St. Seraphim’s Fellowship
P.O. Box 351656
Jacksonville, Fl 32235
An Orthodox Christian Prison Ministry
Dear Inmate:
Evlogeite!
Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
In the Greek Community, especially monastic communities, there is a common greeting that is used; Evlogeite! What a wonderful greeting this is! It means may it be blessed. Not just “it” but you and all that you set Your hand to do. And the response of course is O Kyrios! By which we know and acknowledge that the blessing will come by and through our Lord Jesus. This wonderful expression has its roots in monasticism, to whom we owe a great deal.
The time is fast approaching when you will be baptized into the Orthodox Church and one of the final things you must do is to thoroughly prepare yourself for a lifetime confession. Your confession will take place just before the service for the Rite of Baptism. It will be with a priest, and I will not be there. I will be there for your baptism. I have acquired some
Information for you that I believe will help you in this very important preparation. Genuine Repentance & Confession heals and makes the immortal soul holy. This is the correct way to prepare for Holy Communion, which you will be receiving after your baptism.
So that we can better examine the depths of our conscience, it would be ideal to first read several books on the Sacrament of Confession.[1] Also, discuss any uncertainties that you may have with your wise Spiritual Father-Confessor.[2] The greatest science or knowledge is to get to know ourselves. Also we must not deny ourselves the greatest thing that every human soul thirsts for: a peaceful conscience and eternity with God.
This joy is only granted by the God-Man, our Lord Jesus Christ. He himself instituted the single path to salvation for the repentant sinner within his Church, the holy Sacrament of Repentance and Confession. This is why, friend, you must overcome any obstacle whatsoever that blocks the road to Holy Confession. Here awaits you with genuine Christian love the good Confessor, the representative of Christ, who as a fellow human being can understand and have compassion on his brethren who are also sinful.
Cast far away, brethren, any thought of embarrassment or fright. Why be seared or frightened when your soul frets and pains from the deadly consequences of multi-faceted sin. If sickness tortured your body, would you avoid the hospital or doctor because of embarrassment? But at the same time, do not be led astray by certain people who wish to have read on them a "blessing only," without having previously confessed. Whenever this happens from ignorance or neglect, it is a terrible sin and an insult to God. With faith, then, and honesty, proceed to Holy Confession.
Be certain also that the infinite love of the crucified and resurrected Lord will welcome you and transform you, removing the weight that burdens you! He himself said, "Come to Me all ye that are heavy laden and I will grant you rest." Ask yourself these questions and write your answers down on a piece of paper. Read from that paper when you confess. This is what I do so I don’t forget my sins.
You and God
1. Do you believe in God, the Holy Trinity, and in the divinity of Christ? Do you respect the Holy Virgin Mary, the Saints, and the Angels? Do you believe in the Church and its Mysteries (Sacraments)? Do you believe that Heaven and Hell exist?
2. Do you trust yourself always, and especially during the difficult times of your life, to the care and Providence of God? Or do you despair and show a lack of faith?
3. Perhaps in the problems, afflictions, sicknesses, and trials of your life you moan and complain against God and lose your faith and confidence?
4. Do you believe in mediums, fortune-telling, tarot card reading, or coffee-cup reading? Do you tell other people to believe in such things and go to such people?
5. Do you believe in superstition?
6. Do you believe in luck?
7. Do you pray morning and evening and before and after each meal? Are you embarrassed to make the sign of the cross in the presence of others, Do you not make your cross properly?
8. Do you read the Holy Bible as well as other Orthodox spiritual books daily?
9. Do you commune regularly or only once a year, and then without Holy Confession?
10. Do you give oaths without need or, if so, lie as well? Did you perhaps not fulfill your oath, vow, or promise? The Bible forbids oaths completely, saying that our "yes" be "yes" and our "no" be "no" (St Matthew 5:7).
11. Do you blaspheme the Name of God, the Virgin Mary, and our Saints by speaking irreverently of them?
12. Do you fast (unless you have a serious health problem) on Wednesdays and Fridays and during the appointed periods of the year? [4]
13. Do you throw religious books or periodicals in unclean places?
You and Others
1. Do you have hatred and ill-feelings towards someone who did you wrong or insulted you in their anger?
2. Are you suspicious and do you without reason suspect that everyone supposedly talks about you, that they don't want you, and that they don't love or like you?
3. Are you jealous and upset over the progress, fortune, possessions and beauty of others?
4. Are you unmoved by the misfortune and needs of your fellow men?
5. In your transactions with the guards, co-prisoners, and visitors, are you honest and forthright?
6. Have you criticized or slandered your fellow man, wrongly accusing them?
7. Are you sarcastic and patronizing towards believers, or towards those who fast and endeavor to live a Christian life, or towards those who have physical/mental problems and/or disabilities?
8. If you heard some information or criticism against someone, did you pass it on to others and harm (even unwillingly) their reputation and respect?
9. Did you criticize the conduct, actions, faults, and mistakes of another person when they were not present, even if what you said was the truth? Have you ever criticized the clergy? Do you gossip about and criticize the personal lives of others? Did you listen to someone blaspheming God or a holy person, and not protest?
10. Do you curse those who have harmed you, or curse yourself in difficult moments of your life, or curse the day and hour in which you were born?
11. Do you send others "to the devil" or give them rude hand gestures?
12. Perhaps in your anger did you hit anyone with your hands or injure them with your words?
13. Are you unfair to others?
14. Do you steal? Perhaps you have encouraged or helped another person to steal? Have you agreed to cover up a theft? Have you bought or accepted goods known to be stolen?
15. Are you ungrateful towards God and generally towards your helpers and beneficiaries? Do you grumble and murmur against them?
16. Do you keep company with bad and sinful people or associates? With your words or example, have you ever pushed anyone to sin?
17. Have you ever committed forgery? Have you ever embezzled or defrauded the public? Have you borrowed money and/or other possessions and without returning or repaying them?
18. Have you ever committed murder, in any way?
19. Do you entangle yourself in the lives of others or in their work or their families and become the cause of strife, quarrels and disturbances?
20. Do you have mercy and compassion on others?
21. Have you lied or added or subtracted from the truth? Do you flatter others in order to get your own way?
22. Have you ever sent an anonymous or cruel letter to anyone?
Yourself
1. Are you a slave to materialism and worldly goods?
2. Are you greedy or a lover of money?
3. Are you stingy?
4. Are you wasteful? Do you live by the Gospel command that whatever you have leftover and above your needs belongs to the poor?
5. Are you conceited and arrogant? Do you talk hack to your elders and superiors?
6. Do you seek attention and glory from people?
7. Do you accept compliments and praise from others gladly and like to be told that no one else exists who is as good as you?
8. Do you get upset when others reveal your faults and do you get offended when others examine you and when your seniors make comments about you? Do you get angry?
9. Are you perhaps stubborn, high-minded, egotistical, proud, or cowardly? Be careful with these sins, as the diagnosis and solution to them are difficult.
10. Do you gamble or play cards, even without money, with fellow prisoners to "kill time" as the saying goes?
11. Have sexual sins polluted your body, mind, or soul? For example, have you engaged in fornication (sexual intercourse before marriage), or masturbation, prostitution, homosexuality, etc. ?
12. Do you watch questionable shows on television or look at dirty pictures in magazines?
13. Do you read pornographic, immoral books and magazines?
14. Have you ever considered committing suicide?
15. Are you a slave to your stomach (i.e. gluttony)?
16. Are you lazy, careless and negligent? Do you not help out when you can?
17. Do you say improper, dirty, and immoral words or use swear words for the sake of humor or to insult or humiliate others?
18. Do you have a spirit of self-denial?
19. Do you expel from your mind bad or sly thoughts that come to pollute your heart?
20. Are you careful so that your eyes don't gaze or stare at provocative pictures or people?
21. Are you careful what you ears hear? Do you like to hear sinful music and conversations?
22. Do you dress immorally?
23. Have you appeared naked in public or semi-naked ?
24. Are you a drunkard? Do you abuse "recreational" or pharmaceutical drugs?
25. Do you smoke? Smoking destroys your God-given valuable health and is also wasteful of money, and therefore is a sin.
26. Do you talk excessively about meaningless things?
He who is accustomed to give account of his life at confession here will not fear to give an answer at the terrible judgment-seat of Christ. It is for this purpose that the mild tribunal of penitence was here instituted, in order that we, being cleansed and amended through penitence here below, may give an answer without shame at the terrible judgment-seat of Christ. This is the first motive for sincere confession, and, moreover, it must absolutely be made every year. The longer we remain without confessing, the worse it is for us, the more entangled we become in the bonds of sin, and therefore the more difficult it is to give an account. The second motive is tranquility: the more sincere has been our confession, the more tranquil will the soul be afterwards. Sins are secret serpents, gnawing at the heart of a man and all his being; they do not let him rest, they continually suck at his heart; sins are prickly thorns, constantly goring the soul; sins are spiritual darkness. Those who repent must bring forth the fruits of repentance.
Consciousness, memory, imagination, feeling, and will are helps to penitence. As we sin with all the powers of our soul, so penitence must be from our whole soul. Penitence in words only, without the intention of amendment and without the feeling of contrition, may be called hypocritical. Should the consciousness of sins be obscured, it must be cleared up; should the feeling be smothered and dulled, it must be roused; should the will become blunt and too weak for amendment, it must be forced; "the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force." (St. Matt. 11:12) Confession must be sincere, deep, and full.—St John of Kronstadt (My Life in Christ, p. 280)
Just a note about my own lifetime confession. I was scared to death. I wanted to go to my grave without having to tell someone “everything” about my past life. I believed that if they knew everything about me they would no longer respect me or like me. What changed my perspective was serious contemplation and prayer about standing alone before God at the Judgment Seat of Christ and being exposed as a fraud for hiding all my sins and being sent to hell. You see, just confessing you sins privately to Jesus, is not sufficient to break your ungodly pride and vanity, you can still hide! You have to be sincere about repentance to go to confession. God knows your heart. In the end, I found confession to be very therapeutic, spiritually speaking, and my Father Confessor is my best friend today. He still respects me, he prays for me, and he speaks into my life when I am “blinded” by my own passions. It was the passions of vanity and pride, by the way, that made me so uncomfortable about the idea of a lifetime confession. You are in my prayers, I hope to see you soon.
INXC,
Seraphim
