How to properly confess. Confession is essential in a person's life

How to confess? What to say in confession? Are there any rules of conduct at this sacrament? You will learn about all this by reading our article.

At confession, you need to repent, listing your sins. Sometimes, when they come to confession, they begin to tell something like this: “I came home yesterday, I was met by my husband, who, as always, was drunk, I made a remark to him and he began to shout at me, I got angry and hit him in the face. Of course, I did wrong. But what was left for me to do?..” This is not a confession. It is necessary that confession be repentance, and not a story about your life, and even with an attempt to justify your sins.

Although there are people who, due to their simplicity, do not know how to repent otherwise, and, of course, their confessor will accept their confession in this form, but it would still be more correct to say this: “I am angry, I am very irritable, I am against my husband when he misbehaved, got angry, hit him in the face. I am very sorry about this, I repent. I asked his forgiveness and I promise God that I will never do that again.” This is how it would sound, I think, the correct confession.

Often people write a lot in their notes, they talk about something in too much detail, which is not entirely correct. There is another opposite, also incorrect, when a person simply lists his sins in separate words: “I sinned with vanity, despondency, irritation ...” “I broke the fast, I had bad thoughts,” the children say “behaved badly ...” What does “vanity” mean? ? What does "irritant" mean? What does "bad thoughts" mean? What does "behave badly" mean? It is necessary to speak not in general terms about the passion that operates in you, it operates in everyone, but about how this passion manifests itself in you. For example, it would be more correct to say not “I was annoyed with my daughter”, but “I humiliated my daughter, called her bad words, hit her ...” Or, for example, pride ... How does it manifest itself, your pride? Do you humiliate other people, look down on everyone, have you been rude to someone, wanting to humiliate him? That is, confession should not be a detailed account of all the circumstances of a particular case, but should be repentance for specific sins, but, on the other hand, these sins should not be indicated by one word.

Some modern people have a desire to find the exact names of all their sins, and someone is painfully looking to find out what other sins there are of those that he does not know about. Some, for example, ask, what is “msheloimstvo”? And what is "malice"? What is...? It seems to me that this is wrong, sins should be called those words that exist in modern Russian. When we pray, read the morning and evening rule, we use the words of the holy fathers, borrow their images, and this is right, since we learn the language of the saints, we learn the right relationship with God, but when we repent, it seems to me that everyone must repent - in your own words. It must be said, for example, that you did not sin with greed, but, say, curry favor with someone in order to receive money, or that you did good, wanting to be answered in the same way ...

We know that there are eight passions, that there are commandments - in all our exposure to these passions, in all violations of these commandments, we must repent.

Different sins need to be repented in different ways. There is such a kind of sins, unclean, nasty, in which you do not need to repent in detail, but at the same time you need to make it clear to the priest what happened to you, because often they speak about these sins only in general terms, hiding behind them a terrible distortion of the relationship between a man and a woman . You can't just say, "I have a lust." Still, it is necessary to explain how it manifests itself. It is not necessary to recall the details of these bad sins, but it is necessary to say so that the priest understands the extent of this sin. Having repented, on the contrary, one must remember that I have this evil passion in me, avoid situations where it can manifest itself, but drive away the memories of committed sins from myself. But about the sins of insane pride, vanity, theft, humiliation of other people - you must definitely remember and even bring them to your memory, especially when we have conceited thoughts.

Confession is one of the most important church sacraments, during which Christians repent for their sins. Confession takes place in the presence of a priest, however, all sins are resolved by God himself.

Confession is of great importance for any Orthodox Christian, since repentance and atonement for sins are the work of his whole life. Without it, the laity are not allowed to the Sacrament of the Eucharist (communion) and cannot partake of the Holy Gifts.

What is confession and why is it needed

The Holy Fathers teach that sin is the main barrier between man and God. And this barrier is so huge that people are not able to overcome it on their own. It is possible to cope with it only with God's help, but for this a person must first acknowledge his sin and repent of it.

Just to get rid of sin and there is the sacrament of confession. When our body is infected with a dangerous virus, we usually go to the hospital for a cure. However, sin is the same deadly virus, only it affects not the body, but the soul. And in order to recover from it, a person needs the help of the church.

The sacrament of repentance is often compared to baptism. During the baptism of new converts, a Christian gets rid of original sin inherited from our forefathers - Adam and Eve. Confession, on the other hand, helps to get rid of those sins that were committed after baptism and by the person himself personally.

Typically, for a Christian, repentance consists of three stages:

1. Repent immediately after sin.
2. Ask God for forgiveness in the evening, before going to bed.
3. Go to confession, during which the Lord will finally resolve this sin.

You can also confess if your heart is heavy or your conscience is tormenting. And here the sacrament of repentance plays the role of an ambulance, as it helps to get rid of the suffering caused by sin and restore lost mental health.

It is very important to learn to ask for forgiveness from those whom we have offended. But even more important is repentance before God, since we have much more sins before Him than before any of the people.

Many people ask why it is necessary to go to church and confess in the presence of a priest. Is it not enough that we ask God for forgiveness, that our conscience torments us, and we repent of our deeds?

No, not enough. Usually priests give this explanation: if a person, for example, gets dirty, he will not become clean just because he realized his dirt and was ashamed of it. For purification, he needs some external source of water in which he can bathe. The Holy Church plays the role of such a source for a Christian.

However, it is important to remember that confession is not only repentance and deliverance from sin. It is also a firm determination not to repeat sinful acts anymore and to bring your life into real conformity with Christian teaching.

How is the sacrament

Unlike other sacraments Confession does not require the observance of a large number of rituals. For its implementation, neither long fasts, nor any special conditions, nor certain days are needed. The sacrament of repentance can be performed anytime and anywhere: it requires only complete repentance and the presence of a priest. Any member of the Orthodox Church from 7 years of age and older can confess.

In the temple itself, this sacrament can be performed at different hours:

• After evening worship.
• In the morning, just before the liturgy.
• During the liturgy itself, before communion.

If there are too many people in the church, you can arrange with the priest for another time. Confession begins with a priestly prayer and an appeal to the penitent (“Behold a child, Christ…”). Then the priest covers the head of the penitent with an epitrachelion (optional), asks what his name is and what he wants to confess.

During confession, the priest can ask clarifying questions, give instructions or advice. In some cases, he imposes penance, that is, it orders certain actions aimed at atonement for sin. For example, if a penitent stole something, he may be asked to return the stolen goods or compensate for the damage. However, penance is prescribed quite rarely.

When the confession ends, the priest puts the edge of the stole on the person’s head and says a permissive prayer. After that, the parishioner kisses the Gospel and the cross, which lie on the lectern, and asks the priest for blessings.

It is necessary to confess at least before each communion. And a churched Christian should take communion from once a day to once every three weeks. There is no maximum for the number of confessions.

How to Prepare for the Sacrament of Penance

Preparation for confession comes down to a thorough analysis of all your actions, words and thoughts. However, they must be considered not from the point of view of man, but from the point of view of God's commandments.

Such introspection requires a person to be extremely honest with himself. Truthfully evaluating his works, a Christian must cast aside pride and false shame, since these shortcomings make us keep silent about our sins and even justify them.

Preparing for Repentance Requires the Right Attitude. It is necessary not just to mechanically remember everyday sins, but with all your heart to strive to ensure that they are left behind. It is also desirable to first make peace with those before whom we have sinned, and ask their forgiveness.

In order not to forget about your sins, you can write them down on a piece of paper. No need to create a detailed bureaucratic report - just an approximate "cheat sheet" will suffice. It will help you quickly refresh your memory before confession and not forget anything.

If you are afraid to miss something important, use the special lists of sins for confession. In Orthodoxy, they play the role of a kind of “checklist” and allow us to notice what we, for some reason, did not pay attention to. This is the Pochaev Leaflet, which helps to remember sins at confession, lists for women, men, children and adolescents.

However, at the confession itself, no lists and texts should be used. It is better to speak in your own words and from a pure heart , and reading from a piece of paper can turn the sacrament into an empty formality.

Another way to remember forgotten sins - consider them by type:

• Sins against God: unbelief, lack of faith, pride, breaking the commandments, mentioning the Lord in vain, turning to psychics, not attending church, and the like.
• Sins against neighbor: theft, slander, gossip, resentment and betrayal.
• Sins against oneself: gluttony, drunkenness, fornication, smoking, despondency and other deeds that destroy the body and soul.

Often Christians only remember what happened after the last confession. But to this it is necessary to add those actions that we kept silent about last time because of shame or forgetfulness. Also at confession, you can talk about those sins that we confessed last time without proper repentance.

Some people ask: is it permissible to confess the same sin repeatedly? In principle, this is allowed, since the memory of past sins strengthens a person in humility. However, it is not necessary to do so if repentance was truly sincere.

It is better to find out about the time of the Sacrament of Penance in advance. If there are many people who want to confess on this day, it is better to arrange a separate meeting with the priest.

How to prepare for your very first confession

The very first confession in the life of a Christian is called the general confession. It is necessary to prepare for it especially carefully, since it is it that washes away the most old and ingrained dirt from our souls. It is customary to remember all your sins on it, and not only adults, but also children (starting from the age of six).

Before such a confession, it is advisable to familiarize yourself with Christian literature on this topic. But before buying books or downloading them from the Internet, you should definitely consult with your confessor. The fact is that some books on repentance may be too difficult for a layman, and some are of dubious origin and written by sectarians.

If your church is large and many people gather for Sunday service, general confession can be held in it. In this case, the priest simply lists the main sins, and the parishioners repeat after him. But such a short form of confession is not suitable for the first time, so it is better to visit the temple on a weekday, when there are usually few people in it.

Immediately before the sacrament, you must definitely tell the priest that you are at confession for the first time. In this case, he will prompt you and direct the confession in the “right direction”, and then tell you what to do next.

How to confess properly

The main rule of confession is this: all actions must be as sincere as possible. During the sacrament, formalism must be avoided by all means so as not to turn it into a ritual “for show”. Here, sincerity is more important than following external prescriptions.

Dressing for confession is the same as for regular church attendance. Men should wear long pants and a shirt that covers the elbows. For a woman - a long skirt and clothes that cover the shoulders and décolleté. Going to church, you can not use cosmetics, especially lipstick. A woman must have a headscarf on her head.

Arriving at the temple, you need to stand in line for confession. At the same time, it is necessary to keep a certain distance from the others so as not to disturb anyone and not to hear other people's repentant words.

Having waited for your turn, you need to go to the lectern (the table where the cross and the Gospel lie) and bow your head. You can also kneel, but it is not necessary at all. Remember that kneeling prayer is canceled on Sundays, on great holidays and in the period from Easter to Trinity.

At confession, it is customary to talk not only about individual sinful deeds, but also about pernicious passions inherent in a person. For example, if a penitent is characterized by the love of money, then specific manifestations of greed or stinginess will be sins for him.

If you are unfamiliar with the church names of sins and passions, then simply retell everything in your own words. It is necessary to name only the sin itself, briefly and without unnecessary details. If necessary, the priest himself will clarify everything.

If the Lord sees sincere repentance, he will forgive all sins, even those that we ourselves have forgotten. However, it is impossible to deliberately hide sins, because in this case there will be no forgiveness.

How exactly do you talk about your sins? Here are some recommendations that priests usually give:

• Do not approach confession formally. This is not a rite of "enumeration of sins": sincere repentance is more important here.
• Avoid "blanks", that is, pre-memorized phrases and expressions. The best words are those that come from a pure heart.
• Do not make excuses and do not shift your sins onto others, because in this case the meaning of repentance itself disappears.
• Don't just talk about your life. The purpose of confession is not to pour out the soul, but to get rid of the burden of sin.
• Crying during confession is normal, but you don’t need to do it on purpose and for show.

And most importantly: it is necessary to remember that in fact all sins are confessed before God. The priest only performs the duty of a witness and intercessor before Him.

During the confession, the priest can sometimes ask or clarify something. In this case, you just need to calmly answer all the questions. And vice versa, if something from the instructions of the priest remains incomprehensible, then ask him to explain.

After the priest has listened to the confession and is convinced of the sincerity of the person, he covers his head with the edge of the stole and reads a permissive prayer. After it, you need to cross yourself and kiss the cross and the Gospel.

Immediately after confession, a blessing is taken from the priest. To do this, fold your hands palms up and place your right palm on your left. Then you need to bow your head and say: "Bless, father." The priest will make a blessing sign and place his palm on his folded hands. The priest should put his mouth to the hand as to the image of the blessing right hand of the Lord.

If you plan to take communion, you should also take a blessing for this. You can simply ask: “Batiushka, do you bless me to take communion?” In this case, the priest can clarify the observance of the fasts and prayers required for the Sacrament of the Eucharist.

What to do after confession

The very first thing to do is to thank the Lord for the forgiveness of sins. Unfortunately, some people forget about it. But this is His great gift, thanks to which the human soul is cleansed of filth.

You also need to make a firm decision to change your life. It is not enough to simply confess a sin before God: one must try never to repeat such a thing again in the future. It is important to remember that for a Christian, repentance and the fight against sin is a life's work that never ends.

With sincere repentance at confession, all sins are forgiven. But this does not mean that you can immediately forget about them. No, the sins committed earlier should always be remembered, for this is necessary for us to humble ourselves and to protect ourselves from possible falls in the future.

If you confess regularly enough, then over time it becomes difficult to remember your sins. But this does not mean that they do not exist: they simply begin to “hide” from us. In this case, you can ask the Lord to give us a vision of our own sins.

Hello! My problem is this. I came to God not so long ago, but I believe, as it seems to me, sincerely. Many sins torment me very much, and I really want to confess, but I’m afraid of confession itself - not that it will be scary or embarrassing, but that I won’t do something that is supposed to, or I won’t say, or I will do something , which is not necessary ... I'm afraid of the process itself, not spiritually, but materially. And nowhere can I find what directly needs to be done - everywhere it’s only about the need to repent, pray, etc., I myself understand this, but what to do directly - no. Help me please! Alexandra.

Archpriest Mikhail Samokhin answers:

How is the confession going?

Hello Alexandra!

The immediate sequence of actions during confession is as follows:
It is necessary to approach the place in the temple where confession is made and stand in line, if there is one. While waiting, it is better to remember your sins in order to more fully present them at confession. At the same time, you should try to avoid extraneous thoughts, conversations. Under no circumstances should you listen to someone else's confession. Approaching the priest, you need to give your name and bow your head before the cross and the Gospel. The list of sins should be addressed not to the priest, but to the Lord. If you are very worried, you can make notes on a piece of paper or ask the priest to ask you leading questions. At the end of the enumeration of sins, you need to ask for forgiveness from the Lord and bow your head for the priest to read the permissive prayer. After reading the prayer, it is customary to kiss the cross, the Gospel, in some churches - to take a blessing from the priest and kiss his hand. If it is not clear from the conversation whether the priest allowed you to take Communion, ask about it. In some temples, it is customary to give a note with a list of sins to the priest so that he tore it up and gave it to you to burn. The best approach to confession is to warn the priest that you are confessing for the first time. Then he will tell you what to do and in what order. And yet remember that what is written in the books is absolutely correct: the main thing in confession is sincere repentance and a firm intention not to repeat the confessed sins again.

Sincerely, Archpriest Mikhail Samokhin.

Every Orthodox person must strive for God with his soul, and for this it must be cleansed of the sins that we commit on earth. If you think that you have no sin, then you can be classified as a saint, but this is very unlikely. An Orthodox person must take communion, and, of course, go to confession - the cleansing of sins before God. In this article, we will tell you in detail what confession is, how to prepare for it, and how to properly confess in church.

Confession is one of the seven sacraments in the Orthodox religion. This is, in fact, a confession of sins before God, and a petition for forgiveness. Confession implies repentance, that is, you must sincerely want to correct yourself, and not in such a way that you confessed, and after half an hour repeated the same sin in the hope that you would come to the temple, confess again, and God will forgive you. This is a sacrament that should be taken seriously.

The history of the appearance of this sacrament is very interesting, because it is found both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. Of course, everyone knows more about the New Testament than the Old, but even in the last one, which also tells about sacrifices, the creation of the earth, the life of Cain and Abel, there was a confession. It did not have clear canons, but, nevertheless, carried the same meaning as today. In the New Testament, this sacrament is presented as a certain rite, which has come down to the present day. It is thanks to this story that we know how to properly confess in the church.

So, now you know what this sacrament is, but why is it needed? First of all, repentance brings cleansing of conscience. Have you ever been tormented by your conscience for what you did? If yes, then you probably know how to deal with it, and the best option is to confess to someone for committing this or that act. But, repentance is a little different from simply admitting mistakes. The fact is that you must sincerely admit your guilt before God, and want to improve. Confession is needed in order to receive other sacraments, for example, the sacrament of baptism, or the sacrament of communion. The most important thing is the cleansing of your soul from heaviness.

Preparation for confession

Preparation for confession must be done properly. We will tell you how best to prepare for the sacrament to take place.

1. Prepare your sins ahead of time. Many people go to confession with the thought that tomorrow I will stand near the priest and tell everything. But, the dark forces make it so that when you approach the priest to perform the sacrament, you immediately forget what you should talk about. You remember only the most banal sins, and, as a result, you do not get the result and proper purification. Therefore, prepare for repentance in advance. On the eve, you can sit in silence and remember the sins that you committed. It will be better if you write them down on a piece of paper and then just read them in front of the priest. Naturally, they should be recognized. To do this, you need to understand what sin is. Sin is anything that is contrary to God's will and God's law. There are 7 deadly sins, as well as a lot of minor ones, but which also require attention and repentance. Follow the commandments, and then you will have much less sins.
2. Do not use additional literature. Today in temples you can buy brochures in which lists of sins are already written. First of all, half of them are absurd, and besides that, you start to turn off your feelings, and just look at the book, whether you did it or not. In this case, awareness and understanding of what has been done disappears, and the sacrament turns into a banal procedure, which is no different from going to the store. Therefore, you should not use literature, it is better to think on your own what you did wrong, in which you feel burdened before God, or guilty. The most important thing is sincerity, even if you do not write 500 sins, and your repentance will take no more than 5 minutes, but, on the other hand, it will be sincere and real.
3. Do not think about what language to confess. No, this does not mean that you should talk to the priest in English, that's not the point. Many people, before performing this sacrament, try to find words, use church vocabulary, but this looks ridiculous and puts you in an uncomfortable position. The priest is also a person, and you should speak to him in an understandable language, therefore, do not use extraneous expressions, do not try to downplay or embellish them, making them less dangerous. Call a spade a spade. By the way, you should not even think that the priest will condemn you for sins, because during his service he did not hear such things, therefore, it is extremely difficult to surprise him. The priest, on the contrary, will rejoice that you have come to God with repentance, are ready to accept punishment and purify your soul.
4. Start changing your life even before repentance. If you are going to go and confess in a week that you, for example, smoke, but immediately take out a pack of cigarettes and set fire to another, then you should not think, I will smoke until repentance, I confess, God will forgive, and then I will quit. Do it now, start changing even before repentance. First of all, try to get rid of the mortal sins that are described in the holy Gospel.
5. Do not be angry with people, try to be with everyone in the world. Then your soul will always be clean and light, it will be easy for you.
6. Preparing for confession involves more than just remembering sins. You have to think about which temple you will go to, and there is a little secret here. There are churches where services and confession are conducted not only on weekends, but also on weekdays. There are not many people at this time, and the priest will carefully talk with you, listen, and give advice. Therefore, you can find just such a temple for yourself.
7. There are special prayers that should be read before repentance, and you should do this, especially if you rarely appear in the temple.

This, in fact, is how the preparation for confession goes, now let's consider a more important issue.

How to Confess in Church

A person who first came to the temple always asks the question: how to confess in church? Is there a certain procedure, and so on. Of course, there is, and there is a certain algorithm that will help to receive the sacrament correctly. Let's break it down.

1. You should come to church in modest clothes that do not attract attention, and you should not use cosmetics. The same rule applies to repentance.
2. You must tune in, light a candle, pray and ask God to accept your prayer and repentance, say that you really want to be cleansed.
3. After that, it is worth going to the priest, and you will see a cross and a Bible in front of him. You should put two fingers of your right hand - index and middle on the Bible, and bow your head. The priest will lean towards you, and then say: “Lord, Jesus Christ, the son of God, forgive my sins, I have sinned (la).” After that, start listing your sins.
4. You should only speak to the point. Many begin to get distracted, talk about their family, about their problems, but you can talk about this, but not at confession. Therefore, name the sins, sincerely believing that God will forgive them for you. Other than that, you can only talk about your own sins.
5. Talk about big problems first, and then you can talk about small ones. Many begin their confession with such sins as “watching TV”, “didn’t go to church for a long time”, “didn’t fast” and so on. But, they completely forget about the pressing problems, about the big sins that the soul asks to get rid of. Therefore, first name the big and important, and only then - the minor sins.
6. During confession, the priest may assign you a penance - a special punishment that will completely cleanse you of sins. Accept it with the world, and be sure to comply. Perhaps you will not be able to take communion for some time, or visit the temple, you may have to deduct big prayers in the name of the cleansing of sins. It is appointed for some time, and after that it can be forgiven.
7. When you finish confession, the priest will cover you with a special cover, read a prayer for the remission of sins, and give a blessing. After that it counts. That you confessed to God.

Now you know how to confess in church correctly, and this should be done regularly so that problems do not accumulate, and so that your soul remains light and bright. We wish you good luck and good mood, and most importantly - God in your heart!

Not all people, even those baptized in the church, go to confession regularly. Most often, this is hindered by a feeling of awkwardness, embarrassment, someone is stopped by pride. Many, not accustomed to confessing from an early age, at a more mature age keep putting off the moment when they need to tell about their sins for the first time. Every year it becomes more and more difficult to decide on confession. In order to remove the burden from the soul, start talking with God and sincerely repent of the sins committed, you should learn how to confess correctly. Going to confession will definitely help you: you yourself will feel how your soul brightens.

Confession is one of the most significant rites in the Christian church. The ability to recognize one's sins and tell God about them, to repent of one's deeds, is very important for a believer.

What is confession for us?
First of all, it is important to understand the essence of confession, its role in our life.

1. Conversation with God. You can confess at home, in front of the icon, immersed in prayer. However, going to church for confession is of particular importance. There you will talk with God in his Temple, and the priest will be the guide between you. Pay attention: you will tell about your sins not to a mortal person, but to God himself. The priest has power from God, he can give you useful advice, explain to you the reasons for your actions, help you overcome delusions. It is the priest who has the right to forgive your sins by placing an epitrachelion on your head.
   
2. Humility of pride. Sincerely talking about your sins to the priest, you humble your pride. Confession is very important, there is nothing shameful or uncomfortable about it. The sacrament of confession is designed so that you can purify your soul, recognize sins and repent of them. This is feasible only if you really open your soul in the church, tell everything to the priest without concealment, without hiding or minimizing anything.
   
3. Repentance. You must not think that confessing sins is not good. Man is sinful by nature, there are no absolutely righteous people on earth. But it's up to you to get better. Recognition of one's mistakes and delusions, bad deeds, deep repentance for committed sins is necessary for every person for further development, self-improvement.
   

Only confession can really help to cleanse the soul from sin, to receive absolution from the priest. If you confess correctly, approach this rite with all responsibility, confession will help you become better.

Getting ready for confession
Proper preparation for confession plays a huge role. You will need to tune in to communication with God, a sincere conversation with a priest. Prepare yourself internally and externally, provide for individual moments.

1. Focus. Sit at home in a calm environment. Try to imbue yourself with the idea that you have to communicate with God in his Temple. You are preparing for a responsible business in your life. Don't get distracted by anything.
   
2. Pray. You can read prayers to tune in to confession. Read the prayers of John Chrysostom.
   
3. Remember your sins. Start with deadly sins. Perhaps you have sinned with anger, pride, or avarice. Please note that abortion in the church is considered murder. Such a sin should be noted first.
   
4. Get ready for confession. It is important to restore in memory the pictures of your sins, to repent of your sins sincerely. The ministers of the church recommend to tune in to confession for a long time. It is good if you pray a lot, keep fasting for a while, remember your sins in solitude.
   
5. Write down the sins. Take a blank sheet of paper and list your sins on it. So it will be easier for you to remember everything in confession. It is especially important to use such a leaflet at the first, general, confession, when it is necessary to talk about the sins committed throughout life.
   
6. Pay attention to your appearance. A woman should wear a skirt below the knees, a closed jacket. The head must be tied with a scarf. It is important to refrain from applying cosmetics. Lips cannot be painted, because you have to kiss the cross. Men should not wear shorts, even if it's hot outside. It is better to cover the body with clothes.
   

How to confess correctly? Confession procedure
Answering the question “how to confess in the Orthodox Church”, priests often note that even parishioners who regularly visit the Temple of God do not always tell the truth about their sins. It is very important to take confession seriously, not to turn it into a mere formality. Only then can you truly purify your soul.

1. General confession. First you can attend a general confession. Everyone comes there, and the priest lists at such a confession all the sins that people commit most often. Perhaps you have forgotten some sin of yours: a general confession will help you remember it.
   
2. Sincere remorse. You need sincere repentance for your sins. Remember that the essence of confession is not a dry enumeration of sins committed. God already knows your errors and sins. First of all, you need confession: it will help you repent of mistakes, recognize sins, and not commit them in the future. Only by coming to confession with deep repentance can you cleanse your soul and receive forgiveness from the Lord.
   
3. Without haste. At an individual confession, you will need to tell about all the sins, do it sincerely. Do not hurry. If you feel that you are not completely repentant, it is important to ask for an extension of the confession time.
   
4. Talk about your sins in detail. Priests advise not to limit yourself to a simple enumeration of names: “pride”, “envy”, etc. In a conversation with a priest, indicate the reasons that prompted you to sin, tell specific cases, describe situations. Then the minister of the church will be able to understand your thoughts, the essence of your sins, and will be able to give you invaluable advice. Having received the parting words of the priest, which will help you fight sinfulness, you will begin to build your life differently.
   
5. Do not read from the sheet. Reading a list of sins from a piece of paper, just giving the piece of paper to the priest, should not be. By this you level the whole sacrament of confession. At confession, you can really become purer, draw closer to God, and receive remission of sins. To do this, you need to understand the essence of sin, sincerely repent, heed the advice of the priest. The leaflet is needed only so that you do not forget to tell about one of your sins, so that you can confess correctly.
   
6. Analysis and self-improvement. When confessing, you must fully analyze your life, your spiritual world, consider not only actions, but also inclinations and thoughts. You carry out a kind of work on mistakes in order to cleanse the soul of committed sins, removing their burden from it, and prevent new sins.
   
7. Full confession. Tell the priest all about your sins, putting aside pride. The fear of confessing a sin, albeit a shameful one, should not stop you. You can't hide your sins in confession.
   
8. Faith in forgiveness. At confession, it is important to sincerely repent and firmly believe in the forgiveness of the Almighty.
   
9. Go to confession regularly. To go to a general confession once, believing that one should not confess often, is an erroneous position. Unfortunately, we are all sinners. Confession supports in a believer his desire for light, repentance, gives the way to correction.
   

Come to confession sincerely, with an open mind. You will be able to cleanse yourself, become better, and God will forgive you your sins.