Purgatory
Purgatory is the Roman Catholic teaching on those souls who, after death, suffer hellish torments for a period but are not eternally damned.
As explained in the Catholic Encyclopedia,[1] Roman Catholics divide sins into two categories. They believe that mortal sin leads to damnation, which damnation is negated by the Sacrament of Confession, but that there nevertheless remains a requirement to pay off a debt for the sin after confession. For venial sins, they believe that damnation does not result but the requirement for satisfaction nevertheless remains. Those souls who thus die without sufficiently paying for their sins by good works, are thought to be required to pay off their sins in purgatory before being admitted to the company of the saints. Good works done on behalf of the soul, such as praying for her or commemoration in the Liturgy, reduce the length of the sentence.
The Orthodox Church does believe that the condition of souls after death covers a wide spectrum[2][3], and that souls in torment may be released through commemoration in the liturgy and through other good works such as giving alms in the name of the soul.
The principal difference lies in the fact that there is generally no fixed list—outside the foreknowledge of God—of who will be receiving mercy since it is not the fire of torment but the deeds of mercy by the living which assist souls. So long as the mortal world persists, good works may be performed for the release of souls from hades and if they died in the Church, they may be commemorated in the Bloodless Sacrifice. Those souls who are not completely corrupt to the point of rejecting all Divine Mercy, may benefit to the extent that they are receptive and thus may have their sufferings reduced—either permanently[2] or temporarily[4]. In rare cases, souls may even be released from the depths of hell.
After the Dread Judgement there will be no further opportunity to obtain clemency for the souls of the wicked.
Roman Catholicism makes this mistake due to a lack of attention to the difference between Particular Judgement and Last Judgement. The Roman Catholic view already assigns each soul to its eternal station at death, completely negating the need for there to be a General Judgement.
Another major difference lies in the fact that Purgatory is supposed to be as the name suggests, purging the soul from the debt of sin. In the Orthodox view those who died in an analogous state—in the Church and repentant, but not yet fully purified—do not experience the tortures of hell while they wait in the hope of release by the prayers and almsgiving of the living.[5] Neither are they being purified by torment, nor are those in torment being thereby purified.
See also
References
- ↑ https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12575a.htm
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 From the life of Pope St. Gregory the Great: “Then answered a voice from God saying: I have now heard thy prayer, and have spared Trajan from the pain perpetual. By this, as some say, the pain perpetual due to Trajan as a miscreant was somedeal taken away, but for all that was not he quit from the prison of hell, for the soul may well be in hell and feel there no pain by the mercy of God.” [1]
- ↑ http://orthodoxinfo.com/death/tollhouse_debate.aspx
- ↑ As related in the story of St. Macarius the Great and the skull of the pagan priest, found in the Sayings of the Desert Fathers. [2]
- ↑ St. Theophan the Recluse, letter of May the 19th, 1893, as quoted in The Departure of the Soul: According to the Teaching of the Orthodox Church, Reader's Edition. Saint Anthony's Greek Orthodox Monastery (Ecumenical Patriarchate). 2019. ISBN 978-1-945699-40-5. pp 166-167.
