In church confess your sins, and do not come
to your prayer with a guilt conscience. Such is the Way of
Life...On the Lord's own day, assemble in common to break bread and
offer thanks; but first confess your sins, so that your sacrifice
may be pure." Didache, 4:14,14:1 (c. A.D. 90).
"Moreover, it is in accordance with reason that we should return to
soberness[of conduct], and, while yet we have opportunity, exercise
repentance towards God. It is well to reverence both God
and the bishop." Ignatius, Epistle to the Smyraeans, 9 (c.
A.D. 110).
"Moreover, that this Marcus compounds philters and love-potions, in
order to insult the persons of some of these women, if not of all,
those of them who have returned to the Church of God--a thing which
frequently occurs--have acknowledged, confessing, too, that they
have been defiled by him, and that they were filled with a burning
passion towards him. A sad example of this occurred in the case of
a certain Asiatic, one of our deacons, who had received him
(Marcus) into his house. His wife, a woman of remarkable beauty,
fell a victim both in mind and body to this magician, and, for a
long time, travelled about with him. At last, when, with no small
difficulty, the brethren had converted her, she spent her
whole time in the exercise of public confession, weeping
over and lamenting the defilement which she had received from this
magician." Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 1:13 (A.D. 180).
"Such are the words and deeds by which, in our own district of the
Rhone, they have deluded many women, who have their consciences
seared as with a hot iron. Some of them, indeed, make a
public confession of their sins; but others of them are ashamed to
do this, and in a tacit kind of way, despairing of
[attaining to] the life of God, have, some of them, apostatized
altogether; while others hesitate between the two courses, and
incur that which is implied in the proverb, 'neither without nor
within;' possessing this as the fruit from the seed of the children
of knowledge." Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 1:13 (A.D. 180).
"Father who knowest the hearts of all grant upon this Thy servant
whom Thou hast chosen for the episcopate to feed Thy holy flock and
serve as Thine high priest, that he may minister blamelessly by
night and day, that he may unceasingly behold and appropriate Thy
countenance and offer to Thee the gifts of Thy holy Church.
And that by the high priestly Spirit he may have authority
to forgive sins..." Hippolytus, Apostolic Tradition, 3
(A.D. 215).
"The Pontifex Maximus--that is, the bishop of bishops--issues an
edict: 'I remit, to such as have discharged (the
requirements of) repentance, the sins both of adultery and of
fornication.'" Tertullian, Modesty, 1 (A.D. 220).
"In addition to these there is also a seventh, albeit hard and
laborious: the remission of sins through penance...when he
does not shrink from declaring his sin to a priest of the
Lord." Origen, Homilies on Leviticus, 2:4 (A.D. 24.
"For although in smaller sins sinners may do penance for a set
time, and according to the rules of discipline come to
public confession, and by imposition of the hand
of the bishop and clergy receive the right of communion: now with
their time still unfulfilled, while persecution is still raging,
while the peace of the Church itself is not vet restored, they are
admitted to communion, and their name is presented; and
while the penitence is not yet performed, confession is not
yet made, the hands Of the bishop and clergy are not yet laid upon
them, the eucharist is given to them; although it is
written, 'Whosoever shall eat the bread and drink the cup of the
Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the
Lord.'" Cyprian, To the Clergy, 9 (16):2 (A.D. 250).
"Moreover, how much are they both greater in faith and better in
their fear, who, although bound by no crime of sacrifice to idols
or of certificate, yet, since they have even thought of such
things, with grief and simplicity confess this very thing
to God's priests, and make the conscientious avowal, put
off from them the load of their minds, and seek out the salutary
medicine even for slight and moderate wounds, knowing that it is
written, 'God is not mocked.' God cannot be mocked, nor deceived,
nor deluded by any deceptive cunning. Yea, he sins the more, who,
thinking that God is like man, believes that he evades the penalty
of his crime if he has not openly admitted his crime
I
entreat you, beloved 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 the satisfaction and remission
made by the priests are pleasing to the Lord?" Cyprian, To
the Lapsed, 28-29 (A.D. 251).
"For if any one will consider how great a thing it is for one,
being a man, and compassed with flesh and blood, to be enabled to
draw nigh to that blessed and pure nature, he will then clearly see
what great honor the grace of the Spirit has vouchsafed to priests;
since by their agency these rites are celebrated, and others nowise
inferior to these both in respect of our dignity and our salvation.
For they who inhabit the earth and make their abode there are
entrusted with the administration of things which are in Heaven,
and have received an authority which God has not given to angels or
archangels. For it has not been said to them, 'Whatsoever ye shall
bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven, and whatsoever ye shall
loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven.' They who rule on earth
have indeed authority to bind, but only the body: whereas this
binding lays hold of the soul and penetrates the heavens; and what
priests do here below God ratifies above, and the Master confirms
the sentence of his servants. For
indeed what is it but all manner of heavenly authority which He has
given them when He says, 'Whose sins ye remit they are remitted,
and whose sins ye retain they are retained?' What authority could
be greater than this? 'The Father hath committed all judgment to
the Son?' But I see it all put into the hands of these men by the
Son." John Chrysostom, The Priesthood, 3:5 (A.D.
387).
Apostolic Fathers and Church Fathers intepretations of that
verse.
