We shall wash our sins by confessing them to our spiritual fathers, humble in our hearts, timorously, as if we were in front of God. We shouldn’t blame others or our helplessness because it will help for nothing as in the case of Adam, who blamed God for creating the woman, instead of admitting his error and repenting himself.

Our confession should be done trusting in God’s forgiveness, and not in despair as that of Cain who said “My punishment is greater than I can bear” (Genesis 4: 13). In a similar way, Judas confessed before the bishops that he had sold innocent blood, but it served for nothing because he didn’t had faith in the power of his confession.

When we confess our sins we should set our mind on avoiding to fall from now on. The Pharaoh, who confessed by saying “I have sinned against the Lord your God” (Exodus 10: 16) had no benefit from it because he didn’t want to correct his faults. That is the reason why he died. But us, we should trust that if we confess our sins with the intention of not repeating them, God will forgive us and we will hear what David heard „The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die” (2 Kings 12: 13).

(Translated from Arhimandrit Ioanichie Bălan, Patericul Românesc, Editura Episcopiei Dunării de Jos, 1998, pp. 245-246)