Confession of sins is a daily prayer. Everyday confession of sins

DAILY CONFESSION OF SINS AND ACCEPTANCE OF HOLY WATER Mentally confess your sins to the Lord every day ... and you should do every prayer at all. View the appeal litany. There stands: forgiveness and forsaking sins ... we ask. In response, and should be remembered

My belly is my life. Fel-profitability - criminal profit (profit). Mimicking - bribery, greed; a passion for picking up things (from magic - (other). - a thing, property; meshel - self-interest). With recklessness - greed, avarice. In our tradition, enshrined in catechism, this word has been established to be the name of all unrighteous robbing of our neighbors: bribes, extortion, etc. To the ad-just-for-truths - I have slandered; caused all evil, untruth. Tochiyu - only. From all these, even from the verbs - from all this that I expressed.

  “Our daily affairs must be weighed every hour, listening to them, and in the evening it is necessary to ease the burden of their repentance, how much strength we have, if we want, with the help of Christ, to defeat evil in ourselves. It is also necessary to look, whether according to God, whether before the face of God, and for the one God, we perform all our sensual and visible works so as to be foolishly not to be surrounded by any unkind feelings. ”
  Rev. Hesychius of Jerusalem

The need for daily repentance of sins committed throughout life, explains the words of St. Anthony the Great: “Say that you are sinners, and mourn everything in a state of neglect of what you have been done. For this, the favor of the Lord will be with you and will work in you: for He is good and forgives the sins of all who turn to Him, whoever they are, so that he does not remember them anymore. However, He wants the pardons themselves to remember about the forgiveness of their sins, hitherto done, so that, forgetting that, not to admit anything in their behavior, which is why they will be forced to give an account of those sins that were already forgiven for them ... David, having received the remission of sins, did not forget about them and handed over the memory of them to posterity. It is made in memory to all genera, from clan to clan. I will teach lawlessness through Thy way (Ps. 50, 15), he says, so that all sinners learn from his example as he repent of his sins and, when they are forgiven, do not forget about them, but always remember. God Himself said the same through the prophet Isaiah: I am the slaying of your sins, and I will not remember. You remember ... (Isa. 43, 25-26). Thus, when the Lord lets us off our sins, we must not let go of them ourselves, but always remember them, through the renewal of repentance about them. ”

The same saint warns: “Do not use in your mind the sins once committed by you, so that they will not resume again. Be sure that they are forgiven to you at the time when you have committed yourself to God and repentance, and do not doubt that. ”

So, keeping and constantly renewing the repentance of the sins of our life, not forgetting about them - we should not at the same time “convert them in the mind”, relive, cling to them with memory. This is one of the manifestations of the art of “invisible battle”, the middle “royal” path, which a Christian should follow.

This prayer helps to examine the daily sins and keeps in mind the memory of the committed earlier - all the days of life. Recall that the sins sincerely confessed in the Mystery of Repentance are completely forgiven by the Lord, but this does not mean that we should forget about them. Sins are remembered for humility and sorrow for their deeds.

  “We must pay attention to ourselves, has our conscience ceased to reprove us, not for the sake of our purity, but as if weary. The sign of permission from sins is that a person always considers himself a debtor before God. ”
  St. John of the Ladder

As in confession in the Sacrament of Repentance, and in the daily confession to God, one's sins must be confessed separately, consciously. Therefore, we will dwell on the sins mentioned in prayer and indicate what actions, deeds, words and thoughts can be implied by them. At the same time, we are guided by the Orthodox catechism and the teachings of the devotees of the Orthodox Church.

Consumption, drunkenness, secrecy - sins associated with the passion of gluttony, which is included in the eight of the main passions. Covert eating is the use of food in secret (out of greed, shame or unwillingness to share, when fasting is violated, when eating unauthorized food, etc.). The sins of gluttony also include mnogoyadenie and gorostobesie - a passion for enjoying the taste, that is, gourmet, so implanted in our day. Drug use and smoking are also related to drinking; if you have suffered or are suffering from these sinful addictions, include them in the list of sins.

Celebration. Let us recall the terrible word of the Lord Himself: I tell you that for any idle word that people will say, they will answer on the day of judgment: for with your words you will be justified, and you will be condemned for your words (Matt. 12, 36-37).

But the patristic recipe for how to behave, if the situation and conversations in the company have to idle talk: “If you do not have a special need to stay, then leave; and when there is a need to stay, then turn with your mind to prayer, not condemning those who worship, but knowing your weakness. ”
  Rev. John the Prophet

The concept of idleness by the Monk Ephraim Sirin expands: “What is an idle word? The promise of faith, not fulfilled in practice. A person believes and confesses Christ, but remains idle, does not do what Christ commanded. And in another case, the word is idle - namely, when a person confesses and is not corrected, when he says that he repents, and sins again. And a thin review of something else is an idle word, because it tells what was not done and what it does not see. ”

Despondency. This sin is often directly related to idle talk:
  “Despondency is often one of the branches, one of the first fiends of verbosity ... Despondency is the relaxation of the soul, exhaustion of the mind ... deceiver of God, as if He are merciless and inhuman; in psalmodya it is weak, weak in prayer ... hypocritical in obedience. "
  St. John of the Ladder

Laziness, as we see, is closely connected with the passion of gloom. The Orthodox catechism calls "laziness in relation to the teaching of piety, prayer and public worship" in the number of sins against the 1st commandment of the Law of God.

But the patristic observation of monastic life, valid for the world: “The lazy, when they see that they are assigned to heavy matters, then they attempt to prefer them to prayer; and if the work of the ministry is easy, then they run away from prayer as if from fire. ”
  St. John of the Ladder

The coolness. “Bind your tongue, passionately striving for prejudice, and fight seventy-five-fold with your semester a day with this tormentor,” the holy fathers teach in the words of John of the Ladder. “He who in a conversation stubbornly wishes to insist on his opinion, even if it were just, he knows that he is obsessed with the devil’s illness; and if he does so in a conversation with equals, then perhaps the exposure of his elders and heal him; if he treats so big with himself and the wisest, then this ailment from people will not be healed. ”

Disobedience. “He who disobeys a word without a doubt disobeys a deed, for whoever is wrong in the word is adamant in deed,” says St. John of the Ladder with disguise. In the Church, everything is built on obedience; We must obey each and every one whom God has set over us. Full obedience in matters of spiritual life is necessary in relation to the spiritual father, in general, to shepherds and spiritual teachers: Obey your teachers and be submissive, for they are vigilantly baked about your souls, as those who must give an answer; so that they do it with joy, not sighing, for it is not useful for you (Heb. 13, 17). But complete and unquestioning obedience (in everything that does not contradict faith and the Law of God: Should obey more to God than to people - Acts 5, 29) should be rendered by the wife to her husband, who have not yet created their family to their parents. The Apostle Paul speaks of obedience to the rulers: The head is God's servant, to you for good ... And therefore one must obey, not only out of fear of punishment, but also according to conscience (Rom. 13, 4-5). Metropolitan Anthony Surozhsky says that he was drafted into the army, having already given monastic vows, but not taking the tonsure. When asked how to perform obedience in the army, the confessor answered: “It’s very simple: consider that everyone who gives you an order speaks in the name of God, and create it not only externally but also with all your guts; consider that every patient who will require help will be called - your master; serve him as a slave purchased. "

Defamation is a direct violation of the 9th commandment of the Law of God (Do not pronounce a false testimony on your neighbor - Exod. 20, 16). Any slander, any talk and gossip, any unjust censure is slander. Almost certainly leads to slander the condemnation of the neighbor, directly forbidden by the Lord: Do not judge, you will not be judged (Matt. 7, 1). So, you are not guilty, everyone who judges another, for by the same judgment as you judge another, you judge yourself, because judging the other you do the same (Rom. 2: 1).

  “Just as fire is opposed to water, so it is not condemned to repent. If you saw someone who has sinned even at the very end of the soul’s body, then even then do not judge it, for God's judgment is unknown to people. Some clearly fell into great transgressions, but the great virtues performed in secret; and those who loved to mock them were deceived, chasing smoke and not seeing the sun. ” “It has been proved by experience that for any sins, physical or mental, we condemn our neighbor — we ourselves fall into those.”
  St. John of the Ladder

Neglect is the negligent fulfillment of the duties entrusted to us by God, or neglect at all. Neglect at work, neglect of their household and family responsibilities, neglect of prayer ...

The pride of Abba Dorofey calls the root of all passions, and the Monk Ephraim of Sirin is the mother of all evil.

  “Self-love is the passionate reckless loving of the body. Opposing him are love and temperance. Obviously, having a vanity has all the passions. "
  Saint Maxim the Confessor

Multi-stranded. Covetousness ... is idolatry, says the apostle Paul (Col. 3, 5). In another epistle, he writes: The root of all evil is avarice, to which, having surrendered, some have evaded the faith and have themselves subjected to many sorrows (Tim. 6, 10). Multi-stinging is a passion for the love of money that is included in the eight of the main passions, in action: any hoarding, addiction to various objects, stinginess and, conversely, wastefulness.

  "He who loves the earthly more than the heavenly will lose both the heavenly and the earthly."
  Avva Evgeniy (Skitsky paterik)

  "The stranger is entangled in cares and like a dog tied with a chain."
  Rev. Nil of Sinai

Multi-stinging is not attaching to God. And so do not take care and do not say: what do we have? or what to drink? or what to wear? because the heathen are seeking for all this, and because your Heavenly Father knows that you need all this. Look first for the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all this will be added to you (Matt. 6, 31-33).

“Why do we not overthrow all useless care and do not relieve ourselves from the burden of earthly things? Do not know unless the door is narrow and cramped and that the captive cannot enter it? We will look only for what meets the needs; for the superfluous only entertains, but does not bring good. ”
  Rev. Ephraim Sirin

Plunder This concept includes not only any theft, but also any use of what is “badly lying”: for example, “read a book in the library or from friends. A particularly difficult type of embezzlement is blasphemy - “appropriation of what is dedicated to God and what belongs to the Church” (see “Orthodox Catholicism”), that is, not only the direct theft of sacred objects, but also: to take, without asking for the blessing of the priest, donated to the canon or brought to the temple by benefactors for distribution, etc.

Misconduct - any lie is a word. The mouth of the deceit is an abomination to the Lord, and those who speak the truth are acceptable to Him (Prov. 12, 22). Therefore, rejecting falsehood, speak truth to each other, because we are members of one another (Eph. 4, 25).

We must remember that there is no “innocent” lie, every lie is not from God. “A lie, in which there is no intention to harm one’s neighbor, is impermissible, because it does not agree with love and respect for one’s neighbor and is not worthy of a person, and especially a Christian, created for truth and love,” says St. Philaret in his Orthodox Catholicism.

Profitability - making profit, profit in a bad, unrighteous way. The concept may include any body kit, measurement, deception, but also any income that brings evil to people — for example, based on satisfying or fueling sinful passions. Forging any documents and using forged documents (for example, travel tickets), buying stolen goods cheaply is also unprofitable. It also refers to parasitism, “when they receive a salary for a position or a payment for a case, but positions and affairs are not performed and, thus, they steal both a salary or a payment, and benefits that could be brought to society or for whom they should work "(See" Orthodox catechism ").

Musical meekness - greed, levying mhela - greed. This includes all forms of extortion and bribery. And, since this sin is included in the prayer-repentance for all Orthodox Christians, one should carefully consider his life and discover its manifestations in it.

Jealousy is the jealousy of all kinds.

Envy. "He who envies his neighbor rebel against God, the distributor of gifts."
  St. John Chrysostom

“He who is stung by envy and rivalry is miserable because he is an accomplice of the devil whose envy enters death (Prem. 2, 24) ... envy and rivalry are a terrible poison: slander, hatred and murder are born”.
  Rev. Ephraim Sirin

Anger is one of the eight main passions.

  “From whatever reason the anger moves, it blinds the eyes of the heart and, putting a covering on the sharpness of mental vision, does not see the Sun of truth. All the same, whether the sheet is gold, or lead, or from what other metal will be superimposed on the eyes - the value of the metals does not make a difference in the blindness. ”
  Rev. John Cassian the Roman

  "As the darkness is removed from the appearance of light, so the grief and anger disappear from the fragrance of humility."
  St. John of the Ladder

Memory anger “is the last limit of anger, keeping sins against us near us, aversion of the image of justification (God’s definite:“ forgive and be forgiven ”- cf. Lk. 6, 37), the destruction of all former virtues, poison-killer, gnawing heart worm , shame to pray (as you say: "forsake, as we are ..."?), a nail plunged into the soul, unceasing sin, vigilant lawlessness, hourly evil.
  St. John of the Ladder

  "Like smoke from smoldering straw eats eyes, so also pomiatry is the mind during prayer."
  Rev. Nil of Sinai

  “If you grieve at anyone, pray for him; and, by separating the sadness from the memory of the evil he has caused you, will stop the movement of passion; having become friendly and human-loving, you will completely expel passion from the soul. "
  Saint Maxim the Confessor

  “The oppressive anger stopped the birth and pangs; for childbearing is only from a living father. "
  St. John of the Ladder

Hatred. He who hates his brother is in darkness, and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because darkness has blinded his eyes (John 2:11). Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has everlasting life, abiding in it (1 John 3, 15). He who says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, is a liar: for he who does not love his brother, whom he sees, how can he love God, whom he does not see? (1 John 4, 20).

Viciousness - “when under the guise of some right, but in reality with violation of justice and philanthropy, they turn to their own benefit someone’s property or work, or even the very calamities of their neighbors, for example, when lenders burden debtors with growth (interest), when owners exhaust those who depend on them for excessive taxes or work, if during the famine they sell bread at too high a price ”(see“ The Orthodox Catechism ”). In a broad sense, the word covetousness means altogether covetousness, greed (the passion of avarice); in this sense the word is used in the New Testament (Rom. 1, 29; 2 Cor. 9, 5; Eph. 4, 19 and 5, 3; Col. 3, 5).

Serious sins committed during life, from among those that are not explicitly mentioned in this prayer, should be included in it, and not “let down” under one of the points (for example, blasphemy, a murmur against God, or an attempt to suicide, or the killing of unborn children - abortion, etc.). In particular, in this list there are no sins relating to the passion of fornication (and among them such as adultery and all extramarital cohabitation, and all violations of purity and chastity), and the passion of pride, which is considered the most terrible of passions.

I would like to say a few words today about such a problem. Some people complain that after the confession they don’t feel any change in the soul: they don’t help me at all - it’s obvious that I’m an incorrigible sinner. Of course, the point here is not at all that a person is very sinful. Everything should be just the opposite: the more sinful the repentant feels, the more he receives after confession. I, as a priest, know this from experience: when a person who sincerely repent read the permissive prayer, sometimes he even involuntarily breathes a sigh of relief. You yourself at this time feel some kind of jubilation. Sometimes a person, leaving a confession with a smile, experiences some awkwardness: how is it that I told about such sins, and I am happy and easy? But this is the amazing power of the sacrament: a person always receives joy from the forgiveness of sins. And the sadder that not everyone feels this joy. Why? Because they approach the sacrament of confession wrong. I’ll only talk about some common mistakes today.

Often a person who comes to confession is limited to mentioning two or three sins. But others believe that they have no sins at all. These are most often people who began to go to the temple at an advanced age. They do not really understand or do not want to understand what sin is. Such a person comes and is silent. The priest begins to ask him: “Did you have such a sin? And such and such? ”A man in indignation:“ How dare you ?! ”They say that I came, did God a favor, and then ask about some sins. It happens that people even write complaints: “How dare a priest ask me about this and that?” Why is this happening? Because they do not sin? Of course not - because they are.

However, more often there is another. A person more or less knows what confession is, but he calls only gross sins: “struck, deceived, cursed” ... And if everything was quiet for a week, so to speak, then he is at a loss: what to say? He does not notice that he daily condemns, is angry, jealous, exalted, mentally commits adultery, does not forgive his fellow offenders. And if he notices something, it seems to him that at the confession he does not need to talk about it: nobody sees it, is it sins? I usually advise such people to read the book of the ever-memorable Archimandrite John (Krestiankin) "The Experience of Building Confession." There it is available in detail about the sins in which a Christian must repent. But, of course, reading this book is only the first step; need to learn to follow your soul,.

Everybody knows the Savior's saying that “evil thoughts come out of the heart, and they will defile the person”. What is the Lord saying here? About how sin is born in us. It is important to always remember that any sin, the worst, begins with a simple “evil mind,” that is, sinful thought. The Holy Fathers distinguish the degree of acceptance of such thoughts: prilogue, combination, composition, agreement, and, finally, a sin committed in practice. Of course, this gradation is conditional, but we must remember the most important thing: a sinful thought, with which we agree, is a sin, although it is only a mental one. Often we do not fulfill this mental sin in practice only because we have no physical ability to sin or are afraid of punishment from people. If a person had perfect freedom to sin and would know that he would be impunity, then he would allow himself a lot.

When a person does not see his mental sins? Then, when he does not force himself to live the gospel. We all seem to agree that we must live according to the commandments, but in fact we show that the Gospel is not at all important for us. It seems to us: “This is not the time to live the gospel. Thank God that we do not get drunk, do not fornicate, do not steal. ”

I will give this example. He may seem funny to you, but he is very vital. Many recidivist criminals who know that they will be arrested sooner or later for this or that crime will love to study the Criminal Code. In my homeland, in Odessa, people spend the whole summer on the beach. And here such good fellows go to the beach and instead of a detective or some light book, they take with them the Criminal Code and study it with great enthusiasm. They carefully study this book in order to know: if you get into your pocket in such and such circumstances, there will be one term, with such and such - another; to understand how to talk to an investigator, how to behave. These people realize what they are doing and what they will be for such and such a crime. And we are frivolous than even criminals. We know that we will be judged by the Gospel, and this is also a kind of collection of laws for us, everything is indicated there: what cannot be done and what punishments will be made for it. However, we do not study it and do not want to apply it to our life.

If we try to live according to the commandments, then we will clearly see many of our sins. We will see, for example, that we often succumb, although there is a commandment: “Judge not, that you be not judged.” After all, we are not told: “Do not judge the one who has nothing to judge for,” but simply: “Do not judge.” And we think: “How not to condemn such and such a person, he obviously does a bad thing!” By the way, when a person struggles to fulfill the Gospel with all his strength, he naturally ceases to condemn his neighbors. Because he begins to constantly see his own weakness, his own inability to fulfill the commandments. If he sees in himself that, for example, he constantly succumbs to prodigal thoughts, he does not feel entitled to condemn even a fornicator who commits a sin in practice. If he sees that he is amenable to anger and resentment, he will not be able to condemn any fighter or murderer: he understands that in his soul he is the same as this fighter.

The more strictly a person leads an internal struggle, the more his mental falls he sees. It is from this struggle that repentance happens. For true repentance it is not at all necessary to have any grave sins. In Russia, there used to be such a sect - “repentants”, somewhat ridiculous in their teachings. They believed that, as one wicked Russian proverb says, "". For example, they committed robbery, then declared themselves to the police, and they were referred to penal servitude. These people believed that in this way they carried repentance. Why does this folly happen? It is because people do not see their passions, do not see all their “minor” sins, consider them to be meaningless and therefore begin to invent that some special sins are needed for repentance.

Blindness in relation to their own passions leads to the fact that a person has nothing to say at confession. But it also happens that leads to the other extreme: a person talks in great detail and much about minor things. I know of such a case. One servant of God confessed to a confessor from evening until five in the morning. She was very pleased: what a priest attentive, listened to her - and thought that she was a good confession. But in fact it was just that. The man is worn with him as with a written bag. So he loves himself, so fumbles in himself!

This woman had a real confession for half an hour, and all the rest - just talk hunting. There will be no benefit from such a “confession”. It is necessary to tell what is really in essence, and not to enjoy the analysis of its diverse spiritual life. This is not a confession, but a novel in the style of the stream of consciousness, like James Joyce.

What does it mean to tell on the merits? It means calling sins for sure - not long, but, which is also important, not a single word. When a person says: “I have sinned”, then the confessor can only guess: either the person wanted to kill someone, or became angry at the fly for its intrusiveness. It should be clear to the priest what is happening to you, so that he can judge the degree of your guilt and, accordingly, give some kind of edification. And if you came and said: “I have sinned with anger, condemnation, idle talk” - what can the confessor say to you? “Congratulations!” - that's all, nothing more. The father in such cases feels like something analogous. Here stands the lectern with the Gospel, here stands the confessor. Everything, so to speak, of the sacraments, is there, everything is said, the confession has passed.

But to realize a sin in oneself and to correctly speak about it at confession is not all. It is also necessary to correctly receive the admonition or from the priest. This is also a big problem. Sometimes, you say to a person who confessed a grave sin: “You cannot take communion yet,” and he is indignant: “How? What are you ?! How can I be without communion? ”It does not even occur to him that he will take communion with himself in condemnation.

Often people can not tolerate not only penance, but even some kind of comments, admonitions. Here comes a man, repenting that he had a row with someone. The father says to him: “You know, in order not to be angry, you have to behave this way and that”. And he replied with a hurt: "You do not understand me." It turns out that the priest had to say: “That's right you are angry with him! I should have hit him again! ”

There is such a paradox: if a priest is attentive to people, tries to correct and save them, he seems to have no love: "This is a strict father, he punishes." And it happens that another priest is indifferent to people, but outwardly friendly - and he just seems loving: "Such a good priest, says nothing, only smiles, allows everything."

And finally, the most important thing. It often seems to us that the feat of repentance is only to regularly participate in the sacrament of confession. This is not true. In order to receive the remission of sins in confession, one must prepare oneself by repentance for the rest of the time. We are all very many, we can say we sin all the time, and therefore we must repent all the time and ask God for forgiveness. But unceasing repentance is impossible without unceasing sobriety, and that, in turn, without. If we pray and be sober, then we see our constant mental falls and acquire, so to speak, the gracious skill of repentance. And this skill is the fastest feats leading us to correction. We see an example of such unceasing repentance in the diaries. It was the daily, repentance of every hour that made it what it is: a great prayer book, a righteous man, a wonderworker. Therefore, I will say it again: the sacrament of confession is the crown of repentance, and we must bear the penitential feat every moment of our lives.

Question.   When a person is forgiven of sins: at the first repentance of the heart or in confession?

Answer. One does not exclude the other. No need to think that if you sincerely prayed with the Jesus prayer and God forgave you your sins, then you no longer need to talk about them at confession, and if you said at confession, you do not have to constantly repent, praying with Jesus prayer. Both are necessary, and one without the other is impossible. It is impossible or very difficult to deeply repent without constant prayer, and it is impossible to truly pray, repent and receive forgiveness of sins if we do not confess, because in the sacrament of confession we are given fertile assistance for dealing with sin.

Question.   If you are constantly remembered and tormented, does this mean that he is not forgiven and you need to repent of him again?

Answer.   Sin can be remembered by the action of the devil, in order to bring us in. To recollect sins for the sake of humility is possible for those who have already strengthened spiritually, and from the recollection of sins do not come to despair, but to repentance. And if this is not the case, then this temptation must be persecuted, because we either despair or again surrender to the same passion. If the confession of sin is constantly remembered, this, I repeat, is temptation. No need to treat this as something terrible, extraordinary, this is the usual situation.

Question.   Father, what if very, very? How to resist this feeling?

Answer.   What helps us with any abuse? Strengthened prayer. The grace of God affects the soul of man and gives him courage, gives him the strength to reveal sin. In general, you need to learn how to overcome yourself, overcome your infirmities.

Question.   When you start to look after yourself and repent of mental sins, it seems that the life around you “screams” that much more serious sins are being committed in the world - and repentance disappears immediately. No way out of this. What should I do?

Answer.   Why doesn’t the Gospel for you “cry out” about what you should do it? The life around you begins to "cry out" about someone else's sinfulness, when you judge people. You have to think about what you need to do - and you need to live the gospel. You have the following: this person should live according to the Gospel, and this one should also live according to the Gospel, and you can live according to the Old Testament; they, when they are struck on one cheek, must substitute the other, and you will follow the law “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”. Compare yourself not with people, but with evangelical ideals, and then you will see how far you are from complying with them.

In the Orthodox doctrine, as in general in the Christian consciousness, a very important place is given to such practices as repentance. Despite established stereotypes, this is a rather deep concept, and its value can not be overestimated. However, the daily legalistic religious practice and the superficial attitude of the Orthodox to their own theological and philosophical heritage significantly leveled the original concept to the level of a marginal report before God in their misdemeanors. From here we can speak of two types of repentance. Let's call them everyday and ideal types.

Everyday repentance

Let's start with this type of repentance. According to the way of thinking that underlies such an attitude toward faith, repentance consists only in the recollection of those sins and violations of the church ordinance that were committed by man. To avoid a certain divine punishment for these offenses, various kinds of prayers are read for the forgiveness of sins. For one and a half thousand years of Orthodoxy, practically all canonical prayers gradually took on such an excuse.

Perfect penance

The second type of repentance is much deeper, and goes back to the height of the original pathos of Christianity, which remained, alas, unattainable and not accepted by the majority of followers of Jesus Christ. Its meaning will be easier to understand if you refer to the Greek word that refers to this term - “metanoia”, which means “change”.

Indeed, compared with the modern church, where a monthly confession is supposed for the believer (at least), in the first centuries of Christianity, converts were confessed only once, thus testifying to a change in their sinful lifestyle and obedience to the commandments of God. After that, having become Christians, they could no longer sin. If they stumbled again, they were simply expelled from the community of the faithful, where they could return at best one more time through severe penance.

Those who had sinned a second time were never expected back and did not accept. Gradually, this maximalism came to naught, and today everyone has the opportunity to sin, and after the Sunday confession, being “forgiven,” to begin the sacrament.

But the original idea of ​​repentance involves not a report of their sins, but a change in consciousness, values, priorities, tastes, and in general all the components of personality and life in such a way as not to violate the commandments at all. According to this idea, a person must live in such a way that he simply does not have a reason and reason to go to confession. And so, when such a change occurred, this was considered to be held penance.

As it turned out in practice, for most people such a task is daunting. Therefore, the Gospel had to be “customized” under the weakness of human nature. Prayers for the forgiveness of sins were invented to help this. Some of them are read every day in the temple, others involve daily pronunciation at home. There are also specific texts intended only for special occasions or confined to important days, for example, the Great Penitential Canon of St. Andrew of Crete.

The Meaning of Daily Repentance

To understand why the church orders its followers to repent daily, you need to remember only one thing. Namely, the fact that a person sins is also daily.

The only way out is to read the prayers for the forgiveness of the sins of the family, to fast and hope for the mercy of the Most High at the Last Judgment. Here is the text of one of them: “Lord, Lord, in all of your kingdom my whole family is all, from the forefather Adam of those born, deceased ancestors, all ancestors, fathers and mothers, and each of my relatives who are reposed to this day, which You yourself, God my, you know by name. Forgive, forgive, spare and forgive them all the sins that they voluntarily or involuntarily created, and grant them life in the Kingdom of Heaven. Amen".

Orthodox personal confession

It is worth touching on a special text that is prescribed to Orthodox believers to read every evening before going to bed. This is a daily prayer for the forgiveness of sins, the so-called Confession of sins everyday. It is a one-on-one form of confession to God (that is, without the mediation of a priest) for the forgiveness of all sins perpetrated in a day, and at the same time in a lifetime. This practice has its positive aspects and significant potential for personal development. How this potential is realized is another question. While we are interested in the tradition itself, which goes back to pre-Christian times.

Traditions of daily repentance

Probably, this practice existed in Judaism and in many other religious systems. But it is most clearly represented in the Pythagorean Union, which, being a closed-type philosophical school, was at the same time a specific pagan religious group of the Greek-Hellenic izvod.

From the depths of this tradition, we have reached the Golden Verses, in which Pythagoras (or someone on his behalf) instructs us to conclude every day with a report that “What is guilty? What could do? What did not you do? ” Further, it was supposed to draw conclusions, in order to master what was to be pursued, and on this basis to draw up a plan for the next day. At the same time, it was not just about the schedule of affairs, but about the dynamics of spiritual development.

In fact, this same methodology underlies the Orthodox practice of the daily evening confession, when prayers are read for the forgiveness of sins. Ideally, realizing today's sins, the next day a person will have to try to avoid their repetition.

Orthodox prayer for the forgiveness of sins for every day

Here, with some abbreviations, it is appropriate to provide the text of daily confession. A prayer for the forgiveness of sins begins with the following words: “I confess to You, Lord God ... all my sins that I have done all the days of my life ...” The following is a list of sins, it is standard. Behind him comes such a request for mercy: “... with tears I humbly pray You, my past sins according to Your mercy, forgive me and allow from all of them, for You are good and humane. Amen!"

Catholic prayer to God for the forgiveness of sins

For comparison, we will present another text from the Western tradition. It is also a prayer to the Lord for the forgiveness of sins, but no longer from the evening rule, but from the mass.

"I confess before God all-powerful ... that I have sinned a lot with thought, word, deed, and failure to fulfill my duty ... My fault." The last two words are repeated three times with a blow to his chest. Then comes the request for a petition: "Therefore, I implore the Virgin Mary, all the angels, the saints, and you, brothers and sisters, that you pray to the Lord our God for me."

The only significant difference from the Orthodox counterpart is the lack of a list of sins. In this the Catholics are given the opportunity of self-filling the content.

Benefits of the evening confession

As already mentioned, the Orthodox prayer, as in this case, the Catholic, there is a powerful potential for a beneficial effect on the person and its moral improvement. This is achieved by analyzing their behavior, as well as words and thoughts for the past day. Prayer is a kind of error work, which makes it possible to behave more correctly and meaningfully the next time in a similar situation.

The regular practice of evening confession also allows you to identify moments with which a person has special problems and difficulties. Work with them should pay more attention and diligence.

Thus, a person has the ability to gradually develop, approaching a given ideal. In Orthodoxy, it is represented by the image of the Gospel Christ.

Controversial moments

The disadvantages of the Orthodox version of confession lie on the surface and consist in the normalized list of sins. This prayer for the forgiveness of sins is printed in all editions with the same list of religious crimes. At the same time, reading it in this form is imputed to everyone on a mandatory basis, even if a person did not commit a single sin from this list in a day.

This kind of nominal confession in imperfect sins makes the practice of confession itself merely reading the text, no more. After all, if these are imperfect sins, then the text is not able to bring the person to a real regret for them, and therefore, there is no analysis and the will to change for the better. As a result, there is no progress, there is only daily reading of the same text of misconduct, which have nothing to do with the real spiritual life of a person.

Everyday confession of sins

I confess to You my Lord, the God of God, and the Creator, in the Holy Trinity, One, glorified and worshiped Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, all my sins, all my sins, every hour of the world, at the present time, and in the past days and nights, by deed, word, thought, by eating, drinking, secretly, imitation, martial arts, martyrdom, martyrdom, martyrdom, martyrdom, martyrdom, martyrdom, mastication, disobedience, slander, condemning anger m, hatred, blasphemy, and all my feelings: sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, and other sins, spiritual and physical, image of God and Creator to you, and my near-truths; About these pitying, I’m imagining you to see my God for You, and I have the will to repent; My Lord, my God, with prayer, I humbly pray with tears, Thee: my sin that passed away by Your mercy and forgive me, and let all of you, from the verbs before You, bless and the Lover of Mankind.

My belly  my life.   Scourge  - criminal gain (profit).   Mingling  - bribery, greed ( mchel- self-interest). Dashing- greed, avarice. In our tradition, enshrined in catechism, this word has been established to name every kind of unjust robbery of neighbors: bribes, extortion, etc. On the truth- I slandered; caused all evil, untruth. Tochiyu- only.    From all these, even from the verbs  - from all this that I expressed.

“Our daily affairs must be weighed every hour, listening to them, and in the evening it is necessary to ease the burden of their repentance, how much strength we have, if we want, with the help of Christ, to defeat evil in ourselves. It is also necessary to look, whether according to God, whether before the face of God, and for the one God, we perform all our sensual and visible works so as to be foolishly not to be surrounded by any unkind feelings. ”

Rev. Hesychius of Jerusalem

The need for daily repentance of sins committed throughout life, explains the words of St. Anthony the Great: “Say that you are sinners, and mourn everything in a state of neglect of what you have been done. For this, the favor of the Lord will be with you and will work in you: for He is good and forgives the sins of all who turn to Him, whoever they are, so that he does not remember them anymore. However, He wants the pardons themselves to remember about the forgiveness of their sins, hitherto done, so that, forgetting that, not to admit anything in their behavior, which is why they will be forced to give an account of those sins that were already forgiven for them ... David, having received the remission of sins, did not forget about them and handed over the memory of them to posterity. It is made in memory to all genera, from generation to generation.   I will teach your lawlessness (Ps. 50, 15), he says, that all sinners should learn from his example as he repent of his sins and, when they are forgiven, do not forget about them, but always remember. God himself said the same through the prophet Isaiah: I am indulging your sins, and I will not remember. You remember ...    (Is. 43, 25-26). Thus, when the Lord lets us off our sins, we must not let go of them ourselves, but always remember them, through the renewal of repentance about them. ”

The same saint warns: “Do not use in your mind the sins once committed by you, so that they will not resume again. Be sure that they are forgiven to you at the time when you have committed yourself to God and repentance, and do not doubt that. ”

So, keeping and constantly renewing the repentance of the sins of our life, not forgetting about them - we should not at the same time “convert them in the mind”, relive, cling to them with memory. This is one of the manifestations of the art of “invisible battle”, the middle “royal” path, which a Christian should follow.

This prayer helps to examine the daily sins and keeps in mind the memory of the committed earlier - all the days of life. Recall that the sins sincerely confessed in the Mystery of Repentance are completely forgiven by the Lord, but this does not mean that we should forget about them. Sins are remembered for humility and sorrow for their deeds.

“We must pay attention to ourselves, has our conscience ceased to reprove us, not for the sake of our purity, but as if weary. The sign of permission from sins is that a person always considers himself a debtor before God. ”

St. John of the Ladder

As in confession in the Sacrament of Repentance, and in the daily confession to God, one should confess his sins separately, consciously. Therefore, we will dwell on the sins mentioned in prayer and indicate what actions, deeds, words and thoughts can be implied by them. At the same time, we are guided by the Orthodox catechism and the teachings of the devotees of the Orthodox Church.

Eating, drinking, secret- sins associated with the passion of gluttony, which is included in the eight of the main passions.    Secret nausea- eating food in secret (out of greed, shame or unwillingness to share, when fasting is violated, when eating unauthorized food, etc.). Sins of gluttony also include    mnogoyadenie and gantobes- A passion for enjoying the taste sensations, that is, gourmet, so implanted in our day.    Drug use and smoking  also belong to the field of drunkenness; if you have suffered or are suffering from these sinful addictions, include them in the list of sins.

Celebration.Recall the terrible word of the Lord himself:    I tell you that for every idle word that people will say, they will give an answer on the day of judgment: for with your words you will be justified, and you will be condemned by your words (Matt. 12, 36-37).

But the patristic recipe for how to behave, if the situation and conversations in the company have to idle talk: “If you do not have a special need to stay, then leave; and when there is a need to stay, then turn with your mind to prayer, not condemning those who worship, but knowing your weakness. ”

Rev. John the Prophet

The concept of idleness by the Monk Ephraim Sirin expands: The promise of faith, not fulfilled in practice. A person believes and confesses Christ, but remains idle, does not do what Christ commanded. And in another case, the word is idle - namely, when a person confesses and is not corrected, when he says he repents, and sins again. And a thin review of something else is an idle word, because it tells what was not done and what it does not see. ”

Despondency.This sin is often directly related to idle talk:

“Despondency is often one of the branches, one of the first fiends of verbosity ... Despondency is the relaxation of the soul, exhaustion of the mind ... deceiver of God, as if He are merciless and inhuman; in psalmodya it is weak, weak in prayer ... hypocritical in obedience. "

St. John of the Ladder

Laziness,as we see, is closely connected with the passion of gloom. The Orthodox catechism calls "laziness in relation to the teaching of piety, prayer and public worship" in the number of sins against the 1st commandment of the Law of God.

But the patristic observation of monastic life, valid for the world: “The lazy, when they see that they are assigned to heavy matters, then they attempt to prefer them to prayer; and if the work of the ministry is easy, then they run away from prayer as if from fire. ”

St. John of the Ladder

The coolness.  “Bind your tongue, passionately striving for prejudice, and fight seventy-five-fold with your semester a day with this tormentor,” the holy fathers teach in the words of John of the Ladder. “He who in a conversation stubbornly wishes to insist on his opinion, even if it were just, he knows that he is obsessed with the devil’s illness; and if he does so in a conversation with equals, then perhaps the exposure of his elders and heal him; if he treats so big with himself and the wisest, then this ailment from people will not be healed. ”

Disobedience.“He who disobeys a word without a doubt disobeys a deed, for whoever is wrong in the word is adamant in deed,” says St. John of the Ladder with disguise. In the Church, everything is built on obedience; We must obey each and every one whom God has set over us. Full obedience in matters of the spiritual life is necessary in relation to the spiritual father, in general, to the shepherds and spiritual teachers: Obey your teachers, and be submissive, for they vigilantly bake your souls, as those who must give an answer; so that they do it with joy, not sighing, for it is not useful for you (Heb. 13, 17). But complete and unquestioning obedience (in all that does not contradict the faith and the Law of God: Must more obey God than men - Acts. 5, 29) the wife should give the husband, not yet created their own family children - parents. On obedience to the rulers, the apostle Paul says:   The boss is God's servant, to your good ... And therefore you must obey, not only out of fear of punishment, but also according to your conscience (Romans 13, 4-5). Metropolitan Anthony Surozhsky says that he was drafted into the army, having already given monastic vows, but not taking the tonsure. When asked how to perform obedience in the army, the confessor answered: “It’s very simple: consider that everyone who gives you an order speaks in the name of God, and create it not only externally but also with all your guts; consider that every patient who will require help will be called - your master; serve him as a slave purchased. "

Slander - a direct violation of the 9th commandment of the Law of God (Do not give false testimony to your neighbor - Ex. 20, 16). Any slander, any talk and gossip, any unjust censure is slander. Almost certainly leads to slander conviction  neighbor, directly forbidden by the Lord: Judge not lest ye be judged (Matt. 7, 1). So, you are not guilty, every person judging another, for by the same judgment as you judge another, you judge yourself, because, judging the other, you do the same (Romans 2, 1).

“Just as fire is opposed to water, so it is not condemned to repent. If you saw someone who has sinned even at the very end of the soul’s body, then even then do not judge it, for God's judgment is unknown to people. Some clearly fell into great transgressions, but the great virtues performed in secret; and those who loved to mock them were deceived, chasing smoke and not seeing the sun. ” “It has been proved by experience that for any sins, physical or mental, we condemn our neighbor — we ourselves fall into those.”

St. John of the Ladder

Neglect- negligent performance of the duties entrusted to us by God, or neglect at all. Neglect at work, neglect of their household and family responsibilities, neglect of prayer ...

Selfishnessabba Dorofei calls the root of all passions, and Reverend Ephraim the Syrian is the mother of all evil.

“Self-love is the passionate reckless loving of the body. Opposing him are love and temperance. Obviously, having a vanity has all the passions. "

Saint Maxim the Confessor

Multi-stranded. Covetousness ... is idolatry   - says the Apostle Paul (Col. 3,5). In another message, he writes:    The root of all evils is the love of money, which, having surrendered, some declined to believe and subjected themselves to many sorrows.    (Tim. 6, 10). Stringing is passion avarice,   included in the eight of the main passions, in action: any hoarding, addiction to various subjects, stinginess and, conversely, wastefulness.

"He who loves the earthly more than the heavenly will lose both the heavenly and the earthly."

Avva Evgeniy (Skitsky paterik)

"The stranger is entangled in cares and like a dog tied with a chain."

Rev. Nil of Sinai

Multi-stinging is not attaching to God.   And so do not take care and do not say: what do we have? or what to drink? or what to wear? because the heathen are seeking for all this, and because your Heavenly Father knows that you need all this. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all this shall be added to you.   (Matt. 6, 31-33).

“Why do we not overthrow all useless care and do not relieve ourselves from the burden of earthly things? Do not know unless the door is narrow and cramped and that the captive cannot enter it? We will look only for what meets the needs; for the superfluous only entertains, but does not bring good. ”

Rev. Ephraim Sirin

Plunder  This concept includes not only any theft, but also any use of what is “badly lying”: for example, “read a book in the library or from friends. Particularly heavy type of theft -    sacrilege- “appropriation of what is dedicated to God and what belongs to the Church” ( cm.  “Orthodox catechism”), that is, not only the direct theft of sacred objects, but also: to take, without asking for the blessing of a priest donated to a canon or brought to the temple by philanthropists for distribution, etc.

Misconduct- any lie is a word. An abomination to the Lord is a false mouth, but those who speak the truth are acceptable to Him.    (Prov. 12, 22). Therefore, rejecting falsehood, speak truth to each other, because we are members of one another (Eph. 4, 25).

We must remember that there is no “innocent” lie, every lie is not from God. “A lie, in which there is no intention to harm one’s neighbor, is impermissible, because it does not agree with love and respect for one’s neighbor and is not worthy of a person, and especially a Christian, created for truth and love,” says St. Philaret in his Orthodox Catholicism.

Abomination- profit, profit in a bad, unrighteous way. The concept may include any body kit, measurement, deception, but also any income that brings evil to people — for example, based on satisfying or fueling sinful passions. Forging any documents and using forged documents (for example, travel tickets), buying stolen goods cheaply is also unprofitable. This also applies to    parasitism“When they receive a salary for a position or a payment for a case, but positions and affairs are not executed and, thus, they steal both a salary or a payment, and benefits that could be brought to the society or to the one for whom they should work” ( cm.   "Orthodox catechism").

Snail- covetousness, charging mchela  - self-interest. This includes all forms of extortion and bribery. And, since this sin is included in the prayer-repentance for all Orthodox Christians, one should carefully consider his life and discover its manifestations in it.

Jealousy- jealousy of all births.

Envy. "He who envies his neighbor rebel against God, the distributor of gifts."

St. John Chrysostom

“He who is stung by envy and rivalry, is pitiful, because he is an accomplice of the devil, the envy of which death entered the world    (Prem. 2:24) ... envy and rivalry are a terrible poison: slander, hatred and murder are born from them. ”

Rev. Ephraim Sirin

Anger- one of the eight main passions.

“For whatever reason the anger moves, it blinds the eyes of the heart and, putting a cover on the sharpness of mental vision, does not allow the Sun to see the truth. All the same, whether the sheet is gold, or lead, or from what other metal will be superimposed on the eyes - the value of the metals does not make a difference in the blindness. ”

Rev. John Cassian the Roman

"As the darkness is removed from the appearance of light, so the grief and anger disappear from the fragrance of humility."

St. John of the Ladder

Melody“There is the last limit of anger, keeping in memory of sins against us our neighbor, aversion of the image of justification (God’s definite:" Forgive and forgiveness will be "" - cf. Lk. 6, 37), the destruction of all former virtues, poison of death, gnawing heart a worm, shame to pray (as you say: "" forsake, as we are ... ""?), a nail plunged into the soul, unceasing sin, vigilant lawlessness, hourly evil. "

St. John of the Ladder

"Like smoke from smoldering straw eats eyes, so also pomiatry is the mind during prayer."

Rev. Nil of Sinai

“If you grieve at anyone, pray for him; and, by separating the sadness from the memory of the evil he has caused you, will stop the movement of passion; having become friendly and human-loving, you will completely expel passion from the soul. "

Saint Maxim the Confessor

“The oppressive anger stopped the birth and pangs; for childbearing is only from a living father. "

St. John of the Ladder

Hatred. He who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because darkness has blinded his eyes (John 2, 11). Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has everlasting life, abiding in him (1 John 3, 15).    He who says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, is a liar: for he who does not love his brother, whom he sees, how can he love God, whom he does not see? (1 John 4, 20).

Dashingness- “when under the guise of some right, but in fact with violation of justice and philanthropy, someone’s property or work of others, or even the very calamities of others are turned to their advantage, for example, when lenders burden debtors with growth (loan interest), when owners exhaust from them excessive taxes or work if during the famine they sell bread at too high a price ”( cm.  "Orthodox catechism"). In a broad sense, the word fraud  means generally covetousness, greed (the passion of avarice); in this sense the word is used in the New Testament (Rom. 1, 29; 2 Cor. 9, 5; Eph. 4, 19 and 5, 3; Col. 3, 5).

Serious sins committed during life, from among those that are not explicitly mentioned in this prayer, should be included in it, and not “let down” under one of the points (for example, blasphemy, a murmur against God, or an attempt to suicide, or the killing of unborn children - abortion, etc.). In particular, in this list there are no sins relating to the passion of fornication (and among them such as adultery and all extramarital cohabitation, and all violations of purity and chastity), and the passion of pride, which is considered the most terrible of passions.