Sacrament of Reconciliation Question

[heart4home]

I was reading an Orthodox Church site, about Confession practices and noticed they said the following…

"We do not confess “to” the priest; rather, we confess to God “in the presence of” the priest who, as the prayer before Confession clearly states, is God’s “witness” and who, having witnessed our confession of sins offers pastoral advice on how we can better our lives and overcome the very things we can confess.

I really liked that. Not that it matters what I like, it matters what is truth. I just wondered is that basically how we see it too, with just the addition that the Priest Absolves us of our sins in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit?

 

[JohnTomHoc]

We confess through the priest to receive absolution because the priest at ordination is impressed with Christ’s priestly character & given the charism to offer the holy sacrifice of the mass acting in Christ’s person & to forgive sins as well.

The Orthodox statement suggest that the Orthodox idea about the character of priesthood is different from the Catholic; but that’s something I have to look up. If that’s the case, it would also help me understand why the Orthodox priesthood does not require celibacy.