The Sacrament of Repentance. Priest Evgeny Chunin

THE SACRAMENT OF REPENTANCE #

By Priest Evgeny Chunin

Many today have their own idea of what repentance is. And indeed, in our lives, the human feeling of repentance is expressed in many different forms and manners. It can be a simple “forgive me” spoken to a loved one, or “excuse me, please” to others, or even a casual “pardon,” along with certain gestures that are easily understood. All these signs in human interaction serve to express our regret over what has happened, over a mistake we have made or the harm we have caused someone. Why are they needed? Most likely, to cleanse our conscience. Repentance, in general, is an act of spiritual purification. In all such cases, we seek in some way to atone for our guilt before others, to make peace with them.

Yet to an immeasurably greater extent, we are guilty before God when we sin. Every violation of God’s Commandments by man—what we call sin—is, in essence, an offense against God. And like any offense, every sin calls for atonement.

From childhood we know the saying: “Only God is without sin.” Yes, this is true, and so is the saying: “All people are sinners.” But none of this leads to a kind of universal leveling. Yes, all are sinners, but EACH person will answer for HIS OWN sins. Whether we strive to follow God’s Law or carelessly break His Commandments in this earthly life, we will be rewarded or punished accordingly in the life to come. What matters is that no one will escape God’s judgment—regardless of whether some “disagree” with this.

Most people, of course, agree: yes, we will be held accountable for our sins with full seriousness. But is this easy? What is sin, and how can one be justified before God for their sins? The holy fathers explain that in every sin there is always human guilt—meaning that it is a willful offense before God. Man always has the ability to avoid sin, but often neglects it. Perhaps he even sighs while doing it, but every sin is still committed voluntarily. There can be no such thing as a “forced” sin—if there were no guilt, there would be no sin.

With every sinful act, a person distances himself from God, deprives himself of divine grace in this life, and of the hope for bliss in eternity. More than that, he kindles God’s wrath against himself.

This is an important fact we must always keep in mind. And when we suffer some failure, and Satan tempts us to think: “Lord! But I meant well! Why didn’t You help me?”—let us restrain ourselves from complaining. In truth, the Lord has shown us even greater mercy than we asked. He has not yet repaid us for the multitude of our transgressions, and in His long-suffering, He waits for us to turn away from sin.

To reconcile the sinner with God, to return to him the hope of eternal salvation, to guide him on the path of virtuous Christian living, and to lighten the burden of sin upon his soul, the Church offers the Sacrament of Repentance. Therefore, without delving further into the significance of everyday expressions of repentance, let us now become acquainted with Repentance as a sacrament of the Church.

It is precisely this Sacrament, performed according to the rite of Confession, that is the most vital means of purifying the human soul from evil and sinful layers. It raises man up from the depths of sin and brings him to God.

A distinguishing feature of this Sacrament is that it may and should be performed repeatedly throughout a person’s life. And it is precisely through participation in this Sacrament that every believer continually confirms his belonging to the Christian Church. On the other hand, one who does not take part in the Church’s Sacraments—especially Repentance—effectively excludes himself from the Church.

Repentance — Victory over the Tempter, the Devil #

Man is endowed by God with free will; he chooses his own path in life and, by his own will, can do good deeds or commit sins. Though many attempt to justify themselves by blaming the devil for their sins, this is unjust. Satan cannot force anyone to sin. He works through cunning and deceit, trying to instill in a person the illusion of a profitable sinful bargain or the anticipation of sinful pleasure. But a person always, if he so desires, can recognize that what is being offered is sin. If a person yields to temptation and breaks a commandment, it means he has fulfilled the devil’s will and offered him a sacrifice.

It often happens that a person who continually falls into grave sins—such as disbelief in God, murder, fornication, theft, tobacco use, and others—can no longer, on his own, change his sinful way of life. No matter how often he resolves to start anew, the devil, displaying great inventiveness, will always seek another way to tempt him again. This occurs because, burdened by many sins, the person is deprived of divine help and, on the contrary, falls into deep dependence on the devil. That is why it becomes very difficult for such a person to turn away from sin and do good. In such a case, the only real means of escaping this vicious cycle, this cunning satanic captivity, is the saving Sacrament of Repentance, which restores to us the mercy of God and His help. When Satan sees a sinner repenting, he is shamed and loses the power he had gained over that soul through its many sins.


Repentance — Reconciliation with God, Appeasement of His Wrath #

With every sin, a person distances himself from God and kindles His wrath against himself. But the Lord is long-suffering and does not hasten to pour out the cup of His righteous anger upon sinners. He waits for the sinner to return to Him, to amend his ways and offer heartfelt repentance for his deeds. Yet many today persist in sinful hardness of heart and make no haste to lighten their soul through repentance, showing no concern for their many debts before God. Each such person takes a serious risk of drinking the cup of God’s wrath—perhaps even already in this life on earth. But the punishment for unrepented sins in the life to come—eternal torment—is incomparably more dreadful than any earthly suffering or misfortune.

Calling all to repentance, St. Ephraim the Syrian writes: “You avoid the fire, beloved, lest your body be burned; avoid sin, that your body together with your soul may not burn in the unquenchable fire.” Only repentance can save us from eternal destruction. This the enemy of mankind, the devil, knows. He knows that if anyone sincerely repents of his sins, then by the power of God’s grace, that person will be torn from his hairy claws. Clinging to his grip on each soul, Satan strives again to use all his guile to deceive Christians. He whispers to millions: “You still have time to repent…” And how many souls—souls who once pledged themselves to God in the Sacrament of Baptism, who believe in Christ, who know of eternal hell and do not deny repentance—still depart from this world unrepentant, because they always postponed this most vital act into a distant “later.”

Every person who has even a spark of the fear of God should not live without repentance, just as we cannot live a day without sin. It is good to cleanse the soul by repentance during each of the four fasts. But in any case, the opportunity to repent during the sacred Forty Days of Great Lent must not be neglected. Every Christian must confess during Great Lent each year. One who goes years without confession, even if striving to live a pious life, renders all his efforts at spiritual growth fruitless. And one who never goes to confession has clearly turned away from God. If such a person calls himself a Christian, it is a lie! A person is not defined as a Christian merely by Baptism, but by the entirety of his life, by how he observes the Commandments of God—one of which is Repentance.


Repentance — Healing of Sinful Ailments and the Beginning of a Virtuous Life #

For repentance to benefit us, we must first submit ourselves to the judgment of our own conscience. Reviewing in memory the days of our life, recalling our evil deeds, sinful acts, foul words, wicked thoughts and desires—reflecting on all we have done contrary to God’s commandments—we must strive to break through the armor of self-satisfaction and be filled with the awareness of how many and how grievous our sins truly are. We must hate our sinful vices with all our heart, learn to feel contempt and revulsion for them, and be inflamed with a strong desire to be cleansed from the stench of sin. If we begin to feel such a disposition, even to a small degree, then let us call upon God for help and, without wasting precious time, begin the labor of spiritual purification.

Just as every plant has a root system hidden from the eye, yet it is this root system that nourishes the plant—so too every sinful act is never merely accidental, but is always the result of certain internal causes—sinful attachments—that lie deep within human consciousness. And often, these attachments—or passions—are unknown even to the person himself, yet they are precisely what lead him into sin.

In the work of such “moral weeding,” it is crucial to uproot from the depths of the soul every weed of sin, extracting it down to the very root. If the root is not removed, the weed will quickly sprout again and become even more firmly entrenched.

All the countless multitude of sins can be traced back to a fairly limited list of sinful passions that give rise to them. The most important of these are: pride, vanity, lust, gluttony, love of money, anger, despondency, and hatred. It is necessary to distinguish between what are sins and what are passions, and how one may fight against both.

Venerable Abba Dorotheus explains this distinction as follows: “For passions are one thing, and sins are another. Passions are: anger, vanity, hatred, and the like. Sins are the actual deeds of the passions, when someone brings them to fruition through action—that is, commits with the body those deeds to which his passions drive him. For one may have passions but not act according to them.”

If a person does not desire a certain sin, he can easily avoid or reject it—even when Satan tempts him with it. On the contrary, when a person is wounded by a certain passion, he is always in danger of falling into sin. Thus, actual sins are, to a degree, a matter of circumstance, while passions are always within us.

There are times when passions are long rooted in a person’s soul without manifesting in any specific sins—until a convenient opportunity presents itself. They “slumber,” so to speak, until the right moment.

But this gives us no cause for complacency, for we do not know when they will awaken—or how fierce that awakening will be. Just as during a hunt it is easier to subdue a wild beast while it is still asleep than once it has awakened and gone on the attack, so too must we deal with passions—cutting them off before they drive us to sin. The Lord will hold us accountable for sinful passions no less strictly than for the sins themselves. Venerable Simeon the New Theologian writes: “He who desires riches is condemned as a lover of money, even if he possesses nothing at all.” It is important to understand which passions are the root causes of our particular sins. Thus, theft comes from love of money; laziness and drunkenness from gluttony; murder and cruelty from hatred or anger; judgmentalism from vanity; arrogance from pride; lying from either vanity or greed, and so on.

Therefore, the battle against actual sins often depends on circumstance and is frequently unsuccessful, because the passions within us constantly pose a temptation, and sooner or later the devil manages to steer us into sin. To truly avoid sin, one must wage war against the passions that lead to it. And each passion has a corresponding virtue which serves as its remedy. Pride is healed by humility; anger by meekness; love of money by mercy; faintheartedness by patience; vanity by self-abasement; hatred by love and care for others; gluttony and lust by temperance.

For example, to overcome the sin of theft, which stems from the passion of avarice, one must zealously practice almsgiving (preferably in secret), and over time the temptation will weaken, and the sinful passion will be defeated. To overcome the sin of judgment, rooted in vanity, one must train oneself in humility, regarding oneself as the most unworthy, sinful, and vile of all people. In this way we must act against every sin we wish to eradicate, going to war against the passion that produces it.

However, once we have entered into battle against the tempter, Satan, let us not deceive ourselves into thinking we can defeat him on our own. Man is weak by nature and, without the grace-filled help of God, is powerless to advance in virtue. Therefore, all our efforts at spiritual perfection must be based upon sincere repentance of sins, performed in the Church’s sacrament of Repentance.


The Holy Fathers — Preachers of Repentance #

Truly priceless treasures of soul-saving instruction have been given to us in the writings of the Holy Fathers. In order to more clearly discern our moral failings and spiritual deficiencies and to correct them more thoroughly, we must often turn to Holy Scripture—this spiritual mirror. It often happens that reading spiritual books is what allows us to see and evaluate ourselves in the light of divine truth. And if, contrary to our self-opinion, we see our reflection in that mirror disfigured by sin—let us not rebel against the word of God that reveals our true spiritual condition. It is foolish to break a mirror simply because it shows us a face smeared with dirt. And even if we throw the mirror away or shatter it—the dirt on our face remains. We may cease to notice it ourselves, but it will be visible to those around us, and most importantly, to our Lord.

If the Lord has shown us all the filth and wounds of our spiritual state—let us labor to cleanse it! Only our diligence in correcting ourselves will be a fitting expression of gratitude to God for His attention to our flaws and vices. Only this will allow us to continue to hope for His merciful help in the future.

Hierarchs John Chrysostom and Cyril of Alexandria, venerable Macarius of Egypt, Abba Dorotheus, John of the Ladder, and many, many other holy fathers walked the thorny path of struggle with their own passions, and having attained perfection, left behind a wealth of soul-saving teachings for our instruction. Thanks be to God, today nearly all of this patristic legacy is accessible to everyone. But how great will be the grief of those who day after day walk indifferently past these offered treasures, remaining themselves bereft of virtue.

The Spiritual Father and the Repentant Family #

The Sacrament of Repentance establishes that although the penitent confesses his sins to God, he does so in the presence of a priest, who, in this Sacrament, acts in the name of the Lord Himself. This mediation of the priest in a person’s relationship with God, known as spiritual fatherhood (духовничество), was instituted by the Son of God Himself, who gave the apostles the authority to forgive or retain sins, saying: “Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained” (John 20:22–23). Thus, the Lord entrusted this authority—to deliver people from the bondage of sin—to the ministers of the Church who have received apostolic succession. Therefore, every believer must come to church and repent before God for their sins, as is done in the Sacrament of Repentance. If someone considers this unnecessary or can never find a convenient time for it, then to all his other sins he adds the sin of disobedience to the Holy Church of Christ—and thus also to the Lord Himself.

From the moment of a person’s first confession, if he has sincerely repented of his sins, a relationship of spiritual fatherhood is established between him and the priest who bore witness to his confession. This is called the “repentant family,” which includes the spiritual father and his spiritual children. Given the salvific importance of this relationship, the Church gives every person the right to freely choose a spiritual father: “Choose for yourself a spiritual father according to your heart” (from the instructions in the rite of confession). But once a spiritual father is chosen, the person should henceforth come to confession only to him. To change one’s spiritual father requires very serious reasons—not merely a reluctance to submit or fulfill the instructions or penances (епитимии) he assigns. In any case, to confess to another priest, one must first receive the blessing of one’s original spiritual father. Otherwise, such a change will be an act of willfulness, a sign of disobedience to God, and will not be of benefit.

Another aspect of the life of the repentant family is mutual prayerful concern for one another. The priest, in his prayers during the Sacraments—especially during the Divine Liturgy—and also in his private prayers, remembers all his spiritual children: Christians who have chosen him as their spiritual father, revealed their sins to him, sought healing from their spiritual ailments, and received from him the medicine of penance (epitimia). In turn, it is considered a great good for every Christian, in daily prayer at home with their close relatives, to also remember the priest—their spiritual father.


Penance (Epitimia) — A Weapon in the Struggle Against the Devil and a Path to the Forgiveness of Sins #

It was mentioned earlier that every sinful passion is healed by a corresponding virtue. Let us add: and of course, by prayer—because in prayer, we may and must ask the Lord for help in all that we need. This is an essential point in understanding the very nature of the Sacrament of Repentance.

When a person comes to confession and repents of certain sins, in that very moment he overcomes the devil and his own pride, and for this he is already partially deserving of forgiveness. But if he is not helped in the struggle against the passion that caused the sin, then upon leaving the church he may find himself under demonic assault once more—perhaps with even greater force—and may fall again, easily losing what he had just acquired.

This is why every person who comes to repentance is necessarily given a certain task, or penance (epitimia), in the form of a manageable—but not too easy—spiritual labor, which will benefit him in establishing a Christian life and fighting against sinful passions. The form and nature of the epitimia is determined by the spiritual father in each case, according to Church practice. And as long as the person bears the labor of fulfilling the epitimia, he is protected by the power of God’s Grace from the devil’s wiles and strengthened in the keeping of the commandments. Confession, when supported by the observance of epitimia, is never in vain.

Forgiveness of sins in confession is not granted merely for saying “I have sinned, Father!” but because, in repenting of past sins, the person sincerely wishes and strives not to fall into them again and is ready to make certain sacrifices as proof of the sincerity of his intention. In this sense, epitimia gives us the opportunity to demonstrate the sincerity of our repentance through deeds. Therefore, the conscientious fulfillment of an epitimia is a necessary condition for the true forgiveness of sins.

Moreover, the spiritual father—the priest—has the authority (John 20:22–23) not only to forgive sins, but also not to forgive them. This forgiveness is petitioned by the priest from the Lord through the special prayers read at the conclusion of the rite of confession. And these prayers, which mark the actual remission of sin in full accordance with the letter and spirit of the Gospel, may be delayed by the spiritual father until the moment of the person’s actual amendment of life. Thus, in the canons of the Church, the granting of forgiveness is linked not only with repentance but, to an even greater degree, with the correction of the person and the fulfillment of the epitimia assigned to him.

Here we see the full meaning of the Gospel saying: in other words, he who is unwilling to labor for his amendment—how can he be forgiven? In past centuries, both of these powers—forgiving and not forgiving—were exercised by the Church equally often, and this, without doubt, helped many people to grow effectively in the keeping of the commandments. Today, unfortunately, we allow many kinds of leniency, and this is not without consequence. What else can explain the fact that people who consider themselves respectable Christians sometimes live in such a way that even unbelievers are scandalized?

The words that conclude the confession—“God will forgive!”—which the priest pronounces on behalf of the Lord, are often spoken in advance, which is why they are phrased in the future (!) tense. Not “He has already forgiven,” but “He will forgive”—after our correction or, at the very least, after the conscientious fulfillment of the epitimia. The meaning of the epitimia also lies in the fact that by fulfilling it, a person gradually appeases the Lord and quenches the righteous wrath of God that was kindled by his sins.

Obstacles to Pure Repentance #

The enemy of God and man, the devil, strives by all means to hinder people from fulfilling their natural need to repent before God, for he clearly sees in this his own defeat. And in many cases, he succeeds—due to our negligence and carelessness. First of all, the devil suggests to us that we have no particular sins that require confession. And if someone, having succumbed to this suggestion, still comes to confession, he might say something like: “I haven’t killed anyone, I haven’t robbed anyone… I sin like everyone else…” Think about this! Not only is that not repentance—it is something worse: it is judgment against all people! These are the tricks the devil plays on us when we lack discernment. It is a terrible thing not to see one’s own sinfulness. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He (the Lord) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:8–9).

To others, Satan whispers the opposite: that they have sinned so much that they can no longer hope for forgiveness. And if a person does not recognize this as a demonic delusion, he may fall into despair—which is itself a sin and a barrier to sincere repentance. Therefore, we must firmly remember: by the mercy of God, every sin can be forgiven. Our part is to repent and patiently labor for our amendment.

Another person, seeing his sins and recognizing the need for repentance, becomes ashamed of the disgracefulness of his actions: “How can I possibly tell the priest about this?” On this false shame, instilled by the devil during confession, St. Ephraim the Syrian speaks clearly: “You are ashamed and blush when you need to confess your sins. Be more ashamed to sin than to confess. Consider: if confession is not made here, then everything will be confessed THERE (at the Last Judgment) before the entire universe. Where will there be more torment? Where will there be more shame? In our actions we are bold and shameless, yet when it is time to confess—we are embarrassed and hesitate.” Therefore, we must overcome this shame and confess everything to the priest, knowing that we will not surprise him—he has heard it all.

Just as shame is out of place at confession, so too is an excessive casualness in recounting one’s sinful deeds. The confession of some people more resembles a report on completed tasks than genuine repentance. But we are to repent of our sins—not merely recite them. And if we feel no sorrow for our sins, then we must first repent of the sin of being blind to our sinfulness, and of lacking the fear of God.

Some people, preparing for confession, decide for themselves: “This I’ll say, but this I won’t.” But just as one cannot be cured of a bodily illness without showing the doctor the affected area or disclosing the true cause of the sickness, so also in confession nothing should be hidden from either God or the priest—if we truly want healing from our sinful wounds. And when the priest, in response to our repentance, says the long-awaited words “God will forgive,” that absolution applies only to the sins that were confessed, not to all sins in general. Knowingly concealing a sin is in itself a deception—that is, another sin—and thus it only increases our guilt before God. Therefore, if this time we lacked the courage to confess something, we must resolve to overcome ourselves next time, and repent both of the sin itself and of having hidden it.

Some, having once come to confession, later fall into temptation, reasoning: “I came and repented, but then I sinned again. So what’s the point of going again?” To such people we might ask: how many times should a person get up after falling? As many times as we fall, that many times we must rise; as many times as we sin, we must repent. Our failure to change is most likely due to the fact that we did not apply enough effort and zeal. Therefore, coming again to confession, and repenting again, let us be more cautious and make greater effort toward true correction.

Sometimes a person who wants to repent is held back by not knowing how to behave in church or what to do during confession. These are but pitiful fears that must be cast aside.

Come! For repentance is the only path to the Heavenly Kingdom.

Spiritual Answers, No. 5, 1996


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