Sins against oneself Dejection and despair arising from the development of vanity and pride; arrogance, pride, self-confidence, arrogance; doing good deeds for show; thoughts of suicide; carnal excesses: gluttony, sweet eating, gluttony;

Know yourself How does a person acquire this saving knowledge of himself, his old age, which reveals to him all the infinite significance of the Sacrifice of Christ? This is what St. answers. Ignatius: “I do not see my sin, because I still work for sin. Can't see

Repentance is called the second baptism: if baptism frees us from the power of original sin, then repentance washes away the filth of our own sins committed after baptism. However, in order to repent and receive remission of sins, it is necessary see your sin. And it's not that simple. Self-love, self-pity, self-justification interfere with this. We tend to consider a bad act of which our conscience accuses us of being an “accident” and blame circumstances or our neighbors for it. Meanwhile, every sin in deed, word or thought is a consequence of the passions- a kind of spiritual illness.

If it is difficult for us to recognize our sin, then it is even more difficult to see the passion that has taken root in us. So, we can live without suspecting the passion of pride in ourselves until someone hurts us. Then passion will be revealed through sin: wishing harm to the offender, a harsh offensive word, and even revenge.

The fight against passions is the main task of Christian ascetics, especially monastics. But every Christian seeking salvation must face this struggle, albeit to varying degrees, for each state of the human soul is characterized by both its own measure of virtues and its own measure of struggle against evil, which prevents the virtues from establishing themselves in the soul.

Therefore, having taken upon myself the labor of publishing this small book to help the repentant, we hope that it will help the reader understand himself, see his sins, recognize the sinful illnesses of his soul and, through repentance, find a saving path to the Kingdom of Heaven.

About the sinful ailments of the human soul

Through the crime of the first man, sin entered the world (Rom. 5:12), and the human race was filled with all kinds of iniquities. Mouths will not proclaim the deeds of men! It is impossible to count all the countless sinful deeds known among people!

Sin is a crime against the will of God, against the righteous and eternal law of God, an insult to the eternal and infinite truth of God (St. Tikhon of Zadonsk). A Christian cannot love sin that offends his Lord and Savior, cannot help but desire to follow His commandments, but how obvious to us is the powerlessness of our good desire to be faithful to Christ!

The reason for our constant falls is sinful diseases our soul.

The first-created man in the Fall rejected and trampled upon the will of God, choosing instead your will, wanted to be a creature self-sufficient, independent of God, unrestricted by anything in his endless requests. This is the state of the soul of a person, St. fathers call " self", or " pride", and it is characteristic of all people, as heirs of the fall of their ancestors.

As a result of the Fall, man withdrew from God, lost Divine communion and fell under the power of the devil. In the soul of a person who fell into crime and moved away from God, the devil sowed sinful thoughts and established the law of sin (St. Athanasius the Great). According to patristic teaching, " evil thoughts", or passions, growing from original sin, are the source of countless sinful human deeds.

Through passionate disposition, the soul, originally created in the likeness of God and destined for communion with God, is alienated from God and as a result is deprived of eternal, true life. “Evil thoughts” deceive a person with deceptive sweetness and plunge him into slavery to sin. Working with passions, usually a person does not feel this slavery at all. And only having entered into the fight against sinful evil, he begins to experience the greatest suffering from slavery to the “law of sin” (Rom. 7:23). And the saints who reached high levels of moral perfection experienced one “attack” of passion as martyrdom.

If passions are diseases of the human soul, then they are naturally inherent in it. virtues- properties of the soul that are opposite to passions and together constitute the perfection and godlikeness of man. Virtue is not a “good deed”, not an act in itself, just as passions are different from sinful deeds. “Virtue is the mood of the heart when what is done is truly pleasing to God” (St. Mark the Ascetic) - for not every human good is pleasing to God, but only that which is done in purity of heart.

The goal of every Christian's life is the rescue, i.e. restoration of communion with God destroyed by sin. Only those “who draw near to God through holiness of life and virtue"(St. Justin Martyr). But "the barrier to the innermost virtues of the soul" are passions, and therefore for salvation it is absolutely necessary, first of all, cleanse yourself of passions, open this “door closed in the face of purity” (St. Isaac the Syrian).

But is this possible? The Holy Scriptures and the works of the Holy Fathers agree that this is impossible through human efforts. But this is why the Savior came to earth, to restore the human soul “to its primitive state,” to save him from the state of passion. And the commandments were given by the Lord as medicine to cleanse the soul from passions and sins (St. Isaac the Syrian).

If the Old Testament Law was intended to protect man from sinful deeds, then the commandments of the Gospel heal the ailments of human nature. After holy baptism, Christians, by observing the commandments, can be cleansed not only from sins, such as sinful deeds, but also from passions, from their evil habits and increase in virtue. But this is achieved through internal struggle and pious deeds, and not only through one’s own strength, but with the assistance of God’s grace.

Passions do not easily obey the commandments; they rebel against them. Passion blinds a person, and he does not see his illness. To fulfill the commandments means to be healed of passions; but a person who is weak with passions cannot fulfill them... Therefore, purity from passions, like any virtue, cannot appear in a person except by fighting - moreover, “to the point of blood... against sin” (Heb. 12:4). About the same thing, how difficult this struggle is and how impossible without God's help, testify to the lives of numerous Christian ascetics.

The holy ascetic fathers were not only able to recognize passions, but also knew the cures for each of them. The doctrine of passions and the fight against them, developed to the point of subtlety, can be found in the works of Evagrius, St. John Cassian the Roman, Nile of Sinai, Ephraim the Syrian, John Climacus, Gregory Palamas and other ascetic fathers. But this “medical science of souls” - wisdom - is so difficult that it is impossible to learn it without an experienced mentor who has acquired the skill for it through long-term experience (St. Gregory of Nyssa). That's why St. Ignatius Brianchaninov advises people inexperienced in spiritual life not to enter into a detailed and subtle examination of their sins and sinful qualities. “Gather them all into one vessel of repentance and cast them into the abyss of God’s mercy. This will only plunge us into despondency, bewilderment, and confusion. God knows our sins, and if we constantly resort to Him in repentance, He will gradually heal our very sinfulness, that is, sinful habits, qualities of the heart" (from the letter).

It is important, knowing our countless sins and failures, to achieve awareness of the general painful state of our soul, sinfulness her, stricken by sin and in sincere heartfelt repentance resort to a single Doctor who can heal us from our ailments that are incurable by any earthly means (References to the works of the holy fathers are taken from the book by S.M. Zarin “Asceticism according to Orthodox Christian teaching”).

Conversation about sins and repentance

Sins

Sins against God, neighbors and one's own soul

Sins Usually they name not only sinful deeds, i.e. actions, deeds, words, thoughts, feelings that are contrary to the commandments of God, the Christian moral law, but often the causes of sinful deeds are the passions and sinful habits of the human soul, as contrary to God’s plan for man, perverting the perfection of human nature, created in the likeness of God.

Our daily prayers at home remind us of our sins: the evening prayer to the Holy Spirit, the daily confession of sins at the end of the evening prayers, as well as the fourth prayer for holy communion: “For at your terrible and impartial judgment seat is coming...” (placed, however, not in all prayer books), and others.

In most manuals for those preparing for the sacrament of confession, sins are distributed according to the ten commandments of the Law of God and the commandments of the Gospel. An example of a confession built on this principle is contained, for example, in the book “The Experience of Constructing a Confession” by Archimandrite John Krestyankin (ed. Pskov-Pechersky Monastery, 1992). This manual is especially valuable because it represents the living word of the shepherd to our Christian contemporaries. In it you can find sins characteristic of our time.

It should be noted that the Gospel understanding of the commandments of the Law of God, given through the prophet Moses to the ancient people of Israel, is much broader and deeper than the Old Testament. Violation of a commandment is considered a sin not only in deed, but also in thought and desire. However, the last, tenth commandment, as if preparing the Old Testament people for a perfect understanding of the Law, says: “You shall not covet.”

In the appendix to this book we place a fairly complete and detailed listing of sins in the “General Confession”.

Sins against God

The entire multitude of human sins can be conditionally divided into sins against God, against neighbors and against one’s own soul. Here we will point out only a few sins, because not only describing, but simply listing all their multitude is not part of the scope of this book, and it is impossible.

Modern people, for the most part, have forgotten about God, forgotten or did not even know the way to the temple of God, and at best have only heard about prayer. But if we are believers, then weren’t they hiding their faith for the sake of false shame and fear of people? If so, then didn’t the Lord say about us: “Whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of His Father with the holy Angels” (Mark 8:38)?

One of the most serious sins is deliberate swearing at God and faith, blasphemy and murmuring against God. For the last sin, the possessed and a significant number of the insane were subjected to their illness.

Blasphemy. We commit this sin when we mockingly speak about the various beliefs of the Church and its sacred customs, about which we understand nothing; also when we do not stand up for the faith, hearing obviously false and unscrupulous reproaches against it.

False oath; constant and irreverent worship. The latter reveals a person’s lack of fear of God and disdain for the greatness of God.

We sin against God by we don't fulfill our vows to reform or pious vows to undertake some feat or perform a work of charity. For this, the Lord often sends to the sinful soul a feeling of severe despondency or seemingly causeless anger, melancholy or fear - so that, remembering the unfulfilled vow, it would repent and correct its sin.

The fact that do not attend church services. Christians must attend the services of the Holy Church, at least on Sundays and holidays, and if we do not do this, then we sin before God. It is unwise to comfort yourself with the thought that most people do not attend church at all. According to the rules of St. The apostles who were absent from church for three weeks in a row were completely separated from church fellowship.

The fact that We don’t pray every day at home.. Not to mention the fact that this is our duty, we must fulfill this duty as a Christian, a son of the Church, if we do not want to be just a playground of passions: or debauchery, or drunkenness, or covetousness, or despondency - for only with a constant struggle against ourselves and Through the grace given to those who pray, a person can correct his life. And if he does not pray and does not resort to the Church, then his sinful vices will remain with him, no matter how beautiful words he speaks about salvation and cleansing from passions.

We greatly sin before God when We are interested in various mystical and occult teachings, we show interest in heterodox and pagan sects, which especially at the present time have increased unusually. We also err in sympathizing with the belief in the transmigration of souls, which came from the ancient pagan Hindus, theosophy, and astrology.

Also superstition. Not to mention the many superstitions we inherited from our pagan ancestors, we are often carried away by the absurd superstitions of modern educated society: more and more new fictions and fantastic theories, accepted only at the request of fashion.

Sin before God is neglect of one's soul. Forgetting God, together with Him we forget our soul and do not heed it. It is impossible to listen to your soul otherwise than by opening it before God, praying to Him, reverently before Him.

Sins against neighbors

By forgetting God and neglecting our souls, we often cause spiritual harm to our neighbors.

A particularly serious sin is gross insult to parents, constant insults inflicted on them.

The Lord said to Moses: “Whoever curses his father or his mother must be put to death” (Ex. 21:17). And the Savior confirms this death sentence to those who slander parents, precisely as a commandment of God (Matthew 15:4; Mark 7:10). The insolence of students towards teachers is similar to this sin.

Insults inflicted on neighbors. By insult we must understand not only that which makes a person angry, but even more that which harms him, and most of all harm to his soul.

We offend our neighbors when we advise them something bad or vicious; when we ridicule their good qualities: chastity or modesty, obedience to parents, conscientiousness in service or in teaching. By doing this, we make ourselves even worse sinners before God than thieves and robbers. But even more criminal are those who seduce the innocent into sin, using efforts, sometimes lengthy, to do so.

When we sow doubts about faith in the hearts of our neighbors, ridicule their piety, discourage them from prayer and church, and sow discord between brothers, spouses, co-workers or comrades. All who act in this way are helpers and servants of the devil, who receives strong power over them, for they themselves have given themselves into obedience to his will.

The same slander on neighbors in conversations with people and in the press, as well as condemnation without confidence that neighbors are really guilty.

Sin against one's neighbor - hatred, gloating instead of compassion. This sin is similar to murder (1 John 3:15).

Grudge, even if it is not expressed in vindictiveness. It counts our prayers as nothing, according to the word of the Lord (Mark 11:24-26), and shows that our heart is filled with all self-love and self-justification.

Sin against neighbors is also disobedience- in the family, at school or at work. Sin in the universe began with disobedience; disobedience is followed by many new evils: laziness, deception, insolence against parents or superiors, seeking sensual pleasures, theft, rejection of the fear of God, robbery and murder, rejection of faith itself.

Evil feelings of disobedience, and especially rancor and gloating, grow in the soul that loves condemn. Together with the habit of unnecessarily condemning people, we develop a delight in the shortcomings of our neighbors, and then a reluctance to recognize something good in them, and from here we are close to both gloating and rancor.

Sins against one's own soul

We also turn out to be unworthy masters of our own soul, which God gave us to make it capable of serving Him and our neighbors. A soul that has submitted to God is always dissatisfied with myself And reproaches himself, except for direct violations of God’s commandments, for their careless fulfillment.

Sin laziness. We try to go to the church where the service ends earlier, we shorten our prayers, we are lazy to visit the sick or prisons, according to the commandment of God, we do not care about charity, mercy and serving our neighbors - in a word, we are lazy to “work for the Lord” (Acts 20:19) selflessly , selflessly. We love to indulge in idle talk when it’s time to work, we love to visit houses where there is nothing useful or pleasing to the soul, just to kill time instead of using it usefully.

Idle talk creates a habit lie, do not care about the truth, but say what is pleasing to the ear. And this is not an unimportant matter: all bad deeds in the world are seasoned with lies and slander. No wonder Satan is called the father of lies.

The habit of lying is born flattery. In human society, this instrument of all kinds of earthly acquisitions has become common.

The opposite sin of flattery is habit of swearing, which is so common now, especially among young people. Abusive words coarse the soul and offend interlocutors. The Lord is especially angry with those who call their neighbors by the names of evil spirits. A Christian who values ​​his salvation will not say such words.

The sin of impatience. It is the cause of a good half of our quarrels and upsets in the family, at work, in society, which occur because we did not try to restrain for a few minutes the feelings of irritation at someone’s carelessness or malfunction, or at the insult caused to us. The feat of patience is also necessary for observing fasts, for violation of which a Christian is excommunicated by councils for two years from holy communion; observing them is the best way to curb passions, acquire virtues and acquire a disposition towards prayer and spiritual reading.

According to patristic teaching, every sin deprives a person of the grace of God, makes him alien to God, and - as a consequence of this alienation - deprives him of spiritual life. You can only be healed from sinful death by bringing a sincere repentance.

Repentance is not just repentance for individual sinful acts, but rejection his former sinful life, built on the principles of pride and self-indulgence, and the choice of life “according to God,” according to the will of God, in doing the commandments of God. True Christian life begins with repentance and everything must be imbued with a repentant mood. No cures for sinful illnesses are ineffective and useless if they are not dissolved by repentance. Every person seeking salvation has only one need to find this difficult and painful path.

“The path of repentance... is sanctified by the teaching of the Holy Spirit, shining from the Holy Scriptures and the writings of the fathers... - writes St. Ignatius Brianchaninov. - On the path of repentance you will not find contentment with yourself. Looking within yourself, you will not find anything that flatters your self-conceit. "Your weeping and your tears will console you, your consolation will be lightness and freedom of conscience. This is the lot and destiny set apart by God for those whom He has chosen to spiritually, truly serve Himself" (from the letter).

But there are sinful illnesses of the soul associated with false views of piety and life in general, which hinder repentance and thereby place a person, essentially, outside the Church, outside the society of those who are being saved. This is the essence of the following.

Unbelief and lack of faith. Unbelief is a conscious persistent rejection of the truths of faith. It is necessary to distinguish real unbelief and doubt from imaginary and apparent, which often comes from suspiciousness. The sin of unbelief or lack of faith is also doubt in the sacraments of the church.

Self-delusion and charm. This is an imaginary closeness to God and, in general, to anything Divine and supernatural. Christians who are zealous for external exploits are sometimes subject to self-delusion. Surpassing their acquaintances in the feats of fasting and prayer, they already imagine themselves as spectators of Divine visions or, at least, blessed dreams; in all cases of their lives they see special, deliberate instructions from God or the Guardian Angel, and then they imagine themselves as special chosen ones of God and often try to predict the future. The Holy Fathers do not arm themselves against anything as ardently as against this particular illness - spiritual delusion. This disastrous disease has especially spread in our time, starting from the end of the last century: the Johannites, Churikovites and similar followers of the newly-minted “prophets” and “Christs”.

Long-term concealment of sin. Such a disastrous state of the human soul is associated with the fear of consciousness in sin and is most often the result of sins that are either very shameful and dirty (unnatural, according to the seventh commandment, such as incest, bestiality, child molestation) or criminal: murder, infanticide, theft, robbery, attempted poisoning, malicious slander out of jealousy or envy, instilling hatred towards loved ones, inciting neighbors against the Church and faith, and the like. Due to false shame or fear, a person who has committed a sin sometimes suffers all his life, considering himself lost to salvation. And he can really destroy his soul if, for example, sudden death deprives him of the opportunity to repent. This sinful illness entails another, no less, evil - lying in confession.

Despair. Often this feeling oppresses a person after irreparable sins, for example: infanticide or destruction of a fetus, causing irreparable harm to someone, misfortune; sometimes because of one’s own sorrows - the death of children, considered God’s punishment for previous sins, complicated circumstances, etc. Despair always has in itself the hidden poison of pride or self-love, as if the beginning of some kind of murmur and reproach to God's providence, an embittered feeling against God or people.

Carelessness and petrified insensibility. This is the opposite of despair. It manifests itself, for example, in the fact that people commit serious sins - such as fornication, hurting their wife and parents, deception, completely removing their lives from the temple of God - and admit it, but with a light heart, they do not realize the destruction of these sins and They don’t think about starting a fight with them.

Self-justification and blaming others. The spirit of self-justification is one of the main enemies of our salvation. Whether we are saved or far from salvation is determined not by the number of our sins, but by the ability to recognize ourselves as guilty and sinful, the degree of contrition for our sins. Also, by the insults inflicted on us by our neighbors, by the injustice towards us, we are by no means justified before God, but are responsible for our own guilt and passions that we have sinned with.

The opposite of self-justification, the willingness to blame oneself and not others for everything is a great virtue that not only elevates a person in the eyes of God, but also attracts the hearts of people to him.

Passions, their sinful deeds and some treatments against them

Repentance consists not only in confessing sinful deeds, but most of all in the desire and desire to free ourselves from the sinful states that captivate us, i.e. passions. It is important to see and confess your sins in deed, word, and thought. But to heal the soul from sinful illnesses, limiting yourself to repentance for individual sinful acts is far from sufficient. Fighting only against sins that are revealed in actions is as unsuccessful as cutting off weeds that appear in the garden, instead of uprooting them and throwing them away.

The doctrine of healing the soul is usually located by the ancient fathers in relation to the main passions, the name and number of which are the same for most teachers of asceticism. Among the holy fathers they are arranged in a certain order, which is not at all random, since there is an internal connection between the passions. “Evil passions and wickedness are not only introduced one through the other, but are also similar to one another,” teaches St. Gregory Palamas. The main passions are the following: gluttony, fornication, love of money, anger, sadness, despondency, vanity and pride. This scheme does not exhaust all the passions existing in the fallen world. But every passionate movement of the human soul can be reduced to the main vices listed. St. John Cassian even presents a kind of “family tree table” of all the other “most famous” vices (see: Interviews of Egyptian Ascetics. Interview 5. §16).

In this book we place a description of the eight main passions and the virtues opposite to them in their manifestations (deeds), compiled by Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov) on the basis of patristic teaching.

The ascetic fathers also give advice regarding the healing of passions - both general and for each passion separately. The first general cure for any passion is to recognize its sinfulness and destructiveness, recognize yourself as suffering from this passion, spiritually sick and in need of healing. The second medicine should be " righteous anger"to passion itself. That is why the Creator put in us the ability to be angry, in order to direct this feeling towards our sins, passions and the devil, and not at all towards our neighbors, nor towards enemies, nor towards those who hate us... By these means passion sometimes weakened, but not completely killed. The fight against passion cannot be easy and short-lived. And the main means in this fight is prayer to the Lord for help in our battle and for healing. Then you need to fight the very manifestations of passion, refrain from its manifestations: sinful thoughts, words, actions and deeds. While fighting against passion, against a sinful disposition, one must certainly take care of the instillation in the soul virtues, the opposite of this passion.

The variety of all possible sinful states and manifestations of the human soul is infinite, so below we will dwell only on the main and most common ones, and speaking about healing them, we by no means have the goal of exhausting all means, but will point out only the main ones, for the variety of human characters, positions and moods. In each specific case, we need to follow the advice of a confessor who knows both our external circumstances and the internal structure of the soul.

Anger

The angry passion in us is revealed by our frequent quarrels with our family and those with whom we constantly come into contact in everyday life. We are usually angry at non-compliance with our orders, at any insufficiently polite word or attitude towards us.

For the most part, anger is not an independent passion in the human heart - it expresses dissatisfaction with another passion or even random desires. Often anger exposes other passions living in a person. Among the vain and money-lovers, anger is expressed in envy, among the dissolute - in jealousy, among those devoted to gluttony - in pickiness, etc.

The passion of anger, which possesses a person for a long time, if he does not bring tearful repentance about it, often turns into hatred- the most disgusting sin in the eyes of God, for he who hates his brother is a murderer (1 John 3:15).

The opposite virtue of anger is freedom from anger and related to it meekness. A great gain is freedom from anger: you will gain many friends with this gift - both in heaven and on earth... The most effective, although bitter at the first dose, medicine against anger and irritability is to ask for forgiveness after a quarrel. It can be bitter, but it is bitter only for the proud. And if it seems so unbearable, then this exposes another serious illness in a person - pride.

Pride and vanity

The sin of pride among modern people, for the most part, is their permanent state and is not considered a sin at all, but is called “self-esteem,” “honor,” etc. Of course, not only our contemporaries suffer from pride: only saints are free from it, and the descendants of Adam who did not crucify their passions bear this burden and must fight until they are freed from its burden.

Pride has two types - vanity and inner, or spiritual, pride. The first passion is chasing human praise and celebrity. The second is a more subtle and more dangerous feeling: it is filled with confidence in its own merits, so that it does not want to seek human praise.

Vainglorious thoughts often appear in reverent and humble-hearted people, even in the midst of their godly deeds. In these cases, you need to continue to do useful work, and for the thoughts of vanity that burst into the soul, reproach yourself and act against them. Not only the Lord, but also intelligent observers of life always see who works for business and who out of vanity. We must always check our conscience to see if the impulse of vanity was involved in our affairs, and then repent of this sin, but not give up.

Spiritual pride manifests itself in exalting oneself over others. When fighting this passion, you need to remind yourself of your many sins and passions at every manifestation of it. It is especially important to force yourself to ask for forgiveness and endure punishment without complaint.

Prodigal passion

It can be difficult even for ascetics who have selflessly surrendered to God to get rid of this passion. Sensual temptations continue to chase them even into the monastery and the desert. Marriage also does not completely free you from this passion...

Sins arising from fornication are called sins against chastity. These sins are prohibited by the seventh commandment of the Law of God, therefore they are often also called “sins against the seventh commandment.” These are: adultery (adultery), fornication (cohabitation outside of marriage), incest (carnal relations between close relatives), unnatural sins, secret carnal sins. The degree of their severity can be judged by the fact that in the missals there are not so many questions and penances for any sin as for the sin of unchastity.

The sins of unchastity, which destroy the souls of those who indulge in them, are punished by God with terrible illnesses and entail many other troubles: the ruin of families, suicide, infanticide, the destruction of the fetus, which, according to the rules of the Ecumenical Councils, is charged equally with infanticide. The latter crime has now become fashionable, and most do not understand the gravity of this sin, but this in no way diminishes the guilt of its perpetrators.

To get rid of these sins, the pastors of the Church strongly advise, first of all, to definitely resort to confession. Many are ashamed to confess these sins, but until a Christian (or Christian woman) confesses his fall, he will return to it again and again and gradually fall into complete despair, or, conversely, shamelessness and godlessness.

To cleanse the soul, clogged with nasty sensual passion, one should move away from everything that leads to sin, from allies in sin, from society where it is common and considered “normal.” Next, you must fill your life with useful work, physical or mental, surround yourself with acquaintances or friendships with good people; the most important thing is to become closer to our Heavenly Father and resort to Him in prayer.

Drunkenness

The vice of drunkenness, like unchastity, comes from unbelief, being its direct consequence. This is one of the most disastrous spiritual diseases for our Orthodox people. Drunkenness is the sister of debauchery and all crimes in general.

The holy fathers associate this sinful passion with gluttony, but it also has other roots. Usually, those who indulge in drunkenness are either filled with lustful passion, which they cannot indulge in when sober, or, even more often, they are obsessed with unsatisfied ambition or embitterment at their failed life, or they are tormented by malice and envy. These passions aggravate the painful state of the soul, and a person often falls into the shameful captivity of binges, unable to resist them, even if he has already hated his vice and asks God and people to teach him to get rid of it.

Healing from this passion sometimes seems hopeless. But nothing is impossible with God. To heal this passion, the feat of a long and difficult journey and humiliated prayer before his Heavenly Father is necessary, leaving Whom through self-will and disobedience, a person fell into grave troubles, like the prodigal son in the Gospel parable. From youth, you need to keep yourself away from wine and lead a sober, abstinent life.

Dejection

This is the loss of that spiritual cheerfulness about God, which is nourished by the hope of His merciful providence for us. For people who care about their salvation, this passion takes away the love of prayer, a melancholy mood penetrates the soul, becoming permanent over time, and a feeling of loneliness, abandonment by relatives, by all people in general, and even by God comes. Among the laity, this mental illness is sometimes expressed in anger, irritability, and often in binge drinking.

Dejection is often a consequence of a forgotten fall or a hidden, unnoticeable passion: envy, prodigal passion, ambition, love of money, desire for revenge on the offender. Dejection can also be caused by overwork or oppressive worries. Often despondency comes from the excessive and arbitrary exploits of those who are especially zealous for the exploits of Christians.

A Christian who has become impoverished in prayer and given over to despondency must, first of all, try to find the cause of the passion that oppresses him, the sinful desire that was its cause, and enter into a struggle with it. And even before he is struck by this sinful desire, the spirit of prayer, even a purely ardent one, will return to him for the sheer determination to overcome the evil within himself.

There is despondency as a result of surging external troubles and sorrows that are beyond our control - from disbelief in God’s providence, disobedience to it, ungodly anger, grumbling. We must fear such a state and ask God for forgiveness and help, and then the spirit of despondency will leave us, and in sorrow the consolation of God will certainly come and be accepted by the soul, surpassing all earthly consolations.

Envy

This is one of the most terrible evils that plague the human race. “Through the envy of the devil, death entered the world” (Wisdom 2:24). Envy is usually combined with an even more disgusting feeling - schadenfreude- and is connected with some other passion: vanity, or greed, or ambition. It is directed against another person - one’s rival - in aspirations corresponding to these passions.

To overcome envy, one must resist not only envy itself, but, first of all, those selfish basic passions of one’s soul from which it is born. If you suppress your ambition, you will not envy a comrade or colleague who has succeeded more than you; if you are not a lover of money, you will not envy your neighbor who has become rich, etc.

The source of all human passions in general is in selfishness. Envy most closely stems from the selfish desire for wealth and fame. But all this is very sinful: one should wish for oneself only salvation in heaven, and on earth - patience and a clear conscience.

The passion of envy allowed into the soul, even if it has itself become the subject of holy anger and struggle against it, still often awakens in the form annoying, unfriendly feeling and even influences a person’s thought, forcing him to interpret in an unkind way all the actions and words of his ill-wisher or that neighbor whom he envies. Such untruth, dishonesty of thought is a shameful phenomenon, and every Christian must stop himself from any desire or inner urge to speak biasedly about his neighbor out of envy or malice, and not out of truth. This will also be the struggle against the passion of envy, which is fueled by malicious antics against an opponent. Without receiving such food, passion itself gradually fades away.

Love of money

have other gods

About passions and virtues

The disturbances of anger, selfishness (pride) and fornication, even if they often distract a person from God, then burst into a person’s soul like blind impulses, like attacking enemies against his will; love of money and stinginess have the property of a calm mood of the soul and direction of the will. Moreover, lovers of money transgress against the True God in that have other gods. Meanwhile, enrichment, as the guiding goal of all life, turns out to be the lot of many people who love the Church and live abstinently and soberly.

The passion of love of money leads to many sins. A person addicted to wealth certainly rejects those in need, does not help relatives, does not support the Church, plunges his fellow traders into need, and is heartless and cruel. The love of money entails deception, covetousness, unmercifulness towards neighbors and a whole host of sins against the second, eighth and tenth commandments of the Law of God. The sin of theft and robbery is especially grave in relation to church property.

The cure for this passion is abstinence from the sinful acts it produces, rejection of the false fear of ruin, poverty, unsecured old age, etc. Thus, a merchant or owner, if it is impossible to maintain his well-being without deceit or causing harm to a rival, let him condemn himself to loss and even ruin, but not deviate from the requirement of honesty... In addition, this passion is cured by alms and charity.

Eight main passions

1. Gluttony (or gluttony)

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

2. Fornication

Prodigal lust, prodigal sensations and desires of the body, prodigal sensations and desires of the soul and heart, acceptance of unclean thoughts, conversation with them, delight in them, consent to them, procrastination in them. Prodigal dreams and captivities. Failure to preserve the senses, especially the sense of touch, is the insolence that destroys all virtues. Foul language and reading voluptuous books. Natural prodigal sins: fornication and adultery. Sins are unnatural.

3. Love of money

Love of money (addiction to money) and in general property, movable and immovable. The desire to get rich. Reflections on the means to enrichment. Dreaming of wealth. Fear of old age, unexpected poverty, illness, exile. Stinginess, greed, disbelief in God, lack of trust in His providence. Addiction or painful excessive love for various perishable objects, depriving the soul of freedom. Passion for vain concerns. Loving gifts. Appropriation of someone else's. Extortion. Cruelty towards the poor brethren and all those in need. Theft. Robbery.

4. Anger

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

5. Sadness

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

6. Dejection

Laziness towards every good deed, especially prayer. Abandonment of church and home prayer rules. Abandoning unceasing prayer and soul-helping reading. Inattention and haste in prayer. Negligence, lack of reverence. Idleness. Excessive calming by sleeping, lying down and all kinds of restlessness. Moving from place to place. Celebration. Jokes. Abandonment of bows and other physical feats. Forgetting your sins. Forgetting the commandments of Christ. Negligence (about salvation). Deprivation of the fear of God. Bitterness. Insensibility. Despair.

7. Vanity

The search for human glory. Boasting. Desire and search for earthly honors. Addiction to beautiful clothes and things. Attention to the beauty of your face, the pleasantness of your voice and other qualities of your body. Addiction to the sciences and arts of this dying age, seeking success in them in order to acquire temporary, earthly glory. Shame to confess your sins, hiding them before people and your spiritual father. Craftiness. Self-justification. Disclaimer. Hypocrisy. Lie. Flattery. People-pleasing. Envy. Humiliation of one's neighbor. Changeability of character. Pretense. Unconscionability. The character and life are demonic.

8. Pride

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

On the virtues opposite to the eight main sinful passions

1. Abstinence

Refrain from excessive consumption of food and drink, especially from drinking excess wine. Accurate keeping of the posts established by the Church. The curbing of the flesh by moderate and constantly equal consumption of food, from which all passions in general begin to weaken, and especially self-love, which consists of a wordless love of the flesh, its life and peace.

2. Chastity

Avoidance of all kinds of fornication. Avoidance of voluptuous conversations and reading, from uttering nasty, voluptuous, ambiguous words. Storing the senses, especially sight and hearing, and even more so the sense of touch. Modesty. Rejection of the thoughts and dreams of prodigals. Silence. Silence. Ministry to the sick and disabled. Memories of death and hell. The beginning of chastity is a mind unshaken by lustful thoughts and dreams; the perfection of chastity is purity that sees God.

3. Non-covetousness

Satisfying yourself with one thing necessary. Hatred of luxury and bliss. Mercy for the poor. Loving the poverty of the gospel. Trust in God's providence. Following Christ's commandments. Calmness and freedom of spirit. Carelessness. Softness of heart.

4. Meekness

Avoidance of angry thoughts and indignation of the heart with rage. Patience. Following Christ, who calls His disciple to the cross. Peace of the heart. Silence of the mind. Christian firmness and courage. Not feeling insulted. Kindness.

5. Blessed crying

A feeling of decline, common to all people, and of one’s own spiritual poverty. Lamentation about them. Cry of the mind. Painful contrition of the heart. Vegetating from them is lightness of conscience, gracious consolation and joy. Hope in God's mercy. Thank God in sorrows, humbly enduring them from the sight of the multitude of one’s sins. Willingness to tolerate them. Cleansing the mind. Relief from passions. The desire for prayer, solitude, obedience, humility, confession of one’s sins.

6. Sobriety

Zeal for every good deed. Non-slothful correction of church and home prayer rules. Attention when praying. Careful observation of all your deeds, words and thoughts. Extreme self-distrust. Continuous stay in prayer and the Word of God. Awe. Constant vigilance over oneself. Keeping yourself from a lot of sleep, effeminacy, idle talk, jokes and sharp words. Love of night vigils, bows and other feats that bring cheerfulness to the soul. Leaving home only out of necessity. Remembrance of eternal blessings, desire and expectation of them.

7. Humility

Fear of God. Feeling it during prayer. The fear of disappearing and turning into nothingness, which arises during especially pure prayer, when the presence and greatness of God is especially strongly felt. Deep knowledge of one's insignificance. A change in the view of one’s neighbors, and they, without any coercion, seem to the humbled person to be superior to him in all respects. Innocence from living faith. Hatred of human praise. Constant blaming and beating yourself up. Rightness and directness. Impartiality. Deadness to everything. Tenderness. Knowledge of the mystery hidden in the cross of Christ. The desire to crucify oneself to the world and passions, the desire for this crucifixion. Rejection and oblivion of flattering customs and words, modest due to compulsion or intent, or the skill of pretending. Perception of spiritual poverty. Rejection of earthly wisdom as indecent for heaven. Contempt for everything that is exalted in men, but an abomination to God (Luke 16:15). Abandoning self-justification. Silence before those who offend, which the Gospel teaches. Putting aside all your own speculations and accepting the mind of the Gospel. Humility, or spiritual reasoning. Conscious obedience to the Church in everything.

8. Love

Change during prayer from the fear of God to the love of God. Loyalty to the Lord, proven by the constant rejection of every sinful thought and feeling. The indescribable, sweet attraction of the whole person with love for the Lord Jesus Christ and for the worshiped Holy Trinity. Seeing the image of God and Christ in others; resulting from this spiritual vision, preference for oneself over all neighbors and their reverent veneration for the Lord. Love for neighbors is brotherly, pure, equal to everyone, impartial, joyful, flaming equally towards friends and enemies. Admiration for prayer and love of the mind, heart and whole body. Indescribable pleasure of spiritual joy. Spiritual intoxication. Inactivity of the bodily senses during prayer. Silence of the mind. Enlightening the mind and heart. Prayer power that overcomes sin. Peace of Christ. Retreat from all passions. The absorption of all understandings into the superior mind of Christ. The weakness of sinful thoughts that cannot be imagined in the mind. Sweetness and abundance of consolation in times of sorrow. Vision of human structures. The depth of humility and the most humiliating opinion of oneself...

The end is endless!

Thoughts of the Holy Fathers on the passions, virtues and repentance

Applications

According to the "Fatherland", compiled by St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov)

All passions, if they are allowed freedom, act, grow, intensify in the soul, and finally embrace it, take possession of it and separate it from God. These are the heavy burdens that fell on Adam after he ate of the tree. Our Lord Jesus Christ killed these passions on the cross. These are those old wineskins into which new wine is not poured (Matt. 9:17). These are the swaddling clothes with which Lazarus was bound (John 11:44). These are demons sent by Christ into the herd of pigs (Matthew 8:31-32). This is the old man, whom the Apostle commands the Christian to put off (1 Cor. 15:49). These are the thistles and thorns that the earth began to spew out for Adam after he was cast out of paradise (Gen. 3:18).

1. Abba Isaiah was asked: what does repentance consist of? He answered: The Holy Spirit teaches us to withdraw from sin and no longer fall into it. This is what repentance consists of.
2. Those who bring true repentance are no longer engaged in condemning their neighbors, they are engaged in mourning their sins.
3. He who condemns sinners drives repentance out of himself.
4. He who justifies himself alienates himself from repentance.
5. Love humility: it will cover you from your sins.
6. Humility consists in a person recognizing himself as a sinner before God, who has not done a single good deed before God.
7. I beg every person who wants to bring repentance to God to stop drinking wine in large quantities. Wine revives extinguished passions in the soul and drives out the fear of God from it.
8. Do not argue with each other on any occasion, do not speak ill of anyone, do not judge anyone, do not condemn or humiliate anyone either in word or in your heart, do not grumble at anyone, do not suspect anyone of any evil.
9. Do not show contempt to anyone because of his physical defect.
10. If someone glorifies you and you accept praise with delight, then there is no fear of God in you.
11. If they say something unfair about you and you become embarrassed, then you have no fear of God.
12. If, when talking with brethren, you seek for your word to prevail over the words of others, then you do not have the fear of God.
13. If your word is neglected and you are offended by this, then you have no fear of God.
14. Do not be curious and do not ask about the vain affairs of the world.
15. Do not consult with everyone about your thoughts: consult about them only with your fathers. Otherwise you will bring grief and embarrassment upon yourself.
16. Do not reveal your thoughts to everyone, so that this does not cause stumbling for your neighbor.
17. Beware of lies: they drive out the fear of God from a person.
18. From the love of human glory lies are born. Whoever behaves deceitfully towards his brother will not be able to avoid heartbreak.
19. Do not seek friendship with the glorious of this world, lest the glory of God be extinguished in your heart.
20. Do not get carried away by the delightful memory of the sins you have committed, so that the feeling of these sins is not renewed in you.
21. Remember the Kingdom of Heaven, and little by little this remembrance will attract you to it.
22. Remember also about Gehenna and hate the deeds that lead you to it.
23. Every morning, when you rise from sleep, remember that you must give an account to God of all your deeds, and you will not sin before Him: His fear will dwell in you.
24. Consider your sins daily, pray about them, and God will forgive you for them.
25. He who expects imminent death will not fall into many sins. On the contrary, he who hopes to live long is entangled in many sins.
26. Live as if every day you experience were the last in your life, and you will not sin before God.

Preparing for Confession

In the sacrament of holy repentance we are given the opportunity to lay aside the heavy burden of sin, to break the chains of sin, to see the “fallen and broken tabernacle” of our soul renewed and bright.

How often should one resort to this saving sacrament? As often as possible, at least in each of the four posts.

Usually people who are inexperienced in spiritual life do not see the multitude of their sins, do not feel their severity, or disgust for them. They say: “I didn’t do anything special,” “I only have minor sins, like everyone else,” “I didn’t steal, I didn’t kill,” - this is how many often begin confession. But our holy fathers and teachers, who left us prayers of repentance, considered themselves the first of sinners, and with sincere conviction they cried out to Christ: “No one has sinned on earth from time immemorial, as I, the accursed and the prodigal, have sinned!” The brighter the light of Christ illuminates the heart, the more clearly all shortcomings, ulcers and spiritual wounds are recognized. And vice versa: people immersed in the darkness of sin do not see anything in their hearts, and if they do, they are not horrified, since they have nothing to compare with, for Christ is closed for them by the veil of sins.

Therefore, in order to overcome our spiritual laziness and insensitivity, the Holy Church has established preparatory days for the sacrament of repentance - fasting. The period of fasting can last from three days to a week, unless there is special advice or instructions from the confessor. At this time, one should observe fasting, keep oneself from sinful deeds, thoughts and feelings, and generally lead a life of abstinence, repentance, dissolved in deeds of love and Christian charity. During the period of fasting, you need to attend church services as often as possible, be more attentive to prayer at home, and devote your leisure time to reading the works of the holy fathers, the lives of saints, self-deepening and self-examination.

Understanding the moral state of your soul, you must try to distinguish basic sins from their derivatives, roots from leaves and fruits. One should also beware of falling into petty suspicion of every movement of the heart, losing the sense of what is important and unimportant, and getting confused in trifles. The penitent must bring to confession not only a list of sins, but, most importantly, - repentant feeling; not a detailed story about your life, but broken heart.

Knowing your sins does not mean repenting of them. But what should we do if our heart, dried up from the sinful flame, is not watered by the life-giving waters of tears? What if spiritual weakness and “infirmity of the flesh” are so great that we are not capable of sincere repentance? But this cannot be a reason to postpone confession in anticipation of a feeling of repentance.

The Lord accepts confession - sincere and conscientious - even if it is not accompanied by a strong feeling of repentance. You just need to confess this sin - stony insensibility - courageously and frankly, without hypocrisy. God can touch the heart during confession itself - soften it, refine spiritual vision, awaken a feeling of repentance.

The condition that we must certainly meet in order for our repentance to be accepted by the Lord effectively is forgiveness of the sins of our neighbors and reconciliation with everyone.

Repentance cannot be perfect without verbal confessions sins. Sins can only be resolved in the church sacrament of repentance performed by a priest.

Confession is a feat, self-compulsion. During confession, you do not need to wait for questions from the priest, but make an effort yourself. Sins must be named accurately, without obscuring the ugliness of sin with general expressions. It is very difficult to avoid temptation when confessing. self-justification, abandon attempts to explain to the confessor “mitigating circumstances”, and references to third parties who allegedly led us into sin. All these are signs of pride, lack of deep repentance, and continued stumbling into sin.

Confession is not a conversation about one’s shortcomings, doubts, it is not a simple informing the confessor about oneself, although spiritual conversation is also very important and should take place in the life of a Christian, but confession is something else, it is sacrament, and not just a pious custom. Confession is an ardent repentance of the heart, a thirst for purification, this is the second baptism. In repentance we die to sin and are raised to righteousness, holiness.

Having repented, we must strengthen ourselves internally in the determination not to return to the confessed sin. The sign of perfect repentance is a feeling of lightness, purity, inexplicable joy, when sin seems as difficult and impossible as this joy was just distant.

Order of general confession

Compiled by Archbishop Sergius (Golubtsov, †1982)

The sacrament of holy repentance has the main goal - to awaken our spiritual consciousness, to open our eyes to ourselves, to come to our senses, to deeply understand in what destructive state our soul is, how it is necessary to seek salvation from God, to ask tearfully and contritely for forgiveness of our countless sins before Him. The Lord Jesus Christ expects from us a sincere awareness of our deviations from His holy will and a humble appeal to Him, as His unworthy servants, who have sinned greatly and offended His Divine love for us.

We need to remember and deeply believe in the infinite mercy of God, which extends its arms to every converted sinner. There is no sin that God, in His ineffable mercy, would not forgive a person who showed sincere repentance for his sins, a firm determination to correct his life and not return to previous sins.

As we begin confession, let us pray to God that He, with His almighty help, would open the doors of repentance to us, reconcile us and unite us with Himself, and grant us the Holy Spirit for a new and renewed life.

Beloved brothers and sisters in Christ! Preparing to begin the great sacrament of holy confession, looking at the mercy of God, let us ask ourselves whether we have shown mercy to our neighbors, whether we have been reconciled with everyone, whether we have enmity in our hearts against anyone, remembering the cherished words of the Holy Gospel: “if you forgive by man Your heavenly Father will also forgive you their sins" (Matthew 6:14). This is the condition that we must understand and observe in the saving work of holy repentance.

Human life is so diverse, the depths of our soul are so mysterious, that it is difficult to even list all the sins that we commit. Therefore, when approaching the sacrament of holy confession, it is useful to remind ourselves of the main violations of the moral law of the Holy Gospel. Let us carefully examine our conscience and repent of our sins before the Lord God.

We, many sinners, confess to the Lord God Almighty, in the Holy Trinity, glorified and worshiped Father and Son and Holy Spirit, and to you, honest father, all our sins, voluntary and involuntary, committed in word, or deed, or thought.

We sinned by not keeping the vows we made at baptism, but we lied and transgressed in everything, and made ourselves obscene before the face of God.

We sinned by lack of faith, unbelief, doubt, hesitation in faith, slowness in thoughts, from the enemy of all, against God and the Holy Church, blasphemy and mockery of the sacred, doubt and free opinion, superstition, fortune-telling, arrogance, negligence, despair in our salvation, hope for themselves and people more than God, by forgetting about God's justice and lacking sufficient devotion to the will of God.

We sinned by disobedience to the actions of God's providence, a persistent desire for everything to be our way, people-pleasing, partial love for creatures and things. They did not try to know the will of God, they did not have reverence for God, fear of Him, hope for Him, zeal for His glory, for He is glorified with a pure heart.

We sinned by ingratitude to the Lord God for all His great and constant blessings, poured out in abundance on each of us and in general on the entire human race, by not remembering them, by murmuring against God, by cowardice, despondency, hardness of our hearts, by lack of love for Him and by failure to fulfill His holy will.

We sinned by enslaving ourselves to passions: voluptuousness, greed, pride, laziness, pride, vanity, ambition, covetousness, gluttony, delicacy, secret eating, gluttony, drunkenness, addiction to games, shows and amusements.

They sinned by deity, failure to fulfill vows, forcing others to deify and swear, disrespect for sacred things, blasphemy against God, against saints, against all sacred things, blasphemy, calling the name of God in vain, in evil deeds, desires, thoughts.

They sinned by not honoring church holidays, they did not go to the temple of God out of laziness and negligence, they stood in the temple of God irreverently; sinned by talking and laughing, inattention to reading and singing, absent-mindedness, wandering of thoughts, vain memories, walking around the temple during worship unnecessarily; They left the temple before the end of the service, came to the temple in uncleanness and touched its shrines.

We sinned by neglecting prayer, abandoning the reading of the Holy Gospel, the Psalter and other Divine books, and patristic teachings.

They sinned by forgetting sins in confession, self-justifying them and belittling their severity, hiding sins, repenting without heartfelt contrition; they did not make efforts to properly prepare for the communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ, without being reconciled with their neighbors, they came to confession and in such a sinful state they dared to begin communion.

We sinned by breaking fasts and not observing fast days - Wednesdays and Fridays, which are equated to the days of Great Lent, as days of remembrance of the sufferings of Christ. We sinned by intemperance in food and drink, by carelessly and irreverently signing ourselves with the sign of the cross.

They sinned by disobedience to their superiors and elders, self-righteousness, self-indulgence, self-justification, laziness towards work and unscrupulous execution of assigned tasks. They sinned by not honoring their parents, not praying for them, not honoring their elders, by insolence, waywardness and disobedience, rudeness, and stubbornness.

We have sinned by lack of Christian love for our neighbor, impatience, resentment, irritability, anger, harming our neighbor, fights and quarrels, intransigence, enmity, repaying evil for evil, unforgiveness of insults, rancor, jealousy, envy, malice, vindictiveness, condemnation, slander, covetousness .

They sinned by being unmerciful towards the poor, they had no compassion for the sick and crippled; They have sinned through stinginess, greed, wastefulness, greed, infidelity, injustice, and hardness of heart.

We sinned with guile towards our neighbors, deception, insincerity in dealing with them, suspicion, double-mindedness, gossip, ridicule, witticisms, lies, hypocritical treatment of others and flattery, people-pleasing.

They sinned by forgetting about the future eternal life, not remembering their death and the Last Judgment, and an unreasonable, partial attachment to earthly life and its pleasures and affairs.

They sinned by intemperance of their tongue, idle talk, idle talk, ridicule, telling jokes; They sinned by disclosing the sins and weaknesses of their neighbor, seductive behavior, freedom, and insolence.

They sinned through incontinence of their mental and physical feelings, addiction, voluptuousness, immodest views of persons of the other sex, free treatment of them, fornication and adultery, various carnal sins, excessive panache, the desire to please and seduce others.

They sinned by lacking straightforwardness, sincerity, simplicity, fidelity, truthfulness, respect, sedateness, caution in words, prudent silence, and did not protect and defend the honor of others. We sinned by lack of love, abstinence, chastity, modesty in words and deeds, purity of heart, non-covetousness, mercy and humility.

We have sinned through despondency, melancholy, sadness, sight, hearing, taste, smell, touch, lust, impurity and all our feelings, thoughts, words, desires, deeds. We also repent of our other sins, which due to our unconsciousness we did not remember.

We repent that we have angered the Lord our God with all our sins, we sincerely regret this and wish in every possible way to abstain from our sins and correct ourselves.

Lord our God, with tears we pray to You, our Savior, help us to be confirmed in the holy intention to live like a Christian, and forgive us the sins we have confessed, for you are Good and Lover of Mankind. The grave sins not listed here must be specifically mentioned to the confessor. Sins that were confessed and resolved earlier should not be named in confession, because they have already been forgiven, but if we repeat them again, then we need to repent of them again. You also need to repent of those sins that were forgotten, but are now remembered.

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

Habits of sin are eradicated by prayer, fasting, abstinence, and good deeds.

Stories from the life of ascetics

(Taken from the "Ancient Patericon")

***

One brother told Abba Pimen: my thoughts confuse me and do not allow me to think about my sins, but make me notice only my brother’s shortcomings.

Abba Pimen told him about Abba Dioscorus, that he cried for himself in his cell; and his disciple lived in another cell. When a student came to the elder and found him crying, he asked him: father! What are you crying about? - He answered him: I cry for my sins, child. - The student told him: you have no sins, father! - But the elder answered him: I assure you, my son! If I could see my sins, then four more people would not be enough to mourn them with me.

At the same time, Abba Pimen said: he is truly a man who knows himself (chap. 3, 22).

***

Abba Sisoes once said boldly: Believe me, for thirty years now I have not prayed to God about my other Sins, but when I pray, I say to Him: Lord Jesus Christ, cover me from my tongue! For even until now I am falling, sinning through him (4:47).

***

The brother asked the elder: what should I do, father? The shameful thought is killing me. - The elder tells him: when the mother wants to wean her child from milk, she applies bitter sea onions to her nipples. The baby, as usual, falls to the breast to suck milk, but because of bitterness he turns away from it. So you too, if you want, put your bitterness into thought. - The brother asked him: what kind of bitterness is this that should be put on me? “Remembering death and torment in the future life,” said the elder (5, 33).

***

One of the fathers said: when I was in the city of Oxyrhynchus (a city in Central Egypt, on the left bank of the Nile), beggars came there on Saturday evening to beg for alms. When they slept, one of them had only matting - half of it was under him, and half of it was above him. It was very cold there. When I went out at night, I heard him trembling from the cold and consoled himself, saying: I thank you, Lord! How many are now in the dungeons of the rich, burdened with glands, while others have their legs hammered into wood. And I, as a king, can stretch out my feet and go wherever I please. I stood and listened as he said this. Having gone inside, I told this to the brethren, and those who heard received benefit (7:54).

***

Abba Isaac of Thebes came to Konovia, saw his brother who had fallen into sin, and condemned him. When he returned to the desert, an Angel of the Lord came, stood before the door of his cell and said: I will not let you enter. - Abba begged him, saying: what is the reason for this? - The angel answered him: God sent me to you, saying: ask him where he tells me to throw my fallen brother? - Abba Isaac immediately threw himself to the ground, saying: I have sinned against You, forgive me! - The angel said to him: get up, God has forgiven you; but from now on beware of judging someone before God judges him (9:5).

***

One of the fathers, seeing someone sinning, said with bitter tears: this one has fallen today, and I - tomorrow (9, 17).

***

They talked about Abba Agathon: some came to him, having heard that he had great prudence. Wanting to test him to see if he will get angry, they ask him: are you Agathon? We have heard about you that you are a fornicator and a proud man. “Yes, it’s true,” he answered. “They ask him again: are you Agathon, a slanderer and idle talker?” “I am,” he answered. - And they also say to him: are you Agathon a heretic? - No, I'm not a heretic- he answered. - Then they asked him: tell us, why did you agree to everything they told you, but couldn’t bear the last word? - He answered them: I admit the first vices in myself; for this confession is beneficial to my soul. And recognizing oneself as a heretic means excommunication from God, and I do not want to be excommunicated from my God. - Having heard this, they marveled at his prudence and departed, having received edification (10, 12).

***

Abba Pimen said: for me, a person who sins and recognizes his sin and repents is better than a person who does not sin and does not humble himself. He considers himself a sinner and humbles himself in his thoughts - but this one imagines himself as righteous, as if he were righteous, and is exalted (10, 50).

***

Abba Abraham asked Abba Pimen: Why are the demons attacking me like this? - Are demons attacking you? - Abba Pimen told him. - It is not demons that attack us if we fulfill our desires; our desires have become demons for us: they torment us so that we fulfill them. If you want to know with whom the demons fought, it is with Moses and others like him (10, 86).

***

The elder was asked by one warrior: does God accept repentance? - And the elder, having taught him with many words, says to him: tell me, beloved, if your cloak is torn, will you throw it out? - The warrior tells him: no! but I will sew it up and use it again. - The elder says to him: if you spare your clothes like this, then how much more will God not spare His creation? - And the warrior is well convinced of this. went away with joy to his country (10, 162).

***

One of the fathers said: beware of brothers who praise you and the thoughts of people who humiliate their neighbor; for we know nothing. The thief was on the cross, and for one word he was justified. Judas was numbered with the apostles, and in one night he destroyed all his work and descended from heaven to hell. Therefore let no one who does good boast; for all those who trusted in themselves fell in an instant (11, 107).

***

Abba Anthony said: I saw all the snares of the devil spread across the earth and, sighing, said: who goes around them? And I heard a voice saying: humility (15, 3).

***

The elder said: in every temptation, do not blame a person, but only yourself, saying: this happened to me because of my sins (15, 75).

***

The devil appeared to one of the brothers, transformed into an angel of light, and said to him: I am the Archangel Gabriel and was sent to you. - The brother said: look, are you sent to someone else? For I am not worthy to see an angel. - And the devil immediately became invisible (15, 83).

***

The elder was asked: how do some say that we see angels? - The elder answered: blessed is the one who always sees his sins (15, 105).

***

A certain brother, offended by another brother, came to Abba Sisoes of Thebes and said to him: such and such a brother offended me; I also want to celebrate for myself. - The elder admonished him: no, child, it’s better to leave the matter of vengeance to God. “My brother said: I won’t rest until I avenge myself.” “Then the elder said: Let’s pray, brother!” - And getting up, the elder said: God! God! We have no need of Your care for us; for we ourselves take our vengeance. - The brother, hearing this, fell at the feet of the elder, saying: I will not sue my brother; I'm sorry! (16, 12).

***

A certain elder said: if anyone remembers someone who insulted him, or dishonored him, or blamed him, or caused harm to him, then he should remember him as doctor sent from Christ, and should consider him a benefactor; and to be offended by this is a sign of a sick soul. For if you were not sick, you would not suffer. You should rejoice over such a brother, because through him you will recognize your illness, you should pray for him and accept everything from him, like a healing medicine sent from the Lord. If you are offended against him, then you forcefully say to Christ: I do not want to accept Your healing, but I want to rot in my wounds (16:16).

***

Abba Anthony said: from our neighbor we have life and death. For if we gain a brother, we gain God; if we seduce our brother, we will sin against Christ (17:2).

***

The two elders lived together and never had any quarrel between them. One said to the other: we too will make strife, like other people. - He answered and said to his brother: I don’t know what kind of strife there is. - The same one said to him: so I put a brick in the middle and say: it is mine, and you say: no, it is mine; this will be the beginning. - And they did so. And one of them says: this is mine. - The other one said: no, this is mine. - And the first one said: yes, yes, it is yours, take it and go. - And they separated and could not enter into a quarrel among themselves (17, 25).

***

Abba Nikita spoke about some two brothers who lived together. Seeing their great love and not tolerating it, the devil came and, wanting to separate them, stood in front of the door and appeared to one as a dove, and to another as a crow. One of them says to the other: Do you see this dove? And he said: this is a crow. And they began to argue with each other, each saying his own thing, and, getting up, they fought until there was blood, and to the complete joy of the enemy they separated. Three days later, having come to their senses, they returned to their previous way of life and imposed repentance on themselves. And having understood the warfare of the enemy, they remained together in every world until death (17:32).

Word of the Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt

“Everyone wants to live! Life is sweet to everyone. And from whom does life come? From the one God! But do you want to die? Do you want to suffer forever or not? Oh, no, no!

And sometimes the hour of torment is unbearable - what is it like to suffer forever!

And faith, truth, repentance, virtue, self-denial, and mortification of passions lead to eternal life. Do you want to live, and live forever? How can you not want to!

So repent immediately and correct yourself, call on the Lord God for help: He is near us, like a mother near her nursing child.”

Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt

Bibliography

1. Metropolitan Anthony (Khrapovitsky). Confession. - 2nd. ed. - M., 1996.
2. Bishop Ignatius (Brianchaninov). Essays. T. 1. Ascetic experiences. - St. Petersburg, 1886.
3. Bishop Ignatius (Brianchaninov). Otechnik. - St. Petersburg, 1891.
4. Ancient patericon. - M., 1899.
5. Zarin S.M.. Asceticism according to Orthodox Christian teaching. T. 1. Book 2. - St. Petersburg, 1907.
6. A clergyman's handbook. T. 4. - M., 1983.

Information about the original source

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When a person wants to open up to God about his wrongdoings, he does not always understand how to do this. Sins during confession cause particular difficulty. Not everyone can briefly formulate a list in their own words. Which ones are important and which ones can be missed? What exactly is considered a sin?

Rite of repentance

Confession in the Christian faith is an admission of committed sins before a priest who is a witness of your repentance on behalf of Christ. With special prayers and words of permission, the priest forgives the sins of everyone who sincerely regrets them. According to the rules of the Christian Church:

1. Anyone over 7 years old can undergo the ceremony.
2. A church representative cannot force confession. This decision is voluntary.

During the procedure, the layperson must list everything that he considers necessary. If he is at a loss, the Holy Father can push him with leading questions. It is better when every Orthodox Christian has his own spiritual mentor, who knows a person from childhood and can help him grow spiritually, act not only as a priest, but also as a teacher.

Today, according to all laws, confession is a secret matter, and a priest cannot be convicted if he refused to disclose the facts known to him from confession. This is done so that anyone can cleanse their soul, since everyone has the right to do so. To feel confident with a priest, you need to think everything through in advance and prepare.

How to prepare for confession in church?

Here are some tips that spiritual guides give:

1. You need to figure it out and understand what you were doing wrong. Realize your misdeeds committed before God and people.
2. Get ready for a simple conversation. Do not think that now I will require you to know some special church language. Everything is like people in the world.
3. Don’t be afraid to admit even the most terrible sins, in your opinion. God knows everything and you will not surprise him. However, like a priest. Over the years of his ministry, he heard all sorts of things. Besides, we are all the same for the most part, so you can’t tell him anything particularly new. Don't worry, he won't judge. This is not why the Holy Father came to the service.
4. Don't talk about small things. Think about serious things. Remember how you treated God and your neighbors. By close people, the church understands everyone you have met and even managed to offend.
5. Ask for forgiveness from those who are close in person, and those who are far away - mentally.
6. Read special prayers the day before.

Confession should become regular for a person who wants to grow spiritually over himself. This will help you be more responsible about your life and the people around you.

This video will give all the answers to your questions about this ritual:

How to write sins correctly for confession?

It is believed that when listing your misdeeds, it is wrong to use a list of them. It must be pronounced like this. But some people get worried and can't gather their thoughts, so you can make a draft for yourself. This will help you put your thoughts in order and not forget anything.

Divide a sheet of paper into the following columns:

1. Sins against God.

Here you write:

• Blasphemy.
• Failure to fulfill your vows.
• Thoughts about suicide.
• Dissatisfaction with fate.

1. Sins against loved ones.

Namely:

• Disrespect for parents.
• Resentment.
• Envy, gloating, hatred.
• Slander.
• Condemnation.

1. Crimes against your soul:

• Laziness.
• Narcissism.
• Foul language.
• Self-justification.
• Fornication.
• Disbelief.
• Impatience.

What sins should be listed in confession?

So, let’s try to highlight in more detail the most common ones that require attention in the list:

• I allowed myself to be dissatisfied with the life given to me by God and the people around me.
• She had the courage to scold her children and be angry with her loved ones.
• I doubted my honesty.
• She condemned others for their sins and weaknesses.
• I ate unhealthy food and drank unhealthy drinks.
• I did not forgive those who offended me.
• I was upset about the losses.
• Used other people's work.
• She didn’t protect herself from illnesses and didn’t go to doctors.
• She deceived herself.
• She celebrated the holidays with drinking and earthly hobbies.
• Laughed at someone else's misdeeds.
• She believed the signs and followed them.
• I wished myself death.
• She set a bad example with her life.
• I was interested in trying on outfits and jewelry.
• She slandered people.
• I was looking for the culprits of my problems.
• I visited fortune tellers and psychics.
• It was the cause of discord between people.
• I was jealous.
• I used food for pleasure, not to satisfy hunger.
• I was lazy.
• I was afraid of suffering.

We tried to remember and select the most vital situations. As you can see, some of the sins are truly feminine. But there are those that are committed only by the strong half of humanity. We also sorted them out and listed them below.

Repentance for a man

Here is a preparation for men who cannot formulate some of their misdeeds, or perhaps have not noticed them at all:

• I doubted God, faith, life after death.
• He mocked the unfortunate, wretched one.
• He was lazy, vain, proud.
• He avoided military service.
• Didn't fulfill his duties.
• He fought, he was rowdy.
• Insulted.
• Seduced married women.
• He drank and took drugs.
• He refused to help those who asked.
• Stole.
• He humiliated and boasted.
• He entered into selfish disputes.
• He was rude and behaved impudently.
• I was afraid.
• Played gambling.
• Thought about suicide.
• He told dirty jokes.
• Didn't repay the debt.
• There was noise in the temple.

Of course, it is impossible to list all sins. Everyone also has some that are hard to guess. But now you will understand how to think. It turns out that basic things that we seem to be accustomed to are a sin.

So, we tried to help you figure out what sins can be named in confession. The list in our own words is briefly summarized in this article for convenience.

Video: what to say in confession to a priest

In this video, Archpriest Andrei Tkachev will tell you how to properly prepare for confession and what words to say to the Holy Father: