The paper analyzes the relationship between confession and conversion such that it is revealed by several diaries, memoirs and autobiographies belonging to Romanian and foreign authors (Gena Geamănu, Monica Fermo, Paulin Lecca, Danion Vasile, Klaus Kenneth, John Oliver, and Matthew Gallatin). I take into account two different meanings of the Greek word metanoia (literally, “change of the mind”): one of them is repentance, the other is conversion.

In The New Testament, repentance for one’s sins is the condition for entering the kingdom of God. It is also the compulsory condition for healing when we see ourselves the prey of the eight logismoi / passions. Intellectual constructions like relativism, individualism, secularism and nihilism are denounced by these authors as subtle sins, related to such “passions” as akedia, kenodoxia (vainglory) and pride. While deconstructing the Western mindset, they also write a genuine apology and eulogy of the Orthodox faith.