The Sacrament of Confession

Vladyslav Nazarchuk

Among the sacraments of the Orthodox Church, the sacrament of Confession is undeniably unique in the sheer variability which can exist in the content of the sacrament. While Communion and Baptism, for example, have well-defined rites and actions that occur in largely the same way every time the sacrament is performed, confession—because it involves the confession of an individual’s sins to a priest, who offers advice that is also individual—will be different for every person, every time, and every priest who administers the sacrament. Furthermore, confession by its very nature involves a closer personal relationship between the penitent and the priest than is necessary for any of the other sacraments. As St. Dumitru Staniloae writes, “The two are linked in a unique kind of friendship; their souls touch and vibrate in this contact with that is most serious and intimate within themselves. Together with the priest, the penitent realizes the greatest communion that can be realized with a fellow human being.”¹ Because of this variability and individuality, confession is often liable to be misunderstood or misused by Orthodox Christians. Some might be afraid of revealing their souls to a priest; others, not understanding the spiritual dimension of repentance underlying this sacrament, might treat it lightly and carelessly, and not receive any meaningful healing thereby; and yet others may become over-scrupulous in confession’s formal aspects and deprive themselves of the comforting love and forgiveness of Christ which are communicated in it.

Many of these difficulties and misunderstandings, however, can be aided by a careful reevaluation of what the sacrament of confession truly is. Accordingly, this essay aims to give an introduction to confession and its role in the life of an Orthodox Christian, from several perspectives. First, the historical development of confession will be traced from its Biblical foundation to the sacrament’s current form. Next, the theological principles underlying confession will be discussed, largely based on the writings of St. Nektarios of Aegina and St. Dumitru Staniloae. Finally, the liturgical form of the Order of Confession will be presented, along with its principal prayers and actions, as it is practiced in the Slavonic tradition. By the end, the essay would hopefully help an Orthodox Christian to understand the sacrament of confession in a new light, and to be able to participate in it in a more effective and salvific way.

Historical Development of Confession

The sacrament of confession has a clear Scriptural basis, in the context of the problem of human sin. In the words of Biblical scholar Richard B. Hays, “Since sin is offense against God, only God has the right to declare it cancelled.”² Christ, as God, demonstrates His ability to forgive sin multiple times in the Gospels, such as when healing the paralytic in Mark 2:1–12 (“But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins…”), and forgiving the sinful woman at the house of a Pharisee in Luke 7:36–50 (“And he said to her, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’”). Importantly, Christ also gave the power to forgive sins to His apostles. In Matthew 18:18, Christ promises the apostles, “Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven”: as evidenced by the citation of this verse (or the identical phrase in Matthew 16:19) in the penitential prayers of the Orthodox Church, “binding” and “loosing” precisely refers to the Church’s power to retain or remit sin, to excommunicate a person or reconcile him with the Church. Similarly, when Christ breathes the Holy Spirit onto the apostles after His resurrection, He tells them, “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”³ Furthermore, St. James in his epistle recommends the verbal confession of sins as a precondition to spiritual healing, writing, “Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed,”⁴ and explains how, through the prayers of presbyters, a sick person can receive forgiveness of sins (but in a context closer to the modern-day sacrament of Unction).⁵

Over time, the Church has developed various liturgical forms to satisfy this essential need of every Christian to acknowledge one’s sin, repent, and receive forgiveness through those individuals in the Church whom Christ invested with this power. As Archpriest Valentin Sventitsky asserts, “The Saviour did not institute any definitive form of sacred ritual for the Mystery of Repentance, but He did provide general principles.”⁶ Following Archbishop Job (Getcha), three main periods can be distinguished in the development of the sacrament of confession.⁷ First, the “classical period” was characterized by the institution of public penance, which mainly dealt with the “major” sins of apostasy, murder, and adultery. Through these sins, a person was considered to have separated themselves from the Church community, and was required to undergo a lengthy period of penance or trial before being reconciled. This institution was “public” both because the penitent would confess his sins publicly, and would manifest his penitence publicly, such as by being dismissed from the Divine Liturgy following the dismissal of the catechumens. However, by the end of the fourth century, there was already an acknowledgment of a pastoral problem regarding the public nature of this rite—namely that Christians in good standing would become prideful and look down on the penitents as the latter were dismissed—and by the fifth century, the institution of public penance was dismantled because it was not effective.

The second period in the development of confession is characterized by the publication of the Kanonarion (or Nomokanon) of St. John the Faster, Patriarch of Constantinople, in the sixth century (although the actual author and era of this document is disputed by some scholars). The order of confession contained therein is private and personal, and can be seen as a continuation of the monastic practice of “confession of thoughts” before a spiritual elder (who was not necessarily an ordained priest), which has existed in Orthodox Christian monasticism since the beginning. This suggests that by the sixth century, a private form of confession had already become the norm. For instance, Sventitsky argues that “if we keep in mind that Saint John the Faster did not introduce any innovation, but utilized the common practice of the Church, then we can see in his order the most ancient rite of confession.”⁸ Sventitsky also points to the rich and varying manuscript tradition of Russian rules for confession that were written on the basis of the rule in the Kanonarion.⁹ Indeed, the rule of St. John the Faster in its basic elements is already quite close to how confession is currently practiced in the Orthodox Church: after some introductory prayers, the penitent reveals all of his sins in detail to his spiritual father, after which the spiritual father reads a prayer of absolution over the penitent. Other orders of confession were subsequently developed, and beginning in the tenth century, Byzantine euchologia contain two “types” of confession: a “presbyteral” type, received by an ordained priest, and a “monastic” type, received by a monk who is not ordained.¹⁰ By the fifteenth century, however, confession became received only by ordained priests: as St. Symeon of Thessalonica (c. 1381–1429) argues, the confessor must be a priest to be able to pronounce the prayer of absolution at the end.¹¹

The third, “modern” period, can be considered to run from the seventeenth century onward, and is when the rite of confession acquired its modern form. During this time, penances became applied much more rarely (having already been reduced in severity in St. John the Faster’s Kanonarion from those prescribed by the ancient canons, such as those of St. Basil), and confession became more frequent in the life of an Orthodox Christian, being identified with spiritual direction.¹² Also, in the eighteenth century, “interrogatory articles” were developed as a normal part of the order of confession: long lists of questions which the priest would ask the penitent, in order to help the penitent confess his sins more fully. There were even different lists of questions for men and women, as well as for different ranks of clergy.¹³ These interrogatory articles gave confession a more formal, question-and-answer format, although they are generally not used today. In the Russian tradition, the form of confession as found in the Book of Needs of 1677 matches exactly what is published in the Book of Needs today.¹⁴

For modern Orthodox Christians, the relevant conclusions which can be drawn from this historical development of the sacrament of confession are as follows. First, confession was instituted by Christ Himself and has been practiced by the Church from the beginning, always containing the following key elements: (1) the penitent confesses his sins verbally, (2) confession is done in front of another person, whether a priest, a monastic spiritual father, or the church community as a whole, and (3) confession is followed by absolution, in which the penitent is freed from the guilt and responsibility for the sins which he has confessed. Second, the present-day form of confession was developed gradually, continually being refined as the Church encountered and solved various problems and drawbacks which were present in previous versions of the rite. In particular, this means that the modern form of confession as practiced in the Orthodox Church—private, frequent confession before a priest—is the best form of confession developed by the Church so far. As such, it would be incorrect to advocate a return to some older form of confession, seeking, for example, a “general confession,” or to confess not in front of a priest but to someone else, or to confess only “major” sins rather than all sins. Instead, an Orthodox Christian should humbly and joyously submit himself to how confession is practiced today in his own tradition, trusting that the pastoral wisdom which was accumulated by the Church in the present form of the rite is indeed the best way for him to achieve salvation.

The Theology of Confession

Having identified some of the salient elements of confession, which consistently formed part of this sacrament throughout the history of the Church, these points can now be explored in further detail from a theological perspective. First, why is confession necessary at all? The reality is that all people sin, and all sin is an offense against God’s justice and the Divine Law. As St. Nektarios of Aegina writes in the context of confession, “When man sins, he sins against God; this is why he is obligated to satisfy the Divine Righteousness, while destroying the evil he has created and working on behalf of the everlastingness of God’s Law.”¹⁵ The satisfaction of Divine Righteousness should not be understood as an economic exchange of “paying back” to God what God lost through sin, but rather simply that a person who sins has a need to address or account for his sin in some way, in order to repair his relationship with and reestablish peace with God. Aside from justice, a second aspect of confession is healing. Although baptism and chrismation initially clean a person of all sin and give him the power to live a sinless life in Christ, sin committed afterwards nevertheless constitutes a sickness of the soul, and leaves wounds in the soul which often lead to further sin, and which a person cannot heal himself. Staniloae writes that when a person sins, this “proves that some sickness or weakness has befallen him that can lead him, even after baptism, to new lapses. In order to be healed, he therefore must explain the reasons why he has fallen and what his weaknesses are.”¹⁶ Through confession, a person is able to receive this healing from Christ, the Great Physician, through that person’s confessor, who also can be thought of as the penitent’s spiritual physician.

However, to achieve this healing of soul, a person still needs to take the “first step” towards God, which is precisely why sins need to be confessed out loud in front of someone else. By vocalizing his sins, a person makes manifest the dark, hidden, and shameful parts of his heart, demonstrates his acknowledgment of and remorse for his sins, and gives a promise to turn away from these sins and never repeat them. St. Nektarios, for instance, cites St. John Climacos as asserting that “wounds displayed in public will not grow worse,” and argues that “nothing gives such strength to the demons and to our thoughts against us, as much as mulling unconfessed thoughts in the heart.”¹⁷ If a person merely confesses “to God alone” within his thoughts and prayers, but does not manifest his sins publicly or externally, then this darkness and sickness will to some degree remain “stuck” within his soul, which will not feel relieved or at peace. From another angle, however, vocal confession of sin is necessary for the Church to maintain its own purity, to be aware of the moral state of its members and to make sure that when the Body and Blood of Christ are distributed at the Eucharist, only those people who would be able to receive the Gifts worthily would partake of them. As Sventitsky, following Russian theologian A. I. Almazov, points out, the fact that the Church was given both the power to “bind” and to “loose” implies that the confessor must know precisely the kind and degree of the penitent’s sin to be able to make this determination—which again means that the penitent must confess out loud.¹⁸

Finally, why must specifically a priest listen to a person’s confession, rather than a friend or some other advisor—especially when it is ultimately God Whom the penitent confesses to? First, since only God, and consequently the Church, has the power to forgive sin, only an ordained priest has the ability to pronounce the penitent’s sins forgiven at the end of his confession. As Staniloae argues,

“Only persons chosen by Christ in an objectively verifiable manner, as the apostles were chosen, can possess and exercise the power of Christ with seriousness … They possess this guarantee in the fact that those chosen have been revealed as such by the Holy Spirit through an act of consecration celebrated in the Church … This is the only way that there can be any objective verification that a man has not simply taken upon himself Christ’s power to forgive sins.”¹⁹

Also, a significant aspect of confession is that after the penitent has confessed his sins, the confessor often performs the role of spiritual physician by helping the penitent think through and understand his sins, and giving advice on how to prevent them from reoccurring. As St. Nektarios writes, “Through his knowledge, the spiritual father morally builds [the penitent] within virtue, while through his experience, he guards him from the delusions—and in this manner guides him to salvation.”²⁰ Further, the confessor can also give out penances: certain tasks or limitations, which act like “spiritual medicine” to help the penitent heal from his sickness of sin. While neither spiritual advice nor penances are a strictly necessary part of confession, they nevertheless require the confessor to have a good understanding of spiritual warfare—for which role ordained priests are usually well-suited.

The Rite of Confession

Liturgically, the sacrament of confession has a rather simple form when compared with the other sacraments of the Church, especially since the rite is often abbreviated in practice. As it appears in the Slavonic Book of Needs, the rite begins with several opening prayers, including the penitential troparia Have mercy on us, O Lord, the prayer O God our Savior, Who by Your Prophet, Nathan (which is an ancient prayer for those who repent, found in the eight-century Barberini Euchologion),²¹ and the prayer O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, both Shepherd and Lamb.²² Then, the confessor says an exhortation which reminds the penitent of several important points about the sacrament. First, the priest affirms that it is Christ Himself who receives the penitent’s confession, with the priest being only a witness: “Behold, child, Christ stands invisibly here receiving your confession. … Behold His Icon before us! I am only a witness, bearing testimony before Him of all things which you say to me.” In confirmation of these words, during confession the priest and the penitent stand by an analogion with a Cross and a Gospel Book on it, which represent the presence of Christ (although perhaps confession was formerly done in front of an actual icon of Christ). Second, the priest encourages the penitent to have an honest and fruitful confession: “Do not be ashamed or afraid, and don’t conceal anything from me.” Finally, the priest indicates that the purpose of confession is “so that you may receive forgiveness from our Lord Jesus Christ.” In practice, however, these beginning elements are usually skipped when confession is done during an ongoing service in the church. The priest might just say the penitential troparia, and then receive the penitents as they come up to him one by one in a line.

While the Slavonic Book of Needs preserves a list of questions for the priest to then ask the penitent, these are not used today; rather, “the Confessor waits for the penitent to reveal his (or her) offences, and, when necessary, puts suitable questions, according to the person’s condition, sex, and age.”²³ That is, the confession of sins follows a rather free format driven by the penitent’s initiative, with perhaps some guidance from the priest. After all sins have been confessed, the priest says the prayer O Lord God of the salvation of Your servants, which is a tenth-century prayer for the reconciliation of a penitent with the Church.²⁴ Finally, the priest pronounces the prayer of absolution over the penitent, which in Slavonic practice is the prayer May our Lord and God, Jesus Christ, by the grace and compassion of His love for mankind, written by St. Peter Moghila and published in his Trebnik in Kyiv in 1646.²⁵ During the prayer of absolution, the priest covers the head of the penitent with his epitrachelion and makes the sign of the cross over it—a visible sign of the invisible mystery of forgiveness of sin by God which occurs at this moment. After the prayer of absolution, the sins which the penitent has confessed have now been forgiven him. The rite ends with the usual dismissal, which again is usually omitted when confession is not performed as a standalone liturgical service.

Conclusion

In summary, approaching the Orthodox Christian sacrament of Confession from historical, theological, and liturgical perspectives reveals a consistent and clear understanding of the sacrament in the practice of the Church. Tracing the history of confession shows that although the precise form of the rite has evolved over time, its essential elements—verbal expression of sins before the Church, and the forgiveness of sins and reconciliation with God as a result—have remained unchanged. The history of confession also shows that the current form of the rite is not arbitrary, but is the result of the accumulated pastoral wisdom of the Church, who gradually perfected the form of the sacrament in response to the needs and problems of its members. Meanwhile, the writings of Orthodox saints and theologians provide a concrete theological foundation for why confession is necessary, why sins need to be confessed out loud, and why the confessor must be an ordained priest. The Order of Confession as preserved in the Book of Needs today is in complete agreement with these principles, and the prayers and exhortations contained therein instruct and encourage the penitent to make a correct, therapeutic, and salvific confession.

For an Orthodox Christian, the relevance of all this is that the sacrament of confession as it exists today is a great and salvific gift, given to the Church by Christ Himself and carried forward and perfected by the Church through centuries. Thus, he should submit himself wholly to the Orthodox tradition which he has received, and confess openly, honestly, and sincerely, with gratitude and love towards the merciful God who makes this opportunity of healing and forgiveness possible. If confession is approached from this perspective, then many of the common difficulties which people often face in this aspect of Orthodox Christian life—such as shame in revealing one’s shortcomings before a priest, negligence in confessing regularly and thoroughly, and a lack of trust that one’s sins can indeed be forgiven—can be overcome. Instead, an Orthodox Christian should always bravely and eagerly run to confession, encouraged by the words of St. Basil that “after the confession, you are worthy of chanting to God with a ten-stringed psaltery.”²⁶