The Path to Confession by Artemy Vladimirov (Author), G. A. Skotina (Illustrator)
A book review by Fr. Anthony Karbo

“Here before you, my young friends, is a curious book. It was written for children but grown-ups may also find it interesting.”

A priest is often asked to prescribe spiritual reading beneficial for the soul, particularly during the season of the Great Fast now upon us. There exists now in English an abundance of books to choose from, each containing great spiritual challenges and depth of insight. While exercising our minds on the likes of Florovsky, Vlachos, Romanides, Meyendorff, and Schmemann – all of whom are spokesmen of the Church “par excellance” – let us not forget our Lord saying “unless you… become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven” (Mt. 18:3). In our efforts to grasp the unfathomable depths of the Church, therein crouches a temptation for “life in Christ” to appear complicated, difficult, near impossible to understand – the stuff reserved for learned “theologians”. Thanks be to God in our day come more and more children’s books in English that accurately present the greatest truths of Faith in clear, pure, and beautifully simple terms. Such a one is the book, The Path to Confession. “It was written for children but grown-ups may also find it interesting” (from the Preface).

The Path to Confession begins by placing one in Paradise, in the Garden. In Paradise everything is bright and lovely, there is warmth and light, all is of God, and all is filled with the Grace of God; peace and joy beyond comprehension! The soul in Paradise is a part of all that it sees and experiences of such a wonderful place. In Paradise we discover that God has not only planted such a wonderful garden around us, but also within us, in our hearts: Paradise “without”, Paradise “within”, such is the wonderful work of God! Because of sin life did not remain ever bright, warm, and light…. Just as Adam and Eve lost Paradise, so we ourselves are the cause of “inclement weather” in the Paradise of our hearts. Our sky darkens (hurt feelings harbored), large threatening clouds form (concealed hostility), the air grows stuffy and stale (unforgiveness), lightning and thunder crash aloud (heated words and quarrels). Everything heretofore experienced of God in the Paradise of the heart disappears as the heart plunges into darkness. This little book offers the God-ordained way back to Paradise. It guides on the path to self-knowledge, to awareness of sins, guides us in the struggle against the darkness of stormy passions, leads us through the grace of Holy Confession and Communion. It exhorts us toward good works set opposed to our sins that we may, by Grace, re-attain Paradise in our hearts and therein reap the abundant harvest intended by God from the beginning.

Along the Path… we are beautifully introduced to the saints. Each saint guides us from their own unique experience and gifts, offering practical spiritual counsel. Adam and Eve speak to us directly of how they were deceived by the serpent, how they watched in tears as their descendants became enslaved to the power of sin. Warning us against such subtle deception and enslavement, their sole confidence comes in the victory of Christ over the serpent. St. Peter speaks to us about the priests responsibility to remit sins through Christ, St. Paul tells us of our spiritual armor in Christ, St. John the Baptist and the Archangel Uriel guide us through the passions of disbelief and spiritual ignorance / laziness. Likewise do we hear from St. George, St. Seraphim, St. Nicholas, St. Alexis the Passion-Bearer, among others. Each saint speaks to us directly from the immeasurable depths of the Holy Scriptures, testifying to their unity of faith in Christ. As each temptation and snare is identified and illustrated, the refrain “Forgive us, Merciful Lord!” is given us to pray as we read.

A particular strength of The Path to Confession was evident as I “coincidentally” read The Ancestral Sin, by Fr. John Romanides. Fr. Romanides painstakingly points out in his book the oft-encountered Western captivity of theology with respect to sin, the Fall, and salvation: death is incorrectly assumed a punishment from God for sin, salvation a mere release from God’s wrath against sinful mankind. Our Lord’s salvific work on the Cross properly understood, frees us from sin and death, not from God’s supposed wrath. The Path… portrays this essential Orthodox truth simply and beautifully. Adam recalls, “The precious blood of the lamb of God flowed down the Cross and washed my remains that had lain for centuries under Golgotha. The Holy and Merciful One lifted the curse that I had brought upon mankind, the curse which men had fueled by their own lawlessness.” The “curse” was not from God upon sinful man, but the result of Adam’s deception by the serpent, for which he, Adam, felt responsible. The book brings out that God isn’t “angry” for our sins, but rather compassionately labors lest we fail to get up should we fall . Our life, under the curse of Adam’s sin, is not to be characterized by constant fear of God’s punitive judgment, but rather is humble repentance before a Merciful God: “If they [Adam and Eve] had repented in the simplicity of their hearts without making excuses, without shifting the blame, the All- Merciful Lord would have forgiven them and cured their terrible wound. Let this also be a lesson for us.” Sins and temptations are accurately presented as alien to our nature, parasites upon our souls, and enemies to be fought against in the struggle to regain in Christ the Kingdom of Heaven (Lk. 17:21). We are to remain steadfast and confident in warring against sin, never despairing should we fall.

The Path to Confession offers abundant practical teaching and guidance. In its pages the Theotokos Herself encourages us as we prepare for Confession to write our sins down beforehand, to confess the most serious ones first lest we get distracted, to never despair or overly sorrow but eagerly and ever run to our loving and patient God with our sins. We are led through what to expect in the “act” of Confessing: kissing the Cross and Gospel, what the priest wears and why, the prayers read, the manner in which we should speak – Some people, while telling their sins, speak directly to the priest: ‘Batiushka, I have sinned many times through disobedience…’ it seems to me that it would be better to address your words to Christ Himself: ‘Lord, I have sinned before Thee…’” . We are instructed to listen attentively to the priest’s counsel, then receive a blessing from him “because the hand of God has touched you through him.”

Finally, we are walked through the steps of Holy Communion. In this respect the mystery of Holy Confession is not left isolated from the rest of our experience of the Church, but rather assumed in its natural context of our life in Christ. Pre-communion prayers, approaching the chalice properly, thanksgiving prayers, firm resolve not to sin again but rather to do “good works” unto the glory of God, and a healthy relationship with one’s loving spiritual father are all assumed in the life of the one who is confessing – all are practically addressed at the conclusion of the book. Having guided us, encouraged us, instructed us unto salvation it concludes: “If you can do this, you will be in Paradise and Paradise will be in you….
…The end, and Glory to our God!”