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Last week, after a lapse of two centuries, the ritual of individual confession was again an official practice among German Lutherans. In Flensburg a fortnight ago, the General Synod of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church* restored the same private confession which Martin Luther, in his day, had emphasized as an important means to salvation. It had been virtually abandoned since the 18th century, when most Lutheran churches, influenced by rationalist philosophy, discarded private confession as unnecessary.

Through the troubled years of World Wars I and II, many German Lutherans looked wistfully back at Luther's position on confession. Church leaders winced at the "ersatz attempts" by their parishioners to cure their souls through the medical therapy of psychiatrists. Said Bishop Hanns Lilje of Hanover: "This proved that modern men need individual consolation and strength and reminded the church of the wholesome and blessed institution of individual confession."

The revived Lutheran confession, unlike the Roman Catholic sacrament, is voluntary and not regarded as essential to salvation. Any Christian, the synod declared, whether ordained or not, may hear another's confession and grant absolution; if the penitent believes and is genuinely sorry for his sins, he is truly forgiven by

God. Explained Bishop Lilje: "It is not an attempt by the church to establish domination over man's conscience; on the contrary it returns to man the personal, individual assurance of God's mercy and alleviates the burdens on the individual conscience."

* The United Evangelical Lutheran Church (membership: 12,000,000) is the largest and most influential Lutheran church in Germany. Since 1945 it has been federated with 26 other German Protestant sects in the Evangelical Church of Germany.

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