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Confession in the Early Church

This Rock Volume 17, Number 4   April 2006     Reasons for Hope By Cherie Peacock   Letters   Our Quiet Pope By Russell Shaw   For Further Reading   What Do You See at Mass? By Anthony E. Clark   The Saints Speak   The Pope Speaks   Babies Deserve Better By Jameson and Jennifer Taylor   Infertility Terms You Need to Know   Where to Turn for Help   Further Reading   Why Don't Catholics Go Straight to Jesus? By Robert G. Schroeder   Confession in the Early Church   Further Reading   Catholic Social Responsibility: Who Should Do What? By Gregory Beabout   The Vatican and the Welfare State   The Foundations of the Tradition   The EU: More Competent Than Thou   Damascus Road From Pastor to Parishioner: My Love for Christ Led Me Home By Drake McCalister   By the Book Homosexuality By Jim Blackburn   Truth Be Told Reform Came before the Reformation By Matthew E. Bunson   Up a Notch Apologetics and Canon Law By Pete Vere, JCL   Quick Questions   Last Writes By Karl Keating    Subscribe    Permissions

Obtaining forgiveness for sins in the primitive Church wasn’t only a private affair between the sinner and God; it also meant reconciliation with the community (see Jas. 5:14–16). Jesus advocated a fraternal process of reconciliation, including mutual correction and community discipline (Matt. 5:23–24; 18:15–19). A specific sacramental practice of reconciliation emerged within the first three centuries of Church history.

• Origen, a prolific theologian in the third-century Church, wrote:
  The layman who falls into sin cannot by himself wash away his fault. He must have recourse to the levite; he needs the priest. At times, he applies to one even greater: he needs the pontiff’s help, that he may obtain the forgiveness of sins (Hom. in Numeros 10, 1).
• St. Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, also writing in the third century, said:
  I entreat you, brethren, that each one should confess his own sin while he who has sinned is still in this world, while his confession may be received, while his satisfaction and absolution given the priest are still pleasing to the Lord (De lapsis 28, 29).
• In the fourth century, St. Ambrose, bishop of Milan, wrote:
  Sins are forgiven through the Holy Ghost. Certainly, but men lend him their ministry. . . . They forgive sin, not in their own name, but in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost (De Spiritu Sancto iii, 137).