After confession and Communion, I feel joy and lightness, but today everything turned out to be wrong... There were about 12 people in the queue for confession in front of me. Time is running out: that's it, I won't have time to confess. I was nervous. At the last moment, two grannies appear, asking to let them pass. I resolutely refused. After all, the latter managed to confess, thanking God. I was in time for Communion. But when she left the church, she did not feel joy. Now I am at a loss. There is emptiness in the soul and a sense of guilt before God. What's the matter?

Remember that the main thing before Communion, and after, and throughout the entire Christian life is to have peace with everyone. As you yourself understood, this is not an easy matter. This peace must be sought and fought for, in no case succumbing to anger and irritation. And as for the situation you described, if you are standing in line for confession or somewhere else, you must definitely let everyone who asks for it pass, in no case be afraid that you will be late: the Lord is looking at you. And believe me, if you, having let those grandmothers go ahead, did not have time to take communion, but accepted it as the will of God, you would receive much more benefit for your soul.

Tell me, please, is there any possibility to atone for the sin of murder (a man returned from the war in Chechnya)? And do the clergy in churches have the right not to accept his confession and repentance?

In the church canons, there is a distinction between voluntary murder, involuntary (unintentional) murder and murder in war. But, of course, murder is a grave sin, and during hostilities, murders are committed in different circumstances. Therefore, a person needs to come to church, resort to the sacrament of Repentance (Confession) and reveal to the priest what is on his conscience, without hiding anything and without justifying himself in anything.

God accepts the repentance of every person if it is sincere. Therefore, even a priest who acts as a witness to repentance in the sacrament cannot reject the penitent, not accept his confession.

Please advise how to deal with self-doubt. And how to combine self-confidence with humility and hope in God?

A believer should be confident not in himself, but in God. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time. Cast all your cares on Him, for He cares for you (1 Pet. 5:6-7)," the Apostle Peter instructs us. However, the well-known saying is also true: "Water does not flow under a lying stone." How to combine this, how to understand it correctly? When a person with faith and hope in God does what he should do, the Lord Himself helps him and does what only He can do. And if a person performs any deed as if in the face of God, surrenders himself, his whole life into the hands of God, fear disappears, the feeling of his own inadequacy disappears, a feeling of peace, confidence (and not self-confidence) comes, which is based on humility and hope in God.

For many years now, terrible thoughts have crept into my head: either I wish death to someone, or I call them something bad, especially close and beloved people. I don't want that! If this is from the evil one, then how to deal with it?

What you write about can be called an invasion of thoughts. Man is constantly exposed to this invasion. A variety of thoughts and wishes come into people's heads, or rather, are brought into the head of the enemy of the human race, including those that he cannot sympathize with in any way, with which he fights.

There is no need to be tormented about this and fall into despair: "How does this come to my mind?" In such cases, the Holy Fathers recommend saying to yourself: "This is not mine," because it is really not yours. Such demonic temptations should be ignored in the sense that we should treat them in the same way as we treat some external noise, for example, obsessive music coming from someone else's window. After all, if we cannot stop this unpleasant influence at once or get away from it, we simply try not to pay attention to it.

Thoughts should be treated in the same way. Pray to God that He would help, that He Himself would protect you from this enemy force. Well, our main weapon in spiritual warfare is, of course, the sacraments of Confession and Communion.