Confession

mnhanna9

When we confess, we confess to a priest, bishop, or even pope if we’re lucky. But when a priest confesses, does he confess to a higher rank than him, or may he confess to a fellow priest. I know this has nothing to do with my salvation and everyone is going to say that but I am purely curious and want to know if there are any canons in the church that talk about this topic.

ItalianCoptic

Usually a Priest has an older member of clergy, which would be like a father-figure or Spiritual Father, who was probably their Spiritual Father prior to becoming a Priest. I know a lot of the older Priests from Egypt, my Abouna's Father Confessor was Abouna Fanous, who had a Heirmonk as their Father Confessor.

I don't think it's rank, but rather experience and knowledge that dictate a Father Confessor. The canons, that's beyond my pay grade.