““following passage from St. Chrysostom (+ 407) has become a veritable classic : " The dispensation of the things that are in heaven God hath not given to angels or to archangels ; for not to these was it said : ' Whatsoever you shall bind/ etc. (Matth. XVIII, 18). They that rule on earth have indeed also power to bind, but the bodies only ; 17 whereas this bond reaches to the soul itself, and transcends the heavens. 18 And what the priests do be low, the same does God ratify above, and the Lord con firms the sentence of His servants. 19 What then has He given them but all heavenly power? For, He saith, ' Whose sins ye shall remit,' etc. (John XX, 23). What power could be greater than this ? ... It would be mani fest folly to contemn such a great power, without which we could obtain neither salvation nor the good things promised. . . . For not only when they regenerate us [in Baptism], but they [the priests] have also the power to forgive the sins committed after regenera tion." 20 The extent of this power is described as follows by Timothy, the second successor of St. Athanasius in the see of Alexandria (+ 384 ) 21 : " Which sins have no for giveness? None; everything confessed before God " will be forgiven.””
