Let's look at what is indulgence. Its definition is the following - a complete or partial exemption from the punishment for committed sins, which gives the church to the believer. Repentance (this is the remission of sin) was usually given during confession. Why was it necessary to introduce such a complex concept? The believer will come to
to the priest. Repents. The priest will punish him. The believer will fulfill. And all sins will be forgiven him. So it was under ordinary conditions. But increasingly, situations began to arise when a weekly visit to the Temple became impossible. For example, believers everywhere were willing to make a pilgrimage to the Holy places. What to do in this case? To not repent is unthinkable. But in pilgrimage there is nothing pleasing to God.
The concept of “indulgence” was invented.
This is a kind of absolution in advance. That is, a person, having paid a certain amount, transferred to the church his obligation to atone for sins. For him, priests and monks already did this, carrying out his “punishment”. At the same time, the believer was exempted from compulsory attendance of the Church, since he did not have such an opportunity on his journey. Everything seems to be completely logical. The man paid for his spiritual obligations to be fulfilled by the church
servants, while he himself will be busy with other charitable deeds.
Meaning of the word indulgence
Latin indulgentia translates as “mercy” or “forgiveness”. This privilege was not granted just like that. In order to receive a scroll (and indulgence was a written document), it was necessary to have sufficiently serious reasons. If at the initial stages the reasons for which the believer asked for “grace” were very seriously understood (these included: pilgrimage, participation in the Crusades, and some others), then over time it became possible to get indulgence to anyone who wanted it for a bribe. Money was donated to the needs of the church. Thus, over time, it became possible to rephrase the concept somewhat: indulgence is the receipt of atonement for a sin not yet committed for a monetary reward. But this meaning was not immediately acquired by the concept.
The rise of indulgence
From the moment the concept was introduced, it was actually used very rarely, believing that repentance should nevertheless be committed personally. The Church did not want to allow this responsibility to be passed on to others. Only in very rare cases could a person be given indulgence.
This was considered a kind of proof of human imperfection. He is weak and sinful. In the infrequent cases of using indulgences, the Church only emphasized this fact. But during the
Crusades, everything changed dramatically. Many Church soldiers went to distant lands with a charitable mission. Not only were they deprived of the opportunity to fulfill repentance, but also their sins during the campaign accumulated countless. Thus, everyone who went on a campaign in the name of Christ received from the Church the remission of all sins that he would commit during his journey.
Concept extension
In the Middle Ages, “repentance” is already issued not only to travelers. Since in the broad sense “indulgence” is “grace”, they begin to use it in less fundamental cases. So there is an opportunity to "buy" yourself the right to use eggs in fasting. A special “grace” was received by monastic orders. Over time, the very concept of indulgence has changed dramatically. It was perceived not as repentance, but as the permission of the Church to commit any sin. They began to believe that the document exempts not only from redemption, but also from the most objectionable act of God. Such a position was highly criticized by enlightened minds.