Editing Absolution (section)

==Eastern Orthodox Church==
The [[Eastern Orthodox Church]] has always believed that the Church has power to forgive sin from Christ. This is made clear by the formulæ of absolution in vogue among all branches within [[Eastern Orthodoxy]], and also since the time of the Protestant Reformation in the decrees of the Synod of Constantinople in 1638, the Synod of Jassy in 1642, and the [[Synod of Jerusalem (1672)|Synod of Jerusalem]] in 1672. The Orthodox also reaffirmed the sacrament in response to the heresy of Patriarch [[Cyril Lucaris|Cyril Lucaris III]] of Constantinople.<ref>[[Johann Baptist Alzog|Alzog, Johann Baptist]], ''Cyril Lucaris'' p. 465.</ref> In the Synod of Jerusalem the Orthodox Bishops reaffirmed its belief in [[Sacred Mysteries|Seven Sacraments]], among them Penance, which Jesus Christ is believed to have established when he said to the Apostles on the evening of His Resurrection: "Whose sins you shall forgive they are forgiven them, and whose sins you shall retain they are retained."<ref name="Catholic"/>

===Greek===
The service in the Byzantine Church is often attributed to Patriarch of Constantinople, [[John the Faster]] (AD 582–595). However, it dates rather from the 11th century.<ref>Kucharek, Casimir, ''The Sacramental Mysteries: A Byzantine Approach,'' (Saskatchewan: Alleluia Press, 1976), p. 239.</ref> The absolution, as in the present Greek ''Euchologion'', uses the deprecative form to stress that it is God who primarily forgives through the priest.  After questioning the penitent in line with the tradition of the ''Kanonaria'' lists in front of an iconostasis, the priest prays:
:My spiritual child, N., who have confessed to my humble person, I, humble and a sinner, have not power on earth to forgive sins, but God alone; but through that divinely spoken word which came to the Apostles after the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, saying, Whosesoever sins you forgive are forgiven, and whosesoever sins you retain are retained, we are emboldened to say: Whatsoever you have said to my humble person, and whatsoever you have failed yo say, whether through ignorance or forgetfulness, whatever it may be, may God forgive you in this world and in that which is to come.  
The priest adds:
:May God Who pardoned David through Nathan the Prophet when he confessed his sins, and Peter weeping bitterly for his denial, and the sinful woman weeping at His feet, and the publican and the prodigal son; May that same God forgive you all things, through me a sinner, both in this world and in the world to come, and set you uncondemned before His terrible Judgment Seat. (In the name ♱ of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.) Have no further care for the sins which you have confessed, depart in peace.<ref>''A Manual of Eastern Orthodox Prayers,'' (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1991), p. 55.</ref>
Casimir Kucharek asserts that although Greek Orthodox priests generally use the form attributed to John the Faster, they are also at liberty to compose their own formula.<ref>Kucharek, Casimir, ''The Sacramental Mysteries: A Byzantine Approach,'' (Saskatchewan: Alleluia Press, 1976), p. 240.</ref>

=== Slavonic ===
The Russian and other Orthodox whose official liturgical language is [[Church Slavonic]]., while holding the same theology as the Greeks, have, since the time of Metropolitan [[Peter Mogila]]'s [[Trebnik]] ([[Roman Ritual|Ritual]]) of 1646, employed the indicative form of absolution after a deprecative prayer.<ref name="books.google.com">{{cite book |author=Fastiggi |first=Robert L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zYaKDgAAQBAJ&q=chaldean+absolution+form&pg=PT29 |title=The Sacrament of Reconciliation: An Anthropological and Scriptural Understanding |date=28 March 2017 |publisher=Liturgy Training Publications |isbn=9781618331908}}</ref>

After confessing all sins committed, the penitent bows his head and the priest, says the following prayer to prepare for the absolution: 
:O Lord God, the salvation of Your servants, merciful, compassionate and long-suffering; Who repent concerning our evil deeds, not desiring the death of a sinner, but that he (she) should turn from him (her) evil ways and live. Show mercy now on Your servant N. and grant to him (her) an image of repentance, forgiveness of sins and deliverance, pardoning all his (her) sins, whether voluntary or involuntary. Reconcile and unite him (her) to Your Holy [Catholic and Apostolic Church] through Jesus Christ our Lord, to Whom, with You, are due dominion and majesty, now and ever and unto ages of ages. 
Then, the penitent kneels, and the priest laying his stole upon the penitent's head pronounces the following absolution:
:May our Lord and God, Jesus Christ, by the grace and compassion of His love for mankind, forgive you, my child, N., all your transgressions. And I His unworthy Priest, through the power given me, forgive and absolve you from all your sins, ♱ in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. [Now, having no further care for the sins which you have confessed. depart in peace, knowing such sins are as far from you as the East is from the West.] Amen.