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(The priest now turns and faces the people. He gives to them the following instruction concerning general confession:)
PRIEST: Behold, my children, Christ stands here invisibly receiving our confession. We should not be afraid or ashamed, and we should not try to conceal anything from Him. But having no doubts at all, we should confess all that we have done so that we may receive forgiveness from our Lord Jesus Christ.
Behold, His holy Image is before us! This evening, I am acting on all our behalf, bearing testimony before Him of all the ways in which we have indeed transgressed His Holy and Divine Will. If any sins, because of their multitude, are omitted in this general confession, which you have committed and which rest greatly on your conscience, confess these sins before you express your sorrow and ask for absolution.
Should we try to conceal any sin in this general confession, we will commit even a greater sin. Therefore, let us take heed, lest having come to the Physician, we leave unhealed.
The priest, still facing the people, kneels. The people also kneel After a moment of meditation, the priest begins the general confession of sins. (The confession of our Father among the Saints, Dimitri of Rostov, is used as a guide.)
O God, cleanse me a sinner, and have mercy on me. (3 times)
I confess to You, O Lord, my God, all of my countless sins committed by myself to this very day and even to this very hour, in deed, in word and in thought. I have sinned daily and hourly by my ingratitude toward You for Your great and countless blessings and for Your benevolent providence over me, a sinner.
I have sinned through; idle talking, judging others, stubbornness, pride, hard-heartedness, envy, anger, slander, inattention, negligence concerning my salvation, carelessness, indifference, impertinence, irritability, despondency, rendering evil for evil, bitterness, disobedience, complaining, self-justification, contradicting others, self-will, being accusing, gossiping, lying, light-mindedness, tempting others, self-love, ambition, eating and drinking to excess, vanity, laziness, entertaining unclean thoughts, acquisitiveness, impure glances, absence from divine services because of laziness and carelessness, absentmindedness at prayer both in church and at home.
(Here one should mention any other specific sins which may be burdening the soul)
I have sinned in deed, word, thought; in sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch and the rest of my mental and physical senses; of all my sins I repent and beg forgiveness.
I also repent and ask forgiveness for all those sins that I have not confessed because of their multitude and my forgetfulness.
Forgive and absolve me, heavenly Father, and bless me to commune of the holy and life-creating Mysteries of Christ unto the remission of my sins and life everlasting.
The priest and people stand. The priest proceeds to the Center Table where the people come forward to express their sorrow and receive absolution.
PRIEST: May our Lord and God, Jesus Christ, through the grace and bounties of His love toward mankind, forgive you, my child (NAME) all your transgressions. And I, His 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.
PRIEST: May Christ our true God, through the prayers of His most holy Mother and of all the Saints, have mercy on us and save us, for He is gracious and loves mankind.
PEOPLE: Amen.
PRIEST: Through the prayers of our holy Fathers, O Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, have mercy on us.
PEOPLE: Amen. Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy.
(The General Confession is completed The people, who had participated in the confession, prepare for the Sacrament of Holy Communion by reading the Prayers of Preparation and observing the fasting regulations.)
3 comments:
Fr. Victor performed general confession one time @ HTC. Apparently he had done that, very rarely, but for no special occasion that I was made privy to. I was told by another parishioner that general confession wasn't meant to take the place of "regular" confession ( at least not when administered in a non-emergency context like the one I refer to ).
We have general confession once a month but the service doesn't look like this IIRC. I don't really understand its purpose though. Its usually done at our parish on Sat. after Vespers and then each person comes forward to receive absolution.
Fr. Eugene Vansuch (Memory Eternal!) used to do this when he was parish priest at St. Nicholas in Bethlehem, PA. I cannot recall if he did it weekly or not but the as DebD stated, it would be a general confession and each person would then go up to receive personal absolution.
This did not seem to deter people from individual confession though as I saw many people not participate in the general confession but go privately BEFORE Vespers began.
Very beautiful indeed.
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