The Sacrament of Confession - a catechesis
This short catechesis will address these three main questions:
1) What is the Sacrament of Confession? (i.e. Why do we have the Sacrament of Confession in the Orthodox Church? Why we need a (the) priest for Confession?)
2) How do we prepare for Confession?
3) How do I actually confess? (what do I do when I get to Confession?)
1) What is the Sacrament of Confession? (i.e. Why do we have the Sacrament of Confession in the Orthodox Church? Why we need a (the) priest for Confession?)
2) How do we prepare for Confession?
3) How do I actually confess? (what do I do when I get to Confession?)
The meaning of the words |
First of all, the very word “confession”. In English, the word comes from Latin “confessio”, “confessionem” which means: “confession, acknowledgment, creed or avowal of one's faith”. So, the Sacrament of Confession is, firstly, a witness of our faith in God, in God’s paternal love for us. It is because of this that we come, with humility and faith, to confess our sins – repentantly acknowledging them in front of God’s love, and by God’s grace to extricate them from our person, from our being.
In Slavonic, the word for confession is “ispovĕdanije”, which is also found in similar way in Romanian: “spovedanie”. In Greek the word used is “(h)omología” (ομολογία). In Greek the meaning is twofold, both: as “profession (of faith), or creed” and as “confession, admission, avowal (open admittance of having done something)”. The verb “(h)omologeo” is also related in meaning with the verb “exomologeo” = “to promise, to confirm, to admit”. Secondly, the word “sin”. It is revealing to consider that the roots of the word, from the Old English “synn”, are found in the Proto-Germanic “sunjo” meaning both “truth” or “true”- “real” and “excuse”. In Latin “pecatum” (in Romanian “pacat”), from the verbal root “ped-“, carries the meaning of “to walk, fall, stumble”. In Greek, the word used is “(h)amartia” (ἁμαρτία), meaning “to miss, to fail”. In classical Greek literature, the word “hamartia” also had the meaning of “deeds unworthy of a hero”. |
1) What is the Sacrament of Confession
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Confession is a Sacrament of healing and restauration, as St Apostle James says in his Epistle: “Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.” (James 5:16). Confession seeks the restauration of the human person as a son/daughter of God, as someone created in the “image and likeness of God”. In that sense, the Sacrament of Confession is, on the one hand, a renewal of one’s baptism (that is to say, our re-birth through the Holy Spirit and union with Christ); on the other, Confession is one’s raising up from the mire of sin by admitting to them with repentance and sincere regret, and by the determined promise to not repeat them.
Confession is the Sacrament in which we, burdened by human frailty and the difficulties of life, respond to Christ’s calling: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest”. (Mt 11:28). Echoing the words of the Lord, Saint John Chrysostom famously states in one of his homilies: “The Church is a hospital, and not a courtroom, for souls. She does not condemn on behalf of sins, but grants remission of sins”. Sin is inevitable in life, but it should not define our life. In this sense, St John the Evangelist, while acknowledging the inevitability of sin affirms the power of God to forgive sins and to restore the human person – and indeed our corporate humanity: “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.” (1 John 1: 8-10) Finally, “to go to confession” does not mean to go to be “interrogated by the priest” about this or other sin (although the priest, if needed, may pointedly query certain sins). Rather, Confession should be approached as an opportunity to revise our life in relation to God’s commandments, to consider our choices or decision-making process, to come to terms with our (bad) habits which control our life. By doing so, we can start to act to change or life (repent) in a way that brings us back to God. Repentance is always practical – it requires positive and determined action towards God. |
The origins of the Sacrament of Confession and why do we need a priest for confession?
Confession has been practiced in the Christian Church since its early days. The Sacrament of Confession is a gift of the Holy Spirit given to the Church by Christ, through the Holy Apostles. In that sense, Confession is and has always been strongly connected with Baptism – it is called “a second baptism” – and with the Eucharist, because only through forgiveness can we be reconciled and enter in communion with both God and our brethren, and only through forgiveness and reconciliation can we bring our thanksgiving to God.
In the Sacrament of Confession, God forgives our sins through the mediation of the priest. But why do we need a priest to mediate something that God does? The mediation of the priest has always been there and is related to the origins of the Sacrament of Confession.
Confession has been practiced in the Christian Church since its early days. The Sacrament of Confession is a gift of the Holy Spirit given to the Church by Christ, through the Holy Apostles. In that sense, Confession is and has always been strongly connected with Baptism – it is called “a second baptism” – and with the Eucharist, because only through forgiveness can we be reconciled and enter in communion with both God and our brethren, and only through forgiveness and reconciliation can we bring our thanksgiving to God.
In the Sacrament of Confession, God forgives our sins through the mediation of the priest. But why do we need a priest to mediate something that God does? The mediation of the priest has always been there and is related to the origins of the Sacrament of Confession.
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a) In the Old Testament
There are examples in the Old Testament when priests are called, by divine authority, to mediate in the process of repentance and forgiveness of sins of people, to the degree that some of God’s authority to forgive sins is delegated to the priests. One such example is in Leviticus 19: 20-22: “If a man sleeps with a female slave who is promised to another man but who has not been ransomed or given her freedom, there must be due punishment… The man … must bring a ram to the entrance to the tent of meeting for a guilt offering to the Lord. With the ram of the guilt offering the priest is to make atonement for him before the Lord for the sin he has committed, and his sin will be forgiven.” So, there is evidence, even from the Old Testament, that it is God alone who forgives sins, but the role of the priest in this process (and the atonement sacrifice) safeguards God’s forgiveness from becoming an abstract event, in which forgiveness takes the shape of self-counselling or is the result of a binary relationship between man and God, which excludes other people or the community. |
b) In the New Testament
After His Resurrection, the Lord has delegated the authority to forgive sins to the Apostles. This is indicated in the Gospel of St John: “Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” |
Why do we need a priest for Confession?
Besides the divine delegation given to priests, another important aspect to consider regarding Confession is that the forgiveness of sins is not concerned only with the restauration of our relation with God in a narrow individual sense, but it is indissolubly related with the community of faith of which we are members of, alongside others. The Sacrament of Confession helps us reintegrate and reaffirm our place in the corporate Eucharistic community of the Church.
For a long time, up until the 4th century, Confession was public, not private – it was made in the fulness of the Church community. Therefore, forgiveness meant the restauration of relations between an individual person and the body of the faithful. By reading the prayer of absolution, the priest would confirm this restauration of communion and the forgiveness received from God. These two things, i.e. communion with the rest of the faithful and God’s forgiveness are not separate, but part of the same one reality of reconciliation and forgiveness. Some time in the 4th century, after Christianity became a recognised religion in the Roman Empire (315), and with the exponential growth of the number and size of Christian communities which followed, the closeness, mutual care, and intimate character that were more prevalent before were lost – and this led to Confession taking a more personal, private character.
Thus, Christians came to confess their sins directly and exclusively to priests – as people elect by God and the community. So, from a visibly public Sacrament, Confession became a Sacrament in which the admission of sins is done openly to one person, the priest, who stands in for the entire community. It would not be wrong to say that Confession continues to be public (it takes place in church, where the community gathers publicly) and it is directed towards the community as well, in the person of the priest. As the representative of the Eucharistic community of the Church, the priest is called in Confession to listen, to “sympathise”, to counsel, to teach, to encourage and, above all, to love the penitent person who has come to confess and repent of their sins.
Yes, God can and will forgive the sins that we confess “in our hearts” and in our personal prayers. Nevertheless, repentance is not about just “easing our consciousness” but about restoring relations in our life-context, which involves the relationship we have with our peers, with the community (of faith) we live in. This requires a “third party”, a mediation by someone who stands as facilitator at the junction of the human-divine reality that is the Church, i.e. the priest.
Otherwise, our repentance risks being merely imagined and lacking accountability. We cannot acknowledge a relationship with God in the absence of our “brothers and sisters in Christ”, as the Apostle and Evangelist John says in his First General Epistle: “Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.” (1 John 4:20-21)
Besides the divine delegation given to priests, another important aspect to consider regarding Confession is that the forgiveness of sins is not concerned only with the restauration of our relation with God in a narrow individual sense, but it is indissolubly related with the community of faith of which we are members of, alongside others. The Sacrament of Confession helps us reintegrate and reaffirm our place in the corporate Eucharistic community of the Church.
For a long time, up until the 4th century, Confession was public, not private – it was made in the fulness of the Church community. Therefore, forgiveness meant the restauration of relations between an individual person and the body of the faithful. By reading the prayer of absolution, the priest would confirm this restauration of communion and the forgiveness received from God. These two things, i.e. communion with the rest of the faithful and God’s forgiveness are not separate, but part of the same one reality of reconciliation and forgiveness. Some time in the 4th century, after Christianity became a recognised religion in the Roman Empire (315), and with the exponential growth of the number and size of Christian communities which followed, the closeness, mutual care, and intimate character that were more prevalent before were lost – and this led to Confession taking a more personal, private character.
Thus, Christians came to confess their sins directly and exclusively to priests – as people elect by God and the community. So, from a visibly public Sacrament, Confession became a Sacrament in which the admission of sins is done openly to one person, the priest, who stands in for the entire community. It would not be wrong to say that Confession continues to be public (it takes place in church, where the community gathers publicly) and it is directed towards the community as well, in the person of the priest. As the representative of the Eucharistic community of the Church, the priest is called in Confession to listen, to “sympathise”, to counsel, to teach, to encourage and, above all, to love the penitent person who has come to confess and repent of their sins.
Yes, God can and will forgive the sins that we confess “in our hearts” and in our personal prayers. Nevertheless, repentance is not about just “easing our consciousness” but about restoring relations in our life-context, which involves the relationship we have with our peers, with the community (of faith) we live in. This requires a “third party”, a mediation by someone who stands as facilitator at the junction of the human-divine reality that is the Church, i.e. the priest.
Otherwise, our repentance risks being merely imagined and lacking accountability. We cannot acknowledge a relationship with God in the absence of our “brothers and sisters in Christ”, as the Apostle and Evangelist John says in his First General Epistle: “Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.” (1 John 4:20-21)
2) How do we prepare for Confession? |
The preparation before Confession is very important – it helps make our confession transformative, which is to say that:
- we (begin to) see ourselves as sons or daughters of God, despite our sins; - it facilitates the actual confession of our sins in a straightforward manner, with clarity and honesty, and with a genuine desire to be forgiven so that we can make (yet another) fresh start. In order to achieve this, it is imperative to be familiar with the fundamentals of what we call “a Christian way of life” according to the teachings of Christ, not those of the world (which we often consider as the right standard), and which we then adopt as the norm for ourselves (often because “everybody does this”). So, it is important that a few days before confession, we: |
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a) read (again) several key passages of Scripture, such as:
- The Sermon on the Mount (Mt. 5, 6, 7) or the Sermon on the Plain (Lk. 6); - Romans 12, 13, 14 - 1 Corinthians 13 - First General Epistle of St John (1 John) - Psalms 31, 36, 50, 101, 129, 142 (Orthodox numbering) We should also remind ourselves of the 10 Commandments and the 7 Deadly Sins (Pride, Covetousness, Lust, Anger, Gluttony, Envy, Sloth). |
b) take time to consider the 'categories of our sins'
This means to ask ourselves: 1. What sins have I done? / By which means have I sinned: - in thought? / - in words? / - in deed? 2. Against whom have I sinned? / Who is affected by my sins? / What sins separate me from God, from my neighbour, from myself: - sins against God (against faith)? [examples: I do not pray regularly / with attention / I pray formally; I don't go to church as often as i could; I rarely go to confession; bad thoughts against God / thoughts of rebellion against God, etc.] - sins against my neighbour? [exemples: how do I treat my family (wife, husband, children)? / how do I treat my work colleagues, my neighbours? / do I offer alms, do I help those in need / do I have compassion? etc.] - sins against my own person? [exemples: overeating or over drinking, substance abuse / pride, egotism, remembering evil, judgement, prioritising material things, etc.] After examining our consciousness in this way, we can make a mental list or a written list, as a help. |
c) ask forgiveness from and reconcile with anyone whom we may have a dispute or feel resentment against (because they have wronged us).
The purpose of this is not to be “an exercise in piety” or a formalistic obligation before confession, but rather a genuine attempt to repair relations and restore communion with those who have become estranged or distant. There are instances when there are no easy fixes and, if this is the case, we must acknowledge it – and discuss it in Confession. We are not looking for “virtue signalling repentance” but rather to recognise what is incumbent on us to do in order to restore broken relationships. |
3) What do I do when I get to Confession? |
a) Approach the seat of Confession with genuine contrition and a desire for forgiveness and restauration
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b) Treat every confession as it were your last, i.e. be present, sincere, decide to make a change for the better from then on and follow it through.
- do not get lost in trivial or explicit details but equally, don’t whitewash things, for example by saying “these are small sins”, or “these are common sins, that everybody does”, or “these sins are inevitable, part of daily life”. It may be so, but that doesn’t make them any less damaging to one’s life. If anything, sins that we have become so accustomed with that they no longer bother us deeply are the worst, because they control our life and they make it hard for us to repent. - if there are repeated sins, we should confess them even if we’ve confessed them before. - confess “your own sins” not those of others (family, friends, colleagues etc.) even if we feel that they contributed greatly to our sins. It is better to have a separate conversation with the priest if there is a particular family or work context that facilitates or enables us to sin in a specific and repeated way. But we should not blame others for what is up to us. |
c) We should not abuse the time for confession by engaging in “spiritual conversation” with the priest.
- while pastoral counselling is important and a recognised charism in the Church, we should keep in mind that this is something complementary to Confession. In Confession we stand before God and the priest is a prayerful mediator. Of course, if there are pressing issues that we may need advice or support from the priest, we can address them in Confession, but if they are part of a wider problem or situation in our live, we should set aside a special time for that conversation with the priest. |
d) We should not be excessively scrupulous out of fear or anxiety.
- if, involuntarily, we omit to confess a sin, we should place our trust in God’s mercy and forgiveness until our next confession. We should, of course, take care not to deliberately keep silent about certain sins, out of fear of judgement or embarrassment. Our confession should be wholehearted and we should leave the seat of Confession with “a clean conscience”, feeling unburdened of our sins. |
Finally: How often should we go to Confession?
We should go to Confession every time we feel heavy with sin or remorse. We should not wait “until the next fasting period”, although fasting times are especially dedicated to soul-searching and the ascetic exercise of fasting creates a favourable context for our life to turn towards God.
It is essential to develop a relation with a priest who would become our “father confessor”, who would pray for us, get to know us and support us in our Christian life’s journey.
May God grant us all true repentance, out of love for Him and our neighbour!
Fr Dragos Herescu
We should go to Confession every time we feel heavy with sin or remorse. We should not wait “until the next fasting period”, although fasting times are especially dedicated to soul-searching and the ascetic exercise of fasting creates a favourable context for our life to turn towards God.
It is essential to develop a relation with a priest who would become our “father confessor”, who would pray for us, get to know us and support us in our Christian life’s journey.
May God grant us all true repentance, out of love for Him and our neighbour!
Fr Dragos Herescu
