On 29 March 2013, 9 priests of the Archdiocese of Bucharest were licensed as father confessors. The religious service was celebrated by His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church, in the chapel of the patriarchal residence with Saint Martyr George as saint patron.<\/p>\n
His Beatitude spoke to the young father confessors about the importance of the confession and of the advice that they must give to the faithful.<\/p>\n
“Balance is badly needed in a society out of balance, divided and very often with overturned values of with no values at all. One must always find the wisdom to keep communion not only among contemporaries, but also the communion with the past generations from a chronological point of view, of the Holy Apostles and of the Holy Fathers. (…) A difference is also seen between the father confessors and the fathers of the Synod on one hand, and the Holy Canons inherited from Tradition and the personal opinions of some contemporary father confessors on the other”, His Beatitude said, as we learn from Trinitas Radio station.<\/p>\n
His Beatitude has also spoken to the new father confessors about the great responsibility of the father confessor.<\/p>\n
“This great responsibility of the father confessor is very important as service for the Church, because it is only through the guidance that the father confessor gives to the spiritual sons and daughters that one can see that the Church grows in the spiritual life. The mystery of the Holy Confession, of the confession of one’s sins and reception of forgiveness as mystery of the reconciliation of man with God and with the Church is a great gift that Jesus Christ, our Saviour, crucified and risen gave to His Church” the Patriarch of Romania said, as Trinitas TV informs us.<\/p>\n
“The Mystery of repentance is the mystery of the re-establishment of man’s relationship with God”, His Beatitude also said.<\/p>\n
“The Mystery of Repentance is the mystery of the recuperation of the fallen ones and so, the Church, as Saint Efrem the Syrian said, is the place where those sentenced to death are saved. Thus, every sinner is sentenced to death because the payment for sin is death, but through the Mystery of Repentance, Confession and forgiveness of sins those sentenced to death, namely to the separation from God, the source of life, because of the sin, are recuperated, forgiven, remitted and given the right to eternal life. So, this mystery is not a simple ceremony, a sort of mechanical tradition repeated or a ritual formality, but the mystery of the re-establishment of man’s relationship with God”.<\/p>\n
The Patriarch of Romania has also spoken to the young priests about how a good father confessor should behave.<\/p>\n
“The father confessor has no power he can dispose of arbitrarily. He must administrate this mystery with much wisdom avoiding two extremes: an exaggerated strictness and an exaggerated tolerance. This is why canon 102 of the Ecumenical Synod VI, Trulan, in 692, says that the priest should be like a physician who must know how to heal both with bitter medicine and with sweet one, namely harshness or tolerance, as the mood of the person’s soul is. If it is too much tolerance the stubborn and lazy ones interpret it as an approval of the sin. But if there is too much severity man can despair”.<\/p>\n
To end with, the new father confessors received a book of prayers, a blessing cross and the father confessor certificate on behalf of the Patriarch of Romania.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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