Confession

According to Bishop Kallistos Ware, confession was originally meant to be public before the whole Christian community (James 5:16). However, this is not only impractical, but obviously difficult for people to confess their very private sins before their friends and family. The Priest, therefore, takes the role of the community, to witness our confession. This is why we say the Priest is merely a witness, and not a mediator. This is one way in which Orthodox confession differs from Roman Catholic practice.

Confess to One Another

I am sometimes told, "I do not need to confess my sins to a priest. I can pray directly to God." A young man said this to me recently and added, "The Bible says we should only confess to God." I pointed out to him that he was actually incorrect, that in its only mention of confession, the Bible says we should confess our sins "to one another." He was surprised and dismayed.

The Scriptures also speak of elders and leaders and obedience and respect and many other things that have no place within the spirit of democracy. The young man's mistake was to think that the Bible affirmed his democratic world-view. But the Scriptures belong to the world of the Roman Centurion (Mat 8:8-10). -- Fr. Stephen Freeman