Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Congratulations with the feast of the Resurrection of the Lord, as well as the day of the memory of the wonderful hierarch and pastor Benjamin, who was elected the bishop of Petrograd by the Orthodox population of that city and later arrested and shot by the communist antichrists!

For many weeks, we have been discussing the mystery of repentance. Today, let’s make some general comments about how to confess and then finish this topic. Let’s remember that repentance is not simply the confession of our sins, but a strong desire to change. We all understand that this is a difficult task to accomplish; therefore, it is necessary to seriously and thoughtfully prepare for confession. This means that we should begin to prepare several days beforehand. It seems to me that the best time to analyze our own soul is in the evening or even at night, when all our work and household chores are done, when the children are already asleep, when there is stillness around. When we are in such a state, our soul can also quiet down. At such a time we can calmly pray and then sit down and think about the condition of our soul.

When we analyze ourselves, we can take the commandments of our Saviour and compare ourselves to that ideal which our Lord Jesus Christ talks about in His Gospel. The first question that we must ask ourselves is whether we love God with all our heart and the second should be whether we love our neighbour as ourselves. Once we’ve answered these questions, we can move on and ask how exactly we have transgressed these most basic of commandments. In such a way, a list of sins in which we have to repent and which we have to confess takes form. This list we can write down on paper or commit it to memory. Of course, we can do this not only prior to confession, but even daily.

It is best to come to confession not during the church services. In our parish, this can be done at 5:30 pm on Saturdays or on Wednesdays when the church is open. Sunday morning is the least appropriate time to come. The elderly and ailing, those who live farl away, as well as those who have a long commute on the bus, are, of course, welcome to come to confession Sunday morning before the service. If for any reason you feel that you need to confess some situation in detail or feel that things need to be discussed, or if you need answers to this or that question, it is best to come to confession on Wednesday so that everything can be calmly discussed without the need to rush.

When we come to confession, we should try to remember that although we are confessing to God Himself and it is He that is forgiving our sins, we are doing this before a priest and it is through him that we receive absolution. A priest is a person and therefore we have to confess our sins in such a way that he properly understands them, while at the same time being mindful not to tempt him or pull him into sin. At confession we have to name our sins straightforwardly. It’s bad when we, perhaps out of shame, try to hide our sins from the priest. For example, it’s possible to misuse the internet in many different ways. One can simple waste time on the telephone or one can watch harmful and sinful things. During confession, it’s not good enough to say we abuse our use of the internet; we need to explain how we do this. At the same time, we shouldn’t go into unnecessary details about our sins. It’s enough to say that we have judgmental thoughts and conversations or that we gossip. It’s bad when we start explaining whom we judge and why we don’t like them, etc. When we provide these types of details, our confession can slide into a new instance of judgment. If we provide too many details to the priest we can tempt him or pull him into sin. Especially on feastdays or times when there are many people coming to confession, it is best to try to say our sins quickly and concisely so as not to hold up the priest or the other parishioners.

Through the prayers of the Most-Pure Mother of God, may the Lord help us to repent from the heart in the days of the Dormition Fast and, in such a way, worthily meet in two weeks the feast of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary.

priest Alexis