Purgatory

Purgatory, what is it?

What is purgatory? Where did this idea originate in history? Do Latter-day Saints believe in this concept? Why do some Christians have a belief in this idea?

Essentially purgatory is a state or a place, between heaven and hell.^[1]Even this sentence can be debated, with many stressing that purgatory is a state rather than a place. See his discourse where Pope John Paul II said, “The term does not indicate a place, … Continue reading William Babcock gives the following explanation:

The place or state, intermediate between heaven and hell, where after death and prior to final judgment certain souls are purged of their remaining minor (venial) sins through penal suffering and so attain salvation. The Latin noun purgatorium, as distinct from the adjective purgatorius, does not occur before the twelfth century, nor does the idea itself in its full and characteristic form (and then only in Latin or western Christianity). Several of the elements that would contribute to the notion of purgatoty did, however, begin to take shape in early Christianity.

The traditions of Jewish (e.g., 1 Enoch; 4 Ezra) and Christian (e.g., Apoc. Petr., Vis. Paul.) apocalyptic literature gave birth to an imagined geography of the otherworld. Various groups of the righteous and especially of the unrighteous were assigned to different regions either of rest and refreshment or of pain and torment, thus producing a vivid topography of heaven and hell correlated with the moral goodness or evil shown by persons prior to death (cf, e.g., Gregory the Great, Dial. 4.36). Such descriptions delineated the setting in which purgatory would appear as a place of temporary punishment for souls immediately assigned neither to heaven nor to hell; they also supplied much of the imagery of torment that would characterize purgatorial suffering. Most important, they introduced a more highly differentiated classification of human beings by moral status than mere division into the saved and the damned.

Intermittently, too, early Christianity intimated that a person’s fate may not be settled at death (only to be confirmed and enforced at the last judgment) and pictured divine punishment as a purifying fire (cf. Isa. 66: 15-16; Mal. 3:2-3; 1 Cor. 3: 11-15), purgative rather than punitive in force. Clement of Alexandria mentions instructive as well as punitive correction and speaks of a discerning fire that penetrates the soul (Str. 4.26; 6.6; 7.6); Origen sketches an entire theory of punishment as purification (e.g., Prine. 2.10.4-8). In particular, using imagery from 1 Corinthians 3:11-15 and Ezekiel 22:18, Origen distinguished the righteous (works in gold, silver, precious stones); those guilty only of lesser sins (wood, hay, stubble); and the evil (iron, lead, bronze) (cf. Prine. 2.10.4; Cels. 4.13; 5.15; 6.70; Hom. 15 in Lev. 3). The first group passes unscathed through the purifying fire; the second is quickly purged; the third requires a lengthy and painful purgation and purification. Origen never clearly separated purgation from final judgment, however; and the early church finally rejected his claim that ultimately all (even the demons) would be purged and saved.

It was Augustine (and the Latin tradition), not Origen, who shaped the view that would endure. Augustine interpreted 1 Corinthians 3:11-15 in Origen’s manner but construed the three groups quite differently. The first consists of the saved, the third of the damned; only the middle group-who have made Christ their foundation bur remain attached to earthly things in lesser ways-may be purified in a process that, begun in this life, may also extend beyond death (Enchir. 67-69; Civ. Dei 21.26). Augustine explicitly opposes the idea that all or even many can be saved through postmortem purification (Civ. Dei 21.13-25); his view represents a distinct narrowing of the theory of purgative punishment. It does, however, establish three critical points: some people can be assigned at death neither directly to the saved nor directly to the damned (a threefold, not a twofold, moral classification); these people are guilty of lesser sins (“minor” rather than “capital” sins; cf. Caesarius of ArIes, Serm. 179), which alone are subject to postmortem purification; and so, for these people at least, death does not settle ultimate destiny. It is in this context, then, that belief in a cleansing fire after death can be affirmed (Gregory the Great, Dial. 4.41).

Finally, early Christianity contributed to the later idea of purgatory the sense that the interventions of the living-in the eucharist, in prayer, in almsgiving–can relieve or reduce the sufferings of the dead. This sense lay behind the universal early Christian practice of prayer for the dead in the liturgy. But it also produced vivid stories in which the dead were actually “seen,” through visions or appearances, to be helped (e.g., Pass. Perp. 7-8; Gregory the Great, Dial. 4.42); and it was formulated abstractly in the claim that the souls of the dead, if properly prepared in life, benefit from the aid offered by friends and relatives among the living (Augustine, Cur. mort. 18; Enchir. 110). If in some contexts Christianity tended to shatter the bonds of kinship and friendship (cf., e.g., Matt. 10:35-37; Pass. Perp. 3), here it cemented them and so prepared the way for the medieval pattern of interventions designed to alleviate the suffering of souls in purgatory.^[2]William S. Babcock, as found in Everett Ferguson, Encyclopedia of Early Christianity, p. 965-966.

Early Concepts: Where do those “middling” people go?

Plato: Divisions in the realm of the afterlife as seen by Socrates

In the Phaedo, Plato takes the earth to be a porous, pumicelike sphere with hollows and channels that penetrate it in every direction. The holes are connected by subterranean rivers that carry various fluids into different internal seas. They run with mud, cold and hot water, and fire (111d–e). Penetrating the whole earth, however, is Tartarus, a funnel, drain, or chasm through which all the other rivers flow. For although an oscillating motion of the earth forces each river to the center of the earth, sometimes through serpentine coils, sometimes more directly, they do not flow into each other, and each returns to its place of origin, though each in a different way (112a–e). Four principal rivers, already mentioned by Homer, run into Tartarus… The dead populate the interior of this complex, riddled, spongelike earth. They are assigned to different regions at the judgment after their deaths.

Four fates are possible: that of the holy, that of those who have lived lives of indeterminate character, that of those guilty of sins that can be expiated (iasima=curable), and that of the incurably wicked (doxosin aniatos). The morally neutral are sent to the Acheron in vessels provided for the purpose. They dwell at the lake until they are purified, paying penalties for misdeeds and receiving rewards for any (slight) good deeds (113d). The incurable, who have committed great wrongs, many acts of sacrilege, murders, or other such crimes, are cast into Tartarus, whence they never (oupote) emerge (113e). That is eternal punishment. Others are judged curable even if they may have violently afflicted their father or mother or perhaps committed manslaughter, provided they performed these deeds in only a momentary passion and they have spent the remainder of their lives in repentance. These too are sent to Tartarus, but annually the oscillations of the earth wash them out. The slayers of humans flow through Cocytus and the offenders of parents through Pyriphlegethon.

As they approach the Acheron, they call out from their respective streams for the forgiveness of those whom they wronged. If pardon is granted they come out into the lake and their suffering ends, but if not, the current carries them back again into Tartarus, where they stew for another year until the cycle is repeated (113e– 114b). It is important to observe how their fate is in the control of those they offended. In this context, the value of forgiveness is inestimable. Finally, those who are judged to have led holy lives are freed entirely from these cycles within the earth. Having purified themselves by philosophy they move without bodies to the pure regions, where they share the ether with the gods and rise to even more beautiful dwellings (114b–c), presumably with experiences similar to those described in the Phaedrus.^[3]Alan Bernstein, The Formation of Hell: Death and Retribution in the Ancient and Early Christian Worlds, Routledge, 1993, p. 54-55. See also Phaedo, starting in line 113a.

Tertullian 155-240 AD

Tertullian denied that the just go to paradise immediately, with the exception of the martyrs, who did indeed bypass Hades. One’s own lifeblood, Tertullian asserted, was “the only key to unlock paradise” (Anim. 55). Moreover, he believed that the time spent in Hades by the just was remedial in character. Souls underwent “some compensatory discipline” there while awaiting the resurrection and final judgment (Anim. 58; Marc. 4.34), and the intercession of the living could bring relief to the soul of the righteous departed (Monog. 10). Tertullian’s opinion that the souls of some saints could escape Hades by their deeds in this life, that is, by martyrdom, while others had need of penitential cleansing in the afterlife before receiving their final reward, anticipated the doctrine of purgatory that would arise later in the west.^[4]Ferguson, Encyclopedia of Early Christianity, Routledge, 1999, p. 504.

Augustine 354-430 AD

Augustine taught that although resurrection from the dead would enhance the joys of salvation already available to the departed soul, it was not a precondition for completely realizing the heavenly reward; the departed soul could enjoy the beatifying presence of the Godhead without being reunited to the body in resurrection (Ep. 164; 187.3, 6-7; Retract. 1.14 [13].2; In evang. loh. 49.10; c (Ps. 36.10).

Left unanswered was the question of the relationship of a developing doctrine of purgatory to the notion that the saints were granted the complete vision of God upon death. Augustine divided humanity into three types: the good, the evil, and those in between (Enchir. 110). He believed the souls of the latter could benefit from the celebration of the eucharist or from the giving of alms in their remembrance (Enchir. 110; Anim. 15; Civ. Dei 21.24). It is unclear, however, where those souls are. Augustine admitted in one place that Abraham’s bosom and paradise (the traditional abode of such souls) might be different names for heaven itself (Gen. ad litt. 1.12) and argued in another that Christ’s soul had no need to descend into Abraham’s bosom after the crucifixion since the souls there were already enjoying the beatifying presence of the Godhead (Ep. 164.3, 8). Not until 1336 would the matter be cleared up in the west, when Pope Benedict XII in the bull Benedictus Deus^[5]According to one scholar, this bull was the one thing that most defined important aspects of judgment, as was a turning point in the Catholic Church’s teaching on individual eschatology. See … Continue reading asserted that the individual judgment at death admitted the soul immediately either to the beatifIc vision in heaven, to purgatory, or to hell.^[6]Ferguson, p. 514.

The connection between penitence and “purgatory,” which was to assume such great importance in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, was clearly stated for the first time by Augustine.^[7]Jacques Le Goff, The Birth of Purgatory, 1990, Scholars Press, p. 69.

Gregory I The Great 540-604 AD

Pope Gregory worked to define an understanding of heaven and the distinction between the saved and the damned. Gregory contributed to the discussion in his consideration of the punishment of the unjust and of the possibility of an after-death purgation of sins contributed to the gradual elaboration of a doctrine of purgatory.^[8]Everett Ferguson, Encyclopedia of Early Christianity, p. 490. He wrote that there is “cleansing fire” that “purges” away “minor faults.” Gregory also used scripture to affirm his idea that suffering in the next life was possible. He also worked to establish a logical argument that sins can and will be forgiven in the world to come. He said:

“Each one will be presented to the Judge exactly as he was when he departed this life. Yet, there must be a cleansing fire before judgment, because of some minor faults that may remain to be purged away. Does not Christ, the Truth, say that if anyone blasphemes against the Holy Spirit he shall not be forgiven “either in this world or in the world to come” (Mt 12:32)? From this statement we learn that some sins can be forgiven in this world and some in the world to come. For, if forgiveness is refused for a particular sin, we conclude logically that it is granted for others. This must apply, as I said, to slight transgressions.”^[9]Pope Saint Gregory the Great, Dialogues, 4:39, A.D. 594.

Saint Patrick’s Purgatory

According to Le Goff, the new region of the other world took shape in two phases, first in theological-spiritual literature between 1170 and 1180 at the prompting of Parisian masters and Cistercian monks, and then in visionary literature stemming from the 1180-1215 period. In fact, the Life of Saint Patrick by Jocelyn of Furness, composed between 1180 and 1183, mentions Saint Patrick’s Purgatory but situates it on Mount Cruachin Aigle in Connaught. The real events in the history of beliefs, mentalities, and sensibilities can rarely be dated to the precise day or year. The birth of Purgatory is a phenomenon that we can associate with the turn of the thirteenth century… Le Goff mentions another text called Topographia Hibernica of Giraldus Cambrensis, dated to around 1188, and then writes, “in chapter 5 of the second part of the Topographia Hibernica he describes a lake in Ulster in which there is an island divided into two parts. One of these parts is pleasant and beautiful, with an official church, and renowned as a place frequented by saints. The other, wild and horrible, is abandoned to demons. There are nine holes in the earth. Those who dare to spend the night in one of these holes are seized by evil spirits and must endure horrible tortures in an unspeakable fire until morning, and when they are found are in an almost inanimate state. It is said that if one does penance by undergoing these tortures, infernal punishments can be escaped after death, unless very grave sins are committed in the meantime.”^[10]Jacques Le Goff, Purgatory, p. 198-199.

Councils

The Council of Florence (1439) discussed the use of purgatory as not necessarily a place but as a process of “purification.”^[11]Pawel Makosa, Rocznik Teologii Katolickiej, The Roman Catholic Church’s Late Medieval Teaching on Eschatology as the Basis for Visual Catechesis, January, 2019. At the Council of Florence … Continue reading

Meaning for Latter-day Saints

So where does all of this leave Latter-day Saints? From Section 19 of the Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord lays out a whole theological perspective that overturns much of Augustine as well as traditional concepts of purgatory. As we covered in our podcast where we spent much of our time looking at D&C 19, the Lord reveals to Joseph the concept that Hell, or Hades is a location that is not meant to be eternal in the sense that mankind will spend eternity in this world of spirits. Rather, Hell/Hades/The Spirit World is a place prepared for those who await the resurrection, where eventually mankind will be enabled to inherit a kingdom of glory as related in D&C 76.

Will some of the children of Adam and Eve experience suffering in this location (which is also a state of mind)? Yes. D&C 19 clearly states that those who choose this path will be given the opportunity to suffer if that is what they choose (see D&C 19.4-17). God will force his atoning sacrifice upon none of his children.

In the words of James E. Talmage, Hell “has both an entrance and an exit.” He once put it this way:

During this hundred years (since the Restoration of the Church) many other great truths not known before, have been declared to the people, and one of the greatest is that to hell there is an exit as well as an entrance. Hell is no place to which a vindictive judge sends prisoners to suffer and to be punished principally for his glory; but it is a place prepared for the teaching, the disciplining of those who failed to learn here upon the earth what they should have learned. True, we read of everlasting punishment, unending suffering, eternal damnation. That is a direful expression; but in his mercy the Lord has made plain what those words mean. “Eternal punishment,” he says, is God’s punishment, for he is eternal; and that condition or state or possibility will ever exist for the sinner who deserves and really needs such condemnation; but this does not mean that the individual sufferer or sinner is to be eternally and everlastingly made to endure and suffer. No man will be kept in hell longer than is necessary to bring him to a fitness for something better. When he reaches that stage the prison doors will open and there will be rejoicing among the hosts who welcome him into a better state. The Lord has not abated in the least what he has said in earlier dispensations concerning the operation of his law and his gospel, but he has made clear unto us his goodness and mercy through it all, for it is his glory and his work to bring about the immortality and eternal life of man. ^[12]Elder James E. Talmage, Conference Report, April 1930, 97.

So in one way Latter-day Saints have an understanding that is similar but different from those that embrace a concept of Purgatory. What do I mean by this? I mean that through a greater understanding of the teachings of modern prophets, Latter-day Saints see a God who is standing with open arms wanting and encouraging all of his children to come home. Through the ordinances of the gospel all mankind may qualify themselves to receive the gift of the Atonement. In this sense, the concept of a state of mind necessary to be cleansed is partly in line with gospel teachings. Latter-day Saints do not practice prayers for the dead nor alms giving for the dead, but we do believe in doing vicarious ordinances for our ancestors. So the concepts are similar, yet different in many ways. We are using words that do not have the same meanings as others who use them. For example, the idea that mankind will “spend eternity in hell” is an idea the Lord works in D&C 19 to explain. Clearly it is not eternal in duration. Those who embrace the concept of Purgatory do teach that many will “spend eternity in hell.” So understanding how these ideas are similar yet also radically different is vital. As Augustine struggled to define the gradations between the saved and the damned, with the question of what to do with those “in-between,” many of these ideas have been further clarified by the revelations of the Restoration, specifically D&C 19, 76, 130, 132, and 138. Subsequent prophets have also helped with further understanding.^[13]See: Are there degrees of glory within the Terrestrial and Telestial Kingdoms?