ABSOLUTION. The remission of sin and its penalties may be divided into sacramental and ealionieal—one relating to the forum internam, and constituting the most important part of the sacrament of penance; the other to the forum es ternum and devoted especially to the remission of ecclesiastical censure. Their early history is closely connected, as in time first ages of the Church all grievous public sins incurred the penalty of absolute separation from the assembly of the faithful, and reconciliation could be ob tained only by undergoing the penance imposed by the Church. The bishops were tlw chief min isters of absolution; but the whole body of the faithful were consulted as to the term of the public penance, since they, as well as God, were injured by the sin. With the gradual decrease of severity and of public penances, absolution was pronounced by the priest immediately after con fession, if he judged the repentance sincere. Formal excommunication, however, could even in later days be remitted only by public absolution by the bishop or his deputy, and certain sins are still 'reserved' to the same authority for judgment.
The power of judicial absolution in the name of God is attributed by Roman Catholics to all priests, on the basis of the commission in John xx. 23; the Protestant churches generally ascribe only a declarative power to their ministers, though the Church of England retains time abso lute form in the Order for the Visitation of the Sick. The form of absolution, since none was given by Christ, has varied considerably; the Church down to the Twelfth Century, with rare exceptions, and the Eastern churches to the present time employing a deprecatory form ("May Christ absolve thee," etc.), for which the indicative form. Ego absolro te. was definitively substituted by the Council of Trent. The differ ence in forum, however, has implied no change in doctrine. See CONFESSION; PENANCE; DISCI PLINE, ECCLESIASTICAL