Quintessence of Religious Doctrines - Malankarasyriac Voice

3162Quintessence of Religious DoctrinesTheme No: 8On the Holy ConfessionIntroductionConfession is the sacrament in which one enumerates to thepriest, the vicar of God, all the sins that have been committed,penitently solicits forgiveness from God; thereby receivesremission of sins cum reconciliation with God through theintercession of the priest. This sacrament is also called themystery of repentance or reconciliation.CommentThe S.O.C. now follows the confession of auricular type i.e.,sins are confessed before the priests privately. The priesthears the confession as the vicar of Jesus on earth. He hasgot this right, from a decree of Jesus that the priests canlose the knots of sin committed by the members of the Church.The usage ‘Vicar’ significantly emphasizes that the priest isonly a medium for the grace of remission of sins. The actualsource of this grace is Jesus Himself. As remission of sinscan be effected only subject to the seeker’s penitence,another name for this sacrament is that of repentance. Again,as a result of the fact that sin is nothing but an estrangementfrom God and the Ecclesia and as the seeker regains thelost communion with the Lord and the Church, through thesacrament of confession, this sacrament has come to beknown also as that of reconciliation.1. In the capacity as the vicars of God the priests shall rendergeneral counsels and pieces of advice to the faithful. They mustrebuke openly those who go astray and bring them back to thepath of righteousness. Besides, after proper assessment of theactions and the internal composure of each of the faithful, thepriests shall enjoin him or her individually and prevent the flokfrom falling into the pitfall of follies and sins. Again, with thelove and affection behoving a father, the priest shall reprimandthe believers for their iniquities and prescribe penances likefasting, alms-giving etc. as befitting each one. He shall furtherimpress upon the erring souls, the justice of our Lord, evenwhile consoling them by pointing to the boundless mercy ofJesus and exhorting them to seek refuge in his compassion andbounty.Ref: (a) Mal. 2:7. It is the duty of the priest to teach the trueknowledge of God. People should go to them, tolearn my will, because they are the messengers ofthe Lord Almighty. (G.N.B.)(b) Ezek. 3:17-21. “Mortal man”, he said, “I am makingyou a watchman for the nation of Israel. You willpass on to them the warnings I give you. If Iannounce that an evil man is going to die but youdo not warn him to change his ways so that he cansave his life, he will die, still a sinner, and I will holdyou responsible for his death. If you do warn an evilman and he does not stop sinning, he will die, still asinner, but your life will be spared. If a truly goodman starts doing evil and I put him in a dangeroussituation, he will die if you do not warn him. He willdie because of his sins - I will not remember thegood he did - and I will hold you responsible for hisdeath. If you do warn a good man not to sin and helistens to you and does not sin he will stay alive andyour life will also be spared.” (G.N.B.)(c) Tit. 1:9. He must hold firmly to the message whichcan he trusted and which agrees with the doctrine.In this way he will be able to encourage others withthe true teaching and also to show the error of thosewho are opposed to it. (G.N.B.)(d) 1Tim. 5:20. Rebuke publicly all those who commitsins, so that the rest may he afraid. (G.N.B.)CommentThe various duties of the vicars with regard to the sacramentof confession are enumerated here. The vicars have to be