Purgatory

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Purgatory

Purgatory comes from the Latin word, purgatio, which means purification, cleansing or expiation. Many religions affirm the need for moral and spiritual purification. Purgatory, though, is chiefly identified with the Catholic doctrine that maintains, first, that some souls after death require purification (purgatio ) before reaching heaven, and second, that the prayers and intercessions of the living can assist souls in purgatory.

The word purgatory as such, is not found in the Bible, though variations of katharsis, the Greek equivalent of purgatio, can be found (e.g., katharoi, Matt 5:8, and katharismou, 2 Pet. 1:9). Church fathers such as Augustine (354–430) found support for purgatory in 2 Maccabees 12:43–46, a passage (not considered canonical by Protestants) that mentions an expiatory sacrifice offered in the temple to atone for the sins of Jewish soldiers who died wearing pagan amulets. The inference is that there is expiation for some sins after death.

Various Church fathers, such as Gregory of Nyssa (c. 330–395), affirmed a postmortem purgation by “purifying fire” (tou katharsíou purós ) based on 1 Corinthians 3:11–15 (some will be saved “only as through fire”). Patristic writers such as Augustine and Pope Gregory I (c. 540–604) also believed that Matthew 12:32 implies that certain sins will only be forgiven in the age to come (i.e., after death).

Under the influence of neo-Platonism, some early Christian writers, such as Origen (c. 185–254), suggested an ongoing purification after death leading to a universal restoration (apokatastasis ) of all humans (and possibly demons) with God. The local Council of Constantinople condemned apokatastasis in 543.

The doctrine of purgatory underwent more systematic development in the West than in the East. As its penitential system developed, Latin theology saw purgatory as the postmortem expiation of the temporal punishment due to sins. According to this theology, temporal effects or “punishments” of sin (e.g., wounds to oneself and others) remain even after the guilt (culpa ) of sin is taken away by confession. Such temporal “punishments” require penances for adequate purification, satisfaction, or expiation. When the temporal effects of sin have not been purified prior to death, the person must undergo purgatory.

Because penances during the Middle Ages were often severe, the Church offered various indulgences, that is, extrasacramental ways (e.g., prayers, pilgrimages, and almsgiving) for gaining remission of the temporal punishments due to sin. These indulgences were granted by the Church via her access to the “treasury” of the merits of Christ and the saints. The faithful could apply these indulgences to themselves for their own purification or to souls in purgatory by means of suffrage or intercession (per modum suffragii ).

Although purgatory was often seen as a temporary hell, the Italian poet Dante Alighieri (1265–1321) offered a more positive understanding of the doctrine. In the Purgatorio, the second part of his Divine Comedy, Dante describes the purifying rather than penal aspects of punishment. The souls ascend “Mount Purgatory” while receiving penances, practicing virtues, and reciting prayers designed to purge the root causes of the seven capital sins. Those in “lower purgatory” are purified of sins or vices related to “love perverted,” namely pride, envy, and wrath. Those in “mid-purgatory” overcome sloth, which is associated with “love defective.” Finally, those in “upper purgatory” are purged of “love excessive,” linked to the sins of avarice, gluttony, and lust. For Dante, the purpose of purgatory is the interior purification of one’s love for God and neighbor before entering heaven.

Only the Roman Catholic Church teaches purgatory as dogma. The Profession of Faith, read before the Second Council of Lyons (1274), distinguished between the souls who go immediately to hell after death, those who go immediately to heaven, and those who die in charity but are cleansed after death by “purgatorial and cleansing penalties” (poenis purgatoriis seu catharteriis ). The Council of Florence repeated this doctrine in 1439 and reaffirmed that sacrifices of the mass, as well as prayers and offerings of the faithful, can alleviate the penalties of those in purgatory. In the wake of the Protestant denial of the doctrine, the Council of Trent, in 1563, upheld the reality of purgatory but warned bishops to exclude from popular sermons “the more difficult and subtle questions” not useful for edification and to prohibit all that belongs to curiosity, superstition, or unseemly gain.

The Catholic Church has never defined purgatory as a specific place. The exact nature and duration of the purgatorial punishments is open to speculation, and some, such as Catherine of Genoa (1447–1510), describe the fire of purgatory as the fire of God’s love. Traditional Catholic theology specifies two forms of suffering in purgatory: the pain of loss (poena damni ), because of the temporary deprivation of heaven; and the pain of sense (poena sensus ), experienced by souls in a manner analogous to sensible pain. Whatever suffering the souls in purgatory experience is mitigated by their assurance of heaven once their purification is complete. The common Catholic teaching is that, after the general judgment, there will be only heaven and hell, and purgatory will cease.

The Protestant Reformers of the sixteenth century rejected purgatory as an unscriptural doctrine that obscures the atonement of Christ as the only satisfaction for sin. Moreover, they linked purgatory to “false practices” such as indulgences, private masses, and prayers for the dead.

The Eastern Orthodox churches have prayers for the departed in their liturgies, but they have never defined purgatory as a doctrine. Several Orthodox confessions of faith, such as the original ones of Peter Moghila (1596–1647), the metropolitan of Kiev, and Dositheus (1641–1707), the patriarch of Jerusalem, affirmed the reality of postmortem purification. Some Orthodox theologians have also posited the existence of two hells, one for the damned and another for those needing further purification. Still others have mentioned a middle state of souls after death (mesi katastasis ), where they receive comfort from the prayers of the living. In general, though, Eastern Orthodox churches regard the whole matter as too mysterious for dogmatic formulations.

The Catholic Church continues to teach the reality of purgatory. Vatican II (1962–1965) and the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1992/1997), however, limit themselves to general affirmations of postmortem purification through the grace of God (cf. Vatican II’s Lumen Gentium, 49 and the Catechism, 1030 and 1472).

SEE ALSO Christianity; Church, The; Greek Orthodox Church; Heaven; Hell; Protestantism; Punishment; Purification; Religion; Roman Catholic Church; Sin

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Daley, Brian E. 2003. The Hope of the Early Church: A Handbook of Patristic Eschatology. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishing.

Dante Alighieri. 1955. The Divine Comedy. Canto 2: Purgatory. Trans. Dorothy L. Sayers. London: Penguin Books.

Jugie, M. 1936. Purgatoire dans l’Église Greco-Russe après le Concile de Florence. In Vol. 13, Part 1 of Dictionnaire de Théologie Catholique, 1326–1352. Paris: Librairie Letouzey et Ané.