What is repentance. What is repentance in Orthodoxy

Repentance is the beginning of the Christian new life, or the Christian new being, being in Christ.

Thus began the gospel with the words of St. : " Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand ". And Christ's sermon after Baptism was: Repent and Believe in the Gospel «.

But in our time the question is raised: why is repentance necessary? From a social point of view, it is inappropriate to talk about repentance. There is, of course, some semblance of repentance, especially in the countries of Eastern totalitarianism: when someone deviates from the party line, they demand from him " repentance“, or when the leaders of the party themselves deviate from their original plan - only this is not called repentance, but some kind of “ reform" or " perestroika"... There is no real repentance here. Which of you saw Abuladze's film ""? There, it is precisely about false repentance, and only at the end of the film is it clear what true repentance is. The film exposes false repentance as a kind of change " ideal", or " style a power that remains essentially the same. And indeed, such repentance has nothing to do with true repentance.

In Scripture there are (in the Greek text) two different expressions for repentance. One expression - metanoia , and the other metamelia . Sometimes this second expression is not translated by the word " repentance"and the word" repentance". I thought, for example, to go to Frankfurt and " repented“, that is, I changed my mind: I won’t go. This is what is called in Scripture metamelia“It's just a change of intent. It has no spiritual meaning. There is also, in a social or psychological sense, something like " remorse“That is change. In the field of psychology, there perestroika"his character, his neurosis ... In depth psychology, Adler, or Freud, and even Jung do not have the concept of repentance.

Repentance is a religious concept

You have to repent before someone. It does not mean simply changing the style of life or one's inner feeling or one's experience, as is meant, say, in Eastern religions and cultures. These religions say that a person must get his own experience, must know himself, fulfill himself, so that the light, his consciousness, awakens. But such a change does not require God. And Christian repentance is certainly before someone.

And here's an example for you. One of our Serbs - now he is 60 years old - was a communist in his youth and, like all of them, did a lot of evil to the people. But then he turned to faith, to God, to the Church, and when he was offered to take communion, he said: No, I did a lot of evil «. — « Well go confess «. — « Well no , - He speaks, - I will go to confession to the priest, but I have sinned before the people, I need to openly confess to the people «.

This is the expression of the full consciousness of what repentance is. Here you see the church's perception, ancient Christian and truly biblical, that a person is never alone in the world. He stands, first of all, before God, but also before people. Therefore, in the Bible, a person's sin before God always has to do with his neighbor, which means that it has a social, social dimension and consequences. And this is felt both in our people and among the great Russian writers. The Orthodox people have a feeling that some kind of thief or tyrant, or one who does evil to his neighbor, is the same as an atheist. Let him believe in God, but this is useless, in fact he will simply blaspheme God, since his life is at odds with faith.

Hence comes a holistic understanding of repentance as a proper standing both before God and before people. Repentance cannot be measured only by social or psychological scales, but there is always a God-revealed, biblical, Christian concept.

Christ begins his gospel, his good news, his teaching of mankind with repentance. St. Mark the Ascetic, a disciple of St. John Chrysostom, who lived in the 4th-5th centuries in Asia Minor as a hermit, teaches that our Lord Jesus Christ, God's power and God's Wisdom, providing for the salvation of all, from all his various dogmas and commandments left one and only the law is the law of freedom, but that one comes to this law of freedom only through repentance. Christ commanded the apostles: Preach to all nations repentance, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand ". And the Lord wanted to say by this that the power of the Kingdom of Heaven is contained in the power of repentance, just as the leaven contains bread or the whole plant is contained in the grain. Thus, repentance is the beginning of the Kingdom of Heaven. Let's remember the message of St. Apostle Paul to the Jews: those who repented felt the power of the Kingdom of Heaven, the power of the future age. But as soon as they turned to sin, they lost this strength, and it was necessary to revive repentance again.

So, repentance is not just a social or psychological ability to get along with other people without conflict. Repentance is an ontological, that is, an existential category of Christianity. When Christ began the gospel with repentance, he had in mind the ontological reality of man. Let us say in the words of St. Gregory Palamas: the commandment of repentance and other commandments given by the Lord fully correspond to human nature itself, for in the beginning He created this human nature. He knew that later He Himself would come and give the commandments, and therefore He created nature according to the commandments that would be given. And vice versa, the Lord gave such commandments, which corresponded to the nature, which He created in the beginning. Thus, the word of Christ about repentance is not a slander on the nature of man, it is not " imposition» the nature of man is something alien to it, but the most natural, normal, corresponding to human nature. The only thing is that human nature is fallen, and therefore is now in an abnormal state for itself. But it is precisely repentance that is the lever by which a person can correct his nature, return it to its normal state. That is why the Savior said: Metanoite " - i.e " change your mind «.

The fact is that our thought has gone away from God, has gone away from ourselves and others. And this is a sick, pathological state of a person, which in Slavonic is called the word " passion", and in Greek the word" pathos"(pathology). This is just a disease, a perversion, but not yet destruction, just as a disease is not the destruction of an organism, but simply damage. The sinful state of a person is a corruption of his nature, but a person can recover, accept correction, and therefore repentance comes like health to a sore spot, to a sick nature of a person. And since the Savior said that we must repent, even if we do not feel the need for repentance in ourselves, then we must believe Him that we really need to repent. And in fact, the closer the great saints got closer to God, the stronger they felt the need for repentance, because they felt the depth of the fall of man.

Another example from the present. A certain Peruvian writer Carlos Castaneda has already written 8 books about some Indian sage and magician, Don Juan in Mexico, who taught him to take drugs in order to get a state of a second, special reality, enter into the depths of the created world and feel its spirituality, meet spiritual creatures. Castaneda is an anthropologist, and aroused great interest among the youth. Unfortunately, we have already translated 8 volumes. The other day in Belgrade there was a discussion: what is Castaneda - accept it or reject it. One psychiatrist said that taking drugs to hallucinate is a dangerous path from which one can hardly return. One writer praised Castaneda. I was the harshest critic.

There is nothing new in the diagnosis of Don Juan by the writer Castaneda. Humanity is in a tragic, abnormal state. But what does he suggest to get out of this state? To feel another reality, to free ourselves a little from our limitations. And what happens? Nothing! Man remains a tragic being, not redeemed or even redeemed. He cannot, like Baron Munchausen, lift himself out of the swamp by his hair. The Apostle Paul points out: neither other heavens, nor another creation, nor the other world, nor the seventh heaven can save a person, for a person is not an impersonal being who needs only peace and tranquility. He is a living person, and seeks living communion with God.

One Serbian communist peasant said rather rudely: “Well, where is God, so that I would take Him by the throat?” Is he an atheist? No, he is not an atheist, but he feels God vividly, quarrels with God, like Jacob. Of course, it is an outrage on the part of this Serb to say so, but he feels a living life... And to believe that salvation is in some kind of balanced bliss, in nirvana, in the inner world of concentration and meditation, does not lead a person anywhere. This even closes the possibility of his salvation, because man is a creature created from non-existence into existence and invited to fellowship...

In the Song of Songs or in the Psalms we see an existential dialogue between God and man. They both suffer. And God is sorry for man, and man is sorry. Dostoevsky especially clearly showed that when a person moves away from God, something precious and great is lost. Such a mistake, not coming to meet God is always a tragedy. Tragedy is the consciousness of losing what we could comprehend. When a person loses love, moves away from God, he feels it tragically, because he was created for love. Repentance brings us back to this normal state, or at least to the beginning of a normal path. Repentance, as Father Justin (Popovich) said, is like an earthquake that destroys everything that only seemed stable, but turns out to be false, and then everything that was must be changed. Then begins the real, constant creation of the personality, the new man.

Repentance is impossible without meeting God. Therefore, God goes to meet man. If repentance were simply contemplation, repentance, the disposition of one's forces in a different way, it would be a restructuring, but not a change in essence. A sick person, as St. Cyril of Alexandria says, cannot heal himself, but he needs a healer - God. What is the disease? In the corruption of love. There shouldn't be one-sided love. Love must be at least two-sided. And for the fullness of love, in fact, three are needed: God, neighbor and I. I, God and neighbor. Neighbor, God and me. This is perekhorisis, the interpenetration of love, the circulation of love. That is what eternal life is. In repentance, a person feels that he is sick and seeks God. Therefore, repentance always has a regenerating power. Repentance is not just self-pity, or depression, or an inferiority complex, but always a consciousness and a feeling that communication has been lost, and immediately a search and even the beginning of the restoration of this communication. The prodigal son came to himself and said: Here's the state I'm in. But I have a father, and I will go to my father! » If he had simply realized that he had gone astray, this would not yet have been Christian repentance. And he went to his father! According to the Holy Scriptures, it can be assumed that the father had already gone out to meet him, that the father, as it were, took the first step, and this was reflected in the son's motivation to return. It is not necessary, of course, to analyze which is first and which is second: the meeting is double. Both God and man in repentance enter into the activity of love. Love seeks fellowship. Repentance is regret for lost love.

Only when repentance itself begins, then a person feels the need for it. It would seem that first a person needs to feel that he needs repentance, that it is salvation for him. But in fact, it turns out paradoxically that only when a person already experiences repentance, then he feels the need for it. This means that the unconscious of the heart is deeper than the consciousness that God gives to those who want it. Christ said: Who can accommodate, yes accommodate ". Saint Gregory the Theologian asks, who can accommodate ? And answers: whoever wants . Of course, the will is not just a conscious decision, but much deeper. Dostoevsky also felt this, and Orthodox asceticism knows that the will is much deeper than the human mind, it is rooted in the core of a person, which is called the heart or spirit. As in Psalm 50: Create a pure heart in me, O God, and renew a right spirit in my womb. ". This is a parallelism: the heart is pure - the spirit is right; create - update; in me - in my womb, that is, only in other words is confirmed what was already said in the first part. The heart or spirit is the essence of man, the depth of man's god-like personality. It can even be said that love and freedom are contained in the very center, in the core of man. God's love called man out of nothingness. The call of God came true, and the answer came. But this answer is personal! That is, a person is an answer to the call of God.

St. Basil the Great says (and this has entered the service of the holy Archangels) that all angelic forces strive with irresistible love for Christ. Let them be angels, let them be great spiritual beings, almost gods, but they also have emptiness without Christ, without God. Dostoevsky put into the mouth of Versilov in " Teenager "an image that humanity has realized social truth, love, solidarity, altruism, but having expelled from the earth the great idea of ​​​​God and immortality. And when Christ appeared in His Second Coming, then all of a sudden they felt — they are all happy, who have realized the kingdom of the earth, “ heaven on earth “, they felt that they had an emptiness in their souls, the emptiness of the absence of God. So there was no love. And Dostoevsky rightly said that love for man is impossible without love for God.

The two commandments of love are united. Love for God completely, being your own, and love for your neighbor completely, as you love yourself. They cannot exist one without the other, and together they only create the Christian cross: vertical and horizontal. If you take away one, then no more cross is obtained, and there is no Christianity. Love of God is not enough, and love of neighbor is not enough.

Repentance and love

Repentance immediately arouses a person both to love for God and for love of one's neighbor.

Theophan the Recluse in Paths to salvation says (but this is also the experience of all the Fathers) that when a person awakens to repentance, he immediately feels that he loves his neighbor. He is no longer proud, he does not consider himself great. He wants everyone to be saved. This is already a sign of true Christian life. This means that repentance opens the way for us in an abnormal state, in a sinful, alienated state, a turn to a normal state, a turn to God and correction before God. It reveals the full truth about the human condition. And repentance immediately turns into confession. Confession is the revelation of the true man. Sometimes even us. Orthodox Christians, it seems that repentance is a kind of " duty» the person who us « should be followed". But no, this is too low an understanding of confession. And the confession is similar to what one Russian old woman told me about, who guarded her little grandson. For some tricks, she spanked him on the arms; he went into a corner and wept with resentment. She did not pay any more attention to him, but continued to work. But finally, the grandson comes to her: “ Grandma, they beat me here and it hurts here". Grandmother was so touched by this appeal that she herself began to cry. The childish approach won over the grandmother.

He opened up to her. So, confession-repentance is a kind of disclosure of oneself before God. Like those words from the psalm that passed into the irmos: “ Prayer to the Lord “… you seem to have a jug of dirty water and just pour it out before God…” And I will tell Tom my sorrows, for my soul is filled with evil and my life has reached the bottom of hell ". He simply feels that he has fallen to the depths of hell, like Jonah in the whale, and now he opens himself before God.

Confession as a continuation of repentance is the true self-disclosure of man. Yes, we are sinners, that is why we reveal our wounds, illnesses, sins. A person sees himself in a desperate, hopeless situation. But what is truly true is that he looks not only at himself, but, as St. Anthony the Great: put your sin in front of you and look at God on the other side of sins. Through sins look at God! But then sin will not stand the competition of meeting with God. God conquers all: what is sin? Nothing! Nonsense before God. But this is before God! And in itself, for me, it is an abyss, death, hell. As David the Psalmist says: From the depths I called to You - raise my belly from the abyss! ". Our soul yearns for God, as a deer in the desert yearns for flowing water.

Like St. Augustine felt that nowhere can a man's heart rest—only in God. As when something happens to a child, he runs and looks for his mother and no one else, and he wants nothing more than his mother, but when he falls into the arms of his mother, he calms down.

Therefore, the Gospel is precisely a book of basic relationships: it talks about a child, about a father, about a son, about a house, about a family. The gospel is not a theory, not a philosophy, but an expression of existential relations - ours among ourselves, and ours with God.

So confession is revealing the truth about yourself. There is no need to slander yourself, that is, to scold yourself more than you are really sinful, but you don’t need to hide it either. If we hide, we show by this that there is no sincere love for God in us. is a recorded living experience taken from reality. Much is shown in the Bible, there are many sins, both apostasy and theomachism, but in all this you will not find one thing, this is insincerity. There is no area in life where God is not present. One must know, Father Justin said, as the holy prophets knew that there is much evil in man, and the world is lost in evil, but that there is salvation for such a world and such a person. This is our joy! There is a possibility of salvation, and there is a real Savior.

Father Justin once showed this by such an example (he loved the prophet Elijah and John the Baptist very much!). According to him, the Forerunner was the most unfortunate person in the world, because as a child he went with his mother to the desert, and when his mother died, he remained there, and God protected him with Angels. So, he lived in a pure desert, with a pure sky, pure stones, pure rain and did not know sin, he lived like an Angel of God in the body. But now, when he was 30 years old, God told him: go to the Jordan and baptize people. And then people come to him and begin to confess… they pour out sins on the Forerunner, which become a hill… a mountain… And the Forerunner cannot endure these sins. Do you know what sins people have and carry in themselves! And the Forerunner begins to despair: Lord, is this the man you created? Is this the fruit of Your hand? » Forerunner began to drown. And the masses go to confession - how many more sins must pile up? And when the Forerunner can no longer endure, suddenly God says to him: Here is the Lamb of God, among these sinners One, uplift (taking) the sins of all these and the whole world ". And then the most unhappy person becomes the happiest. Glory to Thee, Lord! This means that there is salvation from these sins and from all sins.

There is a Savior! This Father Justin expresses, of course, from his own experience, what kind of repentance the Forerunner experienced there. And indeed, I will speak from my little experience with Father Justin. He was a man who lived like the Forerunner: a pure, great ascetic, and he sympathized, like Metropolitan Atony (Khrapovitsky), sympathized with sinners, sympathized with every person, all creatures, and God gave him for this compassion the great gift of tears. And it was not something foreign to us. Human tears are always close to each of us. Near a person who sincerely repents, one can feel that repentance is also necessary for us, that tears are natural water, precious as blood, this is new Christian blood, this is a new baptism, as the fathers said. Through tears, we renew baptismal water, which becomes warm and full of grace.

Fasting and repentance

And fasting is added to such repentance.

Saint John of Kronstadt in My life in Christ ”writes that when a person hates, his gaze prevents another from even walking. A person not only suffers from sin, but everything around him suffers, right down to nature, and when a person begins to repent and fast, this is reflected in everything around him.

Allow me this digression: if modern humanity fasted more, there would not be so many environmental problems. Man's attitude to nature is not at all fasting, not ascetic. It is brutal and violent. Man is already an exploiter, or an occupier. This is what Marx taught: you just have to pounce on nature and use it, master the laws and reproduce. This will be " story" etc. Such an attitude is different, only not human, not humane.

The holy fathers ascetics said that we are not carnivores, but passion-killers. Fasting is not a struggle against the flesh as God's creatures. And Christ is flesh, and His Communion is also flesh. But the struggle must go with the perversion of the flesh. Each of us can realize and feel that if a person does not control himself, his body, then he already becomes a slave to food, or drink, or other pleasures. A thing begins to own a person, and not a person a thing.

The fall of Adam was that he did not want to restrain himself: when he ate the fruit, he did not receive anything new. The commandment was not to forbid him to eat this fruit, as if there was something dangerous in it, but to teach him to discipline himself in order to put him on the path of achievement. This is the feat of freedom and the feat of love. No one but man can do it, and therefore he is called to do it. To participate in the freedom and love of God, a person must be an ascetic.

For example, an athlete, a football player, must be an ascetic. He can't drink and eat and do what he wants and be a good athlete. Can not. It is clear as day, as the sun.

The Christian, on the other hand, must tame his body even more so that it serves (in Greek, liturgisalo), that is, so that it is in “ liturgy ". BUT " liturgy " means: full, normal general function, general activity. When we talk about the Holy Liturgy, this is the service of people to God, but the general meaning of this word is the normal functioning of everything that is given to man.

Therefore, a Christian who goes to repent also uses fasting. It is necessary to fast for this, and not just to fulfill a duty or even, as some people think, to earn a reward from God, a crown. No sacrifice that seeks a reward is a sacrifice, but simply a job waiting to be paid. Mercenaries may think so, not sons. Christ, when he made a sacrifice for us, did not seek a reward from God the Father for this, but went out of love. As Metropolitan Filaret says, the Son was crucified out of love for God the Father; out of the love of the Son for us He was crucified, and out of the love of the Holy Spirit He conquered death by His crucifixion. Only love can understand this.

This is the correct understanding of fasting.

In addition, fasting helps us correct corrupted human nature, bring in the necessary order that God has given. It is to feed first of all on the word of God, and then on bread. Bread is definitely needed. We cannot live without bread. But bread comes second. As Christ answered the devil who tempted Him in the wilderness: Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God ". By the Word of God, that means fellowship with God.

I remember one Russian sufferer who was a librarian at our faculty.

He spent four years at Dachau. He adopted and raised one Serbian orphan, then married him. And this wife drove the old man out of the house. The old man then died very poor. He said that in Dachau one could see by the face who had a living communion with God. There was no hypocrisy. He told me, among other things, that, in his opinion, Berdyaev had never had a living contact with God. Of course, Berdyaev is a tragic figure, a sufferer, a kind of martyr, and one cannot simply reject him. But he is too pretentious, he did not know humility, he even scolded humility.

Resign not from an inferiority complex

And before God you need to humble yourself, but not at all from " inferiority complex". Job was sick, long-suffering, but he was not " inferior» before God. He was humble, and this humility gave him boldness. " Come down from heaven Job said to God, and God descended. We do not need to accept psychological or social categories: humility is not impotence, but precisely boldness. For example, I came to Vladyka Mark, I have no money, I would die here, but I hope that Vladyka will feed me and will not leave me. This is boldness. Otherwise, I will underestimate not only myself, but also the lord.

And here is how the ancient Christians prayed. One Egyptian monk said: I have sinned as a human. You are like God, have mercy ". Humility and boldness go side by side, together.

All together, beginning with repentance—whether repentance presupposes faith or is born in faith—it doesn't matter, they go together. Faith in God immediately includes repentance in my tragedy, in my problem, in my life. I do not agree to solve my problem without God. I am looking for communication. And God showed through Christ that He wants fellowship with us. He gave his Son! He loved us before we loved Him. So He is also looking for fellowship. This God is truly philanthropic, the God is active, the God who is called by some fathers " pre-eros". In order to enter into His omnipotence, He comes out to meet us, and by this He limits Himself to our measure in order to receive us. It is called " kenosis ". If He walked straight towards us, then... as if the sun burned us, we would just disappear. And He belittled Himself out of love, seeking our fellowship not forcibly, simply - He Himself wants it that way. And this immediately gives us dignity. Therefore, in our Orthodox Christian tradition there is a great basis for boldness, for hope in God. Man is sinful, but still: God is greater than sin! AT " Besakh "Dostoevsky, the elder Tikhon said this to Stavrogin:" You only have one step to the saints ". Indeed, this one step a person can take and meet God. There is never an impossible thing. It is impossible for man, but it is possible for God. And God has entered into this connection with us and does not want us to solve our problems without Him. And we have no reason to doubt it, since He gave His Son.

Powerful Reasons to Repent

These are powerful reasons we have for repentance. This is not just some kind of moral teaching of a person that one must be good, and therefore one must repent. No, repentance renews in us the very foundations of the Christian faith. God wants our salvation, seeks it, and longs for it, and waits for it. For our part, it is only necessary that we want, and then we will be able, not by ourselves, but by God.

Repentance with all the Christian virtues that accompany it, like confession, humility, boldness, hope, fasting, prayer... repentance is already a foretaste of the resurrection, even the beginning of the resurrection. This is the first resurrection of man. The second will be the result, the consummation at the Second Coming of Christ.

Such an experience of repentance does not exist in any religion, nor in any spiritual experience, nor in any mysticism. Even, unfortunately, even in Western Christianity this feeling, this experience, this event has almost been lost.

Father Justin told us that he was from the beginning of 1917 to 1919. at Oxford, where he studied. And then one Anglican monk, after two years of friendship, said to him: “ All of you are young, cheerful, like us, but you have one thing that we, as a church, do not have - this is repentance, we do not know this ... «. « The fact - Father Justin said, - that we once quarreled for real. And then I could no longer stand it and went to him to ask for forgiveness, threw myself at his feet, cried, and the man accepted this ... So he saw repentance «.

The fathers have instructions that there is no need to inflate passions, no one even needs " step on the shadow “… but in order for this to be real humility, it must be done with love, that is, it must not be simply indifference to the condition of a brother. Otherwise, this is not humility or dispassion, but just some kind of conventional attitude, " good tone“, that is, hypocrisy, officially established: one should not interfere in other people's affairs. (Let people die in Vietnam, Yugoslavia or Cuba). It all comes down to external propriety... As Father Justin used to say: culture is very often polish, but inside is a worm. Of course, you don't have to be aggressive either. But God led us Orthodox through history in such a way, we opened ourselves to Him in such a way that we could never be without problems. But recognizing the status quo, recognizing the abnormal regime as normal, is not Christianity. Repentance is precisely a protest against an abnormal state. There are difficulties in the family, in the parish, in the diocese, in the state, in the world - a Christian cannot deal with this " to reconcile". He definitely fights. But he starts with himself, so repentance is self-condemnation, self-restraint, or, as Solzhenitsyn said, or what Tarkovsky said, shame, shame as a religious concept, in the sense that a person returns to himself and begins to be ashamed. At the end of the film "" Abuladze shows what true human repentance is. A person begins to be ashamed of his deeds and immediately there is a determination to change this. It can be said that only in Orthodox countries, in Russia, in Serbia, in Greece, there is repentance as a theme (and even in literature). We have recently published a novel by Lubardo "" - about the relations of Serbs, Muslims and Catholics in Bosnia. And in his novel, only the Serbs repent. And the Serbs not only speak, but also do repentance.

Thank God, this means that we are sinners. And this is not pride, we do not praise ourselves, but we cannot reconcile ourselves to such a situation, neither ours nor others. Father Justin called this the genuine revolutionary spirit of Christians against sin, against evil, against the devil, against death. This is the rebellion of man against the false self, and the rebellion against the false in another person, and in religion, the rebellion against false gods and the struggle for the true God. Repentance is looking for a true vision of the world, God, man, looking for the right faith.

I am personally shocked that young people in Russia are now returning in droves to God, to Orthodoxy. This is how it is with us too. It is not just to find faith in some god, to reject atheism and find some kind of mysticism, but to find the living God, to get involved in the true life of the Church. The other day I read a good article by Vladimir Zelinsky " Church Time". It can be seen how a person found God, found Christ, found the Church. If a person has just somehow repented and wants to live, no matter what church he belongs to, then I doubt the authenticity of even this initial repentance. It's kind of " metamelia", but not " throwing ". This is not a true restoration of life. That is why the fathers stood so zealously for the faith.

But we must not forget behind this the fact that love is the first dogma of our faith. Love is the true cross, but don't be afraid of love if it leads to the cross. Never forget that when love is on the cross, it still remains love. If Christ had not said: Father, forgive them! “Then was not Christ, believe me. He would be a hero, an ideal man, but not the true Christ the Savior. And Dostoevsky in " Grand Inquisitor» Christ kisses even the inquisitor. This is not sentimentality, not romanticism, this is true love that is not afraid. Therefore, we Orthodox always feel that our strength and invincibility is not in ourselves, but in the authenticity of what we seek, desire, what we believe in and what we live for.

What a time is now! It used to happen that if someone sincerely repents of sins, then he already changes his sinful life for a good one, and now it often happens like this: a person will tell all his sins in detail at confession, but then he will again be accepted for his own.

One kept sinning and repenting, and so on all his life. Finally he repented and died. An evil spirit came for his soul and says: "He is mine." The Lord says: "No, he repented." “But at least he repented, and sinned again,” continued the devil. Then the Lord said to him: “If you, being angry, took him back to yourself after he repented to Me, then how can I not accept him after he, having sinned, again turned to Me with repentance? You forget that you are evil and I am good."

Sins are like walnuts: you will crack the shell, but it is difficult to pick out the grain.

It happens that although our sins are forgiven us through repentance, our conscience does not cease to reproach us. The late old man Macarius, for comparison, sometimes showed his finger, which had been cut a long time ago; The pain has long gone, but the scar remains. So exactly, even after the forgiveness of sins, scars remain, that is, reproaches of conscience.

Although the Lord forgives the sins of those who repent, every sin requires a cleansing punishment. For example, the Lord Himself said to the prudent thief: “Today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43), but meanwhile, after these words, his legs were broken, and what was it like to hang on the same hands, with broken legs, for three hours ? So, he needed a purifying suffering. For sinners who die immediately after repentance, the prayers of the Church and those who pray for them serve as purification, while those who are still alive must themselves be cleansed by the correction of life and almsgiving that covers sins.

Whatever you think, whatever you interpret, death cannot be avoided and the Judgment of God cannot be avoided, at which everyone will be rewarded according to his deeds. Therefore, it is good to come to your senses in advance and take up the real mind. The gospel teaching begins and ends with the words: “Repent!” I came to call not the righteous, but sinners to repentance (Matthew 9:13). Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest; take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls (Matthew 11:28-29). The Lord calls on those who struggle with passions and are burdened with sins and promises to calm them through sincere repentance and true humility.

True repentance does not require years or days, but one moment.

What will the Lord decree for sinners? He sets the law for repentance, saying in the Holy Gospel: Repent, if you do not repent, ... you will perish (see: Luke 13:3).

Some of the Christians do not repent of unbelief at all, and some, although they repent for the sake of order and custom, but then, without fear, they again sin grievously, having an unreasonable hope that the Lord is good, while others, meaning only that the Lord is just, do not cease to sin out of despair, not hoping to receive forgiveness. Correcting those and others, the word of God declares to everyone that the Lord is good to all who repent sincerely and with the firm intention not to return to the former. For sin is not victorious over the love of God. On the contrary, the Lord is just for those who, out of unbelief and negligence, do not want to repent, and also for those who, although sometimes they repent for the sake of order and custom, but then again sin grievously without fear, having an unreasonable hope that the Lord is good. There are also Christians who repent, but not all of them are expressed in confession, and some sins are hidden and concealed for the sake of shame. Such, according to the apostolic word, commune unworthily of the Holy Mysteries, and for unworthy communion they are subjected to various infirmities and illnesses, and quite a few die.

It is one thing to sin from weakness and sin with a pardonable sin, and another to sin from negligence and fearlessness and sin with a grave sin. Everyone knows that there are mortal sins and there are pardonable sins, in word or thought. But in any case, sincere and humble repentance and compulsion, according to the gospel word, with a firm intention not to return to the former, are necessary. It is said in the Fatherland: “Thou art fallen, arise! Thou hast fallen again, rise again!"
It is not surprising to fall, but it is shameful and grievous to be in sin.

Do we act like Saint David did when we are punished by God for our sins or calamities or diseases? Saint David, having sinned, repented, confessed to God and thanked the Lord for the fact that he, who had sinned, had not been put to death, but left for repentance and correction. No, we, of little faith and cowardice, do not imitate Saint David, but, being punished for our sins, we grumble at God and people, accuse everyone and everything, instead of humble ourselves and bring sincere repentance in our sinful life and try to correct ourselves or, according to at least, at least not to grumble and not to blame others, but to realize that we endure illness or calamity with dignity and righteousness. Through such a humble consciousness and repentance with a firm determination not to return to the former, we can receive mercy from the Lord both in this and in the future life.

You write that it is better not to sin than to repent. It is good not to sin, but it is commendable for the one who has sinned to repent. If you hold on to the first one, it’s good, but if you don’t hold on, there is no other way to propitiate God, how to repent. And what you explained, you shouldn't stumble about it, and your stammering indicates false shame. I will also say: a sinner who repents is more pleasing to God than a man who has not sinned, but is exalted. It is better to repent having sinned than to be proud of it without sinning. The Pharisee refrained from sin, but for the exaltation and condemnation of the publican, he lost his righteousness before God, and the publican, who had sinned a lot, through a humble consciousness and reproach from the Pharisee, received not only the forgiveness of sins, but also delighted in the justification of the Pharisee. You, too, follow the path of publican humility; this is the safest path.

Repentance is not accomplished before the grave and has three properties, or parts: purification of thoughts, patience in finding sorrows, and prayer, i.e., invoking God's help against the evil attacks of the enemy. These three things, one without the other, do not happen. If one part is interrupted where, then the other two parts are not solid there either.

The all-merciful Lord does not require anything from us, as soon as one sincere repentance, and through it leads the repentant into His Heavenly and Eternal Kingdom, as it is said in the Gospel: Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand (Matt. 3, 2).

I barely bothered to read your long and sincere confession. From now on, let us lay the foundation for a good correction, which does not happen without labor and compulsion, in patience with humility. But one should not lose heart and should not think that it is suddenly possible to correct oneself from evil habits, but gradually with God's help.

Everyone not only can, but should take care of pleasing the Lord. But how to please Him? First of all, repentance and humility. But that's not enough for you. You want the Lord to be your debtor. You write: “The Lord has done everything for me, but I have done nothing for Him. Is it easy? If someone owes someone, then, without paying the debt, one cannot make gifts. In the same way, we must first of all take care of paying off our sinful debt through humble repentance, which is carried out right up to the grave. But you ask: “Are not all previous sins forgiven during confession and tonsure? And is it necessary to repent to death in prayer for former sins and remember them, or to consign them to oblivion and not confuse thoughts with former deeds. You have already been told that carnal sins should never be remembered in detail, especially in prayer you should not count such sins by appearance, but should generally consider yourself a sinful and unrequited debtor before the Lord. The holy Apostle Paul was worthy to receive not only the forgiveness of sins, but also the apostolic dignity, and yet he counted himself among the sinners, saying: Of whom I am the first (1 Tim. 1, 15). Moreover, one must know that sins are forgiven not only by their confession, but satisfaction is also necessary. The Lord Himself said to the thief on the cross: Today you will be with me in paradise (Luke 23:43). But even after this promise, the thief did not immediately and not without difficulty pass into heavenly pleasure, but first had to endure the breaking of his legs. So it is with us, although our former sins were forgiven for us during the Sacrament of Confession and upon taking the monastic image, but we must bear God's penance for them, that is, we must endure illnesses, and sorrows, and inconveniences, and everything that the Lord sends us to purify our sins. We must also remember the gospel word of the Lord Himself: I want mercy, and not sacrifice (Matt. 9:13), i.e., in order to please the Lord, one must take care most of all not to condemn others and in general to have a condescending disposition towards neighbors.

It is useful to confess everything with self-reproach, but with indignation at others, what is the use of full explanations?

[<Из воспоминаний духовной дочери>: To my confession - “I am sinful in everything”,<старец>asked: “Did you steal horses?” I answered: "No." “Well, you see, and not in everything,” said the old man, smiling. When I said that I didn’t know how to confess at all, the priest remarked: “You come out of confession like a saint.”]

In whatever you get carried away through weakness, do not be cowardly and do not be embarrassed, but try to correct it by self-reproach and confession, first to God who sees the heart, and in time to the spiritual father. Let the occasional infatuation teach you to evade and be careful and guard yourself through the fear of God. Surrender to the will of God and wait with patience for the decision of your fate.

Ambrose Optinsky

On the fifth Sunday of Great Lent, dedicated to St. Mary of Egypt, the Church reaches the fullness of repentance. Prior to her conversion to the Lord, the Monk Mary led a "free" way of life so familiar to our contemporaries - from a very young age. Only if earlier such a life was condemned, now they are more and more often boasting of this shame - they are promoting this cesspool, this evil stench of sin, as something beautiful. Someone really wants to turn all the girls into Mary of Egypt, only without repentance. The temptation of criminal sin begins from early childhood. The press reports about beauty contests for children, almost from preschool age, with the same enthusiasm as about competitions for young musicians or artists.

This song of zealots of unrestricted freedom stuck in everyone's ears: "We must not lag behind the West!" Everyone knows how far the West has gone in this regard. And it should also be known what consequences this inevitably led to in the same West. When the state indulges in debauchery, it is not interested in preserving itself as a state. It is the unbelievers who all understand that the core of the state is the family, and with the disintegration of the family, with the destruction of morality, social chaos ensues. The power of money, the root of all evil, the triumph of mammon, the devil - everything is bought and sold. Here is a typical interview with a young porn star in the 90s of the last century: “Do you enjoy your job?” “I get the greatest pleasure when I get money.”

It is not enough for Satan to corrupt, the main thing is to prevent repentance. For this, an atmosphere of mockery of chastity, virginity, fidelity in marriage, and repentance is created in society. And above all, for this purpose, a fierce attack on the Church is being carried out in the well-known mass media. It was not possible to burn it to the ground, it was not possible to destroy it from the inside - now they are trying to mix it with dirt. What is the Church to do? Our duty is to raise our voice, to sound the alarm, appealing to the shame and conscience of all who want to preserve their human dignity, declaring a loud protest. Uncertainty and reticence are out of place here. The Church must speak about the threat to humanity in direct and clear language, as the Bible does. For this is how the disease of the degeneration of nations takes place, which is reflected in the third, fourth generation, up to genetic distortions. Here is an attempt on the existence of the whole world, turning into Sodom and Gomorrah, and here is eternal death, a wide path to hell, as the Scripture says.

The Church cannot remain indifferent to what is happening in the outside world, if only because it concerns her own children. If from the very beginning of the so-called "perestroika" we had adequately reacted to the satanic propaganda of depravity, many things would have been different today. And today we must remind everyone who hopes to reconcile the incompatible, and everyone who dares to cross the threshold of an Orthodox church, about the more relevant than ever hundredth canon of the VI Ecumenical Council: "Anyone engaged in the production of obscene images shall be excommunicated from the Church." They are outside the Church, they are deprived of her prayer, her intercession, her Divine power. Whenever they touch her shrines, they do it to their own judgment and condemnation. That's what this 100th rule says.

And we also know that the sin of fornication, according to the understanding of the Church, stands next to murder and idolatry, and deprives us of communion for many years. If, in today's abnormal times, we are not able to strictly fulfill the canons of the Holy Fathers, which no one has ever canceled, and cannot cancel, because they are dictated by love - may your soul not be scorched, and may you know, by the grace of God, what you you lose by committing this sin - all this can mean only one thing: the depth of repentance and the fruits of repentance should make up for the lack of its duration.

We remember from the life of St. Mary of Egypt how she could not enter the temple because of uncleanness: some incomprehensible force prevented her. And this person confidently enters the temple, and nothing stops him, despite all his no less terrible sins. However, because he enters without repentance, it is painful for him to stand in the service, and he leaves without waiting for the end, and soon he completely stops going to church - he literally cannot enter it. The same ancient miracle, only in a different sad version, is repeated again.

Without a clear and deep distinction between good and evil, how will our Lent Mary stand? How can a soul, like a sinful woman who loved much, bring weeping for herself, for the Lord, and for all for whose sake the Lord came to accept Suffering?

Archpriest Alexander Shargunov, pastor of St. Nicholas in Pyzhy, member of the Writers' Union of Russia

Britt stood at the office window, looking out over the Avon Trade, whose waters glistened in the morning sun. Anthony was at his desk going through the papers he had brought with him for the weekend. Looking at the sparkling water, she thought of Eliot and Jennifer. Taking advantage of the beautiful weather of the last sunny days of autumn, they set sail on Anthony's sailing skiff.

Ever since Eliot left Chevy Chase, Britt has been feeling pretty weird. She thought too much about him, and it didn't bode well.

True, after going to the zoo, Eliot behaved impeccably. But their relationship was irreparably damaged. No matter what he said to her, no matter what she said to him, there was no longer the original openness in all this, all their words were intended only to hide true feelings. And not knowing how to cope with this, Britt was embarrassed and constantly felt some kind of painful uncertainty.

And the thing was, she liked Eliot…too much. All his qualities delighted her - intelligence, sense of humor, a daring look at the world around her and a secret, but strong passion, the presence of which she could not help but feel. She knew there had to be distance between them. And it became increasingly difficult for her to keep this distance.

Their conversation at the zoo took her by surprise. Dinner that evening was painful for her, she was tormented by anxiety, and not because he had done anything else wrong, but because of her own feelings and awareness of the growing danger. Jennifer was tired, so they left her at home and the three of them went to enjoy Chinese food at the Golden Dragon restaurant. At first, the evening seemed festive to her. She and Eliot drank Tsingtao beer in large quantities, not a very good choice in their mood. Anthony was more prudent and limited himself to one mug - he still had to drive.

Britt felt very strange, she wanted to drink more and more, although she had long since exceeded her usual norm. Perhaps the presence of Anthony, so dependable, had provoked her into indulging in a little extra. She sat next to him very close, from time to time touching his hand. And constantly very tensely felt the closeness of Eliot.

The situation was very exciting, and Britt found that this situation draws her into itself, as if into a pool. The desire for something forbidden was irritating, like a slight tickle, and pleasantly whirled his nerves, despite everything she told him during the day. It was such an unusual feeling that she didn't even know what it was.

Eliot seemed to be in complete control of himself. In the course of the conversation, he became serious, then joked and smiled. She tried not to mind the fact that Eliot referred to her too often, but it was a futile effort. And she was seriously worried, almost certain that he, with his perspicacity, had discerned her feelings, which so clearly contradicted her own daily assurances.

After Eliot and her daughter left for Rosemount, Britt did not find the peace she desired. Everything that was, only intensified, or rather, even worse, worsened. She felt the desire to see him, but the fear of what was happening to her was stronger. She tried to comprehend her experiences, to subject them to rational analysis, why, as she thought, they must inevitably collapse and dissipate. But nature suppressed her attempts and continued to tempt with something unknown, about which Eliot probably knows better than she does.

Looking out over the river, Britt spotted a sail emerging from behind the trees covering part of the river's surface. At first, the distance did not allow to see what kind of boat it was. When she was convinced that it was them, a shameless feeling of joy overwhelmed her.

Well, here they are at last,” said Britt.

Who? Our kids?

Britt turned to Anthony, noticing the irony of his remark and the absence of his usual distraction. He slowly got up, putting down his papers, stretched, went to the window and, embracing her by the shoulders, began to watch how the south wind quickly drives the fragile skiff that easily glided through the water.

Just look! he exclaimed with a sort of sailor's glee. - Jennifer must be in seventh heaven.

Why don't we ever swim? she asked rather sharply. - I would love to swim in the summer when we rested here.

Alas, my dear, you are right in reproaching me. After all, he promised to teach you sailing lessons, but nothing came of it. Maybe we can try today?

It's too late, Britt said.

Yes, and the season is also over. He looked back and looked at the desk as the destroyer of his good intentions. - I must say that this weekend I spend mediocre. He shook his head. - You know, I didn't even think about tennis. And before, when I came to the East Coast, it was impossible for me not to play a few sets. I guess I'm getting old, what do you think?

Britt looked at him and remained silent.

But why would you sit next to me? - he said. I don't see any reason why you shouldn't go swimming.

I can do without it.

And I think you need to have some fun. Perhaps this is the last opportunity, there may not be another until spring. Why don't you take a lesson from Eliot? God knows he's a better sailor than me.

No, she replied. - I want you to teach me. We'll have more time to swim together.

He agreed. But she knew she didn't say all this sincerely. In fact, she would very much like to sail in the skiff with Eliot. How bad it is - she learned to lie! No, it's unlikely that Anthony noticed any connection between her and Eliot. It is obviously possible to guess this, but is her husband's intuition strong enough for this? She couldn't bear the thought that she could hurt him. It is impossible to allow even the slightest suspicion to touch his consciousness. Britt took his hand and pressed it to her cheek, wanting him to feel all the tenderness she felt for him. It was the only thing she could do now...

Meanwhile the skiff was out of sight again, and Anthony sighed sadly.

How I envy Eliot. He has something that I never had. How easy, it would seem, to ride a daughter on a sailboat.

My dear, do you doubt that you will still have it?

He turned to her and put his arm around her shoulders.

Forgive me pathos, worthy of a newspaper editorial.

No, dear, not pathos ... There was such hopelessness in what you said. It makes me sad. Do you really think that I don't want to watch you take our little one out on a sailboat?

I shouldn't have said it, my joy. I don't want you to feel oppressed.

Britt kissed him on the chin.

I can't agree with you. Since our last conversation on this subject, my own selfishness is disgusting. You should know that I want the same as you. I thought about this a lot...

It's just hard for me to give up career considerations. But I share your point of view and perfectly understand your feelings ...

At that moment the door opened and Mrs. Mallory appeared on the threshold.

I'm sorry, Mr. Judge, for disturbing you, - she said. "But I thought I'd ask if you and Mrs. Matland would like to have a cup of tea?"

Mrs. Mallory, a lean widow in her early fifties, had been the housekeeper of the family since Anne Matland's time. She cleaned the house once a week and came to cook when one of the owners came here.

Great idea, Anthony said. - Britt, how about having some tea on the terrace?

He loved morning tea, wherever it took place, at home or outside. His secretary, Bernice, always remembered it, as did Audrey Johnson at Chevy Chase, and Mrs. Mallory when he visited the East Coast. The housekeeper offered to bring Britt a shawl, since the air was already quite chilly.

Repentance(from the Greek μετάνοια (metanoia) - change of consciousness, rethinking, insight) -
1) deep repentance, contrition about, characterized by sadness and grief caused by a wound of conscience, but most importantly, a living feeling of separation from God; accompanied by a strong desire for purification, transformation of life; trust and hope in the Lord. In a broad sense, repentance means a fundamental change in life: from arbitrarily sinful, proud and self-sufficient - to a life according to God, in love and striving for.
2) in which, after a sincere confession of sins before the face of a priest, the sinner, by the mercy of God, by the power of Divine grace, is freed from sinful impurity.

Repentance is a change in the inner and outer life of a person, which consists in a resolute rejection of sin and the desire to lead a life in accordance with the all-holy will of God.

Repentance begins with a change in the human, turning away from and wanting to unite with God. Repentance is always a change of mind, that is, a change from one direction of the mind to another. A change of mind is followed by a change that God gives to experience His grace-filled love and holiness. The knowledge of God also gives strength to a person not to repeat sin and resist his actions. At the same time, the tasting of Divine love and holiness requires a considerable feat from a person in order to keep it in his soul. In this feat, God tests the free intention of man to reject sin and abide with Him forever.

Following the Divine commandments meets the resistance of fallen human nature, which is why repentance is inextricably linked with the tension of the will in moving from sin to God or. In asceticism, a sincere desire to overcome sin is required from a person, and grace is given from God to overcome it. The feat of repentance is the work of a person's whole life, since a person must strive all his life to unite with God and be freed from sin.

For the remission of committed sins, the Church established the Sacrament of Repentance (Confession), which requires sincere repentance of a person for a sin committed and the determination not to repeat it with the help of God. Repentance is the denunciation of one's sin, it is the determination not to repeat it in the future.

We sin against God, against our neighbor, and against ourselves. We sin with deeds, words and even thoughts. “There is no person who lives on earth and does not sin,” the prayer for the dead says. But there is no such sin that is not forgiven by God upon our repentance. For the salvation of sinners, God became a man, was crucified and rose from the dead.

The priest obviously accepts confession, but invisibly it is the Lord Himself, who gave the pastors of the Church the remission of sins. " Lord and God our Jesus Christ, by the grace and bounty of His philanthropy, may all your sins be forgiven, and I, an unworthy priest, by His power given to me, forgive and forgive you from all your sins", says the priest.

Each confession is a step

In the permissive prayer, which the priest reads over each person individually, there are such words: “Reconcile and unite him to the Holy of Your Church ... give him an image of repentance ...” That is, the time for repentance seems to have already ended, it seems that the person him an image of repentance. And why? Because, as the Holy Fathers say, when a person enters a dark room, at first he does not see anything, and then his eyes rest, he begins to distinguish between large objects, then smaller ones, and if you light up the room, he will see everything in even more detail. - From confession to confession, a person spiritually begins to see clearly.

Each confession is a step for the next stage. The Lord then opens more, more, in parts. First - the most important, noticeable, then less, less, less, even to the point of words, sometimes it is remembered how a person sinned. This is the work of repentance, which is done by a person who is trying to get rid of sins.

How does true Christian repentance differ from a mechanical enumeration of sins?

The attitude to repentance as a mechanical act of liberation from the yoke of sin is based on a false, crudely legal interpretation of the doctrine of Salvation and implies, as the main condition, the need for a mechanical enumeration of sins. According to this idea, the most important thing is to voice the sins before the priest; he, in turn, will pray, and God, being infinitely merciful, will certainly respond and forgive.

In reality, the basis of repentance should lie not only in the realization of guilt, but also in the firm desire for inner purification, change in life, eradication of sinful desires, sinful passions. The fruit of repentance should be not only tears of regret for sin, but also good deeds. Without such a striving, it is impossible to become like God, unite with Him and deify. If a person, repenting of sins, has in mind the above, God helps him, strengthens his spiritual strength, affirms in goodness.

As one grows in righteousness, a person begins to notice in himself and lament even about such thoughts, thoughts, actions that he had not thought about before (in terms of moral assessment) or did not consider them sins at all. The purer and more perfect a person becomes, the higher becomes his ability to properly perceive grace, the higher the joy from communion with God and the higher the ability to live according to the laws of the Kingdom of saints.

Mechanical repentance testifies to a person's misunderstanding of his own sinfulness. And if it is constantly accompanied by the unwillingness of the penitent to renounce sin, unwillingness to work on himself, this can be seen as evil stubbornness, gross disregard for God's law: they say, I understand that I am sinning, but, alas, I do not want to correct.

For this reason, mechanical repentance is often accompanied by self-justification and blaming others. Christian repentance requires the recognition and understanding of one's own guilt and does not imply the transfer of personal responsibility to others.

How is repentance different from remorse?

In everyday life, as a rule, compatible, but by no means synonymous terms are identified - repentance and remorse. Judging by what happened to Judas (see), repentance can be without repentance, that is, useless, and even fatal. Despite their consonance in Russian, in the text of Holy Scripture these terms correspond to the words of different roots μετάνοια (metanoia) and μεταμέλεια (metamelia). The word μετανοέω (metanoeo) means "to change one's way of thinking", to change one's vision, understanding of the meaning of life and its values. And the etymology of the word μεταμέλεια (metamelia) (μέλομαι, melome - to take care of) indicates a change in the object of care, aspirations, cares. Repentance, in contrast to repentance, presupposes precisely a deep rethinking of everything at the root, a change not only in the object of aspirations and worries, but a qualitative change in the mind itself.

Is repentance possible after death?

Repentance as a means of cleansing a person from filth, a means of restoring personal relationships with a person is possible only within the framework of earthly life. The earthly one provides him with all the necessary grace gifts for this.

Actually, the disposition of the soul to hell or Paradise is unmistakably revealed already on. Therefore, the impossibility of repentance beyond the grave cannot be reduced to crude legalism, they say a sinner would be glad to repent, but God does not allow it: the sinner himself locks the doors to repentance for himself, the doors to, even on earth.

Is it fair to determine a person's fate in eternity on the basis of a short earthly life?

Sins tend to develop into, and good deeds into. The time of an earthly person is quite enough to determine spiritually in relation to God, to partake of His goodness or resist it, to choose or perish.

Is repentance possible for unbelievers?

Priest Nikolay Lyzlov: One parishioner in some bewilderment says: “I just can’t quit smoking. And I pray, and I confess, and I ask God's help, but I can't overcome the sin of smoking. But my colleague, a non-believer in general, thought that smoking was bad, took it and quit. This means that he conquered sin, but in books we read, and in sermons, the fathers say that it is impossible to conquer sin without God's help, without prayer.

Indeed, this happens, and many other examples can be cited, how an Orthodox person cannot cope, for example, with alcohol abuse, and another person who simply wants to lead a healthy lifestyle does not even think about God, does not repent at confession, but takes threw. But sin is not just a specific act or our habit, but it is the state of our soul, it is what separates us from God. In principle, we have only one sin: it is that we have fallen away from God, both because we bear the seal of original sin and as a result of our own sins. We cannot see God, we cannot communicate with God, we have no need to see Him, and this is sin. And all specific manifestations - a person smoked, or did something else - these are just particulars. You can not smoke, not rob a bank, not steal, and still be far from God.

Based on this understanding, cleansing from sin, repentance is a change in the way of thinking, the way of life. In general, this is a different life: a person lived outside of God, his whole life was without God, he did not think about sins, and now he repented, renounced, changed, began to live for God, to unite with Him.

Our sins and falls were visible to the world, but our repentance was known and visible only to the Lord God alone.
Hegumen Theodosius

Repentance is always appropriate for all sinners and the righteous who wish to improve salvation. And there is no limit to perfection, because the perfection of the most perfect is truly imperfect. Therefore, repentance until death is not determined by time or deeds.
Rev.