Purgatory Irreconcilable competing views and biblical questions
Protestants and Orthodox commonly know little about the Roman Catholic doctrine of purgatory.  At the Council of Ferrara-Florence, or as the Orthodox call it, the "Pseudo-Synod of Ferrara-Florence (1438-1445)," they confirmed Purgatory as one of four major divisions between the Greek and Latin churches End Note 1.  The Romans and Orthodox couldn't find agreement on this doctrine.  The result, to the present, has Orthodox churches firmly rejecting the Latin invention of Purgatory.  The Greeks especially questioned Roman interpretation of Scriptures and claimed the Latin's didn't properly understand the Greek language of Scriptures, misusing texts to defend an unbiblical doctrine.  This modern Greek Church response well-defines their continued position: The moral progress of the soul, either for better or for worse, ends at the very moment of the separation of the body and soul; at that very moment the definite destiny of the soul in the everlasting life is decided... The Orthodox Church believes that at this moment the soul of the dead person begins to enjoy the consequences of its deeds and thoughts on earth - that is, to enjoy the life in Paradise or to undergo the life in Hell. There is no way of repentance, no way of escape, no reincarnation and no help from the outside world. Its place is decided forever by its Creator and judge. The Orthodox Church does not believe in purgatory (a place of purging), that is the intermediate state after death in which the souls of the saved (those who have not received temporal punishment for their sins) are purified of all taint preparatory to entering into Heaven, where every soul is perfect and fit to see God. Also, the Orthodox Church does not believe in indulgences as remissions from purgatoral punishment. Both purgatory and indulgences are intercorrelated theories, unwitnessed in the Bible or in the Ancient Church, and when they were enforced and applied, they brought about evil practices at the expense of the prevailing Truths of the Church. If Almighty God in His merciful loving-kindness changes the dreadful situation of the sinner, it is unknown to the Church of Christ. The Church lived for fifteen hundred years without such a theory.  ("Death, the Threshold to Eternal Life," Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, www.goarch.org, viewed 3/18/2019). The Orthodox saw Roman doctrine as making the present heaven and hell as "finished" and "absolute."  The Roman understanding places people now in hell or heaven mostly as they'll be for eternity with each destination's unchanging associated conditions.  The Orthodox understand the current state following death as temporary and unlike the final places, the lake of fire and the new heavens and earth.  Both Roman and Orthodox share a common view that some or most believers aren't ready for heaven at their earthly departure needing further purification to enter heaven End Note 20. Roman Catholic Greek Orthodox Unbelievers Hell at death (little or no difference between Hell and Lake of Fire) Temporary Hades at death (place of some torment but no fire). Lake of Fire later. Unbelievers - loved ones Hell at death (little or no difference between Hell and Lake of Fire) Can have some relief of their temporary torment through prayers of the saints. Believers - typical Still tainted by some unconfessed sins.  Go to a temporary place of torment (Purgatory) to pay for these sins or have others help pay for these sins (through prayers and indulgences of saints). Purified either by trial of death itself with its fear or after death by temporary confinement in "Hell" part of Hades (aided by prayers and deeds of the saints including Church Liturgies) End Note 22 Very Godly Believers Heaven at death (little or no difference between heaven and future state).  Mostly Mary or some saints who led exemplary lives. Temporary Hades at death, but only in the comfort of God (present heaven), until resurrection and New Heavens and Earth. Forgiveness or cleansing of sin comes from personal satisfaction of sin (or by actions of others on their behalf).  Fire purifies sin after death. Forgiveness or cleansing of sin comes solely from the goodness of God who responds to the requests of His people.  God reserves fire for eternal destruction of lost. Protestants generally agree that believers aren't ready to enter heaven at their death End Note 3. But they see God granting us the remaining full holiness necessary to enter His presence.  Hebrews 12:14b  ...without holiness no one will see the Lord. (NIV) God grants this holiness by His grace, imputed by His righteousness. Even as God declares us righteous by faith, He completes our salvation - this the full redemption of our entire being - spirit, soul, and body (at the resurrection at Jesus' return).  This complete salvation isn't due to our actions (as every good action we ever take is Christ at work in us).  Our finished salvation isn't through other's actions, only Jesus' all-sufficient work on our behalf.  (See End Note 2 for more on Glorification). Hebrews 7:25 Consequently, [Jesus] is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. (ESV) Strictly speaking, theologians invented Roman Catholic purgatory to try to explain deficiencies in their developed gospel which lessened the finished work of Jesus.  The word "purgatory" (Latin "purgatorium"), as a noun, didn't appear until the late Middle Ages.  While first expressed with a specific name, as a place, following the mid-twelfth century, the ideas that fueled this idea developed over earlier centuries.  Key to these developing thoughts were prayers for the dead. There's no question that some claiming the name Christian very early adopted the practice of praying for the dead.  I say "adopted" because this practice was common in ancient paganism.  Roman practices of praying for the dead, who lived in graveyards called Necropolis (Cities of the Dead), blurred into some Christian practice throughout the empire by the late second and early third centuries AD.  Pre-Christian Hasmonean period Judaism is another possible influence as some saw efficacy in prayers for the dead. 2 Maccabees 12:42 Betook themselves unto prayer, and besought him that the sin committed might wholly be put out of remembrance. Besides, that noble Judas exhorted the people to keep themselves from sin, forsomuch as they saw before their eyes the things that came to pass for the sins of those that were slain.  43 And when he had made a gathering throughout the company to the sum of two thousand drachms of silver, he sent it to Jerusalem to offer a sin offering, doing therein very well and honestly, in that he was mindful of the resurrection:  44 For if he had not hoped that they that were slain should have risen again, it had been superfluous and vain to pray for the dead.  45 And also in that he perceived that there was great favour laid up for those that died godly, it was an holy and good thought. Whereupon he made a reconciliation for the dead, that they might be delivered from sin. (KJV; reflecting Jewish practice during the inter-testament period, specifically around 167-160 BC) Rabbinic Judaism, as is typical, divided over the idea of a pre-heaven state of purification.  The Shammaites held a similar view to that which Catholicism later adopted. The Hillelites denied any intermediate state, claiming the mercy of God left no need for it. Among those believing in this purgatory, they disagreed over how long the soul would be there, the two major views being 12 months or 49 days.  Even if some Jews held this belief, the New Testament doesn't overlook or encourage such belief, with many passages directly or implicitly opposing End Note 16. Roman Catholic's often claim widespread support from the early church father's over their doctrine of purgatory.  Yet, most of their references speak directly or indirectly of God's purifying fire of judgment and not the fictional place they later invented.  1 Corinthians 3:10-15  According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. 11 For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw- 13 each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. 14 If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. In their citations of earliest church fathers, they include prayers for the dead as proof of purgatory, though purgatory as they imagine it would have been foreign to those writers End Note 14.  The best support they have for their purgatory comes from a female martyr's claimed vision, Perpetua, in the third century End Note 15:  "I saw a vision of Dinocrates going out from a gloomy place, where also there were several others.  He was parched and very thirsty, with a filthy countenance and pallid color; the wound on his face that he had when he died.  This Dinocrates had been my brother after the flesh, seven years of age, who died miserably with disease.  For him I had made my prayer; and between him and me there was a large interval, so that neither of us could approach to the other.   And I knew that my brother was in suffering, but I trusted that my prayer would bring help to his suffering; and I prayed for him every day until we passed over into the prison of the camp, for we were to fight in a camp show.   Then I made my prayer for my brother day and night, groaning and weeping, that he might be granted to me.  Then, on the day that we remained in fetters, this was shown to me:  I saw that that place which I had formerly observed to be in gloom was now bright; and Dinocrates, with a clean body, well clad, was finding refreshment.  He went away from the water to play joyously, after the manner of children; and I woke from this vision.   Then I understood that he was translated from the place of punishment."  (Acts of the Martyrdom of Felicity and Perpetua, Chapters iii-x; excerpt belonging to End Note 14) We have varying and conflicting accounts of Perpetua's vision and story, each containing signs later writers edited or increased their contents during the early Middle Ages End Note 15.  An unverifiable vision is hardly an authoritative source.  By the fourth century, of course more possible supporting elements for purgatory appear in citations as prayers for the dead became widespread and as the church began to seek a needed rationale for their existence.  Yet, most of these early teachers never imagined today's purgatory, not until the later middle ages. Returning to early Christian prayers for the dead: What may have been an occasional practice slowly developed into standard practice, later prescribed by Christian leaders and liturgies.  By the 11th to 12th century AD the church had developed entire dogma around this practice.  Consider the decree issued at the second Council of Lyon in 1274.  Because if they die truly repentant in charity before they have made satisfaction by worthy fruits of penance for (sins) committed and omitted, their souls are cleansed after death by purgatorical or purifying punishments, as Brother John has explained to us. And to relieve punishments of this kind, the offerings of the living faithful are of advantage to these, namely, the sacrifices of Masses, prayers, alms, and other duties of piety, which have customarily been performed by the faithful for the other faithful according to the regulations of the Church.  [Council of Lyons II (1274):DS 856] In brief, the Council of Florence (1438-1445) again mandates this practice. Also, if truly penitent people die in the love of God before they have made satisfaction for acts and omissions by worthy fruits of repentance, their souls are cleansed after death by cleansing pains; and the suffrages of the living faithful avail them in giving relief from such pains, that is, sacrifices of masses, prayers, almsgiving and other acts of devotion which have been customarily performed by some of the faithful for others of the faithful in accordance with the church's ordinances. Also, the souls of those who have incurred no stain of sin whatsoever after baptism, as well as souls who after incurring the stain of sin have been cleansed whether in their bodies or outside their bodies, as was stated above, are straightaway received into heaven and clearly behold the triune God as he is, yet one person more perfectly than another according to the difference of their merits. [Council of Florence - Session 6, 6 July 1439] It wasn't until the Protestant Reformation's confrontation that opposition forced the church to make defense over prayers for the dead and the related subject of purgatory.  It then appealed to inter-testament Judaism, scattered early church references (some highly ambiguous) to defend the developed teachings and practice.  It also appealed to a few canonical Scriptures as providing possible defense End Note 5 yet felt necessary finally to add books to their canon to aid this line of defense. The Council of Trent was the major Roman Catholic counter to the Reformation's legitimate assault on Purgatory's dubious history and lack of canonical Scriptural foundation.  Roman Catholics then quickly began to assert they had always received their newly declared canonical books as sacred, "facts" readily disputable by even their own historical sources.  Below is both Trent's early session on Scriptures and the later about Purgatory, the former necessary to defend the latter: SESSION THE FOURTH Celebrated on the eighth day of the month of April, in the year MDXLVI [1546]. DECREE CONCERNING THE CANONICAL SCRIPTURES The sacred and holy, ecumenical, and general Synod of Trent,--lawfully assembled in the Holy Ghost, the Same three legates of the Apostolic Sec presiding therein,--keeping this always in view, that, errors being removed, the purity itself of the Gospel be preserved in the Church; which (Gospel), before promised through the prophets in the holy Scriptures, our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, first promulgated with His own mouth, and then commanded to be preached by His Apostles to every creature, as the fountain of all, both saving truth, and moral discipline; and seeing clearly that this truth and discipline are contained in the written books, and the unwritten traditions which, received by the Apostles from the mouth of Christ himself, or from the Apostles themselves, the Holy Ghost dictating, have come down even unto us, transmitted as it were from hand to hand; (the Synod) following the examples of the orthodox Fathers, receives and venerates with an equal affection of piety, and reverence, all the books both of the Old and of the New Testament--seeing that one God is the author of both --as also the said traditions, as well those appertaining to faith as to morals, as having been dictated, either by Christ's own word of mouth, or by the Holy Ghost, and preserved in the Catholic Church by a continuous succession. And it has thought it meet that a list of the sacred books be inserted in this decree, lest a doubt may arise in any one's mind, which are the books that are received by this Synod. They are as set down here below: of the Old Testament: the five books of Moses, to wit, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy; Josue, Judges, Ruth, four books of Kings, two of Paralipomenon, the first book of Esdras, and the second which is entitled Nehemias; Tobias, Judith, Esther, Job, the Davidical Psalter, consisting of a hundred and fifty psalms; the Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, the Canticle of Canticles, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Isaias, Jeremias, with Baruch; Ezechiel, Daniel; the twelve minor prophets, to wit, Osee, Joel, Amos, Abdias, Jonas, Micheas, Nahum, Habacuc, Sophonias, Aggaeus, Zacharias, Malachias; two books of the Machabees, the first and the second. Of the New Testament: the four Gospels, according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; the Acts of the Apostles written by Luke the Evangelist; fourteen epistles of Paul the apostle, (one) to the Romans, two to the Corinthians, (one) to the Galatians, to the Ephesians, to the Philippians, to the Colossians, two to the Thessalonians, two to Timothy, (one) to Titus, to Philemon, to the Hebrews; two of Peter the apostle, three of John the apostle, one of the apostle James, one of Jude the apostle, and the Apocalypse of John the apostle. But if any one receive not, as sacred and canonical, the said books entire with all their parts, as they have been used to be read in the Catholic Church, and as they are contained in the old Latin vulgate edition; and knowingly and deliberately contemn the traditions aforesaid; let him be anathema. Let all, therefore, understand, in what order, and in what manner, the said Synod, after having laid the foundation of the Confession of faith, will proceed, and what testimonies and authorities it will mainly use in confirming dogmas, and in restoring morals in the Church. SESSION THE TWENTY-FIFTH Begun on the third, and terminated on the fourth, day of December, MDLXIII [1563], being the ninth and last under the Sovereign Pontiff, Pius IV. DECREE CONCERNING PURGATORY. Whereas the Catholic Church, instructed by the Holy Ghost, has, from the sacred writings and the ancient tradition of the Fathers, taught, in sacred councils, and very recently in this oecumenical Synod End Note 6, that there is a Purgatory, and that the souls there detained are helped by the suffrages of the faithful, but principally by the acceptable sacrifice of the altar; the holy Synod enjoins on bishops that they diligently endeavour that the sound doctrine concerning Purgatory, transmitted by the holy Fathers and sacred councils, be believed, maintained, taught, and every where proclaimed by the faithful of Christ. But let the more difficult and subtle questions, and which tend not to edification, and from which for the most part there is no increase of piety, be excluded from popular discourses before the uneducated multitude. In like manner, such things as are uncertain, or which labour under an appearance of error, let them not allow to be made public and treated of. While those things which tend to a certain kind of curiosity or superstition, or which savour of filthy lucre, let them prohibit as scandals and stumbling-blocks of the faithful. But let the bishops take care, that the suffrages of the faithful who are living, to wit the sacrifices of masses, prayers, alms, and other works of piety, which have been wont to be performed by the faithful for the other faithful departed, be piously and devoutly performed, in accordance with the institutes of the church; and that whatsoever is due on their behalf, from the endowments of testators, or in other way, be discharged, not in a perfunctory manner, but diligently and accurately, by the priests and ministers of the church, and others who are bound to render this (service).  [Council of Trent, old European spellings retained, our clarifications in square parenthesis]. Despite these later claims of the Council of Trent, what first began as prayers for the dead soon needed a developed and expanded reason for Catholic need of such prayers.  Their solution was a theory assuming living saint somehow assist dead saints in their post-life journey into their final state (or dwelling).  If heaven alone followed death, it didn't allow time for prayers to aid the person toward their arrival at that final perfect destination.  Purgatory became the answer, an imagined a place of trouble where believers need aid to make it to their final assured destination.  Here's the church's present description of this... III. The Final Purification, or Purgatory 1030 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. 1031 The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned.604 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:605 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.606 1032 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."607 From the beginning the Church has honored 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.608 The Church also commends almsgiving, indulgences, and works of penance undertaken on behalf of the dead: Let us help and commemorate them. If Job's sons were purified by their father's sacrifice, why would we doubt that our offerings for the dead bring them some consolation? Let us not hesitate to help those who have died and to offer our prayers for them.609 [Catechism of the Catholic Church, as current in 2019, quote footnote numbering retained from original End Note 4]. From Reformation times the Roman Catholic Church has fiercely held that Christians must accept Purgatory as integral to the Christian faith.  These souls must have help through acts of living believers and prayers to deceased saints.  A creed once used for converts to the Roman Catholicism and as an oath of loyalty by theologians - clearly designed to define Catholic faith against Protestantism - succinctly states: "I constantly hold that there is a Purgatory, and that the souls therein detained are helped by the suffrages of the faithful. Likewise, that the saints, reigning together with Christ, are to be honoured and invoked, and that they offer prayers to God for us, and that their relics are to be venerated." ("Professio fidei Tridentina," also called "Creed of Pope Pius IV." Issued November 13, 1565 End Note 13) Despite including purgatory in these major Roman Catholic documents, the church officially little substance in their authoritative documents defining this innovative and developed doctrine.  Speculation of Roman Catholic theologians combined with widely accepted legends and artworks have formed the popular idea of purgatory End Note 19.  Some Catholic scholars now protest that purgatory is a purification process rather than a place with time.  Others argue official doctrine doesn't necessarily include fire as part of this place.  Rome allows Greek churches that have reunified with the papacy such a limited understanding of purgatory End Note 12.  Yet, everywhere in the west, artworks and written descriptions fashion purgatory as a place with time and normally with fire. These imaginative additions fuel the public's ordinary understanding of this place or state.  Overall, over centuries, the Church has done little to refute these popular notions, effectively allowing or encouraging them as part of their doctrine.  In a moment of clear honesty, one major Roman Catholic site admits their basis for Purgatory rests only in tradition and not Scriptures (and another Roman Catholic article even lists "Ancient pagans believed in it too" in support of Purgatory End Note 32): For our own consolation as well as for theirs we want to believe in this living intercourse of charity with our dead. We would believe it without explicit warrant of Revelation, on the strength of what is otherwise revealed and in obedience to the promptings of reason and natural affection. Indeed, it is largely for this reason that Protestants in growing numbers are giving up today the joy-killing doctrine of the Reformers, and reviving Catholic teaching and practice. As we shall presently see, there is no clear and explicit warrant for prayers for the dead in the Scriptures recognized by Protestants as canonical, while they do not admit the Divine authority of extra-Scriptural traditions. Catholics are in a better position End Note 17.  (http://www.newadvent.org, as viewed 5/1/19) Not only are prayers for the dead related to purgatory, indulgences are equally part of this post-life theology. They, with prayers to deceased saints, are the primary means the church perpetuates for believers to gain relief from purgatory's pains.  Such relief comes either from application of merit gained by actions of other deceased individuals including Mary, or the church's redirection of this merit via an issued indulgence. Historically, the Roman church's abuse of these indulgences is legendary.  In the years before the Protestant Reformation, Rome encouraged their outright sale or tolerated it to gain revenue or benefit for the church.  End Note 8 While knowledge of indulgences declined in modern times, they've never stopped in worldwide Roman Catholicism, especially in Rome.  For American believers renewed focus on these raised many questions End Note 9.  During my personal visit to Rome's Scala Sancta (sacred stairs) a few years ago, there were official signs encouraging the faithful to climb the stairs on their knees End Note 10.  In turn, for the effort, they're offered a full indulgence.  Related signage also offered a half-indulgence for any who walked to the top rather than crawled. Continuing in the Roman Catholic Catechism, this is the still-current official definition of Indulgences... X. Indulgences 1471 The doctrine and practice of indulgences in the Church are closely linked to the effects of the sacrament of Penance. What is an indulgence? "An indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian who is duly disposed gains under certain prescribed conditions through the action of the Church which, as the minister of redemption, dispenses and applies with authority the treasury of the satisfactions of Christ and the saints."81 "An indulgence is partial or plenary according as it removes either part or all of the temporal punishment due to sin."82 Indulgences may be applied to the living or the dead. The punishments of sin 1472 To understand this doctrine and practice of the Church, it is necessary to understand that sin has a double consequence. 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.83 1473 The forgiveness of sin and restoration of communion with God entail the remission of the eternal punishment of sin, but temporal punishment of sin remains. 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."84
In the Communion of Saints 1474 The Christian who seeks to purify himself of his sin and to become holy with the help of God's grace is not alone. "The life of each of God's children is joined in Christ and through Christ in a wonderful way to the life of all the other Christian brethren in the supernatural unity of the Mystical Body of Christ, as in a single mystical person."85 1475 In the communion of saints, "a perennial link of charity exists between the faithful who have already reached their heavenly home, those who are expiating their sins in purgatory and those who are still pilgrims on earth. between them there is, too, an abundant exchange of all good things."86 In this wonderful exchange, 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. 1476 We also call these spiritual goods of the communion of saints the Church's treasury, which is "not the sum total of the material goods which have accumulated during the course of the centuries. On the contrary the 'treasury of the Church' is the infinite value, which can never be exhausted, which Christ's merits have before God. They were offered so that the whole of mankind could be set free from sin and attain communion with the Father. In Christ, the Redeemer himself, the satisfactions and merits of his Redemption exist and find their effficacy."87 1477 "This treasury includes as well the prayers and good works of the Blessed Virgin Mary. They are truly immense, unfathomable, and even pristine in their value before God. In the treasury, too, are the prayers and good works of all the saints, all those who have followed in the footsteps of Christ the Lord and by his grace have made their lives holy and carried out the mission the Father entrusted to them. In this way they attained their own salvation and at the same time cooperated in saving their brothers in the unity of the Mystical Body."88 Obtaining indulgence from God through the Church 1478 An indulgence is obtained through the Church who, by virtue of the power of binding and loosing granted her by Christ Jesus, intervenes in favor of individual Christians and opens for them 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. Thus the Church does not want simply to come to the aid of these Christians, but also to spur them to works of devotion, penance, and charity.89 1479 Since the faithful departed now being purified are also members of the same communion of saints, one way we can help them is to obtain indulgences for them, so that the temporal punishments due for their sins may be remitted.   [Catechism of the Catholic Church, as current in 2019, quote footnote numbering retained from original End Note 11]. Answering those who claim the Roman Catholic church doesn't officially promote fire as part of purgatory End Note 18, the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) also addressed purgatory and why they believe it necessary. The doctrine of indulgences and their practice have been in force for many centuries in the Catholic Church.  They would appear to be solidly founded on divine Revelation, handed down "from the apostles."  ... If we wish to understand exactly the doctrine of indulgences and its benefit in practice, we must remember truths which the whole Church, enlightened by God's word, has always believed.  ... The truth has been divinely revealed that sins are followed by punishments. God's holiness and justice inflict them. Sins must be expiated. This may be done on this earth through the sorrows, miseries, and trials of this life and, above all, through death. Otherwise, the expiation must be made in the next life through fire and torments or purifying punishments.  ... The doctrine of purgatory clearly demonstrates that even when the guilt of sin has been taken away, punishment for it or the consequences of it may remain to be expiated or cleansed.  They often are.  In fact, in purgatory the souls of those "who died in the charity of God and truly repentant, but who had not made satisfaction with adequate penance for their sins and omissions" are cleansed after death with punishments designed to purge away their debt.  All this is gathered also from the prayers of the liturgy Christian people, admitted to holy communion, have addressed to God since very ancient times...  (Vatican Council II: The Conciliar and Postconciliar Documents, edited by Austin Flannery) In summary, two questions and answers bring together all the Roman Catholic teachings on purgatory, prayers for the dead, and indulgences: 210. What is purgatory? 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. 211. How can we help the souls being purified in purgatory? 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. ["Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church," available in 14 languages via the Vatican, the first published in 2005, with English in 2006] The Protestant concerns over purgatory are all questions every believer must answer. While the Roman Catholic Church claim prayers for the dead, belief in purgatory, and indulgences, are ancient beliefs or practice handed down from the apostles, this is far from verifiable or true. Protestants can agree with both Roman Catholics and Orthodox believers that God must fully purify all believers for them to one day stand in the presence of a Holy God. Hebrews 12:14b  ...without holiness no one will see the Lord.  (NIV) Matthew 5:8   "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Where we disagree, on scriptural grounds, is how this essential holiness and complete purity comes to exist.  Both Roman Catholic and Orthodox doctrine became works based.  Though they claim salvation by faith in Jesus, they place the burden of gaining holiness on the individual.  If you achieve perfection or near perfection, such as Mary or a few of the saints, your personal righteousness is enough to take you directly into God's presence.  Otherwise, you better hope you did enough prescribed works to receive indulgences to account for your shortfall.  If you didn't, know that you'll have to pay for this personal shortfall through the agonies of purgatory.  All this rather than accept the biblically revealed full and finished imputed righteousness of Christ. I find it interesting that Roman doctrine does allow for imputed righteousness. In effect, they teach Jesus' sacrifice wasn't enough, otherwise His imputed righteousness would satisfy.  Instead they substitute, without scriptural warrant, the imputed righteousness of other believers.  Somehow, they feel anything lacking in Jesus' sacrifice can find fulfillment through the credited righteousness of Mary or a host of other saints.  They believe these saints hold merit where Jesus does not. As a Protestant grounded in scriptures, I don't look to my righteousness or that of deceased saints to get me to heaven.  I see the example of my father in the faith, Abraham (Romans 4:11-12, 16).  He believed and God credited it to him as righteousness.  He was saved by faith in the coming Messiah - fully saved - even as I am saved - fully saved - by faith in the Messiah who came.  I don't need the righteousness of anyone else as I have the imputed righteousness of God. Romans 3:21-22a   But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it- 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. Romans 4:22 That is why his faith was "counted to him as righteousness." 23 But the words "it was counted to him" were not written for his sake alone, 24 but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, 25 who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. Jesus alone can save completely.  His perfect sacrifice fully fulfilled all that was necessary for our salvation.  By faith, the gift of God, He declares us righteous and set apart for Him (Justification and the beginning of Sanctification). The outworking of this faith, energized by His indwelling, continues to change us and compel good works. In this transformation we cooperate with God - indeed learning to submit - a process of sanctification that continues throughout our life whether short or long.  God who does this work in us now then completes it fully at our death so we may be with Him when we die (2 Corinthians 5:8).  This immediate final transformation happens whether at death or Christ's return (1 Thessalonians 4:17). Hebrews 7:25  Consequently, he [Jesus] is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. God no longer remembers our sins as the blood of Christ covers them. When God opens the books on judgment day, the books (note plural) no longer have any record of our wrongs as He blotted out all those sins (Acts 3:19).  That's why Paul (and David) can confidently say: Romans 4:7-8  "Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin." Therefore, God's writer of Hebrews can quote Jeremiah (31:31-34) in declaring: Hebrews 8:12  For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more." He doesn't leave us ignorant of how God permanently takes care of our sins. For chapters he details how a perfect high priest made a perfect, permanent, all-sufficient sacrifice on our behalf.  Also, this high priest lives forever so He never has need of replacement and He lives to intercede for us. Some key passages: Hebrews 9:11-28   But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) 12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify6 for the purification of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. 9:24 For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God ion our behalf. 25 Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, 26 for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, 28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. Hebrews 10:10 And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Hebrews 10:12-14 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. 14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. God grants eternal life as a free gift.  He doesn't need or want us to pay for it, because Christ has paid for it in full. God has bought us, redeemed us from our former slave master of sin, to become His slaves.  In this He guarantees that our lives will produce fruit and that we will inherit eternal life. Romans 6:22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. I can pray with the Apostle Paul for every believer the wish that God will make blameless and holy all His people for the day of judgment.  I can pray this with assurance, knowing God will make it happen because it's His revealed will that He will do it.   1 Thessalonians 3:13   May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones. (NIV, see also Philippians 1:9-11) Believers needn't fear remaining impurity, though we rightly struggle against it and seek to submit daily to our savior's will (James 4:7; 1 John 4:18).  God has promised to grant everyone whose name appears in His book of life admission to the Eternal City. In this promise we know that He has taken all remaining impurity away because we are washed, sanctified, and justified by His great power.  We are righteous in Him (Romans 1:17; 5:18-19; 2 Corinthians 5:21) Revelation 21:22-23, 27   And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. 23 And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. ... 27 But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11   Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. The main problems with this Roman Catholic "doctrine of purgatory" are as follows End Note 21: #1.  There is no clear or explicit teaching about purgatory in canonical Scriptures.   Similarly, the supporting doctrines of indulgences and prayers for the dead lack Scriptural support.  The clear teaching of scriptures shows: a. God never encourages praying to the dead and the Bible considers any instance of it a sin.  Similarly praying to Mary or any other departed saint denies the clear statement there is one mediator between God and man.  (Rome claims praying to Mary or deceased saints is praying to people "alive in Christ." Yet, the apostles never spoke with departed saints appearing with Jesus, nor did Jesus encourage them to.  The biblical message is focus on Jesus.  See Luke 9:28-35). b. The believer absent from the body is present with the Lord and comforted while longing for the resurrection and God's completed kingdom (2 Corinthians 5:8; Luke 16:25; Revelation 6:9-11). c. The sale or receipt of an indulgence to pay for sin, using the merits of other believers, is completely absent from Scriptures. d. The receipt of an indulgence, to pay for sin, via personally completed church-mandated actions is nowhere in Scriptures. e. Indulgences oppose many passages showing only the imputed work of Jesus can pay for sin. Scriptures clearly assure believers there is no remaining condemnation or judgment.  Whether 10 hours, 1000 days, or 10,000 years, the indefinite time of Roman Catholic purgatory says "there is remaining condemnation; there is some judgment necessary" before God can save you.  Sinful flesh could never suffer enough condemnation to meet the standard of God's law - this had to be God's doing in Christ.  Jesus who suffered all judgment and condemnation on our behalf gives life without judgment to all who believe. Romans 8:1   There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin,3 he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. John 5:22 For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, 23 that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. 24 Truly, truly, I [the Son] say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. #2. While not authoritative, there's little evidence for early church belief or practice like what developed in the middle ages to the present. While an early rise of prayers for the dead find the most historical support, even then the practices appears very limited.  Most were wish-like prayers entrusting the deceased to God's care and blessings of the resurrection.  Similarly, using scriptural imagery of God purifying by fire offers little support for purgatory's invention.  This includes making it a place or time for punishment, or any need for personal payment or outside intervention (apart from Jesus). Appealing to extra-biblical Jewish practice or apocryphal works provides no valid support for these practices.  Canonical scriptures often condemned common Jewish practice that had arisen - the goal was always to know what God commanded or forbade.  The church Father's themselves were widely contradictory at times, yet the best of them appealed to canonical Scriptures as the deciding reason for any doctrine.  These church fathers would never recognize the doctrine and practice that Rome crafted around purgatory and indulgences.  Nor would they recognize as authoritative a claimed unwritten storehouse of truth passed down by the church, with infallible papal decree and rule sitting in judgment over God's canonical word. #3. Purgatory and its related doctrines imply justification comes by faith plus works (whether personal or via the efforts of others).  These doctrines demand works as necessary to secure salvation. Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. #4. Claimed need of purgatory teaches the righteousness of Christ fails to cleanse from all sin.   They turn the once-for-all cleansing and sacrifice presented by our only High Priest, Jesus, into something needing intervention of other "priests" or even the self-professed "Pontifex Maximus" or High Priest of Rome - the Pope. In a million years I could never pay for my own sins, I needed the payment that only One perfectly righteous could ever make!  Purgatory and its associated unbiblical doctrines encourage me to trust in myself or other saints rather than the only one who can save completely: Jesus Christ! Limbo of Infants Since Roman Catholics suppose Baptism removes original sin, they believe unbaptized babies who die can't go to heaven.End Note 30  Historically this led to speculating a separate destination for these unbaptized individuals who yet hadn't committed actual sins.  They call this imagined place or state "Limbo of Infants," in Latin "limbus infantium" or sometimes "limbus puerorum." Early church writers, including the renown Augustine of Hippo, wrote that unbaptized infants would suffer less torment in hell.  Here they try to resolve the gravity of original sin with their belief that baptism is compulsory for the forgiveness of sins. It may therefore be correctly affirmed, that such infants as quit the body without being baptized will be involved in the mildest condemnation of all. That person, therefore, greatly deceives both himself and others, who teaches that they will not be involved in condemnation; whereas the apostle says: Judgment from one offense to condemnation, Romans 5:16 and again a little after: By the offense of one upon all persons to condemnation. Romans 5:18.  [On Merit and the Forgiveness of Sins, and the Baptism of Infants (Book I, Chapter 21)] Towards the end of Augustine's life, the council held at Carthage in North Africa in 418, specifically denied a separate place for unbaptized infants. Also it seemed good, that if anyone should say that the saying of the Lord, In my Father's house are many mansions is to be understood as meaning that in the kingdom of heaven there will be a certain middle place, or some place somewhere, in which infants live in happiness who have gone forth from this life without baptism, without which they cannot enter the kingdom of heaven, which is eternal life, let him be anathema. For after our Lord has said: Unless a man be born again of water and of the Holy Spirit he shall not enter the kingdom of heaven, what Catholic can doubt that he who has not merited to be coheir with Christ shall become a sharer with the devil: for he who fails of the right hand without doubt shall receive the left hand portion.  [Council of Carthage, 419 AD, Canon 110] End Note 23 For centuries, major scholars followed Augustine's lead.  Yet, by the later medieval period, some theologians held Augustine's view of reduced punishment while others expanded it to full relief.   For example, Peter Abelard (lived 1079-1142) claimed no material torment or active punishment for unbaptized infants.  These infants only experienced the pain and loss of never seeing and directly communing with God (as if the latter was somehow insignificant).  Some argued this loss wasn't really pain as the infants were unaware of what they were missing.  This became a general belief that these infants enjoyed natural happiness but not supernatural happiness.  Theologians gave the idea the title "Limbo of Infants" around 1300 AD.  "Limbo of Infants" still held the infants were technically in hell, but on the edge or outermost part of it.  At the time, "limbo" or Latin "limbus" meant "outer edge," "boundary" or "hem."  With Hell understood as both a place of torture and separation from God, this imagined outer edge only included separation and no torture experienced by those in "Hell of the Damned." End Note 24 While widely embraced by medieval Roman Catholic theologians, Rome never stated Limbo of Infants as official church doctrine.   Continued popular belief in this place continues to the present without official Roman Catholic sanction.  Despite lack of official papal recognition, Thomas Aquinas' popular Summa Theologica formally pins the happiness of these unbaptized infants on their lack of free-will, or their ability to use free-will.  It claims all adults having ability to exercise free will would grieve the loss of eternal life because they can gain it. But such unfortunate infants would not grieve because they're incapable of gaining eternal life through their own actions.  Of course, professedly, their parent could've secured it for them, by having them baptized, but they're unaware of this. I say, then, that every man who has the use of free-will is adapted to obtain eternal life, because he can prepare himself for grace whereby to merit eternal life; so that if he fail in this, his grief will be very great, since he has lost what he was able to possess. But children were never adapted to possess eternal life, since neither was this due to them by virtue of their natural principles, for it surpasses the entire faculty of nature, nor could they perform acts of their own whereby to obtain so great a good. Hence they will nowise grieve for being deprived of the divine vision; nay, rather will they rejoice for that they will have a large share of God's goodness and their own natural perfections. Nor can it be said that they were adapted to obtain eternal life, not indeed by their own action, but by the actions of others around them, since they could be baptized by others, like other children of the same condition who have been baptized and obtained eternal life: for this is of superabundant grace that one should be rewarded without any act of one's own. Wherefore the lack of such a grace will not cause sorrow in children who die without Baptism, any more than the lack of many graces accorded to others of the same condition makes a wise man to grieve.  [Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, App 1.1.2] End Note 25 In summary, most Catholic theologians claim children below an age of reason don't commit actual sin, so they don't deserve hell's fullness.  Therefore, God grants or allows them eternal relief.  Depending on the scholar this relief can include minimal pain, or no pain at all, or full (but only natural) happiness. The latter mediated through creatures and in natural items.  Each unquestionably held that all in original sin go to hell, but these receive unequal pains (in whatever degree) compared to those committing actual mortal sin.  Some pre-Reformation popes mentioned or taught of Limbo, but none ever issued a formal decree accepting this theory, so it remained apart from the magisterium.End Note 26 The post-reformation Council of Trent, in 1547, reaffirmed the Roman Catholic belief that baptism removes original sin.  It declared baptism is the means by which God transfers a person "from that state wherein man is born a child of the first Adam, to the state of grace, and of the adoption of the sons of God, through the second Adam, Jesus Christ, our Saviour."  Yet, this same Council also held desire for baptism equal to actual baptism.  This gave reason for the repentant thief on the cross who never had opportunity for baptism.   While scholars originally applied this mostly to individuals having free will beyond an age of accountability, later speculation expanded the idea.  Some held that a mother's desire for her child's baptism might save an infant dying in the womb, even as that mother having her child baptized later would do the same.  Through the 18th and 19th centuries theologians continued to craft theories of how God might still save deceased unbaptized children. By the 20th century, widely accepted Roman Catholic theologians more openly suggest unbaptized infants may gain salvation.  They leave this open ended, with no assurance, only possibility.  Officially Rome holds "with regard to children who die without having received baptism, the Church can only entrust them to the mercy of God, as indeed she does in the funeral rite established for them. Indeed, the great mercy of God who desires that all men should be saved, and Jesus' tenderness toward children which caused him to say: 'Let the children come to me, do not hinder them,' allow us to hope that there is a way of salvation for children who have died without Baptism." End Note 27  This allows Catholic individuals and theologians personally to hold whatever theory they wish, including Limbo.  Most now lean toward full salvation instead of Limbo.  Reflecting this, in 1984, Joseph Ratzinger (later pope Benedict XVI) openly rejected any claim that children dying unbaptized cannot gain salvation.End Note 28  Many now hold that everyone never hearing the gospel can similarly gain salvation.End Note 29 For the record, on Scriptural grounds, neither the Protestant Church nor the Eastern Orthodox church accept the Roman idea of a Limbo of Infants.End Note 31
End Notes 1. For the record, the four listed doctrinal disputes: (a) the procession of the Holy Spirit (proceeds from the Father and Son or only the Father, (b) "azymes" in the Eucharist (leaven or unleavened bread), (c) on purgatory (and related indulgences), and (d) on the Papal supremacy (Rome's bishop above all). 2. Glorification is the term we use to describe the ultimate perfection of believers.  The Bible doesn't use this descriptive word but implies it through use of the word "glorify" and "glory" plus other passages speaking of our final state.  This resurrected state, slightly mentioned or inferred in the Old Testament (Job 19:25-27; Psalms 73:24; Daniel 12:2-3), finds many and fuller New Testament references. (See Romans 8:16-18; Romans 8:29-30; 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24; 2 Thessalonians 1:10-12; Colossians 1:12-14; Ephesians 1:3-14; 2 Timothy 2:10-13; 1 Peter 5:1; Romans 5:2; Colossians 1:27; Colossians 3:4; 2 Thessalonians 2:14; Ephesians 5:25-27; Philippians 3:20-21; 2 Corinthians 4:17; 2 Timothy 2:10; 1 Peter 5:10; 1 Thessalonians 2:12; Hebrews 2:10-11; 1 Corinthians 2:7-9; Romans 2:7; Romans 9:23). From these passages we see glorification is a work of God and He calls and brings all believers to this foreordained glory.  God prepares His saints for this prepared glory that is ours by inheritance.  God wants believers to seek this glorification.  While it's once referenced as a past act (Romans 8:30), the remaining passages are future, something we hope for and something awaiting revealing, not yet gained. This full and never-ending glorification appears with Jesus' second coming and His resurrection of believers.  While God's transformation of us is already at work in our sanctification, glorification is the final degree of many steps to glory (2 Corinthians 3:18) complete with immortality (Romans 2:7; 1 Corinthians 15:42-44, 49-53).  It is to Christ's glory, indeed God's glory, He calls us and establishes us by His power (2 Thessalonians 2:14; 1 Peter 5:10). 3. Wesleyan-Nazarene and some holiness movement theology teaches that believers can gain sinless perfection or "entire sanctification" here on earth.  Rather than glorification granted by God after death, Wesley believed that God granted believers present power over sin. This, he claimed, is part of their justification and that exercise of this power through continuing sanctification could bring the believer to complete victory.  Yet, Wesley also admitted that this couldn't stop unintentional sin - leaving some future perfecting as still necessary. 4. Footnotes from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, keeping the original document's footnoting numbers: 604 Cf. Council of Florence (1439): DS 1304; Council of Trent (1563): DS 1820; (1547): 1580; see also Benedict XII, Benedictus Deus (1336): DS 1000. 605 Cf.  1 Cor 3:15;  1 Pet 1:7. 606 St. Gregory the Great, Dial. 4, 39: PL 77, 396; cf.  Mt 12:31. 607 2 Maccabees 12:46. 608 Cf. Council of Lyons II (1274): DS 856. 609 St. John Chrysostom, Hom. in 1 Cor. 41, 5: PG 61, 361; cf.  Job 1:5. 5. The Roman Catholic church now claims the Onesiphorus Paul refers to in 2 Timothy 1:16 was deceased.  2 Timothy 1:16 May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains, 17 but when he arrived in Rome he searched for me earnestly and found me- 18 may the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that day!-and you well know all the service he rendered at Ephesus. Paul singles out the household of Onesiphorus, to receive blessing, immediately after calling out two individuals, by name, for abandoning him.  This raises the question: Why not directly praise Onesiphorus, was it because he was now dead?  Even some Protestant scholars find evidence for his death in this wording. And, if Onesiphorus is dead as claimed that would make Paul's words in verses 16 and 18 a prayer for the dead.  The latter verse then becomes a prayer seeking post-death mercy looking towards the resurrection. The text does not, with certainty, say that Onesiphorus is dead, so this understanding rests in speculation versus assured fact.  If he was dead, might Paul have prayed for Onesiphorus' family to have consolation or comfort instead of mercy?  In asking for God's mercy for them, might Paul be recognizing their sacrifice in allowing Onesiphorus' long absence?  Regardless, these possibilities are just a few alternatives the text allows for.  In 2 Timothy 4:19, Paul again references Onesiphorus.  After directly greeting Priscilla and Aquila, he greets Onesiphorus' household rather than Onesiphorus himself.  Many make this further proof Onesiphorus is dead.  Again, this conclusion is circumstantial with many unknown possible reasons.  Paul might have been aware that Onesiphorus was somewhere else as he wrote, then choosing only to greet his family rather than Onesiphorus who wouldn't receive the greeting. Further, Paul's hope for Onesiphorus might be merely a casual expression in the fashion of well-wishing. No different from how I might say of any believer, "I hope God rewards them on the day of judgment." Even if that believer was dead, this expression doesn't rise to being a prayer asking for God to change something He already determined; its merely an expression of the hope I have for them.  Similarly, it's Paul's expressed hope that God grants mercy on Onesiphorus at judgment day - a wish that doesn't change whether alive or dead.  There's no evidence Paul sought an active change of Onesiphorus' status following death - something necessary in an efficacious prayer.  Nowhere does the Bible hint that a believer's prayer can change a person's post death spiritual state or posthumously increase or change God's mercy for any person.  Elsewhere in Scriptures, Paul utters a similar prayer for believer's unquestionably alive.  In 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24, he prays for the complete sanctification and blameless preservation of these saints at Jesus' coming.  It's a recognition that God does this work in life and completes it in death by His grace alone.  The resurrection sees complete sanctification of the spirit, soul, and finally body. It's dangerous to hang a developed doctrine, such as prayers for the dead, on a questionable understanding of an unclear passage.  The late Roman Catholic adoption of this passage in support of their practice leaves their understanding resting in an assumption and not a direct teaching.    One final note.  An early New Testament apocryphal work, The Acts of Paul and Thecla, likely from the early second century AD, draws Onesiphorus into an invented story.  It uses Paul preaching in Onesiphorus' house as an opening setting for a religious romance.  This account gained widespread readership in the early centuries of the church.  Church father Tertullian (about 190 AD) said a presbyter from Asia minor wrote it, later removed after confessing to the Apostle John that he had written this fiction.  If the apostle John's involvement is true, this work would date to the late first century.  I note this to say that speculation over Onesiphorus appears present very early. 6. "Oecumenical" is the same word now universally spelled "ecumenical." It's early use stems from the time period of the Council of Trent (mid to late 16th century), meaning "belonging to the universal Church."  The word comes into English from late Latin.  The source for the Latin word was the Greek word "oikoumenikos" taken from the Greek "oikoumen?," meaning "the inhabited earth." 7. The second Council of Lyon, in 1274, was a try to reunify the Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches. Both briefly accepted it's resulting document, but the next Orthodox ruler, Andronicus II (formally "Andronikos II Palaiologos" who ruled 1282-1328) later renounced it.  The specific ruling on purgatory, in Latin, is as follows: 856 464 (De sorte defunctorum) Quod si vere paenitentes in caritate decesserint, antequam dignis paenitentiae fructibus de commissis satisfecerint et omissis: eorum animas poenis purgatoriis seu catharteriis, sicut nobis frater Iohannes (Parastron O. F. M.) explanavit, post mortem purgari: et ad poenas huiusmodi relevandas prodesse eis fidelium vivorum suffragia, Missarum scilicet sacrificia, orationes et eleemosynas et alia pietatis officia, quae a fidelibus pro aliis fidelibus fieri consueverunt secundum Ecclesiae instituta. Providing context, here is an English translation with surrounding text (the primary passage in bold): 464 We believe that the true Church is holy, Catholic, apostolic, and one, in which is given one holy baptism and true remission of all sins. We believe also in the true resurrection of this flesh, which now we bear, and in eternal life. We believe also that the one author of the New and the Old Testament, of the Law, and of the Prophets and the Apostles is the omnipotent God and Lord. This is the true Catholic Faith, and this in the above-mentioned articles the most holy Roman Church holds and teaches. But because of diverse errors introduced by some through ignorance and by others from evil, it (the Church) says and teaches that those who after baptism slip into sin must not be rebaptized, but by true penance attain forgiveness of their sins. Because if they die truly repentant in charity before they have made satisfaction by worthy fruits of penance for (sins) committed and omitted, their souls are cleansed after death by purgatorical or purifying punishments, as Brother John has explained to us. And to relieve punishments of this kind, the offerings of the living faithful are of advantage to these, namely, the sacrifices of Masses, prayers, alms, and other duties of piety, which have customarily been performed by the faithful for the other faithful according to the regulations of the Church. However, the souls of those who after having received holy baptism have incurred no stain of sin whatever, also those souls who, after contracting the stain of sin, either while remaining in their bodies or being divested of them, have been cleansed, as we have said above, are received immediately into heaven. The souls of those who die in mortal sin or with original sin only, however, immediately descend to hell, yet to be punished with different punishments. The same most holy Roman Church firmly believes and firmly declares that nevertheless on the day of judgment "all" men will be brought together with their bodies "before the tribunal of Christ" "to render an account" of their own deeds [Rom. 14:10 ]. (Council of Lyons II (1274):DS 856) 8. Professor Jim Jones of West Chester University of Pennsylvania well summarizes the conditions surrounding the sale of indulgences leading to the reformation. Although reformers had many complaints about the Catholic Church of the 16th century, the practice of selling "indulgences" raised the most opposition. An indulgence was a payment to the Catholic Church that purchased an exemption from punishment (penance) for some types of sins. You could not get an indulgence to excuse a murder, but you could get one to excuse many lesser sins, such as thinking lustful thoughts about someone who was not your spouse. The customers for indulgences were Catholic believers who feared that if one of their sins went unnoticed or unconfessed, they would spend extra time in purgatory before reaching heaven or worse, wind up in hell for failing to repent. The sale of indulgences was a byproduct of the Crusades in the 12th and 13th centuries. Because they risked dying without the benefit of a priest to perform the appropriate ceremonies, Crusaders were promised immediate salvation if they died while fighting to "liberate" the Christian holy city at Jerusalem. Church leaders justified this by arguing that good works earned salvation, and making Jerusalem accessible to Christians was an example of a good work. Over time, Church leaders decided that paying money to support good works was just as good as performing good works, and it evened things up for people who were physically incapable of fighting a Crusade. Over several centuries, the practice expanded, and Church leaders justified it by arguing that they had inherited an unlimited amount of good works from Jesus, and the credit for these good works could be sold to believers in the form of indulgences. In other words, indulgences functioned like "confession insurance" against eternal damnation because, if you purchased an indulgence, then you wouldn't go to hell if you died suddenly or forgot to confess something. In later years, the sale of indulgences spread to include forgiveness for the sins of people who were already dead. That is evident in this passage from a sermon by John Tetzel, the monk who sold indulgences in Germany and inspired Martin Luther's protest in 1517. Don't you hear the voices of your dead parents and other relatives crying out, "Have mercy on us, for we suffer great punishment and pain. From this, you could release us with a few alms . . . We have created you, fed you, cared for you and left you our temporal goods. Why do you treat us so cruelly and leave us to suffer in the flames, when it takes only a little to save us? [Source: Die Reformation in Augenzeugen Berichten, edited by Helmar Junghaus (Dusseldorf: Karl Rauch Verlag, 1967), 44.]    [As posted on wcupa.edu, retrieved 4/20/2019, "Background to Against the Sale of Indulgences by Martin Luther," copyright 2012] 9.  This news article summarized the novelty of indulgences to Americans: The announcement in church bulletins and on Web sites has been greeted with enthusiasm by some and wariness by others. But mainly, it has gone over the heads of a vast generation of Roman Catholics who have no idea what it means: "Bishop Announces Plenary Indulgences." In recent months, dioceses around the world have been offering Catholics a spiritual benefit that fell out of favor decades ago - the indulgence, a sort of amnesty from punishment in the afterlife - and reminding them of the church's clout in mitigating the wages of sin.  ... "Why are we bringing it back?" asked Bishop Nicholas A. DiMarzio of Brooklyn, who has embraced the move. "Because there is sin in the world."  ... The indulgence is among the less noticed and less disputed traditions to be restored. But with a thousand-year history and volumes of church law devoted to its intricacies, it is one of the most complicated to explain. According to church teaching, even after sinners are absolved in the confessional and say their Our Fathers or Hail Marys as penance, they still face punishment after death, in Purgatory, before they can enter heaven. In exchange for certain prayers, devotions or pilgrimages in special years, a Catholic can receive an indulgence, which reduces or erases that punishment instantly, with no formal ceremony or sacrament. There are partial indulgences, which reduce purgatorial time by a certain number of days or years, and plenary indulgences, which eliminate all of it, until another sin is committed. You can get one for yourself, or for someone who is dead. You cannot buy one - the church outlawed the sale of indulgences in 1567 - but charitable contributions, combined with other acts, can help you earn one. There is a limit of one plenary indulgence per sinner per day. (For Catholics, a Door to Absolution Is Reopened, The New York Times, By Paul Vitello, February 9, 2009) 10.  The Scala Sancta (Italian "Scala Santa" or English: "Holy Stairs") are an official Roman Catholic relic.  This set of 28 white marble steps belong to the Holy See in Rome, Italy, and are near the Archbasilica of Saint John in Laterano.  The "Holy Stairs" are part of the former Lateran Palaces in Rome and lead to the Church of Saint Lawrence in Palatio ad Sancta Sanctorum or more simply the "Sancta Sanctorum" (English: Holy of Holies), which was the personal chapel of earlier popes.  The formal name of the stairs is "the Pontifical Sanctuary of the Holy Stairs."  When I visited the stairs had been long since covered by wooden steps (by Pope Innocent XIII in 1723).  But in 2019, officials again uncovered them after almost 300 years.  For a few month they're allowing people to climb the original stairs on their knees, but they'll again cover them after Pentecost.  The building houses five staircases, the four added as replicas to enable enough pilgrims an ascent.  The legend behind this official relic is that Saint Helena, the mother of Constantine I, the first Christian emperor of Rome, had the stairs transported to Rome in 326 A.D.  Supposedly, these are the stairs Jesus climbed before receiving His death sentence from Roman prefect Pontius Pilate.  It's highly unlikely these stairs came from Jerusalem.  By Helena's time the Roman Empire had twice destroyed the city, the first during the Jewish rebellion ending in AD 70. Following the Bar Kohhba revolt (132-136 AD), Hadrian functionally leveled the city and rebuild his new Roman Aelia Capitolina.  Further, marble was never a common building material in the first century Roman Judea, something unlikely to appear on a large scale in King Herod's palace later used by Roman Pilate. The stairs have four spots where it's believed Jesus's blood spattered the steps.  Priests covered these with decorative crosses and a grate. 11. These are the footnotes referenced in this catechism citation, keeping their original numbering: 81 Paul VI, apostolic constitution, Indulgentiarum doctrina, Norm 1. 82 Indulgentiarum doctrina, Norm 2; Cf. Norm 3. 83 Cf. Council of Trent (1551): DS 1712-1713; (1563): 1820. 84 Eph 4:22, 24. 85 Indulgentiarum doctrina, 5. 86 Indulgentiarum doctrina, 5. 87 Indulgentiarum doctrina, 5. 88 Indulgentiarum doctrina, 5. 89 Cf. Indulgentiarum doctrina, 5. 12. The semi-official website, east2west.org, which exists for "Introducing the West to Eastern Catholicism," defines the minimal understanding the eastern churches could keep while unifying with Rome: As a general rule, all Eastern Christians do not use the word "Purgatory." This includes both Eastern Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christians. The word "Purgatory" is specific to the Latin tradition, and carries some specific historical baggage that makes Eastern Christians uncomfortable. In the Medieval West, many popular theologians defined Purgatory as a specific place, where people essentially sat around and suffered. Some theologians went so far as to imply that a literal fire burns those who suffer in Purgatory. It was also popular to tally periods of time that people spent in purgatory for various offences. It is worth noting that contemporary Roman Catholic theology has (thankfully) moved beyond this approach, to a more Patristic understanding of Purgatory. 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. But again, we do not use the word "Purgatory" for two reasons. First, it is a Latin word first used in the Medieval West, and we use Greek words to describe our theology. Second, the word "Purgatory" still carries specific Medieval baggage that we aren't comfortable with. It is noteworthy that the Byzantine Catholic Church has never been required to use the word Purgatory. Our act of reunion with Rome, "The Treaty of Brest," which was formally accepted by Pope Clement VIII, does not require us to accept the Western understanding of Purgatory. Article V of the Treaty of Brest states "We shall not debate about purgatory&ldots;" implying that both sides can agree to disagree on the specifics of what the West calls "Purgatory." In the East, we tend to have a much more positive view of the transition from death to Heaven. Rather than seeing this as a place to "sit and suffer," the Eastern Fathers of the Church described it as being a journey. While this journey can entail hardships, there are also powerful glimpses of joy. Although we do not use the same words, Eastern Catholics and Latin Catholics do essentially believe the same thing on this important point.  ["Purgatory", Dr. Anthony Dragani is Professor of Religious Studies at Mount Aloysius College in Cresson, Pennsylvania.  As an Eastern Catholic deacon, Fr. Deacon Anthony serves two parishes in western Pennsylvania.] 13. This citation is an excerpt from a longer creed, "One of the four authoritative Creeds of the Catholic Church."  For reference, the entire post-Trent anti-Protestant creed: I, Name, with a firm faith believe and profess each and everything which is contained in the Creed which the Holy Roman Church maketh use of. To wit: I believe in one God, The Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the Only-begotten Son of God. Born of the Father before all ages. God of God, Light of Light, true God of true God. Begotten, not made, of one substance with the Father. By whom all things were made. Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven. And became incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary: and was made man. He was also crucified for us, suffered under Pontius Pilate, and was buried. And on the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and His kingdom will have no end. And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life, Who proceeds from the Father and the Son. Who together with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified, and who spoke through the prophets. And one holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. I confess one baptism for the forgiveness of sins and I await the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen. I also admit the Holy Scripture according to that sense which our holy mother the Church hath held, and doth hold, to whom it belongeth to judge of the true sense and interpretations of the Scriptures. Neither will I ever take and interpret them otherwise than according to the unanimous consent of the Fathers. I also profess that there are truly and properly Seven Sacraments of the New Law, instituted by Jesus Christ our Lord, and necessary for the salvation of mankind, though not all for every one; to wit, Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Penance, Extreme Unction, Holy Orders, and Matrimony; and that they confer grace; and that of these, Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Orders cannot be reiterated without sacrilege. I also receive and admit the received and approved ceremonies of the Catholic Church in the solemn administration of the aforesaid sacraments. I embrace and receive all and every one of the things which have been defined and declared in the holy Council of Trent concerning original sin and justification. I profess, likewise, that in the Mass there is offered to God a true, proper, and propitiatory sacrifice for the living and the dead; and that in the most holy sacrament of the Eucharist there is truly, really, and substantially, the Body and Blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ; and that there is made a conversion of the whole substance of the bread into the Body, and of the whole substance of the wine into the Blood, which conversion the Catholic Church calls Transubstantiation. I also confess that under either kind alone Christ is received whole and entire, and a true sacrament. I constantly hold that there is a Purgatory, and that the souls therein detained are helped by the suffrages of the faithful. Likewise, that the saints, reigning together with Christ, are to be honoured and invoked, and that they offer prayers to God for us, and that their relics are to be venerated. I most firmly assert that the images of Christ, of the Mother of God, ever virgin, and also of other Saints, ought to be had and retained, and that due honour and veneration is to be given them. I also affirm that the power of indulgences was left by Christ in the Church, and that the use of them is most wholesome to Christian people. I acknowledge the Holy Catholic Apostolic Roman Church as the mother and mistress of all churches; and I promise true obedience to the Bishop of Rome, successor to St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles, and Vicar of Jesus Christ. I likewise undoubtedly receive and profess all other things delivered, defined, and declared by the sacred Canons, and general Councils, and particularly by the holy Council of Trent, and by the ecumenical Council of the Vatican, particularly concerning the primacy of the Roman Pontiff and his infallible teaching. I condemn, reject, and anathematize all things contrary thereto, and all heresies which the Church hath condemned, rejected, and anathematized. This true Catholic faith, outside of which no one can be saved, which I now freely profess and to which I truly adhere, inviolate and with firm constancy until the last breath of life, I do so profess and swear to maintain with the help of God. And I shall strive, as far as possible, that this same faith shall be held, taught, and professed by all those over whom I have charge. I N. do so pledge, promise, and swear, so help me God and these Holy Gospels.  (Creed of Pope Pius IV, found on the-latinmass.com, viewed 4/22/2019) 14. A website promoting better understanding between Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholicism provides the best early evidence they could find for the Roman Catholic view of Purgatory.  Their opening disclaimer rightly states the full Roman Catholic perspective didn't appear until late: The Early Church Fathers believed in prayers for the dead. The Latin theological perspective on Purgatory simply did not begin in the 13th century, but is ancient and Apostolic in its origins. These professedly supporting citations come from various writings and monuments; the provided dates are theirs: Origen If a man departs this life with lighter faults, he is condemned to fire which burns away the lighter materials, and prepares the soul for the kingdom of God, where nothing defiled may enter. For if on the foundation of Christ you have built not only gold and silver and precious stones (I Cor., 3); but also wood and hay and stubble, what do you expect when the soul shall be separated from the body? Would you enter into heaven with your wood and hay and stubble and thus defile the kingdom of God; or on account of these hindrances would you remain without and receive no reward for your gold and silver and precious stones? Neither is this just. It remains then that you be committed to the fire which will burn the light materials; for our God to those who can comprehend heavenly things is called a cleansing fire. But this fire consumes not the creature, but what the creature has himself built, wood, and hay and stubble. It is manifest that the fire destroys the wood of our transgressions and then returns to us the reward of our great works. (Patres Groeci. XIII, col. 445, 448 [A.D. 185-232]). "As John stood near the Jordan among those who came to be baptized, accepting those who confessed their vices and their sins and rejecting the rest ... so will the Lord Jesus Christ stand in a river of fire next to a flaming sword and Baptize all those who should go to Paradise after they die, but who lack purgation... But those who do not bear the mark of the first Baptism will not be baptized in the bath of fire. One must first be Baptized in water and Spirit so that, when the river of fire is reached, the marks of the baths of water and Spirit will remain as signs that one is worthy of receiving the Baptism of fire in Jesus Christ." (Origen, Commentary on Luke, 24th Homily, before 253 A.D) Abercius The citizen of a prominent city, I erected this while I lived, that I might have a resting place for my body. Abercius is my name, a disciple of the chaste shepherd who feeds his sheep on the mountains and in the fields, who has great eyes surveying everywhere, who taught me the faithful writings of life. Standing by, I, Abercius, ordered this to be inscribed; truly I was in my seventy-second year. May everyone who is in accord with this and who understands it pray for Abercius (Epitaph of Abercius [A.D. 190]). Tertullian That allegory of the Lord [Matt. 5:25-26] . . . is extremely clear and simple in its meaning . . . [beware lest as] a transgressor of your agreement, before God the judge . . . and lest this judge deliver you over to the angel who is to execute the sentence, and he commit you to the prison of hell, out of which there will be no dismissal until the smallest even of your delinquencies be paid off in the period before the resurrection. What can be a more fitting sense than this? What a truer interpretation? (The Soul 35 [A.D. 210]). "This place, the Bosom of Abraham, though not in Heaven, and yet above hell, offers the souls of the righteous an interim refreshment until the end of all things brings about the general resurrection and the final reward." (Tertullian, Against Marcion, 4:34, before 220 A.D.) "Indeed she [a widow] prays for his [her husband's] soul and asks that he may, while waiting, find rest; and that he may share in the first resurrection [Heaven].  And each year, on the anniversary of his death, she offers the Sacrifice [i.e., has a Mass said for him]."  (Tertullian, On Monogamy, 212 A.D.) Cyprian It is one thing to stand for pardon, another thing to attain to glory; it is one thing, when cast into prison, not to go out thence until one has paid the uttermost farthing; another thing at once to receive the wages of faith and courage. It is one thing, tortured by long suffering for sins, to be cleansed and long purged by fire; another to have purged all sins by suffering. It is one thing, in fine, to be in suspense till the sentence of God at the Day of judgment; another to be at once crowned by the Lord (Letters 51[55]:20 [A.D. 253]). Cyril of Jerusalem Then we make mention also of those who have already fallen asleep: first, the patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and martyrs, that through their prayers and supplications God would receive our petition, next, we make mention also of the holy fathers and bishops who have already fallen asleep, and, to put it simply, of all among us who have already fallen asleep. For We believe that it will be of very great benefit to the souls of those for whom the petition is carried up, while this holy and most solemn sacrifice is laid out (Catechetical Lectures 23:5:9 [A.D. 350]). John Chrysostom Let us help and commemorate them. If Job's sons were purified by their father's sacrifice [Job l:5), why would we doubt that our offerings for the dead bring them some consolation? Let us not hesitate to help those who have died and to offer our prayers for them (Homilies on First Corinthians 41:5 (A.D. 392)). Not in vain was it decreed by the apostles that in the awesome mysteries remembrance should be made of the departed. They knew that here there was much gain for them, much benefit. When the entire people stands with hands uplifted, a priestly assembly, and that awesome sacrificial victim is laid out, how, when we are calling upon God, should we not succeed in their defense? But this is done for those who have departed in the faith, while even the catechumens are not reckoned .is worthy of this consolation, but are deprived of every means of assistance except one. And what is that? We may give alms to the poor on their behalf (Homilies on Philippians 3:9-10 [A.D. 402]). Ambrose of Milan Give perfect rest to thy servant Theodosius, that rest which thou hast prepared for thy saints&ldots; I have loved him, and therefore will I follow him into the land of the living; nor will I leave him until by tears and prayers I shall lead him wither his merits summon him, unto the holy mountain of the Lord (Funeral Sermon of Theodosius 36-37 [A.D. 395]). Augustine There is an ecclesiastical discipline, as the faithful know, when the names of the martyrs are read aloud in that place at the altar of God, where prayer is not offered for them. Prayer, however, is offered for other dead who are remembered. It is wrong to pray for a martyr, to whose prayers we ought ourselves be commended (Sermons 159:1 [A.D. 411]). Temporal punishments are suffered by some in this life only, by some after death, by some both here and hereafter, but all of them before that last and strictest judgment. But not all who suffer temporal punishments after death will come to eternal punishments, which are to follow after that judgment (The City of God 21:13 [A.D. 419]). That there should be some fire even after this life is not incredible, and it can be inquired into and either be discovered or left hidden whether some of the faithful may be saved, some more slowly and some more quickly in the greater or lesser degree in which they loved the good things that perish, through a certain purgatorial fire (Handbook on Faith, Hope, and Charity l8:69 [A.D. 421]) Origin's fellow Alexandrian, St. Clement "In the other life there will be two fires, a 'devouring and consuming' one for the incorrigible, and for the rest, a fire that 'sanctifies' and 'does not consume, like the fire of the forge,' a 'prudent, intelligent' fire which penetrates the soul that passes through it." (Clement of Alexandria, Stromata 8.6, c. before 215 A.D.) St. Perpetua - 3rd century martyr An African Latin-speaker like Tertullian, her memoirs were documented during her incarceration. At about A.D. 203 she writes ... - This excerpt originally included the quote on St. Perpetua included in the main article text - St. Basil the Great ... "...and if they [i.e., Christians who die] are found to have any wounds from their wrestling, any stains or effects of sin, they are detained.  If, however, they are found unwounded and without stain, they are, as unconquered, brought by Christ into their rest."  (Basil, Homilies and Psalms, 370 A.D.)  And St. Basil's own brother, St. Gregory of Nyssa declares ... "...he [the departed soul] is not able to partake of divinity until he has been purged of the filthy contagion in his soul by purifying fire."  (Sermon on the Dead) [Purgatory according to the Church Fathers, Catholicbridge.com, viewed on 4/29/2019] 15. Perpetua's account has internal signs that it appeared in the third century AD.  Also, an ancient inscription references Perpetua as a martyr in a basilica erected over the tomb of the martyrs in Carthage (Basilica Maiorum).  The inscription likely dates to its restoration in 530 AD, almost certainly replacing an earlier text. Yet, most supporting manuscripts for the overall story come from the late middle ages onward, a time when the church was seeking support for their developing view of purgatory and indulgences.  Of the three major versions in circulation (Passio, Acta A and Acta B), all ten manuscripts (9 Latin, 1 Greek) of Passio date from the ninth to twelfth centuries ("the earliest dating from the late ninth or early tenth century").  Of the greater portion found in the other two, this quotation shows people developed and circulated these texts mostly in the same time period. The 76 existing manuscripts of Acta A catalogued by Van Beek date from the ninth through fifteenth centuries, with a noticeable increase in the number of manuscripts from the twelfth century onward. Of them, 21 date to the thirteenth century, which seems to represent a high point in the popularity of Acta A. Meanwhile, 5 of the 13 extant manuscripts of Acta B date from the twelfth century, which would seem to indicate that perhaps this text, while clearly less widely disseminated than Acta A, also reached it height of popularity a bit earlier, which is interesting as it seems to represent the most stylized (or sanitized) version of the story.  The earliest extant manuscript for any narrative version of Perpetua's martyrdom is, in fact, BLB Karlsruhe Aug. Perg. 32, for Acta A, which dates to before 842...   For now, it is important to note the essential differences between representation of Perpetua's story in the three versions (Passio, Acta A, and Acta B), and how these different versions of the text instantiate different conceptions of both the theology of martyrdom and the uses of hagiographic narrative.  [Saint Perpetua across the Middle Ages: Mother, Gladiator, Saint by Margaret Cotter-Lynch, 2016] 16. The Maccabean account is the primary "scripture" Catholics provide as supporting evidence that the Bible teaches prayers for the dead and a reason for purgatory.  They ignore that this book was a very late addition to the Bible on the Pope's authority (1546) and not a recognized canonical book throughout most of church history.  A Roman Catholic Franciscan site makes it mostly a Jewish conspiracy that removed these books from Scriptures, implying Martin Luther followed their invalid shortlist instead of the church's true list - an argument without supporting evidence.  Further, they ignore the witness of Jerome (died 420) the translator of the Latin Vulgate. He clearly understood these apocryphal works, including Maccabees, weren't canonical. Why Pray for the Dead? Q: A Christian friend says that the Bible contains no references to purgatory. What is the basis for the Church's teaching about this? Why do Catholics pray for the dead? A: In 2 Maccabees 12:38-46, Judas Maccabee orders that sacrifices be offered in the Temple in Jerusalem for slain Jewish soldiers who had worn pagan amulets (good-luck charms). Some people have seen this story as biblical justification for the teaching on purgatory. That certainly overstates the author's intention. If, however, those Jewish soldiers did something wrong by wearing pagan amulets, why offer sacrifices on their behalf? The two Books of Maccabees are probably not in your friend's Bible because they were originally written in Greek. During Jesus' lifetime, some Jewish people regarded these books as inspired by God. About 60 years after Jesus' death, however, rabbis at Jamnia in Palestine drew up the list (canon) of the Scriptures used by Jewish people to this day. That shorter list includes only works composed in Hebrew, excluding the two Books of Maccabees, five other books and parts of the Books of Daniel and Esther. For centuries, Eastern and Western Christians accepted as inspired the longer list. When Martin Luther translated the Bible, he used the shorter list.  [www.franciscanmedia.org, as viewed on 5/1/19] 17.  The leading context of this citation: Catholic teaching regarding prayers for the dead is bound up inseparably with the doctrine of purgatory and the more general doctrine of the communion of the saints, which is an article of the Apostle's Creed. The definition of the Council of Trent (Sess. XXV), "that purgatory exists, and that the souls detained therein are helped by the suffrages of the faithful, but especially by the acceptable sacrifice of the altar", is merely a restatement in brief of the traditional teaching which had already been embodied in more than one authoritative formula - as in the creed prescribed for converted Waldenses by Innocent III in 1210 (Denzinger, Enchiridion, n. 3 73) and more fully in the profession of faith accepted for the Greeks by Michael Palaeologus at the Second Ecumenical Council of Florence in 1439: "[We define] likewise, that if the truly penitent die in the love of God, before they have made satisfaction by worthy fruits of penance for their sins of commission and omission, their souls are purified by purgatorial pains after death; and that for relief from these pains they are benefitted by the suffrages of the faithful in this life, that is, by Masses, prayers, and almsgiving, and by the other offices of piety usually performed by the faithful for one another according to the practice [instituta] of the Church" (ibid., n. 588). Hence, under "suffrages" for the dead, which are defined to be legitimate and efficacious, are included not only formal supplications, but every kind of pious work that may be offered for the spiritual benefit of others, and it is in this comprehensive sense that we speak of prayers in the present article. As is clear from this general statement, the Church does not recognize the limitation upon which even modern Protestants often insist, that prayers for the dead, while legitimate and commendable as a private practice, are to be excluded from her public offices. The most efficacious of all prayers, in Catholic teaching, is the essentially public office, the Sacrifice of the Mass. Coming to the proof of this doctrine, we find, in the first place, that it is an integral part of the great general truth which we name the communion of saints. This truth is the counterpart in the supernatural order of the natural law of human solidarity. Men are not isolated units in the life of grace, any more than in domestic and civil life. As children in Christ's Kingdom they are as one family under the loving Fatherhood of God; as members of Christ's mystical body they are incorporated not only with Him, their common Head, but with one another, and this not merely by visible social bonds and external co-operation, but by the invisible bonds of mutual love and sympathy, and by effective co-operation in the inner life of grace. Each is in some degree the beneficiary of the spiritual activities of the others, of their prayers and good works, their merits and satisfactions; nor is this degree to be wholly measured by those indirect ways in which the law of solidarity works out in other cases, nor by the conscious and explicit altruistic intentions of individual agents. It is wider than this, and extends to the bounds of the mysterious. Now, as between the living, no Christian can deny the reality of this far-reaching spiritual communion; and since death, for those who die in faith and grace, does not sever the bonds of this communion, why should it interrupt its efficacy in the case of the dead, and shut them out from benefits of which they are capable and may be in need? Of very few can it be hoped that they have attained perfect holiness at death; and none but the perfectly holy are admitted to the vision of God. Of few, on the other hand, will they at least who love them admit the despairing thought that they are beyond the pale of grace and mercy, and condemned to eternal separation from God and from all who hope to be with God. On this ground alone it has been truly said that purgatory is a postulate of the Christian reason; and, granting the existence of the purgatorial state, it is equally a postulate of the Christian reason in the communion of saints, or, in other words, be helped by the prayers of their brethren on earth and in heaven. Christ is King in purgatory as well as in heaven and on earth, and He cannot be deaf to our prayers for our loved ones in that part of His Kingdom, whom he also loves while He chastises them. - Cited excerpt appears here - [New Advent Website "Prayers for the Dead", http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04653a.htm, viewed 5/1/19)] 18.  The well-known medieval theologian Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) speculated about purgatory's close positioning to hell, so the same fire designed for tormenting the damned could also cleanse just souls in purgatory. Nothing is clearly stated in Scripture about the situation of Purgatory, nor is it possible to offer convincing arguments on this question. It is probable, however, and more in keeping with the statements of holy men and the revelations made to many, that there is a twofold place of Purgatory. One, according to the common law; and thus the place of Purgatory is situated below and in proximity to hell, so that it is the same fire which torments the damned in hell and cleanses the just in Purgatory...   [Summa Theologica by Thomas Aquinas, section "Whether it is the same place where souls are cleansed, and the damned punished?"] 19.  Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy, finished in 1320, contributed to the popular view of purgatory.  He makes purgatory a cone-shaped island with seven terraces for cleansing the seven deadly sins from believers as they ascend to heaven.  The summit appears as an earthly paradise from where God takes these cleansed souls to heaven.  At the island's base there are spurs trapping and delaying ascent of the lazy, or excommunicated, or those late in repentance - all those needing longer punishment.  Artworks based on his work commonly showed believers strenuously working their way upward on this conical mountain. 20.  Rather than a separate purgatory, some Orthodox apply some similar ideas to the intermediate place of Hades (the abode of the dead) before gaining heavenly rest.  Consider this Orthodox theologian... Many are freed from the prison of hades ... 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] 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, under the heading "How must one consider the purgatorial fire?"] [Both quotes from Orthodox Confession of Faith, developed by Peter Mogila (1596-1646) and adopted in a Greek translation by the 1642 Romanian Council of Jassy]. A later Eastern Orthodox Synod noted 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. [The Confession of Dositheus, from the Eastern Orthodox Synod of Jerusalem in 1672] There's evidence that some Orthodox have long believed in "aerial toll-houses" for the souls of the dead.  In hymns belonging to the Greek and Slavonic Euchologion, dating to the 8-9th centuries, reference this idea.  For example, All holy angels of the Almighty God, have mercy upon me and save me from all the evil toll-houses.  [Ode 7] One further, much later, example will do: When the fearful hosts come, when the divine takers-away command the soul to be translated from the body, when they draw us away by force and lead us away to the unavoidable judgment place - then, seeing them, the poor man&ldots; comes all into a shaking as if from an earthquake, is all in trembling&ldots;. The divine takers-away, taking the soul, ascend in the air where stands the chiefs, the authorities and world-rulers of the opposing powers. These are our accusers, the fearful publicans, registrars, tax-collectors; they meet it on the way, register, examine, and count the sins and debts of this man - the sins of youth and old age, voluntary and involuntary, committed in deed, word, and thought. Great is the fear here, great the trembling of the poor soul, indescribable the want which it suffers then from the incalculable multitudes of its enemies surrounding it there in myriad's, slandering it so as not to allow it to ascend to heaven, to dwell in the light of the living, to enter the land of life. But the holy angels, taking the soul, lead it away. [St. Ephriam the Syrian, Collected Works (in Russian), Moscow, 1882] An American Orthodox site summarizes these toll-houses: ...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.  [Death and the Toll House Controversy, by Deacon Andrew Werbiansky; www.stlukeorthodox.com] While modern Orthodox theologians dispute whether tollhouses are valid Orthodox theology, evidence shows it has long been a popular belief in parts of the Orthodox church. 21.  The same applies to beliefs held by the Mormon cult.  These so-called Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints also teaches there's an intermediate place for spirits after death awaiting the resurrection.  This includes "paradise" for good Mormons and a spirit "Prison" for those who don't know the Mormon God.  Spirits in paradise get to continue their missionary efforts and preach to the spirits in prison who can accept salvation though already dead.  They then can accept posthumous temple ordinances, including baptism, performed for them by living church members. 22. Comments recorded in a meeting between the Orthodox and Roman churches help show the differences between their two views. The Latins, he said, allow that now, and until the day of the last judgment, departed souls are purified by fire, and are thus liberated from their sins; so that, he who has sinned the most will be a longer time undergoing purification, whereas he whose sins are less will be absolved the sooner, with the aid of the Church; but in the future life they allow the eternal, and not the purgatorial fire. Thus the Latins receive both the temporal and the eternal fire, and call the first the purgatorial fire. On the other hand, the Greeks teach of one eternal fire alone, understanding that the temporal punishment of sinful souls consists in that they for a time depart into a place of darkness and sorrow, are punished by being deprived of the Divine light, and are purified-that is, liberated from this place of darkness and woe-by means of prayers, the Holy Eucharist, and deeds of charity, and not by fire. The Greeks also believe, that until the union of the souls to the bodies, as the souls of sinners do not suffer full punishment, so also those of the saints do not enjoy entire bliss. But the Latins, agreeing with the Greeks in the first point, do not allow the last one, affirming that the souls of saints have already received their full heavenly reward. [Pseudo-Synod of Ferrara-Florence, summary of comments by Bessarion of Nice, as published in The Orthodox Response to the Latin Doctrine of Purgatory, orthodoxinfo.com, viewed 5/9/19] 23.  Later copies of these canons from the Carthage council often don't include this section.  It does appear in perhaps the oldest codex.  Because of its later removal, likely to allow continued belief in some relief for unbaptized infants, this section often appears as a parenthesis or a footnote. 24.  Roman Catholic medieval theologians typically divided "hell" or "hades," Latin "infernum," into four distinct parts: Hell of the Damned, Purgatory, Limbo of Patriarchs, and Limbo of Infants. 25.  To be fair, Thomas Aquinas didn't personally address the question of Limbo in any portion of Summa Theologica authored by him.  People forever associate this teaching with Aquinas, gaining authority as if taught by him, because another added it to his work as an appendix.  This addition took place after Aquinas' death by Rainaldo da Piperino. 26.  The Magisterium are official, binding, decrees issued by the Roman Pope while sitting on the throne of Saint Peter.  The church considers these infallible. 27.  From the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith instruction on children's baptism, 1980; also reflected in the 1992 Catechism of the Catholic Church, §1261. 28.  Joseph Ratzinger, at the time, was the Cardinal Prefect of the Roman Catholic Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.  Later, as Pope Benedict XVI, he authorized publication of a document originally commissioned by Pope John Paul II.  Issued in 2007 by an advisory board known as the International Theological Commission, it's entitled "The Hope of Salvation for Infants Who Die without Being Baptized."  It revisits historical theological arguments over the fate of unbaptized infants, including Limbo, then finishes: Our conclusion is that the many factors that we have considered above give serious theological and liturgical grounds for hope that unbaptized infants who die will be saved and enjoy the beatific vision. We emphasize that these are reasons for prayerful hope, rather than grounds for sure knowledge. There is much that simply has not been revealed to us. We live by faith and hope in the God of mercy and love who has been revealed to us in Christ, and the Spirit moves us to pray in constant thankfulness and joy. What has been revealed to us is that the ordinary way of salvation is by the sacrament of baptism. None of the above considerations should be taken as qualifying the necessity of baptism or justifying delay in administering the sacrament. Rather, as we want to reaffirm in conclusion, they provide strong grounds for hope that God will save infants when we have not been able to do for them what we would have wished to do, namely, to baptize them into the faith and life of the Church. 29.  The 1992 Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches "Baptism is necessary for salvation for those to whom the Gospel has been proclaimed and who have had the possibility of asking for this sacrament." It later clarifies; "God has bound salvation to the sacrament of Baptism, but he himself is not bound by his sacraments."  In short, it further makes repentance of sins and desire for baptism enough apart from actual baptism.  Based on this, "every man who is ignorant of the Gospel of Christ and of his Church, but seeks the truth and does the will of God in accordance with his understanding of it, can be saved."  This concession presumes that if they had known the need of baptism, they would have explicitly desired it. [Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1257-1260] 30.  This includes victims of miscarriage, abortion, or infant mortality. 31.  Orthodox theologians reject it mostly since they reject the underlying presupposition.  They believe Adam's original sin isn't transmitted generationally.  Rather, they see Romans 5:12 as teaching that only the effect of Adam's sin is transmitted, namely mortality and death.  With this view, baptism isn't necessary to remove original sin because there is none in following generations.  Some modern Roman Catholic theologians have shifted toward this view also affecting their understanding of any need for Limbo. 32. Point four in article: https://catholicexchange.com/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-purgatory, as viewed 10/13/2019.
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