What is Purgatory and Its Importance in Orthodoxy?

In a wide range of differences between the three branches of Christianity - Catholicism, Orthodoxy and Protestantism, there is such an important concept for Catholics, but conceptually rejected by other Christian doctrines as purgatory. What do the followers of the Roman church understand by it, and is it possible to find any of its analogues in Orthodoxy?

What is purgatory? The meaning of this term in Catholicism

To avoid possible errors, formulating this concept, we turn to the original source. The definition of what purgatory is is given in the Catholic catechism, which contains the main provisions of this Western Christian doctrine. According to his interpretation, purgatory is an intermediate stage between hell and paradise, on which souls of people who died in union with the church dwell, but for one reason or another failed to bring repentance in all sins committed in life.

Often the question arises about what is the word "purgatory", and what is its origin. It should be noted that in Russian it is the exact translation of the Latin Purgatorium, meaning, literally, purification by fire. The use of this term can be traced in theological literature from the XII century.

Balance of sins and good deeds in Catholicism

In Catholicism, unlike Orthodoxy, the achievement of the Kingdom of Heaven depends primarily on the mathematical correlation of good deeds and sins committed by the deceased in the days of mortal life, and not purified by repentance and the atoning sacrifice. Everything is simple and understandable. If more than good deeds, which are considered his merits before God - it means, in paradise, if they outweigh sins - straight to hell.

But what about those who lived life in the bosom of the church, tried to obey the commandments, but because of the weakness of the soul, he sometimes fell into temptation, and before his death did not bring repentance in everything that he had done? In addition, sins are free, that is, committed intentionally, and involuntary, into which a person falls unintentionally, sometimes even without suspecting him. And, finally, small household sins are often forgotten, and are not mentioned in confession. Do not doom a good Christian to eternal torment because of such misunderstandings.

Here, in these cases, there exists, in the opinion of Western theologians, purgatory. Once there, the deceased person can be cleansed of sins that exceed the number of good deeds done by him. To do this, he will have to suffer for some time, thus bringing a proper redemption, and after that he falls into paradise. How long this can last, depends directly on the difference in the number of sins and merits.

The appearance of the dogma of purgatory

For the first time the concept of purifying fire appears in the works of the famous religious figure of the 6th century Grigory Dvoslov, but the definition of what purgatory is in Catholicism was finally formulated much later. It happened only in the XII century, when the Catholic philosopher-scholastic Peter Lombard wrote his theological treatise, called "Sentences".

A century later, his follower St. Thomas Aquinas proposed this idea as a fully defined religious doctrine, but only the Florence Council of 1439 dogmatically fixed it as an integral part of the Catholic dogma.

More than a hundred years have passed, and in 1563 the Council of Trent was finally confirmed that such a purgatory. The definition passed in the course of his meetings is recognized to this day by the Western Church. Only Protestants who broke away from the Catholic Church in the 16th century, categorically deny it.

Hebrew concept of purgatory

It is known that even the Old Testament Jews had an idea of what purgatory, hell and heaven are. Relying on the books of the prophets, they reasoned like this: if the soul of the deceased should be offered redemptive sacrifices, therefore, after death, it does not go to heaven, otherwise why then the victim, if it is already saved. And not to hell, because in this case all the victims would be useless. In this case, there must be some intermediate stage, during which time it is still possible to influence the subsequent fate of the deceased.

Propitiatory Victims

However, this theory did not receive wide development, and only Catholics answered the question about what purgatory is to the full. In particular, they developed a doctrine of a "propitiatory" victim. According to this teaching, down to the Last Judgment, with the onset of which purgatory will be abolished, sinful souls will remain in a state of purgatory torment.

However, their suffering can be reduced. For this, it is necessary to perform good deeds for them, pleasing to God, to offer prayers, to order funeral masses and to donate money, buying indulgences. All these acts are called "propitiatory sacrifices" brought to God.

The notion of "super service"

In Catholicism there is also such a concept, completely alien to Orthodoxy, as "super-service to God." It was mentioned above that good deeds committed by a Catholic are regarded as his merits before the Most High, and if their number is not inferior to the number of sins, then they provide him with an unhindered road to heaven.

But after all, a man leading a righteous life, and not retreating from the Commandments of God, can accumulate much more than is required to cover his sins. It is these good deeds that exceed the required number that are called beyond merit, which, it turns out, can be shared with others, and help them reduce their stay in the purification fire.

In this regard, it should be noted the difference between Orthodox prayers addressed to the holy saints of God with a request for their intercession for us before God, and the prayers of Catholics, in which they ask the saints to share with them their superservations, and thereby help to avoid purgatory tortures.

Orthodox way to salvation

Having developed a general idea of how the followers of Catholicism imagine the transition to another world, it is interesting to understand what purgatory is in Orthodoxy. It should immediately be noted that there is no such thing in Eastern Christianity. Rejects even the very idea of "merit" before God, who are able to outweigh his sins.

The reason for this is in a completely different approach to the concept of the relationship between man and God. According to the teaching of the Orthodox Church Fathers, the human task is to purify the soul in this life for its subsequent unification with the Creator. To this end, he is obliged to fight the passions that bind him to the material world and turn away from thoughts of the coming eternity. It is they who bind a person to the sensual world, and push the way of deviation from God.

The malignancy of the sin of pride

Continuing the theme of the difference between the theological approach to the salvation of the soul in Orthodoxy and Catholicism, it should be emphasized that the Eastern churches, in principle, reject the idea of merit before God. Moreover, the holy fathers in their writings warn believers of the danger of falling into the gravest sin of pride, which often infects people who imagined themselves to be righteous as a result of their good deeds.

Even people who are weakly tempted in theology know that pride is one of the most serious mortal sins. It leads a person to pernicious conceit, based on a belief in his own self-sufficiency. Contrary to the evangelical words of Jesus Christ that without Him we can not do anything, to a man who is struck by this sin, it seems that he is not like others, and can do without God, and this leads to a break with the Creator and the imminent death . Therefore, the Orthodox Church teaches that, in doing good deeds, it is necessary to do this with humility and the consciousness that the forces and mind for their fulfillment are sent down by God, and therefore they can not be regarded as our merit in front of Him.

Love is the only way to the Kingdom of God

According to the teaching of the Orthodox Church, the Lord, having taken human nature, damaged by original sin, healed her with His cross sufferings, and gave people the opportunity, having united with him in the sacrament of the Holy Communion, to become heirs of eternal life. But this requires not Catholic accounting, in which merit is recorded in the asset, but sins are the responsibility, and the sincerity of repentance, and the consciousness of one's own impotence in isolation from the Almighty. God is love, and therefore only the soul, filled with this feeling in relation to the Creator and His creature - people, is able to enter into union with Him and find paradise.

Airlocks - the purgatory of the Orthodox soul

However, there is a very definite answer to the question of what is purgatory for an Orthodox person? According to the teachings of Eastern Christianity, its analogue is the airy ordeals that the soul passes in the first days after it leaves the body of the deceased.

These are some kind of obstacles that are destined to pass to her on the way to God, creating the court, as a result of which the place of her stay will be determined right up to the Last Judgment. Such ordeals, according to the teaching of the Orthodox Church, are twenty, and each of them corresponds to a certain kind of sins, generated by those very passions, to which the holy fathers call for struggle.

Human acts on the scales of inexorable judges

This is what purgatory and its interpretation are in the Orthodox vision. On the path of the troubles, two angels lead the soul that left its body. On the way they are waiting for demons, trying at every stage to take possession of the soul, and lead her to hell. But the guardian angel, who is persistently present at this, resists them.

The main attribute, without which this "Orthodox purgatory" can not do, is a book where all the sins committed by a person during life are written down, and which serves in the hands of demons as accusatory material. The guardian angel also makes a list, but already pleasing to God. It is this comparison of pluses and minuses that gives the basis for a certain parallel between what the airy ordeals in Orthodoxy are and what is the purgatory of the Catholics.

Inappropriate use of the term "purgatory"

It should be noted that in the modern language the word purgatory was used in a figurative sense. Often they are designated by some tests that fell to one or other people on the way to achieving the intended goal. But, in addition, there are cases of rather arbitrary use of this term.

An example is the Ukrainian website, which appeared relatively recently on the Internet, specializing in the prevention of crimes directed against the state. He is called "Peacemaker". Purgatory is a term they often use. But his editors use the site to indicate the list of persons who, in their opinion, represent a potential danger to the regime existing there.

Without going into the discussion of the validity of their choice, and the eligibility of actions, let us note only the liberty that the Peacemaker can use with religious terminology. Purgatory, like any other religious term, is appropriate to use only in its own meaning.