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Wesley7
Guest
Whenever you make confession, is it like examining and digging up your past? . . .
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Friar_David_O.Carm
Guest
No as I only have to look back as far as my last confession. Everything else has been forgiven already, no need to dredge it up.
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puzzleannie
Guest
no, only your recent past that is, to the time of your last confession. Once sins have been confessed and absolved it is not helpful to keep dredging them up.
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Aelred_Minor
Guest
It’s more like exposing the present, in particular those sins which yes were committed in the past but which are “on your soul” right now.
I should mention there is such a thing as a “general confession”, in which you confess all the sins (or a large portion of them, anyway) that you committed throughout your life, even ones that have already been forgiven. The purpose of this isn’t to gain forgiveness for sins that have already been forgiven of course and the danger of falling into that kind of thinking is one reason frequent general confessions are discouraged. But when one is about to embark on a new stage of their Christian life, like when they are about to get married, or join a religious order, or be ordained or something like that, or as a part of St. Ignatius of Loyola’s Spiritual Exercises or something similar, they may want to make a general confession outlining the failures of their past and resolving to start anew. This could be called digging up your past, but it is for the purpose of putting that past behind you and making a fresh start.
I should mention there is such a thing as a “general confession”, in which you confess all the sins (or a large portion of them, anyway) that you committed throughout your life, even ones that have already been forgiven. The purpose of this isn’t to gain forgiveness for sins that have already been forgiven of course and the danger of falling into that kind of thinking is one reason frequent general confessions are discouraged. But when one is about to embark on a new stage of their Christian life, like when they are about to get married, or join a religious order, or be ordained or something like that, or as a part of St. Ignatius of Loyola’s Spiritual Exercises or something similar, they may want to make a general confession outlining the failures of their past and resolving to start anew. This could be called digging up your past, but it is for the purpose of putting that past behind you and making a fresh start.
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jwinch2
Guest
The only time confession involves my past is if there are trends I am noticing in my life or things that I have been struggling with for a long time come up. In those cases, I might mention some things from my past to the priest so that he can provide better counsel.
Other than that, I keep it to things since my last confession as much as possible.
Out of curiosity, how does the Orthodox Church handle confession?
Other than that, I keep it to things since my last confession as much as possible.
Out of curiosity, how does the Orthodox Church handle confession?
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Wesley7
Guest
In my experience, I had to ask the priest if he were taking confessions - so he took me in a back room and I confessed in front of a type of Bible then he placed the stole over my head and said the absolution/blessing after having confessed the Orthodoxy faith.
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jwinch2
Guest
Interesting. Thanks,
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domandcarols
Guest
I have a confession book and whenever I sin I write it down so I won’t forget to confess it. Am I the only one who does that? To be honest I don’t think I’d remember alot of them if I let it go anytime at all… When I commit a mortal sin I go to confession as soon as possible because I’m terrified of forgetting it. 
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