Confession is important in a person’s life. List of sins with a description of their spiritual essence Repentance how to repent correctly

Confession is one of the main church sacraments. But it’s not easy to get through. Shame and fear of judgment or the priest prevent you from approaching it correctly. In our article we will tell you how to correctly write sins for confession and prepare for it. We hope that our tips will help you on your path to cleansing.

How to prepare for confession

Church confession is a conscious step. It is not customary to do it without preparation and preliminary analysis of sins. Therefore, before the sacrament it is necessary:

If you plan to take communion along with confession, then the day before you need to read the following prayers: Canon of repentance to our Lord Jesus Christ, Canon of prayer to the Most Holy Theotokos, Canon to the Guardian Angel and Follow-up to Holy Communion.

Before going to confession, you should arrive on time for the church service. In some churches, the priest begins confession before the main service begins. People begin the sacrament on an empty stomach; you shouldn’t even drink coffee or tea.

For convenience, divide your sins into several blocks: against God and the church, against loved ones and against yourself.

Sins against God and the church:

• belief in omens, fortune telling and dreams;
• hypocrisy in worshiping God;
• doubt about the existence of God, complaints;
• conscious commission of sinful acts in the hope of leniency;
• laziness in prayers and church attendance;
• mentioning God in everyday life, so to speak, to connect words;
• non-compliance with fasts;
• failure to keep promises made to God;
• suicide attempts;
• mention of evil spirits in speech.

Sins against loved ones:

Sins against yourself:

• careless attitude towards God's gift (talent);
• excessive consumption of food and alcohol, as well as tobacco products and drugs;
• laziness in performing household chores (you do it without effort, for show);
• careless attitude towards things;
• inattention to one’s health or, conversely, excessive search for diseases;
• fornication (promiscuous sexual intercourse, cheating on a spouse, satisfying carnal desires, reading love books, viewing erotic photos and films, erotic fantasies and memories);
• love of money (lust for wealth, bribery, theft);
• envy of other people's successes (career, shopping opportunities and travel).

We have provided a list of the most common sins. How to correctly write sins for confession and whether it is worth doing is up to you to decide. When confessing, do not list them all. Speak only about those in whom you have sinned.

Judging others, giving examples from life or justifying oneself are unacceptable. Only through sincere repentance does one receive purification. They don’t confess twice in one case. Only if you repeated the offense again.

When compiling a list, briefly describe the situation so that the priest and you yourself understand what it is about. Tell us not just that you don’t respect your parents, but how this manifested itself, for example, by raising your voice to your mother in an argument.

Also, do not use church expressions if you do not understand them. Confession is a conversation with God; speak in a language that you understand. For example, if you really like sweets, say so. Don't use "gluttony."

Dividing sins into separate blocks will allow you to organize your thoughts. By moving from one group to another, you will understand the reasons for the action and will be able to avoid repeating it. Follow his points and the question “How to correctly write sins for confession?” won't bother you anymore. And you will concentrate on the main thing.

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 whomever you leave it, it will remain on him” (John 20:22–23).

Here you can immediately answer the frequently asked question: why do you need to go to a priest to tell about your sins? Isn’t it enough to repent in your soul, before God? No, not enough. The Lord gave the power of forgiveness of sins not to the person himself during mental confession of them before God, but to the Church in the person of the apostles and their successors, that is, bishops and elders. In order for them to recognize those sins that they have the grace to forgive in the name of the Lord, they need to tell them, tell them, name them, that is, confess them and testify to the clergyman their repentance for them.

Sin separates a person from God and His Church; in the Sacrament of Repentance, the forgiveness of sins and the reunification of a person with the Church occurs. Outside the Church, even if a person sincerely laments his sinful deeds, he has nowhere to get permission from them.

What is sin?

“Sin is lawlessness,” says the Apostle John the Theologian (1 John 3:4), that is, a violation of the will of God, which is the all-creative action of God, that on which the world, all existence rests. And we know from the Holy Scriptures that the will of God is not some indifferent omnipotent force, but “good, acceptable and perfect” (Rom. 12: 2). If we correspond with the will of God with our deeds, thoughts, feelings, love it, seek it, create it, we thereby partake of the original harmony of the world order, goodness, goodness, perfection and remain in the divinely established order and order, correspond to God and the divine life and gain peace, tranquility of conscience, internal (and often external) well-being, bliss and immortality. If we violate the will of God, then we thereby go against God’s order of the world order, that is, we destroy, spoil and pervert ourselves and the world. The Apostle James writes: “Sin committed gives birth to death” (James 1:15).

The will of God is revealed to us in the Holy Scriptures, especially the New Testament. If we diligently read and study this main book of the Church and apply what we read to ourselves, then we will conform our lives to the will of God.

A sin committed violates the laws of existence - primarily spiritual laws, and, therefore, for a person it entails inevitable responsibility. If a person leaves the window of the 15th floor, having the desire to walk through the air to the neighboring house, then he will fall down - these are the laws of the physical world; It doesn’t matter at all what he thinks and believes. So it is in the spiritual sphere: if a person goes against the laws of God, then - whether he counts this opposition to God as a sin or not - he reaps certain consequences.

Any sin distorts, changes God’s order for the worse, and separates a person from God. But truly the Love of God surpasses all human imperfection and weakness. The Lord Jesus Christ in His Church gave us the great and amazing Sacrament of Repentance; and now, if a person realizes his sin, repents, confesses it and receives permission from him in the Church, then through the action of this Sacrament the sin is destroyed, erased from existence, and the soul is healed and receives grace-filled strength to fight sin; the main thing that happens is that communication between God and man is restored.

Two Types of Repentance

But repentance is not only a Sacrament. Repentance is, first of all, an internal action, the internal work of a person, which prepares and leads him to the Sacrament.

Repentance as entry into the Church

The gospel sermon began with nothing more than a call to repentance. “The time is fulfilled and the Kingdom of God is at hand: repent and believe in the Gospel” (Mark 1:15) - this is the first thing the Lord said when he came out to preach. Before this, Saint John the Baptist called for repentance, and even baptized into repentance, that is, he washed himself with water as a sign of cleansing from the sins confessed to him. The apostolic, that is, church, sermon also began with an exhortation to repent. After the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles, in his first sermon, the Apostle Peter said: “Repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38); “Repent and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out” (Acts 3:19). In the Holy Scriptures, repentance is considered a necessary condition for turning to God and for salvation. The Lord says: “Unless you repent, you will all perish in the same way” (Luke 13:3). Repentance pleases God and pleases Him: “So there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who do not need to repent” (Luke 15:7).

What are we talking about here? The Greek word “metania” (repentance), which appears in the original in all the quoted passages of the New Testament, literally means “to change one’s mind,” and the meaning of this concept is a change of consciousness. This word means more than a mere process of mental activity, it refers to a deliberate "conversion" in which the heart, will and consciousness are involved; this is “a change in the way of thinking, leading to a change in behavior,” and what is meant here is precisely the religious aspect - a turning from sin and lies to God, truth and goodness. Thus, repentance in the proper sense of the word is a change of consciousness and a decisive change in one’s entire life, awareness of one’s sins and abandonment of them, turning to God and organizing one’s life on new, evangelical principles.

Such an appeal to God occurs primarily through the acceptance of the Sacrament of Baptism; in our time, many people who were baptized in childhood, but were not raised as Christians, who have drowned out the grace of Baptism with a non-Christian life, enter the Church through the Sacrament of Repentance. In this sense it is called the “second Baptism” or “restoration, renewal of Baptism.”

Repentance as a moral act

But now you and I entered the Church. How should our lives be structured now? Having rejected sin and united with God, we received gifts of grace from Him in the Sacraments, and now our task is to preserve, grow and multiply them. To do this, we must make a conscious moral effort on ourselves. The Lord speaks about this: “The Kingdom of Heaven is taken by force, and those who use force take it away” (Matthew 11:12). This effort must be even, constant, unceasing, so that we constantly grow in Christ, ascending from strength to strength.

But this is the ideal. In life, such a smooth ascent is not often encountered. We are weak, incapable of such constancy, of constant internal tension; we have acquired many sinful habits that have almost become fused with our nature. The structure of our external life is completely unchristian, contrary to a pious life; and the devil is next to his temptations. Under these conditions, we often become distracted, darkened, exhausted, weakened - and as a result, we allow sins into our lives. And here again the love of God is revealed to us and accepts us in the Sacrament of Repentance.

About internal repentance

Repentance (here we are talking about an act of internal repentance, not about the Sacrament itself) is not something amorphous, like some kind of confused self-reproach of the soul. Nor is it some kind of internal hysteria. Repentance has its own internal rite and order, which is very well defined by St. Theophan the Recluse. This is what he writes.

There is repentance:

1) awareness of one’s sin before God;

2) reproaching oneself for this sin with full confession of one’s guilt, without shifting responsibility to other people or circumstances;

3) the determination to leave sin, to hate it, not to return to it, not to give it room in oneself;

4) prayer to God for forgiveness of sin, until the spirit is pacified.

For, let’s say, “minor” sins, this internal repentance is often enough, but significant sins require that they be taken to confession, because the heart is not pacified by just going through the indicated repentant internal work.

How, when, how often to confess sins?

But now we are “ripe” to come to church for confession. Questions immediately arise before us: what and how, when and how often should we confess? The general rule here is this: you must confess when there is a need, and confess what your conscience reproaches you with, be it a deed, a word, a thought or a disposition of the heart. You always need to confess fully, without hiding, without being embarrassed or ashamed with the false shame of “what will the priest think of me?” For the priest, sins are not news; he has heard it all hundreds of times. The priest always rejoices with Christ when a person repents of his sins, and feels love, affection and great respect for a sincerely repentant Christian, because courage and will are always needed to repent of one’s sins.

Mortal sins, if, God forbid, we have committed them, we need to confess them as soon as possible, without delaying repentance, because the enemy can throw up many obstacles in order to delay our coming to confession, in order to plunge us into despondency and despair. The same thing applies to the first confession. When a person wants to return to the Church through repentance, as through a second Baptism, he should not be embarrassed and, under the pretext of false shame, put off confession until an indefinite “later.”

When we become churchgoers, our participation in the Sacrament of Repentance becomes more or less regular. Usually, according to the tradition of our Church, it happens before Communion. We always need to confess matters in which our conscience reproaches us; words - when they entered the category of deeds, for example, when we offended someone with a word. For thoughts, the act of internal repentance described above is sufficient; the thought has passed away and there is no need to remember it. But if it comes to mind on its own, if it is annoying, does not go away and hurts the conscience, then you need to confess it, while trying to trace its cause.

Sins must be named so that the confessing priest understands what is being said, but there is no need to go into details, especially carnal sins. It’s good to test your conscience in advance and write everything down, because a person may get confused, embarrassed and forget something during confession.

About some mistakes in confession

It is necessary to note several dangers that we may encounter in the matter of repentance.

1. Formalization of confession, when it seems necessary to confess, but there seems to be nothing to confess, or when we turn confession into a dry “report on the work done.” Here we must remember that the Sacrament of Confession is the completion and expression of the internal process of repentance and has its meaning only under its condition. That is, if we confess without spiritual repentance, without going through - at least to a small extent - the four components of internal work indicated by St. Theophan, we are in danger of profaning the Sacrament, and it can become our “judgment or condemnation.” If a person leads an attentive life and monitors the purity of his conscience, then he daily notices in himself that which requires cleansing.

2. There is also the danger of “substitution” at confession, when a person does not see his real sins, but imputes imaginary sins to himself or considers unimportant sins to be great: he strains out a mosquito, swallows a camel, according to the word of the Lord (Matthew 23:24). A person can repent and reproach himself, for example, that during Lent he ate cookies with a non-lenten ingredient - some kind of powdered milk, or that he did not read all the prayers from his rule - and at the same time not notice that he has been poisoning the lives of his neighbors for years. This also includes frequently encountered understatements or exaggerations of sins. Downplaying sins is always associated with self-justification. “I don’t do anything special, I have sins like everyone else,” or “well, everyone lives like that.” But it is obvious that the sinfulness of violating God’s commandments is in no way diminished by the massive scale of these violations... The exaggeration of sins stems from a person’s reluctance or inability to truthfully understand his life. “I’m a sinner in everything”, “I trampled all the vows of Baptism, I lied to God in everything...” You begin to figure it out - it turns out that it’s not “in everything”: they didn’t derail trains, they didn’t renounce God... There’s an inaccuracy in this question is dangerous, because it leads to an incorrect view of oneself and of relationships with God and neighbors.

3. Getting used to confession and devaluing it: “It doesn’t matter that I sin: there is a confession, I will repent.” This is manipulation of the Sacrament, a consumerist attitude towards it. Such “games” with God always end very badly: God severely punishes a person for such a state of mind. You need to beware of this, and always be honest with God and your conscience.

4. Disappointment in confession: “Here, I’ve been going around for years, repenting, but the passion doesn’t go away, the sins are the same.” This is evidence that we were unable to determine our measure: after reading ascetic books, we decided that in a short time we would overcome our sins and passions. But this takes decades. In addition, the Lord can providentially leave us some weaknesses and passions, so that we humble ourselves, do not rely on ourselves, but seek God and patiently seek His help.

You also need to understand that sins vary in strength. Some have become so ingrained in our nature that, like rust, they need to be cleaned long and diligently. Others can be compared to the mud that we got into, got very dirty, but after cleansing we can’t get into it anymore. The third, small ones, are like dust, which gradually and imperceptibly collects. If we don’t wipe it, over time we’ll start suffocating. Finally, we don’t ask the question: why brush your teeth if they are still dirty. With each sincere confession, the power of sin in us weakens, and over time, it completely disappears.

Criterion for the correctness of repentance

Repentant feelings should bring a person not despondency and despair, not an inferiority complex, but the grace of the Holy Spirit. This is not delight, not exaltation, not blood fever - the grace of the Holy Spirit is evidenced in the soul by a subtle, peaceful, joyful, humble, quiet, cool, truly spiritual feeling, giving a person peace, love and freedom - and, as it were, “gathering” a person into a whole and harmonious being, into what he should be according to God's plan. If what we consider repentance brings embarrassment, heaviness, guilt, internal hysteria, and self-criticism to our soul, then we understand repentance incorrectly.

Repentance does not cover all internal work, it is part of it. Repentance is not the goal of spiritual life, but, although the most important, it is a means. The goal of spiritual life is communion with God, and Repentance, in fact, restores it: this is the main thing that happens in this Sacrament, and this is its place in spiritual life.

What is necessary for our confession to be deep, so that the soul feels lightness from the shed of the weight of sins? For this, sincerity and a sense of repentance are not enough. It is necessary to carefully reconsider our life, understand, realize what we need to repent of. Therefore, when we are preparing for confession, let us first try to see in ourselves those sins for which our conscience reproaches us, which lie on the surface of our consciousness. And then let’s check ourselves according to the list of sins that spiritual literature offers us. When preparing for confession, take the time to take a piece of paper and write down what you should tell the priest about. This will help you be more collected during confession, and not forget to talk about some sins due to excitement or the action of the evil one. And the priest will see that you have prepared for the Sacrament of Penance in good faith.

Eight main passions that corrupt the life of Man and the whole society according to the works of St. Ignatius Brianchaninov

1. Gluttony

Gluttony, drunkenness, non-observance of fasts, secret eating, delicacy, general intemperance in eating and drinking. Excessive love for the flesh, the desire for comfort and peace, because of which pride arises, which leads to failure to be faithful to God, the Church and people.

2. Fornication

Prodigal incitement, prodigal orientation of the soul and heart. Acceptance of unclean thoughts, consideration of them, delight in them, retention in them. Prodigal dreams. Incontinence of the senses - sight, especially touch - is the insolence that destroys all virtues. Foul language and reading voluptuous books, watching lewd films and television shows. Malakia (handjob). Fornication (failure to maintain purity before marriage), adultery (violation of marital fidelity). Prodigal sins are unnatural.

3. Love of money

Love of money and wealth in general. The desire to get rich. Fear of old age, poverty. Stinginess, greed. No mercy for the poor and wretched. Selfishness. Disappointment in God's Providence, trust in one's wealth. Excessive concern for earthly things. Love for gifts. Theft, appropriation of someone else's property, careless attitude towards other people's property. Robbery. Failure to pay or withhold wages to employees.

4. Anger

Hot temper, irritability. Desire for revenge. Quarrels, bickering, insults, beatings, murder, rancor, hatred, enmity, slander, unwillingness to reconcile and forgive sins.

5. Sadness

Sadness, melancholy, cutting off hope in God, ingratitude to God for everything that happens in life, cowardice, cowardice, intolerance, lack of self-reproach, complaining about one’s neighbor, grumbling, renunciation of the cross of life or an attempt to get off it.

6. Dejection

Indifference to any good deed, especially to prayer. Failure to perform home and church prayers. Inattentiveness and haste in prayer. Carelessness, lack of reverence in spiritual matters. Laziness in reading spiritual books. Apathy, idleness, desire for entertainment, drowsiness. Frequent abandonment of the temple. Excessive guesting, idle talk, ridicule. Blasphemy. Forgetting your sins. Forgetting the commandments of Christ. Deprivation of the fear of God. Bitterness. Despair.

7. Vanity

The desire for human glory and honor. Praise. Love for beautiful and expensive things. Narcissism, excessive concern for one’s appearance, clothing, passion for fashion (regarding clothing, furniture, home decoration, modern technology, scientific achievements, artistic tastes, etc.). Shame to confess sins in confession, concealing them before the priest. Craftiness. Self-justification. Disclaimer. Exposing your mind. Hypocrisy. Lie. Flattery. People-pleasing. Envy. Humiliation of one's neighbor. Changeability of mood. Condoning injustice. Unconscionability. The character and life are demonic.

8. Pride

Neglect of one's neighbor. Preferring yourself to everyone. Impudence. Darkness of mind and heart. Hula. Disbelief. Arrogance. Disobedience to the teachings of the Church, failure to comply with its laws, blasphemy and slander against it. Connivance with one's sinful will. Passion for heretical and occult literature. False philosophy. Sectarianism. Atheism. Ignorance. Mortification of the soul. Satanism. Neglecting the voice of your conscience. Maliciousness. Refusal of Christian humility and silence. Loss of simplicity. Loss of love for God and neighbor.

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The sacrament of confession is a test for the soul. It consists of a desire to repent, verbal confession, repentance for sins. When a person goes against the laws of God, he gradually destroys his spiritual and physical shell. Repentance helps to cleanse yourself. It reconciles a person with God. The soul is healed and receives strength to fight sin.

Confession allows you to talk about your wrongdoings and receive forgiveness. In excitement and fear, you can forget what you wanted to repent of. The list of sins for confession serves as a reminder, a hint. It can be read in full or used as an outline. The main thing is that the confession is sincere and truthful.

Sacrament

Confession is the main component of repentance. This is an opportunity to ask for forgiveness for your sins and to be cleansed of them. Confession gives spiritual strength to resist evil. Sin is a discrepancy in thoughts, words, and actions with God's permission.

Confession is a sincere awareness of wicked actions, a desire to get rid of them. No matter how difficult and unpleasant it may be to remember them, you should tell the clergyman in detail about your sins.

This sacrament requires a complete relationship between feelings and words, because the everyday listing of one’s sins will not bring true cleansing. Feelings without words are as ineffective as words without feelings.

There is a list of sins for confession. This is a large list of all obscene actions or words. It is based on the 7 deadly sins and 10 commandments. Human life is too diverse to be absolutely righteous. Therefore, confession is an opportunity to repent of sins and try to prevent them in the future.

How to prepare for confession?

Preparation for confession must take place several days in advance. A list of sins can be written on a piece of paper. You should read special literature about the sacraments of confession and communion.

One should not look for excuses for sins, one must recognize their wickedness. It is best to analyze your every day, analyzing what was good and what was bad. This daily habit will help you be more attentive to your thoughts and actions.

Before confession, you should make peace with everyone who was offended. Forgive those who offended. Before confession, it is necessary to strengthen the prayer rule. Add to the nightly reading the Canon of Repentance, the canons of the Theotokos.

One should separate personal repentance (when a person mentally repents of his actions) and the sacrament of confession (when a person talks about his sins in the desire to be cleansed of them).

The presence of a third party requires a moral effort to understand the depth of the offense and, through overcoming shame, will force you to look more deeply at the wrong actions. That is why a list of sins is so necessary for confession in Orthodoxy. It will help to identify what was forgotten or wanted to be hidden.

If you have difficulty compiling a list of sinful actions, you can purchase the book “Full Confession.” It is in every church shop. There is a detailed list of sins for confession and the features of the sacrament. Samples of confession and materials for preparing for it have been published.

Rules

Is there a heaviness in your soul, do you want to speak out, ask for forgiveness? After confession it becomes much easier. This is an open, sincere recognition and repentance of the wrongdoings committed. You can go to confession up to 3 times a week. The desire to be cleansed of sins will help overcome the feeling of stiffness and awkwardness.

The less frequent the confession, the more difficult it is to remember all the events and thoughts. The best option for holding the sacrament is once a month. Help in confession - a list of sins - will prompt you with the necessary words. The main thing is that the priest understands the essence of the offense. Then the punishment for sin will be justified.

After confession, the priest imposes penance in difficult cases. This is punishment, excommunication from the holy sacraments and God's grace. Its duration is determined by the priest. In most cases, the penitent faces moral and correctional work. For example, fasting, reading prayers, canons, akathists.

Sometimes the priest reads out the list of sins for confession. You can independently write a list of what has been done. It is better to come to confession after the evening service or in the morning, before the liturgy.

How does the sacrament work?

In some situations, you should invite the priest to confession at home. This is done if the person is seriously ill or near death.

Upon entering the temple, you must line up for confession. During the entire sacrament, the cross and the Gospel lie on the lectern. This symbolizes the invisible presence of the Savior.

Before confession begins, the priest may start asking questions. For example, about how often prayers are said, whether church rules are followed.

Then the sacrament begins. It is best to prepare your list of sins for confession. A sample of it can always be purchased at the church. If the sins forgiven at the previous confession were repeated, then they should be mentioned again - this is considered a more serious offense. You should not hide anything from the priest or speak in hints. You should clearly explain in simple words the sins you repent of.

If the priest tore up the list of sins for confession, it means that the sacrament is over and absolution has been granted. The priest places an epitrachelion on the head of the penitent. This means the return of God's favor. After this, they kiss the cross and the Gospel, which symbolizes readiness to live according to the commandments.

Preparing for Confession: List of Sins

Confession is intended to comprehend your sin and desire to improve. It is difficult for a person far from the church to understand what actions should be considered wicked. That's why there are 10 commandments. They clearly state what not to do. It is better to prepare a list of sins for confession according to the commandments in advance. On the day of the sacrament, you can get excited and forget everything. Therefore, you should calmly, a few days before confession, re-read the commandments and write down your sins.

If it is the first confession, then it is not easy to figure out the seven deadly sins and the ten commandments on your own. Therefore, you should approach the priest in advance and tell him about your difficulties in a personal conversation.

A list of sins for confession with an explanation of the sins can be purchased at the church or found on the website of your temple. The transcript describes in detail all the alleged sins. From this general list it is necessary to isolate what was done personally. Then write down your list of offenses.

Sins committed against God

• Lack of faith in God, doubt, ingratitude.
• Lack of a cross on the body, unwillingness to defend the faith in front of detractors.
• Swearing in the name of God, pronouncing the name of the Lord in vain (not during prayer or conversations about God).
• Visiting sects, casting fortunes, treating with all kinds of magic, reading and spreading false teachings.
• Gambling, suicidal thoughts, swearing.
• Failure to attend church, lack of a daily prayer rule.
• Failure to observe fasts, reluctance to read Orthodox literature.
• Condemnation of clergy, thoughts about worldly things during worship.
• A waste of time on entertainment, watching TV, inactivity at the computer.
• Despair in difficult situations, excessive reliance on oneself or someone else’s help without faith in God’s providence.
• Concealing sins in confession.

Sins committed against neighbors

• Hot temper, anger, arrogance, pride, vanity.
• Lies, non-interference, ridicule, stinginess, extravagance.
• Raising children outside of faith.
• Non-repayment of debts, non-payment for work, refusal to help those who ask and need.
• Unwillingness to help parents, disrespect for them.
• Theft, condemnation, envy.
• Quarrels, drinking alcohol at funerals.
• Murder with words (slander, incitement to suicide or illness).
• Killing a child in the womb, inducing others to have an abortion.

Sins committed against oneself

• Foul language, pride, idle talk, gossip.
• Desire for profit, enrichment.
• Displaying good deeds.
• Envy, lies, drunkenness, gluttony, drug use.
• Fornication, adultery, incest, fornication.

List of sins for a woman to confess

This is a very sensitive list, and many women refuse to confess after reading it. You should not trust any information you read. Even if a brochure with a list of sins for a woman was purchased at a church store, be sure to pay attention to the stamp. There should be an inscription “recommended by the publishing council of the Russian Orthodox Church.”

The clergy do not divulge the secret of confession. Therefore, it is best to undergo the sacrament with a permanent confessor. The Church does not intrude into the sphere of intimate marital relationships. Issues of contraception, which is sometimes equated to abortion, are best discussed with a priest. There are drugs that do not have an abortifacient effect, but only prevent the birth of life. In any case, all controversial issues should be discussed with your spouse, doctor, or confessor.

Here is a list of sins for confession (brief):

1. She rarely prayed and did not attend church.
2. I thought more about worldly things during prayer.
3. Allowed sexual activity before marriage.
4. Abortion, inducing others to it.
5. Had unclean thoughts and desires.
6. I watched films, read books with pornographic content.
7. Gossip, lies, envy, laziness, resentment.
8. Excessive exposure of the body to attract attention.
9. Fear of old age, wrinkles, thoughts of suicide.
10. Addiction to sweets, alcohol, drugs.
11. Avoiding helping other people.
12. Seeking help from fortune tellers and fortune tellers.
13. Superstition.

List of sins for a man

There is debate about whether a list of sins should be prepared for confession. Some believe that such a list harms the sacrament and promotes the formal reading of offenses. The main thing in confession is to realize your sins, repent and prevent their repetition. Therefore, the list of sins may be a short reminder or absent altogether.

Formal confession is not considered valid, since there is no repentance in it. Returning after the sacrament to your former life will add hypocrisy. The balance of spiritual life lies in understanding the essence of repentance, where confession is only the beginning of awareness of one’s sinfulness. This is a long process consisting of several stages of internal work. The creation of spiritual resources is a systematic adjustment of conscience, responsibility for one’s relationship with God.

Here is a list of sins for confession (brief) for a man:

1. Sacrilege, conversations in the temple.
2. Doubt about faith, the afterlife.
3. Blasphemy, mockery of the poor.
4. Cruelty, laziness, pride, vanity, greed.
5. Evasion from military service.
6. Avoiding unwanted work, shirking responsibilities.
7. Insults, hatred, fights.
8. Slander, disclosure of other people's weaknesses.
9. Temptation to sin (fornication, drunkenness, drugs, gambling).
10. Refusal to help parents and other people.
11. Theft, aimless collecting.
12. Tendency to boast, argue, and humiliate others.
13. Impudence, rudeness, contempt, familiarity, cowardice.

Confession for a child

For a child, the sacrament of confession can begin at the age of seven. Until this age, children are allowed to receive Communion without this. Parents must prepare the child for confession: explain the essence of the sacrament, tell why it is being performed, and remember with him possible sins.

The child must be made to understand that sincere repentance is preparation for confession. It is better for a child to write a list of sins himself. He must realize what actions were wrong and try not to repeat them in the future.

Older children make their own decisions about whether to confess or not. You should not limit the free will of a child or teenager. The personal example of parents is much more important than all conversations.

The child must remember his sins before confession. A list of them can be compiled after the child answers the questions:

• How often does he read prayers (in the morning, in the evening, before meals), which ones does he know by heart?
• Does he go to church, how does he behave during the service?
• Does he wear a cross on his body, and is he distracted or not during prayers and services?
• Have you ever deceived your parents or priest during confession?
• Weren't you proud of your successes and victories, weren't you arrogant?
• Does it fight or not with other children, does it offend children or animals?
• Does he snitch on other children to protect himself?
• Have you ever committed theft or been jealous of anyone?
• Have you laughed at other people's physical disabilities?
• Did you play cards (smoked, drank alcohol, tried drugs, used foul language)?
• Is he lazy or helps his parents around the house?
• Did you pretend to be sick to avoid your responsibilities?

1. A person himself determines whether to confess or not, how many times to attend the sacrament.
2. You should prepare a list of sins for confession. It is better to take a sample in the church where the sacrament will take place, or find it yourself in church literature.
3. It is optimal to go to confession with the same clergyman, who will become a mentor and will contribute to spiritual growth.
4. Confession is free of charge.

First you need to ask on what days confessions are held in the church. You should dress appropriately. For men - a shirt or T-shirt with sleeves, trousers or jeans (not shorts). For women - a scarf on the head, no makeup (at least lipstick), a skirt no higher than the knees.

Sincerity of Confession

A priest as a psychologist can recognize how sincere a person is in his repentance. There are confessions that offend the sacrament and the Lord. If a person mechanically talks about sins, has several confessors, hides the truth - such actions do not lead to repentance.

Behavior, tone of speech, words with which confession is pronounced - it all matters. This is the only way the priest understands how sincere the penitent is. Pangs of conscience, embarrassment, worries, shame contribute to spiritual cleansing.

Sometimes the personality of the priest is important for the parishioner. This is not a reason to condemn and comment on the actions of clergy. You can go to another church or turn to another holy father for confession.

It can be difficult to voice your sins. The emotional experiences are so strong that it is more convenient to make a list of unrighteous actions. Father is attentive to every parishioner. If, due to shame, it is impossible to tell about everything and the repentance is deep, then the priest has the right to forgive the sins, a list of which was compiled before confession, without even reading them.

The meaning of confession

Having to talk about your sins in front of a stranger is embarrassing. Therefore, people refuse to go to confession, believing that God will forgive them anyway. This is the wrong approach. The priest acts only as an intermediary between man and God. His task is to determine the measure of repentance. The priest has no right to condemn anyone; he will not expel a repentant person from the church. During confession, people are very vulnerable, and clergy try not to cause unnecessary suffering.

It is important to see your sin, recognize and condemn it in your soul, and voice it before the priest. Have a desire not to repeat your misdeeds again, try to atone for the harm done through acts of mercy. Confession brings revival of the soul, re-education and access to a new spiritual level.

Sins (list), Orthodoxy, confession imply self-knowledge and the search for grace. All good deeds are done through strength. Only by overcoming yourself, doing works of mercy, and cultivating virtues in yourself, can you receive God's grace.

The meaning of confession lies in understanding the typology of sinners, the typology of sin. At the same time, an individual approach to each repentant is akin to pastoral psychoanalysis. The sacrament of confession is the pain of awareness of sin, recognition of it, the determination to voice and ask for forgiveness for it, cleansing of the soul, joy and peace.

A person must feel the need to repent. Love for God, love for oneself, love for one's neighbor cannot exist separately. The symbolism of the Christian cross - horizontal (love for God) and vertical (love for oneself and one's neighbor) - lies in the awareness of the integrity of spiritual life, its essence.

Simple rules for confession

Confession, especially if it is associated with fasting, almsgiving, and fervent prayer, returns a person to the state in which Adam was before the Fall.

You can confess in any setting, but it is generally accepted to confess in church - during a service or at a time specially appointed by the priest. The person confessing must be baptized, a member of the Orthodox Church, recognizing all the fundamentals of Orthodox doctrine and repenting of his sins.

When preparing for confession, the church charter does not require either a special fast or a special prayer rule - faith and repentance are needed. However, it is recommended to read prayers of repentance, and fasting is also possible.

The penitent must confess his sins. It is necessary to show a general awareness of one’s sinfulness, especially highlighting the passions and infirmities most characteristic of it (for example: lack of faith, love of money, anger, and the like); and also name those specific sins that he sees behind himself, and especially those that weigh most heavily on his conscience.

EIGHT MAIN PASSIONS

(think: don’t these sins burden you)

1 . Gluttony: Binge eating, drunkenness, non-keeping and allowing fasting, secret eating, delicacy, and generally violation of abstinence. Incorrect and excessive love of the flesh, its belly and peace, which constitutes self-love, which leads to failure to remain faithful to God, the Church, virtue and people.

2. Fornication: Prodigal kindling, prodigal sensations and attitudes of the soul and heart. Acceptance of unclean thoughts, conversation with them, delight in them, permission for them, slowness in them. Prodigal dreams and captivities. Failure to preserve feelings, especially touch, is the insolence that destroys all virtues. Foul language and reading voluptuous books. Natural prodigal sins: fornication and adultery. Prodigal sins are unnatural.

3. Love of money: The love of money, in general the love of property, movable and immovable. The desire to get rich. Reflection on the means to enrichment. Dreaming of wealth. Fear of old age, unexpected poverty, illness, exile. Stinginess. Selfishness. Disbelief in God, lack of trust in His Providence. Addictions or painful, excessive love for various perishable objects, depriving the soul of freedom. Passion for vain concerns. Loving gifts. Appropriation of someone else's. Likhva. Cruelty towards the poor brethren and all those in need. Theft. Robbery.

4. Anger: Hot temper, acceptance of angry thoughts: dreams of anger and revenge, indignation of the heart with rage, darkening of the mind by it; obscene shouting, argument, swearing, cruel and caustic words, emphasis, pushing, murder. Malice, hatred, enmity, revenge, slander, condemnation, indignation and insult to one’s neighbor.

5. Sadness: Sadness, melancholy, cutting off hope in God, doubt in God’s promises, ingratitude to God for everything that happens, cowardice, impatience, lack of self-reproach, grief towards one’s neighbor, grumbling, renunciation of the cross, an attempt to descend from it.

6. Dejection: Laziness towards any good deed, especially prayer. Abandonment of church and cell rules. Abandonment of unceasing prayer and soul-helping reading. Inattention and haste in prayer. Neglect. Irreverence. Idleness. Excessive calming by sleep, lying down and all kinds of rest. Moving from place to place. Frequent exits from the cell, walks and visits with friends. Celebration. Jokes. Blasphemers. Abandonment of bows and other physical feats. Forgetting your sins. Forgetting the commandments of Christ. Negligence. Captivity. Deprivation of the fear of God. Bitterness. Insensibility. Despair.

7. Vanity: The search for human glory. Boasting. Desire and search for earthly and vain honors. Love of beautiful clothes, carriages, servants and cell things. Attention to the beauty of your face, the pleasantness of your voice and other qualities of your body. Disposition towards the dying sciences and arts of this age, the quest to succeed in them in order to acquire temporary, earthly glory. Shame to confess your sins. Hiding them before people and the spiritual father. Craftiness. Self-justification. Disclaimer. Making up your mind. Hypocrisy. Lie. Flattery. People-pleasing. Envy. Humiliation of one's neighbor. Changeability of character. Indulgence. Unconscionability. The character and life are demonic.

8. Pride: Contempt for one's neighbor. Preferring yourself to everyone. Insolence. Darkness, dullness of the mind and heart. Nailing them to the earthly. Hula. Disbelief. False mind. Disobedience to the Law of God and the Church. Following your carnal will. Reading books that are heretical, depraved and vain. Disobedience to authorities. Caustic ridicule. Abandonment of Christ-like humility and silence. Loss of simplicity. Loss of love for God and neighbor. False philosophy. Heresy. Godlessness. Ignorance. Death of the soul.St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov)

A short list of sins.

• You need to repent of sins committed in deeds, words, and thoughts.

• Remember the sins for the time that has passed since the previous confession or, if you have never confessed, for the time that has passed since baptism.

• If you were baptized in infancy, try to remember from the age of six.

• "Every minute" and there is no need to remember and tell in detail. Suffice it to say that such and such a sin, one way or another, happened in life. In deed, in word, in thought.

• In confession, do not make excuses, but only repent.

• When confessing, try to speak to the point, without being distracted by extraneous topics.

• Don't hide your sins. This makes confession invalid and doubles the burden of sin on the soul.
• Don’t try to “get off quickly” by saying: “I’m a sinner in everything!”. You must definitely figure out what exactly it is in order to identify your spiritual illnesses - the causes of life's problems, and consciously begin to heal them.
• Fasting, in the sense of eating, is not required before confession.

• If you have already confessed some sin and have not committed it again, there is no need to repeat it.

• It is a sin to continue to worry about something that you have already repented of in confession. This is a manifestation of lack of faith.
• Unbelief, lack of faith, doubts about the existence of God, about the truth of the Orthodox faith.
• Failure to comply with God's Law.
• Offense against God.
• An insult to God, the Most Holy Theotokos, the saints, the holy Church. Mentioning the Name of God in vain, without reverence.
• Condemnation of clergy.
• Caring only about earthly life.
• Failure to comply with prayer rules, fasting and other church regulations.
• Non-attendance or rare attendance at the temple.
• Non-baptism of children. Raising children outside the Orthodox faith.
• Failure to keep promises made to God.
• Work on Sundays and major church holidays.
• Failure to provide prayer assistance to neighbors. Alive and deceased.
• Non-communion or rare participation in the sacraments of repentance, communion, and unction.
• Lack of Christian love.
• Lack of good deeds. Failure to provide all possible assistance to the Church.
• Committing criminal offenses.
• Homicide, abortion. Attempted murder or suicide.
• Pride. Condemnation. Resentment, no desire to reconcile, forgive. Grudge.
• Envy . Anger, hatred.
• Lies, deceit.
• Backbiting, gossip. Swearing, foul language. Causing harm or damage. Insult, insult.
• Failure to fulfill parental duty. Failure to fulfill a duty to parents
• Any dishonesty.

• Lack of mercy, failure to provide assistance to those in need.

Stinginess, greed, money-grubbing, bribery.

• Extravagance.

• Erroneous judgments about life, spreading one’s misconceptions.
• Temptation for any sin. Incorporation, in any form, into misconceptions and false teachings:

different philosophical systems; schisms, heresies and sects in Christianity;

other beliefs - Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and their branches;

about. sects - Satanism, Dianetics (Scientology), Marmons, Jehovah's Witnesses, yoga, meditation, etc., “health” systems, false directions in psychology and

- Superstition. Belief in omens, interpretation of dreams, observance of pagan rituals and holidays.

• Entering into direct communication with evil spirits. Fortune telling, witchcraft, spells, love spells, magic.

• Any games and actions with cards.

• Drinking, drug addiction, smoking.
• Fornication. (Satisfaction of sexual desire is illegal, that is, outside of marriage or in a perverted form.)
• Failure to save marriage. Divorce.
• Dejection, sadness. Gluttony. Laziness. Self-justification.
• Reluctance to work for one's salvation.

At the end of confession, you can say this: you have sinned in deed, in word, in thoughts, with all the feelings of soul and body. It is impossible to list all my sins, there are so many of them. But I repent of all my sins, both spoken and forgotten.

God! Be merciful to me, a sinner (sinner)

CONFESSION OF THE NEW ONE

Before confession, everyone should try to remember all their sins. You need to carefully and strictly trace your life in order to remember not only the sins committed after the last confession, but also the long-ago ones, not confessed due to oblivion.

And then take paper and pen and write down all your personal sins on a piece of paper according to the samples and examples (or by association with them) given below. Moreover, trying to name your sins literally in one word, so as not to think and save the time of the confessing priest. For example, remembering all the cases of your theft, denote them in one word: “stole” (but at the same time keep in mind every single episode of theft that was remembered this time). And all cases of fornication (which in no case, unlike other sins, can be recalled in detail), write in one word “fornication” or “cheated.” And so on and so forth.

Confess your sins openly, remembering that you are not telling them to a person, but to God Himself, Who already knows your sins, but wants you to repent of them. And you should not be ashamed of the priest: he is only a witness of your repentance and knows well that we are all servile and easily susceptible to falling into sin.

Confess each type of sin separately and in no case in general words and phrases: sinful, guilty, and the like. St. Chrysostom says: “Not only must one say: “I have sinned,” or “I am a sinner,” but all types of sins must also be expressed. “The discovery of sins,” says St. Basil the Great, “is subject to the same rule as the announcement bodily ailments to the doctor." The sinner is spiritually ill, and the priest, or rather the Lord, who receives confession, is a doctor: open your sores to Him and you will receive healing.

Do not try to justify yourself in any way during confession: circumstances, weakness, etc.

Confess your sins with the firm hope that they will certainly be forgiven you. The Apostle John the Theologian writes: “If we say that we have no sin, then we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, then He, being faithful and righteous, will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness!”

And before confessing at home, read your personal list of sins two or three times and, clearly and correctly crossing yourself at every mention of what was committed, ask the Lord to let them go and pray to God to help us correct ourselves and not sin again.

We must also think about how to improve our lifestyle, become better, do more good. On the eve of communion and before the liturgy, one should read with heartfelt emotion the prayers laid before communion. These prayers can be found in the prayer book. You should add your petitions to God to the required prayers.

Address to the penitents by Metropolitan Philaret of Ascension

Come to confession with heartfelt contrition, with a consciousness of your guilt, with pain in your heart that you have sinned a lot. Remember how the Lord, with His Providence, His goodness, His sovereign Hand, stopped you, led you away from sin, but you pushed His Hand away, did not listen to His law, did not heed His warnings, and stubbornly sinned and sinned...

And if you do not have such a repentant consciousness and sorrow, then bring to the Lord at least the sad consciousness of this unrepentance of yours. Repent of this to God. You have sinned, but you don’t know how to repent - so at least confess it contritely, the Lord will not reject this humble repentance and will give you His grace.

The Holy Fathers tell us that during repentance, a truly penitent confesses everything and at the same time makes a promise to the Lord to correct his life. Here we are, great sinners, and we have an uncountable number of sins, but this is why a person is given the time of fasting, this is why the Church calls him to intense prayer and fasting, so that he, concentrating, understands his soul and, having seen, realizes his main sin, your main weakness - and almost everyone has it.

The Church calls him to intense prayer and fasting, so that he concentrates, understands his soul and, having seen it, realizes his main sin, his main weakness - and almost everyone has it.

During the fast, you need to give yourself an account of what burdens and binds your soul the most, so that when your spiritual father asks you what you have sinned most about, you can immediately answer.

At the same time, we should never doubt that no matter how great our sins may be, no matter how hard we may have fallen, if we sincerely and contritely confess, the Lord Who said: “Whoever comes to me I will never cast out,” and he will not drive us out and will grant us mercy and forgiveness. Amen.

SAMPLE CONFESSION FOR THOSE ENTERING THE SACRAMENT OF REPENTANCE FOR THE FIRST TIME

I confess to you, my Lord God and before you, honest father, all my sins that I have committed up to this day and hour in deed, word, thought:

I sinned indifference to God, non-observance of God's Commandments, holidays, fasts, prayer rules and other church institutions, contempt and evasion of the help of St. To the temple and to those in need.

I sinned false shame to show oneself a Christian, absent-mindedness during prayer, careless and incorrect performance of the sign of the cross (points of the Cross: center of the forehead - navel, right shoulder - left shoulder, while the point on the left shoulder should NEVER be lower than the point on the right!) , missing services and negligence.

I sinned lack of frankness in confession, inattention to divine services, sermons, reading spiritual books and negligence towards one’s salvation.

I sinned doubts in faith, superstitious prejudices, visits to fortune tellers, psychics, sorcerers, fortune telling and gambling.

I sinned bitterness, disobedience, murmuring, contradiction, self-will, reproaches, slander, lies and laughter.

I sinned idle talk, condemnation, flattery, disobedience, insulting neighbors, foul language, disrespect for parents, neglect of the needs of the family, failure to educate children in the law of God.

I sinned daydreaming, pleasure in sinful thoughts, passionate glances, masturbation, seductive behavior, violation of chastity, violation of marital fidelity, lewdness and fornication.

I sinned gloomy thoughts, despondency, relaxation, despair, suicidal thoughts and murmuring.

I sinned wickedness, greed, deceit, malice, insults, recklessness, treachery, intransigence, retention of debts, theft and stinginess.

I sinned pride, vanity, self-praise, enmity, ambition, rancor, hatred, discord, intrigue, idolatry and pretense.

I sinned mockery, revenge, use of stimulants, smoking and drunkenness.

I sinned acquisition of unnecessary things, greed, unmercifulness, envy, anger, slander, insolence, carelessness and irritability.

I sinned gluttony, general excess in drinking and food, laziness, wasting time in front of the TV, watching vulgar films and listening to riotous and exciting music.

I sinned deed, word, thought, sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch - all my mental and physical feelings.

Sins not listed here, but remembered, must also be told to the confessor.

Sins that were confessed and resolved earlier do not need to be named in confession, because they have already been forgiven, but if we repeated them again, then we need to repent of them again. You also need to repent of those sins that were forgotten, but are now remembered.

When speaking about sins, one should not mention the names of other persons who are accomplices in sin. They must repent for themselves.

CONFESSION COMPLETED IN THE OPTIA DESERT

I confess to the Lord God Almighty, glorified and worshiped in the Holy Trinity, Father and Son and Holy Spirit, about all my sins.

I confess that I was conceived in sins, born in sins, raised in sins, and living in sins from the very Baptism to this day.

I confess that I have sinned against all the commandments of God through lack of faith and unbelief, doubt and free opinion, superstition, fortune-telling, arrogance, negligence, despair in my salvation, relying on myself and on people more than on God.

Forgetfulness of God's justice and lack of sufficient devotion to the will of God.

Disobedience to the orders of God's Providence.

A persistent desire for everything to be “my way.”

People-pleasing and partial love for creatures.

Failure to try to reveal in oneself the full knowledge of God and His will, faith in Him, reverence for Him, fear of Him, hope for Him, love for Him and zeal for His glory.

Sinned: enslavement of oneself to passions: lust, greed, pride, pride, vanity, servility to the spirit of the times, worldly customs against conscience, in violation of God's commandments, covetousness, gluttony, delicacy, gluttony, drunkenness.

Sinned: blasphemy, false swearing, breaking an oath, failure to fulfill vows, forcing others to devoutly, swearing, disrespect for sacred things and piety, blasphemy against God, against the saints and against every holy thing, blasphemy, blasphemy, calling the Name of God in vain, in bad deeds, desires, jokes and amusements.

Sinned: disrespect for holidays and activities that demean the honor of holidays, irreverent standing in church, talking and laughing, laziness in prayer and reading the Holy Scriptures, abandonment of morning and evening prayers, concealing sins at confession, failure to properly prepare for the communion of the Holy Mysteries, disrespect to sacred objects and carelessly depicting the sign of the cross on oneself, non-observance of fasts according to the charter of the Church, laziness to work and unscrupulous performance of assigned work and tasks according to duty, wasting a lot of time in vain, in idleness, absent-mindedness.

Sinned: disrespect for parents and superiors, disrespect for elders, spiritual shepherds and teachers.

Sinned: vain anger, insulting one's neighbors, hatred, causing harm to one's neighbor, enmity, rancor, temptation, advice to sin, arson, failure to save a person from death, poisoning, murder (of children in the womb) or advice to this effect.

Sinned: carnal sins - fornication, adultery, voluptuousness, passionate kisses, unclean touch, looking at beautiful faces with lust.

Sinned: foul language, delight in unclean dreams, arbitrary lustful irritation, marital intemperance during fasting, Sundays and holidays, incest in spiritual and carnal relationships, excessive panache with the desire to please and seduce others.

Sinned: theft, appropriation of someone else's property, deception, concealing a found thing, accepting someone else's thing, failure to pay a debt for false reasons, interfering with the benefits of others, parasitism, covetousness, sacrilege, lack of compassion for the unfortunate, unmercifulity towards the poor, stinginess, extravagance, luxury, gambling in cards, a generally disorderly life, covetousness, infidelity, injustice, hard-heartedness.

Sinned: false denunciation and testimony in court, slander and denigration of a neighbor’s good name and honor, disclosure of other people’s sins and weaknesses, suspicion, doubt of a neighbor’s honor, condemnation, double-mindedness, gossip, ridicule, witticisms, lies, deceit, deception, hypocritical treatment of others , flattery, groveling before those who are higher in position and have advantages and power; talkativeness and idle talk.

I do not have: straightforwardness, sincerity, simplicity, fidelity, truthfulness, respect, sedateness, caution in words, prudent silence, guarding and defending the honor of others.

Sinned: evil desires and thoughts, envy, mental adultery (lust), selfish and proud thoughts and desires, selfishness and carnality.

I do not have: love, abstinence, chastity, modesty in words and deeds, purity of heart, selflessness, non-covetousness, generosity, mercy, humility, in general I do not diligently care about eradicating sinful dispositions in myself and establishing myself in virtues.

Sinned: despondency, sadness, sight, hearing, taste, smell, touch, unclean lust and all my feelings, thoughts, words, desires, deeds and my other sins, which I did not mention due to my unconsciousness.

I repent that I have angered the Lord my God, I sincerely regret this and I wish to repent and not sin in the future and refrain from sins in every possible way.

With tears, I pray to You, the Lord my God, help me to be confirmed in my intention to live like a Christian, and forgive my confessed sins, as you are Good and Lover of Mankind.

I also ask you, honest father, in whose presence I confessed all this, that you will be my witness on the day of judgment against the devil, the enemy and hater of the human race, and that you will pray for me, a sinner, to the Lord my God.

I ask you, honest father, as you who have from Christ God the authority to allow those who confess and forgive their sins, forgive me, allow me and pray for me, a sinner.

SAMPLE CONFESSION FOR THE CHURCHED

I confess to the Lord my God and before you, honest father, all my countless sins that I have committed up to this day and hour. Every day and every hour I sin ingratitude to God for His great and countless benefits to me and care for me, a sinner.

Sinned: lack of faith, unbelief, doubt, hesitation in faith, slowness in thoughts, from the enemy of everything, against God and the Holy Church, blasphemy, ridicule of sacred things, clergy, doubt and free opinion, fear of professing one’s faith and renunciation of God, not wearing the Cross, by turning to other religious teachings, superstition, belief in omens, fortune telling, reading horoscopes, turning to healers, sorcerers, psychics, he himself practiced healing; arrogance, negligence, despair in one’s salvation, relying on oneself and on people more than on God, forgetfulness of God’s justice and lack of sufficient devotion to the will of God.

Sinned: disobedience to the actions of God's providence, a persistent desire for everything to be my way, people-pleasing, partial love for creatures and things, love of money. He did not try to know the will of God, did not have reverence for God, fear of Him, hope for Him, zeal for His glory.

Sinned: ingratitude to the Lord God for all His great and unceasing blessings, poured out in abundance on each of us and on the whole human race, failure to remember them, murmuring against God, cowardice, despondency, melancholy, despair, thoughts of suicide, hardening of one’s heart , lack of love for Him and failure to fulfill His holy will.

Sinned: enslavement of oneself to passions: voluptuousness, greed, pride, laziness, pride, vanity, ambition, covetousness, gluttony, delicacy, secret eating, gluttony, drunkenness, smoking, drug addiction, addiction to gambling and computer games, addiction to computers and television, shows and entertainment .

Sinned: deity, failure to fulfill vows, forcing others to deify and swear, disrespect for sacred things, blasphemy against God, against saints, against every holy thing, calling on the name of God in vain, in bad deeds, desires, thoughts, foul language, swearing, the use of “black” words , that is, with the name of the devil.

Sinned: disrespect for church holidays, work on holidays, missed Sunday and holiday services, did not go to the temple of God out of laziness and negligence, stood irreverently in the temple of God; sinned by talking and laughing, inattention to reading and singing, absent-mindedness, wandering thoughts, vain memories, being late for services, walking around the temple during services unnecessarily; left the temple before the end of the service, the women touched the shrines in uncleanness.

Sinned: neglect of prayer, abandonment of reading the Holy Gospel and other Divine books, patristic teachings, and spiritual literature.

Sinned: forgetting sins in confession, self-justification in them and belittling their severity, hiding sins, repentance without heartfelt contrition; did not make efforts to properly prepare for communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ, without being reconciled with his neighbors, he came to confession and in such a sinful state dared to begin Communion. Rarely went to church and took communion.

Sinned: violation of fasts and failure to observe fast days - Wednesday and Friday (which are equated to the days of Great Lent, as days of remembrance of the sufferings of Christ).

Sinned: intemperance in food and drink, careless and irreverent making the sign of the cross.

Sinned: disobedience to superiors and elders, self-righteousness, self-indulgence, self-justification, laziness towards work and unscrupulous execution of assigned tasks.

Sinned: disrespect for his parents, quarrels with them, abandonment of prayer for them, disrespect for his elders, insolence, waywardness and disobedience, rudeness, stubbornness, he did not raise his children in the Orthodox faith.

Sinned: lack of Christian love for neighbors, impatience, resentment, irritability, anger, arrogance, contempt, causing harm to neighbors, fights and quarrels, slander and insult, intransigence, enmity, repaying evil for evil, unforgiveness of insults, rancor, gloating, jealousy, envy , malice, vindictiveness, condemnation, slander, extortion. Has committed the sin of murder, performed abortions or participated in this sin, and used abortifacient contraceptives.

Sinned: unmerciful towards the poor, had no compassion for the sick and crippled; I sinned through stinginess, greed, wastefulness, greed, infidelity, injustice, and hardness of heart.

Sinned: guile towards others, deceit, insincerity in dealing with them, suspicion, double-mindedness, ridicule, witticisms, lies, deceit, theft, dishonesty, hypocritical treatment of others and flattery, people-pleasing.

Sinned: oblivion about the future eternal life, failure to remember one’s death and the Last Judgment, and an unreasonable, partial attachment to earthly life and its pleasures and affairs.

Sinned: intemperance of his tongue, idle talk, idle talk, laughter, told obscene jokes, made obscene jokes, sang and listened to sinful, obscene songs; He sinned by disclosing the sins and weaknesses of his neighbor, he offended people, he sinned by condemnation, gossip, gossip, slander, seductive behavior, freedom, and insolence.

Sinned: incontinence of one's mental and physical feelings, addiction, voluptuousness, lustful thoughts, mental fornication, looking at seductive pictures, masturbation and all kinds of self-pleasure, unclean dreams and nocturnal defilement (ejaculation in a dream), immodest looking at persons of the other sex, free treatment of them, fornication and adultery, various sins of the flesh, excessive panache, coquetry, shamelessness, flirting, the desire to please and seduce others.

I sinned with sight, hearing, taste, smell, touch, and all my feelings, thoughts, words, desires, deeds. I also repent of my other sins, which due to my lack of memory I did not remember.

I repent before the Lord God of all my sins, ask Him for forgiveness, I sincerely regret them and wish in every possible way to abstain from my sins and correct myself.

I also repent and ask for forgiveness for the fact that out of oblivion I did not confess.

Forgive me and allow me, honest father, and bless me to partake of the Holy and Life-giving Mysteries of Christ, for the remission of sins and eternal life. Amen.

LIST OF SINS TO HELP THE REPENTANT

We sin: