p. 680. P. 259. T. P. 310. p. 675. T. p. 309. folve the Penitent, no Confeffor dare pretend to do it himself. And in every one of thofe which Goar hath added out of Allatius and other MSS. the Ab. folution is only afcribed to God, and beg'd from him alone. It is very remarkable that in thofe Prayers in the Euchologium, and in thofe others which are Joh. 20. 23. added there, Chrift's words are inferted at least fix or feven times, (whofe Sins you remit, upon which the Papifts ground their Abfolution of the Prieft) yet the Prayers are continued ftill on to God alone, to Forgive and Abfolve; The Confeffor no where attributes any thing of it to himself; Nay, in that large Form or Office, which we have prefcribed in Goar, the Confeffor, as I have noted before, is obliged plainly to fay, ex iuw, I am not able to remit Sins on Earth, but it is God that Pardons them; or except God Pardons them. Yet even there are Chrift's words inferted alfo, whofe Sins ye remit; by all which it is plain to me that the Grecks understood those words of Christ, not as if the Prieft or Confeffor fhould have thereby a Power or Authority to himfelf to Abfolve, but that he fhould only have a Privilege thereby to beg the Penitents Abfolution from God alone; and the words are looked upon as God Almighty's Promise upon their Prayers to hear them according to the true inward Repentance of the Sinner, of which only God himself is Judge. I have already faid that this was all the way of Confeffion and Abfolution according to Chryfoftom, and I am much confirmed in my Opinion, for Goar hath obliged us with one of Chryfoftom's Prayers to this very purpose. The good Father Inftancing in many of the Penitent Sinners, who are recorded in Scripture as forgiven by God, and appealing to God's Promife, (Thou haft faid, "Confefs your Sins one to another, as thou hast Called, or Invited, us, fo thou art Faithfull and Just to forgive us all things, and to cleanse us from all Defilements of Flesh and Spirit,) he concludes thus, thou all Good, and all Mercifull Lord, forgive this my spiritual Son, N. N. both in this World and in that which is to come, all those things which he with a contrite Heart hath before thee Confeffed to my, iλaxıstan, meaness, and count him worthy to ftand uncondemned before thee, who art bleed for ever. Amen. he fuppofed a contrite Heart in his Penitent, and on that Condition he prayed for him, but he leaves God, before whom all is known and done, to be the only Judge, and arrogated no Judiciary Authority to himself as Priest or Confeffor. I have many more fuch Deprecative Abfolutions, in my MSS. I fhall instance in some of them, though all, as to this Point, are of the fame nature. In one for an Apoftate who had denied the Chriftian Faith and afterwards return'd. First the Perfon's Age and his Condition and the Circumftances of his Apoftacy are confidered; then the Canon is proportioned to the Crime. Then follows the Prayer, Aixa e núgie xý čudes ài xgíveis 08. Just art thou O Lord, and Right are thy Judgments. After the Preface follows, deóueta x ixerévouer, δεόμεθα κ ἰκετέυομεν, -μÝ TÊ Éλe ou, we pray and beseech thee remember Mercy, paffing by our human tranfgreffions, Pardon us every Fault; -Thou, as our Good and Mercifull Lord and lover of Mankind, "Aves, apes, wágide, y ourɣágroov, Releafe, Remit, pass by, Forgive our Tranfgreffions, y un dogions und eioéλons eis xgiois, and come not to account, nor enter into Judgment with thy Servant, for in thy fight shall no Man living be Juftified. Then are read Pfalm 51. the 38. and 103. (So in Theodulphus Capitulare are read upon the like acUt fupr. c. 30. count, Pf. 51. & 25. & 32.) Then follows another Prayer, AéoπоTα núgie & θεὸς ἡμῶν, Ο Lord our God, ὁ τὰς κλεῖς τῆς βασιλείας σε, who haft entrufted Peter, the chief of the Apoftles with the Keys of thy Kingdom, and built thy Church upon him, and given him Power to bind and loofe upon Earth, Hear us who call upon thee though unworthily v T xaou, for, or in, the Reconciliation, or Propitiation, of thy Servant here prefent, and, Davud gwoor, make thy Mercies Wonderfull upon him; - Thou, Ō lover of Men, turn not this thy Servant, here prefent, away, who begs Atonement, or Reconciliation, from thee, but look upon him in Mercy, and in Compaffion call him Nomocan. P. back, for thou art the God of those who repent. This is the order of Me Nomocan. P. 452. 449. Here thodius thodius Patriarch of Conftantinople, it is most likely to be made by the first T. p. 310. of that name, who according to Onuphrius's Catalogue was about the Year 842, for the fecond Methodius was in but three Months. I find this laft Pray cr of Methodius mention'd by Arcudius, but that is patcht up, for in mine 1. 4. p. 434. b. there is no, ego te abfolvo, I abfolve you. There is a deprecatory Abfolution much after this manner in Goar, but it is in many things larger, in fome ex- 685. preffions fhorter, and, δὲ ἐμὲ τὸ ταπεινᾶ δέλει σε συγχώρησιν, Pardon him by T. p. 311. me thy humble Servant, is foifted in there, for it is not in mine or in any other MS. which I have feen, as fhall be by and by farther noted. It is ftill very remarkable to me, that here again both in this Prayer and in that of Goars the Power of the Keys, and St. Peter's Authority in tying and loofing fhould be mention'd in the Preface, and yet the following Prayer fhould be made to God alone to Abfolve and Forgive the offender. I have an entire Office to Abfolve an Apoftate Monk, if he returns to his Profeffion. There are in MS. A. 42. ir, inftead of a Prieft's Abfolution, thefe very devout Prayers to God for him; The firft, κύριε ὁ Θεὸς ὁ παντοκράτωρ δ' θέλων, ο Lord God Almighty who would eft every Man to be faved, we Pray and befeech thee Receive this thy Servant N.N. then follow at leaft a dozen more Petitions for his Pardon and Reftitution. The fecond begins, o xλívas gavus x xarabas, O Thou who didft bow the Heavens and cameft down through thy Love towards Mankind, 2. 3. Thou O Lord, thou lover of Men receive thy loft Sheep, N. N. As our good Sheepherd fave him- Receive him and number him amongst those who worthily ferve thee, in this Angelick ftate of Life. The third begins, xúgie ó θεὸς ὁ παντοκράτωρ ὁ καταπέμψας, Ο Lord God Almighty who fent down they All holy Spirit upon thy Holy Apoftles and who hath turned thy Servant N. N. from the error of Darkness--Thou, O Lord, thou lover of Men, ávásticov, make, or delare, him a chofen Veffel, and adorn him with Virtues, grant that he may always walk according to thy will: Thefe prayers fuppofe the Penitent hath the neceffary qualifications of true Repentance, and accordingly it is expreft in the firft and fecond, by ἰπιτρέφοντα και μετανοῦντα γνησίως, and Cooroysμevov, Returning and Repenting, fincerely, and thoroughly Confeffing; for according to the Latins themfelves, Abfolution, which follows Confeffion, fuppofe it to be true and fincere and Compleat, yet that point must still remain at beft only Conjectural, as fhall be more fully difcuft by and by. I have those two which are in Goar and a third, not yet Printed, to the p. 674. MS. A. fame purpofe; There is great variety of readings in them, but all are Depreca. 47. A. 46. b. tive to God alone. Nomocan. MS. I will give you another Abfolution of a dead Man Excommunicated, which is to be faid by the Prelate, because it is of a fingular compofure, and I will 76 conceal nothing from the curious Reader, Ἡ ταπεινότης ἡμῶν διὰ τῆς χάριτος δοθεί ors, Our Humility, by the Grace given to it, from the All boly Spirit, ouyXwghoul σol TW Renounμeva dura, N.N. will forgive thee, N.N a Servant who haft flept, (or been Dead) all things wherein thou haft Sinned from thy Youth to thy lives end. Then feveral general Sins are at large reckon'd up. Then, Tóns nμær, Our humility through the infinite Compaffion of the great God, and our Saviour Jefus Christ who fuffered for us Sinners, will Forgive thee (ovvxwghou σ) both in this World and that which is to come, and moreover it (our Humilities) prays for you, tranflate him to divell in a light fome place, and fo forth as in the Exequics in Goar, that you may p. 526. be counted worthy, in the hour of Judgment, to fland on the right hand of our Saviour, -by the Interceffions of our all pure Lady and all Saints, by the Mercy and Compaffions and the love to Man of thy only begotten Son our Lord Jefus Chrift. This Prayer is in vulgar Greek, very falfly written, and is as if it had been patcht together; in fome places fomething is two much, in others fomething left out, fo as we cannot make either Senfe or Concord. It is plain however that the Prelate doth not take this Pardon wholly upon himfelf, but prays for it to God by the Mercy and Compaffion of Chrift. I will T. p. 312. p. 81. -- I will add one more of Maximus Patriarch and Confeffor (as he is ftiled) Nomecon. MS. for the fame purpose. O Lord Jefus Chrift and Word of God, being of one Subftance and moft Compassionate who hast granted to thy holy Apostles the Gift and Grace to bind and to loose the Sins of Men, Jaying, receive the Holy Ghoft, &c. and the quickening Spirit defcending fucceffively from them to us- Thou O Just and most compaffionate God, pardoning the Sins of thy Servant N. N.make (or caufe) his miferable Body to be defolved into thofer things out of which it was compofed; and we trufting in (baggs, o encouraged by.) thy Compaffion and Grace do loose him from the burden and band wich lie upon him and we Pardon and Abfolve by thy Power and Grace, if only thou confenteft from above; hear us Sinners and thy bumble Servants and be not angry with us, is Tagegyí(or, as if we trifled with (or carefly folicited) thy Goodness; for not trusting in our own Righteousness and Virtue (for they are not in us) but looking upon thy Goodness, we beseech thee glorify thy Church; And by this Grace, as by many Miracles thou hast glorified it, diffolve, O Lord, his Body entirely; and if thou loofeft thy aforesaid Servant, N. N. his Body from this band, passing by his Sins, and shouldeft count him worthy of the Portion of those who are faved, thou will do thy own work, and the work of thy Love to Man forbearing evil. So be it by the interceffions of the Mother which bare thee, and of all the Saints. I find in Onuphrius's Caralogue of the Patriarchs of Conftantinople but three called Maximus; the first was an Arian, Anno. 381. and therefore he cannot well be fuppofed to be the Author of this; the fecond who perhaps compofed it, lived Anno 1215. I rather think it was the third, Anno 1480. It fuits well enough with that Age, and favours of no very great Antiquity by inferting (as in the former) by the Interceffions of the Virgin Mary and the Saints. But let the Latins make what use they can of it; if they infift upon those words, we Pardon and Abfolve, let them remember thefe words are spoken in general, and their Abfolution is not made abfolutely and pofitively, but by his Power and Grace, and only conditionally, if he, ewéve, asserts from above. There are two principal Points in the Prayer, to diffolve the Body, and to forgive the Excommunicated Perfon his Sins; Now the Patriarch can no more pretend by his Authority to forgive his Sins, then he can pretend to diffolve the Body; and therefore he only prays to God for both alike. The opinion of the Greeks, that the Body of an Excommunicated Perfon, (who is fill as they think capable of being faved,) will not confume till he be Abfolved, very much prevails amongst them to this very day, of which I fhall at large difcourfe in a Turco Grac. p. more proper place. Crufius hath a wonderfull Story of a dead Body miraculously diffolved by the Patriarch's reading, Tux ourxwgntil the Abfolutory Prayer over him; to which Custom this Prayer alludes. 1 fhall here make this fhort Reflection upon it; If you believe that this Excommunicated Body was by the Patriarch's Prayer diffolved then; it is well known that fometimes this prayer is ineffectual; for the Body after the prayer now will not always crumble to pieces; which plainly tells me that the Patriarch's Prayer or Authority of it felf, can no more Pardon and Abfolve the Soul, then it can Diffolve the Body; it fometimes prevail'd with God for neither; and therefore whilft I lived amongst them, I never knew it tried, but upon occafion (as fhall elsewhere be faid) the Body hath been taken up and cut in pieces and sprinkled with holy Water, and after the Prayer laid in a new grave. Nomocan. MS. P. 74. 75. 27. Nomocan. p. 566. &. αυτὸς ἄνες, I will conclude with an Abfolutory Prayer which is to be faid (over the Head of any one who defigns to take the holy Communion) by the Prelate, part 1. p. 8. b. or Confeffor or Prieft. O Lord Jefus Chrift, our God, as alfo thou Word of the living God. Κύριε ἰησε χριστὲ ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν ὡς καὶ λόγε το 948 ἄφες, συγχώρησον τὰς ἁμαρτίας, Releafe, Remit, Forgive the Sins and Iniquities which have been committed by thy Servant, N. N. then is repeated a long Catalogue of Sins, of at least thirty or forty lines, and immediately follow, follow, from all thefe and the like grievous things, deliver thy Servant, N. N. T. p. 313O Lord thou lover of Men have Mercy and Pardon him all;for this, 2. wretch hath in the prefence of thy Kingdom confeft that he hath done thefe and many more; and for thy Mercy hear me thy Servant;-and make him heir of the Eternal good things with all those who have ever pleafed thee; and count him worthy, axarangiτws, uncondemned to partake of thy dreadfull Myfteries; for thou haft faid, O Lord, what things foever ye fhall bind on Earth, &c. for thou only art without Sin, and art able to remit Sins, and to thee, gu, belong Glory, Honour and Worship, &c. for ever and ever, Amen. Who made this Prayer I know not, but by the Stile and words it is undoubtedly antient, for the phrafe is all old accurate Scholastick Greek, and it is purely after Chryfoftom's way, and without mention of the Virgin Mary's Interceffions; but here are all the Sins reckon'd up which we find in the Catalogues above mention'd out of my Canonaria, and therefore I cannot think it fo old as Chryfoftom; yet it feems to be a far better way of managing Confeffions then thofe I have noted above, all thofe Sins being particularly fet down here, and the Confeffor prays for the Penitents Abfolution from them and all fuch like; which may fuit with all Capacities, as well those who are able to recount their Sins, as thofe of meanest understanding. I queftion not but that this very Prayer hath been and is yet of common ufe with those that have it; though fome Confeffors may have fome other, or perhaps, as I have said, a peculiar one of their own. And here I cannot but again take Notice, that Chrift's words, whofe Sins you remit, &c. feem plainly to be Interpreted by them, as if the Apoftles were order'd thereby only to pray for God's Abfolution, and not to pretend to any of their own; nay, the Confeffor here is obliged to pray for himself, that God in Mercy would hear him, and so Abfolve the Penitent, knowing that his Prayer would do the Penitent no good, if God heard him not, much lefs would his own Abfolution fignify any thing. My Venetian Confeffionary upbraids the Greeks for their careleffnefs, and not p. 10. coming to their Confeffor fome good time before they receive the Communion, but they stay, faith the Author, almost to the last hour; If a Penitent hath well examin'd himself before and folemnly refolved to repent, and comes with a forrow full and fincere heart that very day, nay that very hour, when he intends to Communicate, and begs his Confeffor to pray for him, furely this Prayer (which is a very excellent and fervent one) on thefe previous conditions, devoutly faid over him, will be a very good Preparation for his coming to the Lord's Table. Chryfoftom's abfolutory Prayer is without all difpute confeffedly Genuine; but thefe other are of later dates, and of different compofitions, yet all, as I have noted, are purely, and only, deprecatory Abfolutions. I thought it would be two large a task to fet them all entirely down, and therefore I only took out of them the most material Expreffions, which I have done most faithfully, without concealing or altering any thing which might feem to favour the Latins; I must confefs I believe that they may have been by degrees depraved (as most things elfe amongst the Greeks have manifeftly been,) and perhaps by Latin Emiflaries they have been blended by little and little in favour of their Caufe; my reason is this, because I find (in them, especially) that Goar (who once lived amongst them) upon every occafion almost Sophisticate and play tricks with the Greeks Custom and Conftitutions, that they may give them a Latin Countenance and Complexion. I have that Prayer for a dead Man Excommunicated, which Goar gives us; in his after, ouyxgroov auT, Pardon him, T. P. 314 are crowded in, δὶ ἐμὲ τὸ ἁμαρτωλῶ καὶ ἀναξίω δέλω σε, by me a Sinner and thy unworthy Servant, and many other things which are not in mine. So in another which is to be faid by the Confeffor, after, ouyx@gur aura, Pardoning him, is crampt in, dus тš ávažie dune 08, by me thy unworthy Servant, which is not in my old Copy; and I fhrewdly fufpect thefe words in Ms. p. 1. p. the Prayer quoted out of Allatius's MS. dà Tas iμñs ávažíóτnt, by my Un- 23. b. P 685. Nomoc. p. 79° P. 677. p. 680. p. 676. P. 676. او T. p. 314 worthiness, have been in like manner patcht in. However he is fo ingenuous as to confefs that in the Prayer, • Geds, ó ourx@ghoas Aacid, O Lord who didt pardon David, after ourxaghoy os may Pardon thee, the words & éμê àuagTwλu, by me a Sinner, are added, for in his notes upon the place, he owns that they are not found in any MS or Printed Copies; and unawares he there difcovers the Mystery of all this; it is to hook in the Priest's Authority to Abfolve, and his pretended judiciary Power, as if he had received it from God. So in his notes he would tack To aveo, pis, Releafe, Remit, Forgive, di tus, by me; and instead of, Tậ λórę λußlum, to be diffolved by thy word, (thy fiat,) he would read it, Toy μs, by my word; and it is ten to one that there may be by this time fome Copics found with thofe readings. Yet if we should grant that, di que, by me, was Authentick and Genuine; nay, that it was in all these Prayers, I do not fee how yet he would gain his point thereby; for, by me, must plainly then fignify no more then, Pardon him or Abfolve him by my Prayers, O God, which I beg of thee in Mercy to hear. This is far enough from, ego te Abfolvo, I abfolve thee. When he had confeft, that this Form, I abfolve thee, is not five hundred years old, it is wonderfull to fee how he there fhuffles and stretch his Wits to make thefe Abfolutory Prayers of the Greeks and that Latin Form all onc. So as to thefe Expreffions, ex very exagnuevor, I hold you Pardon'd, and, in vulgar Greek, as loa ourxwgeμer, by you, or may you be, Pardon'd, (which are meer Forms of his own devifing, and ufed by no Greek that I could obferve or hear of,) he would have them be perfectly the fame with this, I Pardon, that is, Abfolve you. He there commends the Greeks modefty in adminiftring the Sacrament, for their ufing the paffive Voice thus, the Servant of God, N. N. BaTTi(ETα, is Baptized, xgieta, is Anointed, and the like, ne minifter eorum Authoritatis quicquam circa illa fibi irroget, leaft he, faith he, who adminifters the Sacraments should take upon himself, or arrogate to himself, any Authority from them. And he praifes the Prelates meek condefcention, in not faying bluntly, I hold you Pardon'd, but my Humility or my Meannefs hold you Pardon'd. It would have been well if he could have produced fome fuch authentick Forms (out of the Euchologium or elsewhere) as, my Humility, my Meannefs, hold you Pardon'd, or doth Pardon you; I never met with any thing like it, except that one which, I have fairly given you above; and in it is twice written, ourxwghou, in the future tenie, our Humility will Pardon; but if (as in a hundred places of that MS and in common pronuntiation amongst the present Greeks, &, ey, and, ai, ay, and, ee, are promifcuously used one for the other, and founded, as E.) If, 1 fay, the word fhould be read ourxwgho fynchorefe in the optative mood, it would be purely deprecative, may our humility Pardon you; and the Senfe would be then clear and entire, may our humility Pardon you by the Grace given to it; and again, may our Humility Pardon you through the Infinite Compaffion of the great God, &c. and moreover it prays, (that is, I pray) for you, &c. T. p. 315. Ut fupra. Labb. T. 14. I fhall with Goar moft heartily commend the Modefty, fhall I fay, or rather the Reverence of the Greeks in this Point of Abfolution; I wish I could do as much for the Latins. The Greeks humbly pray to God (to whom alone it belongs) to forgive their Penitents; The Latins arrogate that Power to themselves, and erect a Judiciary Court and boldly pretend to Chrift's Commiffion for it. Yet it is very obfervable how the Latins differ amongst themfelves, in this point. The Council of Trent pofitively make the words, I abfolve thee, the very Form of this pretended Sacrament, in qua præcipuè ejus vis fita eft, in which the Power, or Efficacy, of it is chiefly placed; Prayers may be added, but they are not any ways Effential or Neceffary to the Adminiftration of it. The Greeks are for Prayers only, or for begging Abfolu tion from God alone. Goar tells us, I hold you Abfolved, or be you Abfol Medul. de Pa. ved, is all one with, I Abfolve you. Bufenbaum makes, Abfolvo te, I Abnit. 1. 6. c. 1. folve thee, the only Form; and faith that this, Abfolvat te Chriftus, may Chrift 316. c. 676. d. 1. |