The Sacrament of Repentance & Confession
“And now I bend the knee of my heart, begging for Your clemency. I have sinned, O Lord, I have sinned, and I know my lawless deeds. I am asking, begging You: forgive me, O Lord, forgive me! Do not destroy me with my lawless deeds, nor for all ages keep angry with me, nor condemn me to the depths of the earth, for You, O Lord, are the God of those who repent.”
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What is repentance?
The word for repentance in Greek is “Metanoia” – meaning a change in mind. This change doesn’t simply happen at the level of our thoughts, but rather it signifies a change at the level of the heart. It is the movement of the soul towards our Creator in a sincere attempt to be united with Him. Since sin is separation from God, repentance then is returning to God. True repentance is the human soul longing for the origin from which it was taken. It is the desire of a heart that stayed away from God, and felt that it cannot stay away any further.
Thus we can say Repentance is:
- The return of one back to themselves
- Reconciliation with God
- Transfer from death to life
- A reply from mankind to God's invitation
- A new pure heart, which God gives to the sinners to love Him with. “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you.... I will cleanse you from all your filthiness... I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you... and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgements and do them” (Ezek 36:25-27).
The Sacrament
The Sacrament of Repentance and Confession was established by our Lord Jesus Christ through the gift of Priesthood which He gave to His apostles saying: "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained" (John 20:22-23). The church arranged for the Sacrament of Repentance and Confession to be practiced before all other church sacraments, except for the Baptism if the baptized were kids.
Preparation for Confession
A quiet time and prayer should precede the confession session; where one should examine themself honestly in the light of the word of God before meeting their father of confession. A repenting confessor would have a true feeling of regretting the sin, a strong will to change and full hope in God's forgiveness and acceptance, knowing that they can't do anything without the grace of God and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Elements of Confession
Confession includes three elements:
1. Confessing to the Lord Himself, "Against You, You only, have I sinned and done this evil in your sight" (Psalm 50:4)
2. Confessing before your father of confession, "And many who had believed came confessing and telling their deeds" (Acts 19:18)
3. Confessing to those who you sinned to: "First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift" (Matthew 5:24).
Why do we have to confess in front of the priest?
We read in the Holy Bible about many examples of people who confessed their sins before men of God:
- In the book of Job, God ordered Job’s friends to ask Job to pray for them, so God may forgive them (Job 42:8).
- David the King confessed his sin before Nathan the prophet who announced God's forgiveness to him saying: "The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die" (2 Samuel 12:13).
- People who came to John the Baptist to get baptized, were confessing their sins (Matthew 3:6).
- As mentioned before, our Lord Jesus Christ Himself gave the authority to His disciples saying: "Assuredly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven" (Matthew 18:18).
From the quotes of the Church Fathers:
+ "Why do you escape from confession? Is it embarrassment? Or pride?” Jesus had raised Lazarus, and His disciples around Him took away the ligaments covering his body. Wasn’t the One who gave life to a dead man able to uncover his body from the ligaments?!" (Saint Augustine)
+ "As the baptized one gets enlightened by the grace of the Holy Spirit, also through the priest, the confessor gets forgiveness by God's grace." (Pope Athanasius).
The church in the Sacrament of Confession offers spiritual advice. As it says in the Bible: “Ask the priests concerning the law” (Hag 2:11), in this way the father explains to his son in confession, the right spiritual path which he should pursue, for there is no one who does not need advice, and the Bible says:
“There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Proverbs 14:12). As it says: “Lean not on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5).”