The Mystery of Confession in the Church is far from being a well-described science, with universally accepted rules and guidelines—hence the term mystery. We have, however, perhaps far too long acted as if the science and its application were indeed clear. After forty-two years as a pastor, and some twenty five years prior to that as a lay sinner in the Orthodox faith, and seven gloriously sinless years as an innocent youth even before that, I have no prescriptions for the formal Rite of Confession. I hope here to propose a few sketches or notes on confession for a conversation that may be long overdue, to which confessors and penitents might continue adding their wisdom and experience as long as we don’t think the tradition has somehow been perfected and frozen in time.