A guide to confession.
1. “I am the Lord your God: you shall have no other gods besides Me”
Let’s think: do we really love no one and nothing as much as God, do we not honor or listen to
anyone more than God? Do we treat God with complete trust, have we never grumbled at God,
etc.?
We sin against this commandment by lack of faith, unbelief, doubt, despair in our salvation,
hope in ourselves and in people more than in God; people-pleasing and partial love for people,
creatures, things, activities; grumbling and impatience when things are not done according to
our desires.
2. “You shall not make for yourself any graven image or any likeness”
Let’s think: Don’t we serve mammon more than God? Do we not serve our self-love, our pride,
covetousness, gluttony, drunkenness, the mighty of this world — to the point of forgetting God?
We sin against the 2nd commandment by our subservience to the spirit of the times and
worldly customs.
3. “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord God in vain”
We sin by saying prayers without any attention to their meaning; pronouncing the name of God
in humorous conversations, or with irritation; violation of oaths and vows; contempt and
disrespect for piety; being ashamed to appear a Christian; idle talk.
4. “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy”
The Sabbath day for us is Sunday. On this day, we must not only confess our faith by going to
the temple of God, but we must do alms for Christ’s sake. We should spend our free time in
contemplation and prayer.
We sin by not going to church out of laziness, or because we consider it unimportant; visiting
festivities, theater, cinema during great holidays.
5. “Honor your father and your mother, so that your days on earth may be long.”
We sin by self-justification to our parents; disrespect for elders; negligence about the welfare of
parents; carelessness about raising children, and cruel acts towards them.
6. “Thou shalt not kill”
We sin against the sixth commandment not only by physical act, but also by word. It is
important to know that the Holy Church considers the abortion of an unborn child to be murder
under any circumstances, and both the doctor and the mother are considered guilty of this sin.
In a word, we violate this commandment when we tempt our listeners to sin with our malicious
talk and slander against others; bitterness in sins, stubborn resistance to the truth, and
irreconcilability with people and God.
7. “Thou shalt not commit adultery”
This commandment generally prohibits all carnal uncleanness, and like the sixth
commandment, it is not limited to physical actions alone.
We sin by fornication, adultery, masturbation; reading immoral books, looking at unchaste
pictures and films, lust; passion for obscene objects and taking pleasure in them. Even those who have
a civil marriage but are not married in church and cohabit as husband and wife are considered
violators of this commandment.
8. “Thou shalt not steal”
We sin with theft, robbery, parasitism, extortion, stinginess, wastefulness, injustice, love of
money, falsehood, concealment; in one word — we sin by dishonesty.
9. “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.”
We sin with slander, gossip, ridicule, flattery, backbiting, condemnation, suspicion, insincerity.
10. “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife…anything that your neighbor has.”
We sin with envy; selfish desires and greed.
