In Christian culture, confession is one of the seven sacred Sacraments in which a person, a sinner, by his nature, talks about his sins to a clergyman, receives visible forgiveness and is invisibly cleansed of what torments and does not allow him to live. Confession for believers is a place where you can tell about your pain. Orthodox confession should be approached responsibly, preferably prepared in advance.
Instruction manual
1
If there are a lot of sins or it is not possible to build a logical story-statement of everything for which you need to receive forgiveness, entrust your thoughts to paper. So you will not get confused while talking with the priest in the church, especially if there are other people around.
2
When preparing for a confession, verify your own conscience with the Ten Commandments of Bliss; they have been known to every believer since childhood, since they are often mentioned in everyday life. Remember, if you hide something in confession, then you hide not from the priest-man, but from Jesus Christ himself.
3
When making a list of sins, keep in mind their approximate list, which can conditionally be 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 fasting and many others), sins against neighbors (arrogance, temper, anger, revenge, mockery, quarrels with neighbors) and sins against oneself (profanity, vanity, lies, drunkenness, adultery).
4
Do not be afraid of your own sins, they should in no way stand between you and a visit to the church for confession. Remember that God desires the very desire of the soul to repent.
5
Do not worry that the priest will be unpleasantly surprised or even struck by the list of your unrighteous deeds. Believe me, the church saw not such sinners repenting of their deeds. The priest, like no other, knows that people are weak and without God's help can not cope with the demonic temptation.
6
If you have any doubts about the reputation of a priest performing the Sacrament of Confession, keep in mind that the confession remains valid no matter how sinful the clergyman is, provided that you have actually repented sincerely.
7
For the first confession, choose a weekday when there are not many people in the temple. You can ask your friends’advice in advance which priest and temple should be addressed with the first confession. Respect other confessors, do not stick close to the priest and in no case be late to the beginning of the procedure, otherwise you risk not being allowed to the Holy Sacrament.
8
For the future, develop a nightly habit of analyzing the events of the past day and repenting before God daily, and write down the most serious sins for future confession. Be sure to ask for forgiveness from all your neighbors whom you offended, albeit by chance.
note
Women should not confess and attend the temple in general during the period of monthly cleansing.
Useful advice
Do not take confession as an interrogation with partiality, and do not tell the priest in particular the particularly intimate details of his personal life. A brief mention of them is enough.
