understanding to flee from any evil deed of the adversary, and grant us to do what is pleasing unto your at all times. Inscribe our names with all the choir of your saints in the kingdom of the heavens, in Christ Jesus, our Lord, through whom the glory, the honour, the dominion, and the adoration are due unto you, with him and the holy spirit, the life-giver who is of one essence with you, now and at all times and unto the age of all ages. Amen. Ethiopian Orthodox Syriac and Malankara Orthodox The Syrians who are united with the Roman See use a relatively recent declarative form in imparting absolution. The present Miaphysite Churches, sometimes called Jacobite, of Syria and of India not only teach that their priests have power from Christ to absolve from sin, but their ritual is expressive of this same power. Denzinger in his Ritus Orientalium preserves a 12th-century document which gives in full the order of absolution. One example of absolution is declarative but in the third person in two petitions invoking Father and Son, respectively, and deprecative in the final invoking the Holy Spirit. Sin is taken away from your soul and your body in the name of the Father. Amen. You are made clean and holy in the name of the Son. Amen. May you be forgiven and share the holy mysteries in the name of the Holy Spirit (for everlasting life). Amen. The form currently in use for absolving the laity uses a first person indicative form while the absolution of the clergy is a third person deprecatory form. The Malankara Church which derives from the Syriac Orthodox Church uses the same formula. To absolve a member of the laity, the priest lays his right hand on the head of the penitent and says: May God have mercy upon you and guide you to eternal life. By the authority of the sacred priesthood, which was entrusted by our Lord, Jesus Christ, to His disciples, who, in turn, handed it to their successors, until it was given to my humble person. I absolve you, my brother, from all sins that you have confessed and repented of them, as well as all the transgressions that have escaped your memory, in the name of the Father ♱, Son ♱ and Holy Spirit♱ for ever-lasting life. Amen. To absolve a member of the clergy, the