My Joy in the Lord,

If at no other time, Great Lent is, usually, the time Orthodox Christians participate in the Sacrament of Confession. It is a very sad statement about our Sacramental participation.

We are very happy to come to Communion on a regular basis. We are scared and uncomfortable about confessing our sins to God in the presence of our priest. The same hands, the same mouth, the same mind that leads us in the Divine Liturgy are avoided when it comes to Confession. We become squeamish to reveal our selves, our failures of Faith, to a fellow sinner because of what? Lack of practice? Lack of encouragement? Lack of trust?

We hear the aphorism that “Confession is good for the soul” and, somehow, that gets translated as admitting to a transgression to the “authorities”.

Confession is good for the soul because through the Sacrament, we receive forgiveness from God. It makes our soul lighter. When we walk away from Confession and feel no different, then all we have done is speak words, not truly interact with God.

Can we confess individually, privately away from the church? Of course. Does God act on our confession? Maybe, probably, perhaps. This is the difference between the Sacrament of Confession and confession. In the Sacrament it is the prayer of the Church in its entirety that intercedes on our behalf. In our private act, it is our feeble faith that intercedes for us. Which do we prefer?

I would remind everyone that for me, it is a grace of the priesthood that I don’t remember Confessions. Many other priests have the same grace from God. But even if we do not, we are bound by Sacramental confidentiality. We may not speak of what we hear in Confession without the permission of the person who confessed. The same confidentiality works both ways. Everyone who confesses may not speak of what the confessor said without the confessor’s permission. The sole exception to this rule is if we speak and preserve the anonymity of the other person. Thus, I can say, I once heard a person confess to sin “X” and this is what I suggested to them. Or, people can say, I once went to confession and the priest suggested to me to try “Y”. Obviously this works much better when people have had years in Orthodoxy and have had experience with different Confessors…...

In the end, my earnest hope is that you will come to Confession during this coming Great Lent – whether to me or to another priest – and do something good for your soul.

With love, in Christ,

Fr. Seraphim