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Mar 25th, 2025
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Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 31
Junior Member
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Junior Member
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 31 |
Hello Again,
I like using this board for my questions as I
continue my journey in the Byzantine Catholic
Church. How do we partake of "confession"?
Do I seek a "spiritual director"? In the church
I'm attending the priest comes out before divine liturgy and stands with the person confessing facing an icon of Christ, and places a "cloth"
on the forehead of the person confessing as they pray together. Is that "confession" in the Byzantine Rite? I'm used to a less formal approach in the Episcopal church, and the most formal in the Roman...How is it done in the Orthodox Church?
For me, it is "intensely" personal. I felt
strange making appointments for confession in
the Episcopal church...In the Roman I liked the
anonymity...I sense, that in the Byzantine Catholic Church, it can be intensely personal, and
"awesome"....one man, or woman, one priest and
before GOD the Father...and God the SON...
To me, the liturgy itself is like entering or
glimpsing "Heaven", and it is very "awesome" and
"humbling".
Where does the "Spiritual Director" fit in?
Thanks be to God!
Secco
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,716
Member
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Member
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,716 |
Originally posted by secco:
Hello Again,
In the church
I'm attending the priest comes out before divine liturgy and stands with the person confessing facing an icon of Christ, and places a "cloth"
on the forehead of the person confessing as they pray together. Is that "confession" in the Byzantine Rite? I'm used to a less formal approach in the Episcopal church, and the most formal in the Roman...How is it done in the Orthodox Church?
This is the traditional Eastern Orthodox way of Confession with the priest at the side of us and we confess to Our Lord represented in the Holy Icon and the priest places the stole over the Penitent's head when he pronounces the absolution.
.I sense, that in the Byzantine Catholic Church, it can be intensely personal, and
"awesome"....one man, or woman, one priest and
before GOD the Father...and God the SON...
Yes, it is very uplifting! The priest is seen more as an instrument or witness of the penitent confessing their sins to God
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Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 216
Member
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Member
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 216 |
While in the West it is termed spiritual director, in the East it is often called spiritual father or mother. The spiritual father or mother need not be clergy, so it is common for one's spiritual father to not necessarily be one's confessor. Often, in the East one finds a good and holy monastic to guide them in the spiritual life. Many of the saints advocated finding an older, experienced, and holy elder to guide themself. I would recommend discussing all of this with you pastor.
Justin
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Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 31
Junior Member
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Junior Member
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 31 |
Thanks again! I am seeking and also stepping
slowly...I enjoy any info you can share...
My pastor is a good man...and our church is very nice...I've been there for a short while...Yet,
glimpsed the Glory of God! Secco
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