Orthodox Christians often say flatly, "We don't believe in purgatory." Yet they pray for the departed at every Divine Liturgy. So what do they actually believe, and how far apart are we?
Short answer: Not by that name. The Orthodox reject the word "purgatory" and some Latin ways of explaining it, such as a literal purifying fire and "expiatory" suffering. But they pray for the dead constantly, and the Catholic dogma itself is narrow: the saved who die imperfectly purified are purified after death, and our prayers, above all the Eucharist, help them. On that core, East and West are much closer than the label suggests.
Key verses on purification after death
- "Thus he made atonement for the dead that they might be absolved from their sin." (2 Maccabees 12:46)
- "the person will be saved, but only as through fire." (1 Corinthians 3:15)
- "either in this age or in the age to come." (Matthew 12:32)
- "May the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that day." (2 Timothy 1:18)
- "nothing unclean will enter it" (Revelation 21:27)
Scripture quotations are from the New American Bible, Revised Edition (NABRE), © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
What Catholics Actually Teach
"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" (CCC 1030). This purification "is entirely different from the punishment of the damned" (CCC 1031). The Church prays for the dead, "above all the Eucharistic sacrifice, so that, thus purified, they may attain the beatific vision of God" (CCC 1032).
That is the dogma. The Council of Florence (1439), where Greek and Latin bishops met, defined that the souls of the repentant "are cleansed after death by cleansing pains" and that the prayers and Masses of the living "avail them" (Florence, Session 6). Trent defined "that there is a Purgatory, and that the souls there detained are helped by the suffrages of the faithful," and told bishops to keep "the more difficult and subtle questions" out of popular preaching (Trent, Session 25).
What Catholics do not teach:
- That fire is dogma. Tradition "speaks of a cleansing fire" (CCC 1031), but at Florence, "the Greeks were assured that the Roman Church had never issued any dogmatic decree on this subject" (Catholic Encyclopedia, "Purgatory").
- That purgatory is a place or a third destiny. Pope St. John Paul II taught: "The term does not indicate a place, but a condition of existence" (General Audience, August 4, 1999). Everyone in it is saved.
- That it can be measured in days. Pope Benedict XVI wrote that "we cannot calculate the 'duration' of this transforming burning in terms of the chronological measurements of this world" (Spe Salvi 47).
- That God takes revenge. The "temporal punishment" of sin "must not be conceived of as a kind of vengeance inflicted by God from without, but as following from the very nature of sin" (CCC 1472).
What the Orthodox hold
The Orthodox Church in America says the Orthodox Church "does not believe in purgatory as a 'third' or 'alternate' state to heaven and hell," and that there is "no similar concept of indulgences within Orthodox Christianity" (OCA, "Indulgences"). Yet the departed are remembered "At every Divine Liturgy," on the third, ninth, and fortieth days after death, and on "five Saturdays during the course of the year dedicated to the departed" (OCA, "Prayers for the Departed").
Pope Benedict XVI summarized the Eastern view fairly: "The East does not recognize the purifying and expiatory suffering of souls in the afterlife, but it does acknowledge various levels of beatitude and of suffering in the intermediate state. The souls of the departed can, however, receive 'solace and refreshment' through the Eucharist, prayer and almsgiving" (Spe Salvi 48).
| Catholic | Orthodox | |
|---|---|---|
| Pray for the dead, above all at the Eucharist | Yes | Yes |
| The departed can be helped before the Last Judgment | Yes | Yes ("solace and refreshment") |
| Purification of the saved after death | Defined dogma | Not accepted as "purifying and expiatory suffering" |
| Literal fire | Traditional language, not defined | Objected to by Greek theologians at Florence |
| Indulgences | Yes | "no similar concept" |
The Biblical Case
1. Prayer for the dead is in the Bible both Churches share
Judas Maccabeus sent money "to provide for an expiatory sacrifice," for "if he were not expecting the fallen to rise again, it would have been superfluous and foolish to pray for the dead" (2 Maccabees 12:43–44). The Orthodox accept the Maccabees "as canonical scripture" (OCA, "Canon of Scripture"). If the dead can be helped, they are not all yet in their final state.
2. Nothing unclean enters heaven
"Strive for peace with everyone, and for that holiness without which no one will see the Lord" (Hebrews 12:14). "Nothing unclean will enter it" (Revelation 21:27). Heaven is filled with "the spirits of the just made perfect" (Hebrews 12:23). Many die in God's friendship without being perfect. Something must complete their healing.
3. Saved, "but only as through fire"
St. Paul writes that "no one can lay a foundation other than the one that is there, namely, Jesus Christ." On "the Day," each one's work "will be revealed with fire." If it burns, "that one will suffer loss; the person will be saved, but only as through fire" (1 Corinthians 3:11–15). This is loss and pain for someone who is saved, not damnation. The Catechism cites this very verse for the final purification (CCC 1031).
4. Forgiveness "in the age to come"
Our Lord warned that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit "will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come" (Matthew 12:32). Pope St. Gregory the Great drew the plain inference: "From this sentence we understand that certain offenses can be forgiven in this age, but certain others in the age to come" (CCC 1031). Scripture does not narrate the details of that purification, and the Church does not pretend it does. But the verses above establish the reality: some of the saved are helped by prayer after death, pass "through fire," and are forgiven in the age to come.
5. Mercy asked "on that day"
St. Paul prays for Onesiphorus: "May the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that day" (2 Timothy 1:18). The NABRE note says, "Onesiphorus seems to have died before this letter was written." Full survey: Where Is Purgatory in the Bible?
Objections Answered
(a) "Purgatory is a medieval Latin invention."
At its strongest: The word and the system around it (fire, satisfaction, indulgences) came from the medieval West. At Florence, Greek theologians objected to a purifying fire, and the East later rejected Florence's union.
Answer: The word is Western; the reality is ancient and shared. Fourth-century Eastern sources already pray for the dead at the Eucharist, "believing that it will be a very great benefit to the souls" (see below). Florence's decree speaks of "cleansing pains," not fire, and the Greeks there were told fire was not dogma. What Catholics must believe is purification after death and the help of prayer, which Orthodox worship already assumes. And the definition was not imposed on absent Greeks: the Florentine decree that the repentant "are cleansed after death by cleansing pains" was issued "With the agreement of our most dear son John Palaeologus, illustrious emperor of the Romans," and of the deputies of the Eastern patriarchs. Many in the East later rejected it, St. Mark of Ephesus above all. But the doctrine itself is the one Scripture already teaches: help for the dead (2 Maccabees 12:46), salvation "as through fire" (1 Corinthians 3:15), forgiveness "in the age to come" (Matthew 12:32).
(b) "Purgatory turns God into a debt collector after Christ paid it all."
At its strongest: Many Orthodox theologians see salvation as healing and union with God (theosis), not a legal transaction. "Temporal punishment" sounds like God demanding payment after forgiving us.
Answer: The Catechism rejects that picture: punishment follows "from the very nature of sin," and every sin "entails an unhealthy attachment to creatures, which must be purified" (CCC 1472). That is the language of healing. Benedict XVI notes that "Some recent theologians are of the opinion that the fire which both burns and saves is Christ himself" (Spe Salvi 47). All purification flows from Christ's sacrifice. As St. Cyril of Jerusalem put it, for the departed the Church offers "Christ sacrificed for our sins."
(c) "The departed receive 'refreshment,' not purification. We pray, but we do not define."
At its strongest: Orthodox theologians hold that the Church prays for the dead in hope and love, and that God's mercy toward them is a mystery best left undefined. Speaking of punishment or purification claims to know too much.
Answer: Prayer for the dead has content. If the departed can be helped, something about their state can still change for the better, and Scripture says what: they "might be absolved from their sin" (2 Maccabees 12:46). And they still need it, because "nothing unclean will enter" heaven (Revelation 21:27). St. John Chrysostom drew the same conclusion from Job, who offered sacrifice for his sons: "if the children of Job were purged by the sacrifice of their father, why do you doubt that when we too offer for the departed, some consolation arises to them?" "Purged" is his word. That is the substance of the Catholic dogma: no more, and no less.
The Early Church Agrees
Prayer for the dead, with the conviction that it truly helps them, goes back to the earliest centuries. Apart from Tertullian, who is not venerated as a saint but records the common practice of his day, these witnesses are revered by Orthodox and Catholics alike.
- St. Perpetua (The Passion of Perpetua and Felicity 2, Carthage, c. AD 203), after praying for her dead brother Dinocrates: "I made my prayer for my brother day and night," and afterward, "Then I understood that he was translated from the place of punishment" (newadvent.org).
- Tertullian (On Monogamy 10, c. AD 210s, written in his Montanist period), describing the ordinary practice of a Christian widow: "she prays for his soul, and requests refreshment for him meanwhile," and "she offers (her sacrifice) on the anniversaries of his falling asleep" (newadvent.org).
- St. Cyril of Jerusalem (Catechetical Lecture 23, among the Mystagogical Lectures traditionally attributed to him, c. AD 350): the Church prays for those who have fallen asleep, "believing that it will be a very great benefit to the souls, for whom the supplication is put up, while that holy and most awful sacrifice is set forth." For the departed, "though they be sinners," we "offer up Christ sacrificed for our sins, propitiating our merciful God for them as well as for ourselves" (sec. 9–10).
- St. John Chrysostom (Homily 3 on Philippians, c. AD 400): "Not in vain did the Apostles order that remembrance should be made of the dead in the dreadful Mysteries. They know that great gain results to them, great benefit" (newadvent.org). And on the sons of Job: "Let us not then be weary in giving aid to the departed" (Homily 41 on 1 Corinthians 8).
- Pope St. Gregory the Great (Dialogues 4.39, c. AD 593), honored in the East as St. Gregory the Dialogist, quoted in the Catechism: "As for certain lesser faults, we must believe that, before the Final Judgment, there is a purifying fire" (CCC 1031).
Conclusion
Catholics and Orthodox stand at the same graveside, offering the same Eucharist for the same beloved dead. We disagree about vocabulary and about how much the Church may define. But the core is not a Latin opinion: it is Scripture's teaching, prayed by the Fathers of East and West, and defined at Florence with the Greeks at the table. God completes what He began, and He purifies those He saves.
If you are Orthodox, we invite you to look past the word "purgatory" to what the Catholic Church actually defines. You may find that your own prayers for the departed already confess most of it. See also What Is the Difference Between Catholic and Orthodox?
Come home. The prayer for the departed that you offer at every Divine Liturgy is offered at every Mass in the Catholic Church too, and it lies at the heart of what she teaches about purification after death. You already possess true sacraments and much of the apostolic faith, in "a certain, although imperfect, communion with the Catholic Church" (CCC 838). Those gifts draw their power "from the fullness of grace and truth that Christ has entrusted to the Catholic Church" and "are in themselves calls to 'Catholic unity'" (CCC 819). The Eucharist is the sacrament of the Church's unity, yet your true Eucharist is celebrated apart from the successor of St. Peter, on whom Christ built His Church (Matthew 16:18). We invite you into full communion with St. Peter's successor, the bishop of Rome, in the Catholic Church.
Your next step: Come to Mass or Divine Liturgy at your local Catholic church. You can find one near you at MassTimes.org. When you're ready, call the parish office and ask to speak with the priest about entering full communion with the Catholic Church. Read our guide: How Do I Become Catholic? Not ready yet? Get our free pocket guide below and keep learning.
FAQ
Do the Orthodox pray for the dead? Yes, at every Divine Liturgy and at special memorial services on fixed days after death and throughout the year.
Is purgatorial fire Catholic dogma? No. Tradition speaks of a cleansing fire, but the Church has not defined it.
Is purgatory a second chance? No. Only those who die in God's grace are purified, and all of them reach heaven.
Sources
Scripture (NABRE, bible.usccb.org): 2 Maccabees 12:43–46; Matthew 12:32; Matthew 16:18; 1 Corinthians 3:11–15; 2 Timothy 1:16–18 (with the NABRE note); Hebrews 12:14, 23; Revelation 21:27.
Catechism of the Catholic Church (vatican.va): 819, 838; 1030, 1031, 1032; 1472.
Church documents: Council of Florence (1439), Session 6, decree of union with the Greeks (Tanner translation, EWTN Library); Council of Trent, Session 25, Decree on Purgatory (papalencyclicals.net); Pope St. John Paul II, General Audience (August 4, 1999); Benedict XVI, Spe Salvi 47–48 (2007); Catholic Encyclopedia, "Purgatory" (newadvent.org).
Orthodox sources (Orthodox Church in America, oca.org): "Indulgences"; "Prayers for the Departed"; "Canon of Scripture".
Church Fathers (newadvent.org): The Passion of Perpetua and Felicity 2; Tertullian, On Monogamy 10; Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lecture 23; John Chrysostom, Homily 3 on Philippians; John Chrysostom, Homily 41 on 1 Corinthians. Gregory the Great as quoted in CCC 1031.