Слово на утрене, в четверток недели 1-й Великого поста, о исповеди

“You have become before Me in your sins and in your iniquities. I am, I am, atone for your iniquities. For my sake, your sins will not be remembered. Remember, and let us be judged: speak your iniquities first, that you may be justified” (Is. 43:24–26). Were the sins and iniquities with which the people of Israel were covered, as the prophet put it, from head to toe, unknown to the Omniscient? And the Most Merciful has already determined to forgive and blot out the sins of Israel, and to no longer remember its iniquities: meanwhile, the Wisdom of God sets as an indispensable condition for pardon that the merciful Israel not only recognize its sins, not only stop loving and reject them forever, but also confess them in the hearing of all. “Thou shalt say thy sins first, and thou shalt be justified.” Why is this preliminary confession of sins? In order to make it clear that Israel remembers all its sins and knows the full severity of them, that it hates its iniquities, and therefore no longer wants to hide them from Divine justice. Following this, the Holy Church, brothers, demands from us in these days not only internal repentance for our sins, but also external confession of them before the servants of the altar. Will we, in accordance with the voice of our pride, contradict this beneficial requirement, or weaken its fulfillment? But this would mean: either not to trust the Doctor Himself of our souls and hearts, or not to sincerely desire our own healing from sinful leprosy. No, beloved, if we are going to heal, then heal: let us leave all the vain wisdom of the flesh, throw off all the veils of pride and false shame, and let us appear at the font of repentance as we once entered the font of baptism - naked! And in order for us to love the healing of holy confession more, let us consider: when did confession begin? Who established this sacrament and why? What has always been the lot of those who either did not bring confession, or brought it, but not from the heart? When did confession start? The question is the simplest, but in answer to it, I must take you far, far away - to heaven! Yes, brethren, a confession of heavenly origin; and, perhaps, if we had made our first confession in paradise properly, we would not have been forced, after being expelled from paradise, to bitterly repent now all our lives. Do you remember what followed the fall of our first ancestors? Death had to follow, for it was clearly said: “If you cut down one day from it (the forbidden tree), you will die” (Gen. 2:17). Meanwhile (this is how the boundless mercy of the Creator arranged it!) After the fall, it was not death that appeared to man wounded by sin, but life—the Lord of life Himself: “and she heard the voice of the Lord God who went into paradise” (Gen. 3:8). Why does the Lord Himself appear at such decisive moments for us? - To receive confession from us - the fallen. “Adam,” He says, “where are you?” (Gen. 3:9). Could the Omniscient not know where Adam was? But the Most Merciful wanted to awaken fallen man to the consciousness of his wretched condition, in order by this knowledge to dispose him to confess his sin, to ask for and accept pardon. But, alas, we did not understand either the phenomenon or the voice of God! They hid from the phenomenon; they responded to the voice not with a sincere admission of sin, but with a criminal apology for it: “and Adam said: wife, what you gave to me, you gave to me from the tree, and it died”; the wife said: “The serpent has deceived me” (Gen. 3:12–13). That is, we thought to lay the blame for the fall not only on the serpent, even on God Himself, just to excuse ourselves! This is how our very first confession ended, or, better to say, this is how we transformed it! You know what was the consequence of such unrepentance: bad confessors were sent to constant, heavy penance until death - outside of Eden!.. And after this unfortunate experience of the first confession, the Lord, incalculable in goodness, did not abandon sinners. Adam's firstborn, Cain, kills his brother: the sin is obvious, the crime is terrible; what to expect other than punishment? Meanwhile, instead of execution, a confession opens, which from its very beginning pointed to a good ending. How does the Lord Himself appear and how does the fratricide's confession begin? Not with threats, not with denunciations, but with a fatherly question: “Where is your brother Abel?” - But, alas, such an excess of mercy brought out only bitterness: instead of a humble confession of sin, the unfortunate one answered: “Food is a guardian: I am my brother” (Gen. 4:9). It is known what was the fruit of this unfortunate evil: “there will be groaning and trembling on the earth” (Gen. 4:12) - said to the unrepentant confessor! Despite the extreme bitterness of the primitive world, which was mired in evil, the onset of its terrible execution was also preceded by a call to repentance and confession. For one hundred and twenty years this saving call thundered from the lips of Noah, and it thundered in vain! since it became clear that no one would appear to make confession; then the flood waves washed away the unrepentant tribe from the face of the earth. Before the scattering of all people across the face of the earth for the Pandemonium of Babylon, before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah by heavenly fire, there was no confession. But why wasn't it? Not because of a lack of those who accept confession, but because of the complete absence of those who confess. In both of these most unfortunate cases, the Lord Himself, according to the testimony of the holy Writer of Genesis, came down from heaven to see whether the sins and unrepentance of people had exceeded any measure of long-suffering, and, without a doubt, was ready to graciously accept every voice of repentance. But instead of this voice, I heard one cry of sins ascending to heaven; and therefore allowed His justice to strike unrepentant sinners. When the Wisdom of God later found a means to save faith and piety from finite consumption, concluding its revelations in one tribe of the people of Israel and protecting this people with laws and regulations, God’s mercy did not hesitate to erect among this people a sacred seat of repentance and mercy. Before the doors of the Tabernacle of Testimony, and then the church, there were always many confessors who, making various sacrifices for their sins, laid their hands on their heads, confessed their sins over them, and thus, by the power of faith in the future universal sacrifice of the Son of God for the sins of people, accepted the remission of sins (Lev. 4:29). In addition, every year, on the day of atonement, at a meeting of all the people, the great high priest made a sacramental confession of the sins of all Israel (Lev. 16:5-28). On special occasions, extraordinary persons appeared to accept confession: thus, the prophet Nathan was sent by God Himself to expose David, and, upon accepting confession from him, declared him pardon on behalf of God; Thus, Ahab brought repentance and confession before the prophet Elijah (1 Kings 21:27). Because, despite all private and public confessions, the people of Israel, with the passage of time, became more and more unworthy of their high lot; then, before the coming to earth of the Doctor of souls and bodies Himself, the Forerunner was sent to prepare the way for Him. His whole life and entire ministry consisted of preaching repentance and accepting confession from those who repent... “Jerusalem, and all Judea, and the whole country of Jordan, came to him, and was baptized in the Jordan by him, confessing his sins” (Matthew 3:5-6). John was not, like the Jewish priests, a silent hearer of confession of sins: he met and admonished those confessing with instructions. Do you want to listen to one of His short sermons? Hearken! “The voice of him crying in the wilderness: prepare the way of the Lord: make his paths right. Every mountain and hill will be humbled; You brood of vipers, who told you to flee from the coming wrath; Create fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say within yourself: Father of the imams of Abraham: I say to you that God is able from this stone to raise up a child for Abraham. Even the ax lies at the root of the tree: every tree that does not produce the fruit of good is cut off and thrown into the fire. And the people asked him, saying, “What shall we do?” He answered and said to them, “If you have two garments, let him give to him who does not have; and if you have food, let him do likewise” (Luke 3:4–11). Finally, the “Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world” (John 1:29), the Lord Jesus Himself, appears. From the very beginning He proclaimed in the ears of all that “there is no will before His Father, that one of the least of them should perish.” “Come,” He says, “...all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). And He truly brought peace to all who came to Him with faith and repentance. As a Knower of the Heart, He had no need for anyone to testify to Him about what is in each person, what his life is and what his sins are; however, he preceded the remission of sins questions: “Do you want to be whole?” (John 5:6). “Do you believe in the Son of God?” (John 9:35). And he accompanied the remission of sins with the instruction: go, and “let no one sin, ... let it not be worse for him” (John 5:14). The very last act of the Lord on the Cross was the confession of the thief; and after the resurrection, one of the main things to do was the confession of Peter, who was rejected during His suffering. The great saint of “our confession” (Heb. 3:1) had to, after completing the work of our salvation, ascend to heaven in order to “appear before the face of God for us” (Heb. 9:24), but repentance and confession with all the power of His merits remained on earth. No matter how precious the keys of the kingdom acquired by His death; but since we have an incessant need for them, then, even before His death, He handed them over to the apostles, saying: “Whatever is loosed on earth, it will be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 16:19). Therefore, the primacy of the Church presents many examples of repentance and confession. The Apostles of Christ also did not take the keys of the kingdom to heaven with them; proof of this is the many places in their writings where they command their disciples and successors to continue the great work of reconciling sinners with God, and for this they give the right to “bind and decide” - to conscience. The zeal and zeal of the Christians of the first centuries meant that confession was a nationwide action for them, in which the entire Church took part. The penitent confessed his sins before everyone, and, as a sign of repentance, publicly went through various degrees of repentance with such selflessness that now amazes the most zealous Christians. The excess of holy zeal finally reached the point where the public confession of sins, so commendable at his instigation, began to become dangerous due to the weakness of the hearing of many. Therefore, the God-wise shepherds of the Church, especially St. Chrysostom, hastened to bring this zeal to its proper limits, turning confession from public to private - before one spiritual father, as it remains unchanged to this day. Do you see now when the confession took place? It is contemporary with our fall. You see, whose business is confession? This is a work of God’s mercy, “not that any will perish, but that all may come to repentance.” Do you see what the validity of confession is based on? It is entirely based on the Divine merits of our Intercessor, especially on His death on the Cross for us. Do you finally see what is required of those who confess? What is required is sincere repentance for sins, living faith in the merits of our Savior and a firm determination to avoid sins for the entire future. since our falling away from God and falling into the depths of sins, from which we want to rise through confession, is a mystery that no one can resolve; since the redemption of us through the merits of the Son of God is also a mystery that surpasses our understanding; since, finally, the very change of our soul and heart for the better, after repentance and confession, is something mysterious, not suitable for the calculations of our poor reason: then confession, in all fairness, is called a Sacrament, that is, such an action, the essence of which exceeds the power of our comprehension, and which, therefore, must itself be accepted by faith, learned most by experience. “All this is fair, someone will say, but why shouldn’t confession be done in the depths of the spirit, before God alone? Why are there people here as intermediaries?” Then, beloved, you are a man yourself! It is fair that confession is offered to one God; but do you need an answer from God to your confession, or do you not need it? If you sincerely repent of having upset your Lord, Creator and Benefactor, then the answer to your confession should be extremely dear to you. How can I answer you? For this purpose, should God Himself appear, as He appeared in Paradise to our ancestors? But I think none of the sinners themselves will demand this. Or send a prophet to you, as Nathan was sent to David? But all the prophets would not be enough for this. Or perform any special sign in response to your confession? But in this way there would be no end to the signs, and the world would turn into a spectacle for curiosity. So, if you need an answer from God to your confession before Him, then thank His goodness for the fact that every time you can hear this answer from the lips of your spiritual father. “But my conscience,” another might think, “can serve as an answer for me?” That is, the defendant will utter pardon to himself! Is this natural? If you truly repent; then your conscience, first and foremost, needs external calm. In this case, the soothing voice of not only the altar server, even the common man, is very dear, and often saves from despair. “And when this is so,” you will say again, “then I can turn for this to one of the people closest to me who has earned my trust.” Turn to hear from his lips forgiveness from the face of God?.. Will your neighbor, if he is truly pious, dare to take on such a great task? And what is the difference between hearing assurance of God’s mercy from an ordinary person and hearing it solemnly from the lips of an altar server, who is authorized to do so by the Lord of the church Himself? “At the very least, should we limit ourselves to a general confession before the priest and a general permission from him to all those confessing?” This, beloved, is what some Christian societies did, separating themselves from the Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church; and now they begin to bitterly regret their rash action. And how not to regret? What would they say about those patients who, having appeared before the doctor, publicly confessed their illnesses to themselves, and thought that they had done everything that was needed? What would they say about a doctor who would indiscriminately offer one or two medications to all patients? If such a confession is needed for bodily illnesses, then how can it be removed without harm from mental illnesses? It goes without saying, brethren, that confession before a clergyman in no way interferes with private confessions - out of mutual Christian trust. On the contrary, the same Holy Church, which makes it an indispensable duty for everyone to confess to a priest, very often repeats the advice of the Apostle: “Confess... your sins to one another, and pray for one another... that you may be healed” (James 5:16). Who prevents you from following this saving advice? And how many, however, are there among them who fulfill it? If we have mutual frankness and friendly confession, then is it really a temptation and a sin... Confession before a priest does not in any way hinder the contrite self-confession of one’s sins before God. On the contrary, such self-confession is the best and necessary preparation for confessing sins before a priest; is one of the most excellent means for healing our daily falls into sin; so there is nothing better we can do to end our interview about confession than by inviting you to use this means. And so that anyone does not abandon it for lack of guidance, we point out to each and everyone the prayer of confession to God of a person who lays the beginning of salvation, compiled and left, one might say, as a spiritual inheritance for all truly repentant by Saint Demetrius of Rostov. Amen. You might be interested in: