CONFESSOR

The title 'confessor' is used in the Christian Church in several ways.

Contents

Confessor of the faith

Confession of sins

See also

External links

Confessor of the faith

Its oldest use is to indicate a saint who has suffered persecution and torture for the faith, but not to the point of death. The term is still used in this way in the East. In Latin Christianity it has come to signify any saint who cannot be categorized by another title: martyr, apostle, or evangelist. As Christianity emerged as the dominant religion in Europe, persecutions became rare, and the title was given to saints who lived a holy life and died in peace. Perhaps the most well known example is the English king Edward the Confessor.

Confession of sins

During the Great Persecution, a number of Christians had, under torture or threat of torture, weakened in their profession of the faith. When the persecutions ceased under Constantine the Great, they desired to be reunited with the Church. It became the practice of these penitents to go to the Confessors, those who had willingly suffered for the faith and survived, to plead their case and effect their restoration to communion. Thus, the word has come to denote any priest who has been granted the authority to hear confessions.
It can also be used as the title of the head of a religious society.

See also

★ Starets

★ Elder (Christianity)

External links

★ Confessor article in the ''Catholic Encyclopedia''