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The Sacrament of Penance [a] (also commonly called the Sacrament of Reconciliation or Confession) is one of the seven sacraments of the Catholic Church (known in Eastern Christianity as sacred mysteries), in which the faithful are absolved from sins committed after baptism and reconciled with the Christian community.
A confessional is a box, cabinet, booth, or stall where the priest in some Christian churches sits to hear the confessions of penitents. It is the typical venue for the sacrament in the Roman Catholic Church and the Lutheran Churches, [1] [2] but similar structures are also used in Anglican churches of an Anglo-Catholic orientation.
Incipit of the Paenitentiale Vinniani. A penitential is a book or set of church rules concerning the Christian sacrament of penance, used for regular private confession with a confessor-priest, a "new manner of reconciliation with God" [1] that was promoted by Celtic monks in Ireland in the sixth century AD, under the Egyptian monastic influence of St John Cassian.
For example, he could choose to mention "I've heard the confession of a sex offender", or "I've almost never heard anyone explicitly confess a failure to help the poor." However, the Catholic Church punishes with excommunication latae sententiae anyone who records by any technical means or divulges what is said by the confessor or penitent.
An example is the Mass of Ash Wednesday, in which the Penitential Act is replaced by the blessing and imposition of ashes after the homily. "On Sundays, especially in the Season of Easter, in place of the customary Penitential Act, from time to time the Blessing and Sprinkling of Water to recall Baptism may take place."
As an example, the Anglican Church of Canada states, in the preface to its liturgical rite for "The Reconciliation of a Penitent", the following: "The absolution in these services may be pronounced only by a bishop or a priest. If a deacon or a lay person hears a confession, a declaration of forgiveness may be made in the form provided". [26]
Confession does not take place in a confessional, but normally in the main part of the church itself, usually before an analogion set up near the iconostasion. On the analogion is placed a Gospel Book and a blessing cross. The confession often takes place before an icon of Jesus Christ. Orthodox Christians understand that during Confession ...
Baptist confessions, like the congregationalists, are statements of agreement rather than enforceable rules. They "have never been held as tests of orthodoxy, as of any authoritative or binding force; they merely reflect the existing harmony of views and the scriptural interpretations of the churches assenting to them."