessary to aggravate strict fasting, intensify prayer and, if possible, works of mercy (charity, alms, visiting the sick, prisoners, etc.). A real Christian (if he is not seriously ill), according to the Charter, should not allow himself to eat even fish food at this time, should not eat meat or dairy food, as well as wine and oil, when there is no permission from the Church.
However, whoever fasts as a meat-eater is not entitled to strict fasting, except at his own request.
- During fasting, especially Great Lent, you need to eat only vegetable food, and, moreover, the simplest, not refined, in small quantities, and even then at the end of the hours from evening (or mass), according to the Charter, only once a day in the evening.
- Confession of all is better to bring not only on the eve of communion, as others do during Great Lent, on Fridays, when there is no opportunity for a long and detailed confession of their sins, with many other people who want to bring holy repentance on the same day, but two days before , even three before Holy Communion.
- It is enough to abstain from food and drink only on the eve of communion, from six o'clock in the evening. And even then, the weak or small, infirm, you can drink and have a snack with something (like bread and water, or tea with a roll) after six o'clock in the evening, but only no later than midnight.
- Going to confession, especially to Holy Communion, you must certainly reconcile (if not personally, then in absentia) with those with whom you have been in a quarrel or trouble, and be sure to ask everyone for forgiveness.
- In order to more accurately and in more detail remember and calculate your grave sins, which you have not yet repented of, or which you repeated again after repentance, you need to think them over in advance in order; for example, according to the ten commandments of the Law of God. You can write them for memory on paper, of course, secretly from everyone, and read this manuscript to the spiritual father, who, along with the forgiveness of sins, will destroy this sinful manuscript of yours.
- The penitents bring with them an unlit (as if extinguished) candle, as a sign that they, as once with the careless virgins, have left the lamp of faith without oil, i.e. no good deeds. However, faithful people can come without a candle, as well as without any contribution for confession, which, like the Sacrament, should be performed free of charge.
- Arriving at confession, slowly and without pushing others, first of all, you should correctly cross yourself, then, bowing to the ground in front of the lectern on which the cross and the Gospel lie, stand decorously, with humility, and listen carefully to everything that the confessor says and asks …

Usually, confession is made in churches in the morning before the start of the Divine Liturgy. You can also confess in the evening: during or after the All-Night Vigil. You should come to the temple at the beginning of confession in order to participate in common prayer when the priest prays for all penitents. At the end of these prayers, he utters the following parting word: Behold, child, Christ stands invisibly, accepting your confession ....
In other words, this instruction sounds like this: “My child! Christ stands invisibly before you, accepting your confession. Do not be ashamed and do not be afraid, without hiding anything from me, but tell everything in which you have sinned, without being embarrassed, in order to accept the remission (of sins) from our Lord Jesus Christ. Here is His image before us: but I am only a witness, to testify before Him everything that you say to me. If you hide anything from me, you will have a double sin. You came to the hospital - do not leave here unhealed.

How does confession take place?

Confession is made in churches either in the evening after the evening service, or in the morning before the start of the liturgy. In no case should one be late for the beginning of confession, since the Sacrament begins with the reading of the rites, in which everyone who wishes to confess must prayerfully participate. When reading the rites, the priest addresses the penitents so that they give their names - everyone answers in an undertone. Those who are late for the beginning of confession are not allowed to the Sacrament; the priest, if there is such an opportunity, at the end of the confession, reads the rites again for them and accepts the confession, or appoints it for another day. It is impossible for women to start the Sacrament of Repentance during the period of monthly cleansing.

Confession usually takes place in a church with a confluence of people, so you need to respect the secrecy of confession, not crowd around the priest who is taking confession, and not embarrass the confessor who reveals his sins to the priest. The confession must be complete. It is impossible to confess some sins first, and leave others for the next time. Those sins that the penitent confessed in previous confessions and which have already been forgiven him are not named again. If possible, you need to confess to the same confessor. You should not, having a permanent confessor, look for another to confess your sins, which a sense of false shame prevents a familiar confessor from revealing.
Those who do this are trying to deceive God Himself by their actions: at confession we confess our sins not to the confessor, but together with him - to the Savior Himself.

In large churches, due to the large number of penitents and the impossibility of the priest to accept confession from everyone, it is usually practiced " general confession”, when the priest lists the most common sins aloud and the confessors standing in front of him repent of them, after which everyone in turn comes under the permissive prayer. Those who have never been to confession or have not confessed for several years should avoid general confession. These must be passed private confession- for which you need to choose either a weekday, when there are not so many confessors in the church, or find a parish where only private confession is performed. If this is not possible, you need to go to the priest at a general confession for permissive prayer among the last, so as not to detain anyone, and, having explained the situation, open yourself to him in the sins you have committed. The same should be done by those who have grave sin.

Repentance is necessary not only in order to believe in Christ: it is necessary for abiding in the faith, for prospering in Christ; it is necessary for a living faith in Christ.
Saint Ignatius (Bryanchaninov)

Whatever sin they did not commit, there is no need to repent. Just say, "God spared me from this." On the part of the spiritual father, who is sometimes expected by as many as a hundred confessors, it is enough to ask you: “Besides the ordinary sins, which are common to all of us, people, do you have any special sins, for example, drunkenness, fornication, theft, etc.?” If you honestly say: “No,” then this is enough for him to sweat and allow you. And then do not grieve that he did not confess you in detail.
But it is much better if you, through thinking about your sins during the days of fasting, through mourning them and contrition of heart, through reading spiritual and edifying articles and books on confession and self-examination, preparing for the Holy Sacrament of Penance, get the skill yourself, without detailed questions from the confessor, confess your sins, which are especially grave. Remember that a confessor cannot know what is hidden in the depths of your soul, so hurry to reveal it to your spiritual father and expose all the sinful ulcers of your soul.

After you confess this or that especially grave sin, the confessor, as the pastor of the Church, appointed to the work of his service by Christ Himself, will instruct you and indicate medical remedies for sins: listen to his words with attention and try to do everything he says.
After confession, the confessor will give you a general instruction with conviction to lag behind past sins and not to stick to new ones, and try in every possible way, calling on God's help, to live holy, as befits a true Christian. Have a firm intention to follow his soul-saving advice, which is in full agreement with the will of God.
Then you should kneel down, bow your head, put your hands to your chest as a sign of humility and pray diligently to the Lord for the forgiveness of sins and help to start a new, better life. The confessor reads a prayer over you: "Lord God, the salvation of Your servants ...".
After the prayer, without getting up, read the following petition yourself or repeat after the confessor: “Forgive me, Holy Father, and bless me: I have sinned in soul and body, in word, deed and thought, and all my feelings of soul and body.”
After that, the confessor reads a permissive prayer, placing an epitrachelion on the head of the penitent: “The Lord and our God, Jesus Christ, by the grace and bounty of His philanthropy, may forgive you, child, all your sins.” At the end of the permissive prayer, the confessor marks the penitent with the right hand of the cross.
After the confession of sins and the reading of the permissive prayer by the priest, the penitent kisses the Cross and the Gospel lying on the lectern and, if he was preparing for communion, takes from the confessor a blessing for communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ.

In some cases, the priest may impose penance on the penitent - spiritual exercises intended to deepen repentance and eradicate sinful habits. Penance must be treated as the will of God, spoken through a priest, requiring obligatory fulfillment in order to heal the soul of the penitent. If it is impossible for various reasons to fulfill the penance, one should turn to the priest who imposed it to resolve the difficulties that have arisen.
After confession, it is good to venerate the holy icons of the Savior, the Mother of God and the saints of God.
To repent means to feel in the heart lies, madness, the guilt of one’s sins, it means to recognize that they offended their Creator, Lord, Father and Benefactor, infinitely holy and infinitely abhorring sin, means with all my heart to desire their correction and atonement.
Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt

St. John of Kronstadt
Thoughts of a Christian on Repentance and Holy Communion

Confession

Repentance must be sincere and completely free, and not in any way forced by time and custom or by the confessor. Otherwise it will not be repentance. Repent, it is said, draw near, for the Kingdom of Heaven (Mt 4:17) draw near, that is, it has come by itself, you do not need to look for it for a long time, it is looking for you, your free disposition, that is: repent yourself with contrition of heart. I am baptized (it is said about those who were baptized by John), confessing their sins, (Mt 3:6) that is; confessed their own sins. And since our prayer is primarily repentance and a petition for the forgiveness of sins, then it must always be sincere and completely free, and not involuntary, forced by custom and habit. Prayer should be the same when it is thanksgiving and doxology. Gratitude presupposes in the soul of one who has been blessed with the fullness of a free, living feeling, freely overflowing through the mouth: out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks (Mt 12:34). Doxology presupposes the delight of wonder in a person contemplating the deeds of the infinite goodness, wisdom, omnipotence of God in the moral and material world, and therefore it should also naturally be a completely free and reasonable deed. In general, prayer should be a free and fully conscious outpouring of a person's soul before God. I pour out my thoughts before the Lord (Supplication of Anna, Mat. Samuel).
Consciousness, memory, imagination, feeling, will help repentance. Just as we sin with all the strength of our souls, so repentance must be whole-hearted. Repentance only in words, without the intention of correction and without a sense of contrition, is called hypocritical. The consciousness of sins is obscured, it is necessary to clarify it; the feeling is muffled, it is necessary to awaken it; the will becomes dull, weakens for correction, it must be forced: the kingdom of heaven is taken by force (Matthew 11:12). Confession must be heartfelt, deep, full.
A carnal person considers Christian freedom a bondage, for example: going to Divine services, fasting, fasting, confession, communion, all the sacraments, but does not know that all this is a requirement of his nature, a necessity for his spirit.
Whoever gets used to giving an account of his life at confession here will not be afraid to give an answer at the terrible Judgment Seat of Christ. Yes, for this, a meek judgment seat of repentance has been established here, so that we, cleansed and corrected through repentance here, will be given a shameless answer at the terrible Judgment Seat of Christ. This is the first impulse to sincere repentance and, moreover, by all means annual. The longer we do not repent, the worse it is for ourselves, the more intricate the bonds of sin become, the more difficult it is, then, to give an account. The second impulse is calm: the calmer the soul will be, the more sincere confession. Sins are secret snakes that gnaw at the heart of a person and his whole being; they do not give him rest, incessantly suck his heart; sins are prickly thorns that gore the soul unceasingly; sins are spiritual darkness. The penitent must bear the fruits of repentance.
What does fasting and repentance lead to? Why work? It leads to the cleansing of sins, peace of mind, to union with God, to sonship, to boldness before the Lord. There is something to fast and confess with all my heart. The reward will be invaluable for conscientious work. How many of us have a feeling of filial love for God? How many of us boldly, uncondemnedly dare to call upon the heavenly God-Father and say: Our Father!... Is it not, on the contrary, that such a filial voice is not heard in our hearts, drowned out by the vanity of this world or attachment to its objects and pleasures? Is not the heavenly Father far from our hearts? Should we not imagine Him as God as an avenger? – Yes, because of our sins we are all worthy of His righteous wrath and punishment, and it is marvelous how He suffers so much for us, how He does not cut us like barren fig trees? Let us hasten to propitiate Him with repentance and tears. Let us enter into ourselves, with all severity we will examine our impure heart and see how many impurities block the access of divine grace to it, we realize that we are spiritually dead.
You will endure the difficulty and useless burning of the operation, but you will be healthy (it is said about confession). This means that it is necessary to open all your shameful deeds to the confessor at confession without concealment, although it is painful, and ashamed, shamefully humiliating. Otherwise, the wound remains unhealed and will hurt and whine, and undermine mental health, leaving leaven for other spiritual infirmities or sinful habits and passions. The priest is a spiritual doctor; show him the wounds, not ashamed, sincerely, with filial gullibility: after all, the spiritual father is your spiritual father, who should love you more than your own father and mother, for Christ's love is higher than carnal, natural love - he must answer God for you. Why has our life become so impure, full of passions and sinful habits? Because so many hide their spiritual wounds or ulcers, that's why they get sick and irritated, and no medicine can be applied to them.
If you ever fall, rise and be saved. You're a sinner, you keep falling, learn to rise up; take care to acquire this wisdom. This wisdom consists in this: memorize the psalm Have mercy on me, O God, according to Thy great mercy, inspired by the King and Prophet David by the Holy Spirit, and read it with sincere faith and hope, with a contrite and humble heart; after your sincere repentance, expressed in the words of King David, forgiveness of sins will immediately shine on you from the Lord, and you will feel the peace of your spiritual strength. The main thing in life is to be jealous of mutual love and do not judge anyone. Everyone will give an answer to God for himself, and you look into yourself. Beware of evil.
For who knew not sin (it is said of Christ), commit sin for us, that we may be the righteousness of God about Him (2 Corinthians 5:21). Will you then be ashamed to admit to any sin or accept the accusation of a sin that you did not commit? If the Son of God Himself was guilty of sin according to us, although He was sinless, then you must also accept the accusation of all sins with meekness and love, for you are indeed a sinner with all sins. And with whom you are not sinful, in those accept the accusation with humility.
For the sake of our faith alone, the mountains of the heart are moved, that is, the heights and weights of sin. When Christians take off the burden of sins in repentance, they sometimes say: “Thank God, a mountain has fallen from their shoulders!” (Table of contents)

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