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The Teachings of the 12 Apostles suggested confessing our sins.
Tertullian, a Christian Writer, in De Poenitentia, called this sense of confession our "Second Penitence" receivable only once. The first penitence being baptism. -
64AD. The first recognition of Christians in Rome
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Sacrament of Reconciliation emerges in a recognisable form during 3rd Century.
The penitent had to confess their sins to the whole community, were temporarily excommunicated, eat plain foods, participate in alms giving, and ask the community to pray for them.
When the Bishop decided they had paid their due, they were restored to full communion -
The period in which the Roman Empire nearly collapsed under the combined pressures of invasion, civil war, plague, and economic depression.
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The Council of Nicea, 325 placed the forgiveness of grave sins under the Bishop's authority,
The penitent had to: Listen outside the door for three years
Prostrate for seven years
Take part in divine worship inactively, nor participate in the Eucharist for two years
The process was ended on Holy Thursday by a bishop.
Penance was only available once in a life time -
Irish Monks developed a form of penance involving:
Private confession to a spiritual father
Restoration of balance of "Moral Universe" through penance
Private prayer seeking forgiveness
The practice of simply confessing once was ended with the Monks, and an attitude of punishment fitting the crime developed. -
A volcanic eruption causes the Northern Hemisphere to cool exponentially resulting in mass famine.
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The council affirmed the Monastic approach to confession and attempted to establish Episcopal control over it.
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The council established that all Christians, once past the age of discernment, should confess their sins at least once a year. They established that the penalty for a priest breaking the secrecy seal would be deposed and made to live in a closed monastery for "perpetual penance."
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Established that the penitent should:
Show contrition of heart and not do the sin again
Partake in Oral confession of sin
Achieving satisfaction through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving
The minister of the sacrament is a priest -
The Council consecrated the sevenfold sacramental system, and decreed penance as the forgiveness of sins.
The Council pushed for extreme non-communal confession, and a more individualistic approach to the reconciliation with God. -
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Impinged the overall sense that sacramental penance not only reconciled sinners with God, but also with the church community.
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In the mid-1960s the Hippy movement began to grow. People began to question why and became more "free". Religiosity is replaced with free thought.
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Introduced "The Sacrament of Reconciliation" as the official name of the sacrament. The absolution formula now stated: "God, the Father of mercies, through the death and resurrection of his Son has reconciled the world to himself and sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins. Through the ministry of the church may God give you pardon and peace, and I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”
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With the ending of the White Australia Policy and the creation of the Racial Discrimination Act, Australia would only hold to become a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural society. With this, people would bring their religions with them: Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism. The people of Australia had a wider choice of religions to choose from, and further, atheism and agnosticism and free-thought sections of society too rose. People were veering away from traditional Christianity and Catholicism.
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The connection of the internet would come to change history forever. People become more preoccupied with their lives than religiosity. Societies become more secularised.
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The creation of social media such as Facebook would completely change people's lives, and the way people interact. No longer would community be as important, as long as the cyber-community was. The question becomes, why bother with religion?
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Augustine of Hippo around 408 wrote about 3 kinds of penance:
1. The removal of previous sin through Baptism
2.The daily removal of sin through prayer and fasting for small sins
3.Formal, one-time confession of a deadly and serious sin publicly. -
Attempted to maintain the original form of public, once-only penance and rejected the Monastic approach
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Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury produced penitential books outlining what people had to do for penance for their sins. People realised that this penance could be shared, and so forth paid other people to share their penance. For example, paying for someone else to fast with you.
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