The Practice of Confession and Reconciliation
Part II of III - History

These are some supplementary readings for the lesson.  An outline of the lesson is available here.

We can trace the place of idea of public confession in cultic worship to our heritage in Judaism.  Even today, Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, is the most sacred of the Jewish holidays, the “Sabbath of Sabbaths.”  By Yom Kippur the 40 days of repentance, that begin with the first of Elul, have passed.  On Rosh Hashanah God has judged most of mankind and has recorded his judgment in the Book of Life.  But he has given a 10 day reprieve.  On Yom Kippur the Book of Life is closed and sealed. Those that have repented for their sins are granted a good and happy New Year.
 
Since Yom Kippur is the day to ask forgiveness for promises broken to G-d, the day before is reserved for asking forgiveness for broken promises between people, as God cannot forgive broken promises between people.
 
Yom Kippur is a day of “NOT” doing.  There is no blowing of the Shofar and Jews may not eat or drink, as fasting is the rule.  It is believed that to fast on Yom Kippur is to emulate the angels in heaven, who do not eat, drink, or wash.  While Yom Kippur is devoted to fasting, the day before is devoted to eating.  According to the Talmud the person “who eats on the ninth of Tishri (and fasts on the tenth), it is as if he had fasted both the ninth and tenth.”  Prayer is also downplayed so that Jews can concentrate on eating and preparing for the fast.  On the eve of Yom Kippur the community joins at the synagogue.  Men put on prayer shawls (not usually worn in the evenings).  Then as night falls the cantor begins the “Kol Nidre”, it is repeated 3 times, each time in a louder voice.  The Kol Nidre emphasizes the importance in keeping vows, as violating an oath is one of the worst sins.
 
An important part of the Yom Kippur service is the “Vidui” (Viduy) or confession.  The confessions serve to help reflect on ones misdeeds and to confess them verbally is part of the formal repentance in asking God’s forgiveness.  Because community and unity are an important part of Jewish Life, the confessions are said in the plural (We are guilty).
 
As Yom Kippur ends, at the last hour a service called “Ne’ila” (Neilah) offers a final opportunity for repentance.  It is the only service of the year during which the doors to the Ark (where the Torah scrolls are stored) remain open from the beginning to end of the service, signifying that the gates of Heaven are open at this time.  The service closes with the verse, said 7 times, “The Lord is our God.” The Shofar is sounded once and the congregation proclaim: “Next year in Jerusalem.”

In Christian Era

There are references in the Gospels and New Testament writings that emphasize the importance of confession in maintaining right relationship with God, humanity, and all creation and it is the history of how that has been incorporated into our worship through the intervening millennia that we consider here.

One of the earliest guides for Christian worship and practice is the Didache, probably recorded in the early second century.  In Chapter 14, Christian Assembly on the Lord's Day, we read:

But every Lord’s day gather yourselves together, and break bread, and give thanksgiving after having confessed your transgressions, that your sacrifice may be pure.  But let no one who is at odds with his fellow come together with you, until they be reconciled, that your sacrifice may not be profaned.  For this is that which was spoken by the Lord: “In every place and time offer to me a pure sacrifice; for I am a great King, says the Lord, and my name is wonderful among the nations.”

The eastern and western churches have developed somewhat different traditions regarding confession.  The western (Roman Catholic and its children Anglican, Lutheran, etc.) was further influenced by its meeting with the Celtic Christians when St. Augustine came to Britain.

From Roman Catholicism:

The earliest Christian writings, such as the first-century Didache, are indefinite on the procedure for confession to be used in the forgiveness of sins, but a verbal confession is listed as a part of the Church’s requirement by the time of Irenaeus (A.D. 180).  He wrote that the disciples of the Gnostic heretic Marcus “have deluded many women … Their consciences have been branded as with a hot iron.  Some of these women make a public confession, but others are ashamed to do this, and in silence, as if withdrawing themselves from the hope of the life of God, they either apostatize entirely or hesitate between the two courses” (Against Heresies 1:22).
 
The sacrament of penance is clearly in use, for Irenaeus speaks of making an outward confession (versus remaining silent) upon which the hope of eternal life hangs, but it is not yet clear from Irenaeus just how, or to whom, confession is to be made.  Is it privately, to the priest, or before the whole congregation with the priest presiding?  The one thing we can say for sure is that the sacrament is understood by Irenaeus to go back to the beginning of the Church.
 
Slightly later writers, such as Origen (241), Cyprian (251), and Aphraates (337) are clear in saying confession is to be made to a priest.  (In fact, in their writings the whole process of penance is termed exhomologesis, which simply means confession: the confession was seen as the main part of the sacrament.)  Cyprian writes that the forgiving of sins can take place only “through the priests.”  Ambrose makes things clear, saying, “This right is given to priests only.”

From Orthodoxy:

“A Confession which is not made before God, humanity and creation, is no confession at all.  This is the Orthodox Faith.”

In the early Church, confession was made to the whole congregation.  Afterwards the priest read a prayer over the person that manifested God’s forgiveness.  With time this practice became difficult to keep up because of growth in Church membership.  Confession to the whole congregation ceased by the fourth century and the priest came to represent the whole congregation in Confession.  The priest would hear the person’s sins, offer guidance and encouragement and then pray over the person.  This is how confession is still practiced today.  Confession is totally based on the Bible and Holy Tradition.  Any person who is seriously trying to live an Orthodox Christian life will go to Confession regularly.  They will choose a priest they feel comfortable with and make time to confess their sins and seek guidance in their spiritual life.  The priest is not a judge, but a fatherly friend.  He cannot forgive sins, only God does that, but Christ has given him the authority to hear sins and pray over the person for forgiveness.  The priest helps our confessions to be more reflective, less rationalized, and more honest, [the priest] can act as a mirror for us which feeds back things we would be more likely to avoid on our own.  The priest may guide us into a deeper prayer life and Scripture reading.  [The priest] slowly becomes what the Orthodox call, our Spiritual Father, nurturing us with the words of Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit, in our Journey to the Father.

What Changed?

By the mid to late 20^th century, confession had taken another turn.  Between the redirected emphases and introduction of alternate mass times introduced in Vatican II and the cultural changes in the west following World War II, the role of confession in our spiritual lives took on less outward significance while becoming more available as a daily tool for all individuals growing into the image for which we were created.
 
Religion & Ethics Newsweekly: Confession
February 1, 2002:  

BOB ABERNETHY (anchor): Now, a major change in Roman Catholic practice.  Whatever happened to confession?  In 1965, a survey reported that 38 percent of Catholics went to confession at least once a month.  By 1995, that number had fallen to 8 percent.

An excerpt from writer Patricia Hampl’s essay on confession in SIGNATURES OF GRACE: CATHOLIC WRITERS ON THE SACRAMENTS edited by Thomas Grady and Paula Huston (Plume/Penguin, 2000):

“The dark cubby of the confessional, the low whisper of the private voice rendering to God not what is God’s but what is the Devil’s, it was an astonishing procedure.  It offered, in return for the humble acknowledgment of the broken truths of the self, nothing short of a new life.  Here was the baptismal promise beating along the pulse -- not an idea but an intense throb of liberation. There is no way to describe (to over-describe) the transport of being shriven.

“Confession provided an ecstasy of self, the full return to one’s own life, but cleansed, ready to be lived anew.  The unbelievable second chance, nothing short of rebirth.  Absolution returned the soul to itself, back into the housing of the body and its mind -- but new, fresh, ready to roll.

“Confession was not an experience of self-inflation or egotism, nor (once the initial shock of declaration was absorbed) was it an exercise in humiliation.  It was, rather, a moment of personal liberation: to emerge from the time-out-of-time darkness of the little box, overwhelmed with gratitude, and in possession of a wondrous discovery -- that we are creatures born for radiance.  Our natural state is to be light, free, ready for the next thing.

“[T]he old-style confession, the kind that still fires the popular imagination and has fascinated and marked writers in the supposedly non-religious (even anti-religious) passing century -- Joyce, Mary McCarthy come to mind -- thus was, finally, a sacramental act.  If by “sacramental” we mean an authentic, if mysterious, change wrought within the human heart by ritual gestures and words, murmurs and the absolving movement of an anonymous hand posed above a bowed head.”

We are in good company when we exercise our need increase our self-awareness and discover our own nature – so easily suppressed by a self-denying culture.  Confession, like any of the sacraments has an element of mystery.  Abuse of our sense of awe, our innate innocence, is and always has been a risk we face when meeting the mysterious.  That must not rob us of this precious gift.

Our first task is not to forgive, but to learn to be the forgiven.  Too often to be ready to forgive is a way of exerting control over another.  We fear accepting forgiveness from another because such a gift makes us powerless, and we fear the loss of control involved. … Only by learning to accept God’s forgiveness as we see it in the life and death of Jesus can we acquire the power that comes from learning to give up control. -- Stanley Hauerwas, The Peaceable Kingdom

God wants us to be merciful with ourselves.  And besides, our sorrows are not our own.  He takes them on Himself, into His heart. -- George Bernanos, The Diary of a Country Priest

Confession is nothing but humility in action …  When there is a gap between me and Christ, when my love is divided, anything can come to fill the gap.  Confession is a place where I allow Jesus to take away from me everything that divides, that destroys. -- Mother Teresa, No Greater Love

John Dryden Burton
July 16, 2006

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