prodigal son; May that same God forgive you all things, through me a sinner, both in this world and in the world to come, and set you uncondemned before His terrible Judgment Seat. (In the name + of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.) Have no further care for the sins which you have confessed, depart in peace. Casimir Kucharek asserts that although Greek Orthodox priests generally use the form attributed to John the Faster, they are also at liberty to compose their own formula. Slavonic The Russian and other Orthodox whose official liturgical language is Old Church Slavonic, while holding the same theology as the Greeks, have, since the time of Metropolitan Peter Mogila's Trebnik (Ritual) of 1646, employed the indicative form of absolution after a deprecative prayer. After confessing all sins committed, the penitent bows his head and the priest, says the following prayer to prepare for the absolution O Lord God, the salvation of Your servants, merciful, compassionate and long-suffering; Who repent concerning our evil deeds, not desiring the death of a sinner, but that he (she) should turn from him (her) evil ways and live. Show mercy now on Your servant N. and grant to him (her) an image of repentance, forgiveness of sins and deliverance, pardoning all his (her) sins, whether voluntary or involuntary. Reconcile and unite him (her) to Your Holy [Catholic and Apostolic Church] through Jesus Christ our Lord, to Whom, with You, are due dominion and majesty, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Then, the penitent kneels, and the priest laying his stole upon the penitent's head pronounces the following absolution May our Lord and God, Jesus Christ, by the grace and compassion of His love for mankind, forgive you, my child, N., all your transgressions. And I His unworthy Priest, through the power given me, forgive and absolve you from all your sins, + in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. [Now, having no further care for the sins which you have confessed. depart in peace, knowing such sins are as far from you as the East is from the West.] Amen. Oriental Orthodox Churches The Oriental Orthodox Churches are Eastern Christian churches which recognize only the first three ecumenical councils—the First Council of Nicaea, the First Council of Constantinople and the First Council of Ephesus.