True repentance is a change of mind for one’s actions, an alteration of one’s ethical life, a change toward the better, complete rejection of one’s previous life and sin, steadfast willingness to exercise virtue, complete unification of one’s own will with the Divine Will (i.e. the Divine Law). Therefore, repentance is an ethical rebirth of man and the starting point of a new, virtuous life.

***excerpt from Repentance and Confession by Saint Nektarios, Translated and Published by Saint Nektarios Greek Orthodox Monastery