The Mystery of Confession

[Chrysostomos]

I would like to offer a link that will take you to an online version
of "Confession" by Metropolitan Anthony (Krapovitsky). It is
a series of lectures on the Mystery of Repentance. It was very
helpful to me and perhap might be of interest to some of you.
Also, there are other online books as well....

http://www.holytrinitymission.org/books ... nthony.htm

With bow,

Reader Chrysostomos

[Savva24]

Saint John of Kronstadt held general confessions, but that this was an extremely rare situation. As one article put it:

Dear Justin,

From what was explained to me the confessions held en mass by St. John was very different in a number of ways from the modernist practice today. The main difference being that the people in St. John's time actually did confess their sins (albeit rather chaoticly) when in the modernist practice they simply listen to a list and get absolution. So in the words of Bishop Tikon of the OCA that I read once on the Orthodox List serve, ''general confession is no confession at all''.

In Christ,

Nick (Savva23)

[Logos]

I grew up in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of N & S America ("New Calendrist Greek Churches" as it was called above) and never knew that confession was an Orthodox practice until I was in university, where there was a local OCA presence where confession was practiced. I had definitely read about it, but just figured that the Orthodox Church had dropped it somewhere along the way.

Why was my home church this way? To this day, I still don't know, but I think it has something to do with the Greek Orthodox wanting to distance themselves from the Roman Catholics (who were the practicers of confession) and wanting to gain favor with (or to be more like) the overwhelming Protestant majority in the Northeast USA where I grew up. I have heard that things are changing in the Greek Archdiocese, and even see articles these days urging the people to confession in the "Orthodox Observer." I think I was short-changed of spiritual benefit because confession wasn't encouraged. It's the best spiritual medicine (along with Holy Communion). To this day, I have Greek Orthodox relatives who have never been to confession, and I do feel sorry for them.

I encountered "general confession" only once -- I was visiting a church for vespers, and there was general confession after vespers. I thought it was very "hokey" also (great word!!) -- sort of like the chicken's way out! Thankfully, I've never been to "general confession" again, and my subsequent parishes haven't offered it.

That is so true what Fr. Seraphim wrote above -- we need to be trusting of others, especially in these current times, when it's encouraged to NEVER trust others. My priest doesn't require confession before each reception of Holy Communion, but a good rule of thumb I heard was from my priest while living in Arizona and worshipping at an Antiochian church there (in Tucson): 4 times a year at least. I don't even know my priest that well, but I feel good confessing my sins to him -- I don't feel that he's judgmental at all.

I am GOA and I myself encountered the same things that you have mentioned.

[Natasha]

Nicholas wrote: "In the MP, I have seen (on video from when a parishioner went to Liturgy in an MP church) the same is done, but people, in a line, walk under the epitrachelion of the priest rather quickly to be absolved. It all seems rather hokey to me"

Yes, when I visitied a MP cathedral in Russia I saw exactly that happen! There was a long line in the back of the church, and everyone took their turns confessing under the epitrachelion, and if I remember correctly, Divine Liturgy was still going on in the front of the church. The whole thing seemed strange to my family and I. I did not know what it was, I thought maybe it was some kind of time-saving device used since there was so many people there .

[Liudmilla]

I have seen "general confession" practiced in some ROCOR churches, but only on big holidays, and not in the fashion described above. This was only done done on the eve to Holy Saturday and the eve before Christmas. There were often 40-50 (sometimes more) people in line for confession. To participate, the priest required that you had to have gone to regular confession sometime during the course of the fast or lent. He would read a lenghty list of sins and you had to admit to yourself...often you could hear people whisper ...guilty, oh lord...then you went up for absolution. He would ask "Do you repent?" and if you had anything to add ... many often would...and then he would recite the prayer over you. Someone generally read prayers during the waiting time. Waiting on line was often condusive to remembering "something" you were guilty of ( ).

[Methodius]

Liudmilla, you always find these far-out exceptions to the rule in ROCOR! I agree with Father Serafim on this.

[TomS]

I don't remember if I already told this story on this board or not. But here it is anyway.

My GOA Priest was talking about confession (you stand in front of the icon of Christ to confess) last year and said that he very seldom heard confessions until about 20 years ago when the converts started to come into his church. He says that even today that it is always the converts who call and want confession, not the Greeks. His statement was "To get a Greek to admit that they did something wrong is next to impossible!"