Penance is repentance of sins as well as an alternate name for the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox sacrament of Reconciliation or Confession. It plays a part in confession among Anglicans and Methodists, in which it is a rite, as well as among other Protestants; the word penance derives from Old French and Latin paenitentia, both of which derive from the same root meaning repentance, the desire to be forgiven. Penance and repentance, similar in their derivation and original sense, have come to symbolize conflicting views of the essence of repentance, arising from the controversy as to the respective merits of "faith" and "good works". Word derivations occur in many languages. According to dictionary definitions, the primary meaning of penance is the deeds done out of penitence, which focuses more on the external actions than does repentance which refers to the true, interior sorrow for one's hurtful words or actions. Only repentance implies a purpose of amendment which means the resolve to avoid such hurtful behavior in the future.

The words "true"and "firm" might be added to all but penance, to specify the depth of change in one's hurtful attitude. Contrition is the state of feeling remorseful, can describe both the show of regret to the deepest and firmest sorrow for one's wrongdoing. Protestant Reformers, upholding the doctrine of justification by faith, held that repentance consisted in a change of the whole moral attitude of the mind and soul, that the divine forgiveness preceded true repentance and confession to God without any reparation of "works". Rather, "God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance". In his Of Justification By Faith, Calvin says: "without forgiveness no man is pleasing to God." Nonetheless, in traditions formed by a Calvinist or Zwinglian sensibility there has traditionally been a stress on reconciliation as a precondition to fellowship. The attitude of penance or repentance can be externalized in acts that a believer imposes on himself or herself, acts that are themselves called penances.

Penitential activity is common during the season of Lent and Holy Week. In some cultural traditions, this week, which commemorates the Passion of Christ, may be marked by penances that include flagellantism or voluntary pseudo-crucifixion. Advent is another season during which, to a lesser extent, penances are performed. Acts of self-discipline are used as tokens of repentance. Easier acts of self-discipline include devoting time to prayer or reading of the Bible or other spiritual books. Examples of harder acts of self-discipline are fasting, abstaining from alcohol or tobacco, or other privations. Self-flagellation and the wearing of a cilice are more used; such acts have sometimes been called mortification of the flesh, a phrase inspired by Romans 8:13: "If you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live." Such acts are associated with the sacrament. In the New Testament there was no specific ritual for reconciliation except Baptism.

With the delay of the expected Second Coming, there was a recognized need for a means of accepting back into the Christian community those, expelled for serious sins. In early Christianity, Bishops did not forgive but rather declared that God had forgiven the sins when it was clear that there was repentance, the penitent was readmitted to the community. Today the act of penance or satisfaction imposed in connection with the sacrament for the same therapeutic purpose can be set prayers or a certain number of prostrations or an act or omission intended to reinforce what is positive in the penitent's behaviour or to inhibit what is negative; the act imposed is itself called a epitemia. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, penance is called Sacred Mystery of Confession. In Orthodoxy, the intention of the sacramental mystery of Holy Confession is to provide reconciliation with God through means of healing. Similar to the Eastern Catholic Churches, in the Eastern Orthodox Church there are no confessionals.

Traditionally the penitent stands or kneels before either the Icon of Christ the Teacher or in front of an Icon of Christ, "Not Made by Hands". This is because in Orthodox sacramental theology, confession is not made to the priest, but to Christ. On an analogion in front of the penitent has been placed a Gospel Book and a Crucifix; the penitent kneels. This is to show humility before Christ. Once they are ready to start, the priest says, “Blessed is our God, always and and unto the ages of ages,” reads the Trisagion Prayers and the Psalm 50; the priest advises the penitent that Christ is invisibly present and that the penitent should not be embarrassed or be afraid, but should open up their heart and reveal their sins so that Christ may forgive them. The penitent accuses himself of sins; the priest and patiently listens asking questions to encourage the penitent not to withhold any sins out of fear or shame. After the confessant reveals all their sins, the priest offers counsel; the priest may modify the prayer rule of the penitent, or prescribe another rule, if needed to combat the sins the penitent struggles most with.

Penances, known as epitemia, are given with a therapeutic intent, so they are opposite to the sin committed. Epitemia are neither a punishment nor a pious action, but are aimed at healing the spiritual ailment, confessed. For example, if the penitent broke the Eig

Nils Wallerius was a Swedish physicist and theologian. He was one of the first scientists to study and document the characteristics of evaporation through modern scientific methods, he was among the first and more notable followers of the philosophies of German philosopher Christian Wolff. Nils Wallerius was born at Stora Mellösa in Sweden, he was the son of provost Erik Nilsson Wallerius of his spouse Elisabeth Tranæa. He was a brother of mineralogist Johan Gottschalk Wallerius, he studied philosophy and physics at the University of Uppsala, where in 1746 he became professor of logic and metaphysics. In 1755, he received a professorship in a post established by Bishop Andreas Kalsenius, his studies in physics in the field of evaporation, earned him praise and a place as the 26th member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1739. Wallerius's research was focused on if and how evaporation occurs in open or vacuumed environments, his experiments with evaporation in different environments ranged from observing the weight loss of an egg over an entire year or how long a cup of wine from the Rhine region evaporated, to large scale sealed copper tanks filled with various fluids observed over time.

His results confirming that evaporation occurs in sealed environments still stand today and are important factors in various areas, but industry. Wallerius was a religious man who, while influenced by the enlightened time he was living in, viewed many of his younger colleagues' liberal beliefs as a threat to religion. After a conflict with his senior mentor Samuel Klingenstierna, he left the physic faculty and instead became a professor in theology. During the 1750s he made a name for himself in the theological debate as a known devoted defender of his Wolffian beliefs, he spoke at least 5 languages fluently and had special permission to buy foreign literature deemed blasphemous by the Swedish church in order to study it. Wallerius participated in over 200 disputations both of his own works and by others where he rhetorically attacked those who showed a too much enlightened view on science and theology; when Emanuel Swedenborg was asked after the death of Nils Wallerius in 1764 what he thought the professor was doing in heaven he replied "He still goes about and holds disputations".

Wallerius was an avid and popular lecturer who during periods of his career spent 8–10 hours per day lecturing for a huge number of students. His lectures became so popular that he sometimes placed them at 2 AM in the morning to hold the number of listeners at acceptable levels. During his life he published many works in his various fields of studies. Among them is his 750-page handbook to physics Elementa physices and his 870-page study of the soul through the philosophies of Christian Wolff in Psychologia Empirica, ea continens quæ de Anima humana Indubia Experientiæ fide cognoscuntur, Methodo Scientifica Pertractata. Thiel Jacques. Svenska män och kvinnor: biografisk uppslagsbok. 8, Toffteen-Ö. Stockholm: Bonnier. P. 191. Frangsmyr, Tore, J. L. Heilbron, Robin E. Rider, editors The Quantifying Spirit in the 18th Century ISBN 978-0520070226 Anna Backman, Anna 1700-talets hästvardag – praktiker och attityder speglade i två akademistallmästares manuskript

The Army of New Mexico known as Sibley Brigade, was a small Confederate field army in the American Civil War. It operated in Confederate Arizona and New Mexico Territory during the New Mexico Campaign in late 1861 and early 1862, before it was transferred to Louisiana. At first the force was tasked with securing Confederate Arizona's forts, most of which were still in Union hands. John R. Baylor had established the Confederate Territory of Arizona after the First Battle of Mesilla in 1861. Now the goal was to capture the remaining U. S. held forts in Confederate Arizona. The army hoped to capture the mines of Colorado and California, to secure gold and silver supplies to finance the Confederate war effort; the Confederate plans were thwarted at the Battle of Glorieta Pass. The army was formed by Brigadier General Henry Hopkins Sibley during the summer of 1861, recruiting from the eastern counties of Texas. Sibley had planned to use local militia companies in forming his regiments, but upon his arrival to Texas he found the militia to be unreliable, so he started recruiting from scratch.

Two regiments were formed the 4th and the 5th Mounted Rifles, both with a battery of howitzers attached, but a third regiment, designated the 7th Mounted Rifles, was formed to garrison the territory. The volunteers provided their own weapons and blankets, with minimal supplies given from the government warehouses; as a result, the weapons used by the troops varied including rifle muskets, squirrel guns, double barreled shotguns. After initial training in San Antonio, the regiments were sent by detachments to Fort Bliss near El Paso in October, where Sibley formally took command of the military units in the Confederate Arizona Territory. Once the command was concentrated at Fort Bliss, Sibley sent them to Fort Thorn in New Mexico, where it remained for a month; the army began operations in the territory in mid-February 1862, when it moved north against the Union garrison at Fort Craig. Arriving at the fort on February 13, Sibley first attempted to lure the Federals out into the open; the Union commander, Colonel E.

R. S. Canby, reacted by following Sibly north and attacking him at Valverde Ford. At this time, Sibley was drunk; the battle developed into a stalemate, which continued until late afternoon when the Union left counterattacked following a Confederate attack. This created a gap between center. Although he lost the Battle of Valverde, Canby refused to surrender as Sibley had expected, Sibley felt that the fort was too strong to attack, he decided to continue northward, crossing the border into New Mexico Territory and leaving Canby in his rear. Due to the number of horses lost at the battle, the 4th Texas had to be dismounted and a number of supply wagons were abandoned and burned. Sibley continued northward, capturing Albuquerque on March 2 and Santa Fe on March 13 but failed to capture the Union supplies there; this forced the Confederates to live off the land, but were only able to find a fraction of the supplies they needed. After establishing his headquarters at Albuquerque, Sibley sent an advance force under the command Major Charles Pyron to Apache Canyon to watch for Union movements from the north along the Sante Fe Trail.

A second detachment moved to the south to keep watch on Canby's force, while the main body under Lieutenant Colonel William R. Scurry moved northward to unite with Pyron. A Union column from Fort Union under the command of Col. John P. Slough was moving south at this time. An advance guard from this column collided with Pyron's force on March 26, with the Confederates being driven back through the pass; that evening, in response to a message from Pyron, Scurry arrived with the main force and spent the next day observing the Union force, expecting an attack. At the Battle of Glorieta Pass on March 28, the main Confederate force under Scurry fought a Union force marching from Fort Union, driving it back through the pass. However, a Union detachment was able to march around the Confederates and burned its wagon train, destroying most of the Confederate army's supplies. After learning of the Union victory, Canby advanced northward in order to unite with the northern force and surround Sibley. Nearly out of ammunition and food, Sibley retreated back to Albuquerque with less than 2,000 men on April 8, a few hours after Canby arrived.

Following the arrival of the force from Fort Union, Sibley decided to continue the retreat due to a shortage of rations and forage. The only battle to take place during the retreat was a small battle at Peralta on April 15, when Canby attempted to capture a portion of the Confederate army. After the Confederates took up positions in the adobe houses and ditches surrounding the town, Canby decided that the positions were too strong for an assault, so he tried to cut off the Confederates' retreat. During this movement, Sibley arrived with the 5th and 7th Texas regiments and managed to stop Canby's attack. Both sides bombarded each other with artillery until a sandstorm blew in, during which the Confederates withdrew from the field; the Confederates were forced to abandon eight howitzers and leave dozens of wounded behind during their retreat. A small rear was left to guard at Fort Thorn in New Mexico, but this had to retreat in early July, due to advancing Union forces from California. During the ca