Confession to Priests

For as many as are of God and of Jesus Christ are also with the bishop. And as many as shall, in the exercise of repentance, return into the
unity of the Church, these, too, shall belong to God, that they may live according to Jesus Christ. ...

...I therefore did what belonged to me, as a man devoted to unity. For where there is division and wrath, God doth not dwell. To all them
that repent, the Lord grants forgiveness, if they turn in penitence to the unity of God, and to communion with the bishop.

IGNATIUS TO THE PHILADELPHIANS, Chapters 3, 8 [A.D. 110]

Moreover, that this Marcus compounds philters and love-potions, in order to insult the persons of some of these women, if not of all,
those of them who have returned to the Church of God -- a thing which frequently occurs -- have acknowledged, confessing, too, that they
have been defiled by him, and that they were filled with a burning passion towards him. A sad example of this occurred in the case of a
certain Asiatic, one of our deacons, who had received him (Marcus) into his house. His wife, a woman of remarkable beauty, fell a victim
both in mind and body to this magician, and, for a long time, travelled about with him. At last, when, with no small difficulty, the brethren
had converted her, she spent her whole time in the exercise of public confession, weeping over and lamenting the defilement which she
had received from this magician.

IRENAEUS OF LYONS, Adversus haereses, Book I, Chapter 13:5 [A.D. 178]

For although in smaller sins sinners may do penance for a set time, and according to the rules of discipline come to public confession, and
by imposition of the hand of the bishop and clergy receive the right of communion: now with their time still unfulfilled, while persecution is
still raging, while the peace of the Church itself is not vet restored, they are admitted to communion, and their name is presented; and while
the penitence is not yet performed, confession is not yet made, the hands Of the bishop and clergy are not yet laid upon them, the
eucharist is given to them; although it is written, "Whosoever shall eat the bread and drink the cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty
of the body and blood of the Lord."

CYPRIAN, Letter 9:2 [A.D. 200-258]

And do not think, dearest brother, that either the courage of the brethren will be lessened, or that martyrdoms will fail for this cause, that
repentance is relaxed to the lapsed, and that the hope of peace is offered to the penitent. The strength of the truly believing remains
unshaken; and with those who fear and love God with their whole heart, their integrity continues steady and strong. For to adulterers even
a time of repentance is granted by us, and peace is given. Yet virginity is not therefore deficient in the Church, nor does the glorious
design of continence languish through the sins of others. The Church, crowned with so many virgins, flourishes; and chastity and
modesty preserve the tenor of their glory. Nor is the vigour of continence broken down because repentance and pardon are facilitated to
the adulterer.

CYPRIAN, Letter 51:20 [A.D. 200-258]

But I wonder that some are so obstinate as to think that repentance is not to be granted to the lapsed, or to suppose that pardon is to be
denied to the penitent, when it is written, "Remember whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works," which certainly is said to
him who evidently has fallen, and whom the Lord exhorts to rise up again by his works, because it is written, "Alms do deliver from death,"
and not, assuredly, from that death which once the blood of Christ extinguished, and from which the saving grace of baptism and of our
Redeemer has delivered us, but from that which subsequently creeps in through sins.

CYPRIAN, Letter 51:22 [A.D. 200-258]

For if any one will consider how great a thing it is for one, being a man, and compassed with flesh and blood, to be enabled to draw nigh
to that blessed and pure nature, he will then clearly see what great honor the grace of the Spirit has vouchsafed to priests; since by their
agency these rites are celebrated, and others nowise inferior to these both in respect of our dignity and our salvation. For they who
inhabit the earth and make their abode there are entrusted with the administration of things which are in Heaven, and have received an
authority which God has not given to angels or archangels. For it has not been said to them, "Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be
bound in Heaven, and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven." They who rule on earth have indeed authority to
bind, but only the body: whereas this binding lays hold of the soul and penetrates the heavens; and what priests do here below God
ratifies above, and the Master confirms the sentence of his servants. For indeed what is it but all manner of heavenly authority which He
has given them when He says, "Whose sins ye remit they are remitted, and whose sins ye retain they are retained?" What authority could
be greater than this? "The Father hath committed all judgment to the Son?"

JOHN CHRYSOSTOM, Treatise On The Priesthood, Chapter 3:5 [A.D. 347-407]

The Church holds fast its obedience on either side, by both retaining and remitting sin; heresy is on the one side cruel, and on the other
disobedient; wishes to bind what it will not loosen, and will not loosen what it has bound, whereby it condemns itself by its. own
sentence. For the Lord willed that the power of binding and of loosing should be alike, and sanctioned each by a similar condition. So he
who has not the power to loose has not the power to bind. For as, according to the Lord's word, he who has the power to bind has also the
power to loose, their teaching destroys itself, inasmuch as they who deny that they have the power of loosing ought also to deny that of
binding. For how can the one be allowed and the other disallowed? It is plain and evident that either each is allowed or each is disallowed
in the case of those to whom each has been given. Each is allowed to the Church, neither to heresy, for this power has been entrusted to
priests alone.

AMBROSE, Concerning Repentance, Book 1, Chapter 1:7 [A.D. 340-397]

For if any one will consider how great a thing it is for one, being a man, and compassed with flesh and blood, to be enabled to draw nigh to
that blessed and pure nature, he will then clearly see what great honor the grace of the Spirit has vouchsafed to priests; since by their
agency these rites are celebrated, and others nowise inferior to these both in respect of our dignity and our salvation. For they who
inhabit the earth and make their abode there are entrusted with the administration of things which are in Heaven, and have received an
authority which God has not given to angels or archangels. For it has not been said to them, "Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be
bound in Heaven, and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven." They who rule on earth have indeed authority to
bind, but only the body: whereas this binding lays hold of the soul and penetrates the heavens; and what priests do here below God
ratifies above, and the Master confirms the sentence of his servants. For indeed what is it but all manner of heavenly authority which He
has given them when He says, "Whose sins ye remit they are remitted, and whose sins ye retain they are retained?" What authority could
be greater than this? "The Father hath committed all judgment to the Son?"

JOHN CHRYSOSTOM, Treatise On The Priesthood, Chapter 3:5 [A.D. 347-407]