What about trying your best and still confessing the same sin, according to the Fathers?

By CopticBot.ai (Coptic Space Inc.) · Last reviewed 2026-10-10

In the Coptic Orthodox tradition, falling into the same sin despite "trying your best" is not a sign of failure that should lead to despair, but rather a call to deeper humility and a more profound reliance on the Grace of God. The Church Fathers and our great monastic teachers address this struggle with great compassion and spiritual wisdom.

Here is how the perspective of the Fathers addresses this specific struggle:

1. The Necessity of Humility

Many of the Desert Fathers, including St. Anthony the Great and St. Macarius, taught that God sometimes allows a person to struggle with a recurring sin to break their pride. If we were to overcome our sins by our own "best efforts" quickly, we would likely fall into the greater sin of self-righteousness.

When you struggle with the same sin repeatedly, it serves as a constant reminder that you cannot save yourself. As the late Pope Shenouda III often taught, the goal is not just "not sinning," but gaining a "broken and humble heart" (Psalm 51:17).

2. Never Despair: The "Rise and Fall" Rule

The Fathers are very clear: the only true defeat is to stop trying. St. John Chrysostom and St. Isaac the Syrian both emphasize that God does not look at how many times you fell, but how many times you rose again.

• If you fall and confess 100 times, and 100 times you resolve to try again, you are a soldier in the middle of a battle, not a person who has lost the war.
• St. Sisoe the Great was once asked by a brother: “What shall I do, abba, for I have fallen?” The old man said to him: “Get up again.” The brother said: “I have got up and I have fallen again.” The old man said: “Get up again and again.”

3. Change of Strategy: Identifying the "Root"

If you are "trying your best" but the result is the same, the Fathers suggest that you may be fighting the symptom rather than the cause. In Coptic asceticism, we look for the "prelude" to the sin.

• The Prelude: Are you falling into a sin of the flesh because you first fell into the sin of pride or judging others?
• The Environment: Are you "trying your best" while still placing yourself in the path of temptation? The Fathers teach that "he who wants to keep his clothes clean does not walk in the mud."

4. The Medicine of the Sacrament

Confession is not a courtroom where a judge gets frustrated that the criminal keeps returning; it is a hospital where the sick come for medicine.

• When you confess the same sin again, do not be ashamed before your confession father. A doctor is not angry when a patient with a chronic illness returns for more treatment.
• Each confession provides "preventative grace." Even if you fall again, the grace received in the Sacrament of Penance strengthens your soul so that the next time, the struggle might last longer or the fall might be less severe.

5. Distinguishing Between "Will" and "Weakness"

The Fathers distinguish between those who sin with "consent and pleasure" and those who sin "out of weakness" while their spirit is unwilling.

• If you are truly "trying your best," crying out to God, and yet you fall, this is considered a war of the enemy or a human weakness.
• God looks at the intent of the heart. If your intent is to be with Him, He will eventually grant you the victory in His own timing, not yours.

Summary of Encouragement

Do not let the repetitive nature of your sin keep you away from the Holy Eucharist or from your confession father. The devil's greatest trick is to make you feel "hypocritical" for confessing the same thing again.

The Coptic Orthodox Truth: A hypocrite is one who sins and does not care to change. A struggling sinner who confesses the same sin for the 1,000th time is not a hypocrite; they are a martyr of conscience who refuses to give up on God’s mercy.

As the Fathers say: "If you fall, repent; if you fall again, repent again. Only do not leave your God."