Updated January 19, 2021
“Sinner, when you don’t want to bake, boil, roast for a thousand years in purgatory And endlessly in hell - Here get an indulgence, forgiveness of serious sins, and for a small fraction the Almighty will save you.”
Charles de Coster, Belgian writer, "The Legend of Ulenspiegel"
Hello, dear readers of the KtoNaNovenkogo.ru blog. There are words whose direct meaning has long since become irrelevant, but they are still actively used in modern language (becoming common nouns).
This is what happened with the term indulgence, which has been out of date for five hundred years, and we all use it as historicism. But what is it, what did it originally mean, and how should it be understood now? It will be interesting, don’t switch...
Definition of the concept
An indulgence is a liberation letter that confirmed the liberation of a person from sins, subject to his confession and repentance of these sins. Comes from the Italian “indulgeo” - to endure or allow.
Indulgence - papal letter of forgiveness of sins in the Catholic Church
This was often the name given to an official document bestowed by the Pope for special services to the Church. Also, an indulgence was a paper that was an official permission to penance imposed by ministers earlier. It is worth noting that the document was only a confirmation of repentance for sins, but not the absolution itself, contrary to popular belief.
There was a concept of complete or partial indulgence, which was issued as confirmation of complete forgiveness or for a specific sin; it was also possible to obtain paper for both living Christians and those already dead.
As this concept developed and spread, they began to be issued in advance, before a person did something unseemly - the so-called “forgiveness in advance,” which was issued by ministers to noble people or supporters of the Church.
Theological rationale
The Catholic Catechism states that an indulgence is the remission of temporary punishment for sins, provided that the guilt for them has already been atoned for. It was noted that only a Christian who has received a certain favor from the Church, which has the power to distribute and bestow the gifts of Christ, can receive a letter of leave.
It is worth noting that the Catholic Church considered the consequences of sin:
- eternal punishment - if a person did not accept Christ as his Savior, then he was doomed to eternal torment in fiery hell;
- temporary punishment is a deterioration in a person’s spiritual condition during life, as a result of a sinful life and an increased predisposition to sin.
An indulgence was given to a person after his repentance
Indulgence is evidence that a person is freed from a temporary punishment, so it was not “acquiring Salvation for money,” as many believe. At the same time, it was possible to purchase paper only if a number of conditions were met:
- Confession of sin.
- Participation in the Eucharist (communion).
- Prayer in the Pope's intentions.
- Performing works of mercy as evidence of faith.
- Absence of sinful attachment.
Thus, absolution could not simply be purchased; it was necessary to perform a series of actions and be freed from sin, proving this by works of faith and mercy.
Notes
- On temporary and eternal punishment for sins, see the section in this article
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- Indulgence // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg, 1890-1907.
- Χρήστος Γιανναράς “Ορθοδοξία και Δύση στη Νεώτερη Ελλάδα” (H. Yannaras, “Orthodoxy and the West in modern Greece”, Athens, 1996, p. 150.)
- Δοσίθεος Νοταράς, , Βουκουρέστι 1715, σελ. 884.
- Καρμίρης Ιωάννης, Τα δογματικά και συμβολικά μνημεία της Ορθοδόξου Καθ ολικής Εκκλησίας, τόμ. Β΄, Graz-Austria, 1968, σελ. 867-868. (Karmiris, Ioaniss, Dogmatic and Symbolic Monuments of the Orthodox Catholic Church, t. 2, Graz-Austria, 1968, 867-868.)
- Philippa Ilios: Sygchorochartia // Ta istorika, Athens, t. 3 (1985), 22-23
History of origin and development
Initially, manual books were created for priests who took responsibility and accepted into the Bosom of the Church apostate Christians who repented of their sins. Since the end of the 7th century, they have been actively used in confession, making it easier for the priest to accept repentance and helping to choose the appropriate punishment/work of mercy for a person as proof of his faith.
The meaning of indulgence was concessions to human weaknesses
The term "indulgentia" was also used in secular law in the Middle Ages as a pardon for criminals who were granted amnesty in honor of the Easter holiday. The term appeared in the Church in the 11th century, and it was theologically substantiated by Hugo of Saint-Cher in his writings.
After this, Pope Clement VI in 1343 officially approved the dogma confirming that only the head of Catholics has the right of absolution.
The development of the sale of indulgences gained particular momentum in the 1300-1500s. and turns into abuse and “trading in Salvation.” It was the widespread sale of absolutions, without observing the conditions and understanding what it was, that became a key factor in the development of Martin Luther's Reformation. In 1567, the sale of charters was officially prohibited by Pope Pius V.
Types of leave certificates
During the history of indulgences, there were several main types of this document, which was issued to the applicant. Among them were:
- temporary - had a validity period that began from the moment of signing by the Pope and ended after a certain time, losing its force;
- permanent - these releases did not have a validity period and were usually issued as local or subject-specific;
- personal - issued to a specific person, society or fraternity;
- object - issued only on condition of constant wearing of a sacred object (cross, amulet, medallion);
- local - issued in a certain area, most often a specific church, monastery or community;
- complete - confirm the complete release of a person from “temporary punishment”;
- private - grant exemption from “temporary punishment” for a certain period (year, month, etc.).
A living person could receive an indulgence by independently going through the entire process from confession to works of mercy. It was also possible to obtain releases for a deceased relative at the request of his family.
Rules for receiving indulgences
In medieval times, faith and church played a special role in human life. All sinful deeds in those days were classified according to severity into categories or groups, and for each such act there was a punishment. Therefore, in order to receive grace in the form of “forgiveness,” the believer had to suffer punishment.
After time, parishioners who had a “proper disposition” and through the action and patronage of the Church could receive a certificate of indulgence. This kind of “help” in this case was, of course, not provided free of charge. Priests and monks atoned for a person’s sins for a certain monetary payment. The “sinner” himself was even exempt from mandatory and constant attendance at church and reading prayers.
We also draw your attention to the fact that it is reliably known that in the Middle Ages they even practiced selling indulgences. During the Renaissance, numerous abuses were recorded by the Church and individual clergy
Ultimately, this kind of situation led to the fact that indulgence began to be perceived by people not as “deserved divine forgiveness,” but as a kind of permission to commit sinful acts, which was given by the Church. Monastic orders enjoyed a special right to receive indulgences, this was especially practiced during the era of the “Crusades.”
Application in religion
In 1727, at the Council of Constantinople, the dogma of the issuance of indulgences by four patriarchs was officially adopted: Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem. This caused the practice of selling absolution to spread outside the Catholic Church.
The initiators of the Reformation actively opposed the purchase of indulgences
In Orthodoxy
The spread of the Catholic teaching on the remission of sins through the issuance of the corresponding charter spread in the 16th–18th centuries to the Greek Church. The practice of selling salvation for money also appeared there, but it did not imply a process of confession and repentance. Over time, their sale was prohibited, but the issuance of such releases for free was practiced until the twentieth century.
In Catholicism
Originally, indulgence was a mercy for sinners, allowing even apostates to receive forgiveness again. Due to the lack of clear rules, the practice grew into dogma, and subsequently just business. Despite the initially good foundation, human greed and licentiousness led to the tragedy of the Church, echoes of which still exist today.
The sale of indulgences became one of the key reasons for the spread of the Reformation, as well as the birth and growth of Protestant churches, i.e. schism in the Western Church.
Indulgences outside the Catholic Church
“Indulgence” of the 18th century with a text in Church Slavonic and the signature of the Patriarch of Jerusalem, sold by Greek monks in Wallachia
In the 16th-18th centuries, the Greek Church, after the Union of Florence and the capture of Constantinople by the Turks, in contrast to the Russian Church, was subject to greater influence from Western Christianity. Catholic propaganda was much more active here, especially with the establishment of Lat. in 1622. Sacra Congregatio de Propaganda Fidei ("Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith"), most Greek scholars and theologians studied in the West. Thanks to Catholic influence, the practice of the Greek Church included the issuance of indulgences to Christians: certificates of remission of sin (Greek: συγχωροχαρτια). These were real indulgences - letters of absolution from sins, which anyone could receive for a certain amount of money. According to Christos Yannaras, the absolution “granted” by these letters was not connected with the participation of the faithful either in the sacrament of repentance or in the sacrament of the Eucharist.
The issuance of indulgences was initially unofficial, but already in the 16th century the practice became widespread. At the beginning of the 18th century, Patriarch of Jerusalem Dositheus Notara wrote about it as an ancient and well-known practice. The practice of issuing indulgences received official confirmation at the Council of Constantinople in 1727. The 13th paragraph of the conciliar definition says: “The power of remission of sins, which, if given in writing, the Eastern Church of Christ calls “letters of permission” (Greek συγχωροχαρτια), and the Latins call “indulgences” (Latin intulgentzas), ... is given by Christ in the Holy Church. These letters of permission are issued throughout the Catholic Church by the four most holy patriarchs: Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem.” For example, in April 1806, Nikodim Svyatogorets, in a letter to Bishop Paisius of Stagon, who was in Constantinople at that time, asks him to take from the patriarchate a “letter of permission” for one “living monk,” also named Nikodim, and send it to him, promising that will send the money necessary to purchase the charter as soon as he finds out how much it will cost.
A limited practice of using such permitting (dismissal) letters issued by the Eastern Patriarchs (mainly those of Constantinople and Antioch in the 17th century) has been recorded.
In the East, in a number of places, the practice of issuing (and selling) certificates of absolution (Greek: συγχωροχαρτια) existed until the middle of the 20th century
