The Confession of All Georgia on the Day of Repentance

Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II

The Confession of All Georgia in the Day of Repentance

O Infinite and Eternal, Invisible and Incomprehensible, Invincible and Merciful, Our Love
and Hope; O Holy, Holy, Holy Lord of Sabaoth, the Creator of the skies and world - Glory to
You!

O Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, of one essence with the father and equal to Him. O
Word, Only-Begotten of God the Father, Incarnate, Crucified, Risen from the dead and
Ascended in heaven for our sake, O Our Merciful Judge in the day of Judgment - Glory to You!

O Holy Spirit, the Lord, proceeding from the Father, Who are in all places and fill all things,
the Healer of infirms and Giver of fullness to those who lack - Glory to You!

O Most Holy Trinity, inseparable and of one essence, worshiped in One Godhead, the
Master of every being - Glory to you! "We sing to You, we bless You, we give thanks to You,

O Lord, and we implore You, O Our God."
"The door to contrition is open, let us enter and repent our sins to come out through it
cleansed in flesh and illumined in soul". (Ioane Minchkhi. The 10th c.)

O most Holy Trinity, Who have the authority over the remission of sins, we, unprofitable
servants, bow our knees before You, and, on behalf of All Georgia and all our ancestors,
beseech You, grant us the awareness of our sins and save us from judging the brother. Before
Your Face we bow the knee of our souls and flesh, confessing our iniquities and we
supplicate, according to Your mercy pardon us and our ancestors our innumerable sins.

Forgive our people the first and greatest sin – pride. We have been haughty people and
we still remain as such, like empty ears of wheat, always forgetting King Solomon’s words: "A
man’s pride shall bring him law; but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit". (Prov. 29.23).
"Pride gooth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall". (Prov. 16.18)

O Lord, heal us from this sickness and have mercy on us.

O Lord, remit and forgive us the departure from You and unbelief, destruction of temples
and monasteries, sacrilege toward the Church, apostate of the Orthodox Church, remit, O
Lord, persecution and humiliation of Clergymen, monks and nuns.

Forgive us, O God, the treachery of the motherland and faithlessness, murder, bloodshed
among brothers, killing children in abortion.

We have committed a great sin of adultery, faithlessness to the spouse and family,
fornication, arousing other defiling sins and passions. Forgive us with Your loving-kindness and
help us to stand in the way of remorse and purity.

We have sinned, O Lord, by disrespecting, offending and being indifferent to our parents –
we have forgotten Your warning through King Solomon's words: "Cursed be he that setteth
light by his father or his mother. And all the people shall say, Amen". (Deutoronomy 27.16).

We have sinned by humiliating elders, forgetting about the dead in our prayers and
neglecting their deeds and the fruits of their work.

We have sinned by unclean thought, false witness, envy, betrayal of friends, hatred,
breaking the oath, tumult, anger, taking avenge, overtaking others' property, greediness,
stealing, violence, love of wealth and relying on it; O Lord, remit and forgive us: hard drinking,
drug addiction, animosity and maliciousness, judging the shortcomings and sins of others,
egoism, love of food, aimless squandering of property and money, neglecting the needy,
conceit, self-glorification.

O God, O merciful, we have sinned by idleness, laziness, hopelessness, living without
confession and without receiving the communion, believing fortune-tellers, breaking fast on
Wednesdays and Fridays and on other days of fasting, missing the church service on
Saturdays and Sundays and on other feast days, thinking about suicide, cursing our own
children and other people, bringing up the children without adherence to the true faith and
spirituality, living a secular life in vanity and by many other sins.

O Lord, forgive us, too, the clergymen, our unworthy ministry to You and cleanse us.

O Lord, bowing our knees we supplicate, on behalf of our ancestors, All Georgia and every
Georgian, on behalf of the dwellers of Georgia and our countrymen living beyond it. We
beseech You, have mercy on us according to Your loving-kindness and in the multitude of Your
mercy, blot out our transgressions and all our sins. With Your right hand purge us with hyssop
and we shall be whiter than snow.

Touch Your Most Holy hand our souls and flesh, hearts and minds and cleanse us.

O Good Shepherd, Who brought us up, taught and chastened us for many thousands of
years and delivered us miraculously from multitudes of troubles, now also, look down on us
with Your loving-kindness.

Facing austere hardships, we beseech You, restore and make firm the boundaries of
Georgia, bless our land and every dweller of it. Make our enemies contending against us, turn
away from their enmity and befriend to us. O Merciful, grant us the true love of God and
neighbour, peace, wisdom, lowliness, joy, a heart of wisdom, capability of forgiving sins of
others. Clothe us with the white linen of Your baptism and gird up our loins with Your Power
and make us one flock and be the only Shepherd of it.

Truly, the sea of our sins has risen to overflow us with its waters, but relying upon You, O
Lord, we hope that the words, You uttered through Isaiah the Prophet will be true for us, too:
"Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they
shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. I have
blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for
I have redeemed thee". (Isaiah 1, 18; 44, 22).

O Lord, You read our hearts, hear and accept our confession through the prayers of Your
Most Holy Mother and All Your Saints.

O Lord, we have returned to You and here is our contrition. Grant us the salvation in the
name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen!

Tbilisi, the site of Most Holy Trinity Cathedral on Mount of Elijah the Prophet.
The Nativity of Christ, January 6, 2000/2001
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Note: Kýrie, eléison is Greek, Κύριε, ἐλέησον, for "Lord, have mercy". Source [412-413]. The Patriarchate of Georgia (Official website). Video: His Holiness and Beatitude, Ilia II, the Catholicos-Patriarch of all Georgia has composed the music performed in this video.