A shameful part of my sexuality, regarding Confession

[ArmyMatt]

No need to go into details, leave it at the foot of the Cross where it belongs

 

[Sanctus Est]

After all and because of the guilt I felt I went to confession and I confessed it all. Now I am feeling much more better and in peace with myself and God, thanks to all of you for being supportive and for talking to me!

 

[Wryetui]

I am glad to hear that!

 

[Orthodoxjay1]

glad to hear your at much more peace with yourself and GOD, Confession is very important part of Christianity.

 

[~Anastasia~]

Good to hear!

 

[Wryetui]

glad to hear your at much more peace with yourself and GOD, Confession is very important part of Christianity.

For me it is the more important part of our faith. The sacrament of confession is beyond words in my opinion, the fact that God has put in a man like the priest the power to take away your sins is something ineffable and makes me love this sacrament with all my heart.

 

[Sanctus Est]

Thanks to all of you but am I really very impressed about how this sacrament works. Is it really this easy? I mean, I confessed to the priest "I have commited zoofilia", and that's it? Is it cleansed? Of course I repented with all my heart, but am I forgiven? I always have this feeling of not being forgiven after confession...

 

[Anhelyna]

Sanctus Est - yes you are forgiven - please put any doubt about that out of your mind.

I think you really need to sit down with your Confessor and just talk to him about this aspect - not about your particular sin [ you've Confessed that and been absolved - so it's over and done with - the slate is wiped clean ]

You need to talk with him [ not to him - with him ] and listen and believe what he tells you.

You really must learn to forgive yourself

 

[gzt]

From the sort of things you're saying, it's pretty clear that you repudiate your sin and have a sincere desire not to do it again. There aren't any "injured parties" to make things up to. What more do you think needs to be done? Did you want to be punished? To have somebody recoil in horror and call you a bad person? God loves you, God forgives you, and you're not going to do it again, so what else is needed? In the Greek Orthodox prayer of absolution, at the end, they say, "Now, having no further care for the sins which you have confessed, depart in peace." God's grace is hard to accept sometimes. One of the devil's tricks is to make you think that there's more to it.

 

[All4Christ]

...

 

[gzt]

@All4Christ In the Slavonic service books the following is the absolution:

May our Lord and God Jesus Christ, through the grace and bounties of his love towards mankind, forgive you my child, [NAME], all your transgressions; and I, an unworthy priest, through the power given to me by him, do forgive and absolve you from all your sins: In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Greek form is less clear about that as follows:

May God Who pardoned David through Nathan the Prophet when he confessed his sins, Who pardoned Peter who wept bitterly for his denial, the Harlot who wept at His feet, the Publican and the Prodigal, forgive you all things, through me a sinner, both in this world and in the world to come, and set you uncondemned before His terrible Judgment Seat. Now, having no further care for the sins which you have confessed, depart in peace.

I mean, it's true that we confess to God in the presence of the priest, but the priest is still the instrument through which God works to give you forgiveness - he has been given a power, though certainly not like sorcery or something.

 

[All4Christ]

@All4Christ In the Slavonic service books the following is the absolution:



The Greek form is less clear about that as follows:



I mean, it's true that we confess to God in the presence of the priest, but the priest is still the instrument through which God works to give you forgiveness - he has been given a power, though certainly not like sorcery or something.

Yes, I read my post and realized that it was not accurate, so I deleted before I saw your response. It has always been a struggle for me, and I don't want to misguide anyone with my post.

Our priest always uses the Greek absolution prayer even though we are OCA so I haven't heard the Slavonic version.

I agree 100% that the priest has been given that power. Would you consider it to be an accurate statement to say that we are confessing to God in the presence of the priest, and the priest is sacramentally bestowing God's forgiveness onto us, by the power given to him?

(convert issues!! I fear I'll always have some, though they grow smaller over the years)

 

[~Anastasia~]

(convert issues!! I'll fear I always will have some, though they grow smaller over the years)

Don't feel alone on that count!

 

[gzt]

I'm not a service book wallah and don't know what they teach in seminaries, but I suspect the OCA service books prefer and they're taught to prefer the Greek one, since it's the older form and the Slavonic one is thought to be a later "Latinization". I know the Greek one is the one I've heard from OCA priests (and Antiochian and Greek). I don't recall what I've heard from ROCOR. But don't quote me on this! These are my faulty recollections.

 

[Wryetui]

Sanctus Est - yes you are forgiven - please put any doubt about that out of your mind.

I think you really need to sit down with your Confessor and just talk to him about this aspect - not about your particular sin [ you've Confessed that and been absolved - so it's over and done with - the slate is wiped clean ]

You need to talk with him [ not to him - with him ] and listen and believe what he tells you.

You really must learn to forgive yourself

You really say nice things, Anhelyna, I also consider the OP must learn to forgive himself.

I have also done sins, like all of us, and I also feel the sensation of "not being forgiven" after Confession, because for me it is unimaginable how big God's love is, that it can cleanse my sins in such an easy way without punishing me for them (and other teachings like this that sadly developed within the Roman-Catholic Church) because there is no need for punishment at all, remember what David says in his most beautiful psalm? Psalm 51: "God, you will not reject a heart that is broken and sorry for its sin."

PS: I didn't know about the "now depart in peace with no further concern of your sins" of the absolution formula that exists within the Greek Church since I am Romanian and our priests use the slavonic one.

 

[ArmyMatt]

Thanks to all of you but am I really very impressed about how this sacrament works. Is it really this easy? I mean, I confessed to the priest "I have commited zoofilia", and that's it? Is it cleansed? Of course I repented with all my heart, but am I forgiven? I always have this feeling of not being forgiven after confession...

glory to God it helped.

yes, you are forgiven, the struggle is to actually REALIZE that fact. you were forgiven before the foundation of the world, what Satan does not want is for you to take God's forgiveness

 

[Sanctus Est]

I am very pleased and thankful to all of you for helping me, here between the Orthodox I feel very comfortable and I feel like you understand me and of course between Catholics is nice too but you have an apart sense of confession. Now everything is set, I confessed my sins. But my confessor told me when we were talking outside confession that if you hide some sins in a confession session unconfessed they will return to you doubled or something like that, which makes me think of a thing: If that is true, does it mean that all my previous confessions are invalid (since I have hidden these sins I mentioned in this post) are invalid and those sins weren't absolved? (since I have hidden these sins I mentioned in this post) and I have to confess them again even if from those confessions to now I didn't repeat them at all. What's the Orthodox teaching on this? I guess in orthodoxism it's the same as in catholicism, didn't the user Wreytui said something similar as I in a post here?

I want to apologize for all the questions and things I am asking but I really want to learn and know and you seem to be very knowing on this subject. Thank you brothers!

 

[Anhelyna]

Sanctus Est

You have not let things go - and this is very bad for your spiritual health !

You said << But my confessor told me when we were talking outside confession that if you hide some sins in a confession session unconfessed they will return to you doubled or something like that, which makes me think of a thing: If that is true, does it mean that all my previous confessions are invalid (since I have hidden these sins I mentioned in this post) are invalid and those sins weren't absolved? (since I have hidden these sins I mentioned in this post) and I have to confess them again even if from those confessions to now I didn't repeat them at all. >>

Again I say to you - you must really talk with your Confessor . You need to make an appointment to see him and ask about this ,and this time listen to him very carefully since you clearly did not understand what he said . You must ask him to explain very clearly what he said and what it means.

BTW - as a Catholic I have never heard of this fact that hidden sins, because you have not confessed them during confession, will return to you doubled.

 

[Wryetui]

Sanctus Est

You have not let things go - and this is very bad for your spiritual health !

You said << But my confessor told me when we were talking outside confession that if you hide some sins in a confession session unconfessed they will return to you doubled or something like that, which makes me think of a thing: If that is true, does it mean that all my previous confessions are invalid (since I have hidden these sins I mentioned in this post) are invalid and those sins weren't absolved? (since I have hidden these sins I mentioned in this post) and I have to confess them again even if from those confessions to now I didn't repeat them at all. >>

Again I say to you - you must really talk with your Confessor . You need to make an appointment to see him and ask about this ,and this time listen to him very carefully since you clearly did not understand what he said . You must ask him to explain very clearly what he said and what it means.

BTW - as a Catholic I have never heard of this fact that hidden sins, because you have not confessed them during confession, will return to you doubled.

Actually he may have a point. The romanian priests in the prayers before confession say something like „You are now before Jesus Christ, if you let any sins unconfessed all the sins will return doubled at you, now, that you came to the doctor, make sure you wont leave unhealed” (or something like this, I cant remember properly), he is roman-catholic and I dont know if the catholic priests say something like this too.

Is this true, anyway? What do you guys think?

 

[All4Christ]

Actually he may have a point. The romanian priests in the prayers before confession say something like „You are now before Jesus Christ, if you let any sins unconfessed all the sins will return doubled at you, now, that you came to the doctor, make sure you wont leave unhealed” (or something like this, I cant remember properly), he is roman-catholic and I dont know if the catholic priests say something like this too.

Is this true, anyway? What do you guys think?

He asked if all his previous confessions were invalid because of him not confessing this - I doubt that would be the case. At most, based on what you and his confessor said, the unconfessed sins would come back, but that's not the same as all other confessions being invalid. I agree strongly with @Anhelyna - when it comes to something like this, @Sanctus Est should discuss this with his confessor.

My personal opinion, @Sanctus Est, is that you have confessed your sin that you hid, and have received absolution. I don't think you have to reconfess all previous sins from previous confessions, as what your confessor said does not seem to imply that ALL your sins returned double fold.

That said, we can only give advice - your spiritual father knows your situation - and the Catholic faith regarding confession - much better than we do.

It's interesting to see the difference between the Slavonic prayers and the Greek prayers. I have never heard that all our sins come back doublefold, and I always heard that it was only if you intentionally held things back that you needed to confess again (and the extra confession would be only for new things as well as the sins you intentionally withheld).