THE HOLY MYSTERY OF REPENTANCE

THERAPIA AND HEALING

(Sacrament = “Holy Mysterion”)

• We retain the original Greek root “Mystery”

• Mysterion: = • a Salvific personal Encounter with a

Deity:

• The Mystery of Repentance (Penance)

• --is the “liturgical” way to • Encounter Christ and have him

forgive/heal/save/call/love us.

Confession: Law Court paradigm • This theology of Confession is juridical.

• Here, Christ appears as the Judge, and sin is regarded as the breaking of the law.

• one needs an absolution to be washed from his sense of culpability.

• This approach refers to the words of Christ to His apostles: « If you forgive sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained » (Jn 20:23).

Therapia: Healing Hospital Model • the model of the hospital. It is therapeutic.

• Christ appears as the physician, the healer. • Sin is regarded as a spiritual illness. • penance appears as the medicine which brings

restoration to wholeness. • teaching of the Holy Apostle James who said: « • Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the

priests of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven » (James 5:14-15)

Council of Trullo: Canon 102• sin is an illness. • The spiritual father is a physician. • He has to find not only the proper medication

(ejpitimiva, penance), • but also the proper measure, since the same medication

cannot be used in the same proportions for each sick person.

• Therefore, the confessor has to use discernment and has to apply the holy canons, the sacred rules with a sense of economy.

• It is not correct to regard the principle of economy in Byzantine canonical tradition as an exception, or as a dispensation. The principle of economy is the pastoral exercise to apply with discernment the rules to a concrete situation for the salvation of the person.

• Therefore, the confessor has to take as a model the Only Physician of our souls and bodies — Christ our Saviour, and to imitate His compassion and condescension.

Beginning Prayers• Priest: Blessed be our God always, now and for ever and ever.

Amen.

• Trinity most holy, have mercy on us. Cleanse us of our sins, O Lord; pardon our transgressions, O Master; look upon our weaknesses and heal them, O Holy One; for the sake of Your name.

• Lord, have mercy. (3x)

• Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us. We sinners bring this appeal to You, O Master, for we have no defense. Have mercy on us.

• Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit;

• Lord, have mercy on us, for we have put our trust in You. Be not exceedingly angry with us and do not remember our transgressions, but look upon us now with compassion. Redeem us from our enemies, for You are our God, and we are Your people. We are all the work of Your hands, and we call upon Your name.

• Now and ever and for ages of ages.

Exhortation: to God (deprecatory)

• Confession to God• Not to Priest• Icon• Gospel Book & Cross• Priest is sinner, not judge• Priest is witness• Exhortation not to fear or

conceal– Bring out all that needs

healing

Excerpts from an Exhortation formula• My beloved Child in the Holy Spirit, N., it is good that you have

come to Holy Repentance, for there, as by a spiritual font, you will wash the sins of your soul, and, as with heavenly medicine, it shall be healed of death-bearing wounds.

• Only strive that your heart might be broken on account of all your sins, and that you may confess

• them truthfully to the Lord your God Who is with us invisibly• But do not conceal even one sin, not even because of shame,

for I also am a man subject to passions, able to fall into similar sins, and I have experience of the weakness of man.

• … I will not censure you; uncover your sins, and I will not be as a stranger to you.

• Do not speak to me about those who participate with you in• Sins… Confess only your sins, not idly, but with a pricked

heart, and, with good intent,• …having ordered your heart, give glory to the Lord. • Confessing your transgressions before me, a sinner, and

receiving absolution, you will be• freed from the bonds of sins, you will be cleansed, and you will

be healed spiritually by the grace of God.

The place of Confession

• Usually in an alcove in the sanctuary– E.g. behind a kiot– no “confessional

boxes or rooms”

Personal but Private

• Private & Confidential• but• “Personal”: non-anonymous

– Done side by side: Presbyter & Penitent– Facing the Icon, Gospel Book, & Cross

• Because: Therapy – good Diagnosis

The Absolution:

• not indicative (I forgive)• Deprecatory• not the Priest:• Christ God forgives• Epitrakhil over the head

– Christ Himself: – Lay on Hands

• Absolution Formula

A Byzantine Absolution

• O Lord God...the salvation of thy servants, gracious, bountiful and long–suffering, who repentest thee concerning our evil deeds, and desirest not the death of a sinner, but rather that he should turn from his wickedness and live:

• Show thy mercy now upon Thy servant, N., and grant unto him (her) an image of repentance, forgiveness of sins, and deliverance, pardoning his (her) every transgression, whether voluntary or involuntary.

• Reconcile and unite him (her) unto thy holy Church, through Jesus Christ our Lord, with whom also are due unto thee dominion and majesty, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen

Absolution (Russian formula) • May our Lord and God, Jesus

Christ, by the grace and merciesof His love for us, pardon you,my child, N... all your faults,

• and I, an unworthy priest, byHis authority given me,

• Pardon and absolve you of all your sins,

• in the name of the ✙Father andof the Son and of the HolySpirit. Amen.

A Byzantine Absolution

• God through Nathan the prophet forgave David his sins; and Peter shedding bitter tears over his denial; and the Adulteress weeping at his feet; and the Publican and the Prodigal Son.

• May this same God, through me, a sinner, forgive + you everything in this life and in the life to come. And may he make you stand uncondemned before his awesome judgment-seat, for his blessed forever and ever. Amen.

Absolution Dismissal• the Priest says: • "Whatever you have said to my

humble person, • and whatever you have failed to say, • whether through ignorance or

forgetfulness, • whatever it may be, • may God forgive you in this world

and the next.... • Have no further anxiety; go in

peace."

Confession & Spiritual Direction • There is a

practice where people confess to their Staretz (a monk or nun)

• On a regular basis (spiritual direction)

• & are sent by the Staretz for the Absolution

Clergy• Higher Clergy with major

orders• Confess in the Altar• Before the Holy Table

– Removing their pectoral cross

• When a presbyter is hearing the confession of a bishop,

• the presbyter kneels before the Holy Table

How often? • As with many things in

Byzantine Churches• no Canonical rule• General guideline:

– 4 times per year– Because of the 4

Fast/Penitential Seasons• In some Orthodox

Churches, • must before every Holy

Communion

CHRIST THE LIFE GIVER