The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville - Pot-pourri

(conciliare) toGodwhenwearefirstconvertedfrom
paganism, so we are reconciled (reconciliare)whenafter
sinning we return by penitence.
75.TheGreektermexomologesis means what in Latin
is termed ‘confession,’ a term that has a double signification.
A confession can either be understood as of praise,
as in “I will confess you to be the Lord, the Father of
heaven and earth,” or as when someone confesses his
sins so that they will be forgiven by him whose mercy
is unfailing. 76. Therefore we express and make use of
this Greek term exomologesis for that act by which we
confess (confiteri, ppl. confessus) our sin to the Lord –
not indeed as if he were ignorant, for nothing is hidden
from his knowledge; but a confession (confessio)
is an ‘explicit acknowledgment’ (professa cognitio) ofa
thing, namely of that which is unknown. 77. Forsuppose
a person has thought it profitable and pleasant to
commit rapine, adultery, or theft, but when he recognizes
that these things are liable to eternal damnation,
as these things are acknowledged (cognoscere,ppl. cognitus)
heconfesses his error. 78. Moreover a confession is
an affirmation of the cessation of error; therefore there
should be cessation of sin when there is confession. Further,
confession precedes, and forgiveness follows. But
the person is beyond forgiveness who knows his sin but
The Etymologies VI.xix.75–xix.82 151
does not confess what is known to him. 79.Andso exomologesis
is the discipline of a person’s prostrating and
humiliating himself in dress and food, to lie in sackcloth
and ashes, to smear his body with filth, to cast down his
spirit in mourning, to transform with harsh treatment
those things which are at fault.
80. Litanies (litania) are the Greek names for what
are called ‘rogations’ in Latin. But between litanies and
exomologesis is this distinction, that exomologesis is performed
only for the confession of sins, whereas litanies
are ordained for beseeching God and procuring
his mercy in some case. 81. But nowadays either term
designates one thing, and commonly there is no distinction
whether ‘litanies’ or exomologesis is spoken of.
The term ‘supplication’ is now retained in a certain
way from paganism. 82. Among the pagans the festival
days were either ‘customary’ (legitimus)or‘specially
decreed’ (indictus, also meaning “criminally indicted”).
And indictus because the poor of ancient Rome would
make sacrifice from a confiscation, or indeed out of the
goods of the condemned. Hence ‘propitiatory offerings’
(supplicium) that were made from the goods of people
who had suffered punishments (supplicium) arecalled
‘supplications’ (supplicatio): thus holy things took their
being from the belongings of the accursed.