Introduction
In the Gospel of Matthew, the first recorded words of St. John the Forerunner are these: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (3:2). After His time of temptation in the wilderness, Jesus began His public ministry with identical words (4:17). The author of Hebrews referred to repentance from dead works as an “elementary doctrine of Christ” and a “foundation” (Heb 6:1). Whether St. John the Forerunner, Jesus, any other author of Scripture, or any church father, the heart and essence of the Christian faith is repentance. With repentance being so central a doctrine, it is not surprising that the Holy Trinity also grants grace sacramentally to exercise it. When we look at the early practices of the Church as well as our current lex orandi, a clear picture forms of this foundational topic. In this post, we will look at repentance from three perspectives: its non-sacramental meaning, its relationship to other sacraments, and its shape as a sacrament.The Non-Sacramental Significance of Repentance
The Greek word translated as repent in the New Testament is μετανοέω, which according to Thayer’s Greek lexicon means “to change one's mind for better, heartily to amend with abhorrence of one's past sins”. The repentance represented here has five aspects: synergistic, ascetical, continuous, non-negotiable, and therapeutic.Repentance is synergistic in that while it is God who grants the grace of repentance (Acts 11:18), it is we who must avail ourselves of that grace. This intentional turning away from our previous way of thinking and instead living out of our union with Christ requires our moral effort in response to God’s grace. As discussed in a previous post, our human vocation is to become deified, i.e., to assimilate to God through the exercise of virtue. However, virtue requires the free exercise of our will in repentance in order to appropriate to ourselves God’s grace (Ware 219).
Repentance is also ascetical. This process of deification begins with the repentance of baptism and is sustained by the repentance of ascesis. Jesus describes the ascetic life of His disciples as a daily taking up of their cross and following him (Luke 9:23). A Celtic text from the seventh century compares the ascetic life to a living martyrdom in which “by means of fasting and labour he frees himself from his evil desires, or suffers in penance and repentance” (Ware 15). The hymnography of the Church reminds us of the diligent effort required to experience deification. Consider this idiomelon from Cheesefare Sunday:
Moses saw God, after cleansing the eyes of his soul by fasting. Hence if we desire to become residents of Paradise, let us divorce ourselves from baleful delights, and desiring to see God, as did Moses let us fast the Four Times Ten. By sincerely persevering in prayer and supplication, let us suppress the passions of our souls; let us avert the swellings of the flesh; thus lightened, let us set off on the journey to things above, where the choirs of angels in unbroken song sing praise to the undivided Trinity, to see the irresistible beauty of the Master. (Dedes 12)Repentance is also continuous. At least in this life, we never cease to be conscious of sin, nor have the luxury to take a break from repentance. Deification presupposes an unremitting attitude and action of repentance. The promises of future glory in the Gospel are matched by the imperative to relentless penitence in this life (Ware 236). And the reason is simple: In this life we cannot completely rid ourselves of every last vestige of sin. Hence, St. Ephraim of Syria describes us as “the Church of the penitents, the Church of those who perish” (Ware 244). And St. Simeon the Translator says in the Fourth Prayer Before Holy Communion, “You are the God of those who sin and the Savior of those who do wrong” (ROEA 103).
Repentance is also non-negotiable. Jesus minced no words: “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3). The only alternative to repentance is Gehenna, and it is God’s loving respect for our free will that requires this. He will not force us to love Him. He cannot reconcile to Himself those who refuse all reconciliation and still honor their free will. He mercifully forgives all sinners who repent, but leaves to their self-appointed misery those who do not to repent (Ware 261-2).
Lastly, repentance is therapy, which is a ministry of the church: “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed” (James 5:16). When we confess our sins to another, it not only brings the sin out from the shadows of shame and secrecy into the light of humility and faith, it also creates an opportunity for healing and coaching. The one hearing the confession might prescribe an epitimion, or penance, to the penitent, which is understood as analogous to a physician prescribing medicine as part of the cure for sin. It is fine-tuned to the spiritual condition and life-station of the penitent. For example, one Fr. Amphilochios would give to farmers whom he confessed the penance of planting two or three trees (Ware 132). Since the giving of epitimion is not an essential part of the sacrament of repentance, we have included it under the non-sacramental significance of repentance. In fact, there is not a one-to-one relationship between being an ordained presbyter and hearing confessions. There are presbyters who are not yet empowered to hear confessions because of their lack of life experience or training (139). And there are spiritual fathers and mothers who are not presbyters that can and do hear confessions and give spiritual counsel, but this profitably therapeutic activity is distinct from the sacrament of repentance (290).
The Relationship of Repentance to Other Sacraments
The word repentance leads a complex life in the Church. Sometimes, it is used in an entirely non-sacramental way as discussed in the previous section; sometimes, it is used entirely in a sacramental way; sometimes, it is used as a quasi-sacramental doorkeeper to another sacrament; and sometimes, it masquerades as a sacrament while really being something closer to spiritual guidance. In this section we will look at the original purpose of the sacrament of repentance as well as a current practice that in this author’s opinion obscures to some degree the meaning of the sacrament. First, what was the original use of the sacrament of repentance? At its essence, it is the sacrament of reconciliation to the Church of those excommunicated from her, i.e., those deprived of their rights to receive the Body and Blood of Christ during her Eucharistic assembly. In the earliest Church, as evidenced in the Shepherd of Hermas, there was only one opportunity for a post-baptismal reconciliation. If a person committed grievous sin a second time, it was considered that repentance would “be of no avail” to them (Schmemanna 126). At that time, the sacrament of repentance was also a public affair since the confession and performance of the penitential discipline were in public (Ware 288). Later on in history, although the limit on the number of post-baptismal reconcilations was removed, the understanding of the purpose of the sacrament as the restoration to Eucharistic communion remained the same (Schmemanna 127). In this way, the sacrament of Repentance truly was a “Second Baptism”: The sacrament of baptism initially opened the door to receive the sacrament of Holy Communion, and whenever that door was closed due to sin, the sacrament of Repentance was the means to re-open it (Ware 288).Having established the origin and essential character of the sacrament of repentance, we now look at a mutation of it that obscures this essential character: the identification of Sacramental repentance with preparation for Holy Communion. At its essence, to go to church means that I intend together with the other faithful “to constitute the Church, in order to be what I became on the day of my baptism--a member, in the fullest, absolute meaning of the term, of the body of Christ … I go to manifest and realize my membership” (Schmemannnb 23). In the primitive church, the singular sign and criterion of membership in the Body of Christ was the reception of Christ’s Body and Blood in Holy Communion. Thus, for example, if a person failed to receive Holy Communion for a few weeks without valid reason (e.g, sickness), he was de facto excommunicated (Schmemanna 114). At the same time, St. Paul enjoins: “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 11:27). There is a tension here, and it is a real tension: the need to receive Holy Communion to constitute membership in the Body of Christ versus the danger of unworthily receiving Holy Communion. According to Schmemann, the way to resolve this tension is as follows: 1) to prepare oneself for Communion through inner repentance by cultivating awareness, self-examination, and desire for God; 2) if necessary due to excommunication, receiving the sacrament of Repentance; and 3) then actually receiving Communion (Schmemanna 123-126). The distortion happens in some parishes when the sacrament of repentance becomes the essential condition for lay people to receive Communion. In other words, each time that a person desires to receive Holy Communion, he has to first pass through the hoop of sacramental repentance--even if he is not in a state of excommunication. In its worst form, a person might even ask and receive “absolution” without confessing any sin (131). According to Schmemann, this practice “mutilates the Sacrament of Penance itself because by having become a formal and, in fact, the only condition for Communion, Confession replaces the true preparation for Communion” (Schmemanna 128). Ware is less critical of this phenomenon and explains it as a function of the frequency of communion: Where infrequent communion prevails, the faithful may be expected to receive the sacrament of repentance before each communion, but where frequent communion is the practice, the priest does not necessarily expect this (290).
The Shape of Repentance as a Sacrament
Now we turn to repentance as a sacrament. As Ware says, in every sacrament, there is the combination of an outward sensible sign with an inward spiritual grace (274). Based on the discussion in the previous section, the bestowed inward spiritual grace would be the reconciliation of the penitent to the Church, his reincorporation into the Body of Christ. If so, what are sensible components to the sacrament? The first sensible component is that the presbyter and penitent both assume the same bodily posture--whether standing or sitting--with the penitent facing an icon of Christ or a Gospel book and the presbyter slightly to one side (288). This makes clear that the confession is being made to Christ Himself, with the presbyter merely a witness. It is even more explicit in the Slavic practice where the presbyter says to the penitent these words: “Christ stands here invisibly and receives your confession … See, His holy icon is before us: and I am merely a witness, bearing testimony before Him of all the things which you have to say to me.”The second sensible component is that the penitent confesses his sins out loud but privately to the presbyter with the assumption that the confession will be kept confidential (287). There have been times in recent history where this point has broken down. St. John of Kronstadt, because he ran out of time to hear confessions individually, instituted a form of public confession, where everyone simultaneously shouted their sins out loud (122). During the synodical period in Russia (1700-1917), Peter the Great instituted the rule that any presbyter hearing confession of something the government might consider seditious was required to report the details to the police (115). And during the Communist regime in the USSR, all clergy were subjected to close supervision by the secret police, making the actual confidence of confession suspect (147).
The third sensible component is that after finishing his confession and optionally being prescribed a penance, the penitent kneels, and the presbyter places his stole on the penitent’s head and his hand over the stole. Accordingly to Ware, this physical contact between penitent and presbyter is crucial because the human person is an integral unity of soul and body, and thus sacramental worship must involve to the full our bodies along with our minds (274-5).
The last sensible component is that the presbyter then speaks the prayer of absolution out loud: “... may God forgive you in this world and the next … Have no further anxiety; go in peace” (289). Schmemann refers to another prayer as the quintessential prayer of absolution: “Reconcile him (her) with Thy Holy Church in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Schmemanna 127). Ware notes that in the Slavic tradition, under the Romanizing influence of Peter Moghila, another text was added to which many object: “And I, an unworthy priest, through the power given me by Him, forgive and absolve you from all your sins” (289). Schmemann, not surprisingly, vehemently deplores this addition (Schmemanna 127).
Conclusion
In this post we explored the topic of repentance. We saw that it is a central yet complex topic in the Christian faith. At its root, it is a change of mindset with an accompanying change of behavior. This change is non-sacramental but synergistic, ascetical, continuous, non-negotiable, and therapeutic. Then we viewed repentance in relationship to other sacraments: It reopens the door to Holy Communion that was initially opened by baptism and closed by sin. At the same time, there are some parishes where the sacraments of repentance and Holy Communion are always celebrated in lock step: The former must precede each occurrence of the latter. Lastly, we looked at the current shape of the sacrament of repentance. As all sacraments, there are outward sensible signs and a bestowal of inward spiritual grace, and it incorporates body and soul in each of its steps. There are some variations in the texts used, but what is clear in all cases is this: A presbyter, to whom a bishop in succession to the apostles has delegated his authority, has loosed on earth the bonds (Matthew 18:18) restricting a penitent from Holy Communion and reconciled him to the Church.Works Cited
Dedes, Seraphim. The Service of Matins: Sunday, February 22, 2015. Translated by Fr. Seraphim Dedes. Web. http://www.agesinitiatives.com/dcs/public/dcs/p/s/2015/02/22/ma/en/se.m02.d22.ma.pdfEnglish Standard Version Bible. London: Crossway, 2010. Print
ROEA. The Divine and Holy Liturgy According to Saint John Chrysostom in English and Romanian. Grass Lake, MI: ROEA, 2005. Print.
Schmemanna, Alexander. Great Lent: Journey to Pascha. Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary, 1969. Print.
Schmemannb, Alexander. The Eucharist: Sacrament of the Kingdom. Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary, 1987. Print
Thayer, Joseph Henry. A Greek–English Lexicon of the New Testament. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1889. Web. http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G3340&t=ESV
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