“Purgatory”的意思、由来-开放百科全书

The Catholic Church holds that "all who die in God's grace and friendship but still imperfectly purified" undergo this process (which the Church calls purgatory), "so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven". It has formulated this doctrine by reference to biblical verses that speak of purifying fire ({{bibleverse|1 Corinthians|3:15}} and {{bibleverse|1 Peter|1:7}}) and to the mention by Jesus of forgiveness in the age to come ({{bibleverse|Matthew|12:32}}). It bases its teaching also on the practice of praying for the dead in use within the Church ever since the Church began and which is mentioned even earlier in {{bibleverse|2 Macc|12:46}}.^[3]^[4]

According to Jacques Le Goff, the conception of purgatory as a physical place came into existence in Western Europe towards the end of the twelfth century.^[5] According to him, the conception involves the idea of a purgatorial fire, which he suggests "is expiatory and purifying not punitive like hell fire".^[6] At the Second Council of Lyon in 1247, strong Eastern Orthodox opposition to the idea of a third place in the afterlife containing fire was one of the differences that prevented reunification with the Catholic Church. That council's teaching on purgatory made no mention of these notions,^[7] which are absent also in the declarations by the Councils of Florence and Trent at which especially the Catholic Church formulated its doctrine on purgatory.^[8] Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI have declared that the term does not indicate a place, but a condition of existence.^[9]^[10]

The Church of England, mother church of the Anglican Communion, officially denounces what it calls "the Romish Doctrine concerning Purgatory",^[9] but the Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodox Churches, Methodist Churches,^[10] and elements of the Anglican and Lutheran traditions hold that for some there is cleansing after death and pray for the dead.^[11]^[12]^[13]^[14] Judaism also believes in the possibility of after-death purification and may even use the word "purgatory" to present its understanding of the meaning of the similar rabbinical concept of Gehenna.^[15]

The word "purgatory" has come to refer also to a wide range of historical and modern conceptions of postmortem suffering short of everlasting damnation^[18] and is used, in a non-specific sense, to mean any place or condition of suffering or torment, especially one that is temporary.^[16]

History of the belief

While use of the word "purgatory" (in Latin purgatorium) as a noun appeared perhaps only between 1160 and 1180, giving rise to the idea of purgatory as a place^[17] (what Jacques Le Goff called the "birth" of purgatory),^[18] the Roman Catholic tradition of purgatory as a transitional condition has a history that dates back, even before Jesus Christ, to the worldwide practice of caring for the dead and praying for them and to the belief, found also in Judaism,^[19] which is considered the precursor of Christianity, that prayer for the dead contributed to their afterlife purification. The same practice appears in other traditions, such as the medieval Chinese Buddhist practice of making offerings on behalf of the dead, who are said to suffer numerous trials.^[20] Roman Catholic belief in after-life purification is based on the practice of praying for the dead, which is mentioned in 2 Maccabees 12:42-44, which the Roman Catholic Church has declared to be part of Sacred Scripture,^[21]^[22] and that, according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, was adopted by Christians from the beginning,^[23] a practice that presupposes that the dead are thereby assisted between death and their entry into their final abode.^[20]

Over the centuries, theologians and others have developed theories, imagined descriptions and composed legends that have contributed to the formation of a popular idea of purgatory much more detailed and elaborate than the quite minimal elements that have been officially declared to be part of the authentic teaching of the Church.

Shortly before becoming a Roman Catholic,^[24] the English scholar John Henry Newman argued that the essence of the doctrine is locatable in ancient tradition, and that the core consistency of such beliefs is evidence that Christianity was "originally given to us from heaven".^[25] The Catholic Church's teaching on purgatory, defined in the Second Council of Lyon (1274), the Council of Florence (1438–1445), and the Council of Trent (1545–63),^[20]^[26] is without the imaginative accretions of the popular idea of purgatory.

Christianity

Some denominations, typically Roman Catholicism, recognize the doctrine of purgatory, while many Protestant and Eastern Orthodox churches would not use the same terminology, the former on the basis of their own sola scriptura doctrine, combined with their exclusion of 2 Maccabees from the Protestant Canon of the Bible, the latter because the Orthodox Churches consider purgatory a non-essential doctrine.

Catholicism

The Catholic Church gives the name purgatory to the final purification of all who die in God's grace and friendship but are still imperfectly purified.^[27] Though in popular imagination purgatory is pictured as a place rather than a process of purification, the idea of purgatory as a physical place with time is not part of the Church's doctrine.^[28] Fire, another important element of the purgatory of popular imagination, is also absent in the Catholic Church's doctrine.

The purgatory of Catholic doctrine

At the Second Council of Lyon in 1274, the Catholic Church defined, for the first time, its teaching on purgatory, in two points:

A century and a half later, the Council of Florence repeated the same two points in practically the same words, again excluding certain elements of the purgatory of popular imagination, in particular fire and place, against which representatives of the Orthodox Church spoke at the council:^[30]

The Council of Trent repeated the same two points and moreover in its 4 December 1563 Decree Concerning Purgatory recommended avoidance of speculations and non-essential questions:

Catholic doctrine on purgatory is presented as composed of the same two points in the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, first published in 2005, which is a summary in dialogue form of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It deals with purgatory in the following exchange:^[33]

These two questions and answers summarize information in sections 1030–1032^[34] and 1054^[35] of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, published in 1992, which also speaks of purgatory in sections 1472−1473.^[36]

Role in relation to sin

According to Catholic doctrine, those who die in God's grace and friendship imperfectly purified, although they are assured of their eternal salvation, undergo a purification after death, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of God.^[37]

Unless "redeemed by repentance and God's forgiveness", mortal sin, whose object is grave matter and is also committed with full knowledge and deliberate consent, "causes exclusion from Christ's kingdom and the eternal death of hell, for our freedom has the power to make choices for ever, with no turning back."^[38] Such sin "makes us incapable of eternal life, the privation of which is called the 'eternal punishment' of sin".^[39]

Venial (meaning "forgivable") sin, while not depriving the sinner of friendship with God or the eternal happiness of heaven.^[40] "weakens charity, manifests a disordered affection for created goods, and impedes the soul's progress in the exercise of the virtues and the practice of the moral good; it merits temporal punishment",^[40] for "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".^[39]

"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."^[41]

This purification from our sinful tendencies has been compared to rehabilitation of someone who needs to be cleansed of any addiction, a gradual and probably painful process. It can be advanced during life by voluntary self-mortification and penance and by deeds of generosity that show love of God rather than of creatures. If not completed before death, it can still be a needed for entering the divine presence.^[42] Saint Catherine of Genoa said: "As for paradise, God has placed no doors there. Whoever wishes to enter, does so. An all-merciful God stands there with His arms open, waiting to receive us into His glory. I also see, however, that the divine presence is so pure and light-filled – much more than we can imagine – that the soul that has but the slightest imperfection would rather throw itself into a thousand hells than appear thus before the divine presence."^[43]

A person seeking purification from sinful tendencies is not alone. Because of the communion of saints: "the holiness of one profits others, well beyond the harm that the sin of one could cause others. Thus recourse to the communion of saints lets the contrite sinner be more promptly and efficaciously purified of the punishments for sin".^[44] The Catholic Church states that, through the granting of indulgences for manifestations of devotion, penance and charity by the living, it opens for individuals "the treasury of the merits of Christ and the saints to obtain from the Father of mercies the remission of the temporal punishments due for their sins".^[45]

Speculations and imaginings about purgatory

Over and beyond the two points that constitute the Catholic Church's teaching on purgatory, saints and theologians have had their additional not always concordant ideas, reflecting or contributing to the popular image of purgatory. That popular image includes the notions of purification by actual fire, in a determined place and for a precise length of time; these are theological opinions, not Church teaching. Paul J. Griffiths notes: "Recent Catholic thought on purgatory typically preserves the essentials of the basic doctrine while also offering second-hand speculative interpretations of these elements".^[46] Thus Joseph Ratzinger wrote: "Purgatory is not, as Tertullian thought, some kind of supra-worldly concentration camp where man is forced to undergo punishment in a more or less arbitrary fashion. Rather it is the inwardly necessary process of transformation in which a person becomes capable of Christ, capable of God, and thus capable of unity with the whole communion of saints".^[47]

The speculations and popular imaginings that, especially in late medieval times, were common in the Western or Latin Church have not necessarily found acceptance in the eastern Catholic Churches, of which there are 23 in full communion with the Pope. Some have explicitly rejected the notions of punishment by fire in a particular place that are prominent in the popular picture of purgatory. The representatives of the Orthodox Church at the Council of Florence argued against these notions, while declaring that they do hold that there is a cleansing after death of the souls of the saved and that these are assisted by the prayers of the living: "If souls depart from this life in faith and charity but marked with some defilements, whether unrepented minor ones or major ones repented of but without having yet borne the fruits of repentance, we believe that within reason they are purified of those faults, but not by some purifying fire and particular punishments in some place."^[48] The definition of purgatory adopted by that council excluded the two notions with which the Orthodox disagreed and mentioned only the two points that, they said, were part of their faith also. Accordingly, the agreement, known as the Union of Brest, that formalized the admission of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church into the full communion of the Roman Catholic Church stated: "We shall not debate about purgatory, but we entrust ourselves to the teaching of the Holy Church",^[49] implying, in the opinion of a theologian of that Church, that both sides can agree to disagree on theological speculations and opinions about what is called purgatory, while there is full agreement on defined dogma: "In the Catholic understanding, only two points 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. The Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches agree with the Latin Church fully on both of these points. In practice, we routinely celebrate Divine Liturgies for the dead, and offer numerous prayers on their behalf. We would not do so if we did not agree with the above two dogmatic points."^[50]

Fire

Fire has an important place in the popular image of purgatory and has been the object of speculation by theologians, speculation to which the article on purgatory in the Catholic Encyclopedia relates the warning by the Council of Trent against "difficult and subtle questions which tend not to edification."^[51]

Fire has never been included in the Catholic Church's defined doctrine on purgatory, but speculation about it is traditional. "The tradition of the Church, by reference to certain texts of Scripture, speaks of a cleansing fire."^[52] In this regard the Catechism of the Catholic Church references in particular two New Testament passages: "If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire"^[53] and "so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ".^[54] Catholic theologians have also cited verses such as "I will put this third into the fire, and refine them as one refines silver, and test them as gold is tested. They will call upon my name, and I will answer them. I will say, 'They are my people'; and they will say, 'The LORD is my God'",^[55] a verse that the Jewish school of Shammai applied to God's judgment on those who are not completely just nor entirely evil.^[56]^[57]

Use of the image of a purifying fire goes back as far as Origen who, with reference to {{bibleverse|1|Corinthians|3:10–15|ESV}}, seen as referring to a process by which the dross of lighter transgressions will be burnt away, and the soul, thus purified, will be saved,^[51] wrote: "Suppose you have built, after the foundation which Christ Jesus has taught, not only gold, silver, and precious stones − if indeed you possess gold and much silver or little − suppose you have silver, precious stones, but I say not only these elements, but suppose that you have also wood and hay and stubble, what does he wish you to become after your final departure? To enter afterwards then into the holy lands with your wood and with your hay and stubble so that you may defile the Kingdom of God? But again do you want to be left behind in the fire on account of the hay, the wood, the stubble, and to receive nothing due you for the gold and the silver and precious stone? That is not reasonable. What then? It follows that you receive the fire first due to the wood, and the hay and the stubble. For to those able to perceive, our God is said to be in reality a consuming fire."^[58] Origen also speaks of a refining fire melting away the lead of evil deeds, leaving behind only pure gold.^[59]

Medieval theologians accepted the association of purgatory with fire. Thus the Summa Theologica of Thomas Aquinas considered it probable that purgatory was situated close to hell, so that the same fire that tormented the damned cleansed the just souls in purgatory.^[63]

Since fire is not part of defined Catholic doctrine on purgatory, ideas about it have changed with time: in the early 20th century the Catholic Encyclopedia reported that, while in the past most theologians had held that the fire of purgatory was in some sense a material fire, though of a nature different from ordinary fire, the view of what then seemed to be the majority of theologians was that the term was to be understood metaphorically.^[64]

In his 2007 encyclical Spe salvi, Pope Benedict XVI, referring to the words of Paul the Apostle in {{bibleverse|1|Corinthians|3:12–15|ESV}} about a fire that both burns and saves, spoke of the opinion that "the fire which both burns and saves is Christ himself, the Judge and Saviour. The encounter with him is the decisive act of judgement. Before his gaze all falsehood melts away. This encounter with him, as it burns us, transforms and frees us, allowing us to become truly ourselves. All that we build during our lives can prove to be mere straw, pure bluster, and it collapses. Yet in the pain of this encounter, when the impurity and sickness of our lives become evident to us, there lies salvation. His gaze, the touch of his heart heals us through an undeniably painful transformation 'as through fire'. But it is a blessed pain, in which the holy power of his love sears through us like a flame, enabling us to become totally ourselves and thus totally of God. In this way the inter-relation between justice and grace also becomes clear: the way we live our lives is not immaterial, but our defilement does not stain us for ever if we have at least continued to reach out towards Christ, towards truth and towards love. Indeed, it has already been burned away through Christ's Passion. At the moment of judgement we experience and we absorb the overwhelming power of his love over all the evil in the world and in ourselves. The pain of love becomes our salvation and our joy. It is clear that we cannot calculate the 'duration' of this transforming burning in terms of the chronological measurements of this world. The transforming 'moment' of this encounter eludes earthly time-reckoning — it is the heart's time, it is the time of 'passage' to communion with God in the Body of Christ."^[66]

Popular notion of purgatory as fiery

Beth Felker Jones has commented: "Popular ideas about purgatory have been prone to extreme mythological excess, imagining all kinds of horrors on the path of purgation."^[67]

Although the defined teaching of the Catholic Church concerning purgatory makes no mention of fire, this element is perhaps the most prominent feature in the popular image of purgatory.

Popular notion of purgatory as a place

In his La naissance du Purgatoire (The Birth of Purgatory), Jacques Le Goff attributes the origin of the idea of a third other-world domain, similar to heaven and hell, called Purgatory, to Paris intellectuals and Cistercian monks at some point in the last three decades of the twelfth century, possibly as early as 1170−1180. Previously, the Latin adjective purgatorius, as in purgatorius ignis (cleansing fire) existed, but only then did the noun purgatorium appear, used as the name of a place called Purgatory.^[68]

The change happened at about the same time as the composition of the book Tractatus de Purgatorio Sancti Patricii, an account by an English Cistercian of a penitent knight's visit to the land of purgatory reached through a cave in the island known as Station Island or St Patrick's Purgatory in the lake of Lough Derg, County Donegal, Ireland. Le Goff said this book "occupies an essential place in the history of Purgatory, in whose success it played an important, if not decisive, role".^[69]

Le Goff dedicates the final chapter of his book to the Purgatorio, the second book in Dante's fourteenth-century La divina commedia (The Divine Comedy). In an interview Le Goff declared: "Dante's Purgatorio represents the sublime conclusion of the slow development of Purgatory that took place in the course of the Middle Ages. The power of Dante's poetry made a decisive contribution to fixing in the public imagination this 'third place', whose birth was on the whole quite recent."^[70]

Dante pictures purgatory as an island at the antipodes of Jerusalem, pushed up, in an otherwise empty sea, by the displacement caused by the fall of Satan, which left him fixed at the central point of the globe of the Earth. The cone-shaped island has seven terraces on which souls are cleansed from the seven deadly sins or capital vices as they ascend. Additional spurs at the base hold those for whom beginning the ascent is delayed because in life they were excommunicates, indolent or late repenters. At the summit is the earthly paradise, from where the souls, cleansed of evil tendencies and made perfect, are taken to heaven.

The Catholic Church has not included in its teaching this idea of purgatory as a place, any more than it has sealed with its authority the idea of a Limbo, which also has been postulated by some theologians.

On 4 August 1999, Pope John Paul II, speaking of purgatory, said: "The term does not indicate a place, but a condition of existence. Those who, after death, exist in a state of purification, are already in the love of Christ who removes from them the remnants of imperfection as "a condition of existence".^[28]

Similarly in 2011, Pope Benedict XVI, speaking of Saint Catherine of Genoa (1447–1510) in relation to purgatory, said that "In her day it was depicted mainly using images linked to space: a certain space was conceived of in which purgatory was supposed to be located. Catherine, however, did not see purgatory as a scene in the bowels of the earth: for her it is not an exterior but rather an interior fire. This is purgatory: an inner fire."^[71]

Eastern Orthodoxy

While the Eastern Orthodox Church rejects the term purgatory, it acknowledges an intermediate state after death. It believes in the determination of Heaven and Hell as stated in the Bible and that prayer for the dead is necessary. According to the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America:

Eastern Orthodox teaching is that, while all undergo a Particular Judgment immediately after death, neither the just nor the wicked attain the final state of bliss or punishment before the Last Day,^[73] with some exceptions for righteous souls like the Theotokos (Blessed Virgin Mary), "who was borne by the angels directly to heaven."^[74]

The Eastern Orthodox Church holds that it is necessary to believe in this intermediate after-death state in which souls are perfected and brought to full divinization, a process of growth rather than of punishment, which some Orthodox have called purgatory.^[75] Eastern Orthodox theology does not generally describe the situation of the dead as involving suffering or fire, although it nevertheless describes it as a "direful condition".^[76] The souls of the righteous dead 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 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."^[77]

The state in which souls undergo this experience is often referred to as "Hades".^[78]

The Orthodox Confession of Peter Mogila (1596–1646), 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. 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).^[79]

The Eastern Orthodox Synod of Jerusalem (1672) declared: "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."^[76]

Some Orthodox believe in a teaching of "aerial toll-houses" for the souls of the dead. According to this theory, which is rejected by other Orthodox but appears in the hymnology of the Church,^[80] "following a person's death the soul leaves the body and is escorted to God by angels. During this journey the soul passes through an aerial realm which is ruled by demons. The soul encounters these demons at various points referred to as 'toll-houses' where the demons then attempt to accuse it of sin and, if possible, drag the soul into hell."^[81]

Protestantism

In general, Protestant churches reject the Roman Catholic doctrine of purgatory although some teach the existence of an intermediate state. Many Protestant denominations, though not all, teach the doctrine of sola scriptura ("scripture alone") or prima scriptura ("scripture first"). The general Protestant view is that the Bible, from which Protestants exclude deuterocanonical books such as 2 Maccabees, contains no overt, explicit discussion of purgatory and therefore it should be rejected as an unbiblical belief.^[82]

Another view held by many Protestants, such as the Lutheran Churches and the Reformed Churches, is sola fide ("by faith alone"): that faith alone is what achieves salvation, and that good works are merely evidence of that faith.^[83] Justification is generally seen as a discrete event that takes place once for all during one's lifetime, not the result of a transformation of character. However, most Protestants teach that a transformation of character naturally follows the salvation experience; others, such as those of the Methodist tradition (inclusive of the Holiness Movement) teach that after justification, Christians must pursue holiness and good works.^[84]^[85] Those who have been saved by God are destined for heaven, while those have not been saved will be excluded from heaven.^[86]

Some Protestants hold that a person enters into the fullness of one's bliss or torment only after the resurrection of the body, and that the soul in that interim state is conscious and aware of the fate in store for it.^[87] Others have held that souls in the intermediate state between death and resurrection are without consciousness, a state known as soul sleep.^[88]

As an argument for the existence of purgatory, Protestant religious philosopher Jerry L. Walls^[89] wrote Purgatory: The Logic of Total Transformation (2011). The book evoked reviews and news stories. It received a positive review in the Roman Catholic University of Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews: "Historically informed, philosophically competent, and theologically alert, [...] as careful and fair a discussion of the doctrine of purgatory as one is likely to find."^[90] The Christian Century suggested that, if Protestants followed Walls’ logic, they might accept his view of an intermediate state without calling it purgatory.^[91] Within early Christianity, he finds "biblical hints of purgatory" and examines them. In a survey of Christian writers, whom he calls the "Fathers and Mothers of Purgatory", Walls finds the beginnings of the doctrine of purgatory in their writings. These three sources led up to the "birth of purgatory" in the 12th century. The 13th century saw the beginnings of purgatory’s adoption and its adoption as doctrine in 1274.^[92] Walls does not base his belief in purgatory primarily on Scripture, the Mothers and Fathers of the Church, or the Magisterium (doctrinal authority) of the Roman Catholic church. Rather his basic argument is that, in a phrase he often uses, it "makes sense."^[93] For Walls, purgatory has a logic as in the title of his book. Walls documents the "contrast between the satisfaction and sanctification models" of purgatory. In the satisfaction model, "the punishment of purgatory" is to satisfy God’s justice. In the sanctification model, Wall writes that "Purgatory might be pictured . . . as a regimen to regain one’s spiritual health and get back into moral shape."^[94] In Roman Catholic theology, Walls finds that the doctrine of purgatory has "swung" between the "poles of satisfaction and sanctification" sometimes "combining both elements somewhere in the middle." He believes the sanctification model "can be affirmed by Protestants without contradicting their theology" and find that it "makes better sense" than an instantaneous purging of sin at the moment of death.^[95]

While purgatory was disputed by the reformers, the Early Patristic Theologians of the Eastern Church taught and believed in "apokatastasis", the belief that all creation would be restored to the original perfect condition after a remedial purgatorial reformation. St. Clement of Alexandria was one of the early church theologians who taught this view through key scriptures. Many today are discovering that the reformers did an injustice to Early Christian understandings concerning purgatorial restoration. Protestants have always contended that there are no second chances. However, Lutherans have a similar doctrine of what may happen to the unevangelized in a book titled What about those who never heard. Also several Apologists of both Protestant,Universalist and Catholic backgrounds dig deeper into the subject in the book, "Four Views of Hell". Thomas Talbott^[96] and David Burnfield both wrote books defending the Early Church view of the unlimited atonement, and the ultimate salvation of all mankind.

Anglicanism

Purgatory was addressed by both of the "foundation features" of Anglicanism in the 16th century: the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion and the Book of Common Prayer.^[97]

Article XXII of the Thirty-Nine Articles states that "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."^[98] Prayers for the departed were deleted from the 1552 Book of Common Prayer because they suggested a doctrine of purgatory. The 19th century Anglo-Catholic revival led to restoring prayers for the dead.^[99]

As of the year 2000, the state of the doctrine of purgatory in Anglicanism was summarized as follows:

Anglican Bishop John Henry Hobart (1775–1830) wrote that "Hades, or the place of the dead, is represented as a spacious receptacle with gates, through which the dead enter."^[102] The Anglican Catechist of 1855 elaborated on Hades, stating that it "is an intermediate state between death and the resurrection, in which the soul does not sleep in unconsciousness, but exists in happiness or misery till the resurrection, when it shall be reunited to the body and receive its final reward."^[103] This intermediate state includes both Paradise and Gehenna, "but with an impassable gulf between the two".^[12] Souls remain in Hades until the Final Judgment and "Christians may also improve in holiness after death during the middle state before the final judgment."^[104]

Anglican theologian C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), reflecting on the history of the doctrine of purgatory in the Anglican Communion, said there were good reasons for "casting doubt on the 'Romish doctrine concerning Purgatory' as that Romish doctrine had then become" not merely a "commercial scandal" but also the picture in which the souls are tormented by devils, whose presence is "more horrible and grievous to us than is the pain itself," and where the spirit who suffers the tortures cannot, for pain, "remember God as he ought to do." Lewis believed instead in purgatory as presented in John Henry Newman's The Dream of Gerontius. By this poem, Lewis wrote, "Religion has reclaimed Purgatory," a process of purification that will normally involve suffering.^[106]

Lutheranism

A core statement of Lutheran doctrine, from the Book of Concord, states: "We know that the ancients speak of prayer for the dead, which we do not prohibit; but we disapprove of the application ex opere operato of the Lord's Supper on behalf of the dead. ... Epiphanius {{bracket|of Salamis}} testifies that Aerius {{bracket|of Sebaste}} held that prayers for the dead are useless. With this he finds fault. Neither do we favor Aerius, but we do argue with you because you defend a heresy that clearly conflicts with the prophets, apostles, and Holy Fathers, namely, that the Mass justifies ex opere operato, that it merits the remission of guilt and punishment even for the unjust, to whom it is applied, if they do not present an obstacle." (Philipp Melanchthon, Apology of the Augsburg Confession).^[108] {{cn span|High Church Lutheranism, like Anglo-Catholicism, is more likely to accept some form of purgatory.|date=October 2017}}

Methodism

Latter-day Saint Movement

Judaism

In Judaism, Gehenna is a place of purification where, according to some traditions, most sinners spend up to a year before release.

The view of purgatory can be found in the teaching of the Shammaites: "In the last judgment day there shall be three classes of souls: the righteous shall at once be written down for the life everlasting; the wicked, for Gehenna; but those whose virtues and sins counterbalance one another shall go down to Gehenna and float up and down until they rise purified; for of them it is said: 'I will bring the third part into the fire and refine them as silver is refined, and try them as gold is tried' [Zech. xiii. 9.]; also, 'He [the Lord] bringeth down to Sheol and bringeth up again'" (I Sam. ii. 6). The Hillelites seem to have had no purgatory; for they said: "He who is 'plenteous in mercy' [Ex. xxxiv. 6.] inclines the balance toward mercy, and consequently the intermediates do not descend into Gehenna" (Tosef., Sanh. xiii. 3; R. H. 16b; Bacher, "Ag. Tan." i. 18). Still they also speak of an intermediate state.

Regarding the time which purgatory lasts, the accepted opinion of R. Akiba is twelve months; according to R. Johanan b. Nuri, it is only forty-nine days. Both opinions are based upon Isa. lxvi. 23–24: "From one new moon to another and from one Sabbath to another shall all flesh come to worship before Me, and they shall go forth and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against Me; for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched"; the former interpreting the words "from one new moon to another" to signify all the months of a year; the latter interpreting the words "from one Sabbath to another," in accordance with Lev. xxiii. 15–16, to signify seven weeks. During the twelve months, declares the baraita (Tosef., Sanh. xiii. 4–5; R. H. 16b), the souls of the wicked are judged, and after these twelve months are over they are consumed and transformed into ashes under the feet of the righteous (according to Mal. iii. 21 [A. V. iv. 3]), whereas the great seducers and blasphemers are to undergo eternal tortures in Gehenna without cessation (according to Isa. lxvi. 24).

The righteous, however, and, according to some, also the sinners among the people of Israel for whom Abraham intercedes because they bear the Abrahamic sign of the covenant are not harmed by the fire of Gehenna even when they are required to pass through the intermediate state of purgatory ('Er. 19b; Ḥag. 27a).^[117]

Islam

Islam has a concept similar to that of purgatory in Christianity. Barzakh is thought to be a realm between paradise (Jannah) and hell (Jahannam) and according to Ghazali the place of those who go neither to hell or to heaven.^[118] But because it does not purify the souls it resembles more the Christian limbo than the purgatory.

In some cases, the Islamic concept of hell may resemble the concept of Catholic doctrine of purgatory,^[119] for Jahannam just punishes people according to their deeds and releases them after their habits are purified. A limited duration in Jahannam is not universally accepted in Islam.^[120]

Cultural references

Literary references to purgatory go back at least as far as Dante Alighieri. In his Divine Comedy story Purgatorio, Mount Purgatory is split into different terraces for those being made to be ready for heaven. At the top of Mount Purgatory is the Garden of Eden.^[121]

In the 1991 film Defending Your Life, "purgatory is like Paradise City" in which "souls hang around awaiting the verdict of their hearings."^[122]

The TV series Sleepy Hollow uses purgatory as the world of the dead and undead, with characters often forced to travel to purgatory to find key items or rescue important allies.^[123]

The movie Gabriel takes place in purgatory, which the Fallen Angels have transformed into a Dark City.

Purgatory is referenced in the American TV series Supernatural as a place to which all monsters go after they are killed. It also serves as the prison of the Leviathans (essentially God's prototypes, locked into purgatory since they were too dangerous).^[124]

The TV series "Wynonna Earp" takes place in a town called Purgatory. Wynonna Earp, the great-great-granddaughter of legendary lawman Wyatt Earp fights revenants and other supernatural.

See also

References

1. ^"Purgatory," Oxford English Dictionary
2. ^[https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/purgatory Merriam-Webster Dictionary]
3. ^Catechism of the Catholic Church, "The Final Purification, or Purgatory"
4. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.ewtn.com/library/COUNCILS/TRENT25.HTM#1|title=Pius IV Council of Trent-25|website=www.ewtn.com}}
5. ^LeGoff, Jacques. The Birth of Purgatory. Trans. Arthur Goldhammer. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1986, Pg 362–66
6. ^[https://www.academia.edu/9873864/Purgatory_A_Study_of_the_Historical_Development_and_Its_Compatibility_with_the_Biblical_Teaching_on_the_Afterlife Robert Osei-Bonsu, "Purgatory: A Study of the Historical Development and Its Compatibility with the Biblical Teaching on the Afterlife" in Philosophy Study, ISSN 2159-5313 April 2012, Vol. 2, No. 4, p. 291]
7. ^[https://books.google.com/books?id=xnqI8uSeekwC&pg=PA208&dq=%22third+place+or+as+containing+fire%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiu8abE5fLgAhUGTxUIHT-ACs8Q6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&q=%22third%20place%20or%20as%20containing%20fire%22&f=false Karen Hartnup, 'On the Beliefs of the Greeks': Leo Allatios and Popular Orthodoxy (BRILL 2004), p. 2008]
8. ^{{cite book |title=Catechism of the Catholic Church #1030−1031 |url=http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p123a12.htm |accessdate=8 March 2019}}
9. ^[https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/worship-texts-and-resources/book-common-prayer/articles-religion Articles of Religion, article XXII]
10. ^{{cite book|last=Gould|first=James B.|title=Understanding Prayer for the Dead: Its Foundation in History and Logic|date=4 August 2016|publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers|language=English |isbn=9781620329887|pages=57–58|quote=The Roman Catholic and English Methodist churches both pray for the dead. Their consensus statement confirms that "over the centuries in the Catholic tradition praying for the dead has developed into a variety of practices, especially through the Mass. ... The Methodist church ... has prayers for the dead ... Methodists who pray for the dead thereby commend them to the continuing mercy of God."}}
11. ^{{cite book|author=Jerry L. Walls|title=Purgatory: The Logic of Total Transformation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kFqzG3UPz3EC&pg=PA61|year=2012|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=61|isbn=9780199732296}}
12. ^¹{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/?id=DPAGAAAAQAAJ&q=%22Anglican+orthodoxy+without%22&dq=%22Anglican+orthodoxy+without%22 |last=Cook|first=Joseph|title=Advanced thought in Europe, Asia, Australia, &c|accessdate=10 April 2014|year=1883|publisher=Richard D. Dickinson |location=London |page=41|quote=Anglican orthodoxy, without protest, has allowed high authorities to teach that there is an intermediate state, Hades, including both Gehenna and Paradise, but with an impassable gulf between the two.}}
13. ^{{cite book|last=Gould|first=James B.|title=Understanding Prayer for the Dead: Its Foundation in History and Logic|date=4 August 2016|publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers|language=English |isbn=9781532606014|page=50}}
14. ^Olivier Clément, L'Église orthodoxe. Presses Universitaires de France, 2006, Section 3, IV
15. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.chabad.org/search/keyword_cdo/kid/10797/jewish/Gehinnom.htm|title=Browse by Subject|publisher=}}
16. ^{{cite web|url=http://dictionary.reverso.net/english-definitions/purgatory|title=purgatory definition - English definition dictionary - Reverso|website=dictionary.reverso.net}}
17. ^[https://books.google.com/books?id=DnEQQaTQy4wC&pg=PA18&dq=le+goff+purgatoire&cd=4#v=onepage&q=le%20goff%20purgatoire&f=false Megan McLaughlin, Consorting with Saints: Prayer for the Dead in Early Medieval France (Cornell University Press 1994] {{ISBN|978-0-8014-2648-3}}), p. 18
18. ^LeGoff, Jacques. The Birth of Purgatory. Trans. Arthur Goldhammer. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1986, Pg 362–66
19. ^Cf.{{bibleverse|2|Maccabees|12:42–44|NRSV}}
20. ^¹²³Purgatory in Encyclopædia Britannica
21. ^{{cite web|editor-last1=Waterworth |editor-first1=J.|title=The Council of Trent, Decree concerning the Canonical Scriptures|url=http://history.hanover.edu/texts/trent/trentall.html|website=Hanover Historical Texts Project|accessdate=18 February 2015}}
22. ^{{cite web|last1=Council of Trent|title=Decree concerning the Canonical Scriptures|url=http://www.ewtn.com/library/COUNCILS/TRENT4.HTM|publisher=EWTN|accessdate=18 February 2015}}
23. ^{{cite book|title=Catechism of the Catholic Church|chapter-url=http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P2N.HTM|accessdate=18 February 2015|chapter=1032}}
24. ^Newman was working on An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine since 1842 (Encyclopædia Britannica 1911, i.e. Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, and sent it to the printer in September 1845 (Ian Turnbull Kern, Newman the Theologian - University of Notre Dame Press 1990 {{ISBN|9780268014698}}, p. 149). He was received into the Catholic Church on 9 October of the same year.
25. ^John Henry Newman, An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, chapter 2, section 3, paragraph 2.
26. ^Denzinger, The Sources of Catholic Dogma (Enchiridion Symbolorum), 456, 464, 693, 840, 983, 998.
27. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P2N.HTM|title=Catechism of the Catholic Church - IntraText|website=www.vatican.va}}
28. ^¹²{{cite web|url=http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/audiences/1999/documents/hf_jp-ii_aud_04081999_en.html|title=4 August 1999 - John Paul II|website=www.vatican.va}}
29. ^Denzinger 856; original text in Latin: [http://catho.org/9.php?d=bxx#bqn "Quod si vere paenitentes ..."]
30. ^[https://archive.org/details/patrologiaorient15pariuoft/page/40 "First speech by Mark, Archbishop of Ephesus, on the purifying fire" in Patrologia Orientalis, vol. 15, pp. 40–41]
31. ^Denzinger 1304; original text in Latin: "Item, si vere paenitentes ..."
32. ^[http://www.clerus.org/bibliaclerusonline/en/dxd.htm Denzinger 1820; original text in Latin: [http://catho.org/9.php?d=bx5#chf "Cum catholica Ecclesia, Spiritu Sancto edocta, ..."]
33. ^Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 210–211
34. ^Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1030–1032
35. ^Catechism of the Catholic Churchm 1054
36. ^Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1472−1473
37. ^CCC 1054
38. ^Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1855−1861
39. ^¹Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1472
40. ^¹{{cite web|url=http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P6C.HTM|title=CCC 1863}}
41. ^Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1472
42. ^[https://books.google.com/books?id=5bOBVYHxXrEC&pg=PA182&dq=Mulder+unhealthy+attachment&hl=en&sa=X&ei=LM6KVLbWBsS17ga1n4DwAw&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Mulder%20unhealthy%20attachment&f=false Jack Mulder, Kierkegaard and the Catholic Tradition: Conflict and Dialogue (Indiana University Press 2010] {{ISBN|978-0-25335536-2}}), pp. 182–183
43. ^Quoted in [https://books.google.com/books?id=oPuESCWr9RcC&pg=PT36&dq=Groeschel+purgatory&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ptOKVJSQFMar7AabgoHQAw&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Groeschel%20purgatory&f=false Benedict J. Groeschel, A Still, Small Voice (Ignatius Press 1993] {{ISBN|978-0-89870436-5}}
44. ^Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1475
45. ^Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1478
46. ^{{cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N1XYXMTe1jYC&pg=PA436&dq=Griffiths+purgatory+second-order&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi42pv2wNHfAhWyQxUIHZV2A14Q6AEILjAB#v=onepage&q=Griffiths%20purgatory%20second-order&f=false |author=Paul J. Griffiths |chapter=Purgatory |editor=Jerry L. Walls |title=The Oxford Handbook of Eschatology |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2010 |p=436}}
47. ^{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AfomsX5KtYkC&pg=PA230&dq=supra-worldly+concentration&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiP3qnFxNHfAhW1sHEKHUfRD9cQ6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&q=supra-worldly%20concentration&f=false |author=Joseph Ratzinger |title=Eschatology: Death and Eternal Life |publisher=CUA Press |year=2007 |p=230}}
48. ^[https://archive.org/details/patrologiaorient15pariuoft/page/40 "First Speech by Mark, Archbishop of Ephesus, on Purifying Fire" in Patrologia Orientalis, vol. 15, pp. 40–41]
49. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1595brest.html|title=Treaty of Brest, Article 5|publisher=}}
50. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.east2west.org/doctrine.htm#Purgatory|title=Doctrine - From East to West|date=9 July 2016}}
51. ^¹{{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12575a.htm|title=CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Purgatory|website=www.newadvent.org}}
52. ^Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1031
53. ^{{Bibleverse|1|Corinthians|3:15|ESV}}
54. ^{{Bibleverse|1|Peter|1:7|ESV}}
55. ^{{Bibleverse|Zechariah|13:9|ESV}}
56. ^[https://books.google.com/books?id=PjHdj_3oYkQC&pg=PA149&lpg=PA149&dq=%22Zechariah+13:9%22+%22shammai%22&source=bl&ots=PWPceefoHN&sig=PyERoB-CSmPjcCDsMiCDxb9e3aE&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjC4c6wgsrfAhVzTBUIHYuuCYcQ6AEwDHoECAMQAQ#v=onepage&q=%22Zechariah%2013%3A9%22%20%22shammai%22&f=false Daniel Sperber, Why Jews Do what They Do: The History of Jewish Customs Throughout the Cycle of the Jewish Year (KTAV 1999), p. 149]
57. ^Edward P. Saunders, "Do we know what happens in Purgatory? Is there really a fire?"
58. ^[https://books.google.com/books?id=I2g1z_oltV8C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=wood%20hay&f=false Origen, Homily 16, in Homilies on Jeremiah and 1 Kings 28 (CUA Press 1998), pp. 173−174]; original text: [https://books.google.com/books?id=wnDYAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA315&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=3#v=onepage&q&f=false Patrologia graeca, vol. 13, col. 415 C−D]
59. ^{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=sLpDsFbzv2wC&pg=PA330#v=onepage&q&f=false#page=330 |title=Homily VI on Exodus section 4 (Patrologia graeca, vol. 12, col. 334–335|year=1862}}
60. ^Gregory the Great, Dialogues, book IV, chapter 39
61. ^"When he has quitted his body and the difference between virtue and vice is known he cannot approach God till the purging fire shall have cleansed the stains with which his soul was infested. That same fire in others will cancel the corruption of matter, and the propensity to evil" (Gregory of Nyssa, Sermon on the Dead, PG 13:445,448)
62. ^[https://books.google.ie/books?id=YfGZAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA374&lpg=PA374&dq=Ramelli+Nyssa+%22throughout+his+production%22&source=bl&ots=9LDuWX_THF&sig=U8kGYdiMMoq5TNkJH5iR2NBZNUU&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwifn5CU5M7fAhXzuXEKHS4ABO4Q6AEwAHoECAAQAQ#v=onepage&q=Ramelli%20Nyssa%20%22throughout%20his%20production%22&f=false Ilaria Ramelli, The Christian Doctrine of Apokatastasis: A Critical Assessment from the New Testament to Eriugena (BRILL 2013), p. 374]
63. ^Summa Theologica, appendix 2, article 2: "Whether it is the same place where souls are cleansed, and the damned punished?"
64. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07207a.htm#VI|title=CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Hell|website=www.newadvent.org}}
65. ^Pope Benedict XVI, General Audience of 12 January 2011
66. ^Encyclical Spe salvi, 46–47].
67. ^[https://books.google.com/books?id=nC4oAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT205&dq=%22popular+ideas+about+purgatory%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiuqai6yMnfAhXCRBUIHbTACh8Q6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&q=%22popular%20ideas%20about%20purgatory%22&f=false Beth Felker Jones, Practicing Christian Doctrine: An Introduction to Thinking and Living Theologically (Baker Academic 2014)]
68. ^[https://books.google.com/books?id=4dzynjFfX7kC&dq=Goff+birth+purgatory&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwirwrjM89HfAhVjtnEKHTUNBMoQ6AEIKDAA Jacques Le Goff, The Birth of Purgatory (University of Chicago Press 1986), pp. 167−168]
69. ^Le Goff (1986), p. 193
70. ^[https://ricerca.repubblica.it/repubblica/archivio/repubblica/2005/09/27/invenzione-del-purgatorio.html Fabio Gambaro, "L'invenzione del purgatorio" in La Repubblica, 27 September 2005]
71. ^¹Saint Catherine of Genoa. BENEDICT XVI GENERAL AUDIENCE, January 12, 2011, accessed May 15, 2018
72. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.goarch.org/ourfaith/ourfaith7076|title=Death, the Threshold to Eternal Life - Liturgy & Worship - Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America|website=www.goarch.org}}
73. ^John Meyondorff, Byzantine Theology (London: Mowbrays, 1974) pp. 220–221. "At death man's body goes to the earth from which it was taken, and the soul, being immortal, goes to God, who gave it. The souls of men, being conscious and exercising all their faculties immediately after death, are judged by God. This judgment following man's death we call the Particular Judgment. The final reward of men, however, we believe will take place at the time of the General Judgment. During the time between the Particular and the General Judgment, which is called the Intermediate State, the souls of men have foretaste of their blessing or punishment" (The Orthodox Faith).
74. ^Michael Azkoul, What Are the Differences Between Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism?
75. ^Ted A. Campbell, Christian Confessions: a Historical Introduction (Westminster John Knox Press 1996 {{ISBN|0-664-25650-3}}), p. 54
76. ^¹{{cite web |editor=Dennis Bratcher |url=http://www.cresourcei.org/creeddositheus.html |title=The Confession of Dositheus |dead-url=yes |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090221201226/http://www.cresourcei.org/creeddositheus.html |archive-date=2009-02-21}} Decree 18
77. ^Catechism of St. Philaret of Moscow, 372 and 376; Constas H. Demetry, Catechism of the Eastern Orthodox Church p. 37; John Meyondorff, Byzantine Theology (London: Mowbrays, 1974) p. 96; cf. "The Orthodox party ... remarked that the words quoted from the book of Maccabees, and our Saviour's words, can only prove that some sins will be forgiven after death" (OrthodoxInfo.com, The Orthodox Response to the Latin Doctrine of Purgatory)
78. ^What Are the Differences Between Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism?; Constas H. Demetry, Catechism of the Eastern Orthodox Church p. 37
79. ^[https://web.archive.org/web/19990421091223/http://esoptron.umd.edu/ugc/ocf1c.html Orthodox Confession of Faith], questions 64–66.
80. ^In both the Greek and Slavonic Euchologion, in the canon for the departure of the soul by St. Andrew, we find in Ode 7: "All holy angels of the Almighty God, have mercy upon me and save me from all the evil toll-houses" (Evidence for the Tradition of the Toll Houses found in the Universally Received Tradition of the Church). "When my soul is about to be forcibly parted from my body's limbs, then stand by my side and scatter the counsels of my bodiless foes and smash the teeth of those who implacably seek to swallow me down, so that I may pass unhindered through the rulers of darkness who wait in the air, O Bride of God" (Octoechos, Tone Two, Friday Vespers). "Pilot my wretched soul, pure Virgin, and have compassion on it, as it slides under a multitude of offences into the deep of destruction; and at the fearful hour of death snatch me from the accusing demons and from every punishment" (Ode 6, Tone 1 Midnight Office for Sunday).
81. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.stlukeorthodox.com/html/evangelist/2000/deathtoll.htm|title=Saint Luke the Evangelist Orthodox Church is a Chicago Parish of the Orthodox Church in America located in Palos Hills, Illinois|website=www.stlukeorthodox.com}}
82. ^Robert L. Millet, By what Authority?: The Vital Question of Religious Authority in Christianity (Mercer University, 2010), 66.
83. ^Alan Richardson, John Bowden, eds, The Westminster Dictionary of Christian Theology (Westminster John Knox, 1983), s.v. sola fide, 545.
84. ^{{cite book|last=Jones|first=Scott J.|title=United Methodist Doctrine|year=2002|publisher=Abingdon Press|isbn=9780687034857|page=190|quote=Faith is necessary to salvation unconditionally. Good works are necessary only conditionally, that is if there is time and opportunity. The thief on the cross in Luke 23:39–43 is Wesley's example of this. He believed in Christ and was told, "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise." This would be impossible if the good works that are the fruit of genuine repentance and faith were unconditionally necessary for salvation. The man was dying and lacked time; his movements were confined and he lacked opportunity. In his case, faith alone was necessary. However, for the vast majority of human beings good works are necessary for continuance in faith because those persons have both the time and opportunity for them.}}
85. ^{{cite web |last1=Brown |first1=Dr Allan |title=Questions About Entire Sanctification |url=https://www.gbs.edu/questions-about-entire-sanctification/ |publisher=God's Bible School & College |accessdate=27 March 2019 |language=English |date=1 June 2008|quote=A Christian must continue to walk in all the light he or she has or become guilty of walking in darkness, which is willful sin. A person practicing willful sin is not saved (1 John 2:3–6; 3:4–10).}}
86. ^Alan Richardson, John Bowden, eds, The Westminster Dictionary of Christian Theology (Westminster John Knox, 1983), s.v. salvation 519.
87. ^John Calvin wrote: "As long as (our spirit) is in the body it exerts its own powers; but when it quits this prison-house it returns to God, whose presence it meanwhile enjoys, while it rests in the hope of a blessed Resurrection. This rest is its paradise. On the other hand, the spirit of the reprobate, while it waits for the dreadful judgment, is tortured by that anticipation" (Psychopannychia by John Calvin)
88. ^Martin Luther, contending against the doctrine of purgatory, spoke of the souls of the dead as quite asleep, but this notion of unconscious soul sleep is not included in the Lutheran Confessions and Lutheran theologians generally reject it. (See Soul Sleep – Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod.)
89. ^https://www.hbu.edu/Choosing-HBU/Academics/Colleges-Schools/School-of-Christian-Thought/Departments/Department-of-Philosophy/Faculty/Jeremy-Neill-(1).aspx.
90. ^{{cite journal|author=Keith E. Yandell (review of Jerry Walls|title= Purgatory: The Logic of Total Transformation |journal= Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews|date=August 13, 2012|url= http://ndpr.nd.edu/news/32432-the-logic-of-total-transformation/}}
91. ^{{cite web|title=The Christian Century|date= August 2, 2012|url=http://www.christiancentury.org/reviews/2012-07/purgatory-jerry-l-walls|accessdate= April 28, 2015}}
92. ^For example, Jerry L. Walls, Purgatory: The Logic of Total Transformation (Oxford, 2012), 10-14, 17.
93. ^For example, Jerry L. Walls, Purgatory: The Logic of Total Transformation (Oxford, 2012), 71.
94. ^Jerry L. Walls, Purgatory: The Logic of Total Transformation (Oxford, 2012), 76, 90.
95. ^Jerry L. Walls, Purgatory: The Logic of Total Transformation (Oxford, 2012), 90.
96. ^{{Cite web|url=http://www.thomastalbott.com/index.php|title=The Inescapable love of God|last=|first=|date=|website=|publisher=|access-date=}}
97. ^Colin Buchanan, Historical Dictionary of Anglicanism (Scarecrow, 2006), 510.
98. ^{{Cite web | url=https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-worship/worship/book-of-common-prayer/articles-of-religion.aspx. | title=Join us in Daily Prayer}}
99. ^Colin Buchanan, Historical Dictionary of Anglicanism (Scarecrow, 2006), s.v. "Petitions for the Departed", 356-357.
100. ^http://anglicanhistory.org/tracts/tract90/section6.html.
101. ^Don S. Armentrout and Robert Boak Slocum, eds, An Episcopal Dictionary of the Church (Church Publishing, 2000), 427.
102. ^{{cite book|last=Hobart|first=John Henry|title=The State of the Departed |year=1825|publisher=T. and J. Swords|location=New York|page=32}}
103. ^{{cite book|last=Holden|first=George |title=The Anglican Catechist: Manual of Instruction Preparatory to Confirmation |year=1855|publisher=Joseph Masters|location=London |pages=40|quote=We are further taught by it that there is an intermediate state between death and the resurrection, in which the soul does not sleep in unconsciousness, but exists in happiness or misery till the resurrection, when it shall be reunited to the body and receive its final reward.}}
104. ^{{cite book |last=Shields |first=Charles Woodruff |title=Philosophia Ultima |orig-year=1888 |date=2009-05-01|publisher=Applewood Books|isbn=9781429019644|page=184 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7Rwd-2IMb5YC&pg=PA184&dq="some+Anglican+divines"+inauthor:Shields&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjHmery1qDhAhUJTxUIHYx6A2AQ6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&q="some%20Anglican%20divines"%20inauthor%3AShields&f=false |quote=Some Anglican divines, from like premises, have surmised that Christians may also improve in holiness after death during the middle state before the final judgment.}}
105. ^Leonel L. Mitchell, Praying Shapes Believing: A Theological Commentary on The Book of Common Prayer (Church Publishing, 1991), 224.
106. ^C. S. Lewis, [https://gutenberg.ca/ebooks/lewiscs-letterstomalcolm/lewiscs-letterstomalcolm-00-h.html#tocchapter20 Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer] (Mariner Books, 2002), 108-109.
107. ^¹{{cite web |last1=Raynor |first1=Shane |title=Should Christians pray for the dead? |url=https://www.ministrymatters.com/all/entry/6373/should-christians-pray-for-the-dead |publisher=Ministry Matters |accessdate=27 March 2019 |language=English |date=14 October 2015}}
108. ^{{cite web|url=http://bookofconcord.org/defense_23_mass.php|title=Apology XXIV, 96|publisher=}}
109. ^{{cite web|url = http://www.crivoice.org/creed25.html| title = The Twenty-Five Articles of Religion (Methodist)|publisher = CRI / Voice, Institute|accessdate = 2009-04-11}}
110. ^{{cite book|quote=The country is called Hades. That portion of it which is occupied by the good is called Paradise, and that province which is occupied by the wicked is called Gehenna.|last=Withington |first=John Swann |title=The United Methodist Free Churches' Magazine |year=1878|publisher=Thomas Newton |location=London |page=685}}
111. ^¹{{cite book|last=Smithson|first=William T.|title=The Methodist Pulpit|year=1859|publisher=H. Polkinhornprinter|page=363|quote=Besides, continues our critical authority, we have another clear proof from the New Testament, that hades denotes the intermediate state of souls between death and the general resurrection. In Revelations (xx, 14) we read that death and hades-by our translators rendered hell, as usual-shall, immediately after the general judgment, "be cast into the lake of fire: this is the second death." In other words, the death which consists in the separation of soul and body, and the receptacle of disembodied spirits shall be no more. Hades shall be emptied, death abolished.}}
112. ^{{cite book|last1=Jr.|first1=Charles Yrigoyen|last2=Warrick|first2=Susan E.|title=Historical Dictionary of Methodism|date=16 March 2005|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=9780810865464|page=107|quote=Considering the question of death and the intermediate state, John Wesley affirmed the immortality of the soul (as well as the future resurrection of the body), denied the reality of purgatory, and made a distinction between hell (the receptacle of the damned) and hades (the receptacle of all separate spirits), and also between paradise (the antechamber of heaven) and heaven itself.}}
113. ^{{cite book|title=American Methodist Worship|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I1TDD5-CLlEC|accessdate=10 April 2014|date=8 March 2001|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780198029267|page=202|author=Karen B. Westerfield Tucker|quote=Decisions made during life were therefore inseparably connected to what came after life. Upon death, according to Wesley, the souls of the deceased would enter an intermediate, penultimate state in which they would remain until reunited with the body at the resurrection of the dead. In that state variously identified as "the ante-chamber of heaven," "Abraham's bosom," and "paradise".}}
114. ^{{cite book|last=Swartz|first=Alan|title=United Methodists and the Last Days|url=http://hermeneutic.org/2009/04/united-methodists-and-last-days.html|date=20 April 2009|publisher=Hermeneutic|quote=Wesley believed that when we die we will go to an Intermediate State (Paradise for the Righteous and Hades for the Accursed). We will remain there until the Day of Judgment when we will all be bodily resurrected and stand before Christ as our Judge. After the Judgment, the Righteous will go to their eternal reward in Heaven and the Accursed will depart to Hell (see Matthew 25).|deadurl=yes|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120411115342/http://hermeneutic.org/2009/04/united-methodists-and-last-days.html|archivedate=11 April 2012|df=}}
115. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.christiandataresources.com/mormonbeliefs2.htm|title=What Do Mormons Believe (The God Makers)?|website=www.christiandataresources.com}}
116. ^{{Cite web|url=http://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Spirit_Prison|title=Spirit Prison - The Encyclopedia of Mormonism|website=eom.byu.edu|language=en|access-date=2017-05-17}}
117. ^"There are three categories of men; the wholly pious and the arch-sinners are not purified, but only those between these two classes" (Jewish Encyclopedia: Gehenna)
118. ^BRILL Islam and Rationality: The Impact of al-Ghazālī. Papers Collected on His 900th Anniversary, Band 1 {{ISBN|978-9-004-29095-2}} page 100
119. ^{{cite book|last1=Parshall|first1=Phil|title=Inside the Community|date=1994|publisher=Baker Books|isbn=978-0801071324|pages=136–7}}
120. ^{{Cite news|url=http://www.religionfacts.com/islam/afterlife|title=Islamic Beliefs About the Afterlife|work=ReligionFacts|access-date=2017-05-17|language=en}}
121. ^{{cite web|url=http://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/2310|title=The Divine Comedy, Vol. 2 (Purgatorio) (English only trans.) - Online Library of Liberty|website=oll.libertyfund.org|accessdate= April 30, 2015}}
122. ^Greg Garrett, Entertaining Judgment: The Afterlife in Popular Imagination (Oxford University, 2015), 179.
123. ^{{Cite web|url=http://www.tv.com/shows/sleepy-hollow/episodes/|title=Sleepy Hollow|last=TV.com|website=TV.com|access-date=2017-05-17}}
124. ^{{Cite web|url=http://www.supernaturalwiki.com/index.php?title=Purgatory|title=Purgatory - Super-wiki|website=www.supernaturalwiki.com|language=en|access-date=2017-05-17}}