First of all, let me say that the idea of a “purging” of all that is not appropriate to life in the presence of God Almighty is not the issue here. Historic Christianity, even in the East has always believed that there is a process after death in which a person is tested and purged from all that remains of “mortal” life, so that he may “put on immortality” in Christ and thus enjoy the blessedness of life for all eternity with God. The issue is whether or not this process (or place as the Western Church has taught) has anything to do with “punishment” and that it takes place within created “time” after one’s death, but before the final judgement.
Much of the need for the doctrine of purgatory is based on the theological notion of “satisfaction” in the atonement offered by Christ. That is, that somehow the sacrifice of Christ provided “satisfaction” of an “angry God” toward humanity and sin, and that humans must continue to suffer after their deaths for a “time” determined by God in order to completely assimilate that satisfaction and in effect, make its effects their own. Thus purged, they can then enter the blessedness of heaven.
In Clark Carton’s book “The Truth,” he makes a statement to which I am in full agreement which says, “The Orthodox Church clearly teaches that prayers for the dead are efficacious. When a man dies, he undergoes an initial period of trial, where the demons both accuse him of his past sins and tempt him with the passions that have dominated his life. Thus, prayers are offered for the departed in this time of trial. There is no notion, however of “making up” for past sins or of repaying some debt. God is not in need of reparation and takes no pleasure in the punishment of men. What is in question is the purity of the soul and its ability to participate in the life of God.
The idea that the soul must first undergo temporal punishment is objectionable from several standpoints. First of all, if Christ has died for the forgiveness of sins, then what punishment could possibly remain? Was His sacrifice not sufficient to remit all punishment, not just the eternal? Second, the very idea of a temporal, purgatorial fire is unknown to Orthodoxy. The only fire spoken of in the Scriptures is the fire of Gehenna—the permanent abode of the unrighteous after the universal resurrection and final judgement. Moreover, Orthodoxy teaches that this fire is not temporal, but is, in fact, the love of God, which the unrighteous experience in a negative way. It is the same fire or light that the saints experience as the blessedness of deification.”1
So the idea of a temporal purgatory is both unnecessary and un-Scriptural. Let us embrace the need for prayers offered for the dead, which has always been believed and taught by the early/undivided Church; but abandon this notion of a continued need for temporal “punishment” of a man’s soul after death in order to appease an “angry” God. God is nothing but love. God loves us, God is not mad at us, we have forgiveness in Christ, and He will never leave us or forsake us.
I close with a quote from St. Maximus the Confessor regarding what I regard as “our journey of faith in time:” “God is the sun of justice, as it is written, who shines rays of goodness on simply everyone. The soul develops according to its free will into either wax because of its love for God or into mud because of its love of matter. Thus just as by nature the mud is dried out by the sun and wax is automatically softened, so also every soul which loves matter and the world and has fixed its mind far from God is hardened as mud according to its free will and by itself advances to its perdition, as did Pharaoh. However, every soul which loves God is softened as wax, and receiving divine impressions and characters it becomes ‘the dwelling place of God in the Spirit.’”2
(1) Quote taken from: Clark Carlton. The Truth: What Every Roman Catholic Should Know About The Orthodox Church. Salisbury, MA: Regina Orthodox Press, 1999.
(2) St. Maximus the Confessor. Chapters on Knowledge 1:12, pp. 130-131.
Much of the need for the doctrine of purgatory is based on the theological notion of “satisfaction” in the atonement offered by Christ. That is, that somehow the sacrifice of Christ provided “satisfaction” of an “angry God” toward humanity and sin, and that humans must continue to suffer after their deaths for a “time” determined by God in order to completely assimilate that satisfaction and in effect, make its effects their own. Thus purged, they can then enter the blessedness of heaven.
In Clark Carton’s book “The Truth,” he makes a statement to which I am in full agreement which says, “The Orthodox Church clearly teaches that prayers for the dead are efficacious. When a man dies, he undergoes an initial period of trial, where the demons both accuse him of his past sins and tempt him with the passions that have dominated his life. Thus, prayers are offered for the departed in this time of trial. There is no notion, however of “making up” for past sins or of repaying some debt. God is not in need of reparation and takes no pleasure in the punishment of men. What is in question is the purity of the soul and its ability to participate in the life of God.
The idea that the soul must first undergo temporal punishment is objectionable from several standpoints. First of all, if Christ has died for the forgiveness of sins, then what punishment could possibly remain? Was His sacrifice not sufficient to remit all punishment, not just the eternal? Second, the very idea of a temporal, purgatorial fire is unknown to Orthodoxy. The only fire spoken of in the Scriptures is the fire of Gehenna—the permanent abode of the unrighteous after the universal resurrection and final judgement. Moreover, Orthodoxy teaches that this fire is not temporal, but is, in fact, the love of God, which the unrighteous experience in a negative way. It is the same fire or light that the saints experience as the blessedness of deification.”1
So the idea of a temporal purgatory is both unnecessary and un-Scriptural. Let us embrace the need for prayers offered for the dead, which has always been believed and taught by the early/undivided Church; but abandon this notion of a continued need for temporal “punishment” of a man’s soul after death in order to appease an “angry” God. God is nothing but love. God loves us, God is not mad at us, we have forgiveness in Christ, and He will never leave us or forsake us.
I close with a quote from St. Maximus the Confessor regarding what I regard as “our journey of faith in time:” “God is the sun of justice, as it is written, who shines rays of goodness on simply everyone. The soul develops according to its free will into either wax because of its love for God or into mud because of its love of matter. Thus just as by nature the mud is dried out by the sun and wax is automatically softened, so also every soul which loves matter and the world and has fixed its mind far from God is hardened as mud according to its free will and by itself advances to its perdition, as did Pharaoh. However, every soul which loves God is softened as wax, and receiving divine impressions and characters it becomes ‘the dwelling place of God in the Spirit.’”2
(1) Quote taken from: Clark Carlton. The Truth: What Every Roman Catholic Should Know About The Orthodox Church. Salisbury, MA: Regina Orthodox Press, 1999.
(2) St. Maximus the Confessor. Chapters on Knowledge 1:12, pp. 130-131.
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