Yes. Absolutely.
What you confess to a priest in the Mystery of Confession stays with him. He can’t tell anyone. Not your spouse, not your parents, not the bishop, not the police. The seal of confession is inviolable in Orthodox practice, which means it can’t be broken under any circumstances.
This isn’t just a nice policy. It’s how we understand the sacrament itself. When you confess, you’re not really confessing to the priest at all. You’re confessing to Christ in the priest’s presence. The priest stands as witness to your repentance and speaks Christ’s forgiveness to you. He’s there as Christ’s instrument, not as your therapist or accountability partner or reporting agent.
Because of that, what you say is sacred. It belongs to God, not to the priest. He holds it in trust, and breaking that trust would be a serious sin and a canonical offense. A priest who violates the seal of confession can be defrocked by his bishop. It’s that serious.
Why the Seal Matters
People can’t repent if they’re afraid. That’s the simple truth of it.
If you thought your priest might tell someone what you confessed, you’d hold back. You’d confess the safe sins and hide the real ones. You’d manage your image instead of opening your heart to God’s healing. The whole sacrament would become a performance instead of an encounter with Christ.
The Church has always known this. That’s why the seal of confession goes back to the earliest centuries of Christian practice. The Fathers understood that spiritual healing requires complete honesty, and complete honesty requires complete safety. You need to know that what you say won’t leave that moment between you, the priest, and God.
I’ve heard people from Baptist backgrounds in Southeast Texas say they like the idea of confession but worry about small-town gossip. What if Father knows my family? What if he sees me at the grocery store? Won’t it be awkward? Here’s the thing: he hears confessions from everyone. He’s not going to remember your particular sins any more than your doctor remembers your particular blood pressure reading from six months ago. But even if he did remember, he still can’t say anything. Ever.
What About Serious Situations?
This is where people get nervous. What if someone confesses something terrible? What if they’ve hurt someone or plan to hurt someone?
The priest still can’t break the seal.
That sounds harsh, and it’s caused legal battles in places where civil law requires clergy to report certain crimes. Orthodox jurisdictions, including our Antiochian Archdiocese and the OCA, have been clear: the seal can’t be broken, even when the state demands it. Some priests have faced legal consequences rather than violate it.
But that doesn’t mean the priest does nothing. He can work with you pastorally without revealing what you’ve said. He can encourage you to turn yourself in. He can refuse to give you absolution unless you make things right. He can help you figure out how to report yourself or get help. What he can’t do is go to the authorities and say, “So-and-so confessed this to me.”
It’s a hard teaching. But it protects something essential about the sacrament and about the Church’s role as a hospital for sinners. If confession became an arm of law enforcement, it would cease to be a place of healing.
Practical Questions
Can you ask the priest questions outside of confession about something you confessed? Sure, if you bring it up. He’s not going to bring it up, but you can.
Can you give the priest permission to talk to someone else about what you confessed? Technically yes, though it’s unusual. But he won’t assume he has permission. You’d need to be very explicit.
What if you confess to one priest and then go to another parish? The second priest knows nothing. There’s no database, no file that follows you around. Each confession is a new start.
The Freedom It Gives You
Here’s what I want you to hear: this seal exists for your benefit. It’s meant to free you to be completely honest with God. You don’t have to manage your image or worry about consequences or wonder who’s going to find out. You can say the thing you’ve never said out loud. You can admit what you’ve been hiding for years.
St. John Climacus wrote about confession as a second baptism, a washing that happens again and again throughout our lives. But you can’t be washed if you won’t get in the water. The seal of confession is what makes it safe to wade in all the way.
When you come to St. Michael for confession, you’re coming to a safe place. What you say stays between you, the priest, and Christ. That’s a promise the Church has kept for two thousand years, and it’s a promise we’ll keep for you.
