Eastern Penance

[wolfpup]

Hi,

I wonder if someone who is knowledgeable could shed some light on the eastern version of Confession and Penance. As I understand it, the east’s sacrament is much more concerned with healing than reconciliation and does not agree with the idea of temporal punishment.
How has this difference in tradition occured? If anyone could shed some light as to the understanding of the sacrement in the early church and in the Church Fathers, I would be very grateful.

thanks,

WH

 

[Vico]

Hi,

I wonder if someone who is knowledgeable could shed some light on the eastern version of Confession and Penance. As I understand it, the east’s sacrament is much more concerned with healing than reconciliation and does not agree with the idea of temporal punishment.
How has this difference in tradition occured? If anyone could shed some light as to the understanding of the sacrement in the early church and in the Church Fathers, I would be very grateful.

thanks,

WH

There is forgivness of sins through absolution of confession (exomologesis). There is repentance (metanoia) in one’s life that we may put on Christ, that is, become Christlike. Historically penance was public and there were excommunications given for various periods of time for serious sins, that one could become more Christlike. The Catholic “temporal punishment” has nothing to do with absolution, and everything to do with purification.
The eucharist presupposes repentance (metanoia) and confession (exomologesis), which find in other circumstances their own sacramental expression. But the eucharist forgives and also heals sins, since it is the sacrament of the divinizing love of the Father, by the Son, in the Holy Spirit.
vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/ch_orthodox_docs/rc_pc_chrstuni_doc_19820706_munich_en.html

Read this for Latin Church history:
vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/apost_constitutions/documents/hf_p-vi_apc_19670101_indulgentiarum-doctrina_en.html

Catholic Catechism 1472, 1473 extracts:

Every sin “…entails an unhealthy attachment to creatures, which must be purified either here on earth, or after death…”. “A conversion which proceeds from a fervent charity can attain the complete purification of the sinner …” "He should strive by works of mercy and charity, as well as by prayer and the various practices of penance, to put off completely the “old man” and to put on the “new man.”

 

[wolfpup]

Vico, thanks for your reply, the links are very helpful in understanding the topic

I think I understand the ideas behind Temporal Punishment - releasing us from attachment to sin and so on - in this way it has a very practical use. But I still don’t understand why, if is an bona fide teaching, the Orthodox seem to be so against the idea. The distiction between eternal and temporal punishment seems absent in the ECF and in Orthodoxy and seems to be a Western custom.
In any case, I will continue to work through the links.

WH

 

[Vico]

Vico, thanks for your reply, the links are very helpful in understanding the topic

I think I understand the ideas behind Temporal Punishment - releasing us from attachment to sin and so on - in this way it has a very practical use. But I still don’t understand why, if is an bona fide teaching, the Orthodox seem to be so against the idea. The distiction between eternal and temporal punishment seems absent in the ECF and in Orthodoxy and seems to be a Western custom.
In any case, I will continue to work through the links.

WH

There is a distinction between eternal punishment and the purification after death, of the faithful. The tendency of the Eastern Orthodox is not to use the term punishment for the after death state of the faithfully departed, it is a process of growth rather than of punishment.

Absolution, penance, and prayer for the faithfully departed are universal Catholic and Orthodox practices. Yet, indulgences is not an Orthodox teaching so they are not employed in the practice of penance and prayer for the faithfully departed.

Indulgences are not for absolution, rather they are forms of penance for oneself, or for the faithfully departed, so in that way they are forms of penance and prayer for the faithfully departed. Basically that the Church, having the power to loosen and bind sins, can grant some of the infinite merit of Christ to match the penence preformed by the penitent whose sins have been forgiven, to that person or to the faithfully departed.

 

[Cecilianus]

Vico, thanks for your reply, the links are very helpful in understanding the topic

I think I understand the ideas behind Temporal Punishment - releasing us from attachment to sin and so on - in this way it has a very practical use. But I still don’t understand why, if is an bona fide teaching, the Orthodox seem to be so against the idea. The distiction between eternal and temporal punishment seems absent in the ECF and in Orthodoxy and seems to be a Western custom.
In any case, I will continue to work through the links.

WH

I think the Eastern problem with it has to do with (a) expressing the mysteries of salvation in terms of punishment, justice, laws, etc. - legal terminology rather than having an emphasis on the personal nature of Christ’s Redemption and salvific love for us, and (b) a complete misunderstanding of the Roman Catholic expression of it, which can be a bit confusing to an outsider. I remember as a Lutheran seeking instruction in Catholicism being pretty bewildered.

 

[Little_Boy_Lost]

Hi,

I wonder if someone who is knowledgeable could shed some light on the eastern version of Confession and Penance. As I understand it, the east’s sacrament is much more concerned with healing than reconciliation and does not agree with the idea of temporal punishment.

A penance is not normally administered by the priest unless it is deemed to be of great benefit for the healing of the person. Atonement of the sin itself is usually the most common form of penance rather than the reading of scripture or recitation of prayers. If you wronged a person, you should apologize and make amends. Seems the most straightforward and most humbling.

 

[Vico]

A penance is not normally administered by the priest unless it is deemed to be of great benefit for the healing of the person. Atonement of the sin itself is usually the most common form of penance rather than the reading of scripture or recitation of prayers. If you wronged a person, you should apologize and make amends. Seems the most straightforward and most humbling.

The penitent preceed Holy Confession with fasting, prayer, abstinance, alms, etc. The idea is metanoia or change of mind. The old penitential practice is preserved in the four penitential periods prior to the Nativity, the Pasch, the Feast of Apostles Peter & Paul, and the Dormition. Originally the Holy Eucharist was received less frequently than today.

 

[wolfpup]

If you wronged a person, you should apologize and make amends. Seems the most straightforward and most humbling.

This really makes sense. In this way you could see Penance not as a punishment placed on a person in order to satisfy justice, but also as a way of making amends - to yourself, the person you have wronged and to God. It seems wrong to ignore this aspect of it.

 

[Vico]

This really makes sense. In this way you could see Penance not as a punishment placed on a person in order to satisfy justice, but also as a way of making amends - to yourself, the person you have wronged and to God. It seems wrong to ignore this aspect of it.

This is not a difference between east and west however. Note Catechism of the Catholic Church on Satisfaction:

[1459](javascriptpenWindow(‘cr/1459.htm’) Many sins wrong our neighbor. One must do what is possible in order to repair the harm (e.g., return stolen goods, restore the reputation of someone slandered, pay compensation for injuries). Simple justice requires as much. But sin also injures and weakens the sinner himself, as well as his relationships with God and neighbor. Absolution takes away sin, but it does not remedy all the disorders sin has caused.62 Raised up from sin, the sinner must still recover his full spiritual health by doing something more to make amends for the sin: he must “make satisfaction for” or “expiate” his sins. This satisfaction is also called “penance.”

62 Cf. Council of Trent (1551): Denzinger-Schonmetzer Enchiridion Symbolorum 1712.

1712 922 Can. 12. Si quis dixerit, totam poenam simul cum culpa remitti semper a Deo, satisfactionemque paenitentium non esse aliam quam fidem, qua apprehendunt Christum pro eis satisfecisse: an. s. (cf. DS 1689).

1712 922 Can. 12. If any one saith, that the whole punishment at the same time with the guilt that God always remits, that the satisfaction of penitents is no other than the faith whereby they apprehend that Christ has satisfied for them; or to. to wit, (cf. DS 1689).

 

[Little_Boy_Lost]

Also I have not seen many Byzantine parishes offer a “Confession slot” where it is announced the pastor will be available for confession before mass. A few parishes, but not many. Orthos and Vespers are usually on the service calender. Is this owing to the desire of some parishes to encourage the faithful to make time to the see the priest or develop a relationship with a spiritual father?

 

[Cecilianus]

Also I have not seen many Byzantine parishes offer a “Confession slot” where it is announced the pastor will be available for confession before mass. A few parishes, but not many. Orthos and Vespers are usually on the service calender. Is this owing to the desire of some parishes to encourage the faithful to make time to the see the priest or develop a relationship with a spiritual father?

Due more I think to the fact that since we don’t have confessionals you don’t want a lot of people praying silently in the church while you are saying your confession, so it’s better to make individual appointments are do it during Orthros or Liturgy.