Indulgences
A Word of Understanding with Our Catholic Brethren
Indulgences
In this issue, we would like to present a fundamental disagreement with our Catholic brethren that we see as conflicting with sound faith. It concerns the subject of Indulgences.
Indulgences among our Catholic brethren are grants given by the Popes to those who recite special prayers or visit certain places…
Examples of Visit Indulgences among Catholics
It is stated in the book “The Rule of the Third Order of St. Francis” compiled by “one of the lesser brothers” and printed at the Franciscan Press in Jerusalem in 1887, that the Roman Pontiff has granted that whoever visits the chapel or altar of that fraternity “on the days mentioned in the Roman Missal, gains that day what the faithful in Rome itself gain.” The book lists those days and their indulgences, encouraging the faithful to “take advantage” of this benefit by knowing those days and what indulgence is granted in them.
January 1 – Circumcision of the Lord – Indulgence: 30 years and 30 quarantines.
January 6 – Epiphany – Indulgence: 30 years and 30 quarantines.
Ash Wednesday and the fourth Sunday in Lent – Indulgence: 15 years and 15 quarantines each.
Palm Sunday – Indulgence: 25 years and 25 quarantines.
Each day of Great Lent (other than those already mentioned) – Indulgence: 10 years and 10 quarantines per day.
April 25 – St. Mark the Evangelist – Indulgence: 30 years and 30 quarantines.
Pentecost Sunday and the eight days following – Indulgence: 30 years and 30 quarantines.
It is also stated in the same book that Pope Leo XIII granted an indulgence of 300 days for every time a person attends the prayer held in honor of Saint Francis of Assisi.
We know from the Holy Bible that the condition for forgiveness is repentance.
So what does it mean that visiting a certain place on a certain day grants indulgences?!
And what does it mean to specify years of forgiveness — that a person is forgiven thirty years for attending a feast at a monastery?!
That forgiveness is based on repentance is absolutely clear from the following verses:
The Scripture says: “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out” (Acts 3:19).
Also: “But if a wicked man turns away from all the sins he has committed and keeps all my decrees and does what is just and right, he will surely live; he will not die. None of the offenses he has committed will be remembered against him. Because of the righteous things he has done, he will live.” (Ezekiel 18:21–22).
And again: “Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong… Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow” (Isaiah 1:16,18).
The divine inspiration also says through the prophet Isaiah: “Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him” (Isaiah 55:7).
We see that our Lord Jesus Christ, glory be to Him, showed the importance and seriousness of repentance when He said: “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3,5).
Another point we say: Either a person is a sinner and deserves punishment, or God forgives him—and then God’s forgiveness is complete.
All the stories of the Bible are of this kind: forgiveness is never partial. The Scripture says of the two debtors—one who owed five hundred and the other fifty—that God “frankly forgave them both” (Luke 7:42). Thus, the one with the greater debt was made equal in forgiveness to the one with the lesser debt.
So what does it mean that a person is forgiven 15 years for one act, 10 years for another, 20 years for a third—pricing indulgences as though they were merchandise? This reminds us of the scandal of the sale of indulgences, which we try to forget as an error in history that should not be repeated.
Examples of Indulgences through Recitations
In the Catholic Book of Daily Prayers, the following indulgences are mentioned:
50 days’ indulgence for every time one says: “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God, Amen.”
7 years and 7 quarantines for every time the Acts of Faith, Hope, and Charity are recited—each consisting of short prayers of three or four lines.
100 days for every time one says: “Angel of God, my guardian dear, to whom His love commits me here, enlighten, guard, rule, and guide me, from evil protect me. Amen.”
300 days for every time one says: “Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful, and kindle in them the fire of Your love.”
300 days for whoever invokes the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
300 days for whoever says: “O Jesus and Mary.”
7 years and 7 quarantines for whoever says: “O Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,” etc.
Note:
Restricting forgiveness to mere recitations gives us a poor example of the relationship with God. Prayer is not recitation. The scribes and Pharisees, for a pretense, made long prayers, and the Lord criticized them for it. The Pharisee’s prayer was much longer than the publican’s, yet the important element in prayer is not the form or length of words, but rather the faith, contrition, humility, reverence, and understanding involved in it. A person may utter one short sentence and inherit the kingdom, as the right thief did, or as the publican did when he said a short prayer and went home justified.
But these recitations with numbered days of forgiveness are a mockery in the realm of spirituality that we cannot accept according to the understanding we received from the Holy Bible and the sayings of the Fathers.
The subject of indulgences is a long one that cannot be fully covered in a single article. However, we wish here to point out that Catholics intend through these indulgences to lessen their account in the suffering of purgatory—that most dangerous heresy in which we do not believe.
Do you desire unity, brethren?
Then purify the doctrine from the heresy of indulgences.
Until we meet again in a future issue.
—
Article by His Grace Bishop Shenouda, Bishop of Education – El-Keraza Magazine, August 1965, First Year – Issue No. 6
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