The sacrament of confession, along with baptism, communion and wedding, is one of the main rites of the Christian church. According to the Holy Scriptures, it is supposed to come to confession from the age of seven and further throughout life, up to the deathbed. However, not everyone begins to confess from an early age. Moreover, many Christians, even before major church holidays, when they need to repent and receive communion, are afraid or do not want to go to the confessor because they feel awkward. And some would like to confess, but have heard that you need to prepare for this sacrament in advance, but how? In any case, before deciding on a general (first in your life) confession, you need to know all the basic church dogmas concerning confession.
Instructions
Step 1
Prepare for confession at home. Take a paper and a pen and write down all of your recent sins. The first should go mortal sins: pride, adultery, envy, gluttony, despondency, anger, love of money. If you are guilty of murder (the church also considers abortion to be murder), be sure to write this sin down at the very beginning. Also list all of your sinful activities, such as watching inappropriate entertainment on television, visiting fortune tellers, and so on.) Remember that you can take this sheet with you to confession and read from it. Sometimes the priest can take a sheet of sins from your hands and read them himself.
Step 2
Find out when confession takes place in the temple where you would like to go. As a rule, all priests confess on Sunday, but the Sacraments of Confession can also be performed during the week. When going to the temple, dress appropriately: for men, it is a shirt or T-shirt with sleeves, no shorts. For women - a skirt no higher than the knees, a scarf on the head, lack of cosmetics, at least lipstick, since you will need to apply your lips to the cross. In the temple, ask where they confess, as a rule, there is a small queue to the priest.
Step 3
Be prepared for the fact that even before confession begins, the priest will begin to ask you questions. For example, do you constantly pray, think about God, have you created an idol for yourself. And also: whether you are in a quarrel with someone, and whether you comply with the conditions under which the absolution will take effect. According to church rules, these conditions are faith in Christ, sincere repentance for all sins and the hope of starting a new sinless life after repentance.
