In Christian culture, confession is one of the seven sacred Sacraments, in which a person, a sinner in his essence, tells about his sins to a clergyman, receives visible forgiveness and is invisibly cleansed of what torments and prevents him from living. Confession for believers is a place where you can tell about your pain. Orthodox Christians should approach confession responsibly, it is advisable to prepare in advance.
Instructions
Step 1
If there are a lot of sins or if you just can't build a logical story-statement of everything for which you need to be forgiven, entrust your thoughts to paper. This way you will not get lost talking to a priest in church, especially if there are other people around.
Step 2
When preparing for confession, check your own conscience with the Ten Beatitudes, they are known to every believer from childhood, since they are often mentioned in everyday life. Remember, if you are hiding something in confession, you are hiding not from a human priest, but from Jesus Christ himself.
Step 3
When making a list of sins, keep in mind an approximate list of them, which can be conditionally divided into three groups: sins against God (unbelief, mentioning the name of the Lord in vain, thoughts of suicide, ingratitude to God, playing cards, non-observance of fasts, and many others), sins against neighbors (arrogance, irascibility, anger, revenge, mockery, quarrels with neighbors) and sins against oneself (profanity, vanity, lies, drunkenness, adultery).
Step 4
Do not be afraid of your own sins, they should in no way stand between you and a visit to church for confession. Remember that the very desire of the soul to repentance is pleasing to God.
Step 5
Do not worry that the priest will be unpleasantly surprised or even amazed at the list of your unrighteous deeds. Believe me, the church has seen not such sinners who repent of their deeds. The priest, like no one else, knows that people are weak and without God's help they cannot cope with demonic temptation.
Step 6
If there are doubts about the reputation of a priest who performs the Sacrament of Confession, please note that confession remains in force no matter how sinful the priest is, provided that you really repent sincerely.
Step 7
For the first confession, choose a weekday when there are not many people in the temple. You can ask the advice of your acquaintances in advance, to which priest and to which church it is best to turn with your first confession. Respect other confessors, do not crowd next to the priest and in no case be late for the beginning of the procedure, otherwise you risk not being admitted to the sacred Sacrament.
Step 8
For the future, develop a daily habit of analyzing the events of the past day and daily repentance before God, and write down the most serious sins for future confession. Be sure to ask for forgiveness from all your neighbors who have been offended, even if inadvertently.
