Healing for the soul: A wise elder’s counsel on repentance and Great Lent
At the height of Great Lent, we spoke with a cleric of St. Olga Cathedral in Kyiv about how to overcome “respectable” sins and why confession is only the beginning of the journey.
Eighty-three-year-old Archpriest Oleksandr Storozhenko, a cleric of St. Olga Cathedral, is known to many Kyiv residents as a wise spiritual father and an experienced practitioner of manual therapy, a homeopath, and a строгий ascetic who has restored the health of many who turned to him for help.
For many years, he has lived in a small cell in one of the parish buildings, rarely leaving it. Fr. Oleksandr never took monastic vows, remaining a married priest, though he sees his wife only during services and when she visits him at the parish together with their daughter and grandson. In recent years, the priest has often been ill, suffering from heart disease, hypertension, and other ailments typical of advanced age.
About ten years ago, he could still be seen, together with the rector, Fr. Vsevolod – also of advanced age – running to the sports grounds of Partisan Glory Park for daily exercise, astonishing younger people with their strength and agility. Their shared commitment to a healthy lifestyle and longevity brought the two priests closer together: Fr. Vsevolod invited Fr. Oleksandr to serve alongside him and to help build the church complex.
This Lent, after spending the first two weeks undergoing treatment in a hospital, Fr. Oleksandr has returned to divine services, hearing the confessions of many parishioners who seek specifically to speak with him. We, too, asked to meet the kind elder for an interview – to discuss how to observe Great Lent properly in order to worthily meet the Feast of Feasts and the Triumph of Triumphs – the Pascha of Christ.
Confession is only the beginning
“How do you think, what does a person most long for in confession?” Fr. Oleksandr began. “Of course, for the priest to cover them with the epitrachelion and pronounce the long-awaited words of absolution. That’s it! You are clean before God and before people, the Lord has forgiven all your sins, and you are now ‘whiter than snow’… No, my dear ones, the labor of repentance is only just beginning!
“Father, is it not already a feat for the soul – to come to confession, to open one’s heart, and beforehand to be able to name one’s passions, and at times bitter falls and sinful habits?”
“Of course, it is a feat. Especially for those who do it for the first time in their lives. Imagine a person who has smoked for many years or abused alcohol – can he overcome these passions in an instant, when they have already become part of his wounded soul?
The sacrament of repentance truly has great grace-filled power to overcome sin – but first and foremost, it gives the strength not to repeat it. And that is where the real struggle begins.
Remember how St. Anthony the Great fought with demons, and afterward asked Christ whether He had seen how difficult the battle was? And the Lord replied that He had been with the ascetic the whole time, guarding him. Another person confesses: ‘Father, I’ve promised a thousand times to stop drinking. And I would abstain for long periods, and then fall again…’ He fell because he did not repent before God and did not ask for His help, but relied only on himself and his own strength, not knowing – or forgetting – that what is impossible for man is possible for God (Luke 18:27; Matthew 19:26). These words of Jesus Christ mean that salvation, the transformation of the heart, and the overcoming of sin exceed human strength, but are attainable through God’s grace. They emphasize the omnipotence of the Creator, who can work a miracle where human effort fails.”
On the power of repentance and spiritual death
“Yes, Father. Perhaps what is most frightening is that point of no return, when a person degrades in his passions, as they say, gives up – ‘I drank and I will go on drinking, because I cannot do otherwise… such is my fate…’”
“And what of the thief on the cross? The Lord forgave him – and not only forgave him, but was the first to bring him into Paradise. Such was the power of his repentance and humility. He did not even ask for forgiveness, understanding that from a human point of view he could not be forgiven. He only asked to be remembered when the Lord would enter into His Kingdom. And he was not only forgiven, but shown mercy. This is possible only for God. Imagine a courtroom where a judge, pronouncing sentence on a murderer, says: ‘Not guilty!’ He would be considered mad. But with God it is not so.
That is why He is the Savior of the world. For He Himself said that He came to save ‘that which was lost’ (Luke 19:10).
By ‘the lost,’ the Lord means those who are spiritually dead or who have fallen away from God because of their sins and are in need of repentance.
The Lord does not despise sinners, as people often do – looking with contempt at unfortunate alcoholics, drug addicts, or trembling vagrants – but actively seeks their salvation. The Savior’s central message is that He came not to save the righteous, but sinful and suffering people.”
The danger of “respectable” sins
“Father, what about those who confess the same sins over and over – not grave ones like theft, drunkenness, or fornication, but rather ‘respectable,’ everyday ones: idle talk, irritation, judgment, grumbling, and hostility?”
“Exactly. These ‘respectable,’ seemingly minor sins. And yet they hold the soul tightly in their grip. After confession, they must be brought onto the field of battle. They must be kept under constant – even minute-by-minute – watch.
You chatted again with your neighbor, indulged in gossip – run to the icons, fall down and say: ‘Lord, I have sinned again! Forgive me!’ Do this five times, ten times, a hundred times. And the passion of idle talk and judgment will begin to weaken until the next confession – and until the long-awaited victory over yourself. For now, my friends, during Great Lent – this is the best time for the great labor of repentance.”
