How correctly to confess?

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Believers know that confession is an openrecognition of the Lord God in all his sins with the desire to receive the Lord's forgiveness. If you feel that your heart is heavy, or have committed a bad deed, because of which you now suffer with conscience, go and confess. You will feel how it becomes easier. And for a confession to heal your soul, you need to know how to confess correctly.

What a confession should be

Confession must be sincere. It should reveal your heart, which is full of bitter remorse for the committed sins. Many people say that confession does not change anything in them: they do not feel the blessing and purification, and in the near future again commit the same sins in which they repented. The reason for this is a non-serious attitude towards confession. First you must understand that confession is not a monotonous listing of your sins, for the Lord God is already aware of them. He does not expect this from you. He expects sincere repentance from you and a desire to purify himself so that he does not continue to do so. Only with such feelings do you get what you expect from confession. God will forgive you everything, and you will again become a person with a clear conscience.

Confession procedure

People who have never confessed, notknow how to do it right. In churches and temples, general confessions are held, to which everyone can come. The priest confesses all who come, while listing the sins that people commit most often. This is done in order to remind people of those sins that they may have forgotten. And when everyone approaches an individual confession, he also names those sins that he remembered during the general confession. Priests advise reading the right prayers before individual confession. They also help to remember the forgotten sins (for example, the 24 prayers of John Chrysostom). Individual confession is conducted after the general. All those who wish one by one confess to the priest. Such a confession should not be too long, because other than you want to confess and others. During an individual confession, you need to list all your sins, which ones you remember. In this case, the form in which they will sound is not important. It can be one word (for example, "adultery") or an entire sentence. Do as you please. If the time of your confession is coming to an end, and you feel that you have not yet repented of everything, ask the priest to extend the confession or agree on continuing it at another time.

If you are ready to make a serious confession, butyou have never done this before, then the general confession awaits you first. General confession is a long confession in which a person mentions all his sins from the age of 6 and repents in them. After such a confession on the next ordinary person should no longer mention those sins in which he repented on the general. Each next confession is a repentance in their last, ongoing sins. In order to make the confession more quickly and there was time for other confessors, one's sins can be written down on paper, and with individual confession they can be read.

Rules of Confession

In order for the confession to heal your soul, remember the following rules:

Cast aside your shame and fear of confessing to the priest in your imperfection.
The main thing in confession is your sincere feelings: bitter remorse and the belief that the Most High will hear and forgive you.
Confession must be regular and frequent. Tell the priest at one time about all your sins and consider that you do not need to go to confession anymore - this is a wrong position. Our world is full of sins, and we, even sometimes not wishing it, sin all the time. Therefore, confess as often as possible.
Come to confession seriously. If it's bad thoughts or a minor domestic sin, then you can confess at home, before the icon, in prayers. If not, then it is better to go to church.
Do not withhold your sins. Even if they seem too shameful to you, you still have to admit, otherwise you commit another sin - try to hide your thoughts from God and deceive Him.