Saint Anne Orthodox Church

We continue our effort to understand the holy sacrament of confession guided again by St Nektarios of Aegina…

Do not refuse to confess your sin, and hasten towards the sacrament of confession. The Fathers encourage us to hasten, because God has confined the salvation within this life. Behold what the divine Chrysostom says: “ No confession and correction exists in Hades for those who have departed. For God has limited conduct and action to this life; while in next life, the examination of actions.” This same divine father teaches that is impossible to escape the disgrace of shameful deeds, because if we do not confess here due to shame, we will be humiliated there in front of many myriads of people. Behold the words of the divine father: “We do not want to feel embarrassed here in front of one person; then what will be do there in front of so many myriads? Think about how the court of God will be; think about all the sins you have committed. Even if you forget the sins, God never forgets; but He will set everything before your eyes if you do not proceed to obliterate them now through repentance and confession. Many of the people who sin say I am full of shame. How can I approach God? How can I beseech Him?  They suffer from satanic piety. We should approach God with boldness because He is the one who desire our salvation.”

St Basil the Great says that we are obligated to confess boldly with our mouth, because we have sinned with our body: “Have we sinned when we rendered our body parts slaves to sin,  to work injustice? Let us confess with our mouth , using the same instrument towards the dissolution of sin. Have you ridiculed someone? Bless. Have you been greedy? Repay. Have you become drunk? Fast. Have you become arrogant? Humble yourself. Have you been envious? Console. Have you killed? Suffer martyrdom or things equivalent to martyrdom; mistreat your body through confession. And then, after the confession, you are worthy of chanting to God with a ten-stringed psaltery.” St John Climacos asserts that ”wounds displayed in public will not grow worse, but will be healed.” Nothing gives such strength to the demons and to our thoughts against us, as much as mulling unconfessed thoughts in the heart. Such and so many are the benefits that stem from prompt and sincere confession.

On the other hand, they who approach confession out of habit and under pretense, they who insincerely confess their own sins and on account of shame condemn the sins and make excuses, they who justify themselves and accuse others, these people foolishly mock God. But God can not be fooled because He knows everything. They who conceal their sins suffer similarly to sick persons who conceal their ailments and do not convey a true history to their physicians on account of bashfulness.