So, my entry into Orthodoxy is now to be even sooner than I thought. It has been moved from Holy Thursday to the Entry into Jerusalem, this Sunday! I am to confess, renounce RC beliefs, and recite the creed on Saturday evening, and then receive on Sunday. I voiced my concerns about the method of my initiation to my priest here (albeit in a very deferring manner), and more frankly to a man who may end up our priest in the US, and both assured me that I am being received in a perfectly valid way, and in fact, there WILL be, like I said above, a direct renunciation of Roman Catholicism, and a private recitation of the creed, two things I had thought there would not be, which concerned me.
My question now is regarding confession. I was an avid confession-goer as a RC, and thus am vey familiar with the way things work on that side. I can count on one hand the number of times among hundreds that I actually felt very nervous about confessing, but I feel this way now! How have other former Catholics gone about making their first Orthodox confession? How do I treat the many sins confessed in my past in the RC church? How do I account for so many years of my life? I have gotten input from my priest, obviously, and he suggested I approach it in the way I feel will be best (he also said that he will guide me some), but I was curious for the thoughts of some of you, former Catholics or not.
Looking ahead, grateful and excited, experiencing a lot of feelings about all of this! To think that I will counted worthy to receive within days!
In Christ,
Jim