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A Brief Confession before One's Spiritual Father
From the Full Confession of St. Demetrius of Rostov
I confess to the Lord my God and before thee, venerable father, all my countless sins,
committed by me unto this very day and hour, in deed, word and thought. I sin daily and
hourly by mine ingratitude toward God for His great and countless blessings and
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
reproachful, gossiping, lying, light-mindedness, tempting others, self-love, ambition,
gourmandizing, eating and drinking to excess, vanity, laziness, entertaining unclean
thoughts, acquisitiveness, impure glances, absence from divine services because of
laziness and carelessness, absent-mindedness at prayer both in church and at home; 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.
(Here one should mention specifically any other sins which may be burdening the soul.)
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, venerable father, and bless me to commune of the holy and life-
creating Mysteries of Christ unto the remission of sins and life everlasting.