The devil has great power in the world. We gave him a lot of rights. What has today's man become? The evil is that he, without repentance, prevents God from intervening and helping him. If there was repentance, then everything would work out.
Repentance and confession are what is needed today. My constant advice to people: repent and confess, so that the devil is deprived of his rights, and you stop being subjected to external demonic influences...
Having withdrawn from the Sacrament of Confession, people suffocate in thoughts and passions..."
Elder Paisiy Svyatogorets
Elders Paisiy Svyatogorets, Joseph of Vatopedi, Christopher of Tula, Nikolai Guryanov, Vitaly Sidorenko, Anatoly of Kiev, Gabriel (Urgebadze) and others.
Elder Christopher of Tula (1905-1996) in confession... demanded that sins be specifically named - without justifying oneself, without blaming others... If...
By going to church with repentance, you will only create problems for yourself. The mechanism of our psyche is such that if a person considers himself guilty of something, then he himself generates punishment for himself: he “sinned”, he is guilty, which means he must get sick. And the church is a commercial organization for pumping money out of people. Therefore, the church is interested in imposing a feeling of guilt on a person, convincing him that he is an eternal sinner and is always guilty of something - so that he would constantly go to them, repent and cry, and at the same time bring money, and even children with He brought them with him and also taught them to feed the priests.
In your case, a small streak of bad luck has just begun, which will soon pass. In order for this to happen as quickly as possible, you first need to figure out what, for example, caused the disease. Read about psychosomatic diseases. Perhaps it is stress, some psychological problems. Give yourself an hour of time every day to relax in a quiet environment, meditate, do...
One of the most important aspects of spiritual life is repentance. However, it is not always understood by Orthodox Christians as it should be. We will try to consider the issues related to this Sacrament that we most often encounter in pastoral practice.
What is Repentance?
Repentance is a Sacrament in which a Christian, repenting of his sins and confessing them to a priest, receives through him forgiveness and resolution of sins from God. To perform the Sacrament, two actions are needed: 1) repentance and confession, and 2) forgiveness and resolution of sins by a clergyman who has the power from God to forgive sins. About the first, that is, about the need for confession, we read in the First Epistle of the Apostle John the Theologian: “If we confess our sins, then He, being faithful and righteous, will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1 : 9); about the second - in the Gospel of John: “Receive the Holy Spirit,” the Lord said to the apostles. - Whose sins you forgive, they will be forgiven; on whom…
Confession to God! How to confess correctly?
Question from Elena: Please tell me when and how to confess correctly? Sometimes I feel the need for confession, for repentance, but at the same time I am not in church, but at home or on a walk in the forest. Is it possible to confess at home? Do you really need a priest for this? Can I just turn to God and confess like this?...
Confession, in essence, is repentance for sins and repentance before God. But let’s first understand the terms and understanding, then the external forms, how best to carry out this ritual.
What is Confession?
Definitions of Confession:
Confession - in the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) a confession of one’s sins before God. Confession implies repentance and a decision not to sin in the future.
In the New Testament, Confession is an expression (public or private) to God of one’s repentance for sins, in which it is not the form that is important, but the content - repentance,...
What is repentance and is it necessary for salvation?
Question: What is repentance and is it necessary for salvation?
Answer: Many people interpret the meaning of the term “repentance” as “renunciation of sin.” This is not a very biblical definition of repentance. In the Bible, the word “repent” means “to change the way you think.” The Bible also tells us that true repentance results in changed behavior (Luke 3:8-14; Acts 3:19). Acts 26:20 says, “He preached that they should repent and turn to God, doing works worthy of repentance.” The full biblical definition of repentance is a change in thinking that results in a change in action.
What then is the connection between repentance and salvation? The Acts of the Apostles especially emphasizes repentance in connection with salvation (Acts 2:38; 3:19; 11:18; 17:30; 20:21; 26:20). To repent, in the light of salvation, means to change your mind about Jesus Christ. His sermon on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2...
Potap said: ...
Consult your spiritual director. Your spiritual director, whether a pastor, priest, imam, or rabbi, can help you confess and make peace with God. Remember, their job is to help you on your path to follow God! They are happy to help and understand human imperfection very well: they will not judge you! Even if you are not officially a member of their community, you can always ask them for advice and arrange a meeting, so don’t worry about having to ask for advice from a mentor you don’t know. Don’t think that you have to go to a temple or synagogue to repent, or that you have to talk to a mentor for God to hear you. God hears you no worse than a religious representative. If you want, you can do repentance alone.
Change your behavior. The main thing in repentance is a change in behavior. You need to leave behind the sins you want to repent of. It's difficult, we know, but you can do it...
Questions:
What is repentance?
How do you know if you have a feeling of repentance?
How to prepare for confession?
How to prepare for your first confession?
Should we write down our sins?
Is it necessary to confess thoughts?
What to do when confession gets cold?
What should you do if you repeat sins that you have already repented of?
Is it necessary to have a confessor?
What is general confession?
When and how to teach a child to confess?
How often should you go to confession?
What is repentance?
Repentance is the awareness of one’s guilt before God. Repentance implies repentance for one's sins. If we talk about sin, then sin is a violation of the Law. The law is given to us in the Gospel. If we violate the gospel commandments, then we cross this line. We break the Law of God, and through this sin is committed.
Sin committed by deed has different degrees. It is a fruit, but a fruit of what? As the holy fathers say,...
Open the doors of repentance...
Repentance is God's greatest gift to man. This is the second baptism, in which we are washed from our sins and again put on clean white clothes, receiving the grace lost after the Fall. We were sinners - we become saints. Repentance opens heaven to us and leads us into paradise. Without repentance there is no salvation.
To repent means to change your lifestyle, first of all, to “come to your senses,” i.e. see sin in yourself, realize it, hate it, then repent to God in the presence of a priest and promise not to sin again.
The patient will never receive healing if he does not reveal his illness to the doctor. Likewise, until we realize sin, we cannot receive forgiveness from God. “Consciousness of sin is the beginning of salvation,” says St. Augustine. – If a person hides, the Lord reveals; if a person conceals, God makes it obvious; if a person is aware, God forgives.”
Very often people come to confession and don’t know what to say. There is nothing to say about their repentance!…
Seven deadly sins
VERY IMPORTANT!!!
HOW TO PREPARE CORRECTLY - FOR CONFESSION AND FOR COMMUNION.
Many people DO NOT KNOW and do not know how to CORRECTLY prepare for Confession and confess. They go for years, go to Confession and Communion, but still do NOT CHANGE or improve, and therefore everything in their life is the same, no changes - for the better:
As the husband and wife quarreled, they CONTINUE to quarrel.
As my husband drank, he CONTINUES to drink and go for walks.
Just as the children were disobedient, they became even more rude and impudent - they began and stopped studying.
Just as a person was lonely in life, without family and children, he still remains lonely and unhappy.
And the reasons for this are as follows: either a person DOES NOT REPENT of his Sins and lives a sinful life and he LIKES to live that way.
Either he DOES NOT KNOW how to repent, DOES NOT KNOW and does not see his Sins, and he does not know how to truly pray.
Either a person is Cunning before God and deceives Him, does not consider himself...
“Confession is the key to the Kingdom of Heaven,” said one modern Athonite ascetic. There are no other means other than confession to get rid of sins already committed. From it we draw spiritual strength to fight sins in the future. Sin is everything in which we diverge from the will of God in our actions, words and thoughts. “All of us, humans,” writes Saint Ignatius, “are more or less in self-delusion, we are all deceived, we all carry deception within ourselves.” We all, therefore, must change - repent. “Repentance” literally means “changing” the soul, or more accurately, the mind. Unfaithfulness to God begins in the mind, and each of our sins ends up further perverting our mind. But for this reason, God became Man, in order to save and renew the whole person in each of us - mind, soul, and body. When we repent, our efforts are united with God’s power - we ourselves try to be faithful to Him, and ask with full faith for help, and receive it. It's not who we were before we met...
Instructions
St. John Climacus wrote: “Repentance is a covenant with God about the correction of life. Repentance is reconciliation with the Lord. Repentance is the cleansing of conscience.” The task that the modern Christian has to constantly work on is to live in the world and remain a pure, undefiled world. The fruit of this work is repentance and confession.
Confession and repentance are not synonymous. Confession is one of the seven Christian sacraments, in which the penitent, confessing his sins to the priest, is invisibly absolved from them by the Lord Himself. The sacrament was established by the Savior, who said to his Apostles: “Receive the Holy Spirit: whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; To whomever you leave it, it will remain with him” (John 20:22-23).
In fact, the Sacrament of Confession should complete the process of repentance. Repentance is a process, not an episode in a person’s life. An Orthodox Christian is constantly in a state of repentance. The sacrament of confession must be preceded by internal work. If…
Just like in spoken and written speech, so in the Bible, these two similar words are often found, and for students of the Word of God it is interesting and important to know whether there is a difference in the meaning and meaning of these words or not? There is a difference, but unfortunately, linguists pay little attention to it, apparently not attaching any importance to it.
The words “repentance” and “repentance” follow from the same word “repent,” but the difference is that “repent” means: 1). confess to the committed act, 2). to realize, consciously understand the wrongness of one or more actions and even of an entire life. To repent of all sins is the meaning of the explanations of the linguist Ozhegov.
Linguist V. Dahl explains the word “repentance” as follows: “Renounce your previous sinful life, consciously begin a better life. Confess your sins."
To repent is also to repent, but in a deeper form: “To repent is to regret one’s actions, to realize that one should have done the wrong thing, not said or not done...
While living his life, a person puts a lot of effort into taking care of his body. By washing away bodily dirt, he cleanses the body, which is actually perishable. This is our temporary shelter. But if we keep our body clean, is it not more worthwhile to take care of our soul, washing away spiritual dirt from it? Spiritual dirt is the sins that our soul acquires during its life. Diseases and impurities of the soul are healed through the sacrament of Repentance.
What is repentance to the Lord?
What is this sacrament? Repentance is a sacred act that brings grace. After a believer repents of his sins, he receives remission of them. The priest acts as a mediator between God and man in the sacrament of repentance. Through him, a repentant person receives forgiveness of his sins from Jesus Christ Himself. This sacrament contains two main actions:
- Confessing all your sins to the priest.
- Resolution of sins, which is pronounced by the shepherd of the Church.
The sacrament of repentance is also called confession, although it is only one component. However, this component is truly the most important, since without awareness of one’s sins there will be no forgiveness.
The most important thing is to understand that confession is not an interrogation or “pulling out” sins from the soul by force. It does not pass judgment on the sinner. Repentance is also not a conversation about one’s shortcomings, not informing a priest about one’s sins, and not just a good tradition. Confession is sincere repentance for one’s sins, it is an urgent need for cleansing the soul, “mortifying” oneself for sin and resurrection for holiness.
Is it necessary to repent before a priest?
By confessing, a person brings repentance for sins not to the priest, but to God. The priest is also a person, and accordingly, he is also not sinless. In this sacrament he is only a mediator between the repentant and the Lord. The real performer of the mystery is only God Himself, and no one else. The Shepherd of the Church acts as an intercessor before Him and ensures that the sacrament is performed properly.
There is another important aspect to confessing to a priest. When we admit our sins to ourselves, this is, of course, very important. But this is much easier to do than, for example, telling a third party about them. By repenting of his sins before a minister of the Church, a person also overcomes the sin of pride. He overcomes shame, admits his sinfulness, telling those things that people usually try to keep silent about. This mental suffering makes confession even deeper and more meaningful for the purification of the soul.
Are all people sinners?
Some believe that they have nothing to repent of. They do not commit murder, theft or other serious crimes. However, this is fundamentally wrong. Constant companions of human life are such feelings as laziness, envy, revenge, anger, vanity, irritability and other states of the soul that are displeasing to God. In addition, some women commit the sin of infanticide (abortion), the blame for which lies with both the woman and the man who supported her or even persuaded her to make this decision. What about adultery, turning to fortune tellers and other actions? If we take into account all these points, it turns out that we are all sinners before God, and therefore each of us needs repentance and forgiveness of sins.
Repentance is the only true path to the Lord. One who does not consider himself a sinner is more sinful than one who is aware of his sins, even if he has even more of them than an unrepentant person.
How to eliminate sin within yourself
Sin is the voluntary violation of God's commandments. It has this property: increasing from smaller to larger. What harm does sin bring? It leads to degeneration, can shorten earthly life, and the worst thing is that it can deprive one of eternal life. The source of sin is the fallen world. And the person in it is the guide.
Sin has the following phases of involvement:
- Prilog is the emergence of a sinful desire or thought.
- The combination is fixing attention on a sinful thought, accepting it in one’s thoughts.
- Captivity is an obsession with a given desire, agreement with this thought.
- Falling into sin is the embodiment in practice of what was present in sinful desire.
Repentance is the beginning of the fight against sin. To overcome sin, you need to realize it and repent. You need to have a firm intention to fight it in order to ultimately eradicate it in yourself. To atone for sin, you need to do good deeds, as well as build your life according to God's commandments. Life must be spent in obedience to the Lord, the Church, and also to your spiritual mentor.
Is it possible to live without repentance?
Often people live without thinking about what they are doing. It seems to them that there is still enough time ahead to change for the better, repent and atone for their sins. They live for their own pleasure, without particularly caring about the soul. But in fact, repentance is something that cannot be put off until later. What happens when we are in no hurry to understand ourselves and analyze our actions, correlating them with God’s commandments? There is not a single bright spot left on our “spiritual clothing”. And this is fraught with the fact that conscience - this Divine spark - gradually fades away. We will begin to move towards spiritual death.
Figuratively speaking, the soul without repentance becomes open to sinful thoughts, passions and evil deeds. In turn, because of this, a difficult period may begin in a person’s earthly life. And even if during life a person does not experience the full weight of his sinfulness, then after death, when it is too late to correct anything, the consequence of an unrepentant soul will be its death.
Can repentance be invalid?
The essence of repentance is not to formally tell the priest about your shortcomings. Repentance cannot be accepted by the Lord if it is not sincere, is done in order to pay tribute to fashion, to look better in someone’s eyes, or if a person repents to ease his conscience, without a firm intention to correct his sins. Cold, dry and mechanical repentance is not considered valid. It will not bring any benefit to a repentant sinner. In order for repentance to truly serve a person’s benefit, it must come from the heart itself, conscious and ardent. Moreover, awareness and repentance alone are also not enough. A person must intend to fight his sin. He must call the Lord to be his assistant, because human flesh is weak, and it is almost impossible to fight his sinful nature on his own. But it is God who helps us in this difficult matter. The most important thing is to have a strong desire.
How to prepare for confession
In order to prepare for confession, you first need to analyze your life alone with yourself and realize all your sins. By correlating all our thoughts and actions with God’s commandments, we can easily understand what we did wrong, where we angered the Lord. The repentance of the soul must consist in recognizing each sin separately, repenting of it and confessing it to the priest. For convenience, before confession, you can write down all your sins on paper so as not to forget anything. There are special brochures that contain a list of sins. It happens that a person does not even suspect that he is sinful in certain matters, and is very surprised when among this list there are many acts contrary to God that he committed in his life. A person who decides to confess needs:
- firmly believe and hope in the Lord;
- regret having angered the Lord;
- forgive the offenders for all offenses and do not hold a grudge against anyone;
- declare all your sins before the priest without concealment;
- firmly resolve not to anger the Lord in the future and live according to His commandments.
The School of Repentance can help a person who has decided to confess. The materials and lectures describe the entire process in detail; not a single nuance of this sacred rite is missed.
What a person preparing for confession needs to know
You can confess at any time, whenever possible, in church. This should be done as often as possible. Confession before communion is especially necessary. During confession, you need to remember that this is not a conversation with a priest. If you have any questions for him, they need to be discussed at another time. During confession, you need to list your sins, without trying to justify yourself or blame someone. Under no circumstances should you proceed to confession and then to communion if you have not made peace with everyone and hold a grudge or grudge against someone. This would be a great sin. If the priest doesn’t have time to listen to all the sins in detail, it’s okay, you can tell them briefly. However, you can tell the particularly depressing ones in more detail and ask the priest to listen to them. In any case, the Lord knows your true intentions. Let your candle of repentance be lit. And the Lord will certainly hear you.
Is it possible to confess not all sins?
The Lord can accept repentance only if it is sincere. What reason could there be to hide some sin? After all, a person who strives to get rid of the burden of sin, on the contrary, will delve into himself with special care so as not to leave the slightest sin. The desire to cleanse a sincerely repentant sinner is so great that without the slightest shame or pride he will rush to tell everything to the priest in confession. If a person conceals his sins, it means that he suffers from the sin of pride, lack of faith, false shame, or does not realize the full importance of this sacrament. Unconfessed sin is not forgiven. Moreover, if a person does not confess to the priest of any wrongdoing, then perhaps subconsciously he does not want to part with him. Such a confession will not bring any benefit. Moreover, it can cause even more harm, since in addition to all other sins the additional ones listed above will be added.
How often should you confess?
It is advisable to do this as often as possible. However, repentance must come from the soul, i.e. quality should not turn into quantity. Listen to your heart - it will tell you when there is an urgent need to cleanse yourself from the burden of sin.
Does God forgive all sins?
You can rest assured that God will forgive all your sincerely confessed sins. If you follow all the requirements and rules described in this article, the Lord will definitely hear you. It’s not for nothing that the first person to enter the Kingdom of God was a robber.
It was precisely because he sincerely repented of his sins and believed in the Grace of God that he was heard and forgiven.
And the direction of a person’s entire personal life, his behavior. Repentance is essential in the teaching of the New Testament: it is mediated by the conversion (Greek έπιστρέφειν) of a person to God, through it a person is reached, his transition from the realm of sin to the eternal. Repentance involves not just a change in the way of thinking, the acquisition of new goals and motives, but the entry into a relationship with God that is no longer in conflict with his will. Repentance includes two interconnected moments - negative and positive; it implies not only abstaining from evil, but also doing good, such as faith in God - a loving and merciful Father, hope in. Repentance and , inextricably linked, constitute two sides of one inseparable act of turning a person to Christ, and therefore can constitute the phrase “repentant faith”; if, when committing sinful acts, he puts himself at the center of being, then in repentant faith he, on the contrary, is focused on serving only God, on self-sacrifice for Him - this is the essence of the religious meaning of repentance. One of the seven Christian sacraments, established by Christ himself, repentance, finds its naturalness in confession. Originally it consisted only of external purifying sacrifices; then the prophets began to demand internal change during repentance. In the Gospel, repentance is understood as a spiritual person. In the time of the apostles, there were two types of repentance: a) secret before the priest and b) open, public - before the entire church community. Confession meant not only a single oral presentation of sins, but a certain circle of penitential deeds, sometimes many years, which amounted to penance - for sins.
According to Christian teaching, repentance is not achieved through the purposeful action of a person’s own spiritual powers alone; it becomes possible only with the help of Divine power - grace. The Holy Fathers emphasize that repentance occurs through what is given by God, that is, through the Lord. The need for repentance is essential for everyone during life - both for sinners and for the righteous (Rom. 3:23); after death he is not (Mt 9:6; Lk 13:24-25). Through the acquisition of extreme humility, repentance can elevate a person to the very top of virtues - it can lead to holiness. Just as it promotes repentance, it is also hindered by passions that are opposite to humility - pride and self-justification. If we consider repentance as a spiritual achievement, then its opposite, as the Church Fathers believe, is the experience of despair. The result of repentance is a person’s victory over sin, that is, the free overcoming of sin and towards virtue - this is what makes a person moral. Under the influence of his free will, on the one hand, and Divine grace, on the one hand, a transition occurs from the “old” state of the soul to, a person self-determines in freedom. Psychological repentance consists in a freely conscious attitude to the moral norm, according to which a person evaluates his present, empirical religious and moral values and, on the basis of conscientious self-examination, pronounces a verdict on the sinful content of his life, which was determined by selfishness.
I. N. Mikheeva
The meaning of the sacrament of repentance is that a believer, having voluntarily and sincerely confessed his sins to a priest, receives forgiveness from him in the name of Jesus Christ. The need for this sacrament is justified by the fact that a person cannot be sinless, and therefore must thirst for the cleansing of the soul from filth. Already John the Baptist accepted, according to the Gospel, confession of sins from those who came to him to be baptized. In the first conciliar letter of the Apostle John the Theologian, the following explanation is given: “If we confess our sins, then He, being faithful and righteous, will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us” (1 John 1:9-10). There is no doubt that it is inherent in people that they do not live as they should live: everyone experiences a conflict of inclinations and moral duty. Hence repentance and a new life. Church repentance requires verbal confession of all sins, awareness of guilt and firm determination to correct. Repentance is called “second baptism,” reconciliation with God and one’s conscience. Revival begins with repentance. Church repentance is required from everyone except infants (in Orthodoxy, except children under 7 years of age). According to the decision of the Council of Trent, all Catholics who have reached the “reasonable age” must perform repentance, under the threat of excommunication and deprivation of Christian burial. Protestant churches and sects take a special position in relation to repentance, as well as other sacraments. They recognize basically only two sacraments - baptism and communion, but they are also given symbolic meaning as signs of communication with God. Oral confession before a priest is rejected, but personal confession and repentance before God are considered the most important means of cleansing the soul.
Theologians and religious philosophers differentiate between repentance and repentance. In repentance there is remorse. But repentance can be of different kinds; you can repent for missing a benefit or for speaking the truth to your detriment. If repentance does not turn into repentance and is not accompanied by faith and hope for forgiveness, then it can lead to despair, suicide or permissiveness (“you still can’t get into me”). Repentance, according to church teaching, provides cleansing from sins, but does not in itself guarantee righteousness in the future. The efforts of the believer himself are necessary. “...The kingdom of heaven is taken by force, and those who use force take it by force” (Matthew 11:12). The Christian teaching about repentance undoubtedly expressed a universal human nature that requires philosophical and psychological understanding. A person who does not admit any guilt and considers himself right in everything should be classified as bad, immoral people. Many disasters and evil have happened and are happening from such people. Therefore, there is truth in the words: “If you do not repent, you will not be saved.”
In addition to church repentance and confession, there is also extra-church repentance. Rodion Raskolnikov did not experience pangs of conscience even in hard labor, but one day a deep awareness of the inaccuracy of his life understanding came to him and he felt that he was returning to “living life.” The need to confess one’s sins can find different expressions - in a passionate confession of one’s guilt to a loved one or even a random person, for example. travel companion on the road. There is a literary genre of confession: the works of St. Augustine, J. J. Rousseau, and L. N. Tolstoy are known under this name.
This kind of public confession not only expresses recognition of one’s sins, but also aims to help other people avoid mistakes and take the path of true life.
V. N. Sherdakov Lit.: Brianchainov I. Second teaching on the week of the publican and the Pharisee. About prayer and repentance. - Same. Ascetic, vol. 4. M., 1993; En. Varnava (Belyaev). About God-loving and spiritual repentance. - He. Fundamentals of the Art of Holiness, vol. 1, sec. 3. Nizhny Novgorod, 1995; Zarin S. M. Asceticism according to Orthodox Christian teaching, . M., 1996.
New Philosophical Encyclopedia: In 4 vols. M.: Thought. Edited by V. S. Stepin. 2001 .
Synonyms:
See what “REPENTANCE” is in other dictionaries:
To release the soul to repentance, to bring repentance.. Dictionary of Russian synonyms and expressions similar in meaning. under. ed. N. Abramova, M.: Russian Dictionaries, 1999. repentance, confession, repentance, sacrament, consciousness, recognition, self-flagellation, self-criticism... ... Synonym dictionary
REPENTANCE, USSR, Georgia film, 1984, color, 153 min. Folk drama. The structure of the picture is extremely complex. The film begins in the present tense: Keti, decorating the cake with cream churches, learns about Aravidze’s death. When she looks at... ... Encyclopedia of Cinema
- “REPENTANCE”, first verse. L. (1829) in the lyrical genre. confession. This genre gained fame thanks to the “oriental poems” of J. Byron 1813 16, and spread to Russia. romantic poetry (A. S. Pushkin, K. F. Ryleev) and L. was widely used (poems ... ... Lermontov Encyclopedia
REPENTANCE, repentance, cf. 1. Voluntary confession of a committed offense, of one’s mistake (book). 2. Confession, the confession of the believer’s sins before the priest (church). 3. The punishment imposed by the pre-revolutionary court for some crimes... Ushakov's Explanatory Dictionary
REPENTANCE, I, cf. 1. Voluntary confession of a committed offense, a mistake (book). Bring item 2. The same as confession (1 value). Church p.P. in sins. Release the soul to repentance (colloquial joke) leave someone n. rest, stop... ... Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary
Church is the same as confession... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary
1. What is repentance? The Greek word μετάνοια (metanoia - “repentance”) means “change of mind”, “change of thoughts”.
Repentance, therefore, is not only consciousness of one's sinfulness or simple recognition of oneself as unworthy; not even only contrition and regret about the failures and weaknesses suffered, and not only repentance (although all these moments should be included in repentance) - but it is also the will to improve, desire and firm intention, determination to fight bad inclinations, sin and passions.
This state of soul is combined with a request for God’s help to fight sin. With such heartfelt, sincere repentance, grace-filled healing enters the soul revealed to God, preventing the soul from again plunging into the filth of sin.
St. Nicholas of Serbia:
The Lord said: “Repent and believe in the Gospel” (Mark 1:14). True repentance is not just regret for sins committed, but a complete turning of one’s soul from darkness to light, from earth to heaven, from oneself to God. (One hundred words about the love of truth)
St. John Chrysostom explains what true repentance should consist of:
“Repentance has great power; it can, if he wants, free a person who is deeply immersed in sins from the burden of sins... even if he has reached the very depths of evil. This can be seen from many places (of Scripture)... only we must begin to repent .
What is the medicine of repentance? and how is it used? Firstly, (it consists of) awareness of one's sins and confession of them. “But I revealed my sin to You,” says (the prophet), “and I did not hide my iniquity”; and again: “I said: “I confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and You took away from me the guilt of my sin” (Ps. 31:5); and again: “Remember Me; let us go to court; speak, that you may be justified” (Isa. 43:26); and again: “The righteous accuse himself of his first words” (Prov. 18:17). Secondly, (repentance consists of) out of great humility; it is like a golden chain, which, if you take it as the beginning, follows the whole. So, exactly, if you confess your sins as you should confess, then the soul will humble itself, because conscience, tormenting it, makes it humble. Something else must also be combined with humility, so that it will be such as blessed David prayed for when he said: “Create in me a clean heart, O God” (Ps. 50:12); and again: “You will not despise a broken and humble heart, O God” (Ps. 50:19). Broken Heart is not indignant, does not insult, but is always ready to endure suffering, and does not rebel itself. This is the contrition of the heart, when it, although it itself is insulted, although it suffers evil, remains calm and is not aroused to vengeance. After humility we need intense prayers and copious tears day and night. “Every night I wash,” says (the prophet), “I wash my bed, I wet my bed with my tears” (Ps. 6:7); and again: “I eat ashes like bread, and I dissolve my drink with tears” (Ps. 101:10). And after such intense prayers you need great mercy. It especially makes the medicine of repentance strong.”
St. Theophan the Recluse explains Why do we need repentance?“What especially makes the sacrament of repentance necessary is, on the one hand, the property of sin, and on the other, the property of our conscience. When we sin, we think that not only outside of us, but also in ourselves there are no traces of sin. Between Thus, he leaves deep traces both in us and outside of us - on everything that surrounds us, and especially in heaven, in the definitions of Divine justice. At the hour of sin, it is decided there what the sinner has become: in the book of life he is included in the list of condemned - and became bound in heaven. Divine grace will not descend into him until he is blotted out from the list of the condemned in heaven, until he receives permission there. But God was pleased with heavenly permission - to make heavenly blotting out from the list of condemned people dependent on the permission of those bound by sins to earth. So, accept the Sacrament of repentance in order to receive comprehensive permission and open the entrance to the spirit of grace. ... Go and confess - and you will receive an announcement of forgiveness from God ...
Let not those who find shame and fear confuse you- they are associated with this sacrament for your benefit. Having burned out in them, you will become stronger morally. You have already burned more than once in the fire of repentance - burn again. Then you burned alone before God and conscience, and now burn with a witness appointed by God, as evidence of the sincerity of that solitary burning, and perhaps to make up for its incompleteness. There will be a trial and there will be shame and desperate fear. Shame and fear in confession atone for the shame and fear of that time. If you don't want those, go over these. Moreover, it always happens that as the anxiety that the person confessing goes through, the consolations of confession also become abundant in him. This is where the Savior truly reveals Himself as the Comforter of the weary and burdened! He who has sincerely repented and confessed through experience knows this truth with his heart, and does not accept it by faith alone.
The story about blessed Theodora, who went through ordeal, says that her evil accusers did not find the sins she confessed written down in their charters. The angels then explained to her that confession blots out sin from all places where it is indicated. Neither in the book of conscience, nor in the book of the animal, nor among these evil destroyers is he already listed as that person - confession has erased these records. Without concealment, throw away everything that weighs you down. The limit to which you must bring the revelation of your sins is so that your spiritual father has an accurate understanding of you, so that he represents you as you are, and, when resolving, he is resolving you, and not someone else, so that when he says: “ Forgive and absolve the repentant for the same sins he committed,” there was nothing left in you that did not fit these words.”
St. Theophan the Recluse writes about how we must repent as soon as we see a sinful thought in ourselves:
"... It is not enough to say, one must feel sorry, contrite and with fear, as in a court of law, confess a sinful thought to the Lord. So in any case. In this there is constant repentance, which is the main task of those who pay attention to themselves. When evil thoughts attack, one must turn one’s eye away from them mind and, turning to the Lord, in His name, drive them away. But when the thought stirs the heart, and this evil one is more or less pleased with it, then one must scold oneself and beg the Lord for mercy, and beat oneself until the opposite feeling is born in the heart ; for example, instead of condemnation, exaltation of another, or at least a heartfelt feeling of respect for him."
Venerable Mark the Ascetic This is how he teaches us to cultivate a feeling of repentance in ourselves:
“Let every involuntary sorrow teach you to remember God, and you will not lack incentives to repentance.”
He who truly repents can receive remission of all his sins because There is no sin that would exceed the mercy of God.
Repentance should be in us not only when we prepare for confession or come to our confessor, but the holy fathers teach that we must repent of sin without delay - as soon as we realize our sin.
Rev. Macarius of Optina:
“Repentance, I say, not only when you come to your confessor for confession, but always have a pledge of it in your heart, remembering your sins, which you briefly remembered; feeling who you offended with them, you will more easily recover<избежишь>from repeating them."
Elder Joseph of Vatopedi:
“The essence of repentance and subsequent healing, which a person so longs for, is in taking upon himself many labors, spiritual and physical.
Confession is the first element of repentance. We see its meaning in the parable of the prodigal son: “I will get up and go to my father and say to him: Father! I have sinned against heaven and before you. And I am no longer worthy to be called your son” (Luke 15:18).
With the word “I will rise,” he shows his correction of his previous fall, a break with the lawless choice he made earlier and the sin he committed. By confessing “I have sinned,” he asks for forgiveness. The next element of real repentance is humility, which overthrows the unreasonable principle in which the selfishness and arrogance of the lost find refuge. “And I am no longer worthy to be called your son!” Voluntary recognition that there is no longer this connection with the father is necessary proof of awareness of one’s wrongdoing and an effective return of a person to his natural state.
Without confession, repentance is impossible, just as confession is impossible without repentance. These are, of course, two inseparable means to salvation.”
Elder Paisiy Svyatogorets:
“True repentance is to realize your sins, experience pain for them, ask God for forgiveness and then confess. In this way, divine consolation will come to a person. That's why I always recommend repentance and confession to people. I never recommend confession alone.”
Priest Pavel Gumerov writes about repentance:
"Repentance is undoubtedly the basis of spiritual life. This is evidenced by Gospel. Forerunner and Baptist of the Lord John began his sermon with the words: “ Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand"(Matthew 3:2). With exactly the same call he enters public service. Our Lord Jesus Christ(see: Matthew 4:17). Without repentance, it is impossible to draw closer to God and overcome your sinful inclinations. The Lord gave us a great gift - confession, in which we are absolved from our sins, for the priest is endowed by God with the power to “bind and solve” human sins.”
“In confession, the repentant is given not only forgiveness of sins, but also God’s grace and help to fight sin. Therefore, we begin the correction of our lives with confession.”
“You can often hear the following statement: “Like you, believers, everything is easy: I sinned, then repented - and God forgave everything.” In the Pafnutievo Borovsky Monastery there was a museum in Soviet times, and after visitors had examined the monastery and the museum, the guide played a record with with the song “Once upon a time there were twelve robbers” performed by F.I. Chaliapin. Fedor Ivanovich in his velvety bass voice wrote:
“He abandoned his comrades,
I gave up making raids,
Kudeyar himself went to the monastery,
Serve God and people."
After listening to the recording, the guide said something like this: “This is what the Church teaches: sin, steal, commit robbery - you can still repent later.” This is an unexpected interpretation of a famous song. Is it so? Indeed, there are people who perceive the sacrament of confession in exactly this way. Like some kind of spiritual washing room, shower room. You can live in the dirt and not be afraid: everything will be washed off in the shower later anyway. “The dirt is not greasy: I rubbed it and it came off.” I think such a “confession” will not bring any benefit. A person will approach the sacrament not for salvation, but for judgment and condemnation. AND Having formally “confessed,” he will not receive permission from God for his sins. Not so simple. Sin and passion cause great harm to the soul, and even after repentance, a person bears the consequences of his sin. This is how a patient who has had smallpox ends up with scars on his body. It is not enough to simply confess sin; you need to make an effort to overcome the inclination to sin in your soul. So the doctor removes the cancerous tumor and prescribes a course of chemotherapy to defeat the disease and prevent relapse. Of course, it’s not easy to give up passion right away. But the repentant should not be a hypocrite: “I will repent, and I will continue to sin.” A person must make every effort to take the path of correction and no longer return to sin. Ask God for help to fight passions: “Help me, Lord, for I am weak.” A Christian must burn the bridges behind him that lead back to a sinful life. Repentance in Greek is metanoia, which translates as “change.”
Why do we repent if the Lord already knows all our sins? Yes, he knows, but he expects us to acknowledge them. Let me give you an example. The child climbed into the cupboard and ate all the candies. The father understands perfectly well who did this, but waits for his son to come and ask for forgiveness. And, of course, at this moment he also expects the son to promise to try to never do this again.
Confession, of course, should be private and not general. I mean the practice when the priest reads the list of sins, and then simply covers the confessor with the stole. Thank God, there are very few churches left where they do this. “General confession” became an almost universal phenomenon in Soviet times, when there were very few functioning churches left and on Sundays and holidays, as well as during fasting, they were crowded with people praying. It was simply unrealistic to confess to everyone then. Conducting confession after the evening service was also almost never allowed. One old priest, who served in the church for more than 50 years, told me that during Great Lent the priests had to walk through the rows of confessors just to have time to cover everyone with an epitrachelion. Of course, such a “confession” is an abnormal phenomenon, and it does not bring any benefit or cleansing to the soul.
Of course, sometimes it’s very difficult, it’s a shame to open your sinful wounds, but this is how we get rid of our sinful habits - by overcoming shame, tearing them out like a weed from our soul. Without confession, without cleansing from sins and passions, it is impossible to fight them. First we need to see them, pull them out, and then do everything to prevent them from growing again in our soul.
Not seeing your sins is a sign of spiritual illness. Why did the ascetics see their sins as countless as the sand of the sea? It’s simple: they approached the source of light - God and began to notice such secret places of their souls that we simply do not notice. They observed their soul in its true state. A fairly well-known example: let’s say the room is dirty and not cleaned, but it’s night and everything is hidden in twilight. It seems that everything is more or less normal. But then dawn broke through the window, the first ray of sun penetrated the room and illuminated half of it. And we begin to notice the disorder. Further - more, and when the sun already illuminates the entire room, dirt and scattered things are visible everywhere. The closer you are to God, the more visible your sins are.
One noble citizen of the small town of Gaza came to Abba Dorotheus, and Abba asked him: “Eminent gentleman, tell me who you consider yourself to be in your city?” He replied: “I consider myself great and the first in the city.” Then the monk asked him again: “If you go to Caesarea, who will you consider yourself to be there?” The man replied: “For the last of the nobles there.” - “If you go to Antioch, who will you consider yourself to be there?” - “There I will consider myself one of the common people.” - “If you go to Constantinople and approach the king, who will you consider yourself to be?” And the man replied: “Almost like a beggar.” Then the abba said to him: “This is how the saints are: the closer they come to God, the more they see themselves as sinners.”
2. Repentance has a beginning, but has no end, it lasts a lifetime
Rev. Anthony the Great:
When the Lord forgives us our sins, we should not forgive ourselves; but - always remember them through renewed repentance for them.
Rev. Peter Damascene:
Then the mind begins to see its sins - like the sand of the sea, and this is the beginning of the enlightenment of the soul and a sign of its health. And simply: the soul becomes contrite and the heart humble, and considers itself truly lower than everyone...
Elder Paisiy Svyatogorets speaks:
"For a man who strives repentance is an endless handicraft. When someone dies, they mourn him, bury him in the ground, and then forget... But we will cry about our sins constantly - until we die. However, let us perform this work with reasoning and hope in Christ, Who endured the Crucifixion in order to resurrect us spiritually.”
The history of the Church knows many examples of repentance, among them the prudent thief, who was the first to enter heaven through repentance and confession on the cross, the Apostle Peter, who all his life at the night crow of a rooster shed tears of repentance for his renunciation of Christ, the Venerable Mary of Egypt, whom repentance turned from a harlot to the great saint.
If we fall back into the sin we repented of, we must not despair, but correct ourselves and resort to God with repentance:
Rev. John of Karpafa:
Try your best not to fall. If you fall, quickly get up and stand again in good deeds. Even if the first thing happened to you many times - due to the retreat of grace - the second thing will happen to you many times, that is, rebellion. So until the end of your life.
The ancient patericon says:
The brother said to Abba Siso: “Abba! What should I do? I have fallen." The elder answered: “Get up.” The brother said: “I stood up and fell again.” The elder answered: “Rise again.” Brother: " How long shall I rise and fall? Elder: “Until your death.”
The elder said:“If you fall into sin and turn from it, beginning to cry and repent, be sure not to stop crying and groaning to the Lord until your death. Otherwise you will fall into the same hole again. After all, for the soul, grief for God is a bridle: it keeps it from falling.”
Venerable Nicodemus the Holy Mountain writes that the thought of remembrance of sins committed should be not not tormenting, but sobering and filled with thanksgiving to God:
“Do not forget, but always remember the sins you have committed. This is what God commands you through Isaiah: “I am the one who blots out your iniquities. For my sake, even your sins will not be remembered. You remember, and let us be judged.” Do this, that is, remember “your sins are not in order to torment your thoughts,” the divine Chrysostom tells you, “but in order to teach your soul not to go wild in passions and not to fall into the same thing again, so that you can recognize with the help of memory the great grace you received from God, who has forgiven you have so many sins. Just as Paul always remembered that he persecuted the Church in order to show the greatness of God’s grace, according to the same Chrysostom. In order to crush your heart and bring your soul into tenderness, according to Chrysostom, who says: “Remember your sins individually : this is no small torment for the soul; if someone has come to tenderness, then he knows that this torments the soul most of all; if someone has a memory of sins, then he knows the pain that comes from here."
Abba Paphnutius He even advises not to torment souls with tormenting memories of mortal sins, since remembering them when the soul has already received healing from God from them can cause spiritual wounds to a person:
« We must not forget venial sins, but only not remember mortal ones.
However, only mortal sins need to be forgotten in this way; disposition towards them and repentance for them ceases with a virtuous life. As for minor sins, into which even a righteous man falls seven times a day (Proverbs 24:16), repentance for them should never cease; for we do them every day, willingly or unwillingly, sometimes out of ignorance, sometimes out of oblivion, in thought and in word, sometimes out of deception, sometimes out of inevitable infatuation or out of weakness of the flesh. David speaks about such sins, begging the Lord to cleanse and forgive: who will consider his own sins? Cleanse me from my secrets (Ps. 18:13), and the Apostle Paul: I do not do what I want, but what I hate, I do. Poor man I am! who will deliver me from this body of death? (Rom. 7, 15, 24). We are exposed to them with such ease that, despite all caution, we cannot completely avoid them. Christ’s beloved disciple says this about them: if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves (1 John 1:8). Therefore, it will not be of much benefit to someone who wants to achieve the highest perfection to complete repentance, that is, to refrain from unauthorized deeds, if he does not tirelessly practice those virtues that serve as proof of satisfaction for sins. For it is not enough to abstain from vile vices that are contrary to God if there is not pure, perfect and godly zeal for virtue.”
3. Repentance can be expressed in different ways.
Repentance can be expressed in different ways, but at the same time be equal before God, as the Ancient Patericon says:“Two brothers, being overcome by fornication, went and took women with them. Afterwards they began to say to each other: what good is it for us that we, having left the angelic rank, fell into this uncleanness, and then we will have to go into the fire and torment? Let's go again into the desert. Having arrived in it, they asked the fathers to order repentance for them, confessing to them what they had done. The elders imprisoned them for a year, and both were given bread and water equally. The brothers were identical in appearance. When the time for repentance was fulfilled , they came out of prison - and the fathers saw one of them sad and completely pale, and the other with a cheerful and bright face - and marveled at this, for the brothers ate food equally. Therefore, they asked the sad brother: what thoughts were you busy with? cell? - I thought, he answered, about the evil that I had done, and about the torment into which I must go, - and out of fear, “my bone cleave to my flesh” (Ps. 101: 6). They also asked another "What were you thinking about in your cell? He answered: I thanked God for the fact that He plucked me from the uncleanness of this world and from future torment, and returned me to this angelic life - and remembering God, I rejoiced. The elders said: the repentance of both is equal before God."
4. Anyone who deliberately commits a sin, delaying correction and repentance, sins against the Holy Spirit and can die without repentance
Priest Konstantin Ostrovsky writes that one cannot “put off repentance, say: Will I repent again? Instead, say at the same time that you sinned: Lord, have mercy on me, fallen.This is a general rule for all Christians. As soon as you have sinned, you must immediately repent. Under no circumstances should one despair and one should not frivolously put off repentance. Fatherland contains a wonderful, although at first glance strange, story. A certain monk went to the river to get water and there fell into fornication. When he was returning back, demons approached him and began to inspire him: “You have sinned, you have ruined your soul.” And he answered them: “I have not sinned.” He came to his cell and indulged in his usual prayer work. What's instructive here? The man fell into the gravest, mortal sin, but since he did not allow himself to despair, but immediately repented and returned to his previous soul-saving activities, he was forgiven.
A lot of people, usually non-church people, think that for now I’ll live to my heart’s content, have fun, and then somehow repent. It is the enemy who instills such thoughts, does not allow you to remember death, that it can come at any moment, even now, when you are reading these lines. But repentance is impossible beyond the grave. What's next? The Last Judgment and most likely, mindful of our unrepentant sins, eternal torment.
…Thoughts of postponing repentance until later force God to punish a person, in order to somehow awaken him from his everyday sleep, to remind him of eternity. And sometimes the worst thing happens - death without repentance. So we must always repent as soon as we come to our senses.”
Rev. Nikon Optinsky:
Try to have mental and physical purity, try after confession not to sin consciously, not to sin arbitrarily in the hope of repentance, since, According to the teaching of the Holy Orthodox Church, if anyone sins in the hope of repentance, he is guilty of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.
People who are sick at heart come to us, confessors, to repent of their sins, but they do not want to part with them, especially they do not want to part with any of their favorite sins. This reluctance to leave sin, this secret love for sin is what makes a person unable to achieve sincere repentance, and therefore does not result in healing of the soul. What a person was before confession, remained so during confession, and continues to remain so after confession. It shouldn't be like this.
Archpriest Valentin Mordasov:
Whoever sins in the hope of repentance is guilty of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. To deliberately sin with reckless hope in the grace of God and think: “Nothing, I’ll repent” is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. It is one thing to sin fearlessly, consciously and not repent, but it is another thing when a person does not want to sin, cries, repents, asks for forgiveness, but, due to human weakness, sins. It is human nature to sin, to fall, and one should not become discouraged and become overly sad if one has to sin; but demons tend to lead a person away from repentance, so it is necessary to repent.
Rev. Joseph Optinsky:
Repentance is then true when after it you try harder and harder to live as you should, and without this it is of little effect if you repent only to talk about your sins and live as before.
We must run with all our might and avoid sin, for If we ourselves, through our own negligence, fall into sins, we will only deserve greater condemnation. And in those things that happen involuntarily or due to our weakness, let us be cleansed by repentance.
Saint Basil the Great:
Come, sinner, ask for mercy from God, who forgives sins. Do not put off repentance, for you do not know when the angel of death will overtake you and take your life.
St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov):
Let us not put off our healing from day to day, lest death creep up unexpectedly and suddenly take us away., so that we do not find ourselves incapable of entering the villages of never-ending peace and holiday, so that we are not cast, like obscene tares, into the fire of hell, forever burning and never burning. The healing of old ailments is not accomplished as quickly and not as conveniently as ignorance imagines. It is not without reason that God’s mercy grants us time to repent.; It was not without reason that all the saints begged God to grant them time to repent. It takes time to erase sinful impressions; it takes time to be imprinted with the impressions of the Holy Spirit; it takes time to cleanse oneself of filth; it takes time to put on the garments of virtues, to be adorned with the God-loving qualities with which all celestial beings are adorned.
Rev. Barsanuphius of Optina talks about the terrible death of a sinner who delayed repentance until the hour of death:
This is what happened to you in St. Petersburg. There lived a very rich merchant on Sergievskaya Street. His whole life was a continuous wedding, and for 17 years he did not partake of the Holy Mysteries. Suddenly, he felt death approaching and became afraid. Immediately, he sent his servant to the priest to tell him to come and give communion to the sick man. When the priest came and rang the bell, the owner himself opened the door for him. Father knew about his crazy life, became angry and said why he was mocking the Holy Gifts so much, and wanted to leave. Then the merchant, with tears in his eyes, began to beg the priest to come to him, a sinner, and confess him, because he felt death approaching. Father finally gave in to his request, and with great contrition in his heart, he told him his whole life. Father gave him permission for his sins and wanted to accustom him, but then something extraordinary happened: suddenly the merchant’s mouth tightened, and the merchant could not open it, no matter how hard he tried. Then he grabbed a chisel and a hammer and began to knock out his teeth, but his mouth closed completely. Little by little his strength weakened and he died. So the Lord gave him the opportunity to be cleansed of his sins, perhaps through his mother’s prayers, but did not unite with him.
Archpriest Evgeniy Popichenko:
There is such a comparison: human sins are like a grain of sand in the ocean of Divine love. But according to the thoughts of many saints, it is better to sin and repent than not to sin and not repent. This, of course, does not mean that there is a sanction for sin: “Sin as much as you like, as long as you later repent.” Many people just think that their time for repentance has not yet come, they still want to live, and only then the time will come when they can begin church life. This is a very dangerous delusion, because such a time will not come: if now a person does not respond to the call of God, then with each new sin his heart will become deader and deader. And accordingly, he will lose the ability to heartbreak.
Priest Pavel Gumerov:
The Holy Fathers call confession the second baptism - baptism of tears. As in baptism, we are given the gift of forgiveness of sins, and we need to appreciate this gift. There is no need to postpone confession until later. You need to confess more often and in detail. It is unknown how much time the Lord gave us to repent. Each confession must be perceived as the last, for no one knows on what day and hour God will call us to Himself.
5. There is no repentance after death
The Holy Fathers, following the Word of God, unanimously teach that the time given to us for repentance and correction of our soul is this, our temporary life. After death, a person will face God’s judgment and reward for what he has done in this life.It is appointed for men to die once, and then the judgment.
(Heb. 9:27)
Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. Whatever a man sows, that he will also reap:
He who sows to his flesh will reap corruption from the flesh, but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.
(Gal. 6, 7-8)
Behold, now is the favorable time, behold, now is the day of salvation.
(2 Cor. 6, 1-2)
Produce fruit worthy of repentance.
(Matt. 3:8)
If you do not repent, you will all perish as well.
(Luke 13:3).
Due to your stubbornness and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath and revelation of righteous judgment from God, who will reward everyone according to their deeds.
(Rom. 2:5-8)
St. rights John of Kronstadt:
A terrible truth. Unrepentant sinners after death lose all opportunity to change for the better and, therefore, invariably remain devoted to eternal torment(sin cannot but torment). How to prove this? This is clearly proven by the present state of some sinners and the property of sin itself - to hold a person in captivity and block all outcomes for him. Who does not know how difficult it is without the special grace of God to turn a sinner from his beloved path of sin to the path of virtue! How deeply sin takes root in the heart of the sinner and throughout his entire being, how it gives the sinner its vision, which sees things completely differently than how they are in its essence, appearing to him in some kind of charming form. Therefore, we see that sinners very often do not think about their conversion and do not consider themselves great sinners, because self-love and pride blind their eyes; if they consider themselves sinners, then they indulge in hellish despair, which spreads deep darkness in their minds and greatly hardens their hearts. If it were not for the grace of God, which sinner would turn to God, since the property of sin is to darken us, to bind us hand and foot. But the time and place for the action of grace is only here: after death, only the prayers of the Church can act on repentant sinners, on those who have acceptance in their souls, the light of good deeds, carried away by them from this life, into which the grace of God can be grafted or the grace-filled prayers of the Church. Unrepentant Sinners Are Certain Sons of Perdition. What does experience tell me when I am captured by sin? Sometimes I just suffer all day long and cannot convert with all my heart, because sin hardens me, making God’s mercy inaccessible to me: I burn in fire and voluntarily remain in it, because sin has bound my strength and I am like someone chained internally. - I cannot turn to God until God, seeing my powerlessness and my humility, and my tears, has mercy on me and sends me His grace! It is not for nothing that a person given over to sins is called bound by the captivity of the Falls [cf. 2 Pet. 2, 4].
St. Basil the Great:
Nobody... let him flatter with vain words(Eph. 5:6), for he will suddenly attack you omnipresence(1 Thess. 5:3), and an upheaval will come like a storm. A formidable Angel will come, forcibly lead and drag away your soul, bound by sins, often turning to what it leaves here, and weeping silently; because the instrument of crying has already closed. Oh, how much will you torment yourself! How you will groan, uselessly repenting of your undertakings, when you see the brightness of the righteous during the solemn distribution of gifts and the despondency of sinners in the deepest darkness! What will you say then in your heartache? Alas for me that I did not throw off the heavy burden of sin, when it was so easy to lay down... Now, for the temporary pleasure of sin, I suffer immortally, for the pleasure of the flesh I am consigned to fire.
St. John Chrysostom:
Only those who have died in the faith can receive pardon from God through prayers and liturgical offerings to the Church, and as for sinners who do not deserve pardon, as well as catechumens, they can only receive some relief through frequent prayers performed in their memory, and most of all through alms .
Venerable Barsanuphius and John:
Make no mistake: whatever you sow here, you will also reap there (Gal. 6, 7). After leaving here, no one can succeed. ...Brother, here is the work, there is the reward, here is the feat, there are the crowns.
...The words: “he will not come from there, until the last coin will be paid”(Matthew 5:26), said the Lord, meaning that their torment will be eternal: for how can a man repay there? If a poor debtor is imprisoned and the governor orders him not to be released until he has paid the entire debt, can one think that he will certainly be freed? Not at all! Don't make mistakes like crazy. Nobody succeeds there; but what anyone has, he has from here: whether it be good, or rotten, or delightful. Finally, give up idle talk and do not follow the demons and their teachings. For they suddenly catch it and suddenly overthrow it. So, humble yourself before God, crying over your sins and weeping over your passions.
“The fall is to angels what death is to men. For after the fall there is no repentance for them, just as it is impossible for people after death,” writes Rev. John of Damascus.
St. Gregory Palamas:
Where did true death begin - the cause and creator of temporary and eternal death for soul and body? Isn't it in the place of life? For this reason - alas! - the man was immediately condemned and expelled from the paradise of God, as having acquired a life associated with death, indecent for the Divine paradise. So, conversely, true life, the cause of immortal true life for soul and body, must have its beginning here, in the place of death. He who does not try here to acquire this life in the soul, let him not deceive himself with the vain hope that he will receive it there; let him not trust in God’s love for mankind. There is a time of retribution and vengeance, and not mercy and philanthropy, a time of revelation of the rage, wrath and justice of God, a time of demonstration of a strong and high hand, moved to torment the disobedient. Woe to him who has fallen into the hands of the Zhivago God! (Heb. 10:31) Woe to the one who recognizes the wrath of the Lord there, who was not taught here by the fear of God the knowledge of the power of His wrath, who was not satisfied with the works of His love for mankind, for which the present time has been given. By giving us a place for repentance, God allowed us to live on earth.
St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov):
Christians, only Orthodox Christians, and moreover, those who have spent their earthly life piously or who have cleansed themselves of sins through sincere repentance, confession to their spiritual father and self-correction, inherit eternal bliss along with the bright Angels. On the contrary, the wicked, i.e. non-believers in Christ, wicked, i.e. heretics, and those Orthodox Christians who spent their lives in sins or fell into some mortal sin and did not heal themselves through repentance, will inherit eternal torment along with the fallen angels. The Patriarchs of the Eastern Catholic Church in their message say: “The souls of people who fell into mortal sins, and did not despair at death, but even before separation from real life repented, but did not have time to bear any fruits of repentance, such as: prayers, tears, kneeling at prayer vigils, heartfelt contrition, consolation of the poor and expression of love for God and neighbors through deeds, which the Catholic Church from the very beginning recognizes as godly and beneficial - the souls of such people descend into hell and suffer punishment for the sins they have committed, without, however, being deprived of hope relief from them.They receive relief through infinite goodness, through the prayers of priests and charity performed for the dead, and especially through the power of the Bloodless Sacrifice, which in particular the priest brings for each Christian for his relatives, and in general the Catholic Apostolic Church brings for everyone every day.
St. Theophan the Recluse:
“Now or tomorrow death will come, and it will put an end to everything we have and will seal our fate forever, for after death there is no repentance. Whatever death finds us in, we will appear in judgment.
Do you really have such a hope that God, by sovereign power, will forgive sinners and bring them into paradise? I ask you to judge whether this is beautiful and whether such faces are fit for heaven? - Sin is not something external, but internal and passing through. When someone sins, sin perverts his entire composition, defiles and darkens him. If you forgive a sinner with an external sentence, but inside him leave everything as it was, without cleaning it up, then even after such forgiveness he will remain all filthy and gloomy. Such will be the one whom God would forgive by His sovereign power, without his internal purification. Imagine that such an unclean and gloomy person enters heaven. What will it be? An Ethiopian among the whitewashed. Is it appropriate?
The law of life is such that as soon as someone plants the seed of repentance here, even with his last breath, he will not perish. This seed will grow and bear fruit - eternal salvation. And if someone here does not plant the seed of repentance and moves there with the spirit of unrepentant persistence in sins, then there he will forever remain with the same spirit, and the fruit from him will be reaped forever according to his kind, God’s eternal rejection.”
Rev. Barsanuphius of Optina:
“At present, not only among the laity, but also among the young clergy, the following conviction is beginning to spread: as if eternal torment is incompatible with the infinite mercy of God, therefore, torment is not eternal. Such a misconception stems from a misunderstanding of the matter. Eternal torment and eternal bliss are not that something only coming from outside. But all this, first of all, is within the person himself. “...The Kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21). Whatever feelings a person instills in himself during his life, with that he will depart into Eternal Life. A sick body suffers on earth, and the stronger the illness, the greater the torment. So the soul, infected with various diseases, begins to suffer severely during the transition to Eternal Life. An incurable bodily illness ends in death, but how can a mental illness end when there is no death for the soul " Malice, anger, irritability, fornication and other mental illnesses are such vermin that crawl after a person and into Eternal Life. Hence, the goal of life is to crush these reptiles here on earth in order to completely cleanse your soul and before death, say with our Savior: “...The prince of this world is coming, and he will have nothing in me” (Jn. 14, 30). A sinful soul, not purified by repentance, cannot be in the community of saints. Even if they placed her in heaven, she herself would be unbearable to remain there and would strive to leave there.
Indeed, what is it like to be unmerciful among the merciful, prodigal among the chaste, evil among the loving, etc.”
Alexander Kalomiros:
“All these punishments act and have their meaning only in the current perverted order of things; they do not extend beyond the boundaries of this corruptible life. Their goal is to correct what can be corrected, to change our spiritual state for the better, while it is still possible to change something in this changing world. After the General Resurrection there can be no more changes. Eternity and incorruptibility are the state of unchangeable things. Then there will be no more changes, but only development in the state that was chosen by free individuals; eternal and endless development, but not change. There will be no change in the spiritual direction itself, there will be no return."
Yulia, Novouralsk
How to bring repentance for desecration of a shrine?
Hello! Our parents always lived without God. When I turned 13, my mother became interested in Orthodoxy. True, she did not last long, but during this time she managed to baptize all of us. After that, she just gave us different literature to read, saying that it was very important to know and love God. In one of the books I read that it is wrong for the crucified Jesus to hang on a body cross, which was not the case on the first wooden crosses. And if you really love Christ and do not want him to continue to suffer, then you will wear a cross without Christ. Now, of course, I realized what I did then - I violated the Shrine. I am very ashamed and scared of my actions. How to repent?
Hello! I ask me and, most importantly, YOURSELF to explain the main thing: do you believe in God? Mom is mom, her faith or passion will remain with her. But did YOU remain in the Church? Nothing is said about this in the question?! Do you have a spiritual father - a priest, a mentor who knows your soul and its problems, can tell you the direction of spiritual movement, and warn you against deviations? Your action with the cross can probably be considered very “wrong”, but this is not a question on the Internet! Your spiritual father, your confessing priest, will tell you what and how to pray. He knows the big picture of your soul!
On the issue of the shape and image of the pectoral cross, I can only direct you to the Ismaragd website, look, there are the correct pectoral crosses. Old Believers wear crosses on their bodies, which have a Cross, a Spear, a Reed, and Golgotha itself is present, but Christ has already risen! It is only for this reason, and not because it is on OUR body cross that Christ suffers, that we wear a cross without an image of the Body of Christ.
We believe in the Resurrection of Christ, we know about Him and, honoring the instruments of execution that He accepted for the sake of our salvation, we honor His Resurrection and wear this symbol - the pectoral cross.
For Christ’s sake, try not only to “belong to the Orthodox Church,” because your mother took you to baptism, but consciously yourself through reading the Holy Scriptures, prayer and reflection, perhaps reading the heritage of the Holy Fathers or online lectures, for example, by Professor A.I. Osipova. Probably the main question in Christianity is not “what we do,” but “why we do it.” According to your faith in him, you can entrust the care of your soul to a spiritually experienced person, a shepherd who will take care of you in Christ.
But the morning came, and, as in the fairy tales “1000 and 1 Night”, the questions of your Salvation are a question to your spiritual father. Only serious cooperation with a spiritual mentor and enormous inner work will help you avoid many temptations and dangers. Focus on the main thing - the salvation of your soul!
May God grant us all to find faith, prayer and the desire to purify our souls! God help you in your spiritual work!
