'The form of absolution in the Greek church': a 1796 Prayer Book commentary looks to the East

Having demonstrated the deep patristic roots of the Prayer Book's use of declaratory and precatory forms of absolution, John Shepherd, in his A Critical and Practical Elucidation of the Book of Common Prayer, Volume I (1796), then looks to the Christian East. Here he sees a further example of the scriptural and patristic understanding of absolution found in the Prayer Book:

The form of the absolution of penitents, in the Greek church, is in a great measure left to the discretion of the penitentiary. The most common forms are, "Do thou, O Lord, remit, pardon, and forgive the sins committed by thy servants." 2. "May it please thee to absolve thy servants according to thy word." 3. "Do thou pardon, who art our good and gracious God." 4. "May our Lord Jesus Christ pardon all those sins which thou hast confessed before him to my meanness, as well as those which thou hast forgotten." 5. "O Lord, pardon thy servant, and be reconciled to him."

Summarising the meaning of these prayers of absolution, Shepherd states:

From this variety, of which many more instances might be given, it is evident that the sentence of absolution is pronounced only in the way of supplication and intercession.

This, of course, is what he has previously termed "the business of evangelical absolution". The presbyter or bishop beseeches God's forgiveness, proclaiming the gracious forgiveness bestowed by God on the penitent heart. As such, the Eastern practice also demonstrates the nature of the presbyteral ministry:

The priest is no more than the minister of this sacred rite, and claims no personal or judicial power.

It was, of course, a well-established theme on the part of 18th century Anglican divines to invoke the non-papal national episcopal churches of the Christian East in order to demonstrate that the teaching and practice of the Church of England had deep roots in the life of Christendom. Regarding the normative nature of declaratory and precatory forms of absolution, as opposed to the indicative form used by the Roman tradition, Shepherd sees in the Churches of the East a glorious example of the older, wiser, scriptural and patristic practice.

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