If sin is a wound, a disease, it cannot be forgiven! A fracture cannot be forgiven; it needs to be treated, healed. In the Gospel, we read that healing occurs after the Lord forgives sins. To forgive a sin is to heal, to cure a person!!! A sin, like a wound, can only be healed, not legally forgiven, absolved.
If sin is an illusion, it cannot be forgiven, because it does not exist, there is nothing to forgive. A sin, as an illusion, is an act that cannot actually be performed, no matter how much you try (this is the property of every sin – V.A.), no matter how much you force it. Let’s give an example to better understand what we mean. Someone comes to confession and says that they drank all the water in the Pacific Ocean and sincerely, with tears, repents of what they did and promises never to do it again. I know that this cannot be in principle, and the person at confession convinces me that they did it and wants their sin to be forgiven, and for God to stop being angry with them for causing such damage to nature. In such a case, the spiritual director should not read the absolution prayer (“I forgive and absolve” – V.A.), but bring this “hero,” “giant,” who drank the ocean (and false spiritual directors start after such tales to say: oh dear, what have you done, how could you act like this… – instead of bringing the person out of the illusion, they, with their moral instructions and legalistic (legalistic) interpretations of the commandments, prove that it was not necessary to do so, but if it has already happened, what can you do, but if you promise not to do it again, then I forgive you this sin.) What folly: instead of bringing the person to their senses, as much as possible, leading them out of the illusion and back to reality, preparing them for the Eucharist [Reality above realities], they are led into even greater illusion, and even sealed with “divine forgiveness.” The next confession will again be about the “ocean”… – V.A.). Therefore, a sin cannot be committed, it can only be desired to be committed! You can try to drink all the water in the ocean… (for more detailed theology of the illusoriness and impossibility of committing a sin, see the Conclusions).
Thus, these two aspects—”illusion” and “wound”—are present in every action, state, which we denote with the word “sin.” Whoever commits sin lives by the laws of an illusory, unreal world, created by themselves. The laws of the illusory world are typically diametrically opposed in meaning to the laws of the Real World. Everything that in the illusory world brings happiness, pleasure, and joy, in the Real World only brings suffering, disease, misfortune, pain,… death. (For example: someone creates in their mind an illusory world where they are an amphibious person [can breathe underwater] and in this world, they breathe and live underwater, then in Reality it is not recommended to breathe underwater because if disobedient, death will occur). Living by illusory laws in the real world, a person inflicts wounds on themselves, causing suffering and death.
Now we see that not everything is so simple with the catechetical “forgiveness of sins” in the sacrament of confession. But let’s further expand the context for a deeper understanding of the sacrament of the forgiveness of sins. In every act of the Church, which we call Sacraments, sins are forgiven, and the grace of the Holy Spirit is bestowed. And not only in the sacrament of confession. Eucharist, communion for the forgiveness of sins, baptism – for the forgiveness of sins, marriage – for the forgiveness of sins, unction – for the forgiveness of sins, great sanctification of water – for the forgiveness of sins… everything, absolutely everything that the “Church does” – for the remission of sins and union with the Lord Jesus Christ!!! Thus, sin is forgiven not only in the sacrament of confession. Since we see that all sacraments are for the forgiveness of sins (better to say – there is one sacrament of salvation, which in a world destroyed by sin, manifests its healing power in various sacraments, the essence of which is one – forgiveness of sins – salvation), then if we want to talk about the forgiveness of sins only in the context of the sacrament of confession without relating to other sacraments – the picture will not be complete, and we will not be able to understand the essence of confession and forgiveness of sins. Therefore, to understand what the words to forgive a sin indicate, let’s consider several sacraments (and at the same time, try to provide a principle of approach to understanding the sacraments – V.A.). Let’s note in advance that since all sacraments are for the forgiveness of sins, confession is clearly not enough for sin to be forgiven. Below we will see that in confession sin (in the Orthodox understanding of sin and forgiveness – V.A.) is not forgiven, and that there can be formal confession without sin being forgiven, and that one can confess sin daily (or at every confession) and it goes nowhere: no matter how much the priest “absolves and releases,” the sin remains. This is not theory – this is a fact.