Holy Confession

Holy Confession is a sacrament of the Orthodox Church. Frequent participation in this sacrament offers a superb opportunity for spiritual growth, since it helps us to face and overcome our temptations and sins. It is not an interrogation, but a homecoming: the soul brought quietly back into the light.

The sacrament has three movements. First, the examination of our actions and thoughts to discern how we have sinned. Second, the confessing of these sins to God in the presence of the priest, who stands as our Father Confessor. Third, the Prayer of Forgiveness — the pronouncing of the forgiveness of our sins by the priest while his stole (epitrahili) is placed over our head. For this reason the sacrament is sometimes called the Sacrament of Repentance, of Reconciliation, or of Penance.

While there is enormous benefit to be received from Holy Confession in and of itself, in practice it is closely associated with the preparation for receiving another great sacrament — Holy Communion, the “Medicine of Immortality”, as St Ignatius of Antioch calls it. Our Lord Himself tells us that if we do not eat His Body and drink His Blood, we have no life in us (John 6:53), and that “Those who eat My Flesh and drink My Blood abide in Me, and I in them” (John 6:56).

It is an awesome and amazing privilege to be united with the Lord by partaking of His Holy Gifts, and so we must not approach casually or without adequate preparation. We cleanse ourselves by sincere repentance, by fasting, and by prayer, so that we might be a suitable temple for the Lord to dwell in. “Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me” (Revelation 3:20).

To arrange a time for Holy Confession, please contact the parish office. Father will meet with you privately, at whatever hour suits, in the quiet of the nave before the icon of Christ.