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What to do if during confession you do not feel repentance for sin? Repentance (confession) What consequences does the recollection of confessed sins have on the soul?

Every more or less regularly, even if not very often, confessing Orthodox Christian is perfectly familiar with the following picture. At the lectern, those who wish to partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ mechanically, point by point, name their sins (or even read them out from a piece of paper). He receives, covered with an epitrachelion, absolution, approaches the Chalice, and some mean claw scratches at his soul: after all, during the beginner’s confessions there was no place for schematic formalism! Or here's another one. Over and over again you name the same sins - and you go to Communion.

Is this the true sacrament of repentance?

Hegumen Sergius (Kuksov),
rector of the Ascension David Hermitage:
DETERMINATION IS IMPORTANT IN REPENTANCE
To say with words does not mean to say with your heart, no matter how much the opposite may seem to a person. Confession is a sacrament, and the Lord Himself knows when, how and through whom to influence a person. Our life is a struggle to the death, this is our duty. And the Lord knows when to give us a feeling of repentance so that we do not lose it. There is no need to rush God. What is needed is the determination that St. Seraphim of Sarov spoke about. The main thing is our desire, and the rest is sent at the right time by God.

Abbess Alexia (Petrova),
Abbess of the Vvedensky Vladychny Monastery (Serpukhov, Moscow region):
GENUINE REPENTANCE COMES WITH SPIRITUAL GROWTH
This situation often arose for everyone who goes to confession regularly. If you understand with your mind that an action or thought you have committed is sinful, but there is no repentance in your soul, you must add to this the sin that there is no feeling of repentance. The mind understands, but the heart is silent. A person honestly admits this, he is aware of it. And then, through prayers and repentance, the Lord will give this feeling of repentance.

Hegumen Cyprian (Yashchenko),
Associate Professor, Dean of the Faculty of Pedagogy, St. Tikhon's Orthodox Humanitarian University:
CHECK, YOU ARE NOT DEAD?
If you don't have a feeling of repentance, then you are dead. I can congratulate you on your spiritual death! If you are a corpse, you need to be buried with honors or try to be reanimated, resurrected. For example, to offer unction. But first, I would still suggest seclusion, turn off the phone, stop the fuss, read the Gospel, talk with your confessor, if you have one, or with an experienced priest. Drink Epiphany water, after all.

Abbess Ioanna,
Abbess of the Monastery of the Khakhul Mother of God, New Shuamta (Georgia):
THINK YOU'RE LIVING FOR THE LAST DAY
After all, we don’t know whether we will be alive tomorrow. And if we come to confession, and there is still no repentance, anger reigns in our soul, we must remember that we are standing before the face of the Lord. How can we say about another person: “He sinned, not I”?! Then we are Pharisees! And in order to get out of the state of pharisaism, you need to work every minute.

Ekaterina Vasilyeva,
People's Artist of the RSFSR:
SIN MUST BE “ROCKED”
Even if you do not feel repentance, in confession in any case you need to name the sin. “Nothing, nothing,” the priest once objected to me at the lectern, when I began to lament that I was repeating the same thing over and over again in confession. “It’s a sin, he’s swaying.” This seemed very accurate to me and struck me, going straight to the heart. In life I am guided by this.

Priest Philip Ilyashenko,
Deputy Dean of the Faculty of History of the Orthodox St. Tikhon's Humanitarian University, cleric of the Church of St. Nicholas
in Kuznetskaya Sloboda
REPENTANCE IS NOT A MOMENT, BUT A PROCESS
Repentance includes several stages: preparatory, when a person recognizes sin as sin, decides to get rid of it and brings this decision to God; the very request to God for forgiveness in the presence of a witness-priest; a change in future life, so that what a person repents of will no longer have any repetition in his life, no place in his heart.

The story itself to the priest may or may not be accompanied by spiritual emotions or experiences. Tears are a gift from God. The grace of God heals the sick and fills what is missing, as they say in the rite of ordination. And this missing link, with a sincere awareness of one’s sinfulness and the determination to get rid of sin, will, of course, be filled by God. Not thanks to, but somewhere even despite human lukewarmness, despite the hardening of the repentant’s heart and in response to a person’s desire to overcome sin, the Lord will help him.

Interview: Vladimir Khodakov

I adhere to the worldview of Buddhism.
To open your soul with repentance, you need to penetrate inside your soul with your consciousness, recognize the selfish, harmful motivation of the soul, rethink and change your way of thinking, change your way of life. . This deep immersion takes years of life, years or decades of spiritual practice. And you want a person, without any preparation, to enter deep consciousness in 5 minutes and repent. This is impossible.

There are two paths - the first path is gradual - from simple to complex, step by step a person purifies his actions, words and thoughts, thus approaching holiness.
There is another way, when a person finds himself in a force majeure situation, when he has reached the Peak of suffering, then at Super Effort he repents and immediately changes his lifestyle. . But even in this case, it takes time - months at least.

Not all people, even those baptized in the church, regularly confess. Most often, this is prevented by a feeling of awkwardness, embarrassment, or pride stops someone. Many, not accustomed to confessing from an early age, in a more mature age constantly postpone the moment when they need to tell about their sins for the first time. Every year it becomes more and more difficult to decide to go to confession. In order to remove the burden from your soul, begin to talk with God and sincerely repent of your sins, you should learn how to confess correctly. Going to confession will definitely help you: you yourself will feel how your soul brightens.

Confession is one of the most significant rites in the Christian church. The ability to realize one’s sins and tell God about them, to repent of what one has done, is very important for a believer.

What is confession for us?
First of all, it is important to understand the essence of confession, its role in our lives.

Conversation with God. You can confess at home, in front of an icon, immersed in prayer.

At any stage of life, a person encounters many obstacles. The path to the Kingdom of Heaven is thorny and requires enormous effort. And if you do not show strength of spirit and strength of will, then there will always be enough reasons not to go to church, not to pray, not to fast. We must not forget that we came into this world naked and always remain so before the Lord. Our robe is only God's grace. If we do not clothe ourselves with it and do not accept Christ into our hearts, we can easily become a victim of the eternal enemy of man - the devil prowling everywhere. We must remember that in this difficult life, we Christians are like lambs among wolves. The Gospel says that whoever endures to the end will be saved. However, patience is different. A Christian must be patient, but at the same time an active opponent of all injustice and evil.

Christianity is, first of all, a way of life and thinking. If we strive for excellence, we should not look back.

Repentance

Repentance is the awareness of one’s sin, grief over it and the determination not to repeat it in the future; it is the correction of one’s sins in deed and thought.

1. What is repentance
2. Repentance has a beginning, but has no end, it lasts a lifetime
3. Repentance can be expressed in different ways.
4. Anyone who deliberately commits a sin, delaying correction and repentance, sins against the Holy Spirit and can die without repentance
5. There is no repentance after death
6. The devil can no longer repent and change for good

In order to serve God’s mercy, we must have mercy on others in every possible way.
JUDGMENT WITHOUT MERCY – TO HE WHO HAS NOT WORKED MERCY!

This is the harsh law of Retribution on earth that the Lord established. Everything comes back to us in this life. Therefore, it is not in vain that they say: “What a man sows, that he will also reap!”

You did not regret and did not spare, you, too, WILL NOT be pitied and will not be spared!
You told a LIE about a person, and there will be gossip about you too!
You didn’t help, they WILL NOT HELP you!
You have offended and humiliated a person, you too will be OFFENSED and humiliated!
You took and appropriated SOMEONE ELSE’S, they will STEAL from you and appropriate what is yours!
You did nasty things to people - and they will DO EVIL things to you!
You deceived and betrayed a person, and you will also be DECEIVED and betrayed!

He does good deeds - he reaps good, and he does evil deeds - he reaps evil!

Whether people believe in God or not, this law of Retribution has always worked and punishes all people who do evil.

Confession. How to repent correctly.

How to repent correctly

You need to repent - in the past tense. Nine out of ten who come to confession do not know how to confess... Indeed, this is so. Even people who regularly go to church do not know how to do many things in it, but the worst thing is with confession. Very rarely does a parishioner confess correctly. You have to learn to confess. Let's talk about the most common misconceptions, misconceptions and mistakes. A person goes to confession for the first time; he heard that before receiving communion, one must confess. And that in confession you need to tell your sins. He immediately has a question: for what period should he “report”? Over your entire life, starting from childhood? But can you retell all this? Or do you not need to retell everything, but just say: “In childhood and youth I showed selfishness many times” or “In my youth I was very proud and vain, and even now, in fact, I remain the same”?

Necessary. not deceit. He did not come to the healthy, but to the sick - the Lord said, Sin is a disease, one of the manifestations of which is a petrified state of the soul. But only those that you see for yourself, and you are not in a blind guess and are not even completely sure that this is a sin... Otherwise, you read books with all sorts of classifications and then get lost when God reveals sin - this does not cause despondency or embarrassment, it is even a joyful state, when you finally understand something that you couldn’t understand, eureka, just a person quietly understands that what he is doing is harming him

Although this may not even be a sin, but so that the devil does not torment you with doubts and embarrassment, it is better to confess, and then you will figure it out, time will tell whether it is yours or someone else’s...

Then God doesn’t demand that we immediately get rid of it, he simply demands that you do something against him; sometimes it’s impossible to get rid of sin right away. Don't even think about him too much. you just lead a spiritual life, pray, fast 2 times a week, and during fasting, this will enlighten you.

Sometimes a young confessor finds it difficult to list sins, i.e. he simply cannot remember the most important and more frequently committed sins. Unfortunately, often holding liturgical books before their eyes, our theologians and our clergy rarely deign to pay attention to what is printed there in red or even black, except for the prayer books themselves, of which a good half is never read.

So, a fairly complete enumeration of all kinds of sins can be compiled according to the following rites of the breviary and canon: 1) according to the rite of confession, 2) according to the evening prayer to the Holy Spirit, 3) according to the final evening prayer: I confess to you the only God, glorified in the Trinity, etc., which placed in the Kiev-Pechersk and Pochaevsky regulars, 4) according to the fourth prayer for Holy Communion: “For at Thy terrible and impartial judgment is coming”; Unfortunately, over the past 30 years this prayer has ceased to be included in the correct books, but it is included in the Psalter Following, 5).

How to repent of committing an abortion Humanly speaking, this sin cannot be forgiven. And only the Lord, Whom we nailed to the Cross with our multiple and terrible sins, only the One Lord, being not only a man, but also Almighty God, is able to wash away this terrible - perhaps the most terrible - human sin with His own life-giving blood. Every woman who has begun to repent of what she has done because of her youth, because of her weakness, because of ignorance, because of the violence of her relatives, because of the darkness of her soul, should know exactly how to repent of this sin, so that God would forgive it and blot it out, so that the terrible a torn wound in the soul, so that we may seek mercy for the children we have killed. First of all, having felt all the savagery and godlessness of what was done, we must in the future renounce such a sin and the possibility of committing it. Moreover, it is appropriate to condemn ourselves, and not the circumstances, not the verdict of the doctors, not the combined efforts of our relatives who pushed us to kill.

First of all, like Baptism, Wedding, Communion is a SACRAMENT. This is reconciliation with God. We all have a conscience that is not clear, the soul is oppressed by sins and it gives out its call - a person feels the need to confess so that his soul, his conscience, becomes calmer and purer. There is such a figurative comparison: demons painstakingly record all our sins in their books, and they will accuse a person posthumously, showing that he is theirs, that his place is in hell, and the sins forgiven in confession are erased from them forever.

It is very important to understand that in the Sacrament of Confession exactly those sins are forgiven for which a person has sincerely repented and does not want to repeat them and wants to get rid of this sin. If he understands that it will be difficult for him not to sin again, he asks God not only to ask him, but also to help him in the fight against this passion. To come to repent, say, of adultery with the firm confidence that you have “thrown away” your sins—“reset the counter” and can sin again—is a wild profanation of the Sacrament of Repentance.

Dear father, good afternoon. Thank you very much for your kind answers. Again I ask for your help.
I cannot repent of one sin. This is one of my bad habits. Intellectually I understand that this is a sin, but I cannot hate it in myself, on the contrary, it seems to me that if I refuse this, I will not be able to be myself, I will lose self-confidence, I will not be able to communicate with people, I will not know how to escape from tedious work and heavy thoughts, etc. Sometimes it seems that this is the only joy in my life. In general, I seem to be better with this habit, but without it it seems that I am nothing of myself. And I'm very, very sorry to lose her.
I understand that I need to ask the Lord to help me hate this sin and love myself without it, but I still return to it after some time after prayer.

For every Christian, issues of relationship with God and the Church are very important in life. In fact, for a true believer, they are the most important! But not everyone knows how, when and why an Orthodox Christian needs to do this. There are many such aspects. One of the most controversial, especially among the younger generation, is the issue of the need for communion and confession. LG correspondent Vita Lemekh met with the archpriest of the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord in the city of Lyubertsy Gennady Khanykin and asked him questions that concern many people. Today is the first part of the conversation, which turned out to be very informative.

– Father, is a person’s spiritual life possible without confession?

– A person cannot lead a spiritual life without the church, without the sacraments of the church, and confession is one of the sacraments of the church. Anyone who thinks that he leads a spiritual life without going to church or running to light a candle on holidays is deceiving himself.

Often from many people who have to talk about the salvation of the soul, you hear the following answer: “Oh, I still have time to repent of my sins and reconcile with God... I’m not going to die!” But in the Bible there is only one case of turning to God in the last hour of life: this is the repentance of the thief on the cross.
Dear reader, if you have not made peace with God, do not count on the last hour. Every person's life can end suddenly. An illness can take away a person’s consciousness, and suffering can be such that it does not even allow one to think about the soul. If you are now indifferent to your salvation, can you be sure that at that moment you will have a desire to seek salvation in Christ? Do not forget that “now is the acceptable time, now is the day of salvation.” Don't wait for another opportunity. You don't know what the next hour has in store for you. Satan, the enemy of human souls, forces people to postpone until later this important decision, on which your future on earth will depend.

Hello. I have some sins in my soul that really gnaw at my conscience! I did them in childhood (the worse ones), but I continue to do some of them now (a little easier), but when I come to confession, I am ashamed of myself and cannot even confess to these “serious crimes.” I'm afraid of what the priest will think about me (and the thought that he might tell someone makes me shudder). What should I do? I REALLY need advice. Thank you in advance. With all respect, Andrew.

Archpriest Mikhail Samokhin answers:

Hello Andrei!

Any normal priest rejoices at a person’s repentance, especially if we are talking about serious or shameful sins, because from his own experience he probably knows how difficult it is to repent of such sins and how much these sins affect our future eternal life. Therefore, do not be afraid - the priest will not think anything bad about you. If you cannot overcome your shame, try writing the text of the confession on paper and asking the priest to read it. Another way to relieve shame can be to confess to an unfamiliar priest in a new church. At the same time, I want to remind you that shame is a saving bitter medicine that protects us from repeating confessed sins.

Sincerely, Archpriest Mikhail Samokhin.

Pastor Jack Hyles (1926-2001)

(Chapter 4 from the book “Enemies of the Salvation of the Soul”)

I am often asked: “Is repentance important for salvation?” Of course it is important. Anything that has to do with how a person can escape eternal Hell and live forever in Heaven is of very great importance. In this chapter we will talk about this important issue.

1. First, let's figure out what condemns a person and keeps him from salvation.

Let's read John 3:18: “He who believes in Him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”. It clearly and clearly states what is the reason for a person’s unsalvation. Notice the words “he who does not believe is already condemned.” The one who does not believe is condemned, therefore the unbelieving person has no salvation.

The word "believer" is translated from a Greek word that means "to trust, to hope." When a person believes in Christ, he simply trusts that after he dies, Christ will take him to Heaven. Everything is clear - a person is condemned by his own unbelief. Then we read: " because he did not believe in the name of the only begotten Son of God"And again we are told why a person is not saved - because he did not believe in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Everything is very simple.

Now let's look at John 3:36: . We are again trying to understand why a person perishes and is not saved. Here again everything is very simple. Note - " He who does not believe in the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him" Why can't a person see life? Because he doesn't believe! Why is God's wrath on him? Because he doesn't believe! So what must a person repent of in order to be saved? He must repent of sin for which he will not receive salvation. Since he is not saved because of unbelief, he is saved by faith. Repentance means turning away from what does not save and turning to what does save.. Yes, in order to believe, a person must repent of unbelief. You just need to change direction. This means turning 180 degrees. You move away from unbelief and decide to move towards faith. You change direction. Your heart changes. You make a decision to rely on Christ and trust that He will save you. But in order to believe, you need to repent of unbelief. What does not save must be changed..

So what must a person repent of in order to be saved? He must repent of sin for which he will not receive salvation. Since he is not saved because of unbelief, he must repent of unbelief (to be saved by faith).

Now let's look at John 5:40: "But you do not want to come to Me that you may have life". Oh, how simple and clear! Why doesn't a person have life according to this verse? Because he does not come to Christ. If a person does not go to Christ, he must turn and go to Him, that is, he must change direction and change his mind. This is repentance. To repent means to turn away from what keeps you from salvation and turn to what saves.

Let's read Isaiah 53:6: « We have all gone astray, like sheep; we have turned every one to his own way: and the Lord laid on Him the sins of us all.» . Let us especially highlight the words “every one has turned to his own way.” Turning aside to one's own way is what prevents a person from receiving salvation. But if we take God’s path, i.e. we put our faith in Jesus, we move from our own path to His path, from disbelief we move to faith. This is what the Bible says about repentance. It is faith that saves. In order to place your faith in Christ, you need to turn around in the opposite direction. You should repent of what is holding you back from salvation.

If a person were saved by good deeds, then to be saved he would have to repent of committing evil deeds or failing to do good deeds. If to be saved a person had to first stop sinning, then he would first have to repent of his sins. A person is saved because he believes, i.e. he turns around in his unbelief or turns away from it.

Let's look at some verses of Scripture that teach that a person is saved by faith.

John 3:15: “That whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.”.

John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”.

John 3.18: “He who does not believe in Him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”.

John 3:36: “He who believes in the Son has eternal life, but he who does not believe in the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”.

Acts 16:31: .

There are many who say that to be saved we must repent of all our sins. It is not true! The only thing we need to change in order to be saved is unbelief, because it is this that keeps us from salvation. If to be saved a person must turn from his sins, then from what sins? Out of pride? From selfishness? From greed? The truth is that no one can turn away from all their sins until they go to heaven and receive a new body like our Savior. 1 John 3:2: “Beloved! we are now children of God; but it has not yet been revealed what we will be. We only know that when it is revealed, we will be like Him, because we will see Him as He is.”. As Psalm 18:13 says, we don’t even know all our sins. David said: “Cleanse me from my secret (sins)”. Here he asks God to cleanse him from sins that are unknown to him. When a person is saved, he does not know about all his sins, and if he must repent of all sins, then where is the place for increasing grace? Who then can be called a child in Christ? Where does the carnal Christian fit in here?

Do not misunderstand me. Of course, I am for the fact that people abandoned their sin and lived a righteous life, but it is not us who cleanse our lives, it is not us who save ourselves. Salvation means repenting of unbelief, believing and allowing Christ to save us. We submit to Him and allow ourselves to be saved. And He does it immediately! The Holy Spirit immediately enters our lives. He begins His work of cleansing our lives. He is the one who cleanses and He is the one who saves. He is the one who reveals our sins to us after we are saved, and He is the one who saves us when we are saved.

When we put our faith in Christ, repent of unbelief, and begin to believe, God's Holy Spirit comes into our lives and begins to put things in order. He shows us our sins, and when we submit to Him, He cleanses us from them. If we misbehave, we will still go to Heaven because we go there by faith in Christ and that He will take us to Heaven. The Holy Spirit begins to tell us what to do and what not to do. If we don't listen to Him, if we misbehave during our earthly journey, we still go to Heaven. We just won't get as much joy out of this journey as we would if we listened to Him.

The truth is that no one can turn away from all their sins until they go to heaven and receive a new body like our Savior.

I know one young man who recently got married. He got the apartment a few months before he got married and lived there alone until the wedding took place. What a mess this apartment was! His pants were hanging on the chair, his shoes were on the floor under the bed, and the bed itself was never made at all. Then he got married. How did he become a married man? He went from being a single man to being a married man. He seemed to repent of his loneliness and got married. When he brought his wife into his apartment, she was horrified by what she saw, so she immediately began to clean up the mess. She put her shoes in the closet, took the shirt off the chair, removed the clothes from the bed, and the chaos turned into a wonderful little apartment. Now he was married not because his apartment was cleaned. He was married because he repented of what prevented him from getting married. He took an oath before the altar and accepted the girl as his wife. Only after that did she enter his apartment and put things in order there!

Almost all false doctrines occur because order is disturbed. God established this order: salvation is change, and not change is salvation! If in order to be saved a person must first change, then this is salvation by works. Moreover, this is also salvation according to the flesh. The truth is that we are cleansed from the sins of our flesh the same way we are saved - by submitting to the Holy Spirit and allowing Him to do His work.

2. You can repent not necessarily of sin.

Matthew 7:3: “Then Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that He was condemned, and repented, and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders.”. Notice that Judas repented.” What does it mean? He repented of taking the money. He betrayed the Savior for thirty pieces of silver. He changed his mind and took the money back. There was a change in his heart, but it had nothing to do with salvation. He made a bad deal. Then he regretted her and tried to make things right.

Every person living in sin sooner or later repents, but not of unbelief. He changes his attitude towards sin. No one lives in sin and ends up realizing that they are not getting the joy, happiness, peace, and satisfaction they wanted in the beginning. Every week I meet people who are tired of their sins, they are unhappy, dissatisfied with their lives, because of the consequences of their sin they live badly and wretchedly. What did they do? They changed their minds about sin and in some cases they even abandoned that sin - at least the sin that most interfered with their lives. A person can repent of sin, but not repent of unbelief. So it was with Judas. Of course, he repented that he had done a bad deed. He realized he had made a bad deal. He changed his mind and returned the money, but he never repented of what was holding him back from salvation - the sin of unbelief.

3. God Himself repents.

A person can repent of sin, but not repent of unbelief. So it was with Judas.

Genesis 6:6: “And the Lord repented that he had created man on earth, and was grieved in His heart.”. The word "repent" means "to change one's mind, to change one's mind." God created man and regretted it. He was grieved by what man did, and He repented of having created him. This does not mean that God repented of sin, because God cannot sin. He simply changed His mind, which He often does, by the way. Actually, He does this every time He answers our prayers..

Now let's look at 1 Samuel 15:35: “And Samuel saw Saul no more until the day of his death; But Samuel grieved over Saul, because the Lord repented that he had made Saul king over Israel.”. God made Saul king of Israel. The fact is that God did not want to do this, but Israel wanted a king. Saul was elected to replace the king, but he turned out to be not the best king. This verse simply says that God repented of making Saul king. God changed his mind.

I want to say that repentance may not be associated with sin. A woman may change her mind and start using other perfumes. A man may change his mind and start eating different foods or wearing different clothes. He can change his manners and behavior. You can regret being unkind and start being polite. You may regret that you were stubborn and begin to show leniency. You may regret that you were impatient and begin to show patience, but all this will not save you. You need to repent of what does not save and believe in what does save. One should repent of unbelief.

Let's look at Exodus 32:9-14: “And the Lord said to Moses: I see this people, and behold, they are a stiff-necked people; Therefore leave Me, that My wrath may burn against them, and I may destroy them, and make of you a great nation. But Moses began to beg the Lord, His God, and said: Let not Your anger, O Lord, be kindled against Your people, whom You brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and a strong hand, lest the Egyptians say: He brought them out to destruction in order to kill them. in the mountains and destroy them from the face of the earth; turn away Your fiery anger and cancel the destruction of Your people; Remember Abraham, Isaac and Israel, Your servants, to whom You swore by Yourself, saying: By multiplying I will multiply your seed like the stars of heaven, and I will give all this land of which I have spoken to your seed, and they will possess it forever. And the Lord canceled the evil which he said he would bring upon his people.”.

Verse 14 simply says: “And the Lord abolished the evil which He had said He would bring upon His people.”. The word "evil" means something that would cause pain to the people. It doesn't talk about sin. In the end, God decided not to touch them. God decided not to exterminate people. He changed His mind about the people, but He did not change His mind about sin, because God cannot sin.

Let's read Jonah 3:9,10: “Who knows, maybe God will have mercy and turn away His burning anger from us, and we will not perish.” And God saw their deeds, that they turned from their evil way, and God regretted the disaster that He said He would bring and didn’t point it at them.”.

God was going to punish Nineveh. Jonah preached in Nineveh and warned the people of the coming destruction. People believed the prophet and God changed his mind about punishing them. In verse 10 we read: “And God regretted the calamity which He said He would bring upon them, and He did not bring it.”.

Once again we see that God simply changed His mind and His thoughts. He was going to punish them, but they believed and He decided not to punish them. The direction of thoughts has changed: from punishment to non-punishment. This is repentance, but not repentance of sin, because God does not sin.

So repentance is not always associated with salvation and sin. It simply means a change in direction of thought.

4. Now let's talk about repentance and salvation.

Acts 3:19: “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out.”.

Peter preaches. He tells people to repent and turn. Let's go back and talk about what saves. John 3:14-16,18,36: “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. He who believes in Him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the Only Begotten Son of God. He who believes in the Son has eternal life, but he who does not believe in the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”. Acts 16:31: “And they said, Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you and your whole house will be saved.”.

These people had to repent of unbelief and begin to believe in order to be converted. They had to change the direction of their thoughts, start thinking differently.

Let me say again that I don't think Christians should live like the devil. In my sermons I talk a lot about the fact that we should live a righteous life. I simply believe that turning away from sin is the work of the Holy Spirit, just as renewal is the work of the Holy Spirit. But all this begins after a person repents of what keeps him from salvation, i.e. in disbelief. When this happens, he begins to believe and is saved. Only after this the Holy Spirit enters his life and begins to tell the Christian what sin he should repent of. The man changed his mind about unbelief. The Holy Spirit led him to this. And now the Holy Spirit comes in and begins to live in a person, changing his views on various things.

Now let's read Acts 2:38: “Peter said to them: Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins; and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit".

Peter says, “Change your mind and be baptized.” What did they change their mind about? We read the answer in verse 41. Look what they did. They willingly accepted His Word and were baptized. So what was their repentance? They repented of not accepting His Word and then accepted it. That's all Peter was talking about. He said, “Change your mind about accepting the Word,” i.e. repent of unbelief and begin to believe that Jesus is Lord and the Christ in order to be saved.

Let's turn to Acts 17:30: “Therefore, leaving the times of ignorance, God now commands people everywhere to repent.”. Notice that God commands all people to repent. Repent of what? In what keeps them from salvation, i.e. in disbelief. Let's look at Acts 17:34: “Some men, having come to him, believed; among them was Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damar, and others with them. Notice it says "some men believed". When he said “repent,” he meant “repent of unbelief and believe,” just as the command was given in Acts 2:38 and 41, where to believe meant to carry out that command. They changed their minds about faith. They believed!

First you turn from unbelief and turn to faith, and only then do you begin to repent of your sins, because the One who showed you the sin of unbelief and helped you to believe now lives in you.

Now let's look at Mark 1:15: “and saying that the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent and believe in the gospel”.

Jesus Himself says to repent: “repent and believe.” In other words, He says, "Leave unbelief and believe. Change your mind (how you are saved) and begin to believe." I'll say it again, I don't think a Christian should live an unrighteous life, but what I'm saying is that changing your life doesn't save you. This is salvation by works. Faith is what saves. First you turn from unbelief and turn to faith, and only then do you begin to repent of your sins, because the One who showed you the sin of unbelief and helped you to believe now lives in you. Now it is much easier for Him to point out your mistakes and help you change your mind.

5. Repentance from sin is a command to God's people.

Revelation 2:5: “Remember therefore from whence you fell, and repent, and do the first works; but if not so, I will come to you quickly and remove your lamp from its place, unless you repent.”.

It talks about a church that was a good church. It was an active church and worked hard. She hated sin. It contained sound doctrine. Revelation 2:2: “I know your works, and your labor, and your patience, and that you cannot bear with those who are depraved, and I have tested those who call themselves apostles, but they are not, and I have found that they are liars.”. It was a patient church. This was a church that believed in the name of Jesus and did not weaken in its defense.

Revelation 2:3: “You have endured much and have patience, and for My name’s sake you have labored and have not fainted.”. But this was a church that left its first love. It says that this church did not lose its first love, but abandoned it. When you lose something, you don't know where it is. When you leave something behind, you know where it is. It doesn't say that this church didn't love anymore. She loved. It was love that made them faithful and patient, helped them work and hate sin, stand for the name of Jesus and hate false doctrine. These were people who loved God, but they left their first tender love, and it became not as deep as it was in the beginning.

It does not say that they loved God any less. In fact, they may have loved Him more, but God says, “I want your love to be deep and mature, but at the same time tender and expressive, like in the very beginning.”

The only sin this church committed was that it left its first love. They have sinned, so God tells them to repent. Repent of what? Repent of drunkenness? No. Repent of adultery? No. That's not what we're talking about here. They had to repent of not loving Jesus with their first love.

The command to repent was given to the church at Pergamos - Revelation 2:16: “Repent; otherwise, I will come to you quickly and fight with them with the sword of My mouth.”. The same thing was said to the church of Thyatiri - Revelation 2:21,22: “I gave her time to repent of her fornication, but she did not repent. Behold, I am throwing her into a bed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds.”. The church of Sardis also had to repent - Revelation 3:3: “Remember what you received and heard, and keep it and repent. But if you do not watch, I will come upon you like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come upon you.”. The church at Leodicea received the same command - Revelation 3:19: “Those I love, I rebuke and punish. So be zealous and repent.”.

As we see, God tells individuals, groups of people, and even entire nations to repent. He calls Israel to repentance again and again.

So, to summarize:

1. God says to perishing people, “Repent of your unbelief.”

What's interesting is that in 1 John the word repentance is never mentioned, and yet John wanted to give people assurance of salvation. 1 John 5:13: “I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that by believing in the Son of God you have eternal life"But although the word repentance is not mentioned in this book, it is clearly implied, because here we are told that faith in what Jesus saves saves, which of course implies that a person must repent of what leads him to destruction, i.e. unbelief.

2. God says to saved people, “Repent of your sin.”. This work is done by the Holy Spirit when He comes into our lives and puts things in order by showing us what sin we should repent of.

3. If to be saved a person must repent of his sins, then what sins should he repent of? Can he repent of all his sins? Isn't this then sinless perfection? Isn't this salvation by works? What sin should a person repent of? The one that keeps him from salvation, the sin of unbelief.

4. If salvation is given only after a person turns away from sin, then if he returns to it again, he loses salvation? Acts 16:30 asks a very simple question: " What should I do to be saved?". This is the only time this question appears in the Bible. The answer to this question should tell us what it takes to be saved. Acts 16:31: " They said: Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you and your whole house will be saved.". So the answer is believe. Not a word is said here about repentance for sins, although yes, you only need to repent of one thing - unbelief.

5. If a person must first put his life in order and then be saved, then we return to salvation by works.

6. We cannot do what only the Holy Spirit can do.. First, the Holy Spirit convicts us of the sin of unbelief in order to lead us to Christ. After He brings us to Christ, He comes into our lives and remains in our lives. Romans 8:9: “But you do not live according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit, if only the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.”. 1 Corinthians 6:19,20: “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, which you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God both in your body and in your soul, which are God’s.”.

When the Holy Spirit comes into our lives, He begins to show us what needs to be changed. The life of a Christian then becomes one of constant repentance until we become like Christ.

While living his life, a person puts a lot of effort into taking care of his body. By washing away bodily dirt, he cleanses the body, which is actually perishable. This is our temporary shelter. But if we keep our body clean, is it not more worthwhile to take care of our soul, washing away spiritual dirt from it? Spiritual dirt is the sins that our soul acquires during its life. Diseases and impurities of the soul are healed through the sacrament of Repentance.

What is repentance to the Lord?

What is this sacrament? Repentance is a sacred act that brings grace. After a believer repents of his sins, he receives remission of them. The priest acts as a mediator between God and man in the sacrament of repentance. Through him, a repentant person receives forgiveness of his sins from Jesus Christ Himself. This sacrament contains two main actions:

Confessing all your sins to the priest.
Resolution of sins, which is pronounced by the shepherd of the Church.

The sacrament of repentance is also called confession, although it is only one component. However, this component is truly the most important, since without awareness of one’s sins there will be no forgiveness.

The most important thing is to understand that confession is not an interrogation or “pulling out” sins from the soul by force. It does not pass judgment on the sinner. Repentance is also not a conversation about one’s shortcomings, not informing a priest about one’s sins, and not just a good tradition. Confession is sincere repentance for one’s sins, it is an urgent need for cleansing the soul, “mortifying” oneself for sin and resurrection for holiness.

Is it necessary to repent before a priest?

By confessing, a person brings repentance for sins not to the priest, but to God. The priest is also a person, and accordingly, he is also not sinless. In this sacrament he is only a mediator between the repentant and the Lord. The real performer of the mystery is only God Himself, and no one else. The Shepherd of the Church acts as an intercessor before Him and ensures that the sacrament is performed properly.

There is another important aspect to confessing to a priest. When we admit our sins to ourselves, this is, of course, very important. But this is much easier to do than, for example, telling a third party about them. By repenting of his sins before a minister of the Church, a person also overcomes the sin of pride. He overcomes shame, admits his sinfulness, telling those things that people usually try to keep silent about. This mental suffering makes confession even deeper and more meaningful for the purification of the soul.

Are all people sinners?

Some believe that they have nothing to repent of. They do not commit murder, theft or other serious crimes. However, this is fundamentally wrong. Constant companions of human life are such feelings as laziness, envy, revenge, anger, vanity, irritability and other states of the soul that are displeasing to God. In addition, some women commit the sin of infanticide (abortion), the blame for which lies with both the woman and the man who supported her or even persuaded her to make this decision. What about adultery, turning to fortune tellers and other actions? If we take into account all these points, it turns out that we are all sinners before God, and therefore each of us needs repentance and forgiveness of sins.

Repentance is the only true path to the Lord. One who does not consider himself a sinner is more sinful than one who is aware of his sins, even if he has even more of them than an unrepentant person.

How to eliminate sin within yourself

Sin is the voluntary violation of God's commandments. It has this property: increasing from smaller to larger. What harm does sin bring? It leads to degeneration, can shorten earthly life, and the worst thing is that it can deprive one of eternal life. The source of sin is the fallen world. And the person in it is the guide.

Sin has the following phases of involvement:

Prilog is the emergence of a sinful desire or thought.
The combination is fixing attention on a sinful thought, accepting it in one’s thoughts.
Captivity is an obsession with a given desire, agreement with this thought.
Falling into sin is the embodiment in practice of what was present in sinful desire.

Repentance is the beginning of the fight against sin. To overcome sin, you need to realize it and repent. You need to have a firm intention to fight it in order to ultimately eradicate it in yourself. To atone for sin, you need to do good deeds, as well as build your life according to God's commandments. Life must be spent in obedience to the Lord, the Church, and also to your spiritual mentor.

Is it possible to live without repentance?

Often people live without thinking about what they are doing. It seems to them that there is still enough time ahead to change for the better, repent and atone for their sins. They live for their own pleasure, without particularly caring about the soul. But in fact, repentance is something that cannot be put off until later. What happens when we are in no hurry to understand ourselves and analyze our actions, correlating them with God’s commandments? There is not a single bright spot left on our “spiritual clothing”. And this is fraught with the fact that conscience - this Divine spark - gradually fades away. We will begin to move towards spiritual death.

Figuratively speaking, the soul without repentance becomes open to sinful thoughts, passions and evil deeds. In turn, because of this, a difficult period may begin in a person’s earthly life. And even if during life a person does not experience the full weight of his sinfulness, then after death, when it is too late to correct anything, the consequence of an unrepentant soul will be its death.

Can repentance be invalid?

The essence of repentance is not to formally tell the priest about your shortcomings. Repentance cannot be accepted by the Lord if it is not sincere, is done in order to pay tribute to fashion, to look better in someone’s eyes, or if a person repents to ease his conscience, without a firm intention to correct his sins. Cold, dry and mechanical repentance is not considered valid. It will not bring any benefit to a repentant sinner. In order for repentance to truly serve a person’s benefit, it must come from the heart itself, conscious and ardent. Moreover, awareness and repentance alone are also not enough. A person must intend to fight his sin. He must call the Lord to be his assistant, because human flesh is weak, and it is almost impossible to fight his sinful nature on his own. But it is God who helps us in this difficult matter. The most important thing is to have a strong desire.

How to prepare for confession

In order to prepare for confession, you first need to analyze your life alone with yourself and realize all your sins. By correlating all our thoughts and actions with God’s commandments, we can easily understand what we did wrong, where we angered the Lord. The repentance of the soul must consist in recognizing each sin separately, repenting of it and confessing it to the priest. For convenience, before confession, you can write down all your sins on paper so as not to forget anything. There are special brochures that contain a list of sins. It happens that a person does not even suspect that he is sinful in certain matters, and is very surprised when among this list there are many acts contrary to God that he committed in his life. A person who decides to confess needs:

firmly believe and hope in the Lord;
regret having angered the Lord;
forgive the offenders for all offenses and do not hold a grudge against anyone;
declare all your sins before the priest without concealment;
firmly resolve not to anger the Lord in the future and live according to His commandments.

The School of Repentance can help a person who has decided to confess. The materials and lectures describe the entire process in detail; not a single nuance of this sacred rite is missed.

What a person preparing for confession needs to know

You can confess at any time, whenever possible, in church. This should be done as often as possible. Confession before communion is especially necessary. During confession, you need to remember that this is not a conversation with a priest. If you have any questions for him, they need to be discussed at another time. During confession, you need to list your sins, without trying to justify yourself or blame someone. Under no circumstances should you proceed to confession and then to communion if you have not made peace with everyone and hold a grudge or grudge against someone. This would be a great sin. If the priest doesn’t have time to listen to all the sins in detail, it’s okay, you can tell them briefly. However, you can tell the particularly depressing ones in more detail and ask the priest to listen to them. In any case, the Lord knows your true intentions. Let your candle of repentance be lit. And the Lord will certainly hear you.

Is it possible to confess not all sins?

The Lord can accept repentance only if it is sincere. What reason could there be to hide some sin? After all, a person who strives to get rid of the burden of sin, on the contrary, will delve into himself with special care so as not to leave the slightest sin. The desire to cleanse a sincerely repentant sinner is so great that without the slightest shame or pride he will rush to tell everything to the priest in confession. If a person conceals his sins, it means that he suffers from the sin of pride, lack of faith, false shame, or does not realize the full importance of this sacrament. Unconfessed sin is not forgiven. Moreover, if a person does not confess to the priest of any wrongdoing, then perhaps subconsciously he does not want to part with him. Such a confession will not bring any benefit. Moreover, it can cause even more harm, since in addition to all other sins the additional ones listed above will be added.

How often should you confess?

It is advisable to do this as often as possible. However, repentance must come from the soul, i.e. quality should not turn into quantity. Listen to your heart - it will tell you when there is an urgent need to cleanse yourself from the burden of sin.

Does God forgive all sins?

You can rest assured that God will forgive all your sincerely confessed sins. If you follow all the requirements and rules described in this article, the Lord will definitely hear you. It’s not for nothing that the first person to enter the Kingdom of God was a robber.

It was precisely because he sincerely repented of his sins and believed in the Grace of God that he was heard and forgiven.