“My brother, inasmuch as you have come to God and to me, be not ashamed, for you speak NOT TO ME, BUT TO GOD, before whom you stand.”
When the penitent has finished his confession, the priest says:
“”My spiritual child, who has confessed to my humble self, I, humble and a sinner, have NOT power on earth to forgive sins, but God alone (etc)”
…
That Absolvo te of the Western confession seems to me to be the height of spiritual arrogance. As I said earlier, why would a mere instrument say that?
It would seem that not all, not even the majority, Orthodox would agree with you. From The Great Book of Needs used by the Russian Orthodox:
May our Lord and God, Jesus Christ, by the grace and compassion of His love for mankind, forgive you, child, N., all your transgression; and I, an unworthy Priest, through His power given unto me, forgive you and absolve you from all your sins, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
“It would seem that not all, not even the majority, Orthodox would agree with you. From The Great Book of Needs used by the Russian Orthodox:...”
You are correct. This formula goes back, in one form or another to the 17th century Bishop of Kiev, Peter Mogila who was probably the greatest Westernizer in the history of the Orthodox Church. He consciously copied the Latin forms in confession as he also did in his since then much maligned “catechism”
Here’s a link to a paper in English written by Fr. Georges Florovsky called “ENCOUNTER WITH THE WEST; ORTHODOXY IN WEST RUSSIA” on the Church of Greece Library site. Its worth the read, P.
http://www.myriobiblos.gr/texts/english/florovsky_ways_chap2.html