Kept across the provinces of the Anglican Communion. Anglicanism keeps auricular confession available but not required, summarised in the maxim that all may, none must, some should; a general confession said by the whole congregation is the ordinary form.
Anglicanism keeps auricular confession available but not required, summarised in the maxim that all may, none must, some should; a general confession said by the whole congregation is the ordinary form.
Kept in the Armenian Apostolic Church. The Coptic and other Oriental churches keep private confession to a priest, with the Coptic practice of a father of confession, a single priest to whom a person confesses habitually, and absolution before receiving the sacrament.
Confession is practised, and the East Syriac tradition developed its penitential discipline separately from both the Byzantine and the Latin.
Kept in the Church of Cyprus, autocephalous since the Council of Ephesus in 431. The Orthodox confess standing beside the priest before an icon rather than through a grille, the priest understood as a witness rather than a judge, and confession is ordinarily expected before receiving communion.
Kept in the Church of England, the province from which the Prayer Book tradition comes. Anglicanism keeps auricular confession available but not required, summarised in the maxim that all may, none must, some should; a general confession said by the whole congregation is the ordinary form.
Kept in the Church of Greece. The Orthodox confess standing beside the priest before an icon rather than through a grille, the priest understood as a witness rather than a judge, and confession is ordinarily expected before receiving communion.
Kept in the Church of Ireland. Anglicanism keeps auricular confession available but not required, summarised in the maxim that all may, none must, some should; a general confession said by the whole congregation is the ordinary form.
Kept in the Church of Sweden, which retained the historic episcopate through the Reformation as few Lutheran churches did. Luther retained private confession and absolution and defended it in the catechisms, though the practice fell away in most Lutheran churches in favour of a corporate confession at the start of the service.
Kept in the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria. The Coptic and other Oriental churches keep private confession to a priest, with the Coptic practice of a father of confession, a single priest to whom a person confesses habitually, and absolution before receiving the sacrament.
The Orthodox confess standing beside the priest before an icon rather than through a grille, the priest understood as a witness rather than a judge, and confession is ordinarily expected before receiving communion.
Kept in the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, the see of first honour among the Orthodox churches. The Orthodox confess standing beside the priest before an icon rather than through a grille, the priest understood as a witness rather than a judge, and confession is ordinarily expected before receiving communion.
Kept in the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church. The Coptic and other Oriental churches keep private confession to a priest, with the Coptic practice of a father of confession, a single priest to whom a person confesses habitually, and absolution before receiving the sacrament.
Kept in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. The Coptic and other Oriental churches keep private confession to a priest, with the Coptic practice of a father of confession, a single priest to whom a person confesses habitually, and absolution before receiving the sacrament.
Kept in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Luther retained private confession and absolution and defended it in the catechisms, though the practice fell away in most Lutheran churches in favour of a corporate confession at the start of the service.
Kept in the Georgian Orthodox Church, which has used its own language and script in worship since the fifth century. The Orthodox confess standing beside the priest before an icon rather than through a grille, the priest understood as a witness rather than a judge, and confession is ordinarily expected before receiving communion.
Kept in the Greek Orthodox churches. The Orthodox confess standing beside the priest before an icon rather than through a grille, the priest understood as a witness rather than a judge, and confession is ordinarily expected before receiving communion.
Luther retained private confession and absolution and defended it in the catechisms, though the practice fell away in most Lutheran churches in favour of a corporate confession at the start of the service.
Confession is kept as one of the mysteries.
Confession is kept, and in the priestless communities it is heard by a lay elder because there is no priest to hear it.
The Coptic and other Oriental churches keep private confession to a priest, with the Coptic practice of a father of confession, a single priest to whom a person confesses habitually, and absolution before receiving the sacrament.
Catholics confess privately to a priest, who absolves under an absolute seal of secrecy, and the church obliges the confession of grave sin at least once a year; a penance is assigned, and indulgences are attached to the sacrament.
Kept in the Romanian Orthodox Church, the one Orthodox church of the Byzantine tradition whose language is Romance. The Orthodox confess standing beside the priest before an icon rather than through a grille, the priest understood as a witness rather than a judge, and confession is ordinarily expected before receiving communion.
Kept in the Russian Orthodox Church, in the Slavonic recension of the Byzantine books. The Orthodox confess standing beside the priest before an icon rather than through a grille, the priest understood as a witness rather than a judge, and confession is ordinarily expected before receiving communion.
Kept in the Serbian Orthodox Church. The Orthodox confess standing beside the priest before an icon rather than through a grille, the priest understood as a witness rather than a judge, and confession is ordinarily expected before receiving communion.
Confession of sin to an elder of one's own sex was required before a person could be received into the community.
Kept in the Episcopal Church, whose own Prayer Book descends from the Scottish rather than the English line. Anglicanism keeps auricular confession available but not required, summarised in the maxim that all may, none must, some should; a general confession said by the whole congregation is the ordinary form.
Confession follows the Byzantine form, the penitent standing beside the priest before an icon rather than kneeling in an enclosed box.
Kept in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The Orthodox confess standing beside the priest before an icon rather than through a grille, the priest understood as a witness rather than a judge, and confession is ordinarily expected before receiving communion.