By Metropolitan Innocent of Moscow.
What is Confession?
Confession is the oral avowal of one’s sins which lie
heavy upon the conscience. Repentance cleanses the soul and makes it ready to
receive the Holy Spirit, but confession, so to speak, only empties the soul of
sins.
Let us present a simple analogy and comparison to
confession. For example, suppose you had only one vessel of some kind, which
you through negligence or laziness let reach a stage where little by little it
accumulated all sorts of dirt so that your vessel became not only unusable but
even unbearable to look at without repugnance. But what if a king wanted to
give you as a gift some sort of fragrant and precious balm, one drop of which
could heal all infirmities and protect—what then?
Would you refuse such a
valuable gift only because you had no other clean vessel in which to put it?
No! It would be very natural for you to accept such a gift and you would try to
clean your vessel. How would you begin to clean your vessel? No doubt, before
anything else, you would rid it of all uncleanness; you would begin by washing
it with water and, perhaps would even burn it out so that it no longer retained
any of its former odors. Isn’t that so?
Now let the vessel represent the soul given to you by
God, which you have brought to such a state that it has been filled with all
kinds of transgression and iniquities; let the sweetsmelling balm, given by the
king, signify the Holy Spirit, Who heals all infirmities and afflictions, Whom
the King of Heaven and earth, Jesus Christ, freely bestows upon us. To examine
your vessel signifies feeling your guilt before God and recalling all sins
which have stolen into your heart. To clean out the vessel typifies the
confession of your sins before your spiritual father, and washing with water
and burning with fire signifies a sincere and even tearful repentance and a
voluntary resolve to endure all unpleasantness, needs, afflictions,
misfortunes, and even calamities that befall us.
Now tell me: Is Confession profitable or needful? Certainly
it is profitable and even essential; because, just as it is impossible to
cleanse a vessel without ridding it of all uncleanness, so it is impossible to
purge your soul of sins without confession. But tell me, is confession alone
enough for the reception of the Holy Spirit? Certainly not, because in order to
receive the sweet-smelling and precious balm into a defiled vessel it is not
enough to just empty it, but it is necessary to wash it with water and refine
it with fire.
Just so, in order to receive the Holy Spirit, it is
not enough just to confess or recite your sins before a spiritual father, but
it is necessary together with this to purge your soul with repentance or
contrition and grief of soul, and burn it out with voluntary endurance of
afflictions. So then, this is what confession and repentance mean!
What does a true and correct confession consist of? When we wish to cleanse our conscience of sins in the Mystery of Repentance:
(1) Before
everything else it is necessary to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and firmly
hope that He is ready to forgive all sins, no matter of what magnitude, if only
the sinner repents open-heartedly; it is necessary to believe and hope that the
God of all wants and seeks our return. Of this He assures us through the
prophet thus: As / live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of
the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye
from your evil ways (Ezek 33:11), i.e., I do not at all desire the death of a
sinner, but entirely desire his conversion.
(2) It is
necessary to have a broken heart. Who is God? And who are we? God is the
Almighty Creator of Heaven and earth; He is the awful and righteous Judge. And
we? We are weak and insignificant mortals. All people, even the greatest
people, are less than dust before God, and we can never imagine how disgusting
to God is any sin and how any transgression offends Him. And we, insignificant
and weak, we mortals endlessly benefited by our God, dare to offend Him—the
All-Good One? Oh! This is so horrible! We are such debtors before God, such
transgressors, that not only should we not dare to call ourselves His children,
but are not even worthy of being His low Tiest servants.
Therefore, picturing all this, you see what contriteness, what lamentation it is necessary to have then, when we want to purge ourselves of sins. And such a feeling musr be had not only before confession and during confession, but also after confession. And even more important, do you want to offer a sacrifice to God such as will he acceptable to Him? Naturally we all gladly want this and as far as possible we offer it. But what can we offer Him really acceptable.? A broken heart. A sacrifice unto God is a broken spirit; a heart that is broken and humbled, here is an offering to God more priceless than all offerings and oblations! For as the psalmist says, the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a cotitrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. (Pss y.iy)
(3) It is
necessary to forgive all our enemies and offenders all the harmful and
offensive things they have done to us. Forgiveness—what does it mean to
forgive? To forgive means never to avenge, neither secretly nor openly; never
to recall wrongs but rather to forget them and, above all, to love your enemy
as a friend, a brother, as a comrade; to protect his honor and to treat him
right-mindedly in all things. This is what it means to forgive. And who agrees
that
this is difficult? So, it is a hard matter to forgive
wrongs, but he who can forgive wrongs is for this reason great—truly great,
both before God and before man.
Yes, it is a hard matter to forgive your enemies; it is necessary to forgive, otherwise God Himself will not forgive. Jesus Christ said: For ij ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. (Mt 6:14-15). On the contrary to this, though you pray to God every hour, though you have such faith that you can move mountains, even though you give away all of your belongings to the needy, and give your body to be burned, if you do not practice forgiveness and do not wish to forgive your enemy, then all is in vain; for in such circumstances neither prayer, nor faith, nor charity, will save you, in short, nothing will save you.
But if it is needful to forgive our enemies, so
likewise it is indispensable to ask also forgiveness of those people whom we
have offended. Thus, if you have offended anyone by word, ask forgiveness of
him, come and bow down at his feet and say, “Forgive me.” Have you offended by
deed? Endeavor to expiate your guilt and offenses and recompense his damage,
then be certain that all of your sins, no matter how heavy they be, will be
forgiven you.
(4) it is
necessary to reveal your sins properly and without any concealment. Some say,
“For what reason should 1 reveal mv sins to Him Who knows all of our secrets?”
Certainly God knows all of our sins, but the Church, which has the power from
God to forgive and absolve sins, cannot know them, and for this reason She
cannot, without confession, pronounce Her absolution.
Finally, it is necessary to set forth a firm intention
to live prudently in the future. If you want to be in the kingdom of Heaven, if
you want God to forgive your sins—then stop sinning! Only on this condition
does the Church absolve the penitent of his sins. And he who does not think at
all about correcting himself confesses in vain, labors in vain, for even if the
priest says, 1 forgive and absolve, the Holy Spirit does not forgive and
absolve him!
ORTHODOX HERITAGE. VOL13, ISSUE 09/10
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