What is the Sacrament of Repentance?
The Sacrament of Repentance is such a church Sacrament in which all the sins of the penitent are forgiven by a bishop or presbyter.
Did this mysterious Sacrament exist in the Old Testament?
In the Old Testament, this Sacrament was only prefigured. Its prototypes were the sin offerings and burnt offerings, as well as the ritual with the scapegoat. The Lord commanded that this latter ritual be performed as follows. After cleansing the sanctuary, the tent of meeting, and the altar, the high priest "shall bring the live goat. And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, concerning all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and shall send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a fit man. The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to an uninhabited land; and he shall release the goat in the wilderness" (Lev. 16:20–22).
What is the prefiguration of these Old Testament sacred rites?
The scapegoat, over which the sins of the people were confessed, as well as the sin offerings in general, prefigured Christ, who would forgive sins and bear the sins of the world upon Himself. Therefore, John the Baptist said of Christ Jesus: "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29).
In what way did the Lord free people from sins?
First, the Savior Himself, during His earthly life, forgave people their sins: for example, He said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven you" (Mark 2:5).
Then, the Lord promised to grant the Apostles and their successors the right to forgive sins; "Assuredly, I say to you," said the Savior, "whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven" (Matt. 18:18).
Did the Lord actually grant this right to forgive sins?
After His suffering for the sins of humanity, after His victory over the devil, the Risen Lord grants the right to forgive sins to the Apostles and their successors. "He breathed on them," the Evangelist John relates, "and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained'" (John 20:22-23).
As soon as the Church of Christ began to exist on earth, the Apostles, and then their successors, began to forgive people their sins, and this very sacred rite is called the Sacrament of Repentance.
What is the indispensable condition for the forgiveness of sins in the Sacrament of Repentance?
For the remission of sins in the Sacrament of Repentance, a person's sincere, heartfelt repentance for their sins before the Lord in the presence of a priest or bishop, and an expression of the desire to amend their life for the better, are necessary. Therefore, it is said in the book of the Acts of the Apostles that "many of those who had believed came, confessing and disclosing their deeds" (Acts 19:18, 19).
Do the sectarians recognize the Sacrament of Repentance?
No, they do not recognize it; they do not confess their sins before the lawful pastors, they do not receive forgiveness of them, and they die, unfortunate ones, with their sins.
How do the sectarians justify their rejection of the Sacrament of confession?
They say that only God alone can forgive sins, not priests.
Is such a justification sound?
No, it is not sound, because it was clearly said by the Lord to the Apostles and their successors: "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained" (John 20:23).
The sectarians do not have true priesthood, coming successively and continuously from the Apostles; in their community they do not have the messengers of Christ before whom they could confess, therefore they also reject the church Sacrament of Repentance.
What justification do the sectarians bring forward for themselves?
They say that not only priests, but generally all people should forgive others their sins.
What should be answered to the sectarians for such reasoning?
It must be said that mutual forgiveness of offenses is indeed necessary and required by the Orthodox faith, but that this is still not enough: there is also need for the confession of one's sins before the pastor and the remission or forgiveness of sins by him, as commanded by the Lord (John 20:23).
Do the sectarians not seek justifications for themselves in Scripture?
They quote the words from (1 John 2:1, 2): "My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world." and also from 1 John 1:9: "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
Do these words of Scripture justify the sectarians?
No, they do not justify them, since the Lord forgives us our sins according to the order established by Him Himself, namely through the lawful pastors. Therefore, the Apostle John says that we must "confess our sins" (1 John 1:9).
If the Savior had intended to forgive sins without the mediation of pastors, then He would not have promised this right to the Apostles and their successors (Matt. 18:18).
Source: The Good Confession: Orthodox Anti-Sectarian Catechism / N. Varzhansky. - Reprint reproduction from the 1910 edition. - Moscow: Blagovest, 1998. - 350 p. : ill.
No comments:
Post a Comment