Translated from Bulgarian
https://bulgarian-orthodox-church.org/rr/life/st_Theophan_Recluse/ps_2006_1.4.html
Confession
Saint Theophan the Recluse
Confession, the
untying of sins by the spiritual father and the communion with the holy, pure and
life-giving Mysteries of Christ are a consequence of the sinner’s finally matured
determination to walk towards the Lord. It is not an appendage to the work of conversion,
but its necessary completion, the sealing down of what has been formed in the heart
at the moment of determination. I remind this lest no one would think of limiting
oneself only to an internal addressing to God, neglecting the Holy Divine Sacraments.
Such an addressing will be uncertain and shall lead to no good. If the smith makes
a knife properly but does not temper it, the knife will remain soft and useless.
Just in the same way, the person who has decided to abandon sin and commence a new
life, if one does not confess and receive Holy Communion, one would not have the
strength and the courage for any good, one would be lethargic, one would miss out
opportunities to do good and one would always give way to obstacles. And that means
– staying in almost the same position as before, or stopping in mid-road. He
who has made up his mind has stood up. But just as the one who has risen gets
dressed and gets ready for work, so the one who has made the resolution must dress
and arm oneself with the grace of confession and of Holy Communion, so
that with spiritual powers, and in the necessary arms, to begin the works of pleasing
God and of salvation. When the night has passed and day has come, man goes about
his business and his work until the evening (cf. Ps. 104: 22-23). Likewise, when
the night of sin passes and the day of grace in Jesus Christ dawns in the soul,
the one who has been vouchsafed grace unto goes to work and labors until the evening
of one’s life. God helps him and confirms his good undertakings with His grace [deigning]
and blessing.
Saint Theophan
the Recluse
Repentance and confession are the heart of fasting. Preceding exploits
serve as a preparation for it, while communion crowns and completes it all. Without
true repentance and confession, exploits would remain fruitless, and Holy Communion
would for us not serve for the healing of our souls and bodies.
The work of repentance is but a sigh plus the words: "I have sinned, I
shall sin no more!". But this sigh must pass across the heavens to intercede
before the throne of Righteousness. And these words must erase from the book of
life all our sins written there. Where shall they get such a strength from? From
relentless self-condemnation and heartbreak. This is where all our penitential zeal
must be focused on: [namely] to soften and break our hearts , and then, in
the hour of confession, to not be ashamed to discover all that shames us before
God and men. In the work of fasting [GOVEENE], it seems most difficult for us to
go to confession and reveal our soul to our spiritual father.
While in fact, this should be the most joyful thing for us. Is it not
joyful for one covered with wounds to get healed? Doesn't he who is stained with
all kinds of impurities rejoice when he is washed? Or the one in chains – when he
regains freedom? But precisely in this is the power of the absolution received by
the priest at confession. We step in covered with wounds – and we leave healed.
We come in unclean – and we come out washed. We step in in chains – and we go out
free. Such is God's promise: "Declare thou [Confess your iniquities first],
, that thou mayest be justified!" (Isa. 43:26 - according to Slav. transl.).
You shall be justified, no doubt, but first confess your iniquities without
hiding anything. Know that only the open wound is healed, only the impurity revealed
is washed away, only the chains shown are broken. And so, beware lest you go away
unhealed, unwashed, and unliberated.
God is the One who works here. The spiritual father represents Him and speaks
His word. God knows your sins, and you, too, cannot mentally be unaware of them
before Him. But He wants to know: would you expose your sins to His face if He Himself
stood before you, or would you begin to stubbornly deny your guilt like your forefathers
did? This was exactly why He deigned to appear to you in the person of the spiritual
father who confesses you, having commissioned him to pronounce in His name the words
of permission, and therefore they, although being uttered on earth by a weak creature,
are sealed in heaven by God's power.
And the spiritual father represents also another face [Hypostas] - the face
of all humanity. He who is ashamed to denounce himself in confession, let him chase
that shame by thinking that here shame is endured for shame: a lesser shame instead
of a greater one, a salvific shame instead of a hopeless and useless shame. One
day all our evil deeds shall be exposed to the face of all mankind and shall cover
us with such shame that we would rather have mountains piled up on us than bear
it. This is why God has ordained that we should be ashamed before one, so that by
this he may save us from being ashamed before all mankind.
There is a most pernicious cunning in our hearts: sometimes we willingly
reveal all our sins except the greatest, that which most stains us and covers our
face with shame. Most often it is a sin of the flesh, but any other one may be in
its place. He who suffers from this infirmity is ready to endure all exploits and
perform all virtues, so long as his beloved malady remains intact. But the law of
the Lord is this: do not give Me alms when you suffer from unchastity; do not give
Me fast when you are burdened by selfishness; do not give Me prayer work when you
are suffering from vanity. Discover your wound to heal yourself and adorn yourself
with its opposite virtue. And so, let every soul be inspired to overcome within
itself exactly that which is overcome with effort and resistance.
This unworthy fruit of repentance is a consequence of improper preparation
for confession. Confession is preceded by fasting [GOVEENE] in the labors
of the fast, inner seclusion, vigil and prayer. This order of austere life,
which mortifies the flesh, is instituted, so that beneath the external feat the
contrite-and-penitent movements of the heart may arise and be manifest. It is necessary
as an aid, but without the feelings of repentance it is aimless and loses its meaning.
He who breaks down [in contrition] only outwardly cannot yet be said to have the
strength for a full, blameless confession. But he who breaks down internally, for
him the confession is pure, complete, hiding nothing. He who has come to known his
sin, confessed himself to be guilty of it, lamented it and has begun to abhor it,
he has inwardly, with the very mood of his heart, said already to God: "I am
guilty, I shall sin no more!”. Such a person is ready to confess to the whole world,
and not only to his spiritual father. And this is where the wholesomeness of repentance
is rooted - in heart0felt contrition for sins, accompanied by disgust for them!
A broken and contrite heart God will not despise. Let us soften our hearts,
melt them through contrition, and they will themselves throw away everything impure
from within, and the confession will burn that with the fire of shame and of God's
forgiveness.
The weeping and grieving heart attracts wisdom, which teaches the penitent to
act thus inwardly and outwardly in repentance, that he may with full hands reap
its fruits, which include not only pardon and all-forgiveness, but also a complete
change of heart for the better, whence the mending of life comes. A deeply contrite
person confesses everything and after the confession is a completely new person.
Remember the examples of the Saints Mary of Egypt, Taisia, Eudokia, Moses Murin,
David, the malefactor on the cross, etc. Let everyone who fasts and prepares
for confession be jealous of such a change !
Contrition and confession – through the permissive prayer – unite the Divine and
the human elements in repentance, and a new creature emerges from them, as
from the baptismal font. May the most merciful Lord honor you all with this, and
may you all come out of the hospital of penitence completely healed and perfectly
renewed in all the affections and dispositions of your hearts, so that henceforth
you may love that which you were formerly cold to, and abstain from that to which
you were formerly addicted: loving meekness instead of anger, humility instead of
pride, sobriety instead of drunkenness, chastity instead of fornication, benevolence
instead of envy, friendship instead of hatred, generosity instead of avarice, temperance
instead of lust, diligence instead of sloth, concentration instead of distraction,
peaceability instead of quarrelsomeness, a kind word and preservation of one's neighbor's
honor instead of condemnation and slander — in a word, instead of every vice and
every passion — their opposite virtue and benevolence. A well-repentant Christian,
when after the confession the companions from his past bad life invited him to the
usual entertainments, answered firmly: "I am no longer the same!"
. This is the mood we must show at the end of the feat of fasting, so that when
the usual passions appear and demand to be satisfied, our whole being will answer:
"I am no longer the same!".
You can order the entire book (in Bulgarian) at
the Orthodox bookstore "Rev. Maximos the Confessor"
Or check
VID’s books on Google
https://pra-blah.blogspot.com/2023/01/book-inventory-vladimir-djambov-talmach.html
– or the
same list at
https://vidjambov.blogspot.com/2022/08/book-inventory-to-sell.html
