Chapter La diffusion de la pratique de la confession en Orient (XVIIe-XVIIIe siècles), entre expansion catholique et confessionnalisation orthodoxe

Overview & Synopsis

Penance in the form of confession became a strong marker of Catholic identity from the Council of Trent onwards. In terms of Scholastic theology, the “form” of the sacrament consists of the absolution given to the penitent by the priest. This becomes a judicial act, making the confessor a judge, requiring a secret and precise confession of sins, and imposing a penance proportionate to the fault. This conception is opposed to the Eastern tradition, in which sin was rather considered as a disease, and the confessor as a doctor, who did not judge or absolve, but interceded with God. In this tradition, a list of sins was proposed aloud to the assembled faithful, over whom the priest recited prayers. This Catholic pattern of penance began to spread in the Eastern Churches, especially among the Greek Orthodox, as their Euchologion / Trebnyk and their manuals for confession attest, without however completely erasing the previous rituals. The “Greek” Melkite archbishop, later Patriarch of Antioch, Athanasius Dabbās, edited in Arabic a handbook for confessors and penitents in Aleppo in 1711, which will be scrutinized in this study. It follows the Latin pattern of confession, perhaps from a translation into Greek, nevertheless making sure to hide its dependency on a Catholic source by referring exclusively to Eastern ancient authorities. Penance is linked to questions of salvation and human destiny in the afterlife. Dabbās’ book provides a long excursus on the issue, shedding some light on his conception of Purgatory and indulgences – in fact, quite controversial topics hotly debated between the Catholics, the Protestants and the Orthodox of his time.