Beards, Azymes, and Purgatory (OXFORD STU IN HISTORICAL THEOLOGY SERIES) by A. Edward Siecienski

Author:A. Edward Siecienski [Siecienski, A. Edward]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2022-08-29T16:00:00+00:00

Part III

Purgatory

6

Purgatory in the Biblical and Patristic Tradition

According to Jacques Le Goff, the word “Purgatory” did not appear as a noun until sometime between 1170 and 1180, a fact used for centuries by critics, both Orthodox and Protestant, who claimed that the dogma had no biblical and patristic basis.1 Yet Catholic authors since the Middle Ages have maintained that although the word “Purgatory” itself is not present, the teaching that departed souls can be cleansed of their sins after death is “explicitly taught in Scripture … found in the writings of the early church fathers … [and] is part of the deposit of faith ‘which was once for all delivered to the saints’ (Jude 1:3).”2 The Orthodox, while acknowledging the importance of prayers for the dead, remained unconvinced by this argument, and interpreted the writings of certain fathers (e.g., Gregory of Nyssa) on “the crucible of purifying fire” differently than their Catholic counterparts.3 Protestants went even further, rejecting not only the doctrine of Purgatory, but also (to varying degrees) all prayers for the deceased.4

The question of Purgatory, and the extent to which it is treated in both the biblical and patristic corpus, is intimately bound up with the larger question about the state of souls after death and how the early church thought about the issue. Christianity has always been an eschatological faith, with Christians holding that “the end was near … because they believed Jesus had risen from the dead, and because they were convinced that the community’s new experience of the charisms of the Spirit was the first taste of the Kingdom of God.”5 Yet as time passed and the timeline for the eschaton shifted, questions arose about the fate of those who had died and a more developed eschatological system was needed. One can see the beginnings of this process in Paul (e.g., 1 Thes 4:13–18),6 but it would take centuries before many of the questions Christians had about the next world received doctrinal formulation. Purgatory arose out of this conversation, with writers searching the Scriptures for hints of what happened after death, how sins committed after baptism were forgiven, and how the church on earth was linked in prayer to those who had gone before.

Certain biblical texts lent themselves to this discussion, and these would become the battleground in the fight over Purgatory for the next thousand years: 2 Maccabees 12:39–45, Matthew 12:32, Revelation 21:27, and 1 Corinthians 3:11–15 would be the chief prooftexts used by the Latins, bolstered by other passages (like Dt 25:2, Ez 33:14–15, Ws 7:25,) that dealt with punishment, forgiveness, and the necessity of purity upon entrance to the kingdom. Still later other New Testament texts—Matthew 5:25–26, Luke 12:47–48, 1 Corinthians 15:28–29, Hebrews 12:22–23—would be employed by defenders of the doctrine who hoped to ground the teaching in the words of Jesus and Paul.

As the church fathers continued to explore these questions, they were guided by several factors, including not only the Scriptures, but also their understanding of the universe and the pastoral needs of those to whom they wrote.

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