Talk:Confession

Is there a distinction we could make between the terms for "the priest who is hearing confession" and "the Orthodox Christian who is confessing" rather than use "confessor" for each? When I hear "confessor" I think of the priest, as in "Father-Confessor." Are there variances between traditions? —magda (talk) 15:55, May 24, 2006 (CDT)

Secrecy

It would seem that the "seal of the confessional", i.e., the confidentiality pertaining to the content of one's confession, has not always been considered absolute in all of Orthodoxy. I seem to recall that, under the czars, a priest was required to report if a penitent confessed to trying to kill the czar. --Fr Lev 17:59, June 4, 2009 (UTC)

Indeed. That's right out of the Spiritual Regulation of Czar Peter "the Great," signed into law in 1721. It wasn't just plotting to kill the czar, but indicating an intention to commit any illegal act.

This is probably worth mentioning, though it's more valuable in terms of being a distortion of Church tradition rather than an expression of it. —Fr. Andrew ^talk contribs (THINK!) 19:37, June 4, 2009 (UTC)