Purgatory

 

(pûrg'ətôr'ē) [Lat.,=place of purging], in the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church, the state after death in which the soul destined for heaven is purified. Since only the perfect can enjoy the vision of God (inferred from Mat. 12.36; Rev. 21.17), and some die in grace who have still unpunished or unrepented minor sins on their conscience, they must be purged of such sins. Those who have suffered already (especially the martyrs) may have undergone much or all of their punishment. Souls in purgatory are members of the church along with the living and the blessed in heaven and may be helped, as in life, by the prayers and works of their fellow members. This unity is the communion of saints. Prayers for the dead are therefore commonplace in Roman Catholic life; one form is the requiem Mass (see also indulgence). The duration of time and the nature of the state of purgatory are not defined; the suffering is different in kind from that of hell, for the soul in purgatory knows that his punishment is temporary. The ancient Jews prayed for the dead (2 Mac. 12.43–46), and the Christians continued the practice, holding the concomitant belief in a middle state between life and heaven. The Eastern Orthodox Church maintains this position without adopting the Western terms developed in the Middle Ages. Protestants have generally abandoned it.

The neutrality of this article is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved.

Purgatory, or "the final purification of the elect", is the process by which, according to Catholic doctrine, "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."^[1]

The process of purification has also been described as "temporal punishment for those who, departing this life in God's grace, are not entirely free from venial faults, or have not fully paid the satisfaction due to their transgressions."^[2]

All the ancient Christian Churches pray for the dead in the belief that they are thereby assisted.^[3] But the way the final purification of the dead is pictured has developed distinctive features in the Latin-speaking West and the Greek-speaking East. In the West, the term purgatorium (cleansing) was used to name this process of purification, and purgatory was often described as a place of purging fire.^[4] Differences on these non-dogmatic elements were discussed at the Council of Florence.^[5]

The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church says that in its explicit form, the doctrine did not appear before the 12th century, although elements of it are much more ancient, such as the notions that not all souls are condemned to Hell or worthy of Heaven at the moment of death, and that prayer for the dead is valuable.^[6]

In that same century the medieval imagery associated with the concept was already well developed, and was incorporated in the legend written in that century by Hugh of Saltry, also known as Henry of Sawtry, about Saint Patrick's Purgatory, a tale that was "part of a huge, repetitive contemporary genre of literature of which the most familiar today is Dante's".^[7] Other legends localized the entrance to Purgatory in places such as a cave on the volcanic Mount Etna in Sicily.^[8]

The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church attributes to Aquinas the statement that, despite their suffering, the souls in purgatory are at peace or experience joy.^[9]

Eastern Orthodox theology does not generally describe the process of purification after death as involving suffering, resulting in a distinctly Eastern understanding of the final purification, which nevertheless describes it as a "direful condition" from which, through the prayers and good works of the living, souls are delivered before the common resurrection and judgment. ^[10] Naturally, Greek theology does not employ the Latin term "purgatory", and the doctrine is often seen by Orthodox theologians as a doctrinal difference.

Eastern Catholic Churches – including those of Greek tradition – are in full communion with the Latin Catholic Church and interpret the Greek and Latin understandings as essentially equivalent expressions of a final purification of the dead with assistance from the living.^[11]

During the Protestant Reformation, certain Protestant theologians developed a view of salvation (soteriology) that excluded Purgatory. Today, Protestants, with few exceptions, do not believe in a process of purification after death.

Apart from this strict sense of the word "Purgatory", the term is sometimes, though rarely, used of the temporary purification or punishment for wrong-doing that people other than Catholics believe takes place after death. In this sense, the word is used in connection with the belief of, for instance, Buddhists.^[12]

Catholic Church

The teaching of the Catholic Church on Purgatory is stated succinctly in the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church as follows:

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. 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.^[13] As the full Catechism further explains, "The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned. The Church formulated her doctrine of faith on Purgatory especially at the Councils of Florence and Trent. The tradition of the Church, by reference to certain texts of Scripture, speaks of a cleansing fire.^[14] 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 12:45). From the beginning the Church has honoured 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. The Church also commends almsgiving, indulgences, and works of penance undertaken on behalf of the dead.^[15]

The nature of this final purification from the attachment to creatures which precedes entrance into full union with God in heaven is expressed as follows:

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. … While patiently bearing sufferings and trials of all kinds and, when the day comes, serenely facing death, the Christian must strive to accept this temporal punishment of sin as a grace. He should strive by works of mercy and charity, as well as by prayer and the various practices of penance, to put off completely the "old man" and to put on the "new man" (cf. Ephesians 4:24).^[16]

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".^[17]

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)^[18], 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).^[18] 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." ^[19] 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.^[18]

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.^[20] 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.^[21] 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",^[22] 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).^[23] Eastern Catholic Churches of other traditions freely use the name "Purgatory".^[24]

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)."^[18]

Eastern Catholic Churches

The Eastern Catholic Churches are a set of particular Churches which, together with the Latin Church, form the one Catholic Church. Those of Byzantine tradition, after being involved in the East-West Schism, left the Eastern Orthodox Church to enter full communion with the Church in Rome. The largest of these is the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. Others, of non-Greek tradition, have entered full communion with Rome after a much earlier break or were never out of communion. The largest of these is the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church. They are said to make up about 2% of the Catholic Church membership. Being "in full communion" with the Pope, they subscribe, like the Latin Church, to the same basic beliefs and teachings, including that on Purgatory, while differing in liturgy, tradition, and various other ways.

All Eastern Catholic Churches celebrate a Liturgy for the Dead, and pray for the dead. Those of non-Greek tradition have adopted without difficulty the term "Purgatory", which originated in the Latin language and the Latin Church. Regarding the differences in doctrinal nuances between the Greek and Latin traditions, Article V of the Treaty of Brest (which effected full communion between the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and the see of Rome) "states 'We shall not debate about purgatory' implying that both sides can agree to disagree on the specifics of what the West calls 'Purgatory'", while "Eastern Catholic Churches agree with the Latin Church fully on both of ... (the) only two points (that) are necessary dogma concerning 'purgatory': 1) There is a place of transition/transformation for those en-route to Heaven, and 2) prayer is efficacious for the dead who are in this state." ^[25]

Eastern Orthodox Churches

See also: Eastern Orthodox Church

Many Eastern Orthodox reject the concept of Purgatory, at least as they interpret its description by Catholics.^[27] Regarding punishment, one view within the Eastern Orthodox Churches "sin is a sickness to be healed and not a crime to be punished".^[28] This in contrast to Eastern Orthodox Church declarations, such as that of the Synod of Jerusalem, that there is indeed afterlife punishment for sin and that some are released from that punishment some time before the Last Judgment.^[29]

The Eastern Orthodox Church holds that prayer and works of mercy done for their memory is efficacious for the dead, "that they may be aided towards the attainment of a blessed resurrection" ^[30]

The dead, with some "exceptions, such as the Theotokos, who was borne by the angels directly into heaven", are thought of as awaiting the general resurrection, and meanwhile "some have a prevision of the glory to come and others foretaste their suffering."^[31] The souls of the righteous are in light and rest, with a foretaste of eternal happiness; but the souls of the wicked are in a state the reverse of this. Among the latter, such souls as have departed with faith, but without having had time to bring forth fruits worthy of repentance may be aided by the living towards the attainment of a blessed resurrection.^[32] The legalistic terminology present in the Latin tradition is not employed in the Greek,^{[citation needed]} and the notion of redemption through "satisfaction" of sins is, according to John Meyondorff, not an articulation found in traditional Greek theology, which instead interprets sin as a spiritual disease that must be healed by divine love.^[33] The state in which souls undergo this experience is often referred to as "Hades",^[34] since Greek tradition, without denying the particular judgment of each soul at death, but instead explicitly affirming it, holds that neither the just nor the wicked attain the final state of bliss or punishment before the last day,^[35] with some exceptions for righteous souls like the Theotokos (Blessed Virgin Mary).^[36] The souls of those who died with faith, but "without having had time to bring forth fruits worthy of repentance..., may be aided towards the attainment of a blessed resurrection [at the end of time] by prayers offered in their behalf, especially those offered in union with the oblation of the bloodless sacrifice of the Body and Blood of Christ, and by works of mercy done in faith for their memory."^[37] Sometimes Eastern Orthodox, like other Christians, speak of the dead as "asleep in the Lord" (cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:14), though "sleep" here does not refer to the soul, but to the body,^[38] and, as other Christians, apart from those of Protestant tradition, also believe, the saints are understood to be able to intercede on behalf of the living (see Intercession of saints).

The Eastern Orthodox Synod of Jerusalem, held in 1672, declared that "the souls of those that have fallen asleep are either at rest or in torment, according to what each hath wrought" (an enjoyment or condemnation that will be complete only after the resurrection of the dead); but the souls of some "depart into Hades, and there endure the punishment due to the sins they have committed. But they are aware of their future release from there, and are delivered by the Supreme Goodness, through the prayers of the Priests, and the good works which the relatives of each do for their Departed; especially the unbloody Sacrifice benefiting the most; which each offers particularly for his relatives that have fallen asleep, and which the Catholic and Apostolic Church offers daily for all alike. Of course, it is understood that we do not know the time of their release. We know and believe that there is deliverance for such from their direful condition, and that before the common resurrection and judgment, but when we know not."^[39]

The Orthodox Confession of Peter Mogila, adopted, in a Greek translation by Meletius Syrigos, by the 1642 Council of Jassy, in Romania, professes that "many are freed from the prison of hell ... through the good works of the living and the Church's prayers for them, most of all through the unbloody sacrifice, which is offered on certain days for all the living and the dead" (question 64); and (under the heading "How must one consider the purgatorial fire?") "the Church rightly performs for them the unbloody sacrifice and prayers, but they do not cleanse themselves by suffering something. But, the Church never maintained that which pertains to the fanciful stories of some concerning the souls of their dead, who have not done penance and are punished, as it were, in streams, springs and swamps" (question 66).".^[40]

An Orthodox site states: "Orthodoxy teaches that, after the soul leaves the body, it journeys to the abode of the dead (Hades). There are exceptions, such as the Theotokos, who was borne by the angels directly into heaven. As for the rest, we must remain in this condition of waiting." A Catholic site says: "The vision of Purgatory as a waiting room or a jail cell has somewhat fallen out of favor among post-Vatican II theologians. One reason is the awareness that Purgatory is experienced before the resurrection of our bodies. Without a body, a soul does not experience time in the same way we do now." According to the Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, while in the West the departed are said to be admitted to the Beatific Vision one by one, in the East no individual is said to experience the fullness of beatitude until all have attained it, and thus the living can pray even for saints.^[41]

Catholic spirituality

Prayer for the dead was customary throughout the early Church, continues today in all the ancient Churches. Inscriptions in the catacombs are in the form of prayers for those buried there. Other funeral monuments, such as the inscription of Abercius of Hieropolis in Phrygia (latter part of the 2nd century), beg the prayers of the living. Catholics and Orthodox, in harmony with Jewish custom, consider it "a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead that they may be loosed from sins" (2 Maccabees 12:39-46). They therefore pray frequently for the dead. One particular short Latin prayer, "May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace", which has been adopted by other traditions also,^[42] is often added to other prayers, such as grace after meals.

Latin, Greek (including Greek Orthodox),^[43] Coptic, Syrian, Chaldaean, and the other traditions represented in the Catholic Church offer the sacrifice of the Eucharist on behalf of the dead. When St Augustine's mother Monica was dying she told her two sons: "Lay this body anywhere, and do not let the care of it be a trouble to you at all. Only this I ask: that you will remember me at the Lord's altar, wherever you are."^[44]

Catholics believe they can assist the dead by gaining indulgences for them, by giving alms on their behalf, and through fasting and other penitential acts, in accordance with the exhortation of Saint John Chrysostom: "Let us then give them aid and perform commemoration for them. For if the children of Job were purged by the sacrifice of their father, why do you doubt that when we too offer for the departed, some consolation arises to them? since God is wont to grant the petitions of those who ask for others. ... Let us not then be weary in giving aid to the departed, both by offering on their behalf and obtaining prayers for them: for the common Expiation of the world is even before us. ... and it is possible from every source to gather pardon for them, from our prayers, from our gifts in their behalf, from those whose names are named with theirs. Why therefore do you grieve? Why mourn, when it is in your power to gather so much pardon for the departed?"^[45]

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 dismiss the second book of Maccabees, which advocates prayer for the dead, as un-canonical), Protestants reject it as an "unbiblical" belief; they refer to scriptures such as 2 Timothy 1:9 and Titus 3:5 as proof. ^[46]

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 evidence of that faith. Instead of distinguishing between mortal and venial sins, Protestants believe that one's faith 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.

History

As formulated in the current Catechism of the Catholic Church, the doctrine of purgatory, also termed the "final purification", is articulated as a purification after death prior to entrance into heaven, and explained as "based on the practice of prayer for the dead."^[47] Catholics consider purgatory part of the apostolic deposit of faith, finding its origins in the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Christian Antiquity

Offerings to the dead were known to ancient Jewish practice, and it has been speculated that Christianity may have taken its similar practice from its Jewish heritage.^[49] In Christianity, prayer for the dead is attested to since at least the second century,^[50] evidenced in part by the tomb inscription of Abercius, Bishop of Hierapolis in Phrygia (d. c. 200).^[51] Celebration of the Eucharist for the dead is attested to since at least the third century.^[52]

Specific examples of belief in purification after death and of the communion of the living with the dead through prayer are found in many of the Church Fathers.^[53] The patristic authors often understood those undergoing purification to be awaiting the universal judgment before receiving final blessedness, and they also often described this purification as a journey which entailed hardships but also powerful glimpses of joy.^[54] Irenaeus (c. 130-202) mentioned an abode where the souls of the dead remained until the universal judgment, a process that has been described as one which "contains the concept of... purgatory."^[55] Both St. Clement of Alexandria (c. 150-215) and his pupil, Origen (c. 185-254), developed a view of purification after death;^[56] this view drew upon the notion that fire is a divine instrument from the Old Testament, and understood this in the context of New Testament teachings such as baptism by fire, from the Gospels, and a purificatory trial after death, from St. Paul.^[57] Origen, in arguing against soul sleep, stated that the souls of the elect immediately entered paradise unless not yet purified, in which case they passed into a state of punishment, a penal fire, which is to be conceived as a place of purification.^[58] For both Clement and Origen, the fire was neither a material thing nor a metaphor, but a "spiritual fire".^[59] An early Latin author, Tertullian (c. 160-225), also articulated a view of purification after death.^[60] In Tertullian's understanding of the afterlife, the souls of martyrs entered directly into eternal blessedness,^[61] whereas the rest entered a generic realm of the dead. There the wicked suffered a foretaste of their eternal punishments,^[62] whilst the good experienced various stages and places of bliss wherein "the idea of a kind of purgatory… is quite plainly found," an idea that is representative of a view widely dispersed in antiquity.^[63] Later examples, wherein further elaborations are articulated, include St. Cyprian (d. 258),^[64] St. John Chrysostom (c. 347-407),^[65] and St. Augustine (354-430),^[66] among others.

The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church states that early Christians, with their emphasis on the imminent end of the world, expressed little interest in an interim state between death and the Resurrection, describing the dead as waiting or sleeping; that belief in prayer for the dead was a constant feature of both Eastern and Western liturgies, and is unintelligible without belief in an interim state in which the dead may be benefited; and that Christians in the West demonstrated much more curiousity about this state than those in the East.^[67]

Early Middle Ages

During the Early Middle Ages, the doctrine of final purification developed distinctive features in the Latin-speaking West differing from its development in the Greek-speaking East. Pope Gregory the Great's Dialogues, written in the late sixth century, evidence a development in the understanding of the afterlife distinctive of the direction that Latin Christendom would take:

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.^[69]

For Gregory, God was further illuminating the nature of the afterlife, sending visions and the like, whereby, more fully than before, the outlines of the fate of the soul immediately beyond the grave were becoming visible, like the half-light that precedes the dawn.^[70] Visions of purgatory abounded; Bede mentioned a vision of a beautiful Heaven and a lurid Hell with adjacent temporary abodes,^[71] as did St. Boniface.^[72] In the seventh century, the Irish abbot St. Fursa described his foretaste of the afterlife, where, though protected by angels, he was pursued by demons who said, "It is not fitting that he should enjoy the blessed life unscathed..., for every transgression that is not purged on earth must be avenged in heaven," and on his return he was engulfed in a billowing fire that threatened to burn him, "for it stretches out each one according to their merits... For just as the body burns through unlawful desire, so the soul will burn, as the lawful, due penalty for every sin."^[73] Already in the early fifth century, St. Augustine had described the role of fire in the process of purgation, writing that the pains of purgatorial fire "will be more severe than anything man is able to suffer in this life".^[18] In the ninth century, Haymo stated that prayers and lamentations of the living, supported by almsgiving and masses, would shorten the period of purgatorial suffering.^[74] Others who expounded upon on the doctrine include Rabanus Maurus and Walafrid Strabo,^[75] to name just two.

High Middle Ages

In 1054, the Bishop of Rome and the four Greek-speaking patriarchs of the East excommunicated each other, triggering the East-West Schism. The schism split the church basically into the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches. In the West, the understanding of purgatory continued to develop.

The Eastern Orthodox Church celebrates several All Souls' Days in the year,^[76] but in the West only one such annual commemoration is celebrated. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church considers that the establishment, at the end of the 10th century, of this remembrance helped focus popular imagination on the fate of the departed, and that the theology of penance, as developed in Paris in the 12th century, helped establish purgatory as a place to complete unfinished penances.^[77]

By the twelfth century, the process of purification had acquired the Latin name, "purgatorium", from the verb purgare: to purge.^[78] Dogmatic definition of purgatory was given in 1254: the First Council of Lyon declared that, on Scriptural grounds and because the Greeks too "are said to believe and to affirm that the souls of those who after a penance has been received yet not performed, or who, without mortal sin yet die with venial and slight sin, can be cleansed after death and can be helped by the suffrages of the Church, we, since they say a place of purgation of this kind has not been indicated to them with a certain and proper name by their teachers, we indeed, calling it purgatory according to the traditions and authority of the Holy Fathers, wish that in the future it be called by that name in their area. For in that transitory fire certainly sins, though not criminal or capital, which before have not been remitted through penance but were small and minor sins, are cleansed, and these weigh heavily even after death, if they have been forgiven in this life."^[79]

By this time, Latin theology had developed a sophisticated picture of the afterlife, articulated in legalistic terminology, and the understanding of purgatory had become fully associated with indulgences and other penitential practices. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church declares that through theology, literature, and indulgences, purgatory became central to late medieval religion.^[80]

Subsequent history

Latin-Greek relations

In the 15th century, at the Council of Florence authorities of the Eastern Orthodox Church identified purgatory as a point on which there were principal differences between Greek and Latin doctrine.^[81] The decrees of the Council, however, formed the basis on which certain Eastern Communities were later received into full communion with the Roman Catholic Church.^[82] At the Council, the Roman Catholic Church assured the Greeks that no dogmatic decree on the exact details of the process of purification had been issued, and Bessarion (Latin Patriarch of Constantinople) argued against the existence of real purgatorial fire. In effecting full communion between the Roman Catholic Church and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church by the Union of Brest (1585), the two agreed, "We shall not debate about purgatory, but we entrust ourselves to the teaching of the Holy Church,"^[83] implying that both sides need not dispute over the details.^[84] Furthermore, the Council of Trent, in its discussion of purgatory, instructed the bishops not to preach on such "difficult and subtle questions".^[85] Today, the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Catholic Churches understand the Greek articulation of a "final theosis", or process of deification whereby the soul is transformed into perfect union with God,^[86] and the Latin articulation of "purgatory" to be essentially equivalent — a final purification.^[87] However, some Eastern Orthodox Churches continue to see "purgatory" as a matter of contention.^[88]

Protestant Reformation

During the Protestant Reformation, certain Protestant theologians developed a view of salvation (soteriology) that excluded purgatory. This was in part a result from a doctrinal change concerning justification and sanctification on the part of the reformers. In Catholic theology, one is made righteous by a progressive infusion of divine grace accepted through faith and cooperated with through good works; however, in Martin Luther's doctrine, justification rather meant "the declaring of one to be righteous", where God imputes the merits of Christ upon one who remains without inherent merit.^[89] In this process, good works done in faith (i.e. through penance) are more of an unessential byproduct that contribute nothing to one's own state of righteousness; hence, in Protestant theology, "becoming perfect" came to be understood as an instantaneous act of God and not a process or journey of purification that continues in the afterlife.

Thus, Protestant soteriology developed the view that each one of the elect (saved) experienced instantaneous glorification upon death. As such, there was little reason to pray for the dead. Luther wrote in Question No. 211 in his expanded Small Catechism: "We should pray for ourselves and for all other people, even for our enemies, but not for the souls of the dead." Luther, after he stopped believing in purgatory around 1530,^[90] openly affirmed the doctrine of soul sleep.^[91] Purgatory came to be seen as one of the "unbiblical corruptions" that had entered Church teachings sometime subsequent to the apostolic age. Hence, the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Church of England produced during the English Reformation stated: "The Romish doctrine concerning Purgatory...is a fond thing vainly invented, and grounded upon no warranty of Scripture; but rather repugnant to the word of God" (article 22). Likewise, John Calvin, central theologian of Reformed Protestantism, considered purgatory a superstition, writing in his Institutes (5.10): "The doctrine of purgatory ancient, but refuted by a more ancient Apostle. Not supported by ancient writers, by Scripture, or solid argument. Introduced by custom and a zeal not duly regulated by the word of God… we must hold by the word of God, which rejects this fiction." In general, this position remains indicative of Protestant belief today, with the notable exception of certain Anglo-Catholics, such as the Guild of All Souls, which describe themselves as Reformed and Catholic (and specifically not Protestant) and believe in purgatory.

In response to Protestant Reformation critics, the Council of Trent reaffirmed purgatory as already taught by the First Council of Lyon, confining itself to the concepts of purification after death and the efficacy of prayers for the dead.^[92] It simply affirmed the existence of purgatory and the great value of praying for the deceased, but sternly instructed preachers not to push beyond that and distract, confuse, and mislead the faithful with unnecessary speculations concerning the nature and duration of purgatorial punishments.^[93] It thus did not treat the elaborate medieval speculation that had grown up around the concept of Purgatory as part of Church teaching on the matter.

Interpretations

The historical development of the doctrine of purgatory has been the subject of many interpretations, especially concerning its origins. Part of the divergence of views has resulted from different definitions as to what constitutes the essence of the doctrine.

Catholic scholar and apologist John Henry Newman, in his Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, argued that doctrines such as purgatory should be expected to develop over the course of the history of the Church. In this view, the essence of the doctrine is locatable in ancient tradition, and remains consistent throughout doctrinal development, but that "large accretions" are to be understood as "true and legitimate results" — indeed, Newman considered this evidence that Christianity was "originally given to us from heaven".^[94] Newman wrote:

Moreover, the very scale on which [the developments] have been made, their high antiquity yet present promise, their gradual formation yet precision, their harmonious order, dispose the imagination most forcibly towards the belief that a teaching so consistent with itself, so well balanced, so young and so old, not obsolete after so many centuries, but vigorous and progressive still, is the very development contemplated in the Divine Scheme.^[95]

Protestant theology generally does not articulate such a view on doctrinal development, and certain Protestant scholars consider purgatory to be an "unbiblical" belief not derived from revelation. Hence, Adolf Harnack, a nineteenth century Protestant historian, argued that purgatory entered the Church via Hellenistic philosophy and thus represented an infusion of "unrealistic" and "unbiblical" ideas into Christianity.^[96] Notable exceptions include Anglican apologist C. S. Lewis, who suggested that, during the Reformation, the Church of England rejected purgatory only as it was then understood by the Roman church, distinguishing this from the idea of purgatory in general and believing in the latter.^[97] Jacques Le Goff, medievalist and self-professed agnostic, argued that purgatory was "born" between 1170 and 1200, when purification after death was first said to be carried out in a specific place.^[98] Le Goff acknowledged the notion of purification after death in antiquity, arguing specifically that Clement of Alexandria, and his pupil Origen, derived their view from a combination of biblical teachings, though he considered vague concepts of purifying and punishing fire to predate Christianity.^[99] Le Goff also considered Peter the Lombard (d. 1160), in expounding on the teachings of St. Augustine and Gregory the Great, to have contributed significantly to the "birth" of purgatory. Le Goff’s view, however, has been criticized by fellow historians and scholars. Historian Alan E. Bernstein held that, "the insistence that there was no purgatory until it was conceived as a place represented by a noun seems unnecessarily strict",^[100] and stated that, "Le Goff leaves us with a tangle of abstractions."^[101] Historian Richard Trexler considered Le Goff’s "so-called birth of purgatory" to have been arrived at in part by "a priori" criteria and even occasional "tautological reasoning",^[102] writing that, "From Christianity’s earliest records, the faithful are found performing suffrages to and for their dead, as if both were able to influence each other's death."^[103]

Footnotes