Confession

This was last updated 2026.09.18 by Fr. Peter Runyon

What is confession?

Confession is one of the Sacraments of the Orthodox Church. While an Orthodox priest can hear the confession of anyone, he can only offer the rite of absolution to someone who is Orthodox. The rite of absolution is also only offered to those who are truly repentant and desire to change.

The act of confession has been practiced in some form from the earliest days of Christianity. St. Paul writes about the rite of confession in his letter to the Church in Galatia, “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye who are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.” A person who falls into sin must be restored to the Body of Christ by the spiritual leaders of the community.

St. James also speaks about confession in his pastoral epistle, “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” Here again we read that the prayers of a righteous person, a spiritual leader, is effective.

Christ gave the power to hear and forgive sins to His apostles. In the Gospel according to St. John, Christ tells His apostles, “If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

We also read in the early Christian writing the Didache, “But every Lord's day [Sunday] gather yourselves together, and break bread, and give thanksgiving after having confessed your transgressions, that your sacrifice may be pure. But let no one who is at odds with his fellow come together with you, until they be reconciled, that your sacrifice may not be profaned.”

In both early writings we see that a person who fell into a serious sin was “outside” of the Church and was excommunicated (outside of communion) with the Church. A spiritually mature person, typically a spiritual leader or elder (presbyter) of the Church, had to restore that person to communion before they could partake in the Eucharist.

Confession then is the Sacrament that restores a person to communion with the Church. It is not a purification ritual that makes a person worthy to partake in the most-pure Body and most-precious Blood of Christ. Christ makes us worthy through the prayers of the faithful gathered in the Eucharistic celebration.

A good example of confession can be found in the parable of the Prodigal Son. When the son comes to his senses, he commits himself to returning to the Father. He confesses to the Father, “‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’” We read in the parable that the Father ran to the son while the son was still far away. It is often understood that as soon as the son repented, the Father was immediately at the son’s side ready to accept him back.

Confession is when we give up our prodigal living and decide to return to our Heavenly Father. When we decide to do this, we find that He runs to us, embraces us, and prepares a feast for us: the Eucharist.

Who can hear my confession?

If you are a layperson, only a bishop or a priest can hear your confession. This includes a monastic who is also a priest, which is called a hieromonk or archimandrite.

If the person is a monastic, the abbot or abbess may assign an older and spiritually mature monk, or elder, to a young monk to hear his confession. Then the young monk would go to the hieromonk to receive the rite of absolution. I will discuss the monastic form of confession more later in this article.

When should I go to confession?

A person who has fallen into a grievous sin should abstain from the Eucharist until they can meet with a priest or bishop, receive a penance, and receive absolution and a blessing to commune again. A grievous sin is when a person falls into a sin outlined in the Great Commandments: idolatry, pagan worship, adultery, murder, theft, lying about someone to get them in trouble, and desiring what another person has to the point where you are planning on how to take it from them.

Christ tells us in the Gospel according to Matthew that if a person just looks at a woman with lust he has committed adultery with her. This is what we call adultery of the heart. This is when a man or woman actively entertains sensual fantasies about another person other than their spouse (not that entertaining lustful fantasies about your spouse is good). If a person falls into this type of sin, or if a person intentionally seeks sensual imagery, they should go to confession before partaking in the Eucharist.

If a person is attacked by lustful thoughts, whether while awake or while asleep, but they do not entertain those thoughts, they do not need to go to confession. We cannot control which thoughts the demons attack us with, but we can control what we do with those thoughts. If we embrace them and entertain them, then those thoughts become ours and we fall into sin. If we reject them and cast them off, we have not committed sin. Instead, we have been like the Righteous Joseph who rejected the advances of Potiphar's wife.

A person should also go to confession with some regularity. Some jurisdictions require weekly confessions, others monthly, and yet others yearly. As a person grows in Christ and is healed by His Grace, they should need to go to confession less often. The goal of confession is to be freed from sin, so if we are never freed from it, then confession is not working. Confession is where we change through repentance and the Grace of God.

My personal rule is to go to confession during each of the great fasting periods in the Church: Great Lent, the Apostles Fast (regardless of how short it is), the Dormition Fast, and the Nativity Fast.

I also ask that the faithful in our parish who seek the Sacrament of confession fast at least 6 hours, to the best of their strength, before they approach the confessional. I also ask that they pray and ask Christ to reveal to them the sins He wants them to confess. Christ must be the guide and Lord of our repentance, otherwise even our best intended confession will be meaningless. Christ is the author and finisher of our salvation, and this includes confession.

What should I confess?

A person should confess any sin that breaks the two great commandments to love God and their neighbor according to the command of Christ. We live our love for God by loving our neighbor, and if we steal, kill, or commit adultery, we are not loving our neighbor or God and need to repent (change).

A Christian should always obey the commandments of Christ and never fall into grievous sin. The Christian is expected to live a pious and holy life. But we know that we are not perfect and there are still weaknesses in each of us. I encourage the faithful of Archangel Gabriel Parish to examine themselves daily to see how they have denied, betrayed, or otherwise crucified Christ in their thoughts, words, and actions. It is good to examine ourselves using the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:2-12) as a guide. Have I been merciful? Have I been a peacemaker? I have hungered and thirsted for righteousness? Have I been meek? If I have failed in any of these ways, I should take note of these sins and bring them to confession when I go. Examine yourself over a period of time and see which minor sins you tend to fall into. Those sins are the ones you should bring to confession.

Do not tell a story when you come to confession. Do not give the series of events leading to the sin. Just confess the sin and the priest who is hearing your confession may or may not ask clarifying questions. He may ask a question if it is a sin that you have confessed many times. Again, the purpose of confession is healing and restoration. If a person keeps hurting themselves with some sin, it is good to figure out why it keeps happening and work towards healing. The priest is there to help with that healing process and may give a penance to help with the healing.

I read a book where monks confess their sins many times a day. Should I do that?

No. The type of confession that we read in books about monks is not the same confession offered by the priest or bishop. The frequent confessions that monks offered were from a novice to his master or elder. This type of confession was part of the mentor relationship that the novice had with this spiritual father. They can engage in very frequent conversations about what the novice is struggling with because they live in the same monastery together.

A parish priest can also offer spiritual guidance in the context of confession, but it is not nearly as frequent as one might do in a monastery. In most cases, spiritual council is separate from confession.

While spiritual council is often part of confession, they are two separate things. What we read in books about a monk confessing his sins to his elder is more spiritual council than confession. This type of confession is not a Sacrament of the Church nor tied to one’s participation in the Eucharist.

Will the priest share what I’ve confessed to others?

That is a hard no. Everything revealed in the confessional stays in the confessional. The penitent can discuss their confession with others, but the priest cannot. I have made it a habit to not even think about the things revealed in confession. Nor do I bring it up to the penitent outside of the confessional.

What if I keep struggling with the same sin?

Keep struggling! Salvation is in the struggle. Never be ashamed to bring the same sin to confession if you are serious about repentance. But also be careful to avoid committing a sin and trusting that you will be “made clean” in the confessional so you can go and sin again. Fr. Alexander Schmemann wrote about this in his letter to the Synod of the OCA in 1972. If a person approaches the confessional with no intention to change, the prayers of absolution will be ineffective. The grace in absolution helps us change, it doesn’t “clean us up” so we can feel good about ourselves and go sin again. But if our hearts are dedicated on true repentance, the Lord will bless that and lead us back to Him.