Guiding Souls to Repentance

By Anthony (Khrapovitsky)

Translated by Christopher Birchall 

Edited by Holy Trinity Monastery Priestly Ministry

Christ teaches his disciples to “be wise as serpents and harmless as doves” (Matt. 10:16). Among the many roles an Orthodox priest must take on in his pastoral work, none requires as much prudence or precision as the role of dukhovnik, or father confessor. In this essential work, Metropolitan Anthony (Khrapovitsky) draws from the Holy Scriptures, the patristic witness of the Orthodox Church, and his own decades of experience to discuss the spiritual life, the stages of sin, and the beauty of repentance. Though intended primarily for an audience of priests and seminarians, this work will also help any Christian preparing for confession to better identify and combat their spiritual illnesses and temptations. Beginning with these foundational texts of the Church on repentance, the author prioritizes addressing  the many problems his contemporaries were beginning to face in a world that was becoming unmoored. As such, Metropolitan Anthony’s writings are as important today as ever.

A Practical Handbook for Confession is the latest edition of the classic text written by the founding First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR) during a period of forced imprisonment in a Uniate monastery, where he was left without access to his lecture materials or patristic texts. This edition has been updated to add citations to the source material that the author lamented he wasn’t able to include, as well as an expanded appendix featuring the full order of confession from the Book of Needs, quotes from the Holy Fathers on the stages of temptation, works by St Innocent of Alaska, St Dimitry of Rostov, as well as a series of questions based on the Ten Commandments. Together, this material will assist both pastor and penitent in preparing for an encounter with the purifying grace of the Holy Spirit.