pastoral care in historical perspective - Bishopdale Theological ...

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The F OU T Pastor.u Fune/ions
minister gives warning for the celebration of the holy Communion, he
may read this ~horta t ion , or such part of i t as he deems helpful. He
exhorts, in part:
And if ye shall perceive yo ur o/lenses to be weh as arc not only agaim t
God, but also against ~' o ur n eighbours: then ~'e sha\! reconcile yo urselves
unto them; being read )' to make r e~t; tuli on and satisfaction, according
to the utterm ost of rOllT powers, for all injuries and wrongs done
by you to any other; and being likewise ready to 10Ig;'"( others who ha,'e
offended you, as ye would h" I-c fOlgi,ocncsl of your offenses at God's
hand: for otherwise the recti,-ing of the holy Communion doth nothing
else but increase your condemnation. Thnd ore. if any of you be a
bbsphemer of Cod , an hinder er or slande rcr of his 'VOid , an adulterer,
or be in malice, or en"},, or in any other gric,'ous Clime; repent you of
your sins, or else come not 10 that holr Ta b1c. · ~
Another type of discipline, e~p r e ssed in canon la ..... and church
custom, provided a path by which troubled persons migh t make satisfa c­
tions and thus fi nd their way back into fellowsh ip with the church. T his
discipline became the condition and thc mcans of pastoral reconciliation,
yet it was designed for the al1e1"i3tion of trouble. :\1 limes the church
clearly marked the channels th rough wh ich mell and women who had
bruised and abused onc another could. under God, fin d their way together
again. The anc ient Canons of the Council of Nicaea in A.D. 325
provided tha t those who had been excomm unicated because of their
lapse under the persecution of Licinius were to do penance of three ~'e ar s '
"hearing," which meant that th c~' were 10 stand in the narthex of the
church during services and were not permitted to come into the main
sanctuary, Afterwards t h c~ ' were to do scven ~eari "kneeling"; they could
kneel during sen·iees within the nal'e amidst the standing congregation.
Then there was a pre~ cr ibcd period as "eo·slanders."· during which the
penitent could join normalk in the sen'ices wi lh o t hc t ~ , except that he
could not receil'e the sacrament of tile alt ar Finalh·, full reconciliation
was accomplished. ' Vhile the prol"isjons seem ha r ~h to us today, they
\\-"Cre in reality a fine ritual fo r reconciliation-commonly accepted procedures
by which the "" a ~ ' ",ard and straying could belong again to the
fellowsh ip of the ch urch.
lI. Forgiveness in Ch urch History. Reconciling as a fu nction of
the ministry of the cure of souls has had an interesting historical de·
velopment. It is helpful to mark its changes in emphasis through the
years, for its history gi\'es a perspective on present dilemmas and also
helps to clarify modern \'ocabulan' and concepts.
As early as the second epoch of Christian pastoring. and especially
III the writings of some of the classica l fathers, such as Origen and
ti T ht Book of Common P fO)·tf (Amerieanl. p. 8;.