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#318293 04/08/09 04:40 PM
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I have a question regarding confession. It has been quite awhile since I have last gone to confession and when I had it was at a Roman Catholic Church. Am I able to go to confession at the UGCC? And how much different is it than what I have experienced before at the RC church? I would like to go to confession this upcoming Saturday at the UGCC as I have started attending there again but I am nervous since I am not sure what to expect. Thank you.

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You are welcome to receive the Mystery of Reconciliation anytime you want from any Catholic priest you want. If you're unsure of the technique talk to the priest about it and he can talk you through.

Here is a guide to confession from a Ruthenian Parish. http://www.stmichaelbyz.org/confession_guide.htm

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Good question, R. Hrynczyszyn!

Any Catholic may seek the Sacramental Mystery of Confession at any other Catholic Church, be it Roman, Byzantine, Maronite, etc.

The experience will not be that much different than in the Roman Catholic Church. When you get to church just look at where and how Confession is offered. In some parishes there is a confessional (a room set aside for confession). In many parishes confession may occur before the icon of Christ on the icon screen. Or elsewhere by local custom.

Don't worry about the form. Just go to the the priest and simply say: "Father, I have not been to confession in x years. Please guide me through a proper confession." The priest will guide you from there.

Prayers and blessings to you at this holy time. You are doing a wonderful thing!

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Thank you Erie and John, that was very helpful. I am glad you were about to explain that to me and ease some of my nervousness. It will make it much easier for me to have this reassurance as I begin this journey. Blessings and prayers for you also!

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I think both Erie and John make some good points.

I always figured that the priest stood in the place of Christ and I needed desperately what Christ had to offer--unconditional forgiveness. Then the rest came easy.

BOB

Last edited by theophan; 04/08/09 10:16 PM.
theophan #318351 04/08/09 10:30 PM
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My wife, who was raised RC goes to "ByzCath" confession w/no problems!

stormshadow #318355 04/08/09 11:45 PM
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Can Catholics eastern or otherwise confess with an Orthodox priest?

DewiMelkite #318356 04/09/09 12:39 AM
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Certainly, if you can find one who will do it. In fact, it is more common than you would think, since there are many Greek Catholics attending Orthodox churches and vice versa, for a variety of reasons, including marriage, familial ties, no church of their own confession in the area, and so forth. The CCEO allows for this.

In Europe and the Middle East, relations between Orthodox and Greek Catholics are considerably closer, and intercommunion is common. I myself received Communion in Romanian Orthodox churches. I presented myself to the priest, told him who I was, and asked permission. They do not seem to recognize any difference between the two. This was my daughter's experience in Romania on a totally separate occasion in a totally different part of the country.

StuartK #318361 04/09/09 02:09 AM
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The canons state that it must be necessary, which means there must not be a Catholic priest available (of any rite), unless I am mistaken.

Erie Byz #318369 04/09/09 02:59 AM
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"The canons state that it must be necessary, which means there must not be a Catholic priest available (of any rite), unless I am mistaken."

I get really, really, really tired of hearing this. It will be a cold day in a very warm place before I go to a Latin parish just because it is a Catholic parish, when there is an Orthodox parish at hand. The canon says it must be spiritually beneficial, and I would submit that is a matter for the individual conscience, not for another person to determine based on that person's amateur interpretation of canon law.

That so very many people seem to ignore your interpretation would indicate they find the spiritual benefit of participating in a Church of their own Tradition to outweigh whatever benefits accrue from formal ecclesial communion.

theophan #318376 04/09/09 04:02 AM
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Originally Posted by theophan
I always figured that the priest stood in the place of Christ and I needed desperately what Christ had to offer--unconditional forgiveness. Then the rest came easy.

BOB

Bob:
Thank you for adding that. That is a wonderful way to look at it and should take all fear or anxiety away. I do, indeed, need what Christ has to offer me and in his forgiveness I will find comfort. I very happy you shared that with me smile

Rachel

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Although it would be familiar to receive the Sacred Mysteries in a fashion that we are used to, we must remember that we are not members of that Communion of Churches and therefore should not present ourselves as such. The reception of the Sacred Mysteries calls for a unity in faith and Byzantine Rite Catholics of any jurisdiction truly only have unity in worship with our Orthodox brothers and sisters.

Erie Byz #318402 04/09/09 02:30 PM
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If We Confess Our Sins – Fr. Thomas Hopko

It is not enough for us to know our sins and to hate them. We must also confess them before God and man. We must acknowledge them before heaven and earth. We must expose them to the whole of creation in order to be rid of them from within our secret hearts. Confession is part of the spiritual life. Indeed, it is part of life itself. There is no authentic existence for human beings without it. And there is certainly no authentic repentance.



If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. (1 Jn. 1:8-10)

Some say that there is no need to confess sins openly and publicly. They say that people can confess directly to God. Such an idea is total nonsense. Confession to God in secret is no confession at all. It is simply the acknowledgment before the Lord that we know what He knows! Confession by definition is open and public. If it is not, it is simply not confession.



When the people were repenting in preparation for Jesus at the preaching of John the Baptist, it is written that they were baptized “confessing their sins” (Mk. 1:5). This does not mean that they were telling God in privacy of their hearts what He already knew. It means that they were proclaiming the evils that they had done for all to hear. And when St. James commands Christians: “Confess your sins to one another!” he is not advising them to be aware of their transgressions in the secrecy of their souls. He is ordering them to reveal their wickedness’s to each other so that they might be healed (Jas. 5:16).



If confession is by definition the open and public acknowledgment of sins, why then do the Orthodox confess privately to their priests? Because the pastors do have the ministry of witnessing the confession and repentance of God’s people, and of officially sealing that confession and repentance with the assurance of divine forgiveness through the prayer of absolution.

The reason why people now confess to their pastors in private is because of the weakness of the body of Christians as a whole. Confession used to be public. It was done openly in the presence of all of the members of the Church. Anyone willing to confess in this manner today is welcome to do so. But it would most likely serve only to lead others into temptation rather than to inspire prayerful compassion and sympathetic collaboration in fulfilling the Lord’s commandments. When confession is done to the priest alone, it should be understood that it is to him as if it were to all. Or, to put it another way, it is to all---God and man and the whole of creation---in the priest’s person, as the head of the church community and the sacramental presence within it of the Lord Jesus Himself.

Great Lent is a time for confession. All Christians should make their confession during this holy season. A person who fails to do so is hardly a Christian. He is certainly not Orthodox.

In his spiritual diary, Fr. Alexander Elchaninov gives advice about confession. Advice is also found in the writings of Fr. John of Kronstadt, and in such books as Unseen Warfare and The Way of the Pilgrim. Christians should read writings of this sort to help them with their confession. Theophan the Recluse advised those preparing for confession to study the Sermon on the Mount (Mt. 5-7) and the first letter of John, together with 1 Corinthians 13 and Romans 12 to 14. These, and other sections of the scriptures, focus sharply on what is expected of Christians in their daily behavior. Fr. Elchaninov writes that confession “springs from an awareness of what is holy, it means dying to sin and coming alive again to sanctity.” It begins with “a searching of the heart.” It moves to a sincere “contrition of the heart.” It expresses itself in the “oral confession of sins,” accomplished “with precision, without veiling the ugliness of sin by vague expressions.” It is fulfilled in the resolution never to sin again, although realizing that we will fall because we are not God. It is sealed by our subsequent sufferings to remain steadfast in our struggle against sin. Such confession is at the heart of our spiritual efforts, especially during the Lenten spring.

Behold, my child, Christ stand here invisibly and receives your confession. Wherefore be not ashamed or afraid and conceal nothing from me, but tell without hesitation all things which you have done, and so you shall have pardon from our Lord Jesus Christ. Lo, His holy image is before us, and I am but a witness, bearing testimony before Him of the things which you have to say. But if you shall conceal anything you shall have the greater sin. Take heed, therefore, lest having come to the physician, you depart unhealed.

Alice #318404 04/09/09 02:34 PM
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Fr. Hopko speaks and acts in a way which I someday hope to obtain.

Erie Byz #318411 04/09/09 02:50 PM
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Alice - that last paragraph says it all

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