Confession and Communion: How to write a note with sins and what to say to the priest video. There is an opinion that it is undesirable to confess “according to the list”, but you need to remember everything

In which he who sincerely confesses his sins, with a visible expression of forgiveness from the priest, is invisibly absolved from his sins by God Himself. Confession is received by a priest or...

Why do you need to confess in the presence of a priest, and not just ask God for forgiveness?

Sin is dirt, so confession is a bath that washes the soul from this spiritual dirt. Sin is poison for the soul - so, confession is the treatment of a poisoned soul, cleansing it from the poison of sin. A person will not take a bath in the middle of the street, nor will he be cured of poisoning while walking: this requires appropriate institutions. In this case, such a divinely established institution is the Holy Church. They will ask: “But why is it necessary to confess in the presence of a priest, in the atmosphere of a church sacrament? Doesn't God see my heart? If I did something bad, I sinned, but I see it, I’m ashamed of it, I ask God for forgiveness - isn’t that enough?” But, my friend, if, for example, a person fell into a swamp and, having climbed out to the shore, is ashamed of being covered in mud, is this enough to become clean? Has he already washed himself with one feeling of disgust? To wash away dirt, you need an external source of clean water, and clean washing water for the soul is the grace of God, the source from which the water flows is the Church of Christ, the process of washing is the Sacrament of Confession.

A similar analogy can be drawn if we look at sin as a disease. Then the Church is a hospital, and confession is the treatment of a disease. Moreover, the confession itself in this example can be considered as an operation to remove a tumor (sin), and the subsequent communion of the Holy Gifts - the Body and Blood of Christ in the Sacrament of the Eucharist - as postoperative therapy for the healing and restoration of the body (soul).

How easy it is for us to forgive someone who repents, how necessary it is for us to repent before those whom we have offended!.. But isn’t our repentance all the more necessary before God – the Heavenly Father? We do not have such a sea of ​​sins as before Him before any other person.

How does the Sacrament of Repentance take place, how to prepare for it and how to begin?

The rites of confession : the usual beginning, priestly prayers and an appeal to the repentant " Behold, Christ stands invisibly, accepting your confession...", the confession itself. At the end of confession, the priest places the edge on the head of the penitent and reads a prayer of permission. The penitent kisses the Gospel and the cross lying on the lectern.

Confession is usually made after evening or in the morning, immediately before, since the laity, according to tradition, are allowed to receive communion after confession.

Preparation for confession is not outwardly formal. Unlike the other great Sacrament of the Church - confession can be performed always and everywhere (in the presence of a legal celebrant - an Orthodox priest). When preparing for confession, the church charter does not require either a special fast or a special prayer rule, but only faith and repentance are needed. That is, the person confessing must be a baptized member of the Orthodox Church, a conscious believer (recognizing all the foundations of Orthodox doctrine and recognizing himself as a child of the Orthodox Church) and repenting of his sins.

Sins must be understood both in a broad sense - as passions characteristic of fallen human nature, and in a more specific sense - as actual cases of transgression of God's commandments. The Slavic word “repentance” means not so much “apology” as “change” - a determination not to allow the same sins to be committed in the future. Thus, repentance is a state of uncompromising self-condemnation for one’s past sins and the desire to continue to stubbornly fight passions.

So, to prepare for confession means to take a repentant look at your life, analyze your deeds and thoughts from the point of view of God’s commandments (if necessary, write them down for memory), pray to the Lord for the forgiveness of sins and the granting of true repentance. As a rule, for the period after the last confession. But you can also confess past sins - either previously unconfessed due to forgetfulness or false shame, or confessed without proper repentance, mechanically. At the same time, you need to know that sincerely confessed sins are always and irreversibly forgiven by the Lord (dirt is washed away, illness is healed, the curse is lifted), this immutability is the meaning of the Sacrament. However, this does not mean that sin should be forgotten - no, it remains in memory for humility and protection from future falls; it can bother the soul for a long time, just as a healed wound can bother a person - no longer mortal, but still noticeable. In this case, it is possible to confess the sin again (to pacify the soul), but it is not necessary, since it has already been forgiven.

And - go to the temple of God to confess.

Although, as already mentioned, you can confess in any setting, it is generally accepted to confess in a church - before or at a time specially appointed by the priest (in special cases, for example, for confessing a patient at home, you need to individually agree with the clergyman).

The usual time for confession is before. They usually confess at evening services, and sometimes a special time is set. It is advisable to find out about the time of confession in advance.

As a rule, the priest confesses in front of a lectern (A lectern is a table for church books or icons with an inclined upper surface). Those who come to confession stand one after another in front of the lectern, where the priest confesses, but at some distance from the lectern, so as not to interfere with someone else’s confession; they stand quietly, listening to church prayers, lamenting their sins in their hearts. When it’s their turn, they go to confession.

Approaching the lectern, bow your head; at the same time, you can kneel (if desired; but on Sundays and great holidays, as well as from Easter to the day of the Holy Trinity, kneeling is canceled). Sometimes the priest covers the head of the penitent with an epitrachelion (Epitrachelion is a detail of a priest’s vestment - a vertical strip of fabric on the chest), prays, asks what the confessor’s name is and what he wants to confess before God. Here the repentant must confess, on the one hand, a general awareness of his sinfulness, especially naming the passions and weaknesses most characteristic of him (for example: lack of faith, love of money, anger, etc.), and on the other hand, name those specific sins for which he sees himself, and especially those that lie like a stone on his conscience, for example: abortion, insults to parents or loved ones, theft, fornication, the habit of swearing and blasphemy, non-observance of God’s commandments and church institutions, etc., etc. n. The “General Confession” section will help you understand your sins.

The priest, having heard the confession, as a witness and intercessor before God, asks (if he considers it necessary) questions and gives instructions, prays for the forgiveness of the sins of the repentant sinner and, when he sees sincere repentance and a desire for correction, reads a “permissive” prayer.

The Sacrament of forgiveness of sins itself is performed not at the moment of reading the “permissive” prayer, but through the entire set of rites of confession, however, the “permissive” prayer is, as it were, a seal certifying the fulfillment of the Sacrament.

So, confession is made, with sincere repentance, the sin is forgiven by God.

The forgiven sinner, crossing himself, kisses the cross, the Gospel and takes the priest’s blessing.

To receive a blessing is to ask the priest, by his priestly authority, to send down the strengthening and sanctifying grace of the Holy Spirit on himself and on his affairs. To do this, you need to fold your hands palms up (right to left), bow your head and say: “Bless, father.” The priest baptizes the person with the sign of the priestly blessing and places his palm on the folded palms of the person being blessed. One should venerate the priest’s hand with one’s lips—not as a human hand, but as an image of the blessing right hand of the Giver of all good things, the Lord.

If he was preparing for communion, he asks: “Will you bless me for communion?” - and if the answer is positive, he goes to prepare to receive the Holy Mysteries of Christ.

Are all sins forgiven in the Sacrament of Repentance, or only those named?

How often should you go to confession?

The minimum is before each Communion (according to church canons, the faithful receive communion no more than once a day and no less than once every 3 weeks), the maximum number of confessions is not established and is left to the discretion of the Christian himself.

It should be remembered that repentance is a desire to be reborn, it does not begin with confession and does not end with it, it is a matter of a lifetime. That is why the Sacrament is called the Sacrament of Repentance, and not the “Sacrament of the Enumeration of Sins.” Repentance for sin consists of three stages: Repent of the sin as soon as you have committed it; remember him at the end of the day and again ask God for forgiveness for him (see the last prayer in Vespers); confess it and receive absolution from sins in the Sacrament of Confession.

How to see your sins?

At first this is not difficult, but with regular Communion, and therefore confession, it becomes more and more difficult. You need to ask God for this, because seeing your sins is a gift from God. But we need to be prepared for temptations if the Lord grants our prayer. At the same time, it is useful to read the lives of saints and study.

Can a priest refuse to accept confession?

Apostolic Canons (52nd canon) " If anyone, a bishop or presbyter, does not accept a convert from sin, let him be expelled from the sacred rank. For [he] grieves Christ, who said: There is joy in heaven over one repentant sinner ()».

You can refuse confession if, in fact, there is none. If a person does not repent, does not consider himself guilty of his sins, does not want to be reconciled with his neighbors. Also, those who are not baptized and excommunicated from church communion cannot receive absolution from sins.

Is it possible to confess over the phone or in writing?

In Orthodoxy there is no tradition of confessing sins over the phone or via the Internet, especially since this violates the secret of confession.
It should also be borne in mind that patients can invite a priest to their home or hospital.
Those who have left for distant countries cannot justify themselves by this, because falling away from the Holy Sacraments of the Church is their choice and it is inappropriate to profane the Sacrament for the sake of this.

What rights does a priest have to impose penance on a penitent?

Hieromonk Cyprian (Safronov), a resident of the Danilov Monastery, answers the questions.

– Father, many people are now complaining that they cannot confess properly, they are not succeeding.

– Yes, the vast majority of people do not know how to confess. Some people go to church for ten years and still have not learned how to confess correctly. Why? The problem is not even that they cannot understand how to confess correctly, the problem is that they are not really interested in this, do not read literature, although many books and inexpensive brochures are being published now, they still do not know how to It is correct to behave in church, as an Orthodox person should behave in general. There is a code of conduct for an Orthodox person! Sometimes they even forget that they are Orthodox people. And as a result, they cannot approach the Sacrament of Confession correctly. This is where problems arise. Such a person comes to confession as a normal procedure preceding communion. But this is a sacrament, a great sacrament of the Church, only through the sacrament of Confession can a person correct himself, correct his life, learn to live correctly. No other way. The grace of God is given directly only through the sacraments. Each church sacrament gives its own grace: the sacrament of Wedding gives grace for married life, the sacrament of Ordination for the priestly field, and the sacrament of Confession is given to a person so that he is spiritually and physically healthy, so that sooner or later he learns to live correctly, that is, not sin. And if a person himself cannot stop sinning, cannot correct himself, then the Lord allows illness so that he at least stops sinning through it. Illnesses are the mercy of God, they are given to us because of our weakness and foolishness, the Lord humbles us with illnesses, and during illness we begin to treat the sins that we love to repeat when we are healthy, more than coolly, we humble ourselves.

– Many people, coming to confession, hope that the priest himself will ask them about everything...

– During confession, a priest should not necessarily ask the person being confessed anything... A person must learn to confess his sins on his own, prepare a confession in advance, analyze his behavior, identify the sin, come and tell the priest: I am a sinner. Often the confessor begins to tell how he, say, had a strong quarrel with someone, what he said to him, and what he answered, and how he reacted to it; You can no longer tell who is to blame. Then you have to ask the person being confessed what your sin is, yours personally, and remind him that he came to confess, and not to complain about someone else.

– What if a person cannot correctly assess the situation himself and tells it to the priest so that the priest can help?

– A person should know that in any situation he must first of all blame himself. Why? Because, being offended, he did not make concessions, did not stop the incident, although he could have. An Orthodox Christian must look for his guilt in any situation, because in any situation in life, part of the blame always lies with us. If we are not at all to blame, then we should feel calm, our conscience should be calm.

“But they falsely accused the man, and he did not do what he was accused of...

“Then it’s not his problem.”

- It’s so offensive to him...

“But this is already a big sin, and you need to go to confession right away.” The problem here is that you are offended, which means that there is some truth in what you were accused of. If you have any anxiety, if you start to complain, this is an indicator that it is your fault. Our resentment tells us that something is wrong with us. This ill-being first accumulates inside, little by little, and does not immediately come out, but then, having overwhelmed us, it is sure to come to light. And a person, if he does not confess properly, begins to look for his own ways of venting his resentment: he makes plans for personal revenge, goes to a psychologist, a sorcerer, or even thinks about how to hire a killer...

It happens that a person, say, steps on another’s sore spot and doesn’t notice. The owner of the sore callus begins to shout at him, saying, watch where you are going, or he’ll hit you on the top of his head - it’s a shame that his sore callus was not noticed. The person, knowing that there is no guilt on him, is perplexed as to why he received it, but nevertheless is not offended. What is the result? The victim, not only did they step on his sore spot, but he also sinned and now must repent in confession. That is, it turns out that the injured party sinned more. And from the one who stepped on, there is no demand from him, he got hit on top of the head for nothing, he has nothing to repent of. The victim, if he had endured, would have become a martyr, and he would have developed love for the person because he had forgiven him.

– People often miss Sunday services in church due to illness or some other valid reason, and it may be difficult to blame them for this...

– Previously, an Orthodox person dreamed of dying in church, and after Communion, he considered it all the more happiness to die, therefore, despite any illness, he went to church services, fasted, and took communion. He did not think about whether he was sick or healthy, whether he could go to church or not. I had to go to the temple - I went to the temple, I had to go to work - I went to work. Why? Because he believed in God and tried to live in His will. And in our time, a person undergoes treatment for 40 years and cannot be cured, and for all 40 years he has been concerned only with this, buys and reads a lot of “healthy” literature, consults with many specialists, drinks a huge amount of medications, but to no avail. And he also cannot die in God’s way, although perhaps he wants to - the time has come. Sins are not allowed. How did you die before? A man worked and worked in the field, felt that he was tired, sat down to rest, sighed, crossed himself and gave his soul to God. And now he is suffering, but his sins are not allowed... They don’t confess properly, they don’t take communion for six months, and when any misfortune happens to them, they immediately run to church for confession. They come, confess, and disappear again for six months... So they spin around due to their weakness - first one misfortune, then another, then a third, and it turns out - they are not turned towards God, and they do not belong to the world.

- What to do?

- Confess on time, take communion, do not break fasts - strictly fulfill your duties. And severity should be determined by the priest, as he determines for each person separately.

Confession (repentance) is one of the seven Christian Sacraments, in which the penitent, confessing his sins to the priest, with visible forgiveness of sins (reading a prayer of absolution), is invisibly absolved from them. By the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. This sacrament was established 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” (Gospel of Matthew, chapter 18, verse 18). And in another place: “Receive the Holy Spirit: whose sins you forgive, their sins are forgiven; on whomever you leave it, it will remain on him” (Gospel of John, chapter 20, verses 22-23). The apostles 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, transmitted to him at birth from our first parents Adam and Eve, then repentance washes him from the filth of his own sins, committed by him after the Sacrament of Baptism.

In order for the Sacrament of Repentance to be accomplished, the following are necessary on the part of the penitent: awareness of his sinfulness, sincere heartfelt repentance for his sins, the desire to leave the sin and not repeat it, faith in Jesus Christ and hope in His mercy, faith that the Sacrament of Confession has the power to cleanse and wash away, through the prayer of the priest, sincerely confessed sins.

The Apostle John says: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1st Epistle of John, chapter 1, verse 7). At the same time, you hear from many: “I don’t kill, I don’t steal, I don’t

I commit adultery, so what should I repent of?” But if we carefully study God’s commandments, we will discover 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.

Ingratitude to God.

Disbelief. Doubt in faith. Justifying one's disbelief through an atheistic upbringing.

Apostasy, cowardly silence when the faith of Christ is blasphemed, not wearing a cross, visiting various sects.

Taking the name of God in vain (when the name of God is mentioned not in prayer or in pious conversation about Him).

Oath in the name of the Lord.

Fortune telling, treatment with whispering grandmothers, turning to psychics, reading books on black, white and other magic, reading and distributing occult literature and various false teachings.

Thoughts about suicide.

Playing cards and other gambling games.

Failure to comply with morning and evening prayer rules.

Failure to visit the temple of God on Sundays and holidays.

Failure to observe fasts on Wednesday and Friday, violation of other fasts established by the Church.

Careless (non-daily) reading of the Holy Scriptures and soul-helping literature.

Breaking vows made to God.

Despair in difficult situations and disbelief in God's Providence, fear of old age, poverty, illness.

Absent-mindedness during prayer, thoughts about everyday things during worship.

Condemnation of the Church and its ministers.

Addiction to various earthly things and pleasures.

Continuation of a sinful life in the sole hope of God’s mercy, that is, excessive trust in God.

It’s a waste of time watching TV shows and reading entertaining books to the detriment of time for prayer, reading the Gospel and spiritual literature.

Concealing sins during confession and unworthy communion of the Holy Mysteries.

Arrogance, self-reliance, i.e. excessive hope in one’s own strength and in someone else’s help, without trusting that everything is in God’s hands.

Raising children outside the Christian faith.

Hot temper, anger, irritability.

Arrogance.

Perjury.

Mockery.

Stinginess.

Non-repayment of debts.

Failure to pay money earned for work.

Failure to provide assistance to those in need.

Disrespect for parents, irritation with their old age.

Disrespect for elders.

Lack of diligence in your work.

Condemnation.

Appropriation of someone else's property is theft.

Quarrels with neighbors and neighbors.

Killing your child in the womb (abortion), inducing others to commit murder (abortion).

Murder with words is bringing a person through slander or condemnation to a painful state and even to death.

Drinking alcohol at funerals for the dead instead of intense prayer for them.

Verbosity, gossip, idle talk. ,

Reasonless laughter.

Foul language.

Self-love.

Doing good deeds for show.

Vanity.

The desire to get rich.

Love of money.

Envy.

Drunkenness, drug use.

Gluttony.

Fornication - inciting lustful thoughts, unclean desires, lustful touching, watching erotic films and reading such books.

Fornication is the physical intimacy of persons not related by marriage.

Adultery is a violation of marital fidelity.

Unnatural fornication - physical intimacy between persons of the same sex, masturbation.

Incest is physical intimacy with close relatives or nepotism.

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

Anyone who wants to repent before God for their sins must prepare for the Sacrament of Confession. You need to prepare for confession in advance: it is advisable to read literature on the Sacraments of Confession and Communion, remember all your sins, you can write them down on

a separate piece of paper to review before confession. Sometimes a piece of paper with the listed sins is given to the confessor to read, but the sins that especially burden the soul must be told out loud. 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 judging your relatives or neighbors. What is important to God and the confessor is not the list of sins, but the repentant feeling of the person being confessed, not detailed stories, but a contrite heart. We must remember 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 acceptable to justify yourself - this is no longer repentance! Elder Silouan of Athos explains what real repentance is: “This is a 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 your confessor. It is necessary to reconcile with your neighbors and ask for forgiveness from everyone who was offended. When preparing for confession, it is advisable to strengthen your evening prayer rule by reading the Canon of Repentance, which is found in the Orthodox prayer book.

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

Children under seven years of age (in the Church they are called babies) begin the Sacrament of Communion without prior confession, but it is necessary from early childhood to develop in children a sense of reverence for this great

Sacrament. Frequent communion without proper preparation can develop in children an undesirable sense of the ordinariness of what is happening. It is advisable to prepare infants 2-3 days in advance for the upcoming Communion: read the Gospel, lives of saints, and other soul-helping books with them, reduce, or better yet completely eliminate, television viewing (but this must be done very tactfully, without developing negative associations in the child with preparation for Communion ), follow their prayer in the morning and before bed, talk with the child about the past days and lead him to a feeling of shame for his own misdeeds. The main thing to remember is that there is nothing more effective for a child than the personal example of parents.

Starting from the age of seven, children (adolescents) begin the Sacrament of Communion, like adults, only after first performing the Sacrament of Confession. In many ways, the sins listed in the previous sections are also inherent in children, but still, children's confession has its own characteristics. To motivate children to sincere repentance, you can pray for them to read the following list of possible sins:

Did you lie in bed in the morning and therefore skip the morning prayer rule?

Did you not sit down at the table without praying and did you not go to bed without praying?

Do you know by heart the most important Orthodox prayers: “Our Father”, “Jesus Prayer”, “Rejoice to the Virgin Mary”, a prayer to your Heavenly patron, whose name you bear?

Did you go to church every Sunday?

Have you been carried away by various amusements on church holidays instead of visiting the temple of God?

Did you behave properly at church services, did you not run around the church, did you not have empty conversations with your peers, thereby leading them into temptation?

Did you pronounce the name of God unnecessarily?

Are you performing the sign of the cross correctly, are you not in a hurry, are you not distorting the sign of the cross?

Were you distracted by extraneous thoughts while praying?

Do you read the Gospel and other spiritual books?

Do you wear a cross and aren’t you embarrassed by it?

Aren't you using a cross as a decoration, which is sinful?

Do you wear various amulets, for example, zodiac signs?

Didn’t you tell fortunes, didn’t you tell fortunes?

Didn’t you hide your sins before the priest in confession out of false shame, and then receive communion unworthily?

Were you not proud of yourself and others of your successes and abilities?

Have you ever argued with someone just to gain the upper hand in the argument?

Did you deceive your parents for fear of being punished?

During Lent, did you eat something like ice cream without your parents’ permission?

Did you listen to your parents, didn’t you argue with them, didn’t you demand an expensive purchase from them?

Have you ever beaten anyone? Did he incite others to do this?

Did you offend the younger ones?

Did you torture animals?

Did you gossip about anyone, did you snitch on anyone?

Have you ever laughed at people with any physical disabilities?

Have you tried smoking, drinking, sniffing glue or using drugs?

Didn't he use foul language?

Didn't you play cards?

Have you ever engaged in handjobs?

Did you appropriate someone else's property for yourself?

Have you ever had the habit of taking without asking what does not belong to you?

Weren't you too lazy to help your parents around the house?

Was he pretending to be sick to evade his responsibilities?

Were you jealous of others?

The above list is only a general outline of possible sins. Each child may have his own, individual experiences associated with specific cases. The task of parents is to prepare the child for repentant feelings before the Sacrament of Confession. You can advise him to remember his misdeeds committed after the last confession, write his sins on a piece of paper, but you should not do this for him. The main thing: the child must understand that the Sacrament of Confession is a Sacrament that cleanses the soul from sins, subject to sincere, sincere repentance and the desire not to repeat them again.

Confession is performed in churches either in the evening after the evening service, or in the morning before the start of the liturgy. Under no circumstances should you be late for the start of confession, since the Sacrament begins with the reading of the rite, in which everyone who wishes to confess must prayerfully participate. When reading the rite, the priest turns to the penitents so that they say their names - everyone answers in an undertone. Those who are late for the start of confession are not allowed to the Sacrament; the priest, if there is such an opportunity, at the end of confession reads the rite for them again and accepts confession, or schedules it for another day. Women cannot begin the Sacrament of Repentance during the period of monthly cleansing.

Confession usually takes place in a church with a crowd of people, so you need to respect the secret of confession, not crowd next to the priest receiving confession, and not embarrass the person confessing, revealing his sins to the priest. Confession must be complete. You cannot confess some sins first and leave others for next time. Those sins that the penitent confessed in pre-

previous confessions and those that were already released to him are not mentioned again. If possible, you should confess to the same confessor. You should not, having a permanent confessor, look for another to confess your sins, which a feeling of false shame prevents your familiar confessor from revealing. Those who do this by their actions try to deceive God Himself: in confession, we confess our sins not to our 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, a “general confession” is usually practiced, when the priest lists out loud the most common sins and the confessors standing in front of him repent of them, after which everyone, in turn, comes up for a prayer of absolution . Those who have never been to confession or have not gone to confession for several years should avoid general confession. Such people must undergo private confession - for which they need to choose either a weekday, when there are not many people confessing 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 during a general confession for a prayer of permission, among the last, so as not to detain anyone, and, having explained the situation, open up to him about your sins. Those who have grave sins should do the same.

Many devotees of piety warn that a grave sin, which the confessor kept silent about during general confession, remains unrepentant, and therefore not forgiven.

After confessing sins and reading the prayer of absolution by the priest, the penitent kisses the Cross and the Gospel lying on the lectern and, if he was preparing for communion, takes a blessing from the confessor 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, expressed through the priest, requiring mandatory fulfillment for the healing of the soul of the penitent. If it is impossible for various reasons to perform penance, you should contact the priest who imposed it to resolve the difficulties that have arisen.

Those who wish not only to confess, but also to receive communion, must prepare worthily and in accordance with the requirements of the Church for the Sacrament of Communion. This preparation is called fasting.

The days of fasting usually last a week, in extreme cases - three days. Fasting is prescribed on these days. Meal food is excluded from the diet - meat, dairy products, eggs, and on days of strict fasting - fish. Spouses refrain from physical intimacy. The family refuses entertainment and watching television. If circumstances permit, you should attend church services on these days. The morning and evening prayer rules are followed more diligently, with the addition of the reading of the Penitential Canon.

Regardless of when the Sacrament of Confession is celebrated in the church - in the evening or in the morning, it is necessary to attend the evening service on the eve of communion. In the evening, before reading prayers for bedtime, three canons are read: Repentance to our Lord Jesus Christ, Mother of God, Guardian Angel. You can read each canon separately, or use prayer books where these three canons are combined. Then the canon for Holy Communion is read before the prayers for Holy Communion, which are read in the morning. For those who find it difficult to perform such a prayer rule in

one day, take a blessing from the priest to read three canons in advance during the days of fasting.

It is quite difficult for children to follow all the prayer rules for preparing for communion. Parents, together with their confessor, need to choose the optimal number of prayers that the child can handle, then gradually increase the number of necessary prayers needed to prepare for communion, up to the full prayer rule for Holy Communion.

For some, it is very difficult to read the necessary canons and prayers. For this reason, others do not confess or receive communion for years. Many people confuse preparation for confession (which does not require such a large volume of prayers read) and preparation for communion. Such people can be recommended to begin the Sacraments of Confession and Communion in stages. First, you need to properly prepare for confession and, when confessing your sins, ask your confessor for advice. We need to pray to the Lord to help us overcome difficulties and give us strength to adequately prepare for the Sacrament of Communion.

Since it is customary to begin the Sacrament of Communion on an empty stomach, from twelve o'clock at night they no longer eat or drink (smokers do not smoke). The exception is infants (children under seven years old). But children from a certain age (starting from 5-6 years, and if possible earlier) must be accustomed to the existing rule.

In the morning, they also don’t eat or drink anything and, of course, don’t smoke, you can only brush your teeth. After reading the morning prayers, prayers for Holy Communion are read. If reading prayers for Holy Communion in the morning is difficult, then you need to take a blessing from the priest to read them the evening before. If confession is performed in the church in the morning, you must arrive on time, before confession begins. If confession was made the night before, then the person confessing comes to the beginning of the service and prays with everyone.

Communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ is a Sacrament established by the Savior Himself during the Last Supper: “Jesus took bread and, blessing it, broke it and, giving it to the disciples, said: Take, eat: this is My Body. And taking the cup and giving thanks, he gave it to them and said, “Drink from it, all of you, for this is My Blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Gospel of Matthew, chapter 26, verses 26-28).

During the Divine Liturgy, the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist is performed - bread and wine are mysteriously transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ and the communicants, receiving Them during Communion, mysteriously, incomprehensible to the human mind, are united with Christ Himself, since He is all contained in every Particle of the Sacrament .

Communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ is necessary to enter eternal life. The Savior Himself speaks about this: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink His Blood, you will not have life in you. He who eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day...” (Gospel of John, chapter 6, verses 53 - 54).

The Sacrament of Communion is incomprehensibly great, and therefore requires preliminary cleansing by the Sacrament of Repentance; the only exception is infants under seven years of age, who receive communion without the preparation required for the laity. Women need to wipe off lipstick from their lips. Women should not receive communion during the period of monthly cleansing. Women after childbirth are allowed to take communion only after the cleansing prayer of the fortieth day is read over them.

When the priest comes out with the Holy Gifts, the communicants make one prostration (if it is a weekday) or a bow (if it is a Sunday or holiday) and carefully listen to the words of the prayers read by the priest, repeating them to themselves. After reading the prayers

private traders, folding their hands on their chests crosswise (right over left), decorously, without crowding, in deep humility approach the Holy Chalice. A pious custom has developed to let children go to the Chalice first, then men come up, and then women. You should not be baptized at the Chalice, so as not to accidentally touch it. Having said his name out loud, the communicant, with his lips open, accepts the Holy Gifts - the Body and Blood of Christ. After communion, the deacon or sexton wipes the communicant’s mouth with a special cloth, after which he kisses the edge of the Holy Chalice and goes to a special table, where he takes the drink (warmth) and eats a piece of prosphora. This is done so that not a single particle of the Body of Christ remains in the mouth. Without accepting the warmth, you cannot venerate either the icons, the Cross, or the Gospel.

After receiving the warmth, the communicants do not leave the church and pray with everyone until the end of the service. After the emptiness (the final words of the service), the communicants approach the Cross and listen carefully to the prayers of thanksgiving after Holy Communion. After listening to the prayers, the communicants ceremoniously disperse, trying to preserve the purity of their souls, cleansed of sins, for as long as possible, without wasting time on empty talk and deeds that are not good for the soul. On the day after communion of the Holy Mysteries, bows to the ground are not made, and when the priest gives a blessing, they are not applied to the hand. You can only venerate icons, the Cross and the Gospel. The rest of the day must be spent piously: avoid verbosity (it is better to remain silent in general), watch TV, exclude marital intimacy, it is advisable for smokers to abstain from smoking. It is advisable to read prayers of thanksgiving at home after Holy Communion. It is a prejudice that you cannot shake hands on the day of communion. Under no circumstances should you receive communion several times in one day.

In cases of illness and infirmity, you can receive communion at home. For this purpose, a priest is invited to the house. Depending

Based on his condition, the sick person is adequately prepared for confession and communion. In any case, he can receive communion only on an empty stomach (with the exception of dying people). Children under seven years of age do not receive communion at home, since they, unlike adults, can only receive communion with the Blood of Christ, and the reserve Gifts with which the priest administers communion at home contain only particles of the Body of Christ, saturated with His Blood. For the same reason, infants do not receive communion at the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, celebrated on weekdays during Great Lent.

Each Christian either himself determines the time when he needs to confess and receive communion, or does this with the blessing of his spiritual father. There is a pious custom of receiving communion at least five times a year - on each of the four multi-day fasts and on the day of your Angel (the day of remembrance of the saint whose name you bear).

How often it is necessary to receive communion is given by the pious advice of the Monk Nicodemus the Holy Mountain: “True communicants are always, following Communion, in a tactile state of grace. The heart then tastes the Lord spiritually.

But just as we are constrained in body and surrounded by external affairs and relationships in which we must take part for a long time, the spiritual taste of the Lord, due to the splitting of our attention and feelings, is weakened day by day, obscured and hidden...

Therefore, zealots, sensing its impoverishment, hasten to restore it in strength, and when they restore it, they feel that they are tasting the Lord again.”

Published by the Orthodox parish in the name of St. Seraphim of Sarov, Novosibirsk.

– Why does a person come to confession? There is a whole range of answers that reveal his motivation. One of them: for the Lord to forgive sins. That is why a person decides to reveal them to God.

Here the question arises: why does God need to voice sins? Does He really not know about them? Another person wants to confess to make him feel better. That is, the main goal of confession is seen as obtaining some kind of comfort.

Sorry for the rudeness, one of my friends said: “What else is this confession for? I came, stayed, and it became easy..."

On the one hand, it seems understandable - when a person is burdened by something, he wants to get relief.

But, on the other hand, I think about this: our life, the life of fallen people, is so tragic that any desire to receive consolation, pain relief, smacks of escapism, that is, escape.

A person, trying to escape from reality, for example, may resort to drugs. As a result, he receives a feeling of anesthesia from the pain of life, a brief dubious euphoria. Man invents many ways to escape from life...

Pain relief, not experiencing pain, is one of the powerful movements of modern man. It can be understood: there are unbearably severe suffering, illnesses, and mental states.

In the modern world, many people get sick and suffer; despondency is very common in it - not only in the church sense, but also in the most medical sense - despondency as part of clinical depression...

Alas, while the soul is alive, it is natural for it to be sick, because in our imperfect, fallen world it simply cannot be in absolute joy, in absolute happiness, without suffering.

A person who tries to live inevitably experiences difficulties, suffering, something that needs to be overcome. Even getting up in the morning by an alarm clock and getting involved in an active life is not easy; we need to overcome the resistance of our weak being, which pulls us back to bed, under the covers.

A person understands that if he indulges the desire for comfort, he will simply stop living.

Someone comes to confession, feeling that he is really guilty before God and wants to get rid of the feeling of guilt. Someone else for some other reason.

In a temple or “on the way from work on the way to the grocery store”?

– Lately I have often thought about the phrase “repent before God.” After all, it would seem, if you want to justify yourself before God, why should you go to Church?

As some saints said: The Lord is closer to us than our own skin. You can talk to Him in any corner at any time of the day: at home, at work, on the street while walking the dog, “on the way from work on the way to the grocery store,” as Nautilus sang...

Thinking about this, I began to understand some simple things about what the Church is. Why does a person necessarily go to church to confess? The Church is unique because, at its core, it is a family: God is the Father, and everyone else is children.

The Church is the place where God came to gather these children closer to Him. “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to you! How often have I wanted to gather your children together, as a bird gathers its chicks under its wings...” (Matthew 23:37) This is how the Lord gathers those who want to be with Him.

The Church is a meeting place, a place of salvation, like an island in the middle of a flood, and it was founded by the Lord Himself. The church is like a beacon calling: “Come here, here we will be together.”

The whole point of the sacraments of the Church, first of all - the sacrament of confession and the sacrament of communion - is for people to be together with God. Not just to each one individually, on his own, but all together, in fulfillment of the second part of the commandment - to love not only God, but also our neighbor. Family is not only everyone together with the Father, but together with brothers and sisters.

Our consciousness is affected by individualism. We go to repent and mean our spiritual worries, mental illnesses, our problems. We come to church and don’t see anyone around us: we go directly to the place in the temple where, it seems to us, God is. We repent before Him, solve our problems...

It seems that we were at confession, took part in one of the most important sacraments, but at the same time, we were not in church. We did not see anyone around us, we did not understand the very nature of the Church, that it is a family. Whatever our brothers and sisters may be, good or bad, they are our neighbors, and there is no escape from that.

The Lord wants us to get rid of our loneliness, selfishness, and individualism. Even being in a state of pride, a person is able to present himself as a believer, to flaunt: “I am an Orthodox Christian, I come to God.”

But as soon as you say to him: “You come not only to God, but also to your neighbors,” he will be surprised: “To which neighbors? To this harmful old woman? To this pot-bellied ass?

These are strangers to me, I came not to communicate with them, but with God. I solved my spiritual problems and went back. I am a literate person, I have read many theological books, I know well how to pray and how to be baptized. But I don’t have any contact with the people around me in the temple.” This is not a Christian dispensation.

The Lord came to call us to be together. When a person goes to confession, thinking that he is going only to God to reveal his sins to Him, this is not a correct dispensation. Firstly, as was said at the beginning, God knows about our sins, and much better than we ourselves.

Secondly, if we go to confession as if we were going to a session with a psychotherapist, so that afterwards our sores will disappear and we will begin to feel comfortable, we again miss the mark. The Greek word for sin, hamartia, means missing the mark. That is, while seemingly confessing our sins, we again do something wrong.

Why then is all this necessary: ​​a person comes to church and in order to confess, he must approach the priest? He could go up to a miraculous icon or other shrine and repent while no one is around. In general, you can hear from many: “I love going to church when there are no people there: it’s quiet, calm.” The feeling is that a person has come to a museum. But what to do in church when there are no people there?! The church is people.

So, in the sacrament of confession a person repents not only before God, but also before the Church, before people, at least in the person of the priest. It is very important.

We know that this is exactly what happened in the first centuries of Christianity. We read the Acts of the Apostles, martyrologies and know that the very concept of sin among the Christians of that time, captivated by the anticipation of the coming of Christ, arose quite rarely. If everyday sins happened, it was an exceptional case. When Christianity began to spread, sins were no longer such an exception. Nevertheless, it was always assumed that a person repents of these sins before the Church. From there, for example, came the order of catechumens, who loudly announced their sins and asked for forgiveness from the Church.

Why confess?

A person needs to repent, first of all, in order to get rid of sin, and not only so that he can live well and comfortably, so that “his conscience does not torment him.”

I recall the profound words of Dostoevsky that when the Antichrist comes, he will not only promise people material well-being, but will also take their conscience into his hands. That is, someone who decides everything for us means that everything is in order, there is no need to think and suffer.

We can do anything and we will be justified - our conscience has been given to another. That’s why some people want to “clear their conscience”...

But that’s not what the sacrament of confession is for. Confession is a real action that involves real correction of your sin, which prevents you from being in the Church, from entering the Kingdom of Christ, which is about to come.

Otherwise, why do we repeat the words from the Creed every day: “I look forward to the resurrection of the dead. And the life of the next century"? The Lord is about to come, but we will not be able to enter the Wedding Feast because we are not wearing wedding clothes and have not corrected our sin.

When we come to church, we reveal our sin before the Church. A priest in confession is a reminder that your sin is accepted not only by Christ, but by the entire Church, the entire congregation of believers.

Confessed “not completely”

It happens that a person has confessed, but still feels that something is wrong. The reason may be that the confession is not sincere enough. When a person tries to justify himself, to hide some sin.

From a human perspective, this is understandable: some kind of sore that is embarrassing to show. A man is embarrassed to show his problem to a proctologist, a young, pretty woman. This is roughly what happens to some believers during confession: it’s disgusting and shameful to expose some of your sins.

This is a childhood state that quickly passes when a person begins to come to confession often and understands that the priest does not condemn him. You can hear from some: “Father, we tell you such sins, how are you not crazy yet?” I answer: “Over the years of priesthood, I have already heard so much, and at least one person told me something new! For thousands of years, not a single new sin has been invented.”

As long as the patient is afraid of the doctor, he will not be able to begin treatment. He must understand: the doctor is experienced, has seen a lot, there is nothing to be ashamed of in front of him - the doctor will not laugh at him, scold him, the doctor’s goal is to cure.

Here we come to an important concept: sin is a disease, not a person’s legal guilt. A disease that has deeply affected human nature.

It is not for nothing that when the priest begins confession, he reads a prayer in which there are the words: “You came to the doctor’s hospital, so that you do not leave unhealed.” That is, you came to the hospital, so do not leave uncured.

But this is not easy, this is a difficult task for our pride and impatience. We want to take an instant action so that once and everything goes away. It turns out that sin is a deep disease, not only acquired, but going back to the depths of time, to the forefather Adam. It is not yet known how the treatment will go. You need to be patient, have a lot of wisdom, a lot of sobriety.

Patience is one of the basic qualities that we greatly lack, including during confession.

If sin is not forgotten...

It happens that a person confessed a sin, completely moved away from it, but cannot forget what he committed: he suffers for a year, two, ten years... It is important for a person to repent at confession, although repentance itself is not limited to the moment of confession.

Repentance is a change of mind, a change of life. Nevertheless, there is something in the sacrament of confession that will really help to overcome sin. That is, not only will God forgive us this sin, but He always forgives us because He loves us. At confession, a person receives precisely the opportunity for treatment.

Imagine a person is very sick, and the doctor says to him: “I forgive you for being sick.” But the disease is not going anywhere. So - in the sacrament of confession there is something that cures illness.

There is no need to delude yourself here: “I’ll come to confession, repent, and the next day I’ll wake up different.” It is important to understand how much human nature is affected by sin. As I already said, you need to be realistic, have patience and sobriety. You need to understand that you can fight our nature all your life.

Great holy ascetics and monks cried at the end of their lives and said: “Oh, it will soon be before God, but I have not yet begun to repent.” They objected to the ascetic: “How can this be, you led a holy life, you are a saint, after all?!” The questioners did not understand that the closer to the source of Light, to God, the more visible the dirt and stains are on oneself. And when a person sits in twilight, in the dark and thinks that he is clean, he should try to come closer to Christ and see how much stuff he has on him.

Of course, the saints were and remain saints, but, being already close to Christ, they noticed the very little things from which they suffered and repented. Remember Andersen’s fairy tale “The Princess and the Pea”: a small pea was placed under many feather beds for the princess, and she did not sleep a wink all night due to the inconvenience. Another woman, of a coarser constitution, a cowgirl, for example, would fall asleep soundly even if a car of bricks were placed under her mattress.

It is important that the sacrament of confession has everything to heal a person not only from sin, but also from the consequences of sin. For every disease, say, requiring surgical intervention, it is important not only to perform the operation, but also to properly organize the recovery period after.

The sacrament contains medicine that helps us overcome the sin that we have repented of, so that it stops gnawing at us like real guilt, so that it becomes a creative task for our subsequent life, a lesson, an order.

We will not be able to forget sin, but we will remember it not as an eternal guilt gnawing at us, but simply as an example to act differently next time. The memory of sin will be a working tool for us, which we will apply to the structure of our future life.

The second point: why do we often suffer from the fact that we seem to have repented of sin, but we cannot forgive ourselves for it. It's about our lack of faith.

I often recall a wonderful episode from the life of the Monk Silouan of Athos as told by Father Sophrony (Sakharov), who was Elder Silouan’s cell attendant. At the time when the future elder was a young man Semyon from the Tambov province, in their village there lived a man who spent a long time in hard labor for killing his wife.

After hard labor, he returned to the village, lived quietly, played the harmonica, and took part in festivities. One day, the future elder Silouan approached him and asked: “How can you live like this, rejoice, because you have done a terrible thing.” To which the former convict replied: “While I was in hard labor these years, I prayed a lot to God. And God forgave me."

It is important not only that God forgives, it is important to be able to accept forgiveness. What good is it if the doctor prescribes the best medicine if we don’t make an effort to find this medicine, then to take it correctly, on a certain schedule! Our lack of faith, distrust of the sacrament of confession very often hinders us.

I know many cases when a person comes to confession and repents of old sins again and again. Why harp on the same thing, what you repented of? “I can’t calm down, I have such a delicate, sensitive soul,” you can hear from such a person.

What, is your subtlety higher than faith in the sacrament of the Church? The Lord has forgiven, that’s it, calm down, move on. Let the sin you experienced become a lesson for you, nothing more.

Prepared by Oksana Golovko

Before communion, you must undergo the Sacrament of Confession.

In the St. John the Baptist Cathedral, confession begins with the beginning of the evening service at 17:00. If the priest is alone, then he makes confession at the end of the evening service.

Attendance at the evening service on the eve of communion is mandatory.

Before communion, you must fast, limiting yourself (at least three days) to meat, dairy and egg products.

CONFESSION AND HOLY COMMUNION
EXPLANATIONS

Based on the book by N. E. Pestov “Modern practice of Orthodox piety”

Every time the Divine Liturgy is celebrated in the church, a priest comes out of the altar before the service begins. He heads to the vestibule of the temple, where the people of God are already waiting for him. In his hands, the Cross is a sign of the sacrificial love of the Son of God for the human race, and the Gospel is the good news of salvation. The priest places the Cross and the Gospel on the lectern and, reverently bowing, proclaims: “Blessed is our God always, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.”

This is how the Sacrament of Confession begins. The name itself indicates that in this Sacrament something deeply hidden is accomplished, revealing layers of a person’s life that in ordinary times a person prefers not to touch. This is probably why the fear of confession is so strong among those who have never started it before. How long they have to overcome themselves to approach the confessional lectern!

Vain fear!

It comes from ignorance of what actually happens in this Sacrament. Confession is not a forcible “picking” of sins from the conscience, not an interrogation, and, especially, not a “guilty” verdict on the sinner. Confession is the great Sacrament of reconciliation between God and man; this is the joy of forgiveness of sin; This is a tear-touching manifestation of God’s love for man.

We all sin a lot before God. Vanity, hostility, idle talk, ridicule, intransigence, irritability, anger are constant companions of our lives. On the conscience of almost each of us lie more serious crimes: infanticide (abortion), adultery, turning to sorcerers and psychics, theft, enmity, revenge and much more, making us guilty of the wrath of God.

It should be remembered that sin is not a fact in biography that can be frivolously forgotten. Sin is a “black seal” that remains on the conscience until the end of days and is not washed away by anything other than the Sacrament of Repentance. Sin has a corrupting power that can cause a chain of subsequent, more serious sins.

One ascetic of piety figuratively likened sins... to bricks. He said this: the more unrepentant sins a person has on his conscience, the thicker the wall between him and God, made up of these bricks - sins. The wall can become so thick that a person becomes insensitive to the influence of God's grace, and then he experiences the mental and physical consequences of sins. Mental consequences include dislike for certain people or irritability, anger and nervousness, fears, attacks of anger, depression, the development of addictions in the individual, despondency, melancholy and despair, in extreme forms sometimes turning into a desire for suicide. This is not neurosis at all. This is how sin works.

Bodily consequences include illness. Almost all diseases of an adult, explicitly or implicitly, are associated with previously committed sins.

So, in the Sacrament of Confession, a great miracle of God’s mercy is performed towards the sinner. After sincere repentance of sins before God in the presence of a clergyman as a witness of repentance, when the priest reads a prayer of permission, the Lord himself, with His all-powerful right hand, breaks the wall of sin-bricks into dust, and the barrier between God and man collapses.”

When we come to confession, we repent in the presence of the priest, but not in front of the priest. The priest, being a man himself, is only a witness, a mediator in the Sacrament, and the true celebrant is the Lord God. Then why confess in church? Isn’t it easier to repent at home, alone before the Lord, because He hears us everywhere?

Yes, indeed, personal repentance before confession, leading to awareness of sin, heartfelt contrition and rejection of the crime committed, is necessary. But in itself it is not exhaustive. Final reconciliation with God, cleansing from sin is accomplished within the framework of the Sacrament of Confession, certainly through the mediation of a priest; this form of the Sacrament was established by the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Appearing to the apostles after his glorious resurrection. He blew and said to them: “...receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive, they will be forgiven; those whose sins you retain, will be retained” (John 20:22-23). The apostles, the pillars of the ancient Church, were given the power to remove the veil of sin from the hearts of people; from them, this power was transferred to their successors - church primates - bishops and priests.

In addition, the moral aspect of the Sacrament is important. It is not difficult to list your sins in private before the All-Knowing and Invisible God. But, discovering them in the presence of a third party - a priest, requires considerable effort to overcome shame, requires the crucifixion of one’s sinfulness, which leads to an incomparably deeper and more serious awareness of personal wrong.

The sacrament of confession and repentance is the great mercy of God towards weak and prone humanity; it is a means available to everyone, leading to the salvation of the soul, which constantly falls into sin.

Throughout our lives, our spiritual clothing is continually stained with sin. They can only be noticed when clothes are our problem, i.e. purified by repentance. On the clothes of an unrepentant sinner, dark with sinful dirt, stains of new and separate sins cannot be noticeable.

Therefore, we must not put off our repentance and allow our spiritual clothing to become completely soiled: this leads to dulling of conscience and to spiritual death.

And only an attentive life and timely cleansing of sinful stains in the Sacrament of Confession can preserve the purity of our soul and the presence of the Holy Spirit of God in it.

Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt writes:
“You need to confess your sins more often in order to amaze and scourge sins by openly recognizing them and in order to feel more disgust for them.”

As Fr. writes. Alexander Elchaninov, “insensibility, stonyness, deadness of the soul - from neglected and unconfessed sins in time. How the soul is relieved when you immediately, while it hurts, confess the sin you have committed. Delayed confession can cause insensibility.

A person who often confesses and has no deposits of sins in his soul cannot help but be healthy. Confession is a blessed discharge of the soul. In this sense, the significance of confession and, in general, of life in general, is enormous, in connection with the grace-filled help of the Church. So don't put it off. Weak faith and doubts are not an obstacle. Be sure to confess, repent of weak faith and doubts, as of your own weakness and sin. “So it is: complete faith only of the strong in spirit and the righteous; where can we, the unclean and the cowardly, have their faith? If she were, we would be holy, strong, divine and would not need the help of the Church that She offers us. Don’t shy away from this help either.”
Hence, participation in the Sacrament of Confession should not be rare - once in a long period, as those who go to confession once a year or a little more may think.

The process of repentance is a continuous work to heal mental ulcers and cleanse every newly emerging sinful spot. Only in this case will the Christian not lose his “royal dignity” and will remain among the “holy nation” (1 Pet. 2:9).
If the Sacrament of Confession is neglected, sin will oppress the soul and at the same time, after it is abandoned by the Holy Spirit, the doors will be open for the entry of dark power and the development of passions and addictions.

There may also come a period of hostility, enmity, quarrels, and even hatred towards others, which will poison the life of both the sinner and his neighbors.
Obsessive bad thoughts (“psychasthenia”) may appear, from which the sinner is unable to free himself and which will poison his life.
This will also include the so-called “persecution mania,” a strong wavering in faith, and such completely opposite feelings, but equally dangerous and painful: for some, an insurmountable fear of death, and for others, a desire for suicide.

Finally, mental and physical unhealthy manifestations may occur that are usually called “damage”: seizures of an epileptic nature and that series of ugly mental manifestations that are characterized as obsession and demonic possession.
Holy Scripture and the history of the Church testify that such severe consequences of unrepentant sins are healed by the power of God’s grace through the Sacrament of Confession and subsequent communion of the Holy Mysteries.

Spiritual experience is indicative in this regard. Elder Hilarion from Optina Pustyn.
Hilarion, in his senile service, proceeded from the position stated above, that any mental illness is a consequence of the presence of unrepentant sin in the soul.

Therefore, among such patients, the elder first of all tried, by questioning, to find out all the significant and serious sins that they had committed after the age of seven and were not expressed at the time in confession, either out of modesty, or out of ignorance, or out of oblivion.
After discovering such a sin (or sins), the elder tried to convince those who came to him for help of the need for deep and sincere repentance of sin.

If such repentance appeared, then the elder, like a priest, after confession, absolved sins. With the subsequent communion of the Holy Mysteries, complete deliverance usually occurred from the mental illness that tormented the sinful soul.
In those cases when the visitor was found to have severe and long-term enmity towards his neighbors, the elder commanded to immediately reconcile with them and ask their forgiveness for all previously inflicted insults, insults and injustices.

Such conversations and confessions sometimes required great patience, endurance and perseverance from the elder. So, for a long time he persuaded one possessed woman to first cross herself, then drink holy water, then tell him her life and her sins.
At first he had to endure many insults and manifestations of anger from her. However, he released her only when the patient humbled herself, became obedient and brought complete repentance in confession for the sins she had committed. This is how she received complete healing.
One patient came to the elder, suffering from a desire for suicide. The elder found out that he had previously made two attempts at suicide - at the age of 12 and in his youth.

At confession, the patient had not previously brought repentance to them. The elder achieved complete repentance from him - he confessed and gave him communion. Since then, the thoughts of suicide have stopped.

As can be seen from the above, sincere repentance and confession of sins brought to a Christian not only their forgiveness, but also the fullness of spiritual health only when the sinner returns to grace and the presence of the Holy Spirit with the Christian.
Since only through the permission of the priest is sin finally erased from our “book of life,” so that our memory does not fail us in this most important of our lives, it is necessary to write down our sins. The same note can be used in confession.

This is what the elder suggested to his spiritual children O. Alexy Mechev . Regarding confession, he gave the following instructions:
“When approaching confession, we need to remember everything and consider every sin from all sides, bring all the little things to memory, so that everything in our hearts burns out with shame. Then our sin will become disgusting and the confidence will be created that we will never return to it.
At the same time, we must feel all the goodness of God: the Lord shed His Blood for me, takes care of me, loves me, is ready to accept me like a mother, hugs me, comforts me, but I keep sinning and sinning.

And immediately, when you come to confession, you repent to the Lord crucified on the cross, like a child when he says with tears: “Mom, forgive me, I won’t do it again.”
And whether there is anyone here or not, it will not matter, because the priest is only a witness, and the Lord knows all our sins, sees all our thoughts. He only needs our consciousness of being guilty.

Thus, in the Gospel, He asked the father of the demon-possessed youth since when did this happen to him (Mark 9:21). He didn't need it. He knew everything, but he did it so that the father would acknowledge his guilt in his son’s illness.”
At confession, Fr. Alexy Mechev did not allow the confessor to speak in detail about sins of the flesh and touch on other persons and their actions.
He could only consider himself guilty. When talking about quarrels, you could only say what you said yourself (without softening or justifying) and not touch on what they answered you. He demanded that others be justified and that they blame themselves, even if it was not your fault. If you quarrel, it means you are to blame.

Once said in confession, sins are no longer repeated in confession; they are already forgiven.
But this does not mean that a Christian can completely erase from his memory the most serious sins of his life. The sinful wound on the body of the soul is healed, but the scar from sin remains forever, and a Christian must remember this and deeply humble himself, mourning his sinful falls.

As he writes Rev. Anthony the Great:
“The Lord is good and forgives the sins of all who turn to Him, no matter who they are, so that He will not remember them anymore.
However, He wants those (those who have been pardoned) to remember the forgiveness of their sins that they have committed so far, so that, having forgotten about this, they would not allow anything in their behavior that would force them to give an account of those sins that have already been committed. were forgiven - as happened with that slave to whom the master renewed the entire debt that had previously been remitted to him (Matthew 18:24-25).
Thus, when the Lord forgives us our sins, we must not forgive them to ourselves, but always remember them through (continuous) renewal of repentance for them.”

This is what he talks about Elder Silouan:
“Although sins are forgiven, you must remember and grieve about them all your life in order to maintain contrition.”
Here, however, we should warn that remembering one’s sins can be different and in some cases (for carnal sins) can even harm a Christian.

He writes about it like this Rev. Barsanuphius the Great . “I don’t mean remembering sins individually, so that sometimes even through their remembering the enemy does not lead us into the same captivity, but it is enough just to remember that we are guilty of sins.”

It should be mentioned at the same time that Elder Fr. Alexey Zosimovsky believed that although after confession there was remission of some sin, if it continues to torment and confuse the conscience, then it is necessary to confess it again.

For someone who sincerely repents of sins, the dignity of the priest accepting his confession does not matter. Fr. writes about it this way. Alexander Elchaninov:
“For a person who truly suffers from the ulcer of his sin, it makes no difference through whom he confesses this tormenting sin; as long as he confesses it as soon as possible and receives relief.
In confession, the most important state of the soul of the penitent, whatever the confessor may be. Our repentance is important. In our country, the personality of the confessor is often given primacy.”

When confessing your sins or asking your confessor for advice, it is very important to catch his first word. Elder Silouan gives the following instructions on this matter.
“In a few words, the confessor speaks his thoughts or the most essential things about his condition and then leaves the confessor free.
The confessor, praying from the first moment of the conversation, waits for admonition from God, and if he feels a “notification” in his soul, then he gives such an answer, which should be stopped at, because when the “first word” of the confessor is missed, then at the same time the effectiveness of the Sacrament is weakened , and confession can turn into a simple human discussion."
Perhaps some who repent of serious sins when confessing to a priest think that the latter will treat them with hostility after learning their sins. But that's not true.

As Archbishop Arseny (Chudovskoy) writes: “When a sinner sincerely, with tears, repents to his confessor, the latter involuntarily has a feeling of joy and consolation in his heart, and at the same time a feeling of love and respect for the penitent.
To the one who reveals sins, it may perhaps seem that the shepherd will not even look at him now, since he knows his filth and will treat him with contempt. Oh no! A sincerely repentant sinner becomes dear, dear, and as if dear to the shepherd.”
O. Alexander Elchaninov writes about the same thing:
“Why is the confessor not disgusted with the sinner, no matter how disgusting his sins are? - Because in the Sacrament of Repentance the priest contemplates the complete separation of the sinner and his sin.”

CONFESSION

(based on the works of Father Alexander Elchaninov)

Usually people inexperienced in spiritual life do not see the multiplicity of their sins.

“Nothing special”, “like everyone else”, “only minor sins - didn’t steal, didn’t kill” - this is usually the beginning of confession for many.
But self-love, intolerance of reproaches, callousness, people-pleasing, weakness of faith and love, cowardice, spiritual laziness - aren’t these important sins? How can we claim that we love God enough, that our faith is active and ardent? That we love every person as a brother in Christ? That we have achieved meekness, freedom from anger, humility?

If not, then what is our Christianity? How can we explain our self-confidence in confession if not by “petrified insensibility”, if not by “deadness,” the heart and soul death that precedes the body?
Why St. the fathers who left us prayers of repentance considered themselves to be the first of sinners and with sincere conviction cried out to the Sweetest Jesus: “No one on earth has sinned since the beginning of time, as I have sinned, the accursed and the prodigal,” and we are convinced that everything is fine with us?
The brighter the light of Christ illuminates the hearts, the more clearly all shortcomings, ulcers and wounds are created. And, on the contrary, people immersed in the darkness of sin do not see anything in their hearts: and if they do, they are not horrified, since they have nothing to compare with.

Therefore, the direct path to the knowledge of one’s sins is to approach the Light and pray for this Light, which is the judgment of the world and everything “worldly” in ourselves (John 3:19). In the meantime, there is no such closeness to Christ in which a feeling of repentance is our usual state, we must, when preparing for confession, examine our conscience - according to the commandments, according to some prayers (for example, the 3rd Vespers, the 4th before Holy Communion), in some places of the Gospel and Epistles (for example, Matt. 5, Rom. 12, Eph. 4, James 3).

When understanding your soul, you must try to distinguish between basic sins and derivative ones, symptoms from deeper-lying causes.
For example, absent-mindedness during prayer, dozing and inattention in church, and lack of interest in reading the Holy Scriptures are very important. But don’t these sins stem from lack of faith and weak love for God? It is necessary to note in yourself self-will, disobedience, self-justification, impatience of reproaches, intransigence, stubbornness; but it is even more important to discover their connection with self-love and pride.
If we notice in ourselves a desire for society, talkativeness, laughter, increased concern for our appearance and not only our own, but our loved ones, then we must carefully examine whether this is not a form of “various vanity.”
If we take everyday failures too much to heart, endure separation hard, grieve inconsolably for those who have passed away, then in addition to the strength and depth of our feelings, doesn’t all this also testify to a lack of faith in God’s Providence?

There is another auxiliary means that leads to the knowledge of our sins - to remember what other people, our enemies, and especially those who live side by side with us and loved ones usually accuse us of: almost always their accusations, reproaches, attacks are justified. You can even, having conquered your pride, ask them directly about it - you know better from the outside.
Before confession, it is necessary to ask for forgiveness from everyone to whom you are guilty, and to go to confession with an unburdened conscience.
During such a test of the heart, one must be careful not to fall into excessive suspiciousness and petty suspicion of any movement of the heart; Having taken this path, you can lose your sense of what is important and unimportant, and get confused in the little things.

In such cases, you must temporarily abandon the testing of your soul and, with prayer and good deeds, simplify and clarify your soul.
The point is to remember as fully as possible and even write down our sins, and to achieve such a state of concentration, seriousness and prayer in which our sins become clear as if by light.
But knowing your sins does not mean repenting of them. True, the Lord accepts confession - sincere, conscientious, when it is not accompanied by a strong feeling of repentance.

Still, “contrition of heart”—sorrow for our sins—is the most important thing we can bring to confession.
But what to do if “we have no tears, less than repentance, less than tenderness?” “What should we do if our heart, dried up by the flame of sin, is not watered by the life-giving waters of tears? What if “weakness of soul and weakness of the flesh are so great that we are not capable of sincere repentance?
This is still not a reason to postpone confession - God can touch our heart during confession itself: confession itself, the naming of our sins can soften our repentant heart, refine our spiritual vision, sharpen our feelings. Most of all, preparation for confession serves to overcome our spiritual lethargy - fasting, which, exhausting our body, disrupts our bodily well-being, which is disastrous for spiritual life. Prayer, night thoughts about death, reading the Gospel, the lives of saints, and the works of St. serve the same purpose. fathers, increased struggle with oneself, exercise in good deeds.

Our insensitivity in confession is mostly rooted in a lack of fear of God and hidden unbelief. This is where our efforts should be directed.
The third point in confession is the verbal confession of sins. There is no need to wait for questions, you need to make the effort yourself; Confession is a feat and self-compulsion. It is necessary to speak precisely, without obscuring the ugliness of sin with general expressions (for example, “I have sinned against the 7th commandment”). When confessing, it is very difficult to avoid the temptation of self-justification, attempts to explain “mitigating circumstances” to the confessor, and references to third parties who led us into sin. All these are signs of pride, lack of deep repentance, and continued staleness in sin.

Confession is not a conversation about one’s shortcomings, it is not a confessor’s knowledge of you, and least of all a “pious custom.” Confession is an ardent repentance of the heart, a thirst for purification that comes from a sense of holiness, dying to sin and reviving for holiness...
I often notice in those confessing a desire to go through confession painlessly for themselves - either they get off with general phrases, or talk about little things, keeping silent about what should really weigh on their conscience. There is also false shame before the confessor and general indecision, as before every important action, and especially - a cowardly fear of seriously starting to stir up one’s life, full of small and habitual weaknesses. A real confession, like a good shock to the soul, is terrifying in its decisiveness, the need to change something, or even just to at least think about oneself.

Sometimes in confession they refer to a weak memory, which does not seem to give the opportunity to remember sins. Indeed, it often happens that you easily forget your sins, but does this only happen because of a weak memory?
In confession, a weak memory is not an excuse; forgetfulness - from inattention, frivolity, callousness, insensitivity to sin. Sin that burdens the conscience will not be forgotten. After all, for example, cases that especially hurt our pride or, on the contrary, flattered our vanity, we remember praise addressed to us for many years. We remember everything that makes a strong impression on us for a long time and clearly, and if we forget our sins, doesn’t this mean that we simply do not attach serious importance to them?
A sign of completed repentance is a feeling of lightness, purity, inexplicable joy, when sin seems as difficult and impossible as this joy was just far away.

Our repentance will not be complete if, while repenting, we do not confirm internally in the determination not to return to the confessed sin.
But, they say, how is this possible? How can I promise myself and my confessor that I will not repeat my sin? Wouldn't the opposite be closer to the truth - the certainty that the sin will be repeated? After all, everyone knows from experience that after a while you inevitably return to the same sins. Watching yourself from year to year, you do not notice any improvement, “you jump and again remain in the same place.”
It would be terrible if that were the case. Fortunately, this is not the case. There is no case when, if there is a good desire to improve, successive confessions and Holy Communion do not produce beneficial changes in the soul.
But the fact is that, first of all, we are not our own judges. A person cannot correctly judge himself whether he has become worse or better, since both he, the judge, and what he judges are changing quantities.

Increased severity towards oneself, increased spiritual clarity, heightened fear of sin can give the illusion that sins have multiplied: they remained the same, maybe even weakened, but we did not notice them like that before.
Besides. God, in His special providence, often closes our eyes to our successes in order to protect us from our worst enemy - vanity and pride. It often happens that sin remains, but frequent confession and Communion of the Holy Mysteries have shaken and weakened its roots. And the very struggle with sin, suffering about one’s sins - isn’t it an acquisition?
“Do not be afraid,” says John Climacus , - even if you fall every day, and do not depart from the ways of God. Stand courageously and the angel protecting you will honor your patience."

If there is no this feeling of relief, rebirth, you must have the strength to return again to confession, to completely free your soul from impurity, to wash it with tears from blackness and filth. Those who strive for this will always achieve what they are looking for.
Just let us not take credit for our successes, count on our own strengths, rely on our own efforts - this would mean ruining everything we have acquired.

“Gather my scattered mind. Lord, cleanse my frozen heart: like Peter, give me repentance, like a publican - sighs, and like a harlot - tears.”

And here is the advice of Archbishop Arseny / Chudovsky / on preparing for confession:
“We come to confession with the intention of receiving forgiveness of sins from the Lord God through a priest. So know that your confession is empty, idle, invalid and even offensive to the Lord if you go to confession without any preparation, without testing your conscience, according to out of shame or for some other reason, you hide your sins, you confess without contrition and tenderness, formally, coldly, mechanically, without a firm intention to correct yourself in the future.

They often approach confession unprepared. What does it mean to prepare? Diligently test your conscience, recall and feel your sins in your heart, decide to tell all of them, without any concealment, to your confessor, repent of them, but avoid them in the future. And since our memory often fails us, those who write down remembered sins on paper do well. And about those sins that you, no matter how much you want, cannot remember, do not worry that they will not be forgiven you. Just have a sincere determination to repent of everything and with tears ask the Lord to forgive you all your sins, which you remember and which you do not remember.

In confession, say everything that bothers you, that hurts you, so don’t be shy to once again talk about your previous sins. This is good, it will testify that you constantly walk with a feeling of your damnation and overcome any shame from discovering your sinful ulcers.
There are so-called unconfessed sins that many live with for many years, and perhaps their entire lives. Sometimes I want to reveal them to my confessor, but it’s too embarrassing to talk about them, and so it goes by year after year; and yet they constantly burden the soul and prepare for it eternal condemnation. Some of these people are happy, the time comes. The Lord sends them a confessor, opens the mouths and hearts of these unrepentant sinners, and they confess all their sins. The abscess thus breaks through, and these people receive spiritual relief and, as it were, recovery. However, how one must be afraid of unrepentant sins!

Unconfessed sins are like our debt, which we constantly feel and constantly burden us. And what better way than to pay off the debt - then your soul will be at peace; It’s the same with sins - these spiritual debts of ours: you confess them to your confessor, and your heart will feel light, easy.
Repentance before confession is a victory over oneself, it is a victorious trophy, so that the one who has repented is worthy of all respect and honor.”

Preparing for Confession

As a sample for determining one’s inner spiritual state and for discovering one’s sins, one can take the “Confession,” slightly modified in relation to modern conditions. Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov .
* * *
I confess that I am a great sinner (name of rivers) to the Lord God and our Savior Jesus Christ and to you, honorable father, all my sins and all my evil deeds, which I have done in all the days of my life, which I have thought even to this day.
I sinned: I did not keep the vows of Holy Baptism, I did not keep my monastic promise, but I lied about everything and created indecent things for myself before the Face of God.
Forgive us, Merciful Lord (for the people). Forgive me, honest father (for singles). I sinned: before the Lord by lack of faith and sluggishness in thoughts, all from the enemy against faith and the Holy. Churches; ingratitude for all His great and unceasing benefits, calling on the name of God without need - in vain.
Forgive me, honest father.
I sinned: lack of love for the Lord, lower than fear, failure to fulfill the holy. His will and St. commandments, careless depiction of the sign of the cross, irreverent veneration of St. icons; did not wear a cross, was ashamed to be baptized and confess the Lord.
Forgive me, honest father.
I sinned: I did not preserve love for my neighbor, did not feed the hungry and thirsty, did not clothe the naked, did not visit the sick and prisoners in prison; the law of God and St. I did not learn the traditions of my fathers out of laziness and negligence.
Forgive me, honest father.
I sinned: by not fulfilling church and cell rules, by going to the temple of God without diligence, with laziness and negligence; leaving morning, evening and other prayers; during a church service - he sinned by idle talk, laughter, dozing, inattention to reading and singing, absent-mindedness, leaving the temple during the service and not going to the temple of God due to laziness and negligence.
Forgive me, honest father.
I sinned: by daring to go to the temple of God in uncleanness and touch all holy things.
Forgive me, honest father.
Sinned: by not honoring the feasts of God; violation of St. fasting and non-keeping of fast days - Wednesday and Friday; intemperance in food and drink, polyeating, secret eating, disordered eating, drunkenness, dissatisfaction with food and drink, clothing, parasitism; one’s own will and reason through fulfillment, self-righteousness, self-indulgence and self-justification; not properly honoring parents, not raising children in the Orthodox faith, cursing their children and their neighbors.
Forgive me, honest father.
Sinned by: unbelief, superstition, doubt, despair, despondency, blasphemy, false religion, dancing, smoking, playing cards, gossip, remembering the living for their repose, eating the blood of animals (VI Ecumenical Council, 67th canon. Acts of the Holy Apostles, 15 ch.).
Forgive me, honest father.
I sinned: by seeking help from intermediaries of demonic power - occultists: psychics, bioenergeticists, non-contact massage therapists, hypnotists, “folk” healers, sorcerers, sorcerers, healers, fortune tellers, astrologers, parapsychologists; participation in coding sessions, removal of “damage and evil eye”, spiritualism; contacting UFOs and “higher intelligence”; connection to "cosmic energies".
Forgive me, honest father.
Sinned: by watching and listening to television and radio programs with the participation of psychics, healers, astrologers, fortune-tellers, healers.
Forgive me, honest father.
Sinned: by studying various occult teachings, theosophy, Eastern cults, the teaching of “living ethics”; doing yoga, meditation, dousing according to Porfiry Ivanov’s system.
Forgive me, honest father.
Sinned: by reading and storing occult literature.
Forgive me, honest father.
Sinned: by attending speeches by Protestant preachers, participating in meetings of Baptists, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Adventists, the "Virgin Center", "white brotherhood" and other sects, accepting heretical baptism, deviating into heresy and sectarian teaching.
Forgive me, honest father.
I sinned: pride, conceit, envy, conceit, suspicion, irritability.
Forgive me, honest father.
I sinned: by condemning all people - living and dead, by slander and anger, by memory, hatred, evil for evil by retribution, slander, reproach, wickedness, laziness, deception, hypocrisy, gossip, disputes, stubbornness, unwillingness to give in and serve one's neighbor; sinned with gloating, malice, slander, insult, ridicule, reproach and man-pleasing.
Forgive me, honest father.
Sinned: incontinence of mental and physical feelings; spiritual and physical impurity, pleasure and procrastination in unclean thoughts, addiction, voluptuousness, immodest views of wives and young men; in a dream, prodigal desecration at night, intemperance in married life.
Forgive me, honest father.
I sinned: by impatience with illnesses and sorrows, by loving the comforts of this life, by captivity of the mind and hardening of the heart, by not forcing myself to do any good deed.
Forgive me, honest father.
I sinned: by inattention to the promptings of my conscience, negligence, laziness in reading the word of God and negligence in acquiring the Jesus Prayer. I sinned through covetousness, love of money, unrighteous acquisition, embezzlement, theft, stinginess, attachment to various kinds of things and people.
Forgive me, honest father.
I sinned: by condemning bishops and priests, by disobeying spiritual fathers, by murmuring and resenting them and by not confessing my sins to them out of oblivion, negligence out of false shame.
Sinned: by unmercifulness, contempt and condemnation of the poor; going to the temple of God without fear and reverence.
Forgive me, honest father.
Sinned: laziness, relaxation, love of bodily rest, excessive sleeping, voluptuous dreams, biased views, shameless body movements, touching, fornication, adultery, corruption, fornication, unmarried marriages; (those who performed abortions on themselves or others, or inclined someone to this great sin - infanticide, sinned gravely).
Forgive me, honest father.
I sinned: by spending time in empty and idle activities, in empty conversations, in excessive watching of television.
I sinned: despondency, cowardice, impatience, murmuring, despair of salvation, lack of hope in God’s mercy, insensibility, ignorance, arrogance, shamelessness.
Forgive me, honest father.
I sinned: by slandering my neighbor, anger, insult, irritation and ridicule, non-reconciliation, enmity and hatred, dissent, spying on other people's sins and eavesdropping on other people's conversations.
Forgive me, honest father.
I sinned: by coldness and insensitivity in confession, by belittling sins, by blaming others rather than by condemning myself.
Forgive me, honest father.
Sinned: against the Life-giving and Holy Mysteries of Christ, approaching Them without proper preparation, without contrition and the fear of God.
Forgive me, honest father.
I have sinned: in word, in thought and with all my senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch - voluntarily or involuntarily, knowledge or ignorance, in reason or foolishness, and it is not possible to list all my sins according to their multitude. But in all of these, as well as in those unspeakable through oblivion, I repent and regret, and henceforth, with the help of God, I promise to take care.
You, honest father, forgive me and release me from all of this and pray for me, a sinner, and on that Day of Judgment testify before God about the sins I have confessed. Amen.

General Confession

As you know, the church practices not only separate, but also the so-called “general confession”, in which the priest absolves sins without hearing them from the penitents.
The replacement of a separate confession with a general one is due to the fact that now the priest often does not have the opportunity to accept confession from everyone. However, such a replacement is, of course, extremely undesirable and not everyone and not always can participate in general confession and after it go to Communion.
During general confession, the penitent does not have to reveal the dirt of his spiritual vestments, does not have to be ashamed of them in front of the priest, and his pride, pride and vanity will not be hurt. Thus, there will not be that punishment for sin, which, in addition to our repentance, would gain us God's mercy.

Secondly, general confession is fraught with the danger that such a sinner will approach Holy Communion who, during a separate confession, would not be allowed to come to Him by the priest.
Many serious sins require serious and lengthy repentance. And then the priest prohibits communion for a certain period and imposes penance (prayers of repentance, bows, abstinence in something). In other cases, the priest must receive a promise from the repentant not to repeat the sin again and only then be allowed to receive communion.
Therefore, general confession cannot be started in the following cases:

1) those who have not been to a separate confession for a long time - several years or many months;
2) those who have either a mortal sin or a sin that greatly hurts and torments his conscience.

In such cases, the confessor must, after all other participants in the confession, approach the priest and tell him the sins that lie on his conscience.
Participation in general confession can be considered acceptable (due to need) only for those who confess and receive communion quite often, check themselves from time to time in separate confession and are confident that the sins that they say in confession will not serve as a reason for prohibition for them Participles.
At the same time, it is also necessary that we participate in general confession either with our spiritual father or with a priest who knows us well.

Confession from Elder Zosima

The possibility in some cases of silent (i.e., without words) confession, and how one should prepare for it, is indicated by the following story from the biography of Elder Zosima from the Trinity-Sergius Lavra.
“There was a case with two ladies. They went to the elder’s cell, and one repented of her sins all the way - “Lord, how sinful I am, I did this and that wrong, I condemned this and that, etc..” forgive me. Lord".... And the heart and mind seem to fall at the feet of the Lord.
“Forgive me, Lord, and give me strength not to insult You like this again.”

She tried to remember all her sins and repented and repented along the way.
The other one calmly walked towards the elder. “I’ll come, I’ll confess, I’m a sinner in everything, I’ll tell you, I’ll take communion tomorrow.” And then she thinks: “What kind of material should I buy for my daughter’s dress, and what style should I choose for her to suit her face...” and similar worldly thoughts occupied the heart and mind of the second lady.

Both of them entered Father Zosima’s cell together. Addressing the first one, the elder said:
- Get on your knees, I will now forgive you your sins.
- Why, father, I haven’t told you yet?..
“No need to say, you told the Lord all the time, you prayed to God all the way, so now I will allow you, and tomorrow I will bless you to take communion... And you,” he turned to another lady, “you go buy a dress for your daughter.” material, choose a style, sew what you have in mind.
And when your soul comes to repentance, come to confession. And now I won’t confess to you.”

About penances

In some cases, the priest may impose penance on the penitent - spiritual exercises prescribed with the aim of eradicating the habits of sin. In accordance with this goal, feats of prayer and good deeds are assigned, which must be directly opposite to the sin for which they are assigned: for example, works of mercy are assigned to the lover of money, fasting to the unchaste, kneeling prayers to those weakening in faith, etc. Sometimes, due to the stubborn unrepentance of a person confessing to some sin, the confessor may excommunicate him for some period of time from participating in the Sacrament of Communion. Penance must be treated as the will of God, spoken through the priest about the penitent, and must be accepted for obligatory fulfillment. If it is impossible for one reason or another to perform penance, you should contact the priest who imposed it to resolve the difficulties that have arisen.

About the time of the Sacrament of Confession

According to existing church practice, the Sacrament of Confession is performed in churches in the morning on the day of the Divine Liturgy. In some churches, confession also happens the night before. In churches where the Liturgy is served every day, confession is daily. Under no circumstances should you be late for the beginning of Confession, since the Sacrament begins with the reading of the rite, in which everyone who wishes to confess must prayerfully participate.

Final actions at confession: after confessing sins and reading the prayer of absolution by the priest, the penitent kisses the Cross and Gospel lying on the lectern and takes a blessing from the confessor.

The connection of the Sacrament of Anointing with the forgiveness of sins
“The prayer of faith will heal the sick... and if he has committed sins, they will forgive him” (James 5:15)
No matter how carefully we try to remember and write down our sins, it may happen that a significant part of them will not be told in confession, some will be forgotten, and some will simply not be realized and not noticed due to spiritual blindness.
In this case, the church comes to the aid of the penitent with the Sacrament of Unction or, as it is often called, “unction.” This sacrament is based on the instructions of the Apostle James, the head of the Jerusalem Church.

“If any of you is sick, let him call the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will heal the sick man, and the Lord will restore him; and if he has committed sins, they will forgive him” (James 5:14 -15).

Thus, in the Sacrament of the Blessing of Anointing, we are forgiven of sins that were not said in confession due to ignorance or forgetfulness. And since illness is a consequence of our sinful state, liberation from sin often leads to healing of the body.
Some of the careless Christians neglect the Sacraments of the church, do not attend confession for several or even many years. And when they realize its necessity and come to confession, then, of course, it is difficult for them to remember all the sins they have committed over many years. In these cases, the Optina elders always recommended that such repentant Christians take part in three Sacraments at once: confession, Blessing of Anointing and Communion of the Holy Mysteries.
Some of the elders believe that in a few years not only the seriously ill, but also all those who are zealous for the salvation of their souls can participate in the Sacrament of Anointing.

At the same time, it should be pointed out that those Christians who do not neglect the fairly frequent Sacrament of Confession were not advised by the Optina elders to undergo unction unless they had a serious illness.
In modern church practice, the Sacrament of Anointing is performed in churches annually during Great Lent.
Those Christians who, for some reason, will not have the opportunity to take part in the Sacrament of Anointing, need to remember the instructions of the elders Barsanuphius and John, which were given to the disciple in response to the question - “oblivion destroys the remembrance of many sins - what should I do?” The answer was:
“What kind of lender can you find more faithful than God, who knows what has not yet happened?
So, lay the account of the sins you have forgotten on Him and tell him:
“Master, since forgetting one’s sins is a sin, then I have sinned in everything to You, the One Knower of the Heart. You forgive me for everything according to Your love for mankind, for there the splendor of Your glory is manifested, when You do not repay sinners for their sins, for You are blessed forever and ever."

COMMUNION OF THE HOLY MYSTERIES OF THE BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST

The meaning of the Sacrament

“Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink His blood, you will not have life in you” (John 6:53)
“He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him” (John 6:56)
With these words, the Lord pointed out the absolute necessity for all Christians to participate in the Sacrament of the Eucharist. The Sacrament itself was established by the Lord at the Last Supper.

“Jesus took the bread and, having blessed it, broke it and, giving it to the disciples, said: Take, eat: this is My Body. And taking the cup and giving thanks, he gave it to them and said: Drink from it, all of you, for this is My Blood of the New Testament, poured out for many for the remission of sins" (Matthew 26:26-28).
As the Holy Church teaches, a Christian, receiving Holy Communion, is mysteriously united with Christ, for in every particle of the fragmented Lamb the whole Christ is contained.

The significance of the Sacrament of the Eucharist is immeasurable, the comprehension of which exceeds the capabilities of our mind.
This Sacrament ignites Christ's love in us, lifts the heart to God, gives rise to virtues in it, restrains the attack of dark forces on us, gives strength against temptations, revives the soul and body, heals them, gives them strength, returns virtues - restores that purity in us the soul that the first-born Adam had before the Fall.

Reflections on the Divine Liturgy ep. Seraphim Zvezdinsky There is a description of the vision of one ascetic elder, which clearly characterizes the meaning for a Christian of the Communion of the Holy Mysteries.
The ascetic saw: “a fiery sea, the waves rose and seethed, presenting a terrible sight. On the opposite shore there was a beautiful garden. From there came the singing of birds, and the fragrance of flowers.
The ascetic hears a voice: “Cross this sea.” But there was no way to go. He stood for a long time, wondering how to cross, and heard the voice again.

“Take the two wings that the Divine Eucharist gave: one wing is the Divine Flesh of Christ, the second wing is His Life-giving Blood. Without them, no matter how great the feat, it is impossible to achieve the Kingdom of Heaven.”

O. Valentin Svenitsky writes:
“The Eucharist is the basis of that real unity that is expected in the general resurrection, for both in the transubstantiation of the Gifts and in our communion is the guarantee of our salvation and resurrection, not only spiritual, but also physical.”
Elder Parthenius of Kyiv Once, in a reverent feeling of fiery love for the Lord, I repeated the prayer for a long time: “Lord Jesus, live in me and give me life in You,” and I heard a quiet, sweet voice: “He who eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood abides in Me and I in him ".
In some spiritual illnesses, the sacrament of Communion is the most effective healing: for example, when a person is attacked by so-called “blasphemous thoughts,” the spiritual fathers propose to fight them with frequent communion of the Holy Mysteries.
Holy Righteous Fr. John of Kronstadt writes about the significance of the Sacrament of the Eucharist in the fight against strong temptations:
“If you feel the weight of the struggle and see that you cannot cope with evil alone, run to your spiritual father and ask him to impart the Holy Mysteries to you. This is a great and all-powerful weapon in the struggle.”

For one mentally ill person, Father John recommended, as a means of recovery, to live at home and partake of the Holy Mysteries more often.
Repentance alone is not enough to preserve the purity of our hearts and strengthen our spirit in piety and virtues. The Lord said: “When the unclean spirit leaves a person, he walks through waterless places, looking for rest and, not finding it, says: I will return to my house from where I came. And when he comes, he finds it swept and tidied up. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more evil than themselves, and having entered, they live there, and the last thing for that person is worse than the first (Luke 11:24-26).

So, if repentance cleanses us from the defilement of our soul, then the communion of the Body and Blood of the Lord will fill us with grace and block the return into our soul of the evil spirit expelled by repentance.
Therefore, according to the custom of the church, the Sacraments of Repentance (confession) and Communion follow directly one after the other. And Rev. Seraphim of Sarov says that the rebirth of the soul is accomplished through two sacraments: “through repentance and complete cleansing from all sinful filth by the Most Pure and Life-Giving Mysteries of the Body and Blood of Christ.”
At the same time, no matter how necessary the communion of the Body and Blood of Christ is for us, it cannot take place if repentance does not precede it.

As Archbishop Arseny (Chudovskoy) writes:
“It is a great thing to receive the Holy Mysteries and great are the fruits from this: the renewal of our hearts by the Holy Spirit, the blissful mood of the spirit. And this is such a great thing, it requires such careful preparation from us. And therefore you want to receive the grace of God from Holy Communion,” try your best to correct your heart."

How often should you partake of the Holy Mysteries?

To the question: “how often should one partake of the Holy Mysteries?” St. John answers: “the more often, the better.” However, he sets an indispensable condition: to approach Holy Communion with sincere repentance of one’s sins and a clear conscience.
In the biography of Rev. Macarius the Great has his words to one woman who suffered cruelly from the spell of a sorcerer:
“You have come under attack because you have not received the Holy Mysteries for five weeks.”
Holy Righteous Fr. John of Kronstadt pointed to the forgotten apostolic rule - to excommunicate those who have not been to Holy Communion for three weeks.

Rev. Seraphim of Sarov commanded the Diveyevo sisters to unforgettably confess and receive communion on all fasts and, in addition, on the twelve feasts, without tormenting themselves with the thought that they are unworthy, “since one should not miss the opportunity to use the grace bestowed by the communion of the holy Mysteries of Christ as often as possible. Trying “, if possible, to concentrate in the humble consciousness of one’s complete sinfulness, with hope and firm faith in God’s ineffable mercy, one should proceed to the Holy Sacrament that redeems everything and everyone.”
Of course, it is very saving to receive communion on your name day and birthday, and for spouses on their wedding day.

Fr. Alexey Zosimovsky recommended that his spiritual children begin Communion also on memorable days of death and name days of deceased loved ones; this connects the souls of the living with the dead.
Archbishop Arseny (Chudovskoy) writes: “Continuous Communion should be the ideal of all Christians. But the enemy of the human race... immediately realized what power the Lord had given us in the Holy Mysteries. And he began the work of rejecting Christians from Holy Communion. From the history of Christianity we know that at first Christians received communion daily, then 4 times a week, then on Sundays and holidays, and then during all fasts, i.e. 4 times a year, finally, barely once a year, and now even less often.” .

“A Christian must always be ready for death and for Communion,” said one of the spirit-bearing fathers.
So, it is up to us to frequently participate in the Last Supper of Christ and to receive at it the great grace of the Mysteries of the Body and Blood of Christ.
One of the spiritual daughters of the elder Fr. Alexia Mecheva once told him:
- Sometimes you yearn in your soul to unite with the Lord through Communion, but the thought that you recently received Communion holds you back.
“This means the Lord touches the heart,” the elder answered her, “so all these cold reasonings are no longer necessary and appropriate... I give you communion often, I proceed from the purpose of introducing you to the Lord, so that you feel how it feels.” It’s good to be with Christ.
One of the wise shepherds of the twentieth century, Fr. Valentin Svenitsky writes:
“Without frequent communion, spiritual life in the world is impossible. After all, your body dries out and becomes powerless when you do not give it food. And your soul requires its heavenly food. Otherwise, it will dry out and become weak.
Without communion, the spiritual fire in you will die out. It will be filled with worldly rubbish. To free ourselves from this rubbish we need a fire that burns the thorns of our sins.

Spiritual life is not abstract theology, but real and most undoubted life in Christ. But how can it begin if you do not accept the fullness of the Spirit of Christ in this terrible and great sacrament? How can you live in Him without accepting the Flesh and Blood of Christ?
And here, as in repentance, the enemy will not leave you without attacks. And here he will plot all sorts of intrigues for you. He will erect many external and internal barriers.

Either you will have no time, then you will feel unwell, or you will want to put it off for a while, “to better prepare.” Do not listen. Go. Confess, take communion. You don’t know when the Lord will call you.”
Let every soul listen sensitively to its heart and be afraid to listen to the hand of the Distinguished Guest knocking on its door; let her be afraid that her hearing will become coarse from the vanity of the world and will not be able to hear the quiet and gentle calls coming from the kingdom of Light.
Let the soul be afraid of replacing the experience of heavenly joy of unity with the Lord with the muddy entertainments of the world or the base consolations of bodily nature.

And when she is able to tear herself away from the world and everything sensory, when she yearns for the light of the Heavenly world and reaches out to the Lord, let her dare to unite with Him in the great Sacrament, while dressing herself in the spiritual clothes of sincere repentance and the deepest humility and the unchanging fullness of spiritual poverty.

Let the soul also not be embarrassed by the fact that, despite all its repentance, it is still unworthy of Communion.
This is what the elder Fr. Alexy Mechev:
“Take communion more often and don’t say that you are unworthy. If you say that, you will never receive communion, because you will never be worthy. Do you think that there is at least one person on Earth worthy of communion of the Holy Mysteries?
No one is worthy of this, and if we do receive communion, it is only by the special mercy of God.
We are not created for communion, but communion is for us. It is we, the sinners, the unworthy, the weak, who need this saving source more than anyone else.”

And here is what the famous Moscow pastor Fr. said about frequent communion of the Holy Mysteries. Valentin Amfitheatrov:
"... You need to be ready every day for communion, as if you were ready for death... Ancient Christians took communion every day.
We must approach the Holy Chalice and think that we are unworthy and cry out with humility: everything is here, in You, Lord - mother, father, husband - you are all, Lord, joy and consolation.”

Famous throughout Orthodox Russia, the elder of the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery schema-abbot Savva (1898-1980) in his book “On the Divine Liturgy” wrote this:

“The most pleasant confirmation of how much our Lord Jesus Christ Himself desires for us to begin the Lord’s Table is his appeal to the apostles: “I desire to eat this Passover with you, before I will not even accept torment” (Luke 22:15) .
He did not speak to them about the Old Testament Passover: it took place annually and was ordinary, but from now on it must stop completely. He ardently desired the Passover of the New Testament, that Passover in which He sacrifices Himself, offers Himself as food.
The words of Jesus Christ can be expressed this way: with the desire of love and mercy, “I longed to eat this Passover with you,” because it embodies all of My love for you, and all of your true life and bliss.

If the Lord, out of His ineffable love, so ardently desires her not for His own sake, but for his sake, then how ardently we should desire her, out of love and gratitude to Him, and for our own good and bliss!
Christ said: “Take, eat...” (Mark 14:22). He offered us His Body not for a one-time, or infrequent and occasional use, as medicine, but for constant and everlasting nourishment: eat, not taste. But if the Body of Christ were offered to us only as medicine, then even then we would have to ask permission to receive communion as often as possible, because We are weak in soul and body, and spiritual weaknesses especially affect us.

The Lord gave us the Holy Mysteries as our daily bread, according to His word: “The bread I will give, this is my flesh” (John 6:51).
From this it is clear that Christ not only allowed, but also commanded that we often begin to eat His meal. We do not leave ourselves for a long time without ordinary bread, knowing that otherwise our strength will weaken and bodily life will cease. How can we not be afraid to leave ourselves for a long time without heavenly, divine bread, without the Bread of Life?
Those who rarely approach the Holy Chalice usually say in their own defense: “We are unworthy, we are not ready.” And whoever is not ready, let him not be lazy and get ready.

Not a single person is worthy of communion with the all-holy Lord, because God alone is sinless, but we are given the right to believe, repent, correct, be forgiven and trust in the grace of the Savior of sinners and the Discoverer of the lost.
Whoever carelessly leaves himself unworthy of communion with Christ on earth will remain unworthy of communion with Him in Heaven. Is it wise to remove yourself from the source of life, power, light and grace? He is wise who, to the best of his ability, correcting his unworthiness, resorts to Jesus Christ in His Most Pure Mysteries, otherwise the humble consciousness of his unworthiness can turn into coldness towards faith and the work of his salvation. Deliver, Lord!"
In conclusion, we present the opinion of the official publication of the Russian Orthodox Church - the Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate (JMP No. 12, 1989, p. 76) regarding the frequency of communion:

“Following the example of Christians of the first centuries, when not only monks, but also ordinary laymen, at every opportunity, resorted to the Sacraments of Confession and Holy Communion, realizing the great significance they have, and we should, as often as possible, cleanse our conscience with repentance, strengthen our lives with confession faith in God and proceed to the Sacrament of Holy Communion, in order to thereby receive mercy and forgiveness of sins from God and unite more closely with Christ...
In modern practice, it is customary for all believers to receive communion at least once a month, and more often during fasting, two or three times per fast. They also receive communion on Angel's Day and birthdays. Believers clarify the order and frequency of communion of the Holy Mysteries with their confessor and, with his blessing, try to maintain the timing of communion and confession.”

How to prepare for Holy Communion

The basis of preparation for the Sacrament of Communion is repentance. Awareness of one's sinfulness reveals personal weaknesses and arouses the desire to become better through unity with Christ in His Most Pure Mysteries. Prayer and fasting set the soul in a repentant mood.
The “Orthodox Prayer Book” (ed. Moscow Patriarchate, 1980) indicates that “... preparation for Holy Communion (in church practice it is called persecution) lasts several days and concerns both the physical and spiritual life of a person. The body is prescribed abstinence , i.e. bodily cleanliness and restriction in food (fasting). On days of fasting, food of animal origin is excluded - meat, milk, butter, eggs and, during strict fasting, bread, vegetables, and fruits are not consumed in moderation. should be distracted by the little things of life and have fun.

On the days of fasting, one should attend services in church, if circumstances permit, and more diligently follow the household prayer rule: whoever usually does not read all the morning and evening prayers, let him read everything in full. On the eve of communion, you must be at the evening service and read at home, in addition to the usual prayers for the future, the canon of repentance, the canon to the Mother of God and the Guardian Angel. The canons are read either one after the other in full, or combined in this way: the irmos of the first hymn of the penitential canon ("Like on dry ground...") and the troparia are read, then the troparia of the first hymn of the canon to the Mother of God ("Contained by many..."), omitting the irmos “I have passed through the water,” and the troparia of the canon to the Guardian Angel, also without the Irmos, “Let us drink to the Lord.” The following songs are read in the same way. The troparia before the canon to the Mother of God and the Guardian Angel are omitted in this case.
The canon for communion is also read and, for those who wish, an akathist to the Sweetest Jesus. After midnight they no longer eat or drink, for it is customary to begin the Sacrament of Communion on an empty stomach. In the morning, the morning prayers and the entire sequence for Holy Communion are read, except for the canon read the day before.

Before communion, confession is necessary - either in the evening or in the morning, before the liturgy."

It should be noted that many believers rarely receive communion, since they cannot find the time and energy for long fasting, which thereby turns into an end in itself. In addition, a significant, if not the majority of the modern flock consists of Christians who have recently entered the Church, and therefore have not yet acquired the proper prayer skills. As such, the specified preparation may be overwhelming.
The Church leaves the question of the frequency of Communion and the scope of preparation for It to priests and spiritual fathers to decide. It is with the spiritual father that one must agree on how often to take communion, how long to fast, and what prayer rule to perform before this. Different priests bless differently depending on the co-. the state of health, age, degree of church membership and prayer experience of the fasting person.
Those who come to the Sacraments of Confession and Communion for the first time can be recommended to focus all their attention on preparing for the first confession in their lives.

It is very important to forgive all your offenders before Communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ. In a state of anger or hostility towards someone, you should under no circumstances take communion.

According to the custom of the Church, after their baptism, up to the age of seven, infants can receive communion frequently, every Sunday, moreover, without prior confession, and starting from 5-6 years old, and if possible, from an earlier age, it is useful to teach children to receive communion on an empty stomach.

Customs of the Church for the Day of Communion of the Holy Mysteries

Having risen in the morning, the one preparing for Communion must brush his teeth so that no unpleasant odor is felt from him, which in some way offends the very sanctity of the Gifts.

You need to come to the temple at the beginning of the Liturgy without delay. When carrying out the Holy Gifts, all communicants bow to the ground. The prostration is repeated when the priest finishes reading the pre-communion prayer, “I believe, Lord, and I confess...”.
The communicants should approach the Holy Chalice gradually, without crowding, pushing, or trying to get ahead of each other. It is best to read the Jesus Prayer while approaching the Chalice: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner”; or prayerfully sing with everyone in the temple: “Receive the Body of Christ, taste the immortal source.”

When approaching the Holy Chalice, you do not need to cross yourself, but have your hands folded crosswise on your chest (right to left) for fear of touching the Chalice or the spoon.
Having received the Body and Blood of the Lord from the spoon into the mouth, the communicant must kiss the edge of the Holy Chalice, as if the very rib of the Savior, from which blood and water flowed. Women should not receive Communion with painted lips.
Moving away from the Holy Chalice, you need to make a bow in front of the icon of the Savior and go to the table with “warmth”, and while drinking it, wash your mouth so that no small particle remains in your mouth.

The day of communion is a special day for the Christian soul, when it is united with Christ in a special, mysterious way. Just as for the reception of the most honored guests the whole house is cleaned and put in order and all ordinary affairs are abandoned, so the day of communion should be celebrated as a great holiday, devoting them, as far as possible, to solitude, prayer, concentration and spiritual reading.
Elder Hieromonk Nilus of Sorsky, after communion of the Holy Mysteries, used to spend some time in deep silence “concentrating within himself and advised others the same, saying that “we need to give silence and silence the convenience of the Holy Mysteries to have a salutary effect on the soul that is sick with sins.”

Elder Fr. Alexy Zosimovsky, in addition, points out the need to especially protect oneself in the first two hours after communion; At this time, the human enemy is trying in every possible way so that a person insults the shrine, and it would cease to sanctify a person. She can be offended by sight, by careless words, by hearing, by verbosity, and by condemnation. He recommends on the day of Communion, be silent more.

“Therefore, it is necessary for those who want to begin Holy Communion to judge who is starting what, and for those who have received communion, what they have received. And before Communion, one needs reasoning about oneself and the great Gift, and after Communion, one needs reasoning and memory about the Heavenly Gift. Before Communion, one needs a heartfelt repentance, humility, putting aside malice, anger, the whims of the flesh, reconciliation with one’s neighbor, a firm proposal and will for a new and pious life in Christ Jesus. After Communion, correction is needed, evidence of love for God and neighbor, thanksgiving, zealous striving for the new, holy and immaculate. In a word, before Communion, true repentance and heartfelt contrition are needed; after repentance, the fruits of repentance and good deeds are needed, without which there can be no true repentance. They received Communion" (St. Tikhon of Zadonsk).
May the Lord help us all in this matter.

List of used literature
1) Ep. Ignatius Brianchaninov. "To help the penitent." St. Petersburg, "Satis" 1994.
2) St. rights. John of Kronstadt. "Thoughts of a Christian about Repentance and Holy Communion." M., Synodal Library. 1990.
3) Prot. Grigory Dyachenko. "Questions for children's confession." M., "Pilgrim". 1994.
4) Schema-abbot Savva. "On the Divine Liturgy". Manuscript.
5) Schema-abbot Parthenius. “The path to the only thing needed - Communion with God” Manuscript.
6) ZhMP. 1989, 12. p. 76.
7) N.E. Pestov. "Modern practice of Orthodox piety." T. 2. St. Petersburg, "Satis". 1994.