By Archimandrite Vassilios Papavassiliou
Who
is able to act as confessor depends on the bishop’s discernment. In
many places in Greece, the bishop selects certain priests and appoints
them as confessors through a special prayer and the ‘laying on of
hands’. Archbishop Gregorios of Thyateira and Great Britain allows all
priests to act as confessors without any particular prayer of
appointment. Regardless, no one can act as a confessor without the
blessing of the bishop, for he is the spiritual father par excellence of
all those under his jurisdiction, clergy and laity alike.
The
ideal is that the confessor/spiritual father should be a priest with
whom the spiritual child can easily have regular contact – if not the
local parish priest, then at least a priest who lives in the same city
or town. It is however a sad reality that some priests seem to have
never been to Confession themselves and therefore do not know what is
supposed tohappen at Confession or how to advise people in Confession.
There is no special training in the Orthodox Church for hearing
Confessions, and for good reason, but much can be learned from the
experience of going to Confession.
In
the Orthodox Church Confession is done face-to-face. There is no such
thing as a Confessional Box in the Orthodox Church. Confession can take
place in any suitable place in the church. This more personal approach
is more of a help to Confession than a hindrance. It is one thing to
disclose your sins to a wall knowing that someone is listening. It is
another thing to sit in full view of someone – even if you can not look
him in the eye – someone who is himself a sinner, and admit to what you
are and what you have done. This helps us to humble ourselves and to
break the false image of ourselves that we all entertain.
There
does appear to be, particularly among older people, a serious
misunderstanding of the purpose of Confession. Some seem to think that
the purpose of Confession is to confess one’s virtues (and then to be
absolved of those virtues!). Others seem to think it is a private chat
(or even gossip) with the priest. Others seem to think that it is simply
the necessary Lenten ‘obligation’ by which the person can fulfil his or
her other annual ‘obligation’ to receive Communion, and there is
interest only in the prayer of absolution and no real interest in the
act of confession itself.
There
is among other people another distorted understanding of Confession,
which is that Confession is little more than making a list of
wrongdoings without any consideration for the importance of sincere
repentance. This approach to Confession is particularly strong in
churches where en-masse Confessions are carried out during the course of
the Liturgy because Communion for laity is regarded (very wrongly) as
impossible without it. Repentance is, in fact, the necessary
pre-condition for Confession, and so Confession should be preceded by
reflection and contrition. Heartfelt Sacramental Confession is the
natural response to sincere repentance, and is thus the fruit and seal
of that repentance.
There
seems to be among some people the idea that Confession is meaningless
if we later commit the same sins, and that repentance is of no value
unless the sins which we feel regret for come to an end once and for
all. This is, to put it mildly, a very cold and rational approach to
repentance and Confession. We would do well to remember the words of the
psalm: “A sacrifice to God is a broken spirit; a broken and humbled
heart God will not despise”,
and the parable of the Tax Collector and the Pharisee, in which we are
told that the Tax Collector leaves the Temple justified because he dared
not even raise his eyes to heaven, but smote his breast and pleaded,
‘have mercy on me, a sinner’. For
sure, one of the purposes of Confession is, as I said, spiritual
development, but the sincere expression of contrition for our sins is
even more important. I prefer someone who keeps coming to Confession in
tears to confess the same grievous sins to somebody who comes to
Confession with self-satisfaction and confidence because he has only
‘little sins’ to confess.
Sometimes
people come to Confession purely to discuss their spiritual
development, but again this misses the point of Confession as the
Sacrament of Repentance. Perhaps some people do this because they feel
it is the only way to find time to talk seriously and at length with the
priest. While the discussion of spiritual life is not unsuitable for
Confession, it is better (unless there is something to confess) to set
time aside apart from Confession to discuss such matters. Perhaps this
need to use Confession as a pretext for discussion with the priest is a
result of the failure of our priests to rise to the challenge of acting
as spiritual fathers to their flock. Priests are sometimes ever so busy
with things which are, quite frankly, of secondary importance. The
liturgical, sacramental and spiritual life should always be the first
priority of both clergy and laity alike, both married and unmarried.
What
we need, then, is a real rediscovery of the spiritual character and
content of church life, a deep understanding in heart, soul and mind of
our calling to come into union with God. Like the Prodigal Son,
we need to recognise our alienation from God, our sinfulness, our
distance from our true home and calling. And we need to understand that
this home is our Church, and we always need to return home, we always
need to be reconciled with God and with the body of believers that is
the Church. Confession is therefore necessary for us to continuously
rediscover our identity as Orthodox Christians.
Source-Pemptousia.com
0 comments:
Post a Comment