When We Conceal Our Sins from Our Confessor
Many people feel a certain hesitation in confessing certain sins for fear of being embarrassed before their priest. One woman told me she couldn’t handle the idea that a man would hear the details of her sinful actions, and wondered what the priest would think of her after having heard her confession. (It should be noted that a spiritual mother can also hear the confessions of her daughters, with the priest simply pronouncing the absolution, with the spiritual mother’s blessing, as is often done in monasteries of women.)
I have been a monk for well over forty-five years, and I must say that I can not think of a sin I have not heard before. Not one person has shared anything that was shocking to me, for the human condition is shared by all. What I have experienced, however, is the joy at hearing a good confession. Seeing the burden of guilt and shame lifted, and the tears of true repentance, is a joyful thing. Unfortunately the fear of shame before the priest has kept many from receiving the banishment of guilt, and all for nothing. The fear of being embarrassed keeps many from making a good confession.
No priest thinks less of a penitent, for all priests rejoice when beholding the lifting of the burden of sin and shame in the Mystery of Confession. Like the penitent, the priest witnesses the mercy of Christ, and the priest, as a sinner himself, is lifted up, for he, too, is in need of Christ’s mercy and forgiveness.
Our lives become full of passions and sinful habits because we fail to do battle against the very sins that are in need of being confessed. Our pain and wounds are often inflamed because we refuse to apply the remedy of a good confession. The woman at the well beheld the mercy of Christ, and we, too, are at the well when we stand before the Gospel book and the Cross and confess our sins. When the priest, as the witness, pronounces Christ’s absolution, we are healed of all the pain and guilt that has consumed our hearts with sorrow, and we walk away with joy in our hearts.
With love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon
Thursday January 25, 2024 / January 12, 2024
34th Week after Pentecost. Tone eight.
Martyr Tatiana of Rome (226-235).
St. Sava I, first archbishop of Serbia (1235).
Venerable Martinian of White Lake, abbot (1483), and Galacteon, his disciple (1506).
Martyr Mertius of Mauretania (284-305).
Martyr Peter Apselamus of Eleutheropolis in Palestine (309).
Venerable Eupraxia of Tabenna in Egypt (393).
Icons of the Most Holy Theotokos “Akathist” and “The Milk-giver”.
Icons of the Most Holy Theotokos “Popskaya”.
Virgin Martyr Euthasia.
Venerable Benedict Bishop, abbot of Wearmouth (689-690) (Celtic & British).
Eight Martyrs of Nicaea (Greek).
St. Elias the Wonderworker, of the Paradise (Greek).
St. Theodora of Alexandria, instructress of nuns (5th c.).
Martyr Philotheus of Antioch (ca. 305).
The Scripture Readings
Hebrews 10:35-11:7
35 Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. 36 For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise:
37 “For yet a little while,
And He who is coming will come and will not tarry.
38 Now the just shall live by faith;
But if anyone draws back,
My soul has no pleasure in him.”
39 But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.
By Faith We Understand
11 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 2 For by it the elders obtained a good testimony.
3 By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.
Faith at the Dawn of History
4 By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks.
5 By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, “and was not found, because God had taken him”; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God. 6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
7 By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.
Mark 9:10-16
10 So they kept this word to themselves, questioning what the rising from the dead meant.
11 And they asked Him, saying, “Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”
12 Then He answered and told them, “Indeed, Elijah is coming first and restores all things. And how is it written concerning the Son of Man, that He must suffer many things and be treated with contempt? 13 But I say to you that Elijah has also come, and they did to him whatever they wished, as it is written of him.”
A Boy Is Healed
14 And when He came to the disciples, He saw a great multitude around them, and scribes disputing with them. 15 Immediately, when they saw Him, all the people were greatly amazed, and running to Him, greeted Him. 16 And He asked the scribes, “What are you discussing with them?”
Hebrews 7:26-8:2
26 For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens; 27 who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people’s, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself. 28 For the law appoints as high priests men who have weakness, but the word of the oath, which came after the law, appoints the Son who has been perfected forever.
The New Priestly Service
8 Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, 2 a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man.
John 10:9-16
9 I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. 12 But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. 13 The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. 15 As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. 16 And Other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.