Edited by: Fr. STEPHEN MUSE - Fr. VASILIOS THERMOS

The Mystery of repentance and confession occupies a unique position among the Mysteries of the Church. It is the only liturgy for which (apart from the introductory prayers) there is no fixed text, the Mystery in which the face of the believer unfolds to the greatest extent his freedom and authenticity. Beginning to be created in the recesses of the heart as repentance, it is completed as redemption and forgiveness, in order to bring about through a slow process the sanitization of the will and its sanctification, so that the Light of Grace which is liberates.

Perhaps, precisely to the high degree of freedom which its execution presents, our so impressive failure is also due. As if it proves how, when man goes outside the forms of worship, he loses them and starts to make mistakes. As if he could not stand the trust with which the Church surrounds him during the personalized performance of his Mystery.

Otherwise, so much distortion cannot be explained. We were handed a monumental initiative of God's manic love and turned it into a hoarse and source of anxiety. We were bequeathed a gift of regenerative power and we degenerated it into a legal process of imputation. We were taught an act of profound liberation and we took advantage of it as an opportunity for power.

In the Mystery of repentance and confession, ontological, existential, and interpersonal fields converge, which is why selected authors of different specialties participate in this book. We hope that the publication of this volume will benefit the readers, clergy and laity, especially that it will "educate" all of us towards a different logic and a renewal in the way of understanding the Mystery.

WRITTEN: Bishop Ioannis Abdalla, Fr. Adamantios Augustidis, Fr. Evangelos Ganas, Fr. Nikolaos Douligeris, Fr. Pavlatos, Fr. Elisaios Simonopetritis, Bishop Alexios Trader, Fr. Chrysostomos-Grigorios Tymbas, Fr.