Pardon without confession?

Question 32:

Question If someone commits a great sin against somebody else, and then afterwards goes off and as a sinner comes to repentance with the other and receives pardon from that person, has such a sinner been forgiven also by God?

Answer:

1. If the one forgiving is a spiritual person or a worthy priest, perhaps forgiveness is given to such a person also by God; but if not, the one forgiving will have gained great merit, but the one forgiven is under obligation to repent before God. For Moses himself forgave his own sister, Maria, when she had mocked him, and yet she was struck with leprosy by God and sent into quarantine, and only then received forgiveness. Similarly, when the whole people sinned against him, Moses for his part forgave them, but when they failed to repent, God destroyed them. However, as I mentioned earlier, account must be taken of the sin and of the repentance of the sinner, because unless there is repentance, which is proper and made before God, pardon will not be given to such a person. Suppose the case of somebody who commits adultery with his neighbour's wife and receives pardon from him, does it follow that he has also been forgiven by God? Certainly not, unless he repents.

2. Indeed I know of somebody who helped a whole people, and gave instructions to many persons, and because of this received funds from many and used them for the poor and for the ransom of prisoners. Then certain persons, moved by some diabolical energy, began to spread calumnies about him, preventing the people from receiving further aid, cutting off his funds, and causing harm to the poor. Afterwards they came to repentance with him, and received pardon from him, but some time later they became possessed by devils because of the people's judgement, due to the scandal they had given.

3. It is necessary to know these things: in that way when we forgive we shall do so willingly, convinced that those who have offended against us continue to be subject to God, so they should not be careless again, but after obtaining forgiveness from us they should make their repentance before God.

 

Source: [St.] Anastasios of Sinai: Questions and Answers, translated by Joseph A. Munitiz (Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols Publishers, 2011), pp. 133-134.