Purgatory

For a detailed article on just the Roman Catholic doctrine of Purgatory, see: Purgatory, Roman Catholic teaching

Purgatory, according to Roman Catholicism, is a state, process, or condition of "final purification" in which souls are purified after death. Although the term Purgatory refers specifically to a Roman Catholic concept, many other religions have similar concepts about "purifications" following death. Meanwhile, some religions explicitly deny any such post-death "purification"

Overview of the Purgatory concept

According to Roman Catholicism, the only form of Christianity that maintains belief in it, Purgatory is a "place or condition" which is experienced by some souls after death.

Heaven and Hell

According to Christian belief, immediately after death, a person undergoes judgment in which the soul's eternal destiny is specified. In some beliefs, some souls which are sufficiently filled with faith or free from sin are eternally united with God in what is called Heaven, often envisioned seen as a paradise of eternal joy. Conversely, those souls that are sufficiently sinful or devoid of faith are destined for Hell, a state of eternal separation from God often envisioned as fiery place of punishment.

Purgatory's role

Flowchart of Purgatory and its role in the Roman Catholic concept of the afterlife

In additionally to accepting the states of Heaven and Hell, Roman Catholicism envisages the possibility of a third state before being admitted to heaven. According to Roman Catholic doctrine, some souls are not sufficiently devoid of sin so as to immediate enter the state of Heaven, but nor are they so sinful as to be destined for Hell. Such souls, ultimately destined to be united with God in Heaven, first entering into Purgatory-- a state of purification. In Purgatory, souls "achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven."

Sin

Roman Catholics make a distinction between two different types of sin. Mortal sin is a "grave violation of God's law" that "destroys" a person's love for God. Unless redeemed by repentance, a mortal sin causes "exclusion from Christ's kingdom" resulting in "the eternal death of hell".

In contrast, a venial sin (meaning "forgivable" sin) is a lesser sin, which "does not break the covenant with God". A venial sin, although still "constituting a moral disorder", does not deprive the sinner of the "eternal happiness" of Heaven.

According to Roman Catholicism, the pardon and purification of sin can occur during life-- for example, in the Sacrament of Baptism and the Sacrament of Penance. However, if this purification is not achieved in life, venial sins can still be purified after death. The specific name given to this purification of sin after death is "Purgatory".

Pain and Fire

File:Lonelysoul.jpg

An image of a soul in a "fiery" purgatory

Purgatory has long been associated with the image of painful punishment and fire. Historically, Purgatory was viewed as a place of painful, tormenting fire, not unlike that found in descriptions of Hell. St. Augustine described the fires as more painful than anything a man can suffer in this life. Pope Gregory I similarly mentioned "purgatorial flames," adding "that the pain be more intolerable than any one can suffer in this life". St. Bonaventure also stated that this punishment by fire is more severe than any punishment which comes to men in this life.

Modernly, the Roman Catholic church have tended to view purgatorial fire as more metaphorical fire rather than a literal one, or as more of a "cleansing fire" rather than "painful fire". The Catechism of the Catholic Church discussion of Purgatory speaks of a "cleansing fire" and a "purifying fire", but does not make any explicit mention of a "painful" fire. On the subject of the punishment of sin, the modern Catechism says that such punishment "must not be conceived of as a kind of vengeance inflicted by God from without, but as following from the very nature of sin."

The existence or absence of punishing fire is one source of contention between the Western Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church (see below).

Prayer for the dead and Indulgences

Main articles: Prayer for the dead and Indulgences

The Roman Catholic Church teaches that the fate of those in Purgatory can be affected by the actions of the living. According to this belief, the living are encouraged to engage in prayer and sacrifice for the dead, in the hope that such prayers will be have a positive impact on those in Purgatory. Acts of sacrifice such charitable donations, fasting, and other penitential act are similarly believed to aid those in Purgatory.

A related concept is the practice of indulgences. An indulgence is a remission of the punishment which would normally accompany sins that have been forgiven. Indulgences are issues by the Pope or those members of the clergy designated by the Pope to issue indulges. Indulgences may be obtained for oneself, or on behalf of specific deceased individuals.

Traditionally, prayers for the dead and indulgences were sometimes envisioned as decreasing the "duration" of time the dead would spend in Purgatory. For example, prior to the 1960s, some indulgences were measured in term of days, weeks, months, or years-- leading to the misconception that indulgences remit a specific period of time equal to the length of the soul's stay in Purgatory. Technically, however, the stated length of time actually indicated that the indulgence was equal to the amount of remission the individual would have earned by performing a canonical penance for that period of time. For example, the amount of punishment remitted by a “forty day” indulgence would be equal to the amount of punishment remitted by the individual performing forty days of penance. Modernly, Roman Catholic theologians question whether a physical concept such "duration" can rationally be applied to souls in Purgatory.

The practice of granting indulgences was a source of controversy which resulted in the Protestant Reformation. During the middle ages, the process of granting indulgences was "increasingly bound up with money", leading to criticisms about the 'sale' of indulgences.

Purgatory as a physical place

Dante gazes at Purgatory (shown as a mountain) in this 16th century painting.

In antiquity, both Heaven and Hell were regarded as physical places existing within the physical universe. Heaven for example, was traditionally believed to be associated with the sky, and to exist "above". Hell as often believed to be "below", located within the center of the Earth. Similarly, Purgatory was sometimes considered to be a physical place located within space. For example, in Dante's 14th century work The Divine Comedy, Purgatory is depicted as a mountain in the southern hemisphere.

Modernly, practically all religions reject the notion of Heaven, Hell, or Purgatory being physical locations. The Roman Catholic Church has explicitly denounced the concept of Purgatory as a "place"-- for example, in 1999, Pope John Paul II declared "the term ('purgatory') does not indicate a place, but a condition of existence". Authoritative church teachings similarly dismiss the concept of Purgatory as a place within physical space.

Roman Catholic view

Main article: Purgatory, Roman Catholic teaching

The Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, first published in 2005, is a more concise version of the Catechism which presents information in the form of a dialog. It deals with Purgatory in the following exchange:

What is purgatory?

Purgatory is the state of those who die in God’s friendship, assured of their eternal salvation, but who still have need of purification to enter into the happiness of heaven.

How can we help the souls being purified in purgatory?

Because of the communion of saints, the faithful who are still pilgrims on earth are able to help the souls in purgatory by offering prayers in suffrage for them, especially the Eucharistic sacrifice. They also help them by almsgiving, indulgences, and works of penance.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, published in 1997, is the official exposition of the teachings of the modern Roman Catholic Church. The section on Purgatory reads:

THE FINAL PURIFICATION, OR PURGATORY

All who die in God's grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.

The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned.(Cf. Council of Florence (1439): DS 1304; Council of Trent (1563): DS 1820; (1547): 1580; see also Benedict XII, Benedictus Deus (1336): DS 1000.) The Church formulated her doctrine of faith on Purgatory especially at the [15th century] Councils of Florence and [the 16th century] Trent . The tradition of the Church, by reference to certain texts of Scripture, speaks of a cleansing fire:(Cf. 1 Cor 3:15, 1 Pet 1:7)

As for certain lesser faults, we must believe that, before the Final Judgment, there is a purifying fire. He who is truth says that whoever utters blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will be pardoned neither in this age nor in the age to come. From this sentence we understand that certain offenses can be forgiven in this age, but certain others in the age to come.(St. Gregory the Great, Dial. 4, 39: PL 77, 396; cf. ⇒ Mt 12:31.)

This teaching is also based on the practice of prayer for the dead, already mentioned in Sacred Scripture: "Therefore [Judas Maccabeus] made atonement for the dead, that they might be delivered from their sin." (2 Macc 12:46.) From the beginning the Church has honored the memory of the dead and offered prayers in suffrage for them, above all the Eucharistic sacrifice, so that, thus purified, they may attain the beatific vision of God.(Cf. Council of Lyons II (1274): DS 856.) The Church also commends almsgiving, indulgences, and works of penance undertaken on behalf of the dead:

Let us help and commemorate them. If Job's sons were purified by their father's sacrifice, why would we doubt that our offerings for the dead bring them some consolation? Let us not hesitate to help those who have died and to offer our prayers for them.(St. John Chrysostom, Hom. in 1 Cor. 41, 5: PG 61, 361; cf. ⇒ Job 1:5.)

The section on Indulgences also mentions Purgatory:

THE PUNISHMENT OF SIN

To understand this doctrine and practice of the Church, it is necessary to understand that sin has a double consequence. Grave sin deprives us of communion with God and therefore makes us incapable of eternal life, the privation of which is called the "eternal punishment" of sin. On the other hand every sin, even venial, entails an unhealthy attachment to creatures, which must be purified either here on earth, or after death in the state called Purgatory. This purification frees one from what is called the "temporal punishment" of sin. These two punishments must not be conceived of as a kind of vengeance inflicted by God from without, but as following from the very nature of sin. A conversion which proceeds from a fervent charity can attain the complete purification of the sinner in such a way that no punishment would remain

Purgatory is imagined as a place, in the same way as Heaven and Hell are pictured as places. This picture has been and is used as a way of speaking about these after-life states. The idea that they are places within physical space is no part of the Church's teaching. Pope John Paul II explicitly excluded such an idea with regard to Purgatory, stating that "the term does not indicate a place, but a condition of existence".

As the Catechism of the Catholic Church states, the pain of purification has traditionally been likened to fire. The image of fire has been common in the West from at least the time of Saint Augustine, "the fire will be worse than anything a human being can suffer in this life", (In Ps. 37 n. 3 (PL, col. 397), and Saint Gregory the Great, who speaks of those who after this life "will expiate their faults by purgatorial flames," and adds that "the pain will be more intolerable than any one can suffer in this life.", (Ps. 3 poenit., n. 1). The image of fire appears in many other texts, including the Catechism of the Council of Trent, which under the heading "What we pray for" includes the following: "that we be not sentenced to endure the fire of purgatory, from which we piously and devoutly implore that others may be liberated." However, at the Council of Florence, the Greek participants "were assured that the Roman Church had never issued any dogmatic decree on this subject" of fire.

In fact, it has been concluded that the only differences enunciated by the Greek participants between their belief and the Western teaching were the two images of place and fire. Accordingly, Eastern Catholic Churches of Greek tradition generally avoid the image of fire, as well as the name "Purgatory", which is popularly associated with the idea of a place within space, while fully agreeing on the substance of the teaching about purification after death of Christians for final union with God. For the process of preparation for union with God, these Catholic Churches of Greek tradition may use, instead of the term "purgatory", the term "theosis", a concept accepted throughout the Catholic Church (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 460), though usually not explicitly linked with final purification. A Father of the Church, who belonged to the Greek tradition, seems to have linked theosis with the idea of an after-death process of purification by fire, writing that a person "... may afterward in a quite different manner be very much interested in what is better, when, after his departure out of the body, he gains knowledge of the difference between virtue and vice and finds that he is not able to partake of divinity until he has been purged of the filthy contagion in his soul by the purifying fire" (emphases added). Eastern Catholic Churches of other traditions freely use the name "Purgatory".

With regard to other secondary questions and theological hypotheses connected with Purgatory, the Catholic Encyclopedia advises: "It is well to heed the warning of the Council of Trent when it commands the bishops 'to exclude from their preaching difficult and subtle questions which tend not to edification', and from the discussion of which there is no increase either in piety or devotion" (Sess. XXV, De Purgatorio)."

Eastern Orthodox view

See also: Eastern Orthodox Church

Eastern Orthodox Christians generally reject the Roman Catholic understanding of Purgatory. According to Eastern Orthodox beliefs, after death, a soul is either sent to heaven or hell, following the Temporary Judgment occurring immediately after death. Eastern Orthodox theology does not generally describe the process of purification after death as involving suffering or fire, although it is nevertheless describes it as a "direful condition". Eastern Orthodox Christians do, however, practice prayer for the dead, and they accept that those prayers can affect the state of the deceased souls.

Protestant views of Purgatory

See also: Protestantism

In general, Protestant churches do not accept the doctrine of Purgatory. One of Protestantism's central tenets is Sola scriptura, a Latin phrase which translates to "Scripture alone". Protestants believe that the Bible alone is the basis for valid Christian Doctrine and, since the Protestant Bible contains no overt, explicit discussion of Purgatory, Protestants reject it as an "unbiblical" belief.

Another tenet of Protestantism is Sola fide-- "By faith alone". While Catholicism regards both good works and faith as being essential to salvation, Protestants believe faith alone is sufficient to achieve salvation and that good works are merely evidence of that faith. Salvation is generally seen as discrete event which takes place during one's lifetime. Instead of distinguishing between mortal and venial sins, Protestants believe that one's faith or state of "salvation" dictates one's place in the afterlife. Those who have been "saved" by God are destined for heaven, while those have not been saved will be excluded from Heaven. Accordingly, they reject the notion of any "third state" or "third place" such as Purgatory.