How to write sins correctly in confession?
Priest Vasily GELEVAN
Many people prefer to write down their sins in writing when preparing for confession. Some people read them out loud, while others give them to the priest to read. And here the question often arises: how to write sins correctly in confession? It is important to remember that confession begins at home from the moment we pick up a pen and paper, and ends near the lectern. This is a long process that must be approached wisely, and a sufficient amount of time must be devoted to preparing for confession. The Lord, the Knower of the Heart, hears and sees everything, He knows what lies like a burden on our souls and worries our hearts, so we shouldn’t worry too much about whether we formulated our thoughts correctly or incorrectly. What is important to the Lord is our sincere repentance, and not an academic and precise list of sins. However, in order to correctly formulate your sins, you can glean knowledge from spiritual literature. I advise you to read the short book by Father John (Krestyankin) “The Experience of Constructing a Confession” as a very laconic guide for penitents, or the book of St. Ignatius Brenchaninov “To Help the Penitents.” These and many other works written on the topic of repentance may be useful to those who have never confessed and do not know what and how to say. To determine what sin is and what needs to be confessed, you can act as follows: read the commandment, see what you need to do, and compare it with your life. From this comparison comes an understanding of what and how you are doing wrong, where you are missing. After all, sin in Greek sounds like amartia, which means “mistake, miss, missed the mark.” Sins must be formulated briefly. Try numbering the list so you don't get lost or confused during confession. I don’t advise you to “spread your thoughts over the tree” and detail every sin. The priest is only a witness of repentance, and there is no need to explain each situation to him in detail, but he should clearly understand the essence of what you have done from your words.
Lists of sins
Priest Vladislav BEREGOVOY
If you see a list of sins for confession on the Internet or in a church store, I advise you not to resort to using them. I understand that there is a demand for this kind of helpers to confessors, especially among beginners. However, this list of sins, scrupulously, carefully verified, does not bring anything useful for spiritual life. Rather, on the contrary: it enriches our consciousness with those sins that we have never heard of. Professor Alexey Ilyich Osipov said that any imp can bring such a list of sins to confession and read it out, but there will be no repentance. You need to approach this Sacrament only with what makes your soul hurt. Sometimes believers are afraid that the number of sins they name is not as great as it should be, and they write everything off the lists “just in case”: they suddenly sinned and don’t remember it. I do not advise doing this, because confession is, first of all, a living testimony before God of our sincere repentance. Confession is work on yourself, and it doesn’t matter how many sins you say. The only important thing is that after confession the Lord will remove that dagger of sin from the heart and heal the wound with the goodness of His forgiveness. Instead of a list of sins, it is better to turn to the book of Archimandrite John (Krestyankin) “The Experience of Constructing a Confession.” What is the difference between the list of sins and this book? This work does not have that mathematical approach to confession. His book conveys many years of experience as a confessor, a shepherd who knows how believers live and what needs to be removed from their hearts. It's a joy to read! And those lists of sins for men, women, children and teenagers that abound on the Internet only bring sadness and melancholy.
How to repent of sins in confession?
Priest Vasily GELEVAN
We are all a little different, and at each stage of our spiritual growth we confess differently. Therefore, the answer to the question “how to repent of sins in confession?” may be different. Often, at the very beginning of his churching, a person wants to make a general confession, and in this case it is important to remember all his sins and approach this confession as consciously and seriously as possible. A person who has been in the Church for many years most often already has a spiritual father, and such a believer only needs a short confession for the priest to understand everything and, if necessary, give spiritual advice. However, such a confession cannot be perceived as “passing”: one must prepare for it no less than for a general one, and treat it just as seriously and thoughtfully. It is important to understand that each confession consists of three components: repentance, prayer and, possibly, spiritual advice from an experienced priest. Repentance in Greek means a change of mind, and it is achieved not only by sincere repentance, but also by prayerful work, as well as by following the advice that can be obtained from a clergyman. It is best if the confession is short and concise. There is no need to describe your sins in detail, especially if we are talking about sins related to the intimate sphere of life. When confessing any sin, the following formulation will be sufficient: “I am sinful in...”. It is better not to go into details so as not to tempt the priest himself. No matter how you confess, the main thing is your contrite heart, which thirsts for repentance.
How to confess sins correctly?
Priest Peter GURYANOV
“What is the correct name for sins?” - Priests often hear this question. Sins should always be called in their own words. It is important to speak in unmemorized phrases taken from lists of sins, of which there are many on the Internet. Speak out the sins as you feel them and exactly how you see them. Speak directly and without embarrassment what is on your heart. Moreover, there is no need to hide sins or select mitigating synonyms for them. Try to speak clearly and understandably. If, for example, you committed the sin of fornication, just say: “Lord, I sinned through fornication, I repent!” The same is true with deception, condemnation, laziness, pride, and so on. It is important to remember that during confession you should not mention the names and sins of strangers. There is no need to “inscribe” other people into your sin, talk only about yourself. After all, sin is only your mistake, your misdeed, and you shouldn’t blame someone for it, especially in the face of God. Never be afraid to talk out your sins in front of a priest and do not be embarrassed by him. The priest who confesses you is only a witness of repentance before God; he can help with advice, support or direct thoughts, but he does not decide whether to forgive you or not. Only God forgives sins, to whom you offer your humble heart, crying over your own sins and fall, as a sign of repentance.
What sins should I say in confession?
Archpriest Dimitry KHARTSYZ
During confession, you need to briefly and concisely list your sins. Answering the question “what sins to talk about in confession”, I emphasize their “belonging”, because often people come to confession with a list of the misdeeds of their neighbors: explaining the reason for their sins, they complain about the unfair treatment of them by loved ones, colleagues, friends... In As a result, the Sacrament turns into something like an appointment with a psychologist or a conversation in the kitchen, but this should not happen. Modern man is a rational person, and sometimes he tries too hard to “sort out everything.” Therefore, some people have a desire to find exact names for all their sins, but this is not necessary. Speak simply, uncomplicatedly, the way you yourself feel it, so that the priest understands the essence of what he did. And remember: the Lord knows everything, He knows our thoughts, and therefore, even if we formulate a thought unclearly, but sincerely repent of sin, God will definitely forgive us. There is another problem: some try to talk about their sins in a language that is incomprehensible to them, using names of sins read in books such as “money-raising” or “obscenity.” This seems wrong to me. Sins should be called as we call them in our real life. For example, not greed, but currying favor with someone out of a desire to receive money, or doing good with the goal of receiving good in return, and more. One must always confess in the past tense and speak not about thoughts, but about completed deeds. It is they who are sin, and not the thought that arose in the head, but was never embodied in action. As for thoughts, they are figuratively spoken of in Psalm 136, “On the Rivers of Babylon.” The last lines of this psalm are: “Blessed is he who seizes and dashes your little ones against a stone.” Of course, this saying cannot be taken literally. The psalmist says that we must, with our faith, strong as a stone, crush the sinful thoughts that arise in us. And for this there is prayer, deeds of piety and mercy.
First confession: what sins to name?
Priest Vladislav BEREGOVOY
The first confession is an important and difficult step on the path to God. Many people ask: what sins should be mentioned at the first confession? For the first time, you don’t need to try to remember the sins of your whole life, it’s very difficult. Start with what most worries your soul, what weighs on you. As the holy fathers say, first you pull out boulders from the bag of sins that lies behind your shoulders, then you get to smaller stones, and under them there are pebbles and sand. It is important to understand that the first confession is only the first step towards true repentance and life change. If the first confession becomes the only one after which a person never returns to church, then there will be very little usefulness in such a confession. The main thing at the first confession is not to put off going to church. Look on the website for the schedule of services of the church where you would like to go. Sometimes cathedrals have priests on duty during the day, ask the temple employee behind the candle box about this. It is best to choose a weekday for the first confession and agree on confession outside of liturgical time, because usually there are a lot of confessors at the Sunday Liturgy, and the priest will not be able to give you the proper time. You can tell the priest that this is your first confession, and then he will definitely help, suggest something and guide your thoughts. At the same time, you need to keep in mind the understanding that you are not confessing to a priest: at the moment of this Sacrament, you stand before the Face of God and it is to Him that you bring words of repentance. The priest only testifies to the Lord your repentance and prays for forgiveness with you. If after confession you have a question that requires a detailed answer, you can ask it after the prayer of permission.
