It is true that repentance is a work within the heart involving

[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III

It is true that repentance is a work within the heart involving regret and a resolution to abandon the sin in addition to the actual abandoning of sin practically and from the heart. Yet repentance is completed inside the Church by confession and the absolution. The sinner is to confess his sins and the priest is to read the absolution and give the forgiveness, following the Lord's words: “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (John.20: 22,23).

This is also followed by the guidance that the penitent receives from his spiritual father in order to remain in his penitence.