>Oriens wrote:
>There may be - though I've never given it much thought - a feeling that
>while the dead are not beyond God's mercy and we may legitimately pray
>for the forgiveness of their sins, the power of the Church Militant to
>absolve extends only to the Church Militant, i.e. to that minority of
>the members of the Church who are still on earth.
That is, as well, the Orthodox understanding of the
Sacramental Confession and pronouncement of Absolution What I
suspect to be the source of the confusion amongst the Latin and Greek
legates at Lyons II was precisely wordings such as those you cite.
While the Orthodox prayers for the departed are equally earnest and
expansive in asking that God's mercy be extended to the departed, the
particular prayer to which I referred in my original post, and which
may have been the source irritant runs ( and is even referred to as
the 'Prayer of Absolution ):
"Our Lord Jesus Christ, by His Divine Grace, as also by the
gift and power vouchsafed unto His Holy Disciples and Apostles, that
they should bind and loose the sins of men: For He said to them:
Receive the Holy Spirit: Whosoever sins you remit, they are remitted;
and whosoever sins you retain they are retained. And whatsoever you
shall bind or loose upon earth shall be bound or loosed also in
heaven. By that same power, also, transmitted to us from them, this
my spiritual child _N.__ is absolved, through me, unworthy though I
be, from all things wherein as mortal he/she has sinned against God,
whether in word or deed, whether knowingly or through ignorance..'
There would seem to be just cause for the Latin legates to hear this
as a pronouncement of Absolution. The prayer then continues with what
might have been heard as even more problematical:
... " If he/she be under the ban or excommunication of a Bishop, or
of a Priest;..."
(This must have raised concerns for the Latin legates)
"... or has incurred the curse of his/her Father or Mother; or has
fallen under his/her own curse; or has sinned by any oath; or has
been bound, as man, by any sins whatsoever, but has repented thereof,
with contrition of heart; he/she is now absolved from all those
faults and bonds. May all of those things which have proceeded from
the weakness of his/her mortal nature be consigned to oblivion, and
remitted to him/her; Through His loving kindness; through the
prayers of our Most Holy, Blessed and Glorious Lady, the Theotokos
and Ever-Virgin Mary, of the Holy. Glorious and All-Praised Apostles,
and of all the Saints."
One might readily see how the Latins assumed this to be equivalent to
Sacramental Absolution. The Greek Legates, of course, insisted it was
not!
I assumed that the position of the Latin Church ( 13thc) stood
equally and firmly opposed to dispensing the Sacraments to the Dead.
Am I incorrect in assuming this? If not, then what texts, Canonical
or other wise might have constituted their proof-texts?
Grateful for your assistance:
Josef Gulka
Josef Gulka
[log in to unmask]
Tel: 215- 732-8420
Fax (215) 732-8420
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