How to confess correctly: the necessary knowledge

When a person is going to the first confession in life, he has many questions. Our ancestors for the first time confessed after 7 years and therefore from childhood knew how to behave correctly. Nowadays, many are baptized, but they have never been in confession. We are often afraid not only of the first confession, but also of the subsequent ones. In fact, one should not be afraid of confession, but of sin. How to confess and receive Holy Communion?

Remember that next to you and the priest at confession is the Lord Jesus Christ himself, accepting your confession. Therefore, what you tell the priest, you tell God himself. If your repentance is sincere, sins after confession are completely forgiven. As you know, Orthodox Christians believe that the soul after death must pass through trials called tolls, which are answered by demons for all the sins committed in life. The sins are recorded by a devil specially attached to man. So, if sins were confessed, the demons no longer see them in their scrolls, according to the testimony of authoritative Orthodox sources. If you forget any sin, then it is also cleared in confession. However, if sin was deliberately concealed, then it increases the degree of sin - and the whole confession will be considered invalid. Therefore, in advance, prepare yourself mentally for the fact that you have to say everything that burdens your conscience, no matter how hard it seems to you. If you forgot to tell a confession about something serious, say this at the next confession.

How to properly prepare for confession? If the confession is first, then it is worth negotiating with the priest about it, because it is usually long and it's better to plan in advance a confession. If you are afraid, try to choose the most attractive priest for the first confession. Different fathers communicate differently with parishioners in order to better understand this or that priest, one must be like the Sunday services and listen to the sermon.

Confession as a sacrament is available only to baptized. There are special books for those preparing for confession. They list sins for those who want to know how to confess. The names of many sins for you may be unfamiliar and incomprehensible. Understand everything and learn a lot of information quickly not all can, so do not try to indicate absolutely all the sins from the book in your confession. It is better to just take a separate piece of paper and write on it everything that the conscience accuses you of. At this stage, you do not need a definition of all sins, although eventually you need to master the vocabulary. Take a sheet with you for confession, so people have done for a long time. Then you will not be afraid to talk a bit in confession and leave with the feeling of an unfinished business. After confession, many fathers tear a leaflet with sins, and this causes relief. So do not always, but in some churches this practice occurs.

If you want to receive Communion, you need to know how to confess properly, because confession is a kind of admission to the sacrament. During confession, you need to ask the priest for a blessing on the sacrament. If you observed the fast before the communion, read the necessary prayers, were on duty the day before, and the father will consider repentance sufficient, he will allow you to communion. Communion usually in the morning on an empty stomach, after midnight to eat and drink before the communion is impossible. If in the morning you remember another sin, you have the opportunity to fully commit repentance in the morning confession. Although the decision on the need for an additional confession is taken by each particular priest, therefore it is worth asking the questions directly to the clergyman who professes in the morning.

Some rules of conduct. Before confession, the priest reads special prayers with those who wish to confess, they must at least listen, while you still do not know them. Often in the queue for confession is a few people, when you will become the next "on the way" to the priest, you need to put your hands on your chest, quietly say "Forgive me brothers and sisters" and bow to people. When you approach the priest, you need to cross yourself, kiss the lying Gospel and the Cross and say in a low voice that you are repenting before God in doing this and that. Do not argue, answer the questions of the priest and listen to his instruction. Then he will cover you with an epitaph and read prayers, after which sins will be forgiven.

Do not be embarrassed, even the most experienced in church life people once did not know how to confess correctly. Remember, in the eyes of God there are no morally neutral acts. And a person who feels intimacy with God will always find something to blame himself for. This is quite normal and typical of all believers. After the first confession, you will want to confess again and again to approach the "purity that sees God."