Purgatory
A purifying after death for the saved not yet wholly cleansed — defined East and West differently
Purgatory names a state of purification after death for those who die in grace but are not yet fully cleansed. The Western tradition drew on Augustine, Gregory the Great, and the Council of Florence to define it as doctrine. The traditions differ markedly: it is defined Catholic teaching; the Orthodox reject the term and Latin formulation while allowing some post-mortem purification; and Protestants reject the notion outright.
How it traveled
- On the Soul and the ResurrectionNyssa · c. 395 CEexplains
- The EnchiridionHippo Regius · c. 430 CEexplains
- City of GodHippo Regius · c. 430 CEexplains
- Treatise on the Incarnation (qq[1]-59)Paris · c. 1274 CEexplains
- Thoughts Helpful in the Life of the SoulZwolle · c. 1471 CEexplains
- Book Third. the Mode of Obtaining the Grace of Christ. the Benefits It Confers, and the Effects Resulting from ItGeneva · c. 1564 CEchallenges
- Book Fourth. of the Holy Catholic ChurchGeneva · c. 1564 CEchallenges
Key passages(20)
Each passage is tagged by what it does with the idea: explains it, applies it in practice, redefines it with a new meaning, or challenges it. Relevance shows how directly the passage is about this idea.
Book Third. the Mode of Obtaining the Grace of Christ. the Benefits It Confers, and the Effects Resulting from It · John Calvin
5. Moreover, to say nothing of these abominations, who taught the Pope to enclose the grace of Jesus Christ in lead and parchment, grace which the Lord is pleased to dispense by the word of the Gospel
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Book Third. the Mode of Obtaining the Grace of Christ. the Benefits It Confers, and the Effects Resulting from It · John Calvin
To the passage which they produce from the history of the Maccabees (1 Macc. 12:43), I will not deign to reply, lest I should seem to include that work among the canonical books. But AugustineLuke 24:
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City of God · Augustine of Hippo
Chapter 13.—Against the Opinion of Those Who Think that the Punishments of the Wicked After Death are Purgatorial. The Platonists, indeed, while they maintain that no sins are unpunished, suppose tha
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On the Soul and the Resurrection · Gregory of Nyssa
reduced to quiescence, ἀτρεμούντων. This is the reading adopted by Krabinger, from four Codd., instead of the vox nihili of the editions, εὐτηρεμόντων. The contrast must be between “remaining in activ
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The Enchiridion · Augustine of Hippo
Chapter 69.—It is Not Impossible that Some Believers May Pass Through a Purgatorial Fire in the Future Life. And it is not impossible that something of the same kind may take place even after this li
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Treatise on the Incarnation (qq[1]-59) · Thomas Aquinas
Reply to Objection 1: The holy Fathers, although still held bound by the debt of original sin, in so far as it touches human nature, were nevertheless delivered from all stain of sin by faith in Chris
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Book Third. the Mode of Obtaining the Grace of Christ. the Benefits It Confers, and the Effects Resulting from It · John Calvin
Received custom too was a kind of torch, by which the minds of many were inflamed. We know that among all the Gentiles, and in all ages, certain rites were paid to the dead, and that every year lustra
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Book Fourth. of the Holy Catholic Church · John Calvin
14. But the Romanists have another end in view when they say that the power of interpreting Scripture belongs to councils, and that without challenge. For they employ it as a pretext for giving the na
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Book Third. the Mode of Obtaining the Grace of Christ. the Benefits It Confers, and the Effects Resulting from It · John Calvin
OF THE MODES OF SUPPLEMENTING SATISFACTION—VIZ. INDULGENCES AND PURGATORY. Divisions of the chapter,—I. A summary description and refutation of Popish indulgences, sec. 1, 2. II. Confutation by Leo a
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There is introduced at these words in the text of the Paris Edition the following “Explicatio,” in Greek. “Here it is manifest that the father means by the ‘purging fire’ the torments and agonies suff
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Thoughts Helpful in the Life of the Soul · Thomas à Kempis
IN ALL things consider the end; how you shall stand before the strict Judge from Whom nothing is hidden and Who will pronounce judgment in all justice, accepting neither bribes nor excuses. And you, m
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The Enchiridion · Augustine of Hippo
Chapter 68.—The True Sense of the Passage (I Cor. III. 11–15) About Those Who are Saved, Yet So as by Fire. But as these most plain and unmistakeable declarations of the apostles cannot be false, tha
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Book Fourth. of the Holy Catholic Church · John Calvin
14. Wherefore, I conclude, that it is an abominable insult and intolerable blasphemy, as well against Christ as the sacrifice, which, by his death, he performed for us on the cross, for any one to thi
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City of God · Augustine of Hippo
Chapter 26.—What It is to Have Christ for a Foundation, and Who They are to Whom Salvation as by Fire is Promised. But, say they, the catholic Christians have Christ for a foundation, and they have n
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City of God · Augustine of Hippo
Chapter 25.—Of Malachi’s Prophecy, in Which He Speaks of the Last Judgment, and of a Cleansing Which Some are to Undergo by Purifying Punishments. The prophet Malachi or Malachias, who is also called
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The Enchiridion · Augustine of Hippo
Chapter 67.—Faith Without Works is Dead, and Cannot Save a Man. It is believed, moreover, by some, that men who do not abandon the name of Christ, and who have been baptized in the Church by His bapt
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Thoughts Helpful in the Life of the Soul · Thomas à Kempis
IF YOU wish to make progress in virtue, live in the fear of the Lord, do not look for too much freedom, discipline your senses, and shun inane It is a wonder that any man who considers and meditates
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Man's Natural Blindness in Religion · Jonathan Edwards
Many nations have been so under the influence of mental blindness, that they have been void of all civility, and have been reduced to a state very little above the beasts in their common customs, and
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The Seven Books of Arnobius Against the Heathen. (Adversus Gentes.) · Arnobius
Elucidations. ———————————— I. (Note 9, p. 459.) This is a most extraordinary note. The author uses “so to say” (="as it were”) merely to qualify the figure, which a pagan might think extravagant.
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The Passion of the Holy Martyrs Perpetua and Felicitas. · Ethical
Elucidations. ———————————— (Dinocrates, cap. ii. p. 701.) The avidity with which the Latin controversial writers seize upon this fanciful passage, (which, in fact, is subversive of their whole doct
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