The
Fathers Speak – Confession
I have focused this week mostly on the
Sacrament of Confession. As promised,
today I am presenting many quotes from the first thousand years of the Church
that prove that the claim often given by opponents of Catholicism stating that
the Sacrament is a medieval invention is a lie.
I found countless more references than these. Many speak of confessing sins, and knowing
that the Church has always been Catholic, it is clear they refer to the
Sacrament, but they may not convince an opponent. These, in context, are undeniable. There are more that are as convincing as
these, but frankly, I finally stopped because I got tired.
Local synod
(council) in Antioch – A.D. 341
All who enter the
church of God and hear the Holy Scriptures, but do not communicate with the
people in prayers, or who turn away, by reason of some disorder, from the
holy partaking of the Eucharist, are to be cast out of the Church, until,
after they shall have made confession, and having brought forth the fruits of
penance, and made earnest entreaty, they shall have obtained forgiveness
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St. Athanasius –
Letter dating A.D. 338
Therefore let us,
performing our vows to the Lord, and confessing our sins, keep the feast to
the Lord, in conversation, moral conduct, and manner of life…
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St. Augustine –
Letter 185 – A.D. 415
Bede's
Ecclesiastical History of England – A.D. 731
Note: Cuthbert died
in the previous century
And such was
Cuthbert’s skill in speaking, so keen his desire to persuade men of what he
taught, such a light shone in his angelic face, that no man present dared to
conceal from him the secrets of his heart, but all openly revealed in
confession what they had done, thinking doubtless that their guilt could in
nowise be hidden from him; and having confessed their sins, they wiped them
out by fruits worthy of repentance, as he bade them...
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Cyprian of Carthage
– A.D. 200-270 – Epistle 2
You see, then, brethren, that you
also ought to do the like, so that even those who have fallen may amend their
minds by your exhortation; and if they should be seized once more, may confess,
and may so make amends for their previous sin…
Cyril of Jerusalem
– A.D. 315-386 - Catechetical Lecture 1
Put off, by confession, the old man,
which waxeth corrupt after the lusts of deceit, that ye may put on the new man,
which is renewed according to knowledge of Him that created him...
The present is the season of
confession: confess what thou hast done in word or in deed, by night or by day;
confess in an acceptable time, and in the day of salvation receive the heavenly
treasure...
The Didache – circa
A.D. 80
…gather yourselves
together, and break bread, and give thanksgiving after having confessed your
transgressions, that you may be pure. But let no one who is at odds with his
fellow come together with you, until they be reconciled, that your sacrifice
may not be profaned.
St. Jerome – Letter
41 against the Montanists – A.D. 385
Their strictness does not prevent
them from themselves committing grave sins, far from it; but there is this
difference between us and them, that, whereas they in their self-righteousness
blush to confess their faults, we do penance for ours, and so more readily gain
pardon for them...
Pope St. Gregory
the Great – A.D. 540-604 – Pastoral Rule, Book II (Of the Life of the Pastor)
Yet, when they prepare
the patience of their condescension for cleansing the sins of their neighbors
in confession, they support, as it were, the laver before the doors of the
temple; that whosoever is striving to enter the gate of eternity may shew his
temptations to his pastor's heart, and, as it were, wash the hands of his
thought and of his deed…
