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Ukrainian Orthodoxy |
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Orthodoxie ukrainienne |
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Confession
Question:
I was wondering what the Ukrainian tradition is concerning the rite for the sacrament of confession; what are it's authentic traditional prayers (including where they can be found in English if available), what is seen in most parishes and if it differs in any way from the Russian practice.
Response:
Dr. Alexander Roman alex.roman@unicorne.org
Confession in the Ukrainian tradition is similar to the practices of other Orthodox Churches. Prayers before confession can be found at: www.uocofsaintgeorge.com/prayersbeforeconfession.htm and at www.stmaryofegypt.org/prayerbook/ .
The variation in practice depends largely on how close one feels to one’s confessor/parish priest and how frequently one confesses. Ideally, it is best to have a confessor who knows us and who can therefore provide the best possible spiritual advice to us as a result. The setting for confession is before an icon with the priest acting as intermediary to help us with the rite of confession and with the confession of our sins. The priest is not there to judge us – he is there to help us better judge ourselves on our living our life in our Lord, God and Saviour, Jesus Christ. He will end the confession by giving us spiritual advice, covering us with his epitrachelion as he prays the prayer of absolution over us and prescribing a penance to spiritually medicate our soul and to help put us on the tried and true path of prayer, fasting, almsgiving and self-discipline as a way of life.
My grandfather was a priest and I used to go to him to confession (he really did know me very well . . .). He took issue with my weak prayer-life and told me that there can never be an excuse for not “fulfilling one’s prayer rule.” To help cure me of that, my grandfather (Fr. John) prescribed a series of basic prayers for me to say “after confession, again tonight before bed, tomorrow morning, in the afternoon and again before retiring, for the rest of this week, and for the next three weeks . . .” Perhaps if I had not known my confessor, I would have taken offense at such a challenging epitimia. But penance is like the Buckley’s cough syrup advertisement, since it might taste awful (at first) “but it’s going to work!”
The habit of prayer my grandfather instilled in me as a result of that “boot camp training” is something I happily observe to this day – in fact, I remember him pacing in the hall at home praying, together with my grandmother, and, in my memory, it is as if he looks up at me to say, “Well, why aren’t you praying?” A Father Confessor can be like that for all of us. There have been Saints who have come to know the sins of their spiritual children even before they confessed them.
The rule for confession as laid down by St Peter Mohyla, Metropolitan of Kyiv, is that we are to approach this Mystery at least once in each of the four main Fasts of the year, and twice during the Holy and Great Fast (Lent). The other fasts are the Christmas Fast, the Apostles’ Fast and the Fast of the Dormition.
One priest I know also insists that we recite the entire Canon of St Andrew (which is prayed during Lent) prior to each and every Confession. The use of the Jesus Prayer to help deepen our awareness of our sinfulness and weakness as a preparation for both Confession and Holy Communion is also very important.
Ultimately, it is what we bring to our experience of Confession that helps transform it into a vital, living experience with our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ as He welcomes us back into His full embrace.
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| By: Jurij Pasichnyk Reading above story about Granda-Priest and his grandson, reminded me of my experiense prepairing 7 year old children for their first Confession. Explaining to them all about confession, I noticed one little boy in the corner with very sad expression on his face, so I asked him if he had any questions? His reply was: " You say I have to tell priest everything? But what will happen to me when the priest tells my mother what I told him"? Of course I assured little boy that the priests will never tell anybody what people are telling them and he has absolutely nothing to wory about. However,years later,with the influx of new priests, my assurance "will never tell" was wrong, for in my case,during one of our mettings,in the presence of eight or ten people,our priest, with slighty elevated blood pressure,said, that during my confession I told him ...... Did the confession rules change? Could this happenin this free country? According to our biship who was informed by this priest,that "if he reads THIS prayer before confession, then he can reveal confession, but if he reads THAT prayer before confession, then this confession can not be reveald." What prayer is "THIS", and what prayer is "THAT",unfortunately, the bishop did not remember and could not give any answer. My 2 questions are: 1. Have the Confession rules changed (of course I am refering to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church rules), and if the rules have changed, where can I find anything about these changes? 2. Since my prayer books are "outdated", where can I purchase a prayer containing "THIS" and "THAT" prayer ? Reply by Reply by Alex I am so very sorry you suffered that grave indiscretion on the part of the Priest who dared violate your confession by telling others! I have a close friend who suffered something similar - she has not been to confession in years as she simply does not trust any Priest to keep what she has to say a secret and that is truly a great tragedy! The rules of confession have not changed nor will they. No Priest has the right to reveal to others what was told him in confession, period. To do otherwise is to certainly risk doing damage to souls which is, in itself, a grave offense to God. The prayers you seek can be found here: www.orthodoxworld.ru/en/tainstva/5/index.htm I hope you can forgive that Priest and move on. It would be good for you to seek out a Priest to whom you can turn to in confession on a regular basis and who can be your Spiritual Father. Once you find such a one, keep to him alone as far as possible! | |
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Ukrainian Orthodoxy - Українське Православ'я