“…it is clearly seen that this “forgiveness” about which St. John Chrysostom speaks, or, “remission of sins”, are given to us not unconditionally, but conditionally — that is, under the condition of repentance (sincere repentance, of course). Therefore, in giving His disciples the power to “remit sins” by the Holy Spirit, the Lord gave them at the same time, as we see, the power to not remit sins — obviously to those who do not really repent: whosoever sins ye retain, they are retained — which means that they are not forgiven. ”

(Archbishop Averky+, ‘Christian in the Modern World’)