At the age of 13 he made many vows. What to do with them now?translated

Reader question:

Hello! At the age of 13, I made many vows: not to marry, go to a monastery, live in a monastery and hostel, become a historian, engage in social activities, read certain prayers and pray for certain people every day. Now I doubt the correctness of this. The priest from our church (without knowing the details) said that these vows must be kept, and not take new ones. I read that vows cannot be broken, but doubts remain in my heart.

Maxim

Priest's answer:

Evgeniy CHEBYKIN, priest

Hello, Maxim.

Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Gospel of Matthew says: “Again you have heard that it was said to the ancients: “Do not break your oath, but fulfill your oaths to the Lord.” But I say to you: do not swear at all: not by heaven, because it is the throne of God; nor the earth, because it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, because it is the city of the great King; Do not swear by your head, because you cannot make a single hair white or black. But let your word be: “Yes, yes”; "no no"; and anything beyond this is from the evil one” (Matthew 5:33-37).

In this regard, I would strongly recommend that you go to confession again and repent of the fact that in your youth you were arrogant and...