It has been my experience that the single most frequently misunderstood mystery of the Church¹ is the mystery of Confession. I have heard Protestants, Catholics, and Orthodox alike question the reasons for which the Church has historically insisted that confession in the presence of a priest is necessary to experience this holy mystery, instead noting that they believe it is enough to confess one’s sins privately to God and ask for forgiveness. Such people will say that if God forgives one when they confess their sins privately, then why is the mystery of Confession needed at all?

These are indeed good questions, and ones that are necessary to ask to fully understand the Church’s theology on the mystery of Confession. I would like to first point out that, as Christians, we are certainly to confess our sins privately to God in our prayers, and that God, as a good, loving, and merciful God, does indeed forgive us given our true repentance, our true metonia (μετάνοια²) of reorienting ourselves towards Him. This is necessary for our salvation and should be done as often as we sin. However, this is not the same as the mystery of Holy Confession as historically practiced in the sacramental life of the Church.

The mystery of Holy Confession insists that I acknowledge and repent of my sins in the context of the Church community. This has historically been done in the context of the entire Church body, with people confessing their sins publicly before the entire congregation as an acknowledgment that their own sin³, their own inability and unwillingness to act through and by the love God, affects not only themselves, but also all those whom they would come into contact with and indeed the entire universe. This public confession was seen in the spirit of the Apostle James, who wrote, “Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed.” (James 5:16). After such a public Confession, the local priest or bishop would pray for the forgiveness of the penitent’s sins. However, as time passed, this practice became impractical, as individual Church communities grew large enough to the point where each individual would not know everyone in that Church community. As a result of this, priests began to stand in as witnesses for the community, as the presence of the community is necessary for the acknowledgment of the effects of my sins on the world as a whole. Thus, one’s confession is never made to the priest himself, but rather to God, with the priest representing the entirety of the Church.

Even though one may understand the historical development and reasons for confession, one may still ask why the prayers of the priest for God’s forgiveness are needed for our assurance of this divine forgiveness that the Church has always insisted is given by God through the mystery of the Confession. In order to understand this, it is necessary to look at John 20:19-23, where Jesus appears to the Apostles after His resurrection:

¹⁹ On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” ²⁰ When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. ²¹ Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.” ²² And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³ If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

Thus it becomes clear that Jesus grants his Apostles the authority to participate in the mystery His divine forgiveness, clearly noting that whatever sins they forgive are forgiven and whatever sins they retain are retained. The Church has held that the Apostles passed on this authority to their successors, and them to their successors, all the way down to the modern day Orthodox bishops of the Church. These bishops then can decide to also delegate this authority to the priests under their authority so that the entire Church can experience assurance of the mystery of God’s forgiveness through Holy Confession.

The Orthodox theology of Confession becomes clear in the prayer of absolution that the priest prays over the penitent after the penitent has finished confessing. The pray says:

My spiritual child, who hast confessed to my humble self, I who am a lowly sinner, have no power on earth to forgive sins, but God alone, however, because of that divine voice, which after the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, didst come to the Apostles and didst say: “Whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained”, we also are emboldened to say: Whatsoever thou hast said to my humble self, and whatsoever thou hast not managed to say, whether through ignorance or forgetfulness, whatever it may be, may God forgive thee in this world and in the world to come.

May the same God, who through Nathan the prophet didst forgive David his sins when he confessed, and Peter when he wept bitterly for his denial, and the sinful woman when she wept at His feet, and the Publican and the Prodigal Son, also forgive thee all things through me a sinner, both in this world and in the world to come, and make thee to stand uncondemned before His dread Judgement Seat. Concerning the transgressions that thou hast spoken off, have no further care and depart in peace.

This prayer beautifully encapsulates God’s mercy and the assurance of divine forgiveness that is brought about as the result of this Confession. Although it may be hard to see if this if one has never been to confession before, I can attest through both through personal experience and conversations with others that both the advice given in Confession and the self-examination it brings are extraordinary helpful in aiding one to see their own sinfulness and repent of it . Fr. Andreas Blom does a wonderful job of describing Confession and its significance in the following video:

St. Isaac of Syria once said, “This life has been given to you for repentance; do not waste it in vain pursuits.” May God grant us the strength to repent through the divine mystery of Holy Confession.

1: When I say the word "Church," I mean the unified historical Church, which I believe to be the Eastern Orthodox Church in the modern day.

2: This article on the official website of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese states, "The Greek term for repentance, metanoia [μετάνοια], denotes a change of mind, a reorientation, a fundamental transforma­tion of outlook, of man's vision of the world and of himself, and a new way of loving others and God."

3: The official website of the Orthodox Church in America describes sin in the following manner: "The Greek word for sin, amartia, means “to miss the mark.” As Christians, the “mark” or “target” for which we “aim” is a Christ-like life, one lived to the best of our ability in line with the teachings, precepts, and commandments of God. When we miss this mark, when we fail to hit this target, we sin. Murder is a sin. Pride and envy are sins. Stealing a car is a sin. Stealing a candy bar is a sin. Refusing to attend the Liturgy is a sin—but so is attending the Liturgy with hatred for others."