OCTOBER 2011 HOLY TRINITY ORTHODOX CHURCH

Transcription

1 OCTOBER 2011 HOLY TRINITY ORTHODOX CHURCH

2 Holy trinity orthodox church October 2011 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 2 16th after Pentecost Sisterhood Panikhida Santoro / Ludko Study Group FORCC Banquet 3 Parish Council Meeting 7:00 P. M. 4 Visitation: 9:30 A. M. WALNUT HILL Parish Council St. Mary s, Waterbury 7:00 P.M. 5 6 St. Innocent, Apostle to America CT Deanery St. Alexis Church, Clinton 7:00 P.M. 7 8 Great Vespers4:00 Ss. Peter & Paul, Meriden, CT 9 17th after Pentecost St. Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow Kowar /Kowar Visitation: 9:30 A. M. ARBOR ROSE & JEROME HOME 13 Iveron Icon of the Theotokos Great Vespers5:00 p.m. CONFESSION 16 18th after Pentecost Steffick /Labas/Bichun Study Group Visitation: 9:30 A. M. MIDDLEWOODS Kazan Icon of the Theotokos DIOCESAN ASSEMBLY: Three Saints Church, Ansonia, CT Great Vespers5:00 p.m th after Pentecost Cherpak /Bradanini 30 20th after Pentecost Santoro / Beck Study Group 24 Icon: Joy of All Who Sorrow 31 New Martyr John Kochurov of Chicago Greatmartyr Demetrius of Thessalonika Parish Council Holy Ghost, Bridgeport 6:30 P.M. 27 Visitation: 9:30 A. M. LEDGECREST Nov 1 2 Charity - St. Peter the Aleut Church, Minot, ND 16 th All American Council in Seattle, WA October 31 st November 4 th 28 St. Job of Pochaev Greeter -??? 29 Baptism of Grace Mah 10:00 a.m. Great Vespers5:00 p.m. GENERAL CONFESSION Cleaners Week of 2 nd -??? 9 th -??? 16 th -??? 23 rd -??? 30 th -???

3 Monthly Newsletter of HOLY TRINITY ORTHODOX CHURCH 305 Washington Street PO Box 2876 New Britain, CT OCTOBER 2011 OE Day: When you come to our annual Orthodox Education Day (OED) Saturday, October 1, 2011, look for some surprises: bagpipes, military parades, icon displaying soldiers and peacemakers, folk dancers wielding swords, special workshops to help our service men and women and the church communities ministering to them, and a campaign to send care packages to those deployed in the armed forces all in conjunction with this year's theme: "For God and Country." SISTERHOOD FEASTDAY: The Patronal Feastday of our Sisterhood is October 1st, The Protection of the Theotokos. A general Panikhida for the departed members will be after Divine Liturgy on Sunday, October 2nd. DIOCESAN ASSEMBLY: The annual assembly for the Diocese of New England will be held Friday & Saturday, October at Three Saints Church, Ansonia, CT. Fr. Marcus Burch, Chancellor of the DOS and Fr. Luke Veronis, OCMC will be the guest speakers. For registration material for observers, please see Fr. David. Get involved in the life of our diocese. We will have vespers on Saturday, October 22nd as usual! GENERAL CONFESSION: is normally held on the last Saturday of each month (except for lenten periods) following Great Vespers. All regular communicants should make every effort to attend each General Confession. The next General Confession will be held on Saturday, October 29th. The October monthly charity collection is for St. Peter the Aleut Church, Minot, ND. In June the rector and faithful of Saint Peter the Aleut Church, along with their neighbors and fellow citizens, faced one of their greatest challenges of their lives as water along the Souris River flood their city and parish church. All of the carpet, flooring, and walls have to be removed. The insulation also has to be removed and they discovered asbestos. The bids range from $45,000 to $110,000. Seeing how beautiful our church is going to be when the renovation is complete, imagine how devastating it is for these folks to see their church and downstairs destroyed by the flood. An aerial YouTube video posted on the web site of the Grand Forks [ND] Herald at article/id/207852/group/homepage clearly indicates that the church is under water. The church s distinctive twin white cupolas and central cross are clearly visible at the 2:44 through 2:47 markers. The seven minute video, posted on the Herald s web site on June 25, 2011, was taken from a North Dakota National Guard Black Hawk helicopter. The collection will be taken on the last Sunday of the month. Please use the envelope provided in your monthly mailing and be generous!! PARISH COUNCIL: The next meeting of the Parish Council will be held on Monday, October 3rd. All Council members are asked to make every effort to attend the meeting. CHURCH RENOVATION UPDATE: The finishing touches! Our contractors from Baker Liturgical Art are working very hard to get us back to normal hopefully during the last week of September. With the generous bequest from Nona & John Bissland the gold leafing of the cupolas has begin Archpriest David Koles, Rector 9 Frankie Lane Terryville, CT Phone: frdavid@htocnb.org 1

4 with an expected completion early in October. We must remind ourselves that the funds given are only for renovation, repair and maintenance of the church. Please, lets not forget about our pledge, charity collection, coffee hour, study group, liturgical services etc. while we are under renovation. Many have contributed to the Hundred Plus Club to honor the hundred plus years since our founding. We thank all those who have contributed to the renovation of our church building. When the renovation and beautification of our church building is completed it will be just two years until we mark 100 years on Washington Street in Birthdays & Anniversaries in OCTOBER: 4 Barbara Raymond David Bartos Phyllis Bartos Marie Shimchick David Wanik Danielle Wanik Andrew Pulcini Timothy Bannon Olivia Salina Jennie Skovich Antoinette Rudy Rosemary Delaney Alex Polzun Stella Liwen Priya Karabin Alicyn Pulcini Patrick & Gale Dilger Jason & Amber Fiedler Michael & Jillian Wanik 1988 WHEN I WAS SICK YOU CAME TO ME The following parishioners (and friends) are now homebound or in long-term care facilities. If there are any names missing, please inform Fr. David. The regular schedule of visitations is included on the monthly calendar. Parishioners are welcomed and encouraged to make regular visitations to nursing homes and shut-ins. Our loved ones NEED to feel connected to their parish family. Middlewoods, Newington Jennie Skovich Jerome Home, New Britain Sadie Albino Helen Karabin Arbor Rose, New Britain Nona Belomyzy Mary Camarata Walnut Hill, New Britain Olga Skotnicki Mary Cherpak St. Lucian Residence, New Britain Mary Kotrady Alzheimer's Resource Center, Plantsville Jean Prusik Ledgecrest Nursing Home, Berlin Natasha Zaiko Nicholas Zamayduk At Home: Mary Fairbanks, Susan Labas, George Liwen, Stella Liwen, Irene Prigodich, Helen Roberts, John Steffick and Stella Tynik. PARISH DIPTYCHS Please remember our departed brothers and sisters in your prayers. Joseph Mannon 37 October 1913 Child John Cherpak 1 day October Paul Blake October Peter Fetzko 82 October Anna Makula 94 October Martha Cherpak 24 October Child Anna Hofedalko 1 October Juliana Dubovsky 72 October Alexandria Brown 79 October Mary Fetzko 81 October Stephen Hleschak 49 October Child Zenaida Shumansky 1 mo October Julian Hrusha 26 October Lavrenty Baldowsky 56 October Anna Wanik 55 October Walter Karpie 60 October Alexandra Kovalevich 99 October Mary Glowacki 90 October

5 Edward M. Czerwinski 54 October Child Adam Dziamba 4 days October Peter Kosko 46 October Kashauka Uzefa 36 October Gregory Terasimov October Mary Hanska 24 October Anna Klotz 84 October John Ludko 84 October Michael Cherpak 29 October Antonina Gelazin 71 October Evgenia Shimchick October Elizabeth Stankevich 28 October Anton Minchuk 33 October Stephanida Manchuk 23 October Alexander Muchinsky 23 October Stephen Piluten 35 October Andrew Lehman October John Labas, Sr. 80 October Zenaida Burak October Sophie Anop 89 October Elizabeth Kuhar 63 October Child Eugenia Chamilov 3 mo October Carl (Cyril) Schaplak 73 October Peter Anop 53 October Child Peter Licki 5 mo October George Uhroros 33 October Constantine Likuda 38 October Vera Panasevich 27 October Child Lydia Pyachetsko 5 October Mary Fetzko 74 October Helen M. Spearen 90 October Andrew Belomyzy 53 October Katherine Novick 32 October Barbara Dimnitch 75 October Mary Karpey October Theodore Urish 33 October Child John Zdanuk 2 mo October John Panasevich 26 October Mary Alexeef 71 October Wasile Zurawlew October Olga Ziegler 82 October Theodora Stefik 25 October Irene Dubovsky 65 October Antoinette Sachok 72 October Donna Balkun 55 October Child John Mayopit 1 day October Ignatius Boytik 57 October Mary Baranov 64 October Nikita Bichun 63 October Eugenia Tilley 63 October Sophie Stankevich 66 October Anastasia Harko October Michael Bichun October Simon Pazeychuk 26 October Peter Kunchik 64 October Anatole Zaiko 59 October Nadia Lashenka 67 October Walter Sitkiewicz 59 October Gregory Taran 18 October Sophie Karabin 71 October Gary Allen Karpey 18 October Mary Suski 89 October Joseph Burak 16 October Andrew Golyshko 69 October John Horbal October Anne Zuk Novack 78 October SAINT TIKHON PATRIARCH AND CONFESSOR OF MOSCOW, ENLIGHTENER OF NORTH AMERICA Glorification: October 9th Vasily Ivanovich Belavin, the future Saint Tikhon, was born on January 19, 1865 into the family of Ioann Belavin, a rural priest of the Toropetz district of the Pskov diocese. His childhood and adolescence were spent in the village in direct contact with peasants and their labor. From his early years he displayed a particular religious disposition, love for the Church as well as rare meekness and humility. When Vasily was still a boy, his father had a revelation about each of his children. One night, when he and his three sons slept in the hayloft, he suddenly woke up and roused them. He had seen in a dream his dead mother, who foretold to him his imminent death, and the fate of his three sons. One would be unfortunate throughout his entire life; another would die young, while the third, Vasily, would be a great man. The prophecy of the dead woman proved to be entirely accurate in regard to all three brothers. From 1878 to 1883, Vasily studied at the Pskov Theological Seminary. The modest seminarian was tender and affectionate by nature. He was fair-haired and tall of stature. His fellow students liked and respected him for his piety, brilliant progress in studies, and constant readiness to help comrades, who often turned to him for explanations of lessons, especially for help in drawing up and correcting numerous compositions. Vasily was called "bishop" and "patriarch" by his classmates. In 1888, at the age of 23, Vasily Belavin graduated from the St. Petersburg Theological Academy as a layman, and returned to the Pskov Seminary as an instructor of Moral and Dogmatic Theology. The whole seminary and the town of Pskov became very fond of him. He led an austere and chaste life, and in 1891, when he turned 26, he took monastic vows. Nearly the whole town gathered for the ceremony. He embarked on this new 3

6 way of life consciously and deliberately, desiring to dedicate himself entirely to the service of the Church. The meek and humble young man was given the name Tikhon in honor of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk. He was transferred from the Pskov Seminary to the Kholm Theological Seminary in 1892, and was raised to the rank of archimandrite. Archimandrite Tikhon was consecrated Bishop of Lublin on October 19, 1897, and returned to Kholm for a year as Vicar Bishop of the Kholm Diocese. Bishop Tikhon zealously devoted his energy to the establishment of the new vicariate. His attractive moral make-up won the general affection, of not only the Russian population, but also of the Lithuanians and Poles. On September 14, 1898, Bishop Tikhon was made Bishop of the Aleutians and Alaska. As head of the Orthodox Church in America, Bishop Tikhon was a zealous laborer in the Lord's vineyard. He did much to promote the spread of Orthodoxy, and to improve his vast diocese. He reorganized the diocesan structure, and changed its name from "Diocese of the Aleutians and Alaska" to "Diocese of the Aleutians and North America" in Both clergy and laity loved their archpastor, and held him in such esteem that the Americans made Archbishop Tikhon an honorary citizen of the United States. On May 22, 1901, he blessed the cornerstone for St. Nicholas Cathedral in New York, and was also involved in establishing other churches. On November 9, 1902, he consecrated the church of St. Nicholas in Brooklyn for the Syrian Orthodox immigrants. Two weeks later, he consecrated St. Nicholas Cathedral in NY. In 1905, the American Mission was made an Archdiocese, and St. Tikhon was elevated to the rank of Archbishop. He had two vicar bishops: Bishop Innocent (Pustynsky) in Alaska, and St. Raphael (Hawaweeny) in Brooklyn to assist him in administering his large, ethnically diverse diocese. In June of 1905, St. Tikhon gave his blessing for the establishment of St. Tikhon's Monastery. In 1907, he returned to Russia, and was appointed to Yaroslavl, where he quickly won the affection of his flock. They came to love him as a friendly, communicative, and wise archpastor. He spoke simply to his subordinates, never resorting to a peremptory or overbearing tone. When he had to reprimand someone, he did so in a good-natured, sometimes joking manner, which encouraged the person to correct his mistakes. When St. Tikhon was transferred to Lithuania on December 22, 1913, the people of Yaroslavl voted him an honorary citizen of their town. After his transfer to Vilnius, he did much in terms of material support for various charitable institutions. There too, his generous soul and love of people clearly manifested themselves. World War I broke out when His Eminence was in Vilnius. He spared no effort to help the poor residents of the Vilna region who were left without a roof over their heads or means of subsistence as a result of the war with the Germans, and who flocked to their archpastor in droves. After the February Revolution and formation of a new Synod, Saint Tikhon became one of its members. On June 21, 1917, the Moscow Diocesan Congress of clergy and laity elected him as their ruling bishop. He was a zealous and educated archpastor, widely known even outside his country. On August 15, 1917, a local council was opened in Moscow, and Archbishop Tikhon was raised to the dignity of Metropolitan, and then elected as chairman of the council. The council had as its aim to restore the life of Russian Orthodox Church on strictly canonical principles, and its primary concern was the restoration of the Patriarchate. All council members would select three candidates, and then a lot would reveal the will of God. The council members chose three candidates: Archbishop Anthony of Kharkov, the wisest, Archbishop Arseny of Novgorod, the strictest, and Metropolitan Tikhon of Moscow, the kindest of the Russian hierarchs. On November 5, following the Divine Liturgy and a Molieben in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, a monk removed one of the three ballots from the ballot box, which stood before the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God. Metropolitan Vladimir of Kiev announced Metropolitan Tikhon as the newly elected Patriarch. Saint Tikhon did not change after becoming the primate of the Russian Orthodox Church. In accepting the will of the council, Patriarch Tikhon referred to the scroll that the Prophet Ezekiel had to eat, on which was written, "Lamentations, mourning, and woe." He foresaw that his ministry would be filled with affliction and tears, but through all his suffering, he remained the same accessible, unassuming, and kindly person. All who met Saint Tikhon were surprised by his accessibility, simplicity and modesty. His gentle disposition did not prevent him from showing firmness in Church matters, however, particularly when he had to defend the Church from her enemies. He bore a very heavy cross. He had to administer and direct the Church amidst wholesale church disorganization, without auxiliary administrative bodies, in conditions of internal schisms and upheavals by various adherents of the Living Church, renovationists, and autocephalists. The situation was complicated by external circumstances: the change of the political system, by the accession to power of the godless regime, by hunger, and civil war. This was a time when Church property was being confiscated, when clergy were subjected to court trials and persecutions, and Christ's Church endured repression. News of this came to the Patriarch from all ends of Russia. His exceptionally high moral and religious authority helped him to unite the scattered and enfeebled flock. At a crucial time for the church, his unblemished name was a bright beacon pointing the way to the truth of Orthodoxy. In his messages, he called on people to fulfill the commandments of Christ, and to attain spiritual rebirth through repentance. His irreproachable life was an example to all. In order to save thousands of lives and to improve the general position of the church, the Patriarch took measures to prevent clergy from making purely political statements. On September 25, 1919, when the civil war was at its height, he issued a 4

7 message to the clergy urging them to stay away from political struggle. The summer of 1921 brought a severe famine to the Volga region. In August, Patriarch Tikhon issued a message to the Russian people and to the people of the world, calling them to help famine victims. He gave his blessing for voluntary donations of church valuables, which were not directly used in liturgical services. However, on February 23, 1922, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee published a decree making all valuables subject to confiscation. According to the 73rd Apostolic Canon, such actions were regarded as sacrilege, and the Patriarch could not approve such total confiscation, especially since many doubted that the valuables would be used to combat famine. This forcible confiscation aroused popular indignation everywhere. Nearly two thousand trials were staged all over Russia, and more than ten thousand believers were shot. The Patriarch's message was viewed as sabotage, for which he was imprisoned from April 1922 until June His Holiness, Patriarch Tikhon did much on behalf of the Russian Orthodox Church during the crucial time of the so-called Renovationist schism. He showed himself to be a faithful servant and custodian of the undistorted precepts of the true Orthodox Church. He was the living embodiment of Orthodoxy, which was unconsciously recognized even by enemies of the church, who called its members "Tikhonites." When Renovationist priests and hierarchs repented and returned to the church, they were met with tenderness and love by Saint Tikhon. This, however, did not represent any deviation from his strictly Orthodox policy. "I ask you to believe me that I will not come to agreement or make concessions which could lead to the loss of the purity and strength of Orthodoxy," the Patriarch said in Being a good pastor, who devoted himself entirely to the church's cause, he called upon the clergy to do the same: "Devote all your energy to preaching the word of God and the truth of Christ, especially today, when unbelief and atheism are audaciously attacking the Church of Christ. May the God of peace and love be with all of you!" It was extremely painful and hard for the Patriarch's loving, responsive heart to endure all the Church's misfortunes. Upheavals in and outside the church, the Renovationist schism, his primatial labors, his concern for the organization and tranquility of Church life, sleepless nights and heavy thoughts, his confinement that lasted more than a year, the spiteful and wicked baiting of his enemies, and the unrelenting criticism sometimes even from the Orthodox, combined to undermine his strength and health. In 1924, Patriarch Tikhon began to feel unwell. He checked into a hospital, but would leave it on Sundays and Feast Days in order to conduct services. On Sunday, April 5, 1925, he served his last Liturgy, and died two days later. On March 25/April 7, 1925 the Patriarch received Metropolitan Peter and had a long talk with him. In the evening, the Patriarch slept a little, and then he woke up and asked what time it was. When he was told it was 11:45 P.M., he made the Sign of the Cross twice and said, "Glory to Thee, O Lord, glory to Thee." He did not have time to cross himself a third time. Almost a million people came to say farewell to the Patriarch. The large cathedral of the Donskoy Monastery in Moscow could not contain the crowd, which overflowed the monastery property into the square and adjacent streets. St. Tikhon, the eleventh Patriarch of Moscow, was primate of the Russian Church for seven and a half years. In October 1989, the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church glorified Patriarch Tikhon and numbered him among the saints. For nearly seventy years, Saint Tikhon's relics were believed lost, but in February 1992, they were discovered in a concealed place in the Donskoy Monastery. It would be difficult to imagine the Russian Orthodox Church without Patriarch Tikhon during those years. He did so much for the Church and for the strengthening of the Faith itself during those difficult years of trial. Perhaps the saint's own words can best sum up his life: "May God teach every one of us to strive for His truth, and for the good of the Holy Church, rather than something for our own sake." WHAT IS NECESSARY FOR A SAVING CONFESSION? by Saint Innocent of Moscow and Apostle to America (St. Innocent [John Popov-Veniaminov] died in 1879 as the Metropolitan of Moscow, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church. He was solemnly Glorified as a saint on October 6, 1977, which day remains his annual fast, together with March 31, the day of his repose.) WHAT IS CONFESSION? Confession is the oral avowal of one's sins which lie heavy upon the conscience. Repentance cleanses the soul and makes it ready to receive the Holy Spirit, but confession, so to speak, only empties the soul of sins. Let us present a simple analogy and comparison to confession. For example, suppose you had only one vessel of some kind, which you through negligence or laziness let reach a stage where little by little it accumulated all sorts of dirt so that your vessel became not only unusable but even unbearable to look at without repugnance. But what if a king wanted to give you as a gift some sort of fragrant and precious balm, one drop of which could heal all infirmities and protect -- what then? Would you refuse such a valuable gift only because you had no other clean vessel in which to put it? No! It would be very natural for you to accept such a gift and you would try to clean your vessel. How would you begin to clean your vessel? No doubt, before anything else, you would rid it of all uncleanness; you could 5

8 begin by washing it with water and, perhaps would even burn it out so that it no longer retained any of its former odors. Isn't that so? Now let the vessel represent the soul given to you by God, which you have brought to such a state that it has been filled with all kinds of transgression and iniquities; let the sweetsmelling balm, given by the king, signify the Holy Spirit, Who heals all infirmities and afflictions, Whom the King of heaven and earth, Jesus Christ, freely bestows upon us. To examine your vessel signifies feeling your guilt before God and recalling all sins which have stolen into your heart. To clean out the vessel typifies the confession of your sins before your spiritual father, and washing with water and burning with fire signify a sincere and even tearful repentance and a voluntary resolve to endure all unpleasantness, needs, afflictions, misfortunes, and even calamities that befall us. Now tell me: Is Confession profitable or needful? Certainly it is profitable and even essential; because, just as it is impossible to cleanse a vessel without ridding it of all uncleanness, so it is impossible to purge your soul of sins without confession. But tell me, is confession alone enough for the reception of the Holy Spirit? Certainly not, because in order to receive the sweet-smelling and precious balm into a defiled vessel it is not enough to just empty it, but it is necessary to wash it with water and refine it with fire. Just so, in order to receive the Holy Spirit, it is not enough just to confess or recite your sins before a spiritual father, but it is necessary together with this to purge your soul with repentance or contrition and grief of soul, and burn it out with voluntary endurance of afflictions. So then, this is what confession and repentance mean! What does a true and correct confession consist of? When we wish to cleanse conscience of sins in the Mystery of Repentance, 1) before everything else it is necessary to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and firmly hope that He is ready to forgive all sins, no matter of what magnitude, if only the sinner repents open-heartedly; it is necessary to believe and hope that the God of all wants and seeks our return. Of this He assures us through the prophet thus: "As I live, said the Lord," i. e., I assure and swear by My life, "In desiring I do not desire," i.e., I do not at all desire "the death of a sinner," but entirely desire his conversion. 2) It is necessary to have a broken heart. Who is God? and who are we? God is the Almighty Creator of heaven and earth; He is the awful and righteous Judge. And we? We are weak and insignificant mortals. All people, even the greatest people, are less than dust before God, and we can never imagine how disgusting to God any sin is and how any transgression offends Him. And we, insignificant and weak, we mortals end1essly benefited by our God, dare to offend Him -- the All-Good One? Oh! This is so horrible! We are such debtors before God, such transgressors, which not only should we not dare to call ourselves His children, but are not even worthy of being His lowliest servants. Therefore, picturing all this, you see what contriteness, what lamentation it is necessary to have then, when we want to purge ourselves of sins. And such a feeling must be had not only before confession and during confession, but also after confession. And even more important, do you want to offer a sacrifice to God such as will be acceptable to Him? Naturally, we all gladly want this and as far as possible we offer it. But what can we offer Him really acceptable? -- a broken heart. "A sacrifice unto God is a broken spirit; a heart that is broken and humble," here is an offering to God more priceless than all offerings and oblations! 3) It is necessary to forgive all our enemies and offenders all the harmful and offensive things they have done to us. Forgiveness -- what does it mean to forgive? To forgive means never to avenge, neither secretly nor openly; never to recall wrongs but rather to forget them and, above all, to love your enemy as a friend, a brother, as a comrade; to protect his honor and to treat him right-mindedly in all things. This is what it means to forgive. And who agrees that this is difficult? So, it is a hard matter to forgive wrongs, but he who can forgive wrongs is for this reason great -- truly great, both before God and before man, -- Yes, it is a hard matter to forgive your enemies; but to do nothing, it is necessary to forgive, otherwise God Himself will not forgive. Jesus Christ said: "If you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly father will forgive you also your trespasses. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses neither will your heavenly Father forgive you your trespasses." On the contrary to this, though you pray to God every hour, though you have such faith that you can move mountains, even though you give away all of your belongings to the needy, and give your body to be burned if you do not practice forgiveness and do not wish to forgive your enemy, then all is in vain, for in such circumstances neither prayer, nor faith, nor charity, will save you; in short, nothing will save you. But if it is needful to forgive our enemies, so likewise it is indispensable to ask also forgiveness of those people whom we have offended. Thus, if you have offended anyone by word, ask forgiveness of him, come and roll down at his feet and say, "Forgive me." Have you offended by deed? Endeavor to expiate your guilt and offences and recompense his damage, then be certain that all of your sins, no matter how heavy they be, will be forgiven you. 4) It is necessary to reveal your sins properly and without any concealment. Some say, "For what reason should I reveal my sins to Him Who knows all our secrets?" Certainly God knows all of our sins, but the Church, which has the power from God to forgive and absolve sins, cannot know them, and for this reason She cannot, without confession, pronounce Her absolution. Finally, it is necessary to set forth a firm intention to live prudently in the future. If you want to be in the kingdom of heaven, if you want God to forgive your sins -- then stop sinning! Only on this condition does the Church absolve the penitent of his sins. And he who does not think at all about correcting himself confesses in vain, labors in vain, for even if the priest says, "I forgive and absolve," the Holy Spirit does not forgive and absolve him! 6