Confession

In Confession [a person] is healed from spiritual illnesses, that is from sins.
Prelate Filaret, metropolitan of Moscow.

Confession is a sacrament, in which the person professing his or her sins, at the visible reception of forgiveness from the priest, is invisibly delivered from sins by Jesus Christ.

The confession is made prior to the beginning of an evening divine service.

The confession is made as follows.

The priest stands before the lectern, on which the Gospel and a cross – symbols of the invisible presence of the Lord – lay. The confessor begins the confession by reading “The Brief Confession Before a Spiritual Father”: “I confess to the Lord my God before thee, reverend father, all my sins which I have committed up to the present day and hour, in deed, word and thought. Every day and every hour I sin through ingratitude to God for His great and numberless blessings to me and His most gracious providence and care for me, a sinner. I have sinned through:

I have sinned withal my senses, both spiritual and physical, wherefore I repent to the Lord and ask forgiveness. Absolve all my sins, reverend father, and bless me to partake of the Mysteries of Christ.”

When the confession has come to an end, the confessor kneels and the priest covers his or her head with the stole and reads over him or her a permitting prayer. With the final words thereof, the priest makes the sign of the cross over the head of the confessor. The confessor, having risen from his or her knees, crosses himself or herself, kisses the cross and the Gospel as a token of love and reverence before the Lord and, having folded his or her hands with the palms facing upwards, is blessed by the priest. Having taken the blessing, the confessed departs and yields his or her place to the following.

If the confessor has received permission, it means that he or she has received remission of all the confessed sins and admission (presuming due preparation) to Communion. If the priest considers it to be impossible to deliver the confessor of his or her sins because of their heft or insincerity, the permitting prayer is not read and the confessor is not admitted to Communion.

Advice to those preparing for confession

Preparing for confession, it is necessary to remember firmly that the confession is sincere repentance, instead of an opportunity to justify the acts by everyday circumstances or behaviours of others.

It is necessary to confess specific sins. Sins can be written down on a piece of paper, which – after confession – should be destroyed (for example burnt).

The recognition of sins will be helped by an exemplary listing of them: