On Confession – Father Gabriel Galev
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Confession is an essential requirement for all fallen humanity. It serves as a means of reconciliation and a means for man to return to God. Confession is closely related, and indelibly linked, to repentance. There is no true confession without repentance. If there is no repentance, there can be no genuine confession. When we begin to recognise and realise our fallen state and our alienation from the life-giving God, we become aware that it is precisely our sin that disrupts our full-of-grace and loving union with Him, depriving us of life-giving energy. We come to realise that without renewing our relationship with God, we have nothing of true value. Then we reject everything which led us to our fall, and everything that separates us from God. Such should be our confession, because only as such is it healing and salvific for our souls.
In order to discuss confession, we first need to understand what sin truly is. Sin is not merely a broken rule, law, etiquette, or code of conduct; rather, sin is an existential failure and a separation from our communion with the living God. God has revealed Himself to us in the Gospel and accordingly we should harmonise our lives with the Gospel. Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life. And so, anything that exists outside of Him, anything that separates us from Him as the unchanging God, and anything that causes us to be dissimilar to Him, is a life failure and sin.
How can we describe confession in the simplest way?
Let us say that our life is a journey on a ship and if we encounter storm on this journey, in order to save ourselves from capsizing we need to empty (lighten) the ship. First, we throw away the larger, more noticeable items, and then move on to the smaller, less noticeable ones. It is much the same with confession. We throw away everything that weighs on us and makes our life in God uncertain and so we free ourselves from them. In the first instance of confession, a person returns to God and joins the Church. At this initial confession, people typically confess the more obvious sins: corporeal sins, committed by deed and word. Later, as we have partially cleansed our hearts of passions and after the light of God’s purifying grace has entered our hearts, we will be able to recognise, that is, become aware of more subtle sins and passions. Just as in the case of a dark, closed room: when we draw back the curtains to let in light: first the larger items are noticed, and if we continue to let more light in, even the smallest speck of dust will be noticeable.
It is not in order for our subsequent confessions to remain at the same level as the first one. This indicates that we have not made spiritual progress and are living in the wrong way. At our first confession, God grants us the gift of so-called first enlightenment, which is the fruit of the purifying grace that assists us in our struggle to cleanse our hearts of passions. Through this purifying grace, we are given the opportunity to notice all our weaknesses and sins.
This first light should be directed towards ourselves, so that we can see our weaknesses and mistakes. For there is a demonic temptation at this point, and instead of using this light to see our own shortcomings, we divert it towards seeing the weaknesses and sins of others. However, if we direct this light towards seeing our own sins and passions, then it becomes source of healing for us. Conversely, if we direct it towards judging and condemning others, then it will be for our own condemnation. Then, by falling from darkness to darkness, our condition becomes worse than our initial condition, according to the words of Christ: “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it also be with this wicked generation.” (Matthew 12:43-45) Therefore, we should not only empty our hearts, but we should also fill them with the full-of-grace fruits of the Holy Spirit.
How do we confess correctly?
For confession to truly facilitate our healing and the salvation of our soul, we should confess in the correct manner. We do not go to confession to simply speak with the priest, to boast about how virtuous we are, nor to make confession for others, while judging and condemning them. We should not circumvent, nor choose sophisticated, refined words to alleviate our own guilt. We should refrain from self-justification or try to persuade our spiritual Father to take our side, to justify us. Rather, we should condemn ourselves and confess all our sins before God and our spiritual Father, sincerely asking for forgiveness of our sins and guidance on how to improve our lives. The ever present guiding thought during confession is: “I am guilty of everything”. Embracing this mindset allows all our thoughts and feelings to take on a different course, leading us to not judge others, and focus instead on finding the faults in ourselves and repent for those.
Sin is like a wound that needs to be healed, and one of the most effective remedies for it is confession. The more accurate and detailed our confession, the quicker the healing process can occur. Through confession, we demonstrate our strong repentance, fear of God, love and determination to free ourselves from sin and live a healthy Christian life.
Confession should be precise, deep, and sincere, and this is what makes it effective. Let us briefly describe the situation in which, and with which, we have fallen, and then confess what was happening and continued to happen in our hearts at that moment – all the bad and negative reactions of the heart and mind.
In regard to the sins of the first two categories of passions, love-of-pleasures and covetousness – sin begins with a proposal (suggestion or thought). This is then followed by acceptance, and then a conversation with the proposal (thought), leading to agreement, desire, and ultimately sin, which develops into a passion. In situations, when our ego is hurt (the third category of passions – vainglory), our first reaction is a darkening of the mind, then our love is cooled, we become angry, we judge, condemn, hold grudges… And if we do not extract these reactions from our sick and passionate heart before it is too late, we begin to sin by word and even by deed. Sin which is repeated several times creates a passion, which is captivity of the heart by sin. This makes it increasingly difficult to heal.
To overcome such a sin (passion), a greater struggle is necessary. With confession, the sin is forgiven, but the wounds, the consequences of the sin still remain, and it takes time for healing to be complete. There is also a greater demonic deception – the shame of saying that the sin has been repeated, or the concern that we might be annoying our spiritual father by bringing up the same issue. However, the spiritual father is not the one who judges his spiritual children, but the one who loves them and spiritually guides them on their journey. He willingly dedicates himself to the service of love. Therefore, we should not be afraid to confess regularly, even if our spiritual father rebukes or refutes us. By consistently confessing a particular sin, the power of the demon associated with it diminishes over time, and we, too, will become more mindful and cautious about not sinning.
The Lord presents us with situations and allows temptations so that we can become aware of what we conceal in our hearts. Through these temptations, we can gain insight into ourselves. This process serves as a form of enlightenment. We should turn (direct) this light (enlightenment) towards ourself and not towards the judgement of our brother or sister. If we judge someone for any of their actions, we must recognise that we also suffer from that which we judge them for. This is the underlying principle.
And finally, let us conclude: The God-Man Jesus Christ is our criterion for life, not someone else, and our sin is within our relation with Him. The more we are dissimilar to Christ, the more sinful we are and the further away we are from Him. Therefore, everything that makes us dissimilar to Christ forms the theme of our confession. That is why, we repent, and confess our wrongdoings before a priest who is an icon of God, being careful not to accuse anyone else but ourselves, and we should consider every advice from him as advice from Christ that we should fulfil. Confession should be a regular practice, not something we do only occasionally. Confession should be a regular practice, not something we only do occasionally. The more we confess, the more sensitive our souls become, allowing us to grow into the likeness of Christ, Who is our ultimate goal and source of comfort.
Father Gabriel Galev
Abbot of the Monastery “St. Clement of Ohrid”,
Kinglake, Melbourne, Australia
07 / 03 / 2025
