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====Old Testament====
"he shall confess his sin that he has committed. And he shall make full restitution for his wrong, adding a fifth to it and giving it to him to whom he did the wrong." Num. 5:7
"Those of Israelite descent separated themselves from all foreigners, and they stood and confessed their sins and the guilt of their fathers. While they stood in their places, they read from the book of the law of the LORD their God for a fourth of the day and spent another fourth of the day in confession and worship of the LORD their God." Nehemiah 9:2-3
"And read out publicly this scroll which we send you, in the house of the LORD, on the feast day and during the days of assembly: 'Justice is with the LORD, our God; and we today are flushed with shame, we men of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem, that we, with our kings and rulers and priests and prophets, and with our fathers, have sinned in the LORD'S sight and disobeyed him. We have neither heeded the voice of the LORD, our God, nor followed the precepts which the LORD set before us.'" Baruch 1:14-18
====The New Testament====
John the Baptist and Forerunner exhorted his listeners to confess. See, e.g., Matthew 3:6 and Mark 1:5. We also see evidence of it as a practice of the early Church in Acts 19:18, 1 Timothy 6:12, 1 John 1:9, and James 5.16.
====The Early Church====During the first six centuries of the Church, it cannot be said that the Mystery of Confession existed "in the same sense in which we say" that the Mysteries of Baptism and Eucharist existed during the same period.<ref>Metropolitan Hilaron Alfeyev, Orthodox Christianity, Vol. V, Chapter 4. </ref>. However, there were several practices that no doubt formed what became to be known as the Mystery of Repentance in the sixth century -- the us of a general confession before the Eucharist, public or private confession before a bishop or presbyter, and confession before several presbyters, with or without the bishop.<ref>Ibid. </ref>
==Preparing for Confession==
