Saint Anne Orthodox Church

We continue to learn today about the sacrament of confession in the light of  the teachings of St Nektarios of Aegina. 
 
The person who has sinned against God is in need of reconciliation. The appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ and the authority He gave to His Apostles to forgive sins bears witness to this. If the forgivness f sins was not necessary for the cure of the soul, then neither was the forgivness of world’s sins necessary, nor was it necessary  for the Apostles to be empowered with such authority while being sent to preach the Gospel. Faith in Christ and baptism alone would suffice, and God could have kept this authority to forgive sins for Himself. However, He gave the Apostles the authority not only to forgive sins but also to bind them: he gave them the power to bind and loose. “Whosoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whosoever sins ye retain, they are retained” (Jn. 20:23). This authority given to them so definitively confirms it to be a necessary component and offspring of the apostolic mission. If then the established Church received this apostolic mission in order that she may continue it , it follows that She also received the right to bind and loose. 
 
As was shown from the manner with which it was used, the power to bind and loose was given to preserve the holiness of the Church, so that she may remain holy and immaculate. Because, as the Apostle Paul says, our Lord Jesus Christ “loved the Church and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish” ( Eph. 5:26-27). This authority enables the Church to maintain Herself holy and immaculate, and to become true yeast, so that she may ferment the entire dough: “For if the first fruit be holy, the whole lump is also holy; and if the root be holy, so are the branches” (Rom. 11:16)
 
If the Church lacked this power, She would be incapable of fulfilling Her mission. Otherwise, how would She be able to preserve Herself holy and immaculate? How would She keep out the defiled from the assembly, or how would she receive them who repented?  What type of awareness would She have of the moral state of Her members? How she would know that She is giving the holy things to the holy people, or that She is not depriving these holy things from them who have already appeased God through repentance?
 
The authority to bind and loose is and will be the power that maintains the Church holy and immaculate. This is why the Church has not ceased exercising this great authority since the apostolic years. They who are concerned about the salvation of their souls are obliged to run towards the Church as to the only clinic, because otherwise there is no salvation. The Lord called all the heavy laden and burdened in order to give them rest. How would they who fall into sins be given rest if the Church did not have the authority to bind and loose?  How would the nations be given rest unless the Apostles had the authority to forgive sins? How would the apostolic mission be continued if the Church had not inherited this apostolic gift? Only the Church is capable of alleviating them who are burdened by the weight of sin.