PURGATORY
"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." St. Cyril of Jerusalem ("Catechetical Lectures" c. 350 A.D.)
"Useful too is the prayer fashioned on their behalf, even if it does
not force back the whole of guilty charges laid to them. And it is useful also,
because in this world we often stumble either voluntarily or involuntarily, and
thus it is a reminder to do better." St.
Epiphanius of Salamis ("Medicine Chest Against All Heresies" c. 375
A.D.)
"Let us help and commemorate them. If Job's sons were purified by
their father's sacrifice (Job 1:5), 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." St. John Chrysostom ("Homilies on 1 Corinthians" c. 392
A.D.)
"Weep for those who die in their wealth and who with all their wealth
prepared no consolation for their own souls, who had the power to wash away
their sins and did not will to do it. Let us weep for them, let us assist them
to the extant of our ability, let us think of some assistance for them, small
as it may be, yet let us somehow assist them. But how, and in what way? By
praying for them and by entreating others to pray for them, by constantly
giving alms to the poor on their behalf. 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 as 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." St. John Chrysostom ("Homilies on Philippians" c. 402
A.D.)
"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. But by the prayers of the Holy Church, and by the
salvific sacrifice, and by the alms which are given for their spirits, there is
no doubt that the dead are aided, that the Lord might deal more mercifully with
them than their sins would deserve. The whole Church observes this practice
which was handed down by the Fathers: that it prays for those who have died in
the communion of the Body and Blood of Christ, when they are commemorated in
their own place in the sacrifice itself; and the sacrifice is offered also in
memory of them, on their behalf. If, then, works of mercy are celebrated for
the sake of those who are being remembered, who would hesitate to recommend
them, on whose behalf prayers to God are not offered in vain? It is not at all
to be doubted that such prayers are of profit to the dead; but for such of them
as lived before their death in a way that makes it possible for these things to
be useful to them after death." St. Augustine of Hippo ("Sermons" c. 411 A.D.)
"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."
St. Augustine of Hippo ("The City of God" c. 419 A.D.)
"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." St. Augustine of Hippo ("Handbook on Faith, Hope, and Charity"
c. 421 A.D.)
CURRENT
CHURCH BELIEFS
WHAT THE EARLY
CHURCH BELIEVED
Biblical quotations on this web site are
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